Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

The Civil War(1936-1939)IN JULY 1936, Franco arrived in Spain with his Moroccantroops and the firm intention of demolishing the Republic 1Iand re-establishing "order." My wife and son had gone back toParis the month before, and I was alone in Madrid. Early onemorning, I was jolted awake by a series of explosions and cannonfire; a Republican plane was bombing the Montana army barracks.At this time, all the barracks in Spain were filled with soldiers.A group of Falangists had ensconced themselves in the Montana andhad been firing from its windows for several days, wounding manycivilians. On the morning of July 18, groups of workers, armed andsupported by Azaiia's Republican assault troops, attacked the barracks.It was all over by ten o'clock, the rebel officers and Falangistsexecuted. The war had begun.It was hard to believe. Listening to the distant machine-gun firefrom my balcony, I watched a Schneider cannon roll by in the streetbelow, pulled by a couple of workers and some gypsies. The revo-