I saw that microphone get bent live in the Blankety Blank BBC studios when I was a kid!🤣

Saw a few when in Spain the other week...

Try this one....

If you want to know more about Spaniards #ContinuingtheFight in the British Army come and see me talk for free tomorrow in Manchester or in Billingham next week...

But Franco survived the war. Bitter sweet. Many of the Spaniards #ContinuingtheFight in the British Army during #WW2 also felt this. Militant to the end, Boix sadly died of kidney failure age 30. A witness to terror & one of the reasons why I embarked on this journey long ago.

Here, he was able to give witness to many things, amongst which was a visit by Speer to the camp in 1943. He pointed him out during his testimony. 8/

When liberation came in May 1946, Boix had been one of over 7,000 Spaniards in the camp. It is known that 4,427 Spaniards died there. He soon became a witness at the Nürnberg Trials...7/

Boix was then sent, with another 1,506 Spanish Republicans to Mauthausen. They arrived on the 27 of January 1941. After a few months he began in the photographic centre of the camp. During the next years, he was able to pass on records & material to incrimate his captors. 6/

Like thousands of other Spaniards, he joined a Compagnie de Travailleurs Étrangers & was sent to serve in the 28e Compagnie de Travailleurs Étrangers working on defences in the Vosges. In May 1940 he was captured by the Germans & initially sent to a POW camp in Fallingbostel. 5/

Francesc was from Barcelona & was 15 when the #SpanishCivilWar broke out. He became a JSUC militant on the Catalán Republican side & was to be seen with his camera everywhere. By 1939 he had passed into France & interned in Vernet (Ariège) & Septfonds (Tarn et Garonne). 4/

As mentioned before, many Spaniards who were #ContinuingtheFight in the British Army during #WW2 in my book #ChurchillsSpaniards were some of the lucky ones. Many suffered a much worse fate. A witness to this suffering was Francesc Boix, known as "el fotógrafo de Mauthausen" 3/

Not long ago, I achieved a lifetime ambition & visited the Memorium Nürnberger Prozesse. Not just because of its significance but also because it has a story linked to one of the many Spaniards who were #ContinuingtheFight 2/

Not really sure what that has to do with Spanish Republicans fighting against Nazism in the British Army during #WW2....

Sadly no but you can listen to the latest podcastvO have been on which I posted recently...