1937: Two Weeks in Spain, Two Irish Casualties

1937: Two Weeks in Spain, Two Irish Casualties: 
With air support from his fascist allies in Italy and Germany, Franco launched a brutal campaign to conquer northern Spain while the Republican side resisted by occupying towns and villages in the Aragon Front such as Belchite, a hilltop town some 300 kilometres west of Barcelona. After two weeks of hellish conflict and a death toll reaching 3,000 the town of Belchite, or rather what was left of it, was abandoned and a ‘new’ Belchite town was built nearby. After the Spanish Civil War General Franco ordered the ruined town to be left as a national monument and to this day it serves as an untouched reminder of a dark chapter in Spanish history.