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Peter Kemp War Trilogy #1
Mine Were of Trouble
Spain, 1936. Escalating violence between left- and right-wing political factions boils over. Military officers stage a coup against a democratically elected, Soviet-backed, government. The country is thrown into chaos as centuries-old tensions return to the forefront. Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards choose sides and engage in the most devastating combat since the First World War. For loyalists to the Republic, the fight is seen as one for equality and their idea of progress. For the rebels, the struggle is a preemptive strike by tradition against an attempted communist takeover.
Thousands of foreigners, too, join the struggle. Most fight with the Soviet-sponsored International Brigades or other militias aligned with the loyalist “Republicans”. Only a few side with the rebel “Nationalists”. One of these rare volunteers for the Nationalists was Peter Kemp, a young British law student. Kemp, despite having little training or command of the Spanish language, was moved by the Nationalist struggle against international Communism. Using forged documents, he sneaked into Spain and joined a traditionalist militia, the Requetés, with which he saw intense fighting. Later, he volunteered to join the legendary and ruthless Spanish Foreign Legion, where he distinguished himself with heroism. Because of this bravery, he was one of the few foreign volunteers granted an private audience with Generalissimo Francisco Franco.
Kemp published his story in 1957, one of the only English accounts of the war from the Nationalist perspective, after a prestigious military career with the British Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.
Thousands of foreigners, too, join the struggle. Most fight with the Soviet-sponsored International Brigades or other militias aligned with the loyalist “Republicans”. Only a few side with the rebel “Nationalists”. One of these rare volunteers for the Nationalists was Peter Kemp, a young British law student. Kemp, despite having little training or command of the Spanish language, was moved by the Nationalist struggle against international Communism. Using forged documents, he sneaked into Spain and joined a traditionalist militia, the Requetés, with which he saw intense fighting. Later, he volunteered to join the legendary and ruthless Spanish Foreign Legion, where he distinguished himself with heroism. Because of this bravery, he was one of the few foreign volunteers granted an private audience with Generalissimo Francisco Franco.
Kemp published his story in 1957, one of the only English accounts of the war from the Nationalist perspective, after a prestigious military career with the British Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1957
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April 13, 2020
Among the many tools of the superbly effective Left propaganda machine, one of the most effective is its control of publishing. Leftists use this to ensure that innumerable books fitting the Left narrative stay in print indefinitely, primarily for use as indoctrination tools in schools, as a glance at any modern curriculum at any grade level will show you. On the other hand, books not fitting the Left narrative disappear—never republished, expensive to buy used, and impossible to read online because of the stupidly long terms of modern copyright law. Thus, the reprinting, by Mystery Grove Publishing, of this excellent book, by an Englishman who volunteered to fight for the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, is a great service.
Peter Kemp was born in India in 1915; his father was a judge in what was then called Bombay. As I have covered at great length elsewhere, the Spanish situation deteriorated from 1933 through 1936 (really 1931 through 1936, as the Spanish Left attempted to consolidate permanent power). During this time, Kemp was studying at Cambridge to be a lawyer. His politics appear to have been quite conservative, but he makes only passing reference to his own beliefs. Kemp’s main reason for going to Spain seems to have been a desire common among young men throughout history, to seek adventure through warfare, although he was also horrified at the widespread atrocities of the Spanish Left immediately prior to the Civil War. He acknowledges his desire in the title, which comes from an A. E. Housman poem used as an epigraph: “The thoughts of others / Were light and fleeting, / Of lover’s meeting / Or luck, or fame / Mine were of trouble / And mine were steady, / So I was ready / When trouble came.” If he had been a man of the Left, no doubt he would have joined the International Brigades, the collective organization of those non-Spaniards who fought for the Spanish Communists, the Republicans.
It would have been far easier and socially acceptable for him to join the Republicans, too, since they had an active, successful, and extremely well-funded propaganda operation that blanketed Europe, while the Nationalists made almost no effort to persuade others, aside from occasionally arranging curated tours for newspapermen, incorrectly believing their cause was self-proving or that foreign opinion was unimportant. Thus, polite opinion in England favored the Republicans, something that troubled Kemp not at all. His complete lack of Spanish did not deter him either. And in those days before the overweening state presumed to dictate to us the smallest details of our lives, it was easy enough to go fight in a foreign war. True, as today, the Left was better organized, and every country in Europe had official, open recruiting stations for the International Brigades. Kemp simply got a letter from a newspaper editor friend saying that he was authorized to send back wire copy, as a cover story, and off he went across the French frontier.
This was November 1936. Kemp offers a thumbnail sketch of the first four months of the Civil War, which had passed by the time he arrived. At this point, Francisco Franco had not yet assumed supreme command, nor had he amalgamated the different political factions of the Nationalists under his personal control. As a result, the Nationalist military was organized in a fragmented and ad hoc manner. (The Republican military was too, but the Nationalists were much better as the war progressed at welding together the disparate components of their forces, helped by not being subject to the Moscow-directed purging that bled the Republicans.) The core of the Nationalist fighting forces was the Army of Africa, consisting of most of Spain’s land forces that actually had experience fighting. One part of this was the Spanish Foreign Legion (which meant Spaniards fighting abroad, in Africa; it was not a collective of foreigners, like the French Foreign Legion). The other was native Moroccans, the Regulares. Two political parties also raised separate forces. The first was the Carlists, one branch of the Spanish monarchists (favoring a king other than Alfonso XIII, who had resigned in 1931 to avoid the civil war being fomented by the Left). The Carlists were dominant in the north of Spain, in Navarre and the Basque provinces, and were old-fashioned, happy to die for King and country. The second was the Falange, the small Spanish fascist political party, who had little in common politically with the Carlists (and in fact in later years squabbled violently with the Carlists). Franco, of course, was not a fascist or a member of the Falange; most Nationalist military officers were not political.
Kemp joined the Carlist forces, the Requetés. The Falange Kemp treats with some disdain; he seems to regard them as less than competent, brave enough but prone to scheming in preference to honest fighting, and too often substituting ideology for honor. And he was warned away from joining the Legion, which was regarded as extremely tough and demanding, and less than welcoming to a foreigner who spoke no Spanish. So the Carlists it was, and they were very welcoming, if highly informal, bordering on lax, in their organization.
From here, Mine Were of Trouble is personal narrative of Kemp’s experiences. For the most part, the Spaniards were glad to have him fighting with them, though sometimes he was the target of suspicion from military bureaucrats. He fought with the Carlists in various skirmishes and battles, including the Battle of Jarama (February 1937) and the Battle of Santander (July 1937). He very much enjoyed his time with the Carlists, and was quickly promoted to alférez, a junior officer rank, sometimes translated “sub-lieutenant,” meaning in practice he commanded part of a platoon, apparently ten to twenty men at a time. But he disliked the Carlists’ lack of discipline and technical training; they substituted suicidal courage for better entrenchments and the use of modern guns and gun techniques. Kemp wanted to learn “first-class soldiering.” So late in 1937 he joined the Legion.
The Legion was divided into twenty banderas, and Kemp was assigned to the 14th, a new bandera composed of disparate parts. His welcome was frosty—he was viewed with suspicion, as a foreigner, and as a Protestant, something the Legionnaires associated with Freemasonry, one of the main avenues by which leftist poison had entered the Spanish body politic. Still, using time-honored tools to overcome such military suspicion, hard work and bravery, Kemp soon enough became accepted by his men, and by most of the officers, even though some of the latter never warmed to him, less from suspicion and more because they felt he could never truly understand the existential evil of the Spanish Left, which drove many of them personally, since nearly all had had relatives murdered in Republican-held Spain. Kemp led a machine-gun platoon, with four obsolete guns with zero spare parts as their only rapid-fire weapons, so soon enough, it was three guns, and then one. In November 1937, his unit moved southeast, to the Guadalajara front close to Madrid, as the Nationalists successfully liberated more and more of Spain.
The book’s narrative is compelling, and not just the battle scenes. Kemp does an excellent job of describing the landscape of the various areas in which he spent time, initially in the north, and later both west and east of Madrid. The reader gets a good feel, in particular, for the rugged nature of much of the terrain. He also describes the towns and villages in which he was billeted (as with most wars, waiting occupied much of his time), as well as their inhabitants, nearly all of whom strongly supported the Nationalists, both in general and especially after roving bands of Republican militias had come through early in the war, tortured the local priest to death, killed other citizens, and moved on. At no point does the book drag. You might even call it a page-turner.
Occasionally Kemp diverges to discuss events to which he was not personally a witness. Notably, he discusses the April 1937 bombing of Guernica, which took place not far from where he was then stationed, and was the supreme propaganda triumph of the Communists and their international supporters during the entire war. Kemp strongly believed that the Republicans burned the town themselves, as they had many other towns from which they had been expelled. That was the Nationalist line at the time, in opposition to the massive global campaign spreading the lie that the Nationalists, with the help of the Germans, had bombed a non-military target to terrorize the population. No doubt Guernica was a wholly legitimate target, and the bombing wholly appropriate, if not executed entirely competently. (Bombing civilian towns without a military presence was actually a Republican specialty; Kemp notes that early in the war, Toledo, a Nationalist town, had been so attacked.) But objective modern historians (as opposed to Communist mouthpieces like Paul Preston) generally conclude that the Nationalists were lying that the destruction was caused by the Republicans burning the town, in a crude and unsuccessful attempt to counter Republican propaganda.
Kemp offers all his experiences with no sugarcoating. In the Legion, there was extremely rigid discipline, with corporal punishment for minor infractions and the death penalty for any insubordination. The good result of this was that looting and rape, commonly committed by Republican forces, was nonexistent. The bad result was that in Kemp’s bandera, though it was against Nationalist policy, many prisoners, and all of certain categories, were shot out of hand. Those categories included members of the International Brigades, blamed for prolonging the war by preventing the early liberation of Madrid. Of course, Kemp would have been shot too if captured; he knew that at the time, and he quotes a British captain in the International Brigades whom he talked to after the war who leaves no doubt.
Early in the war, both the Republicans and the Nationalists took few prisoners, but by this point the Nationalists had mostly stopped that practice, and the Republicans, consistently losing, didn’t capture that many fresh prisoners, having murdered most of them already, along with any Nationalists they could find in the cities, towns, and villages they controlled. (Kemp notes that when international bodies such as the Non-Intervention Commission began to organize prisoner exchanges, they found almost no Nationalist prisoners held by the Republicans, and large numbers of Republicans held by the Nationalists.) Tactically, of course, this is a poor decision—as Niall Ferguson wrote in The Pity of War, refusing to accept surrenders needlessly prolongs wars. Regardless, Kemp thought that his own superior officers were perniciously fond of killing prisoners, and relates at horrified length how an Irish deserter from the International Brigades presented himself, claiming he had been impressed into the Brigades. Kemp got permission from his immediate superiors to send the Irishman away as a POW, but the colonel above them curtly ordered Kemp to shoot the prisoner, which he did (or rather he had two of his men do it), something he found extremely difficult.
Back at the front, the war ground on and the Nationalists implemented Franco’s slow strategy. (It was later called plodding and unimaginative, which perhaps it was, and also called an attempt to kill as many Communists as possible, which perhaps it also was. We’ll never know; Franco was famously taciturn.) Kemp fought in the Battle of Teruel, which was bitter and more of the same, featuring hand-to-hand fighting in olive groves and the intermittent appearance of light tanks, often turning the tide at the last minute, including once when Kemp’s unit was about to be overrun. Many of Kemp’s friends died; he gives full credit to his opponents for bravery and competence.
He was stationed for a few weeks in Belchite, a village that had been destroyed earlier, which was left destroyed after the war and was used as the backdrop for the BBC series The Spanish Civil War. It is here, late in the book, where the most jarring passage of book occurs. Kemp relates how four Western journalist friends of his, two American and two British, were driving near the battle when a shell hit their car. Three were killed. The fourth, the survivor, he mentions only here: Kim Philby. Of course, in 1957, when this book was published, Kemp could not have known that Philby, a traitor since the 1920s, was one of the most evil men of the twentieth century, responsible, directly or indirectly, for the deaths of millions. He was in Nationalist Spain masquerading as a journalist in order to spy for the Communists, and in fact this incident, since it brought him to the favorable attention of the Nationalist authorities, strengthened his ability to spy, bringing him into direct contact with Franco, with the goal of furthering Franco’s assassination by the Communists. But Kemp knew none of this. It is strange how history works, and how it could have been different had we been more lucky, and Philby killed in 1937.
Kemp was wounded several times, and had to recuperate, but was back in action by May 1938. Not for long, though. Fighting near Aragon in July, a mortar bomb exploded next to him, shattering his jaw and hand, burning his throat, and nearly killing him. Recuperating for months, he asked permission for leave to return to England to convalesce, which was granted. First, however, Franco asked to see him, and he had a thirty-minute interview, consisting mostly of Franco talking about the dangers of Communism. Franco concluded by asking Kemp what he would do after the war, to which Kemp said presumably he would fight in the British military “in the coming war.” Franco responded, with a “wintry smile,” “I don’t think there will be a war,” to which Kemp’s response was, “I wonder what he really thought.” By March 1939, the Spanish war was over, and Kemp did not return to Spain for some time, although he fought with great distinction in World War II and thereafter. But that is another story, told by Kemp in other books.
[Review completes as first comment.]
Peter Kemp was born in India in 1915; his father was a judge in what was then called Bombay. As I have covered at great length elsewhere, the Spanish situation deteriorated from 1933 through 1936 (really 1931 through 1936, as the Spanish Left attempted to consolidate permanent power). During this time, Kemp was studying at Cambridge to be a lawyer. His politics appear to have been quite conservative, but he makes only passing reference to his own beliefs. Kemp’s main reason for going to Spain seems to have been a desire common among young men throughout history, to seek adventure through warfare, although he was also horrified at the widespread atrocities of the Spanish Left immediately prior to the Civil War. He acknowledges his desire in the title, which comes from an A. E. Housman poem used as an epigraph: “The thoughts of others / Were light and fleeting, / Of lover’s meeting / Or luck, or fame / Mine were of trouble / And mine were steady, / So I was ready / When trouble came.” If he had been a man of the Left, no doubt he would have joined the International Brigades, the collective organization of those non-Spaniards who fought for the Spanish Communists, the Republicans.
It would have been far easier and socially acceptable for him to join the Republicans, too, since they had an active, successful, and extremely well-funded propaganda operation that blanketed Europe, while the Nationalists made almost no effort to persuade others, aside from occasionally arranging curated tours for newspapermen, incorrectly believing their cause was self-proving or that foreign opinion was unimportant. Thus, polite opinion in England favored the Republicans, something that troubled Kemp not at all. His complete lack of Spanish did not deter him either. And in those days before the overweening state presumed to dictate to us the smallest details of our lives, it was easy enough to go fight in a foreign war. True, as today, the Left was better organized, and every country in Europe had official, open recruiting stations for the International Brigades. Kemp simply got a letter from a newspaper editor friend saying that he was authorized to send back wire copy, as a cover story, and off he went across the French frontier.
This was November 1936. Kemp offers a thumbnail sketch of the first four months of the Civil War, which had passed by the time he arrived. At this point, Francisco Franco had not yet assumed supreme command, nor had he amalgamated the different political factions of the Nationalists under his personal control. As a result, the Nationalist military was organized in a fragmented and ad hoc manner. (The Republican military was too, but the Nationalists were much better as the war progressed at welding together the disparate components of their forces, helped by not being subject to the Moscow-directed purging that bled the Republicans.) The core of the Nationalist fighting forces was the Army of Africa, consisting of most of Spain’s land forces that actually had experience fighting. One part of this was the Spanish Foreign Legion (which meant Spaniards fighting abroad, in Africa; it was not a collective of foreigners, like the French Foreign Legion). The other was native Moroccans, the Regulares. Two political parties also raised separate forces. The first was the Carlists, one branch of the Spanish monarchists (favoring a king other than Alfonso XIII, who had resigned in 1931 to avoid the civil war being fomented by the Left). The Carlists were dominant in the north of Spain, in Navarre and the Basque provinces, and were old-fashioned, happy to die for King and country. The second was the Falange, the small Spanish fascist political party, who had little in common politically with the Carlists (and in fact in later years squabbled violently with the Carlists). Franco, of course, was not a fascist or a member of the Falange; most Nationalist military officers were not political.
Kemp joined the Carlist forces, the Requetés. The Falange Kemp treats with some disdain; he seems to regard them as less than competent, brave enough but prone to scheming in preference to honest fighting, and too often substituting ideology for honor. And he was warned away from joining the Legion, which was regarded as extremely tough and demanding, and less than welcoming to a foreigner who spoke no Spanish. So the Carlists it was, and they were very welcoming, if highly informal, bordering on lax, in their organization.
From here, Mine Were of Trouble is personal narrative of Kemp’s experiences. For the most part, the Spaniards were glad to have him fighting with them, though sometimes he was the target of suspicion from military bureaucrats. He fought with the Carlists in various skirmishes and battles, including the Battle of Jarama (February 1937) and the Battle of Santander (July 1937). He very much enjoyed his time with the Carlists, and was quickly promoted to alférez, a junior officer rank, sometimes translated “sub-lieutenant,” meaning in practice he commanded part of a platoon, apparently ten to twenty men at a time. But he disliked the Carlists’ lack of discipline and technical training; they substituted suicidal courage for better entrenchments and the use of modern guns and gun techniques. Kemp wanted to learn “first-class soldiering.” So late in 1937 he joined the Legion.
The Legion was divided into twenty banderas, and Kemp was assigned to the 14th, a new bandera composed of disparate parts. His welcome was frosty—he was viewed with suspicion, as a foreigner, and as a Protestant, something the Legionnaires associated with Freemasonry, one of the main avenues by which leftist poison had entered the Spanish body politic. Still, using time-honored tools to overcome such military suspicion, hard work and bravery, Kemp soon enough became accepted by his men, and by most of the officers, even though some of the latter never warmed to him, less from suspicion and more because they felt he could never truly understand the existential evil of the Spanish Left, which drove many of them personally, since nearly all had had relatives murdered in Republican-held Spain. Kemp led a machine-gun platoon, with four obsolete guns with zero spare parts as their only rapid-fire weapons, so soon enough, it was three guns, and then one. In November 1937, his unit moved southeast, to the Guadalajara front close to Madrid, as the Nationalists successfully liberated more and more of Spain.
The book’s narrative is compelling, and not just the battle scenes. Kemp does an excellent job of describing the landscape of the various areas in which he spent time, initially in the north, and later both west and east of Madrid. The reader gets a good feel, in particular, for the rugged nature of much of the terrain. He also describes the towns and villages in which he was billeted (as with most wars, waiting occupied much of his time), as well as their inhabitants, nearly all of whom strongly supported the Nationalists, both in general and especially after roving bands of Republican militias had come through early in the war, tortured the local priest to death, killed other citizens, and moved on. At no point does the book drag. You might even call it a page-turner.
Occasionally Kemp diverges to discuss events to which he was not personally a witness. Notably, he discusses the April 1937 bombing of Guernica, which took place not far from where he was then stationed, and was the supreme propaganda triumph of the Communists and their international supporters during the entire war. Kemp strongly believed that the Republicans burned the town themselves, as they had many other towns from which they had been expelled. That was the Nationalist line at the time, in opposition to the massive global campaign spreading the lie that the Nationalists, with the help of the Germans, had bombed a non-military target to terrorize the population. No doubt Guernica was a wholly legitimate target, and the bombing wholly appropriate, if not executed entirely competently. (Bombing civilian towns without a military presence was actually a Republican specialty; Kemp notes that early in the war, Toledo, a Nationalist town, had been so attacked.) But objective modern historians (as opposed to Communist mouthpieces like Paul Preston) generally conclude that the Nationalists were lying that the destruction was caused by the Republicans burning the town, in a crude and unsuccessful attempt to counter Republican propaganda.
Kemp offers all his experiences with no sugarcoating. In the Legion, there was extremely rigid discipline, with corporal punishment for minor infractions and the death penalty for any insubordination. The good result of this was that looting and rape, commonly committed by Republican forces, was nonexistent. The bad result was that in Kemp’s bandera, though it was against Nationalist policy, many prisoners, and all of certain categories, were shot out of hand. Those categories included members of the International Brigades, blamed for prolonging the war by preventing the early liberation of Madrid. Of course, Kemp would have been shot too if captured; he knew that at the time, and he quotes a British captain in the International Brigades whom he talked to after the war who leaves no doubt.
Early in the war, both the Republicans and the Nationalists took few prisoners, but by this point the Nationalists had mostly stopped that practice, and the Republicans, consistently losing, didn’t capture that many fresh prisoners, having murdered most of them already, along with any Nationalists they could find in the cities, towns, and villages they controlled. (Kemp notes that when international bodies such as the Non-Intervention Commission began to organize prisoner exchanges, they found almost no Nationalist prisoners held by the Republicans, and large numbers of Republicans held by the Nationalists.) Tactically, of course, this is a poor decision—as Niall Ferguson wrote in The Pity of War, refusing to accept surrenders needlessly prolongs wars. Regardless, Kemp thought that his own superior officers were perniciously fond of killing prisoners, and relates at horrified length how an Irish deserter from the International Brigades presented himself, claiming he had been impressed into the Brigades. Kemp got permission from his immediate superiors to send the Irishman away as a POW, but the colonel above them curtly ordered Kemp to shoot the prisoner, which he did (or rather he had two of his men do it), something he found extremely difficult.
Back at the front, the war ground on and the Nationalists implemented Franco’s slow strategy. (It was later called plodding and unimaginative, which perhaps it was, and also called an attempt to kill as many Communists as possible, which perhaps it also was. We’ll never know; Franco was famously taciturn.) Kemp fought in the Battle of Teruel, which was bitter and more of the same, featuring hand-to-hand fighting in olive groves and the intermittent appearance of light tanks, often turning the tide at the last minute, including once when Kemp’s unit was about to be overrun. Many of Kemp’s friends died; he gives full credit to his opponents for bravery and competence.
He was stationed for a few weeks in Belchite, a village that had been destroyed earlier, which was left destroyed after the war and was used as the backdrop for the BBC series The Spanish Civil War. It is here, late in the book, where the most jarring passage of book occurs. Kemp relates how four Western journalist friends of his, two American and two British, were driving near the battle when a shell hit their car. Three were killed. The fourth, the survivor, he mentions only here: Kim Philby. Of course, in 1957, when this book was published, Kemp could not have known that Philby, a traitor since the 1920s, was one of the most evil men of the twentieth century, responsible, directly or indirectly, for the deaths of millions. He was in Nationalist Spain masquerading as a journalist in order to spy for the Communists, and in fact this incident, since it brought him to the favorable attention of the Nationalist authorities, strengthened his ability to spy, bringing him into direct contact with Franco, with the goal of furthering Franco’s assassination by the Communists. But Kemp knew none of this. It is strange how history works, and how it could have been different had we been more lucky, and Philby killed in 1937.
Kemp was wounded several times, and had to recuperate, but was back in action by May 1938. Not for long, though. Fighting near Aragon in July, a mortar bomb exploded next to him, shattering his jaw and hand, burning his throat, and nearly killing him. Recuperating for months, he asked permission for leave to return to England to convalesce, which was granted. First, however, Franco asked to see him, and he had a thirty-minute interview, consisting mostly of Franco talking about the dangers of Communism. Franco concluded by asking Kemp what he would do after the war, to which Kemp said presumably he would fight in the British military “in the coming war.” Franco responded, with a “wintry smile,” “I don’t think there will be a war,” to which Kemp’s response was, “I wonder what he really thought.” By March 1939, the Spanish war was over, and Kemp did not return to Spain for some time, although he fought with great distinction in World War II and thereafter. But that is another story, told by Kemp in other books.
[Review completes as first comment.]
May 15, 2020
‘This place is full of Fascists!’
December 6, 2021
2.5 stars. This is worth reading if simply for the perspective it gives but the author for no fault of his own produces a painfully biased perspective. Y'know because he's fighting for Fascists. Reading between the lines makes things particular obvious the rose colored glasses Kemp is using while writing this account decades after it happens. Defining men he served alongside during the war as "good hearted" or "good natured" despite them gunning down men who had surrendered to them. Sure Kemp protested some of this but eventually accepts it (to my own disgust). Furthermore Kemp perhaps unknowingly demonizes the Republican side of the war while framing every encounter with people on the Nationalist side as being good and them being grateful for him fighting for their side. It should be noted and expected to be understood that both sides committed atrocities during the civil war. I couldn't help but notice that the majority of people he encountered we're either A) petty aristocrats in some form who very obviously would feel threatened by a communist government or B) peasants and volunteers who were likely serving for the Nationalists because wherever they were from supported that side first.
At the end of the day it's important to remember that Kemp willingly and happily volunteered to serve and fight for a Fascist regime and perhaps ironically would go on later to fight against one. I am glad this is again in print (other reviewers think leftists drove it from print to which I am thoroughly confused and laughed at) if only so that I could get this perspective of the war. I can't say I sympathize for the Nationalists however in any way shape or form and personally I agree with the father at the start of Kemp's story who tried to convince Kemp to not fight at all.
At the end of the day it's important to remember that Kemp willingly and happily volunteered to serve and fight for a Fascist regime and perhaps ironically would go on later to fight against one. I am glad this is again in print (other reviewers think leftists drove it from print to which I am thoroughly confused and laughed at) if only so that I could get this perspective of the war. I can't say I sympathize for the Nationalists however in any way shape or form and personally I agree with the father at the start of Kemp's story who tried to convince Kemp to not fight at all.
April 19, 2020
Great war account, told from a unique perspective.
January 11, 2021
Very informative, I’ve rarely read anything from the Nationalist point of view. I do wish Kemp had included some of his reflections regarding his philosophy of war, his ideologies, but maybe I’m just being picky. Overall a pleasant and refreshing read.
April 11, 2020
Buy buy buy
August 1, 2021
Lively Spanish Civil War memoirs by a british soldier of fortune. Can't find a lot of such accounts from Franco's side nowadays. Hence a mustread.
August 17, 2020
It was a little more than 2 weeks ago that I became aware of the book "Mine Were of Trouble." It is Peter Kemp's memoir detailing his experiences as a officer in the Nationalist Army during the Spanish Civil War. Kemp was a recent graduate of Cambridge University, where he had studied law, when the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936. It was a war in which the Republican government (a popularly elected leftist government which drew support from workers and the Communist Party) in Madrid was pitted against a coterie of high ranking Spanish Army officers who formed the Nationalist faction, which was dedicated to overthrowing the Republicans and putting Spain back on a more conservative and traditional footing.
Many people throughout the world were deeply moved by the events in Spain. Indeed, many of them flocked to join the Republicans. This led to the development of the International Brigades, who fought bravely in battle for the Republican government. Peter Kemp was among those foreigners who went to Spain to fight on behalf of the Nationalists. Kemp, who been a student member of the Conservative Party while at Cambridge, was a staunch anti-Communist who saw the war in Spain as a crusade against the expansion of Communism in Europe.
Most memoirs about the Spanish Civil War I've come across were written by men and women who sympathized with and supported the Republican government in Madrid. I felt as if I had struck gold when I found Peter Kemp's book because memoirs from foreigners who supported the Nationalists are scarcer than a needle in a haystack! So, my curiosity was deeply aroused and eagerly I read of Kemp's combat experiences with the Requetés militia and later with the Spanish Foreign Legion, an elite unit within the Spanish military.
What was surprising to me is that Kemp arrived in Spain in December 1936 knowing no Spanish. But within the next 3 years, he would acquire fluency in Spanish and become intimately connected with Spain through contacts with fellow soldiers and people who befriended him there, both Spanish and foreign. Indeed, Kemp would become an officer and would sustain grievous wounds in the summer of 1938 while leading a platoon in a major offensive launched by the Nationalists under General Francisco Franco, which - with an overwhelming number of aircraft, artillery, tanks, and troops - would shatter Republican defenses and bring about the cutting of Republican Spain in two. The success of this offensive would help hasten the end of the war, which resulted in a Nationalist victory in March 1939.
"MINE WERE OF TROUBLE" is a book I would highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that was a dress rehearsal for the Second World War that would break out little more than 5 months after Nationalist forces entered Madrid in triumph. Kemp effectively conveys both the tensions and savagery of the war among Spaniards and foreigners alike. One particular tale Kemp related of his unit's having apprehended a deserter from the Republican side - an Irish seaman from Belfast who ended up marooned in Spain after he failed to meet up with his ship before it sailed away and for his pains, was impressed into the Republican Army - who only wanted out of the war and to return home. Well, let me just say that he was given an "out" by the Nationalists, but not what he or Kemp would have wished.
Many people throughout the world were deeply moved by the events in Spain. Indeed, many of them flocked to join the Republicans. This led to the development of the International Brigades, who fought bravely in battle for the Republican government. Peter Kemp was among those foreigners who went to Spain to fight on behalf of the Nationalists. Kemp, who been a student member of the Conservative Party while at Cambridge, was a staunch anti-Communist who saw the war in Spain as a crusade against the expansion of Communism in Europe.
Most memoirs about the Spanish Civil War I've come across were written by men and women who sympathized with and supported the Republican government in Madrid. I felt as if I had struck gold when I found Peter Kemp's book because memoirs from foreigners who supported the Nationalists are scarcer than a needle in a haystack! So, my curiosity was deeply aroused and eagerly I read of Kemp's combat experiences with the Requetés militia and later with the Spanish Foreign Legion, an elite unit within the Spanish military.
What was surprising to me is that Kemp arrived in Spain in December 1936 knowing no Spanish. But within the next 3 years, he would acquire fluency in Spanish and become intimately connected with Spain through contacts with fellow soldiers and people who befriended him there, both Spanish and foreign. Indeed, Kemp would become an officer and would sustain grievous wounds in the summer of 1938 while leading a platoon in a major offensive launched by the Nationalists under General Francisco Franco, which - with an overwhelming number of aircraft, artillery, tanks, and troops - would shatter Republican defenses and bring about the cutting of Republican Spain in two. The success of this offensive would help hasten the end of the war, which resulted in a Nationalist victory in March 1939.
"MINE WERE OF TROUBLE" is a book I would highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that was a dress rehearsal for the Second World War that would break out little more than 5 months after Nationalist forces entered Madrid in triumph. Kemp effectively conveys both the tensions and savagery of the war among Spaniards and foreigners alike. One particular tale Kemp related of his unit's having apprehended a deserter from the Republican side - an Irish seaman from Belfast who ended up marooned in Spain after he failed to meet up with his ship before it sailed away and for his pains, was impressed into the Republican Army - who only wanted out of the war and to return home. Well, let me just say that he was given an "out" by the Nationalists, but not what he or Kemp would have wished.
July 9, 2021
The overwhelming majority of people who have read anything about the Spanish Civil War written by one who participated have read Hemingway or Orwell. Almost nobody reads anything written by anyone who served on the Nationalist side. This excellent memoir is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the conflict who wants to get a view from what was after all the winning side. In the case of the Spanish Civil War the old saying about history being written by the victors is of course stood on its head: almost everything we have, at least in English, is written by the losers.
Kemp saw a great deal of action and was severely wounded in one action fought – ironically enough – against fellow Britons serving with the International Brigades. (Kemp’s battalion was destroyed in this action and he was extremely lucky to survive – not least because had he been captured he would have been shot – as one of his former opponents informed him when they met in England after the war).
Kemp acknowledges Nationalist war crimes – he was himself forced to execute a prisoner on one occasion – but he also gives an interesting corrective to the Republican propaganda (which he also acknowledges was far more effective). Guernica is of course infamous, but how many know that the first aerial bombing of civilians in open towns was carried out by Republicans at Toledo? The majority of the civilians Kemp encountered were clearly sympathetic to the Nationalists, and the evidence of widespread Republican atrocities, especially the murder of priests and nuns and the wholesale destruction of churches, is painful to read.
However, where this memoir excels is in the descriptions of battle – Kemp’s experiences were amazingly intense – and also in his very effective (and frequently waspish) pen portraits of his brother officers, and his affectionate descriptions of the soldiers with whom he served. The book is not without humour – whether describing his cavalry charge against what turns out to be a herd of goats, or the effects of trying to sleep in a barn crowded with soldiers who have just dined on a heavy meal of beans. The story of the irate Italian, refused admittance to an overcrowded night club, who climbed into his tank and knocked down the door – to pirouette round the dance floor in his machine – also made me laugh. (Kemp doesn’t say, but it must have been one of the Italian L35 tankettes, which were very diminutive, and would have presented a most comical appearance in these circumstances).
Kemp saw a great deal of action and was severely wounded in one action fought – ironically enough – against fellow Britons serving with the International Brigades. (Kemp’s battalion was destroyed in this action and he was extremely lucky to survive – not least because had he been captured he would have been shot – as one of his former opponents informed him when they met in England after the war).
Kemp acknowledges Nationalist war crimes – he was himself forced to execute a prisoner on one occasion – but he also gives an interesting corrective to the Republican propaganda (which he also acknowledges was far more effective). Guernica is of course infamous, but how many know that the first aerial bombing of civilians in open towns was carried out by Republicans at Toledo? The majority of the civilians Kemp encountered were clearly sympathetic to the Nationalists, and the evidence of widespread Republican atrocities, especially the murder of priests and nuns and the wholesale destruction of churches, is painful to read.
However, where this memoir excels is in the descriptions of battle – Kemp’s experiences were amazingly intense – and also in his very effective (and frequently waspish) pen portraits of his brother officers, and his affectionate descriptions of the soldiers with whom he served. The book is not without humour – whether describing his cavalry charge against what turns out to be a herd of goats, or the effects of trying to sleep in a barn crowded with soldiers who have just dined on a heavy meal of beans. The story of the irate Italian, refused admittance to an overcrowded night club, who climbed into his tank and knocked down the door – to pirouette round the dance floor in his machine – also made me laugh. (Kemp doesn’t say, but it must have been one of the Italian L35 tankettes, which were very diminutive, and would have presented a most comical appearance in these circumstances).
May 23, 2022
This book was completely unknown to me until I started being recommended it by various anonymous accounts on Twitter. My curiosity peaked after I had heard the general theme of it; and I must say, I am extremely glad that I took the decision to buy and read it.
This is arguably one of the most interesting, thrilling, and charming books I have ever read, and most certainly is a contender for my favourite of the year. The author, Peter Kemp, has a superb skill for structure, detail, and storytelling that makes it extremely difficult to put this book down. It gives you just enough detail to help you understand the situations he was in without being too heavy-handed and boring. At some moments, 'Mine Were of Trouble' reads almost like an adventure book; not because the events are so unbelievable, but because of the great lengths the author went to describe the acts of heroism and horror he saw in real life.
The book tells the true story of the experiences of Peter Kemp (the author), a 21-year-old English law student who was so moved by the stories coming to Britain of the horrors experienced by Catholic priests at the hands of the Republicans, that he decided to join the Carlists (a monarchist faction within the Nationalist army during the Spanish civil war). The book does not read like a diary, and instead is more of a lengthy account of his entire time before and during his service in the Spanish Nationalist military.
The true tales told by Kemp range from the humourous and charming to the horrendous and despicably ugly. At times during the book I was chuckling, and at other times I was almost crying. The book is not attempting to engender these emotions within you, it is simply telling you the story of Kemp's fascinating journey through the civil war. It serves to remind us all that not all of war is horror; and not all of war is camaraderie, fun, and games.
This book has generated within me a great desire for travel and escapades. I would sincerely recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and politics of inter-war Europe and the Spanish civil war. I would also recommend this book to anyone interested in the concepts of masculinity, heroism, and the call to adventure. Whilst not saying it directly, Kemp touches on all of these topics in great detail. His time and actions in Spain reflect his values of faith, honour, courage, and compassion. This book has served as a great insight for me into all of these topics, and I am sure that it would do the same for you.
This is arguably one of the most interesting, thrilling, and charming books I have ever read, and most certainly is a contender for my favourite of the year. The author, Peter Kemp, has a superb skill for structure, detail, and storytelling that makes it extremely difficult to put this book down. It gives you just enough detail to help you understand the situations he was in without being too heavy-handed and boring. At some moments, 'Mine Were of Trouble' reads almost like an adventure book; not because the events are so unbelievable, but because of the great lengths the author went to describe the acts of heroism and horror he saw in real life.
The book tells the true story of the experiences of Peter Kemp (the author), a 21-year-old English law student who was so moved by the stories coming to Britain of the horrors experienced by Catholic priests at the hands of the Republicans, that he decided to join the Carlists (a monarchist faction within the Nationalist army during the Spanish civil war). The book does not read like a diary, and instead is more of a lengthy account of his entire time before and during his service in the Spanish Nationalist military.
The true tales told by Kemp range from the humourous and charming to the horrendous and despicably ugly. At times during the book I was chuckling, and at other times I was almost crying. The book is not attempting to engender these emotions within you, it is simply telling you the story of Kemp's fascinating journey through the civil war. It serves to remind us all that not all of war is horror; and not all of war is camaraderie, fun, and games.
This book has generated within me a great desire for travel and escapades. I would sincerely recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and politics of inter-war Europe and the Spanish civil war. I would also recommend this book to anyone interested in the concepts of masculinity, heroism, and the call to adventure. Whilst not saying it directly, Kemp touches on all of these topics in great detail. His time and actions in Spain reflect his values of faith, honour, courage, and compassion. This book has served as a great insight for me into all of these topics, and I am sure that it would do the same for you.
December 3, 2020
This book felt more like a travel guide than a war diary a lot of the time, and that was great. It's pretty much a fascist The Hobbit in which good-natured life-enjoyer Peter Kemp gets swept by wanderlust and travels through the untamed wilderness, quaint townships, and majestic imperial ruins of sunny Spain, where he encounters a plethora of colourful characters in a variety of military units and gets to watch them die violently. I especially liked the parts where every third person he meets is some kind of petty aristocrat, the landscape just peppered with counts and barons like a good romantic knight's tale. It paints you a picture of a lost world, the old Europe that was broken in the Great War and erased in the second war, and makes you long to go back there. It's damned good writing that makes the reader experience FOMO for the Spanish Civil War, though I guess it helps if you're writing from the winner's perspective.
Besides the atmosphere, the storytelling and narrative are great, some of the battle scenes are really intense, and the finale where he has an audience with Franco is so strangely creepy, as if he were at the end of his trials and having tea with God (or Death), that I don't care whether he made it up. It's such a good way to end a fantastic adventure novel.
Besides the atmosphere, the storytelling and narrative are great, some of the battle scenes are really intense, and the finale where he has an audience with Franco is so strangely creepy, as if he were at the end of his trials and having tea with God (or Death), that I don't care whether he made it up. It's such a good way to end a fantastic adventure novel.
August 11, 2020
The Nationalist Homage to Catalonia. Heavy on the campaign history; you'll want a good map of Spain as you read along. Some editions have them, so check reviews if you're buying a print copy.
Details of Kemp's narrative corroborate Orwell's, especially when it comes to the dispositions of the competing forces: combat doctrines, esprit de corps, materiel, etc.
Kemp's tale of sacrifice and suffering is counterpointed by the pleasures of 1930s Spain. It's half gritty war memoir and half jaunty travelogue. Kemp was a born warrior of the British officer class. A breed well known to imperial-era literature, but now passed into extinction.
Details of Kemp's narrative corroborate Orwell's, especially when it comes to the dispositions of the competing forces: combat doctrines, esprit de corps, materiel, etc.
Kemp's tale of sacrifice and suffering is counterpointed by the pleasures of 1930s Spain. It's half gritty war memoir and half jaunty travelogue. Kemp was a born warrior of the British officer class. A breed well known to imperial-era literature, but now passed into extinction.
June 9, 2020
Peter Kemp is an Englishman who served as a junior officer in the Spanish Civil War -- on the Nationalist side.
This doesn't go deeply into the causes of the war (which are complex), and is primarily told about activities which a single junior officer directly saw (with some other parts, for instance the Guernica incident, where propaganda widely believed was incorrect).
It was pretty interesting how easily one could slip across borders and participate in conflicts internationally at the time. Far more common on the Republican/communist side, but until closer to the end of the war, international border controls were lax.
Kemp is primarily an adventurer and writing well about interesting situations, rather than one of truly great fiction writers of history (such as Hemingway), but the writing is quite good, honest, and the book is easy to follow. Unlike a lot of war writers, he writes about direct experiences without becoming overly gory, yet doesn't avoid dealing with greater philosophical issues than just direct experience. Pretty much the perfect war memoir.
One of the striking aspects of the book is just how much better the International Brigades (i.e. international communism) was at media and international recruiting than the Nationalists. The Nationalists had some limited support from Germany and Italy (mainly to test weapons), but fairly limited organic support by international individuals, and almost none from Anglo-American sphere (and this little written in English). This included stupidly not supporting press visits (they were all viewed as spies by the Nationalists), ensuring they were covered badly (either ignored or made to appear evil).
The actual war itself was, like many civil wars, incredibly dirty. Summary executions of many classes of combatants were standard (of all non-Spaniards by the Nationalists, and of most prisoners by the Republicans), and there was harsh discipline (execution for any insubordination) on the Nationalist side, and outright crime (rape, murder of civilians) on the Republican side.
It's always shocking to me that I own perfectly modern and functional firearms from the early 1900s, but even 5 year old elections are antiques. The equipment and techniques of war were just becoming modern at the time of the civil war (for weapons) -- with effective bombers, light artillery (vs. WW1-style mass artillery), effectively used light machine guns, etc., although there were pretty huge weaknesses in command and control (same as in WW1) which were not really brought up to modern standards until WW2 and Korea.
After the war (spoiler alert: Nationalists won), the author ended up working for the British SOE in Europe, incidentally acting against the Nationalist's former allies. Probably a warmer reception by the British Government than many would receive, and a sign of the enemy of one's enemy often still being entirely horrible.
Overall, this is an excellent book, fortunately brought back into print by a small press focused on such works.
This doesn't go deeply into the causes of the war (which are complex), and is primarily told about activities which a single junior officer directly saw (with some other parts, for instance the Guernica incident, where propaganda widely believed was incorrect).
It was pretty interesting how easily one could slip across borders and participate in conflicts internationally at the time. Far more common on the Republican/communist side, but until closer to the end of the war, international border controls were lax.
Kemp is primarily an adventurer and writing well about interesting situations, rather than one of truly great fiction writers of history (such as Hemingway), but the writing is quite good, honest, and the book is easy to follow. Unlike a lot of war writers, he writes about direct experiences without becoming overly gory, yet doesn't avoid dealing with greater philosophical issues than just direct experience. Pretty much the perfect war memoir.
One of the striking aspects of the book is just how much better the International Brigades (i.e. international communism) was at media and international recruiting than the Nationalists. The Nationalists had some limited support from Germany and Italy (mainly to test weapons), but fairly limited organic support by international individuals, and almost none from Anglo-American sphere (and this little written in English). This included stupidly not supporting press visits (they were all viewed as spies by the Nationalists), ensuring they were covered badly (either ignored or made to appear evil).
The actual war itself was, like many civil wars, incredibly dirty. Summary executions of many classes of combatants were standard (of all non-Spaniards by the Nationalists, and of most prisoners by the Republicans), and there was harsh discipline (execution for any insubordination) on the Nationalist side, and outright crime (rape, murder of civilians) on the Republican side.
It's always shocking to me that I own perfectly modern and functional firearms from the early 1900s, but even 5 year old elections are antiques. The equipment and techniques of war were just becoming modern at the time of the civil war (for weapons) -- with effective bombers, light artillery (vs. WW1-style mass artillery), effectively used light machine guns, etc., although there were pretty huge weaknesses in command and control (same as in WW1) which were not really brought up to modern standards until WW2 and Korea.
After the war (spoiler alert: Nationalists won), the author ended up working for the British SOE in Europe, incidentally acting against the Nationalist's former allies. Probably a warmer reception by the British Government than many would receive, and a sign of the enemy of one's enemy often still being entirely horrible.
Overall, this is an excellent book, fortunately brought back into print by a small press focused on such works.
June 17, 2021
The second published book by Mystery Grove Publishing Co. (strongly recommend all of their published books), Mine Were of Trouble is Peter Kemps' firsthand account of his time as a volunteer fighter for the nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War. Kemp first published this account in 1957, but has been out-of-print for decades, only to be brought back my Mystery Grove. This account is one of the few firsthand accounts of the nationalist side, and is one of the only firsthand accounts of a British volunteer. Extremely engaging, extremely well-written, and about a topic that not many know about. I strongly recommend picking this up and giving it a read.
September 22, 2020
Recommend this book to your friends.
October 17, 2021
I will make sure to read his other two war memoirs, I, personally, consider this the Storm of Steel of the Spanish civil war.
October 29, 2022
Interesting tale of young Peter Kemp joining the Nationalist cause during the Spanish Civil War despite knowing no Spanish. , how he made it across the Spain/France border (many different ways)learned the language, joined a Carlist unit before eventually transferring to the Spanish Foreign Legion. his near death experiences multiple times.
Lots of interesting anecdotes and people he meets… Mannerhiem’s newphew, Kim Philby (when Kemp writes the book in the 50s it is still unknown he was a communist spy), White Russians and a whole assortment of anti communists, conversely he thought that the toughest enemies were the International Brigades specifically Germans, who had no where else to go should the Republic Fall.
The most haunting part of the book is probably when they capture an Irish International Brigadier, despite Kemp’s protestations his Colonel orders the IBer shot and sent two of his guards to shoot Kemp if Kemp didn’t follow the Col’s orders to commit a war crime.
Lots of interesting anecdotes and people he meets… Mannerhiem’s newphew, Kim Philby (when Kemp writes the book in the 50s it is still unknown he was a communist spy), White Russians and a whole assortment of anti communists, conversely he thought that the toughest enemies were the International Brigades specifically Germans, who had no where else to go should the Republic Fall.
The most haunting part of the book is probably when they capture an Irish International Brigadier, despite Kemp’s protestations his Colonel orders the IBer shot and sent two of his guards to shoot Kemp if Kemp didn’t follow the Col’s orders to commit a war crime.
February 22, 2022
This is a very readable and important book. It is practically the only account we have of the Spanish Civil War told by an Englishman who was fighting on the Nationalist/Fascist rather than the Loyalist/Republican side. It serves as a mirror-image of George Orwell's A HOMAGE TO CATALONIA, and gives a fascinating and curiously even-handed account of the war. There is bias, of course, but the author tries hard to be fair and critical, and succeeds, I think, more than Orwell did in seeing a certain amount of virtue as well as a certain amount of villainy in both sides.
Peter Kemp was by his own words a restless, directionless English youth who had just come down from Caimbridge when the war in Spain broke out, and immediately endeavoured to join the Nationalists as a volunteer. He began by serving in the colorful Requeté militia, but eventually joined the Spanish Foreign Legion: as a result he saw considerable combat and was engaged in savage fighting on many occasions, suffering a number of wounds along the way. Kemp was neither a Fascist nor a Cathlolic and did not even speak Spanish when he arrived: his motivations were a combination of (admittedly simplistic) anti-communism and a desire for adventure. His writing shows little interest in politics beyond the historical, and neither blood thirst nor any actual personal dislike for his chosen enemies. MINE WERE OF TROUBLE is not romantic: Kemp is quite open about the fear he experienced in battle, the discomfort of fleas and lice, the exhaustion of long marches in intense heat, the nights men froze to death in the mountains from cold, and the horror of festering corpses and prisoners turning ashen as they realize they are about to be shot. As with any tale of a Foreign Legion, be it Spanish or French, he is also frank in discussing the casual brutality of its discipline and the draconian punishments meted out for even modest infractions (summary execution was the penalty for insubordination or cowardice; for most everything else, flogging or beatings). Indeed, his English modesty seems to compell him to confess every blunder and sin and downplay his own heroism: in one memorable instance he talks about how he forgot to release the safety catch on his pistol during hand-to-hand fighting and would have died had not his loyal men shot down his bayonet-wielding attacker. At the same time, his devotion is self-evident: on several occasions he smuggled himself out of Spain to visit England, but the idea of deserting and simply remaining at home never even seems to have occurred to him. He wanted to see the war through, and he did.
As I said, his story mirrors Orwell's, at least superficially, in many ways. Both were Englishmen who came to Spain and fought in the war; both were wounded in battle; both wrote accounts of their experiences which also include a historiography of the conflict. Orwell was of course the superior writer and had a much more sophisticated political education, but he saw much less combat (through no fault of his own) and his hatred of Fascism blinded him to the factional complexity of the Nationalist side, even though he was able to see the contradictions of his own with ruthless clarity. Neither endeavoured to write a book of propaganda, but Kemp felt compelled to dispute many of the atrocity claims laid at the feet of the Nationalists, and he is honest enough about things like the execution of Loyalist prisoners to make me believe he was at least trying to tell the truth as he experienced it. Now, the Spanish Civil War was one of incredible factional intricacy. The Loyalist (Left) side consisted of communists, anarchists, Trotskyists, Republicans, and God knows what else, all of whom disliked, feared and even hated each other. It was supported with equipment and advisers by Stalin, and its army by the International Brigades of foreign volunteers from all over the world. The Nationalist (Right) side was not less factionalized, though in the habit of right-wing movements it did not cannibalize itself the way the leftists always seem to: it consisted of monarchists, Fascists, nationalist/conservatives, traditionalists, and on a military plane, also had a lot of foreigners in its ranks, by virtue of the Army of Africa, which Franco brought with him from Spanish Morocco when the war began: also by the Spanish Foreign Legion. It was supported in turn by Hitler, who sent the Condor Legion, and Mussolini, who sent 20,000 soldiers. So...the reader can be forgiven if he is periodically confused that reality does not conform to something as simple as "North vs. South" or "Reds vs. Whites." However, Kemp does a credible job of keeping the central issues fairly clear.
The book is written in a simple, easygoing style. Kemp's only real flair for prose comes when he is describing the Spanish countryside or other things bound to tickle an Englishman's fancy. I read the book in three days and thoroughly enjoyed it, though some of the memories, such as the execution of a fellow Englishman who came over as a deserter from the International Brigades expecting mercy and got two rifle bullets in the back of his skull instead, are hard to stomach; to his credit, Kemp admits he could barely stand to write about them. If he did not always exercise the best judgment, he certainly lacks the sort of cruelty and indifference to suffering I have often found running through works of this type. Because of this, I am eager to read his other two works, NO COLOURS OR CREST and ALMS FOR OBLIVION. In the mean time, I have a better picture of the war sometimes referred to as "the dress-rehearsal of WW2."
Peter Kemp was by his own words a restless, directionless English youth who had just come down from Caimbridge when the war in Spain broke out, and immediately endeavoured to join the Nationalists as a volunteer. He began by serving in the colorful Requeté militia, but eventually joined the Spanish Foreign Legion: as a result he saw considerable combat and was engaged in savage fighting on many occasions, suffering a number of wounds along the way. Kemp was neither a Fascist nor a Cathlolic and did not even speak Spanish when he arrived: his motivations were a combination of (admittedly simplistic) anti-communism and a desire for adventure. His writing shows little interest in politics beyond the historical, and neither blood thirst nor any actual personal dislike for his chosen enemies. MINE WERE OF TROUBLE is not romantic: Kemp is quite open about the fear he experienced in battle, the discomfort of fleas and lice, the exhaustion of long marches in intense heat, the nights men froze to death in the mountains from cold, and the horror of festering corpses and prisoners turning ashen as they realize they are about to be shot. As with any tale of a Foreign Legion, be it Spanish or French, he is also frank in discussing the casual brutality of its discipline and the draconian punishments meted out for even modest infractions (summary execution was the penalty for insubordination or cowardice; for most everything else, flogging or beatings). Indeed, his English modesty seems to compell him to confess every blunder and sin and downplay his own heroism: in one memorable instance he talks about how he forgot to release the safety catch on his pistol during hand-to-hand fighting and would have died had not his loyal men shot down his bayonet-wielding attacker. At the same time, his devotion is self-evident: on several occasions he smuggled himself out of Spain to visit England, but the idea of deserting and simply remaining at home never even seems to have occurred to him. He wanted to see the war through, and he did.
As I said, his story mirrors Orwell's, at least superficially, in many ways. Both were Englishmen who came to Spain and fought in the war; both were wounded in battle; both wrote accounts of their experiences which also include a historiography of the conflict. Orwell was of course the superior writer and had a much more sophisticated political education, but he saw much less combat (through no fault of his own) and his hatred of Fascism blinded him to the factional complexity of the Nationalist side, even though he was able to see the contradictions of his own with ruthless clarity. Neither endeavoured to write a book of propaganda, but Kemp felt compelled to dispute many of the atrocity claims laid at the feet of the Nationalists, and he is honest enough about things like the execution of Loyalist prisoners to make me believe he was at least trying to tell the truth as he experienced it. Now, the Spanish Civil War was one of incredible factional intricacy. The Loyalist (Left) side consisted of communists, anarchists, Trotskyists, Republicans, and God knows what else, all of whom disliked, feared and even hated each other. It was supported with equipment and advisers by Stalin, and its army by the International Brigades of foreign volunteers from all over the world. The Nationalist (Right) side was not less factionalized, though in the habit of right-wing movements it did not cannibalize itself the way the leftists always seem to: it consisted of monarchists, Fascists, nationalist/conservatives, traditionalists, and on a military plane, also had a lot of foreigners in its ranks, by virtue of the Army of Africa, which Franco brought with him from Spanish Morocco when the war began: also by the Spanish Foreign Legion. It was supported in turn by Hitler, who sent the Condor Legion, and Mussolini, who sent 20,000 soldiers. So...the reader can be forgiven if he is periodically confused that reality does not conform to something as simple as "North vs. South" or "Reds vs. Whites." However, Kemp does a credible job of keeping the central issues fairly clear.
The book is written in a simple, easygoing style. Kemp's only real flair for prose comes when he is describing the Spanish countryside or other things bound to tickle an Englishman's fancy. I read the book in three days and thoroughly enjoyed it, though some of the memories, such as the execution of a fellow Englishman who came over as a deserter from the International Brigades expecting mercy and got two rifle bullets in the back of his skull instead, are hard to stomach; to his credit, Kemp admits he could barely stand to write about them. If he did not always exercise the best judgment, he certainly lacks the sort of cruelty and indifference to suffering I have often found running through works of this type. Because of this, I am eager to read his other two works, NO COLOURS OR CREST and ALMS FOR OBLIVION. In the mean time, I have a better picture of the war sometimes referred to as "the dress-rehearsal of WW2."
August 15, 2022
I had a review written, but I pressed a button and lost it. So, here's a short version. Good book about a nationalist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, which is a rare thing and should be read for that. The author has a tendency to go on rabbit trails, but it's bearable. There's not a lot of action, but there is a good bit towards the end. I would recommend reading it if you can, but there's no need to go out of your way to do so.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2020
Easily one of the most readable books on the Spanish Civil War I've read, largely thanks to Kemp's lovely turn of phrase. What makes this book stand out, too, is that it is told from an English volunteer who fought not to the Republican side but the Nationalist.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to broaden their knowledge of the War - for me it was something of a revelation.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to broaden their knowledge of the War - for me it was something of a revelation.
June 24, 2020
An engrossing read for what represents for many people “the other side of the story.”
December 2, 2020
It is the good book
April 24, 2021
What an excellent read. It had me glued to the book non stop since I opened it. Peter is not only a funny writer he is excellent when it comes to details of others character and settings as well as his experiences. You feel as though you are along for a young mans adventure through the spanish civil war right their with him every step of the way. If you love Historic Action and Adventure so far anything Mystery Grove Publishing has republished is for you. Very glad Peter Kempa writings ha e not been loss to the ages.
June 22, 2021
Very underrated and obscure piece of literature (out of print for over half a decade) about one of the most overlooked conflicts of the first half of the 20th century. Astoundingly objectiv and witty reporting of an Englishman in the turmoil of the spanish civil war.
January 9, 2021
Mine Were of Trouble : A Nationalist Account of the Spanish Civil War (1957) by Peter Kemp is an account of the Spanish Civil War from the Nationalist side. It’s a very interesting accompaniment to George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia.
Kemp had just finished Law and Classics at Cambridge and then volunteered to fight for the Nationalists in Spain. There were various other international volunteers for the Nationalist side but not nearly as many as for the Republicans. In parts of the book Kemp meets various foreign elites and has good food with them. The book veers between sounding like Brideshead Revisited and then describing combat.
Kemp describes those he fought with in detail, varying from praise to condemnation of various figure’s skills and personalities. Kemp fought longer than Orwell and also went on to fight in WWII for the British in SOE. By the time he wrote the book he was an accomplished soldier so his account should have some weight. Kemps account of how the Nationalist troops were equipped, the quality of their troops and the Italian and German forces who fought there and their strategies and tactics are also interesting. Toward the end of the war Kemp writes about how Franco’s forces used Blitzkrieg tactics effectively to win the war.
From Kemp and Orwell’s book it can be seen why the Nationalists won. Orwell writes extensively about the infighting between the POUM (Workers Party of Marxist Unification) and other factions, some controlled by the USSR. Kemp has a little of this, but part of the reorganisations, at least according to him were more about improving the fighting forces.
Kemp has a substantial amount about atrocities. Kemp believes that the Republic were worse and has numerous examples of where his troops went into villages where people had been executed. The treatment of POWs is also horrid. The foreign volunteers on either side if captured were generally executed.
Among the people met in Spain are Kim Philby, General Franco and Randolph Churchill. These encounters are also interesting. Kemp became a journalist after the war and writes well.
Mine Were of Trouble is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in the Spanish Civil War. Kemp’s account from inside the Nationalist forces is well written and gives a different view from the various accounts of foreigners on the Republican side.
Kemp had just finished Law and Classics at Cambridge and then volunteered to fight for the Nationalists in Spain. There were various other international volunteers for the Nationalist side but not nearly as many as for the Republicans. In parts of the book Kemp meets various foreign elites and has good food with them. The book veers between sounding like Brideshead Revisited and then describing combat.
Kemp describes those he fought with in detail, varying from praise to condemnation of various figure’s skills and personalities. Kemp fought longer than Orwell and also went on to fight in WWII for the British in SOE. By the time he wrote the book he was an accomplished soldier so his account should have some weight. Kemps account of how the Nationalist troops were equipped, the quality of their troops and the Italian and German forces who fought there and their strategies and tactics are also interesting. Toward the end of the war Kemp writes about how Franco’s forces used Blitzkrieg tactics effectively to win the war.
From Kemp and Orwell’s book it can be seen why the Nationalists won. Orwell writes extensively about the infighting between the POUM (Workers Party of Marxist Unification) and other factions, some controlled by the USSR. Kemp has a little of this, but part of the reorganisations, at least according to him were more about improving the fighting forces.
Kemp has a substantial amount about atrocities. Kemp believes that the Republic were worse and has numerous examples of where his troops went into villages where people had been executed. The treatment of POWs is also horrid. The foreign volunteers on either side if captured were generally executed.
Among the people met in Spain are Kim Philby, General Franco and Randolph Churchill. These encounters are also interesting. Kemp became a journalist after the war and writes well.
Mine Were of Trouble is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in the Spanish Civil War. Kemp’s account from inside the Nationalist forces is well written and gives a different view from the various accounts of foreigners on the Republican side.
August 20, 2020
Mine Were of Trouble by Peter Kemp
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This is a most unusual book. It recounts the experiences of Peter Kemp, a young British man who like many went to Spain during the Spanish Civil War to fight for civilization. While there are probably many similar books - George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" was one such book - Kemp's book is different in that he decides to fight on the side of the Nationalists, i.e., the "fascists."
This perspective alone is worth the price of the book. The books I've read have all been written from the perspective of the Leftist Republicans where the bestiality and depravity of the Naitonalists has been an assumed fact. Aside from the partisan bias, these books shortchange the Nationalist side. In "The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction," for example, the author doesn't bother to explain what the "Carlists" were and where they came from.
Kemp's book makes up for this almost immediately by describing the Carlists and the Requetes forces, the history of the Carlist Wars, and other details. More importantly, he humanizes the Nationalists by showing them as human beings with motivations other than hatred and evil.
Kemp was around 22 and had recently graduated from university. He had been involved with the Conservative Union at university. Kemp's explanation for joining the Nationalists was (a) he thought he could use the seasoning of military action and (b) there was no way that he would fight for the left. The book does not reveal any interest in fascism or fascist politics on the part of Kemp. Similarly, Kemp is clearly opposed to Communism, but we don't hear vituperative condemnations of Communism from him.
Kemp entered Spain under the guise of a journalist. Once there he joined the Carlist Requetes as a soldier and was subsequently commissioned. Then, after discerning that he would get more experience as a Spanish Legionary, he transferred to the Spanish Legion. He describes the military actions he was involved in, and these descriptions make for some tense and fascinating reading.
Kemp comes across as a likable and dependable person. His narrative recounts how he was assisted in his various movements by people he met. He gives thumbnail sketches of the various soldiers he met and towns he visited along the way and the positive way he describes those people and places creates a picture in our own mind of Kemp being a positive and enthusiastic person.
We also get an inside look at the realities of the Spanish Civil War. The sense we get is that the Nationalists had substantial popular support among peasants and villages. This undoubtedly reflects that Kemp was on the winning Nationalist side and the villages captured by the Nationalists would hardly have indicated support for the Republic. However, Kemp's description of the starving and cowed village people suggests that the Republicans were not winning the hearts and minds of the Catholic peasants.
Kemp honestly admits to war crimes among the Nationalists. Captured International Brigade soldiers were shot out of hand by the Nationalists. These forces were particularly hated on the grounds that their intervention extended the destructive war to the injury of Spain. Kemp was ordered to execute a captured British Intenational Brigade member, which he does. Kemp's narrative speaks to his own emotional turmoil. On the other hand, Kemp notes that Republican forces were far more likely to kill Nationalist prisoners:
//Certainly the execution of prisoners was one of the ugliest aspects of the Civil War, and both sides were guilty of it in the early months. There were two main reasons for this: first, the belief, firmly held by each side, that the others were traitors to their country and enemies of humanity who fully deserved death; secondly, the fear of each side that unless they exterminated their adversaries these would rise again and destroy them. But it is a fact, observed by me personally, that as the war developed the Nationalists tended more and more to spare their prisoners, except those of the International Brigades: so that when, in 1938, the Non-Intervention Commission began to arrange exchanges of prisoners of war, they found large numbers of Republicans held by the Nationalists, but scarcely any Nationalist soldiers in Republican prison camps.//
Kemp fought with Italian and German forces. While, apparently, there is a myth that Russia only provided "humanitarian aid," Kemp notes:
//The Russians did for the Republicans roughly what the Germans did for the Nationalists—they supplied technicians and war material of all kinds. In return they exacted a far greater measure of control over Republican policy and strategy than the Germans were able to obtain from Franco; the price of Russian co-operation was Russian direction of the war and the complete domination by the Communist Party of all Republican political and military organizations.//
One interesting bit of social history is how small the world seemed in 1938. Amazingly, Kemp would run into people he knew from college or who knew his friends. One of the most tantalizing bits is found in this passage:
//The New Year opened sadly for me. On January 31st a Press car containing four friends of mine—Dick Sheepshanks, Kim Philby, and two American correspondents, Eddie Neil and Bradish Johnson—was passing through the village of Caude, eight miles north-west of Teruel, during an enemy artillery bombardment, when a 12.40 cm. shell burst beside it. Sheepshanks and Johnson were killed outright. Neil died a few days later; Philby escaped with a wound in the head.//
So, Peter Kemp knew Kim Philby and Kim Philby was almost killed in the Spanish Civil War?!??!?!
Small world.
Kemp finishes his service for Spain was a meeting with Francisco Franco.
One thing worth contemplating is how the Spanish Civil War was also something of an English Civil War. Kemp fought against British members of the International Brigades. In England after the war, he often appeared at meetings with Republicans foreign volunteers, whom he would have been trying to kill in Spain. Within a year or two, of course, Kemp and those same men were fighting fascists for England.
This is a fascinating story told from a different viewpoint.
Please give my review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
This is a most unusual book. It recounts the experiences of Peter Kemp, a young British man who like many went to Spain during the Spanish Civil War to fight for civilization. While there are probably many similar books - George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" was one such book - Kemp's book is different in that he decides to fight on the side of the Nationalists, i.e., the "fascists."
This perspective alone is worth the price of the book. The books I've read have all been written from the perspective of the Leftist Republicans where the bestiality and depravity of the Naitonalists has been an assumed fact. Aside from the partisan bias, these books shortchange the Nationalist side. In "The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction," for example, the author doesn't bother to explain what the "Carlists" were and where they came from.
Kemp's book makes up for this almost immediately by describing the Carlists and the Requetes forces, the history of the Carlist Wars, and other details. More importantly, he humanizes the Nationalists by showing them as human beings with motivations other than hatred and evil.
Kemp was around 22 and had recently graduated from university. He had been involved with the Conservative Union at university. Kemp's explanation for joining the Nationalists was (a) he thought he could use the seasoning of military action and (b) there was no way that he would fight for the left. The book does not reveal any interest in fascism or fascist politics on the part of Kemp. Similarly, Kemp is clearly opposed to Communism, but we don't hear vituperative condemnations of Communism from him.
Kemp entered Spain under the guise of a journalist. Once there he joined the Carlist Requetes as a soldier and was subsequently commissioned. Then, after discerning that he would get more experience as a Spanish Legionary, he transferred to the Spanish Legion. He describes the military actions he was involved in, and these descriptions make for some tense and fascinating reading.
Kemp comes across as a likable and dependable person. His narrative recounts how he was assisted in his various movements by people he met. He gives thumbnail sketches of the various soldiers he met and towns he visited along the way and the positive way he describes those people and places creates a picture in our own mind of Kemp being a positive and enthusiastic person.
We also get an inside look at the realities of the Spanish Civil War. The sense we get is that the Nationalists had substantial popular support among peasants and villages. This undoubtedly reflects that Kemp was on the winning Nationalist side and the villages captured by the Nationalists would hardly have indicated support for the Republic. However, Kemp's description of the starving and cowed village people suggests that the Republicans were not winning the hearts and minds of the Catholic peasants.
Kemp honestly admits to war crimes among the Nationalists. Captured International Brigade soldiers were shot out of hand by the Nationalists. These forces were particularly hated on the grounds that their intervention extended the destructive war to the injury of Spain. Kemp was ordered to execute a captured British Intenational Brigade member, which he does. Kemp's narrative speaks to his own emotional turmoil. On the other hand, Kemp notes that Republican forces were far more likely to kill Nationalist prisoners:
//Certainly the execution of prisoners was one of the ugliest aspects of the Civil War, and both sides were guilty of it in the early months. There were two main reasons for this: first, the belief, firmly held by each side, that the others were traitors to their country and enemies of humanity who fully deserved death; secondly, the fear of each side that unless they exterminated their adversaries these would rise again and destroy them. But it is a fact, observed by me personally, that as the war developed the Nationalists tended more and more to spare their prisoners, except those of the International Brigades: so that when, in 1938, the Non-Intervention Commission began to arrange exchanges of prisoners of war, they found large numbers of Republicans held by the Nationalists, but scarcely any Nationalist soldiers in Republican prison camps.//
Kemp fought with Italian and German forces. While, apparently, there is a myth that Russia only provided "humanitarian aid," Kemp notes:
//The Russians did for the Republicans roughly what the Germans did for the Nationalists—they supplied technicians and war material of all kinds. In return they exacted a far greater measure of control over Republican policy and strategy than the Germans were able to obtain from Franco; the price of Russian co-operation was Russian direction of the war and the complete domination by the Communist Party of all Republican political and military organizations.//
One interesting bit of social history is how small the world seemed in 1938. Amazingly, Kemp would run into people he knew from college or who knew his friends. One of the most tantalizing bits is found in this passage:
//The New Year opened sadly for me. On January 31st a Press car containing four friends of mine—Dick Sheepshanks, Kim Philby, and two American correspondents, Eddie Neil and Bradish Johnson—was passing through the village of Caude, eight miles north-west of Teruel, during an enemy artillery bombardment, when a 12.40 cm. shell burst beside it. Sheepshanks and Johnson were killed outright. Neil died a few days later; Philby escaped with a wound in the head.//
So, Peter Kemp knew Kim Philby and Kim Philby was almost killed in the Spanish Civil War?!??!?!
Small world.
Kemp finishes his service for Spain was a meeting with Francisco Franco.
One thing worth contemplating is how the Spanish Civil War was also something of an English Civil War. Kemp fought against British members of the International Brigades. In England after the war, he often appeared at meetings with Republicans foreign volunteers, whom he would have been trying to kill in Spain. Within a year or two, of course, Kemp and those same men were fighting fascists for England.
This is a fascinating story told from a different viewpoint.
February 13, 2021
Fantastic tale of a foreign volunteer in Spain during the civil war. Kemp retells his time serving with detailed and engaging prose!
November 20, 2020
A very interesting and singular perspective on the Spanish Civil War by an Englishman volunteer on the Nationalist side, first enlisted in the Requeté Army (Carlists), then on the Foreign Legion (the elite army unit).
Kemp, taking the place of an Alferéz, describes the perks of everyday anecdotes compellingly enough for the non-war literature enthusiast. He brings to light a side of this war which is still considered, to this day, "unfashionable", although he makes it very clear why he found imperative to join the Nationalist side. Yet he also kept an impartial view on the abuses he saw.
All in all, a great, short read. I would give 5 stars but for the exclusion of the maps and some annoying errors. Despite that, I appraise Mystery Grove Publishing Co. for the initiative and for their very efficient guerilla marketing campaign. I will definitely buy Mr. Kemp's other two books.
Kemp, taking the place of an Alferéz, describes the perks of everyday anecdotes compellingly enough for the non-war literature enthusiast. He brings to light a side of this war which is still considered, to this day, "unfashionable", although he makes it very clear why he found imperative to join the Nationalist side. Yet he also kept an impartial view on the abuses he saw.
All in all, a great, short read. I would give 5 stars but for the exclusion of the maps and some annoying errors. Despite that, I appraise Mystery Grove Publishing Co. for the initiative and for their very efficient guerilla marketing campaign. I will definitely buy Mr. Kemp's other two books.
August 21, 2020
Basado y rojopastillado
August 28, 2020
Güzel bir hatırat, diğer iki kitabı okumak için sabırsızlanıyorum. İspanyol İç Savaşı'nda Lejyon'da savaşan Türk kimdi neciydi, onu da merak ettirdi.
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