5. The Deliberate Destruction of a Town
Witnesses described apocalyptic scenes: whole families buried in the ruins of their houses; blackened humans staggering about or scrabbling through the rubble, desperate to dig out friends and relatives; sheep and cattle, set ablaze by white phosphorous, running crazily between the burning buildings until they perished. The manner of Guernica’s destruction had no parallels in military history. The town itself was not a military objective, and the nearest military targets, two barracks plus a factory that produced war materials, lay miles outside Guernica. They all went untouched, as the Nazi and fascist warplanes unleashed their wrath on purely civilian targets in the town. According to local authorities, about a third of the population became casualties, with 1654 killed, and 889 wounded. That night, Guernica was a horrific sight, as a seemingly continuous conflagration engulfed the town from end to end.
