José Millán-Astray

José Millán-Astray y Terreros (La Coruña, July 5, 1879-Madrid, January 1, 1954) was a Spanish soldier, founder of the Legion and Radio Nacional de España. He was a prosecutor in the Francoist Cortes between 1943 and 1954. A personal friend of Francisco Franco, he was placed in charge of the Benemérito Corps of War Mutilated for the Homeland.

Biography

José Millán-Astray was born in La Coruña on July 5, 1879, son of José Millán Astray (from whom he will take, combining them, both surnames) and Pilar Terreros Segade. He had an older sister, Pilar Millán Astray (1879?-1949), who was a very popular writer and comedigrapher of her time, with works such as La Tonto del Bot, and directed the Muñoz Seca Theater, and he also worked as a spy for the German secret services in Barcelona. His father, a lawyer by profession and with literary interests, forced young José to study Law, although he aspired to be a soldier, which he finally achieved.

On August 30, 1894, he entered the Infantry Academy of Toledo, where he followed the abbreviated study program established by the Government to meet the needs of officers in the overseas conflicts (Cuba and the Philippines), graduating at just seventeen. years as a second lieutenant and later serving in the Asturias Infantry Regiment No. 31 Madrid. On September 1, 1896, he entered the Higher War School, where he interrupted his studies to join as a volunteer in an expeditionary battalion that set sail for the Philippines. During his stay on the islands he distinguished himself for his bravery, especially for his performance in the defense, at the age of 17, of the population of San Rafael with thirty men against a much larger number of Tagalog rebels, a fact that earned him the Cross of Order. María Cristina's military.

Marriage

On March 2, 1906, he married Elvira Gutiérrez de la Torre, who died in September 1968, daughter of General Emilio Gutiérrez de la Cámara (1836-1899) and Matilde de la Torre Perovani (1854- 1928) granddaughter of the Italian painter Giuseppe Perovani (1765-1835) for being the daughter of Elvira Perovani Gordon (1824/27-1881?) married to Andrés de la Torre y Armenteros (1793?-1864).

In 1941 he met and fell in love, during a poker game, with Rita Gasset, daughter of Rafael Gasset, former Minister of Development, and cousin of the philosopher José Ortega y Gasset. When she becomes pregnant, they decide to go together to Lisbon due to Francisco Franco's fear that a scandal would occur; There, on January 23, 1942, his daughter Peregrina was born. By express order of the dictator he renounces to annul his marriage with his wife Elvira and, although they continue living together in Madrid to maintain forms (they always maintained a "fraternal" relationship since, due to a vow of chastity on her part, They would never have had marital relations), he will continue to visit Rita and her daughter daily.

Military career

Upon his return to Spain he entered the War School, where he obtained the General Staff Diploma.

Interested in creating a corps of foreign volunteers similar to the French Foreign Legion, he went to Algeria to study in situ the operation of said corps of the French army. The Minister of War, General José Villalba Riquelme, ordered the founding of the Legion by order of January 28, 1920 and entrusted it to later create the so-called Tercio de Extranjeros, being its first lieutenant colonel in chief and counting on the collaboration of the then commander Francisco Franco. He would make famous the slogans "Long live death!" and "To me the Legion!" He also acts as director of the Radio, Press and Propaganda Office of the War Mutilated Corps.

During the Moroccan war he suffered four serious injuries:

• The first occurred on September 17, 1921 in Amadí’s ravine, where he was wounded in the chest when he was giving orders for Nador’s taking.

• The second on January 10, 1922 after the battle of Draa-el Asef, where the " Gómez Arteche block" was established. As he was relieved by Lieutenant Colonel González Tablas, he was wounded in a leg while he retired.

• The third happened on October 26, 1924 when, ascended to colonel and road to the Fondak of Ain Yedida to take over the "columna R'gaiga", found the road cut by the enemy fire. When he approached the front line to sand the soldiers of the Burgos Battalion, he was shot to tear his left arm apart. That arm was later amputated when he was diagnosed with gangrene.

• The fourth wound suffered her on March 4, 1926 when she was in charge of a column, engaged in combat with the enemy and managed to take "Loma Redonda", giving order to fortify her. As he examined the first positions he was shot in the face that destroyed his right eye and caused him to tears in the maxilla and on the left cheek. Because of this wound he lost that eye and would suffer from vertigo for the rest of his life every time he turned his head.

Civil War and confrontation with Unamuno

During the Spanish Civil War it played a secondary role in the army that rebelled against the Second Republic. Even so, it is worth highlighting his work as a propagandist within the Francoist side. On September 29, 1936, after being named Franco generalissimo, Millán-Astray was appointed head of the Press and Propaganda Office, based in the Anaya palace in Salamanca, where he had the writer Ernesto Giménez as his main subordinate - since November - Caballero. His radio speeches contained a multitude of anti-Semitic references, referring to the "communist Jews" as responsible for the situation in Spain. Given the ineffectiveness of his management (partly motivated by lack of resources) and the incidents caused by the barracks way of organizing the service (he addressed his subordinates with a whistle), he was finally relieved of his position in January 1937.

A famous episode was the exchange of words that he had with Miguel de Unamuno on October 12, 1936 in the auditorium of the University of Salamanca, which had been attended by various personalities who were followers of the rebel side on the occasion of the celebration of the Festival. de la Raza (it maintains its name in many American countries, although in Spain it was changed to Columbus Day, which today is the national holiday of Spain, the anniversary of the discovery of America): the bishop of Salamanca, Enrique Plá y Deniel, the civil governor, Carmen Polo (wife of Francisco Franco) and Millán-Astray himself.

The traditional version transmitted in The Spanish Civil War by the English Hispanist Hugh Thomas, includes, in the opinion of historian Severiano Delgado, "a literary recreation with no intention of historical description," awarded to Luis Gabriel Portillo, Republican Left politician and friend of Unamuno, who was not present at that meeting, and to professor Francisco Maldonado. This version, however, has been refuted by recent studies, given that the person to whom the version is attributed would not be present, but in Madrid (the territory of the opposite side), while other people who are present and documents present a less confrontational situation..

End of the war and final years

After the end of the Millán-Astray conflict, despite continuing to direct the Corps of Mutilated Persons and being directly appointed by Franco as attorney in the Cortes for four terms, he saw his political relevance progressively diminish within the newly established dictatorship. Even so, he continued to be a well-known and popular character, starring in anecdotes such as his participation as best man at the wedding of the singer Celia Gámez: in the face of the difficulties caused by the massive influx of public, he launched his famous cry "To me the Legion!" to allow the bride access to the altar.

Death

He died at the age of seventy-four, at ten o'clock at night on January 1, 1954, at his home in Madrid, due to a coronary heart disease, while he was general director of the "Corpo de Mutilated Knights of the War for the Fatherland. His doctor, Mauro José Rodríguez Rey, a personal friend and pupil of Millán-Astray in the Legion, was in charge of communicating it to Franco himself. He was buried in the Almudena cemetery.

Decorations

Throughout his military career, the general was decorated, among others, with the following decorations:

• Cross of María Cristina of 1.a class
• Medal of Alfonso XIII
• Individual Military Medal
• Grand Cross of the Military Merit with red distinctive
• Grand Cross of the Military Merit with white distinctive
• Gran Cruz del Mérito Naval with white distinctive
• 1.a class cross of the Military Merit with red distinctive
• 2.a-class Military Merit Cross with red distinctive
• Big Knight of the Order of Saint Hermenegildo
• Medal of Sufferings for the Homeland
• Morocco Medal of Peace, with Tula and Morocco pins
• Medal of the Moroccan campaign, with Larache, Tetuán and Melilla pins.
• Great Cross of the Italian War
• Great Cross of Medhauía
• Great Knight of the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem
• Big Knight of the Order of Avis
• French War Cross with Gold Palms.
• Cross of the German eagle.
• Medal of the Philippines campaign, with Luzon pin.

Legacy

He was passionate about Japanese culture. Millán-Astray was responsible, with the collaboration of Luis Álvarez del Espejo, for the translation from English of a work on the samurai code of bushidō (Bushido: the Soul of Japan, 1905), published in Spain in 1941 with the title ofEl Bushido. The soul of Japan.

He was also a knight of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem. He founded, in collaboration with journalists and writers such as Ruiz Albéniz, Dionisio Ridruejo and Ernesto Giménez Caballero, Radio Nacional de España, the official radio station of the rebel side. As a lecturer and radio commentator during the Civil War, he was one of the promoters of General Franco's rise to the Head of State of the Burgos government and promoter of Franco's identification as “Caudillo”.

The founding of the Spanish Legion is considered its greatest legacy.