Spain identifies 212 German, Austrian and Dutch fighters who went missing during Spanish Civil War

By DAVID BRUNAT
Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s government researchers say they’ve identified hundreds of foreign fighters who disappeared in the region during the Spanish Civil War. Of these, 212 are German, Austrian and Dutch nationals. Researchers were also able to find the likely areas where they died or were badly wounded. It is a notorious advance towards locating their bodies inside mass graves scattered across the country. The next step is trying to identify militiamen from Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and US. Some 40,000 foreign men and women fought as volunteers against General Franco’s fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. About 10,000 of them died.