Francisco Franco

Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (1892-1975) was the caudillo (dictator) and Head of State of Spain from October 1936, as de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975. He led the Nationalists to victory in the Spanish Civil War, and was actively supported by the Axis. However, Franco kept Spain neutral throughout World War II, offering only token assistance to Germany.

Francisco Franco in The Man With the Iron Heart
After World War II ended, Francisco Franco's Spain (as well as António de Oliveira Salazar's Portugal) gave refuge to fleeing Nazis and Fascists from defeated Axis countries (Reinhard Heydrich's wife and children fled to Spain in 1944). The United States had expressed the desire to topple the governments of both Spain and Portugal after Germany fell, but could not muster support from its allies.

Thus in 1947, several members of the German Freedom Front hi-jacked several planes and landed them in Spain. While they were ultimately arrested by Spanish authorities, Franco's soft touch with his former allies ensured that none would be turned over to the American authorities.

Francisco Franco in The War That Came Early
While Francisco Franco was perceived as a solid general amongst Spanish Nationalist forces, most felt him lacking in flair and charisma compared with Marshall José Sanjurjo, the Nationalist leader. Thus, many Nationalists expressed a measure of gratitude that Sanjurjo was leading Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Nonetheless, Franco was an able and tenacious strategist, a fact recognized by both the Nationalists and the Republicans. Franco spent much of the five years giving the Republic substantial grief. That ended in the last months of 1941, when Vaclav Jezek, a Czechoslovakian sniper and refugee of the war that had engufled the rest of Europe, killed Franco with his anti-tank rifle outside Madrid. Jezek had not known who Franco was, only that he was a Nationalist officer.