Maritime Front on the Basque Coast, a Battlefield in the Rear of the Great War: U-Boats and Espionage

Abstract

This article aims to analyse how World War One became a total war which eventually involved neutral countries, particularly Spain. Although officially neutral, Spain became an espionage nest in which foreign agents cooperated with local sympathizers. The Allies and its collaborators tried to secure maritime supplies, while the Central Powers’ spies mainly aided and provided information to U-Boots, so that they could torpedo any cargos sailing towards France or Great Britain. Spies acted throughout Spain with particular intensive activity on the Basque Coast. In addition to extensive national and foreign trade in the Gulf of Biscay, Basque industry became a significant supplier of the Triple Entente. Nonetheless, the local population hoped that neutrality could spare them, and were shocked by being unexpectedly drawn into submarine warfare after 1916. Civilians tried to minimise the effects of torpedoing by helping local war casualties. Additionally, local sailors participated in the war too, by rescuing torpedoed seamen or themselves fleeing from German attacks in the open sea.

Keywords:

• First World War
• submarine warfare
• espionage networks
• Spanish-British maritime trade
• Basque coast

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Alejandro Pulido Azpíroz holds a PhD in Contemporary History (2020) from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). His research focuses on the side-effecs and the influence of the Great War on the Basque Country and Spain, as well as the development of Basque nationalism during the early 20th century.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank Scott Spellerberg for his wonderful comments and critique.

Notes

1 Michael Jonas, Scandinavia and the Great Powers in the First World War (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019); also S. S. Kruizinga, P. Moeyes, W. Klinkert, ‘The Netherlands,’ 1914–1918 Online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War (Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, 2014); Jakob Tanner, ‘Switzerland’, 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson (Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, 2019). [accessed 10 Aug. 2021].

2 Eduardo J. Alonso Olea, ‘Dinámica empresarial en Vizcaya, 1914–1923: una aproximación’, Revista de Historia Económica, 13, 3 (1995), 641-43 and 648-51. Onésimo Díaz Hernández, Los marqueses de Urquijo. El apogeo de una saga poderosa y los inicios de Banco Urquijo, 1870–1931 (Pamplona: Eunsa, 1998), 210.

3 Luis Fernando Ramos Fernández, David Caldevilla Domínguez, ‘Dos caras de España en la I Guerra Mundial: De la mediación humanitaria de Alfonso XIII al suministro logístico a ambos bandos’, Historia y Comunicación Social, 18 (2013), 223, 225, 237, 238 and Javier Ponce Marrero, ‘España en la Primera Guerra Mundial: política exterior, neutralidad y algunos apuntes sobre Canarias’ in Elena Acosta Guerrero (ed), XXI Coloquio de Historia Canario-Americana (Gran Canaria: Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, 2016).

4 Carolina García Sanz, La Primera Guerra Mundial en el Estrecho de Gibraltar. Economía, política y relaciones internacionales (Madrid: Editorial Universidad de Sevilla/CSIC, 2012); Fernando García Sanz, España en la Gran Guerra. Espías, diplomáticos y traficantes (Barcelona: Galaxia Gutenberg, 2014).

5 Although other firearm manufactures operated throughout Spain, such as artillery factories in Oviedo and Seville, Basque manufacturers stood out for their large proportion of exports, Igor Goñi-Mendizabal, ‘Brands in the Basque Gun Making Industry: The Case of Astra-Unceta y Cía’, Business History, 60, 40 (2017), 1-31. See also [Madrid, Spain], A[rchivo] H[istórico] N[acional], 2B.2. Mº de AAEE, AHN, Guerra Europea, H 138, índice 133, containing government authorizations to export thousands of guns to France (Paris, Orleans and Bayonne), Italy, etc.

6 Eugenio Torres Villanueva, Ramón de la Sota 1857–1936. Un empresario vasco (Madrid: Lid, 1998), 226 and [Kew, United Kingdom], N[ational] A[rchives], KV-2-3714

7 Alonso, ‘Dinámica empresarial’, 639-642.

8 Reports from Commissaire Camus to Prefect of the Basses Pyrenees and to the French Foreign Minister, 17 and 22 Dec. 1914, [La Corneuve], France, A[rchives] D[iplomatiques] dossier 485.

9 Excepting Román Basurto Larrañaga, ‘La primera guerra mundial. España y el País Vasco’ in Rosa María Pardo (coord.) y Javier Tussel (dir. congr.). La política exterior de España en el siglo XX (Madrid: UNED, 1997), 17-38 and Alejandro Pulido Azpíroz, Neutralidad en pie de guerra (Madrid: Ediciones Sílex, 2021), there are few publications on this topic.

10 Additional insight about the Canary Islands and the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco in Ponce, ‘España’ and La Porte, Pablo, ‘La espiral irresistible: la Gran Guerra y el protectorado español en Marruecos’, Hispania Nova, Revista de Historia Contemporánea, 15 (2014), 500-526.

11 Eduardo González Calleja, Paul Aubert, Nidos de espías. España, Francia y la Primera Guerra Mundial, 1914–1919 (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, Madrid, 2014) provides insight on Allied activity. Anne Rosenbusch, Neutrality in the balance. Spanish-German relations during the First World War, 1914–1918 (Ph.D. dissertation, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, 2015) focuses on German espionage.

12 Only Ramón de la Sota lost 16 ships, which accounted for 18% of all Spanish losses during the war, Torres, Ramón, 226, 227.

13 More insight about submarine warfare impact on the Mediterranean in Enric García Domingo, ¿España neutral? La Marina mercante española durante la Primera Guerra Mundial (Madrid: Real del Catorce, 2005); Pedro María Egea Bruno, ‘Neutralidad, comercio y relaciones internacionales de España durante la Primera Guerra Mundial: su incidencia sobre la agricultura murciana de exportación y sobre el movimiento del puerto de Cartagena’, Anales de Historia Contemporánea, 25 (2009), 349-371.

14 Further information about Canaris’ network in Heinz Höhne, Canaris. Patriot im Zwielicht. (Munich: Bertelsman, 1976) and Anne Rosenbusch, ‘Guerra total en territorio neutral: actividades alemanas en España durante la Primera Guerra Mundial’, Hispania Nova. Revista de Historia Contemporánea, 15 (2017), 365-69.

15 Xavier Pla i Barbero, Maximiliano Fuentes Codera, and Francesc Montero Aulet (eds.), A Civil War of Words. The Cultural Impact of the Great War in Catalonia, Spain, Europe and a glance at Latin America (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2016); Maximiliano Fuentes Codera, España en la Primera Guerra Mundial. Una Movilización Cultural (Madrid: Akal, 2014).

16 ‘Lo que está en guerra’, E[l] S[ocialista], 30 Nov. 1914. Leftist intellectuals and deputies such as Luis Zulueta (minister during the II Spanish Republic) and Tomás Elorrieta gave speeches in Bilbao associating democracy to an Allied victory, E[l L[iberal], 8 Jan. 1915.

17 ‘¡Gloria a Inglaterra!’, Euzkadi, 26 Sept. 1914, presents Great Britain as the only non-imperialistic (sic) warring nation. The article describes the British Empire as a confederation, where colonies enjoy a high degree of autonomy.

18 Marta García Cabrera, ‘Filias y fobias en acción: propaganda británica en España durante la Primera y la Segunda Guerra Mundial’ (Ph.D. dissertation, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2021), Francisco Javier Ponce Marrero, ‘Propaganda and Politics: German and Spanish Opinion in World War I’, in Troy R. E. Paddock (ed), World War I and Propaganda (Brill, 2014), 292-321; Ingrid Schulze Schneider, ‘La propaganda alemana en España en la primera guerra mundial’, Comunicación y guerra en la historia in Alberto Pena (2004), 899-918.

19 González, Aubert, Nidos, 264-65, Rosenbusch, ‘Guerra’, 358. Ronnie Melbourne Carden, German Policy Toward Neutral Spain, 1914–1918 (New York and London: Garland, 1987), 68, points out leftist press’ strong anglophilia in Madrid, and how the German Embassy considered them absolutely ‘lost’ for the cause of the Central Powers.

20 The risk of entering the war was considered a mere possibility, not a probability, until Italy’s participation in the war (May 1915). Additionally, people reacted aggressively against pro-war leaders, e.g. the attack in Irun (Basque Country) against republican politician Alejandro Lerroux for supporting military intervention with France, ‘Agresión contra el señor Lerroux’, [La ]V[oz] [de] G[uipúzcoa], 8 Sept. 1915.

21 Jesús Perea Ruiz, ‘Guerra submarina en España (1914–1918)’, Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie V, Historia Contemporánea, 16 (2004), 198, explains Britain and Germany’s initial support for this convention and its provisions against submarine torpedoing.

22 ‘La vigilancia en el Cantábrico’, EL, 25 Aug. 1914.

23 ‘Nota de la embajada de Inglaterra’, VG, 25 Aug. 1914.

24 These rumours were denied by shipowners themselves, EL, 18 Oct. 1914.

25 ‘Notas bilbaínas. La nueva línea marítima’, [El] N[oticiero] B[ilbaíno], 1 Oct. 1914 and ‘El Eretza-Mendi en peligro’, Euzkadi, 4 Aug. 1914.

26 More insight in Paul G. Halpern, A Naval history of World War I (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994); Gerd Hardach, The First World War, 1914-1918 (University of California Press, 1977).

27 Regarding unsuccessful negotiations for Spain entering the war, see García, España 242-53. For more insight on Spanish military weakness, Hipólito de la Torre Gómez, ‘La neutralidad de la España de Alfonso XIII’ in Carlos Sanz Díaz, Zorann Petrovici, La gran guerra en la España de Alfonso XIII (Madrid: Sílex, 2017).

28 José María Blanco Núñez, ‘Factores estrátegicos de la Primera Guerra Mundial’, Revista General de Marina (2014), 243-247; and Jesús María Valdaliso Gago, ‘Guerras, riesgo y beneficios: las compañías navieras bilbaínas durante las dos guerras mundiales del siglo XX’, Itsas Memoria: Revista de Estudios Marítimos del País Vasco, 5 (2006), 503-516. Also, David Rubio Márquez, “Marina mercante, luces y sombras (1914-1918), Revista de historia naval, 35, 136 (2017), 37-54.

29 Javier Ponce Marrero, ‘Neutrality and Submarine Warfare: Germany and Spain During the First World War’, War & Society, 34, 4 (2015), 296.

30 Jesús María Valdaliso Lago, Los Navieros Vascos y la Marina Mercante en España, 1860–1935: una historia económica (Bilbao: Instituto Vasco de Administración Pública, 1991).

31 ‘Egunekua’, Euzkadi, 2 March 1915.

32 ‘El Ganekogorta-Mendi suplantado por un buque inglés’, G[aceta del] N[orte], 13 April 1915.

33 ‘No se hundió el Horacio’, EL, 2 Feb. 1915.

34 NB, 27 Aug. 1915.

35 Among other media, EL, 26 Aug. 1915 reported on both shipwrecks in the articles ‘Cómo fue hundido el Isidoro’ and ‘Santander’. Information from the shipowner attributed the loss of the latter to a mine, but this never was confirmed.

36 ‘Euzko abendaren Elez’, Euzkadi, 20 Sept. 1915.

37 ‘A mi amigo Jesús de Azkune’, Euzkadi, 23 Jan. 1916.

38 Euzkadi, 18 March 1916.

39 ‘Hundimiento del Uribitarte’ and ‘Notas Bilbaínas’, NB, 6 Dec. 1916 and 8 Dec. 1916.

40 The British victims were Seathonia, Hawort, Coswell and Kyota, GN, 9 Nov. 1916.

41 ‘Paz y navieras’ shows the relation between submarine warfare and freight rates, NB, 1 Dec. 1917.

42 More information on his biography, María Peraita, Gonzalo Arroita, Las 150 vidas de Horacio Echevarrieta: el empresario bilbaíno que desafió crisis, guerra y pandemias (Barakaldo: Surfing Challenge, 2020).

43 [Bilbao, Spain], A[rchivo] H[istórico] F[oral de] B[izkaia], sección empresas, Fondo Horacio Echevarrieta Maruri, subfondo Echevarrieta and Larrínaga, Horacio Echevarrieta 006/004 and ibid 006/003, respectively. More information in Pablo Gutiérrez González, ‘El control de divisas durante el primer franquismo. La intervención del reaseguro (1940–1952)’, Estudios de Historia Económica, 68 (2014), 22-27.

44 ‘La situación de los buques’, Euzkadi, 6 Nov. 1915.

45 VG, 10 Dec. 1916 and 11 Dec. 1916.

46 [Paris, France], S[ervice] H[istorique de la] D[éfense], MV SS Q 55, 18 Oct. 1917.

47 Pulido, Neutralidad, 270-271.

48 ‘Los náufragos del Norton (sic). Protesta del capitán’, Euzkadi, 9 Feb. 1917. Also Erich Raeder, Eberhard von Mantey, The Kreuzerkrieg in den ausländischen Gewässern, vol. 1 (Berlin: 1922-1923), 396.

49 Ingo Niebel, Al infierno o a la gloria. Vida y muerte del ex cónsul y espía Wilhelm Wakonigg en Bilbao. 1900–1936, (Irun: Alberdania, 2009), 38.

50 ‘El vapor Noviembre a pique’, NB, 17 Dec. 1917.

51 ‘Fuera caretas’, ‘Las aguas jurisdiccionales’ y ‘La rabia del vencido’ L[a] C[onstancia], 25, Feb. 1917, 17 May 1917 and 3 March 1917. See also Pulido, Neutralidad, 37, 48-51.

52 ‘La guerra del cuchillo’, EL, 6 Feb. 1917.

53 Tomás Lafarga to regional Governor, 8 May 1917, AHN, FC-Mº_INTERIOR_A,48, Exp.17, 24 Aug. 1874 complains about censorship and points out the public’s concern about this matter.

54 Euzkadi, 3 June 1917.

55 The Basque cargo vessel Mirentxu demanded protection for travelling to Great Britain from Ferrol (Galicia, Northern Spain) while Tom was reluctant to sail back from Liverpool to Biscay. AHN, Mº de AAEE, AHN, I Guerra Mundial, H3019 and H 138, índice 133 Exp. 10.

56 Euzkadi, 9 Feb.1917.

57 ‘En la basílica de Begoña. Los funerales de ayer’, Euzkadi, 29 June 1918. The event was dedicated to the torpedoed steamers Lalen-Mendi, Anboto Mendi, Axpe-Mendi and Arno-Mendi, also including the damaged Arnabal-Mendi, Urkiola-Mendi and Arrinda-Mendi.

58 ‘El hidroplano en Lequeitio’, GN, 5 July 1917, Niebel, ‘Al infierno’, 39 and LC, 7 Aug. 1917.

59 GN, 8 June 1918.

60 Santos Juliá Díaz, ‘La nueva generación: de neutrales a antigermanófilos pasando por aliadófilos’, Ayer, 91 (2013), 142.

61 ‘La famosa denuncia’, VG, 17 May 1917.

62 Euzkadi, 28 Feb. 1918.

63 ‘Llegada a Bilbao del Igotz-Mendi’, NB, 22 June 1918.

64 ‘La catástrofe del Lusitania. Heroísmo de un compatriota’ a news report from Le Figaro, EL, 5 Nov. 1915.

65 ’Lo del Sussex. Heroísmo de una vitoriana’, H[eraldo] A[lavés], 30 March 1916.

66 ‘Homenaje de gratitud al capitán del Víctor Chávarri’, GN, 25 Oct. 1916.

67 ‘En la comandancia de Marina. Capitanes homenajeados’, Euzkadi, 22 April 1917.

68 The latter two cases are presented in ‘De Marina’ and ‘De Marina’, GN, 8 Sept. 1917 and 7 June 1918.

69 More information in Marcella Aglietti, In nome della neutralitá. Storia político-istituzionale della Spagna durante la Prima guerra mondiale (Rome: Carocci Editore, 2017), 131.

70 Rosenbusch, Neutrality, 355.

71 French reports remarked the importance of San Sebastian and Barcelona as espionage centres, A[rchives du] M[inistere des] A[ffaires] É[trangeres], as série Guerre 14–18, Espagne, dossier 485, 100-110.

72 For more information on the organisation of Allied, and in particular French, espionage, see González, Aubert, Nidos, 29-46.

73 AMAE, série Guerre 14-18, Espagne, Dossier 483, telegrams dated 4, 8 and 11 Nov. 1917.

74 Impression confirmed by long intelligence reports, warning about foreign spy presence all along the Spanish coast, AHN, Asuntos Exteriores, Fondo Política, Serie I Guerra Mundial, leg. H.3144.

75 ‘¿Mujeres espías en Hendaya?’ GN, 15 Oct. 1914.

76 ‘El suceso de Portugalete. Las antenas del Convento’, EL, 15 Oct. 1914.

77 More information in José Luis Agudín Menéndez, Una guerra civil incruenta. Germanofilia y aliadofilia en Asturias en torno a la I Guerra Mundial (1914-1920) (Oviedo: Real Instituto de Estudios Asturianos, 2019), 157, and ‘El clericalismo germanófilo’ and ‘El supuesto contrabando’, EL, 16 Oct. 1914 and 26. Nov. 1914.

78 ‘La guerra europea. El espionaje alemán. En todo buen germano duerme un espía’, EL, 26 Dec. 1914.

79 See González, Aubert, Nidos, 167.

80 EL, 17 July 1915 and VG, 25-27 May 1916.

81 González, Aubert, Nidos, 101, 179.

82 ‘Remitido. Sobre un suelto injurioso’, GN, 24 June 1915.

83 Germany sent more spies since 1916, such as agent ‘Arnold’, who acted in Bilbao, Santander and even Algiers and Tunes, Carden, German, 131.

84 ‘Manifiesto. Al partido socialista obrero y a los ciudadanos españoles en general’, ES, 7 March 1917.

85 ‘Al amparo de la neutralidad. La penetración alemana’, EL, 6 Jan. 1917.

86 ‘El bloqueo de nuestras costas. Estrechando el cerco’, EL, 21 Jan. 1917.

87 ‘El aprovisionamiento de submarinos’, VG, 14 April 1916.

88 El Liberal also denounced the accomplices in the attack, pointing to a German agent who had allegedly gathered information about the ships Manuel and Durango. ‘El caballero del amplio gabán’, EL, 23 Jan. 1917.

89 ‘Suma y sigue’ VG, 20 Jan. 1917.

90 Euzkadi, 26 Jan. 1917.

91 Euzkadi, 25 Jan. 1917.

92 ‘Una infame campaña. Contra la colonia alemana de Bilbao’, GN, 1 May 1916.

93 ‘Alemania y los buques fruteros. Respetará su libre circulación’, GN, 14 April 1917.

94 ‘La vergüenza de la correspondencia’, GN, 24 Feb. 1916.

95 ‘Por la libertad española. El espionaje aliado’, LC, 15 May 1917.

96 Regarding the Canaris network, see Rosenbusch, Neutrality, as well as [Freiburg, Germany], Bundesarchiv, RM5/2413, 1, 24. From 1 Aug. to 10 Nov. 1916, 90, 101, 154 and 157. The potential attacks from the Cantabrian coast presented in AMAE, série Guerre 14-18, dossier 485, 97-98.

97 In Tarragona, France tried to favour Francophile regionalist candidates, González, Aubert, Nidos, 106. Regarding Gipuzkoa, La Constancia picked up the rumour published in El Liberal Guipuzcoano about the withdrawal of visas to France for traditionalist voters, LC, 9 March 1917 and 10 March 1917.

98 Aglietti,’In nome’, 111–115.

99 Ibid, 114.

100 SHD, MV SS Q 55, Cour. Exp. Nov. 1917. More information about Horn Areilza in Eduardo Alonso Olea ‘Horn y Mendia de Areilza, José’ in Bilbao desde sus alcaldes. Diccionario Biográfico de los alcaldes de Bilbao y gestión municipal, en tiempos de revolución democrática y social. Vol II, (Bilbao: Ayuntamiento de Bilbao, 2003), 137-145. On the other hand, the surname Horn comes from Bohemia, in the Czech Republic, at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

101 French diplomats decried fake news broadcasted by Mancheta Agency from San Sebastian AMAE, s, G, 18, E, dossier 485, 100-110.

102 NA, F[oreign] O[ffice], 371/2106.

103 González, Aubert, 'Nidos, 101, 179'.

104 For the British relationship with the successful arms industry, which also negotiated arms sales to Russia, see NA, FO, 371/2106; for the Biscayan shipowners, in particular with Ramón de la Sota, see NA, OF KV-2-3714.

105 Dozens of Basque sailors were awarded the Mercantile Marine Medal during the war, such as Basilis Beitia, A, BT 351/1/9302, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C3387 [accessed: 17 jan. 2022].

106 Despite the presence of an Italian colony and the spy Giussepe Cefalú in Gipuzkoa, it does not seem that a significant espionage network developed, García, ‘España’, 50, 51 80-84.

107 AMAE, s, E, dossier 485, pp. 42-46 and pp. 73-74 contains the telegram denouncing both events.

108 SHD, MV SS Q 55, ‘Instructions spéciales au secret. Tenant de Paris’ and Eduardo González Calleja, ‘Nidos de espías. Los servicios de información franceses en España durante la Primera Guerra Mundial’, Revista de Historia Militar, 3 (2005), 193.

109 SHD, MV SS Q 55, Corre. E.g. September 1917 comments on the sending of a cheque for 150 pesetas to Lekeitio.

110 Described as a man with ‘long, thin moustaches, dressed entirely in navy blue and wearing a light blue hat’, SHD, MV SS Q 55, S.R. Madrid. Coir-Exp. Aux facteur et a iners. Fevrier 1916 à dic. 1917.

111 SHD, MV SS Q 55.

112 Bilbao’s Helmsman Society complaint about their members’ deportations, AHN, Mº de AAEE, AHN, Guerra Europea, H 138, índice 133.

113 Ibid.

114 Ibid, Telegrama 22 Oct. 1917.

115 NIEBEL, Al infierno, 40.

116 Information about March and Echevarrieta in González, Aubert, Nidos, 190, 320, 321, 382. In addition, Echevarrieta supplied the Germans with Moroccan iron ore, but the naval blockade of the Germans led him to deepen his commercial relations with the United Kingdom, Pablo Diaz Morlán, ‘Capital minero e industrialización: el grupo empresarial ‘Echevarrieta y Larrínaga’ (1882–1916)’, Revista de Historia Industrial, 9 (1996), 161.

117 SHD, MV SS Q 55. files from January to June, 4 Jan. 1918 and AHN, Mº de AAEE, AHN, Guerra Europea, H 138, índice 133.

118 Ibid, S.R. Madrid. Coir-Exp. Aux facteur et a iners. Fevrier 1916 a dic. 1917, 20 Oct.1917.

119 SHD, MV SS Q 55 express courier. Aout 1917, 4 Aug. 1917.

120 Ibid, 28 Sept. 1917.

121 ‘El fusilamiento de tres españoles. No hay modo de impedirlo’, GN, 30 March 1917.

122 Full court martial file at SHD, GR J 2189/5. Regarding the follow-up to the relatives of Nicolás Calvo, SHD, MV SS Q 55, S.R. Madrid. Coir-Exp. Aux facteur et à iners. Fevrier 1916 à dic. 1917, 21 April 1917.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of the Basque Country under Grant Margarita Salas, number 21/58 and under Project 'Vida cotidiana, sociabilidad y culturas políticas en el País Vasco-navarro contemporáneo/Daily life, sociability and political cultures in the Basque Country and Navarre (19th-21th centuries)'. Reference: PID2022-138385NB-I00.