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At the Alcazar
The fascinating article by Nigel Jones (MHM 152, June/July 2026) about the siege of the Alcazar fortress in Toledo during the Spanish Civil War was of particular interest to me, as I had visited Toledo in 1997. I was a lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army at the time, and was part of the UK delegation, as guests of the Spanish Army, which had just joined NATO. Together with a colleague, I visited the Alcazar and we were shocked to hear the story of that brutal siege in 1936. The superb MHM article filled in many of the gaps in my understanding of the siege. We saw the office of the commander, Colonel José Moscardó, which was preserved in its original form. I sat at his desk and heard the actual recording of the heart-rending telephone conversation between him and his 16-year-old son, who was being held by the besieging forces outside and later executed – as quoted in full by Nigel Jones. The other abiding memory of my visit to the Alcazar was reading the many fraternal greetings on marble tablets in the courtyard from all the fascist dictators in South America. Not surprisingly, there were no such greetings from HM Government!
Roger Laing, Iver, Buckinghamshire
Crimes against humanity
I read with great interest your article on the Nuremberg trials (MHM 151, April/May 2026). I thought it was interesting that some legal scholars stated that the trials were nothing so much as the victorious Allied powers seeking revenge on a defeated Germany and its leaders, and that some scholars argued there were no codes in international law with which to try, convict, and condemn these Nazi leaders.
Though the trials may have been without legal precedent, it was something that had to be done. What the Allied soldiers and military leaders saw when they entered the concentration camps was something that not even the most-hardened soldier (such as General George Patton) could walk away from without nightmares. In 1987, I visited the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. I saw 12 mounds approximately 25 feet tall. Before each mound was a sign reporting that 5,000 bodies were buried under each mound: 60,000 people slaughtered because the Nazis thought they were sub-standard human beings. As a military officer, and as a human being, I was astounded by what I saw. I could not believe that human beings could inflict such horrors on each other, but the proof was right in front of me.
Though there have been many more war crimes committed since those first trials in 1946-1946, the legal precedents that were created at Nuremberg are now being used by the international courts to convict war criminals; it was the right and moral thing to do.
James A Goodwin, Huntsville, Alabama
Legendary figures
Regarding the Charlemagne articles (MHM 151, April/May 2026), you might like to know that Charlemagne’s campaigns led to more than The Song of Roland, which I read long ago. Years later, there were adventure stories of Charlemagne and his Paladins, like King Arthur and his Knights. The Arthur tales are more popular and well-known, but their origins are also much harder to trace, being much further back and with only sparse sources. Nobody is sure if there was some Romanised British original, from say AD 450 or 500. I visited many of the Arthur sites during my UK tourist and student days, including Tintagel, Cadbury, and Glastonbury, where – just to be on the safe side – I left a white carnation on his possible tomb! My favourite Arthur film is still Monty Python and the Holy Grail!
Simon Yates, Crewe, Cheshire
Images: Wikimedia Commons; US National Archives
