Picturing For Whom the Bell TOlls

Images keyed to and not included in Reading Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls: Glossary and Commentary, by Alex Vernon (Kent State UP, 2024)

See also Errata and Futhermores.

Updated 9 Feb 2024

The 6 January 1941 issue of Life magazine included a spread titled “Life Documents His New Novel with War Shots,” with photos by Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, the latter unattributed. Hemingway had left Spain before the battle dramatized in the novel—the Segovia Offensive—although Capa and Taro were there. See the photographs of the Segovia attack in the astonishing book The Mexican Suitcase. If you can find it, the March of Time newsreel “Rehearsal for War” of 6 Aug 1937 (volume 3, episode 13) features the battle.

Cover: Descubierta (Discovered), 1936 Modesto Ciruelos, depicting early fighting in the Sierra de Guadarrama before the novel’s timefram, but combat in which Jordan participated. See also Ciruelos’ Fusilados (Executed by Firearm), 1936. His Madrid en llamas I (Madrid in Flames I) and Madrid en llamas II (Madrid in Flames II), both 1936, show Picasso’s influence even as they anticipate Guernica. Descubierta and Fusliados were exhibited at the Spanish Pavilion for the Paris World’s Fair in 1937, where Guernica debuted.

Introduction: Spain in 1037, showing the Moorish States south of the Central Mountain System (including the Sierra de Guadarrama). Public Domain. The Guadarrama become the liminal space between Moorish and Spanish Iberia. The two maps preceding Chapter One are the 1937 Special Map of Spain from Soviet Russia Today, and “Heart of Spain,” 1936 (The Observer, 4 October 1936; online at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick).

Chpt. 1, 4:31. General Golz. Hemingway’s name for Karol Wacław Świerczewski, known in the war as General Walter. [Personajes republicanos. Militares 31], 1936-1939. The photo back identifies the Polish Świerczewski as Walter. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 1, 4:33. the Escorial, looking north toward the Guadarrama Mountains. [El Escorial, vista del Monasterio desde la Estación], J. Laurent, 1870?. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 1, 4:33 the Escorial. A view of the mountains from the Kings Apartment at El Escorial, Spain., El Escorial (Michael D. Gadberry, June 2007, Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain).

Chpt. 1, 8:24-25. This map from The Guardian (3 Jun. 1937) conveniently shows Jordan and Anslemo’s route from El Escorial past Guadarrama, through Navacerrada, and into the mountains outside La Granja. The Guadarrama Pass shown here is also known as Alto del León (82:1), where Jordan fought at the beginning of the war (235:32+, 236:8+).

Chpt 1:19, “the bridge”. Although not a steel bridge nor in Nationalist territory, Hemingway identified the Puenta de la Cantina as more-or-less the bridge on which he based the novel. I recommend turning on the terrain layer of web-based maps. Scroll north to find Valsain. To the east of Valsain are some Nationalist trench fortifications overlooking the Monk’s Cave (Cueva del Monje)—it’s from these trenches that the photograph in the Introduction was taken (p. xxxi). There are additional Nationalist fortifications southwest of Valsain. Both are easy and lovely hikes.

Chpt. 1, 1:19 The bridge isn’t on this map, but should be—where the Eresma crosses the road just above the squiggles of the road’s switchback. It is well within Republican lines. The Cueva del Monje is marked just on the Republican side of the front line (map source: Giles Tremlett, The International Brigades [2021], p.311).

Chpt. 1, 3:3+, “The young man”, Luis Quintanilla and Gary Cooper with Quintanilla’s painting of Cooper as Robert Jordan. Photo courtesy of Maria Cooper Janis.

Chpt. 1, 14:8, guardia civil with the distinctive tricorn headgear. “Spanien, Seo de Urgel- Soldat” (Soldier, La Seu d'Urgell, Spain), Annemarie Schwarzenbach, 1933. Public Domain: Swiss National Library, SLA Schwarzenbach-A-5-01/021. Wikimedia Commons.

Chpt. 2, 4+, “a good camp…as well hidden as a bear’s den”, [Civiles resguardados en un refugio natural](civilians sheltered in a natural refuge). Taken 1936-1939. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 2, 22:6+, “The girl…”, [Personajes republicanos sin identificar 1] (unidentified Republican woman 1), by Walter Reuter, Reportajes Gráficos Vidal, Foto Antifafot. Taken 1936-1939. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 3, 39:28+. Coat of arms of Queen Isabel I. Courtesy Alcázar of Segovia. Compare her 1492-1504 coat of arms, with the yoke and arrows symbolizing her union with Ferdinand, to the fascist Falange flag, and to Spain’s coat of arms under Franco’s dictatorship.

Chpt. 3, 43:37-38, “a darkness underneath”. From Franco’s Black Spain (1938) by Luis Quintanilla. This image bears the caption, “Quite often, fascism seems to go hand in hand with sexual degeneracy. Black Spain has proved no exception to this rule.” It depicts the Moorish soldiers as the sexual aggressors with the Nationalist soldiers willing participants.

Chpt. 7, 69:23, little rabbit. Roman coin of Emperor Hadrian with a female figure holding an olive branch with a rabbit at her feet representing Spain.

Chpt. 11, 137:16+, Greta Garbo in Queen Christina (1933).Author’s collection.

Chpt. 13, 162:30, Estremadura, where Kashkin was killed in early April. Jordan fought at Pozoblanco on the Córdoba front between late March and early April (238:35; 239:10). Map: “Loyalists Close Gap,” New York Times (9 Apr. 1937), p.13.

Chpt 14, 184:29+, “The Republicans turned one Madrid bullring into an orchard, a practical and symbolic act.” La Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas convertida en una huerta (The Las Ventas Bullring turned into an orchard), Madrid, by Virgilio Muro, 1 Jan 1937. ABC Archives.

Chpt. 18, 228: 12, Florida Hotel.

Chpt. 18, 228:24, Mikhail Koltsov (“Karkov”) on the right, and Maria Osten (“Karkov’s mistress” [232:8]) in Spain, 1936.

Chpt. 18, 228:27, Gaylord’s Hotel. This is not where “you felt like you were taking part in a crusade” (235:6-7). That would be the International Brigade’s office at Velasquez 63, a former private residence; or the communist Fifth Regiment’s original headquarters. See next image.

Chpt. 18, 235:3-4. “the headquarters of the Fifth Regiment.” The Church of San Francisco Sales, which the Fifth Regiment occupied at the start of the war, and which gave one the feeling of a “religious experience.” Photo by Zarateman, 29 March 2018 (WikiMedia Commons/Public Domain).

Chpt. 18, 235:3-4. See prior image. The date and description of this photo, plus the brick-over-concrete exterior, place it at the Church of San Francisco Sales. [Enseñanza y Prácticas en el funcionamiento del cañón y la Ametralladora, en el quinto regimiento de Milicias Populares] (Teaching and Practice in the operation of the cannon and the Machine Gun, in the fifth regiment of Popular Militias), Martin Santos Yubero, 31 July 1936. ABC Archives.

Chpt. 18, 236:8+, the Sanitarium. There were others in the Guadarrama because of the mountain air; this is the one the novel most likely references.

Chpt. 18, 237:8+, Usera is east of Carabanchel, on the west bank of the Manzanares. Map: “Advance on Madrid,” New York Times (10 Nov 1936), p.21.

Chpt. 18, 239:25+. “a certain British economist.” Really the American journalist Louis Fischer. The photo was taken in Barcelona in 1938.

Chpt. 18, 239:34-35. “When they had attacked at Carabanchel.” The armored vehicle in this photo from Carabanchel is very likely the kind of “tank” in Jordan’s story of the British economist (240:7+). The Spanish carro de combate can apply to all armored combat vehicles, tanks included; and, as in English, the term for tank—tanque—is often casually and wrongly applied to any armored military vehicle. [Carabanchel Madrid. Vistas del pueblo y del Frente] (Scenes of the village on the front), 1936-1939. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 18, 242:21, The Alcázar of Toledo, before its destruction [El Alcázar de Toledo. Antes de su destrucción], 1936. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain). See also El Greco’s View of Toledo.

Chpt. 18, 242:21, Alcázar of Toldeo, facade in ruins. [El Alcázar de Toledo. Fachadas en ruinas], 1936. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 21, 270:25, the clenched fist of the Republic. La Retaguardia No Quedara Abandonada (The Rear Guard Will Not Be Abandoned). Public Domain.

Chpt. 28, 324:34+, “religious instruction.” The Annunciation. Unknown artist. Courtesy Alcázar of Segovia. Not exactly what Pilar instructed Maria about.

Chpt. 30, 334:31+. The failed Arganda Offensive was designed to sever the main Republican road between Madrid and Valencia and eventually encircle Madrid. Map from the Chicago Tribune, 14 Feb. 1937, p.10. See the next image.

Chpt. 30, 334: 31+, The Arganda Bridge over the Jarama River was a Nationalist objective in February 1937—the probable date of this photo—and became the dramatic focus of The Spanish Earth nonfiction film (1937) that Joris Ivens made with Hemingway and others. The bridge is no longer in use but still exists, an easy drive from Madrid. [Escenas de guerra del Frente de Madrid I (9)], Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 31, 345:34-35. The disturbing Lynd Ward lithograph from the 1942 Limited Edition Club edition, where it appears as the frontispiece to Chpt. 12. See next image.

Chpt. 31, 345:34-35, Commemorative 1962 stamp issued for the "400th anniversary of the Teresian Reformation" during Franco’s dictatorship, depicting detail from Saint Teresa in Ecstasy by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Public Domain.

Chpt. 40, 399:10, milicianas (militiawomen). “Una miliciana en la primera línea de la avanzadilla de la Sierra de Guadarrama” (A militiawoman on the first line of the Sierra de Guadarrama advance), 25 July 1936. ABC Archives.

Chpt. 42, 416:34+, “A large man, old and heavy, in an oversized khaki beret…” André Marty. Cropped from [Reunión de Comisarios políticos del Ejército Popular en Albacete], 1936-1939. Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 42, 427:30-32, “mud-colored tanks” with “45-mm guns”. A Soviet tank model T-26. On photo back: “Un tanque republicano avanzande hacia las lineas eemigas” (a Republican tank advances against enemy lines): [Armamento artillería tanques barcos_búnkers 1], Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 43, 435:16. whippet tank. An Italian Fiat CV 3/33 or 3/35. The one in the photo was captured at the Battle of Guadalajara (or Brihuega) in March 1937. [Material de guerra cogido a los italianos en el Frente de Guadalajara 17], Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain).

Chpt. 43, 459:4. A Soviet model BT-5. A round from a captured BT-5 causes Jordan’s fatal wound. On photo back: “Frente de Aragon. Sector Teruel 10.1.38. Tanque ruso cogido a los rojos en la carretera de Cella a la estación” (Russian tank caught from the reds on the road from Cella to the station): [Armamento artillería tanques barcos_búnkers 5], Biblioteca Digital Hispánica Biblioteca, Nacional de España (Public Domain). Compare to the T-26 above.