Хосе Миллан Астрай: Основатель Испанской Легии и герой Франкистской Испании

Spanish soldier and commander

José Millán Astray y Terreros (5 July 1879 – 1 January 1954) was a Spanish soldier, the founder and first commander of the Spanish Legion, and a major early figure of Francoist dictatorship. Astray was notable for his disfigured body: during his time in the army, he lost both his left arm and right eye and was shot several times in the chest and legs.

Born in A Coruña, Galicia, his father was José Millán Astray, a lawyer, poet, librettist of the Zarzuela genre, and chief jailer of Madrid. His mother was Pilar Terreros Segade, an illustrator and comedic author and his sister, Pilar Millán Astray was to be a noted writer. Though pressed to study law, Millán Astray aspired to a military career. On 30 August 1894 he entered the Academia de Infantería de Toledo ("Infantry Academy of Toledo"). He graduated as a second lieutenant at the age of sixteen, and later served in the army in Madrid. On 1 September 1896 he enrolled in the Escuela Superior de Guerra ("Superior Military School"). On 2 March 1906 he married Elvira Gutiérrez de la Torre, daughter of General Gutiérrez Cámara. Only after the wedding did she reveal her intention to remain chaste. From this point on, the couple would maintain (in Millán Astray's own words) a "fraternal relationship".

Upon graduation, he joined the General staff of the Spanish Army. Soon after, the Philippine Revolution broke out, and he left his position to serve there as a volunteer second lieutenant. He would earn numerous decorations for his valor (Cruz de María Cristina, Cruz Roja al Mérito Militar, and Cruz Primera Clase al Mérito Militar) and became something of a war hero for his defence at the age of 18 of the city of San Rafael, in which he fought off a rebel force of two thousand with only thirty men. He subsequently served in the Rif War. On 26 October 1924, while stationed in Spanish Morocco, he was wounded in the left arm during an ambush resulting in it needing to be amputated. He continued leading his men and a month later, he lost his right eye when it was hit by a bullet. This earned him the sobriquet Glorioso mutilado ("Glorious amputee"). He habitually wore an eyepatch and a white glove on his right hand when appearing in public. Interested in forming a corps of foreign volunteers after the fashion of the French Foreign Legion, he traveled to Algeria to study its workings. With the support of then Major Francisco Franco, he created the Spanish Legion, and, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, served as its first commander. He would popularize the mottos ¡Viva la Muerte! ("Long live death!") and ¡A mí la Legión! ("To me the legion!"). Millán Astray gave the legion a powerful ideology intended to evoke Spain's Imperial and Christian traditions. For instance, the legion adopted a regimental unit called the tercio in memory of the famed Spanish infantry formations that had terrorized their opponents on the battlefields of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Millán Astray also revived the Spaniard's ancient feud with the Moors and portrayed his men first as crusaders on an extended Reconquista against the Islamic civilization; and later as the saviours of Spain warding off the twin evils of Communism and democratic liberalism. Favored by King Alfonso XIII and rewarded for his heroic leadership of the Legion in the aftermath of the Spanish military defeat at Annual, in 1924, he was promoted to full colonel. In 1927, he was promoted to brigadier general. In 1932, the Republican government of Azaña placed him on the retirement list along with other generals regarded as hostile to the Republic. During the Spanish Civil War he sided with the Nationalists. He served as director of the Office of Radio, Press, and Propaganda (1936 1937) on the Nationalist side and later (1937) was named head of the Corps of Wounded Veterans. It is said that he administered the press office like a military barracks, forcing journalists to fall in line in response to his whistle, and subjecting them to the same brutal harangues he had given as commander of the Legion.

Millán Astray is perhaps best remembered for a heated response to Miguel de Unamuno, the writer and philosopher, on 12 October 1936. The celebration of 12 October had brought together a politically diverse crowd at the University of Salamanca, including Enrique Pla y Deniel, the Archbishop of Salamanca, and Carmen Polo Martínez Valdés, the wife of Franco, and Millán Astray himself. Unamuno had supported Franco's uprising because he believed it necessary to bring order to the anarchy created by the Popular Front, and that day he was representing General Franco in the event. By then the Republican Government had removed Unamuno from his perpetual rectory at the Salamanca University and the rebel government had restored him. There are different versions of what occurred.

In 1941, during a game of bridge, he fell in love with Rita Gasset, daughter of former public works minister Rafael Gasset, and cousin of philosopher José Ortega y Gasset. As a result, Millán Astray separated from his wife Elvira. Franco, seeking to avoid a scandal, relocated Millán Astray to Lisbon. Here, Rita gave birth to Millán Astray's only child, a daughter named Peregrina, on 23 January 1942. After the affair, Millán Astray was largely forgotten by the Spanish public. He eventually returned to Madrid, where he died of heart failure on 1 January 1954.

Millán Astray was by all accounts prone to actions and general demeanor frequently described as impulsive and ruthless, even by the standards of most Africanist officials. There is no conclusive evidence concerning the causes of these actions, which could be prompted by environmental conditioning, his alleged drug use, or undiagnosed medical conditions.

For over 50 years a street in Madrid was named in his honour. In 2018, as part of a wider removal of street names linked to Francoism, it was renamed Justa Freire in memory of a jailed opponent of Francoism. In August 2021, a Madrid court ruled that the previous name was not incompatible with the Historical Memory Law as it commemorated his military achievements which predated Francoism and the street was restored to its former name of General Millán Astray on 24 August 2021. Six days later, the street name was vandalised.