Page 2 - Retornados. La repatriación final a Coruña

Año XXIV, Número 44, Julio 2024

Depósito Legal M-34.164-2001
ISSN 1695-6214 Retornados. La repatriación final a Coruña, Vigo y Ferrol (agosto de 1898…

Abstract

The final repatriation was the epilogue to a war in which Spain would be

deprived of its last overseas possessions: Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the
Philippines. The capitulation required the urgent evacuation of the islands, in

what would become a singular operation of enormous proportions destined to

mobilize nearly 150,000 individuals for their return to the homeland. Those in
military, civil, and religious institutions, as well as women and children were

forced to embark hastily to cross the ocean, traveling under crowded, and on
many occasions, dangerous and adverse weather conditions.

The Atlantic would become the tomb of 1,346 compatriots, most of
them terminally ill with dysentery and malaria, who dreamed of returning to

their land, reuniting with their families, and continuing with their lives. Their
shrouded bodies would be mourned, bid farewell with military honors, and

thrown into the sea.

Five hundred and seventy-nine of them were destined for one of the

main coastal cities in the northwest and northern parts of the peninsula.

This is their history, and that of the ships that transported them.

Palabras Clave

Coruña, Cruz Roja española, Guerrilleros, Repatriación final, Tren-

hospital, Vigo

Keywords

Coruña, Spanish Red Cross, Guerrillas, Final repatriation, Train-

hospital, Vigo

Historia Digital, XXIV, 44, (2024). ISSN 1695-6214 © José A. Tojo, 2024 P á g i n a | 116