AIR-RAID SHELTER IN GAVÀ, SURVIVING THE BOMBS

The Grandma arrives to the bunker, Gavà

Today, The Grandma continues her computing course in Gavà. She has learnt new applications very useful to create word clouds.

One of them is Wordle. She has also learnt new web pages where she can choose and download hundreds of fonts to be used in her documents.

Finally, she has created a wonderful CV using Canva, an amazing web application that helps her to design and create her own CV with her own style and she has also created and edited new administrative documents using Microsoft Publisher, one of the editors of the Microsoft Office.

After her classes, The Grandma has had a meeting with Claire Fontaine, one of her best friends. Claire loves Design and History and she has proposed The Grandma to visit the air-raid shelter of Gavà and discover its history, that it is the history of the common effort of thousand of people to survive to one of the most terrible events of the last century, the Spanish Civil War.

More information: Canva, Wordle & JavaScript

More information: 1001Fonts, DaFont & FontSpace

The air-raid shelter of the Rambla de Gavà is a refuge that was built during the Spanish Civil War to protect the civil population of Gavà during aerial attacks carried out by fascist aviation.

Rediscovered in 2008 due to the works of the initial section of Rambla of Salvador Lluch, the refuge has been recovered and adapted to preserve it and to recover the historical memory of Gavà, as well as to pay homage to the victims of the Civil War. Open to the public since 2013, it is musealized and it is one of the spaces of the Gavà Museum.

At the beginning of the war the owners of Roca Radiadores Company, the Roca family, fled to Burgos and then to Paris.

Aerial view of Gavà, 1937

With the fleeing proprietors, the workers of the factory organize a Committee of Workers Control that performs the managerial functions of the company and manages the factory.

The production of radiators and bathtubs continues until the factory is converted into a war industry and integrated within the Commission of War Industries created by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Catalan Government. Taking advantage of the foundry, at the beginning of 1937, hand grenades and later shells were started to produce -5,000 shells per day-, but without machining them, action that was taken in another factory.

After May 1937 Facts -a period of civil violence in Catalonia, when factions of the Republican side engaged each other in street battles in various parts of Catalonia, in particular in the city of Barcelona- the Government of the Spanish Republic will eventually assume control over the Catalan war industries.

Workers at Roca factory had a category of militarized war industry workers, so it was not necessary to join the ranks when they called for their promotion. 

More information: Visit Museum

The conversion of Roca into a projectile factory will cause the towns of Gavà and Viladecans to suffer air strikes on several occasions during the year 1938 by fascist aviation.

The conversion of Roca Company into an arms factory turned it into a military objective. This caused the populations of Gavà and Viladecans to be victims of bombings by fascist aviation during the year 1938. These attacks also formed part of the offensive that Franco commanded over the Republican rear.

Savoia-Marchetti S.81, Italian Legionnaire Aviation

The first attack suffered by Gavà and Viladecans was on March 16, 1938. It was midnight and the population was surprised while sleeping in small aircraft formations Savoia-Marchetti S.81, belonging to the 25th Night Bombardment Group of the Italian Legionnaire Aviation of the Balearic Islands. The purpose of these planes was to bomb Barcelona, but before arriving they bombed the Roca factory, its surroundings and part of Viladecans.

In Gavà, 7 people died in Viladecans 15, and there was an undetermined number of wounded and damaged. In Viladecans Can Sellarès suffered serious damage and Cal Sileta and Cal Magí were completely demolished. On June 30, Gavà is again bombed, with the Roca factory as a target. There was no deadly victim.

More information: La Xarxa (Catalan Version)

On July 4, another attack on Gavà and Viladecans was carried out. The objective was also the Roca company. It was 9:30 in the morning, in a working day. Five Savoy 81 trimotors threw 25 projectiles that caused 12 dead, 25 injured and the destruction of some buildings. The vast majority of the victims were workers of the foundry, neighbours of Gavà and Viladecans.

The majority of bombs fell in the part of the factory belonged to Viladecans, causing damages to the facilities. Also the Italian airforce dropped projectiles in areas close to Gavà installations and offices, without impacting on them, and at the factory of the Hules. This attack was published on the cover the next day in La Vanguardia.

Masia de Can Sellarès in Viladecans, 1937

Shortly after this attack, the president of the government of the Spanish Republic, Juan Negrín, visited the factory, proving the strategic importance that it had.

The next attack on Viladecans was on September 11. It was at 22:30 and it took place on the factory of Llevat, which suffered significant damage. Several houses were also affected. There were 3 injured and no fatalities. Gavà would still suffer two more attacks, one on November 6 and another on December 3, without causing any fatalities.

On June 9, 1937, the Generalitat de Catalunya created the Passive Defense Committee of Catalonia to supervise the construction of refuges and to coordinate and give technical guidelines and advice on the protection of the civilian population. In Viladecans neighbourhood and private refuges were built on the outskirts of houses.

In Gavà, apart from local and private refuges -Escola del Sagrat Cor in Santa Teresa Street, the Vaghi family on Carrer d'Àngel Guimerà, and the Balsells family on Boada estate-, the Roca and Serra i Balet factories' Committees of Companies built new ones in their facilities for the workers.

Download Sota la llei de les armes by Sandra Garcia (Catalan Version)

In addition, there were two public refuges: one on the street of Salvador Lluch with a branch on Carrer del Centre and the other on Rambla de Salvador Lluch. There were also refuges-trenches (zigzags of a meter or meter and half of depth) were made in some streets.

The pinewood, the agricultural area, the surrounding mountains -where caves were excavated- and the surrounding farmhouses also welcomed people during the attack warning. Some people went to spend the night in these refuges in fear of being surprised at home if they slept but there were people who decided to stay at home during the attack.

The project of the air-raid shelter of Rambla de Salvador Lluch was commissioned by the Company Committee of the Roca factory to the Unió d'Arquitectes de Catalunya. It was built by the workers of the Roca factory under the supervision of municipal engineers and engineers of the Roca factory.

The Grandma & Claire visit the shelter, Gavà

The date of the original project is from March 1937 but it was not started until the spring of 1938. This shelter gave refuge to the workers at the offices of the Roca factory, neighbours, pedestrians and people waiting for the train and the bus.

The refuge is formed by a gallery of 124 metres long, 2 metres wide and 2 metres high, located in the middle of Rambla de Salvador Lluch at about 4 metres deep.

To build it the technique of the lost formwork was used. Two parallel ditches of about 40 centimetres thick were leveraged on a base of 80 centimetres in depth, which were filled with concrete without covering the walls without wood or slats. Once the concrete was removed, the floor was left in the middle of the two trenches forming the gallery.

This operation was done by sections, which can be distinguished. We also see the negatives of peak marks. Once the walls were made, the vault was built with reinforced concrete. It is  2 metres thick and can withstand a weight of 40 tons. The ground is also made of concrete.

Download Viure a Gavà durant la Guerra Civil by Joan F. Martín (Catalan)

The refuge had three perpendicular accesses to the gallery, which was lowered by a section of stairs: one located on the corner of the Rambla with the Santa Creu de Calafell road, another on the street of Salamanca and the third on the courtyard of the offices of La Roca. The entries made a curve to avoid the entrance of the shrapnel. They have not been preserved.

The walls of the gallery are not lined, with the exception of a section located near the access to the offices of La Roca, which are whitewashed. The walls of the sections of the accesses were covered with a layer of cement without smoothing, leaving a granular vertical wall for the impressions realized with the pallets.

The refuge did not have any comfort. No seats, kit or bathroom, it only had electric lighting and two ventilation wells. For this reason people left blankets, jugs with water and oil lamps.

Graffiti Estat Català, Gavà shelter

Due to its size, 250 metres square, it could accommodate up to 700 people. But considering that people were on the floor and wearing mattresses and blankets, the occupation would be about 400 people.

On January 24, 1939, the Francoist army occupied Gavà. He entered by Begues road and Santa Creu de Calafell road and they arrived to the Rambla. In their advance, men and young men suspected of being Republican soldiers, were being arrested and imprisoned in the shelter of the Rambla for days.

Shortly after the end of the war, the two main accesses were closed, demolishing the entrances and dumping rubble, but the access of the offices of the Roca factory remained open.

In 1951 a neighbour asked for authorization to the City Council to reuse the space to grow mushrooms. The City Council granted permission for a rent of 300 pesetas per month. This activity would not go beyond the fifties, when the entrance to La Roca was demolished.

Throughout the entire gallery, the negatives of the peak marks from the excavation of the ditches are observed. The soot produced by the oil lamps that were lit when the electric lighting of the refuge failed during the bombing was also preserved on the walls.

In a section of the gallery, we can observe some footprints that occurred when the concrete was still moist.

In the access section of the entrance to the Santa Creu de Calafell road, there is a graffiti that was made when the cement was still tender. The name of the political party Estat Català is written in capital letters.

Download Un pasado común: La Roca by María Catalán (Spanish Version)

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, 

is represented not as a war but as an act of 

self-defense against a homicidal maniac.

George Orwell

THE MOST ANCIENT DUNES IN THE 'DELTA DEL LLOBREGAT'

Claire Fontaine & The Grandma in Gavà

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have visited the Delta del Llobregat beaches from El Prat to Gavà.

The Grandma is a great fan of dunes and it's a great privilege to contemplate them near her home in this wonderful natural place next to El Prat Airport.

The most amazing thing about dunes is not only their capacity of formation but the vegetation that can grow in them and the great quantity of animals that can live in them.

Claire and The Grandma have relaxed on the beach thanks to a great sunny day and the warm temperatures. While Claire was swimming, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her First Certificate Language Practice manual (Vocabulary 2).

More information: Work and employment I & II

The Llobregat Delta, in Catalan Delta del Llobregat, is the delta of the Llobregat river, located near the city of Barcelona, Catalonia. The current delta has been altered by farming, urban development, industrialisation and transport infrastructures such as the Port of Barcelona and the Barcelona El Prat Airport.

The Natural Areas of the Llobregat Delta, in Catalan Espais Naturals del Delta del Llobregat, is a network of protected areas established in 1987 that belongs to the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans, Gavà and Sant Boi de Llobregat. It encompasses more than 900 hectares over the right margin of the river that have been declared a Special Protection Area as a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.

Claire takes sun in Gavà

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of loose sand built by aeolian processes, wind, or the flow of water. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, formed by interaction with the flow of air or water. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the stoss, upflow, side, where the sand is pushed up the dune, and have a shorter slip face in the lee side. The valley or trough between dunes is called a slack. A dune field or erg is an area covered by extensive dunes.

Dunes occur in some deserts and along some coasts. Some coastal areas have one or more sets of dunes running parallel to the shoreline directly inland from the beach. In most cases, the dunes are important in protecting the land against potential ravages by storm waves from the sea.

Although the most widely distributed dunes are those associated with coastal regions, the largest complexes of dunes are found inland in dry regions and associated with ancient lake or sea beds. Dunes can form under the action of water flow, fluvial processes, and on sand or gravel beds of rivers, estuaries and the sea-bed.

The modern word dune came into English from French c. 1790, which in turn came from Middle Dutch dūne.

Dunes form where the beach is wide enough to allow for the accumulation of wind-blown sand, and where prevailing onshore winds tend to blow sand inland. Obstacles, for example, vegetation, pebbles and so on, tend to slow down the wind and lead to the deposition of sand grains. These small incipient dunes or shadow dunes tend to grow in the vertical direction if the obstacle slowing the wind can also grow vertically.

More information: Espais Naturals del Delta del Llobregat

Coastal dunes expand laterally as a result of lateral growth of coastal plants via seed or rhizome. Models of coastal dunes suggest that their final equilibrium height is related to the distance between the water line and where vegetation can grow. Additionally the height of coastal dunes is impacted by storm events, which can erode dunes. Recent work has suggested that coastal dunes tend to evolve toward a high or low morphology depending on the growth rate of dunes relative to storm frequency. In certain conditions, both low and high dunes are possible, dunes are a system that shows bistable dynamics.

As a dune forms, plant succession occurs. The conditions on an embryo dune are harsh, with salt spray from the sea carried on strong winds. The dune is well drained and often dry, and composed of calcium carbonate from seashells. 

The Grandma & Claire on the beach, Gavà

Rotting seaweed, brought in by storm waves adds nutrients to allow pioneer species to colonize the dune.

These plants are well adapted to the harsh conditions of the foredune typically having deep roots which reach the water table, root nodules that produce nitrogen compounds, and protected stoma, reducing transpiration.

Also, the deep roots bind the sand together, and the dune grows into a foredune as more sand is blown over the grasses. The grasses add nitrogen to the soil, meaning other, less hardy plants can then colonize the dunes. Typically these are heather, heaths and gorses. These too are adapted to the low soil water content and have small, prickly leaves which reduce transpiration.

More information: Nature

Heather adds humus to the soil and is usually replaced by coniferous trees, which can tolerate low soil pH, caused by the accumulation and decomposition of organic matter with nitrate leaching. Coniferous forests and heathland are common climax communities for sand dune systems.

Young dunes are called yellow dunes and dunes which have high humus content are called grey dunes. Leaching occurs on the dunes, washing humus into the slacks, and the slacks may be much more developed than the exposed tops of the dunes.

It is usually in the slacks that more rare species are developed and there is a tendency for the dune slacks soil to be waterlogged and where only marsh plants can survive. These plants would include: creeping willow, cotton grass, yellow iris, reeds, and rushes. As for the species, there is a tendency for natterjack toads to breed here.

More information: Nature

One billion grains of sand come into existence in the world each second. That's a cyclical process. As rocks and mountains die, grains of sand are born. Some of those grains may then cement naturally into sandstone. And as the sandstone weathers, new grains break free. Some of those grains may then accumulate on a massive scale, into a sand dune.

Magnus Larsson