Survivors Recall Spanish Civil War For 80th Anniversary

BARCELONA, SPAIN - JULY 5: Alffons Canovas, 99 (L) and his brother Antoni Canovas, 87, pose for a portrait on July 5, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. Alfons Canovas was fought on the Aragon front in 1938. I am not sure if I killed someone, I was terrfied. I did not aim, I hoisted my rifle over my shoulder and I fired it while I was hidden in my trench". His father was killed during an Italian air raid over Barcelona on January 19, 1938. Alfons Canovas sued Italy in the Spain National Court on May, 2011 for the fascist Italian air raids over Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. Antoni Canovas fought during the frustrated offensive to retake Mallorca under Nationalist control and he finished the war fighting in the Ebro's front where he met by chance his two brothers. At the end of the war he was exiled in France. He was forced to leave France towards North Africa due to the Nazi's occupation. He got caught in Morocco and freed by American troops in 1943. He was allowed to come back to Barcelona 30 years after he left Spain. On July 18, 1936 a group of officers attempted to overthrow the left-wing Popular Front government, (who were elected in February 1936) during a military coup. That date marks the beginning of the Spanish Civil War which it left 500,000 killed and an additional 450,000 that fled Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)