In spring 1937, American journalists Virginia Cowles and Martha Gellhorn arrived in Madrid amid the Spanish Civil War's siege by Francisco Franco's forces. They reported on the city's defiance, daily hardships, and the influx of foreign correspondents during month five of the bombardment. Their experiences highlighted the challenges and ambitions of women covering the conflict between fascism and democracy.
Madrid in March and April 1937 was a city under siege, surrounded on three sides by Francisco Franco's army, yet its Republican defenders had recently secured two key battles, shifting the mood from impending doom to cautious optimism. Virginia Cowles, known as Ginny, and Martha Gellhorn stepped into this tense environment to report on the war pitting Franco's fascist allies—Hitler's planes and Mussolini's tanks—against the democratically elected Spanish Republic, supported by Soviet arms and International Brigades comprising 40,000 volunteers from 50 countries, including the United States.
Gellhorn arrived at the end of March, having crossed the Pyrenees alone and hitched rides with soldiers. Cowles followed shortly after. Both women observed the scarcity of food, with queues forming outside near-empty stores, and the routine of bombings that scattered crowds but could not halt daily life. On Gran Vía, the main boulevard, they window-shopped for unaffordable luxuries like silver fox furs and Schiaparelli perfume while sidestepping bullet holes and shell craters. Trams rattled past movie marquees advertising Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina and Marx Brothers comedies, a reminder of normalcy amid chaos.
A shell soon struck the Telefónica Tower, Europe's tallest building at the time, killing five women on the boulevard. Journalists dispatched reports from there via lines to London and Paris, scrutinized by censors for mentions of Soviet arms violating treaties. Cowles, writing for conservative Hearst magazines, aimed to report from both sides, a rare and risky endeavor in a war rife with spies and factionalism. She had already covered the front at Morata de Tajuña, discovering half of 300 U.S. youths fighting there had been killed.
Gellhorn, a passionate Republican supporter like Ernest Hemingway and others in the foreign press, funded her trip with a Vogue article on beauty problems. Lacking a firm assignment, she gathered notes from hospitals and prisons at the Hotel Florida. The two women bonded over salon visits and plotting visits to generals and civilian sites, navigating gossip among correspondents who 'studied each other like crows.' Cowles noted the initial 'strange carnival' feel of Madrid faded with habituation, while Gellhorn journaled about creeping boredom and personal restlessness.
Their presence joined a wave of journalists, including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and actor Errol Flynn, drawn to the clash of great powers. Women reporters like Dorothy Thompson and Anne O’Hare McCormick had paved paths, though armies restricted access to fronts, pushing coverage toward civilian impacts.
