Told for the first time in English, Paul Preston's new book tells the story of a preventable tragedy that cost many thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more at the end of the Spanish Civil War.

This is the story of an avoidable humanitarian tragedy that cost many thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more.

On 5 March 1939, the eternally malcontent Colonel Segismundo Casado launched a military coup against the government of Juan Negr