They Shall Not Pass!

[The Elf-warrior]

In one of his letters (#83 from October 6, 1944), Tolkien expresses support for Franco. He describes him and C.S. Lewis's meeting with one Roy Campbell,

...who became a Catholic after sheltering the Carmelite fathers in Barcelona - in vain, they were caught and butchered...As you know he then fought through the war on Franco's side...However it is not possible to convey an impression of such a rare character, both a soldier and a poet, and a Christian convert. How unlike the Left - the 'corduroy panzers' who fled to America (Auden among them who with his friends got R.C.'s works 'banned' by the Birmingham T. Council!)...C.S.L.'s reactions were odd. Nothing is a greater tribute to Red propaganda than the fact that he (who knows they are in all other subjects liars and traducers) believes all that is said against Franco, and nothing that is said for him.