Juan Antonio Llerda

Spanish militant anarcho-syndicalist. Born in Crete, he was a member of the CNT and in July 1936 joined a militia column in Tarragona that ended up in Horta and Gandesa and in which he served as a stretcher bearer. After the Republic's defeat in the region, he left for France, returning to Barcelona and fought on the Ebro front where he was severly wounded by an explosive bullet. During the Retirada, he was interned before enlisting in a Compagnie de Travailleurs Etrangers. During the German occupation he was requisitioned under the STO to work in the submarine base in Bordeaux, where he came into contact with the resistance. Following his release, he joined the Bataillon Libertad, trained as an anarchist Guerrilla and in 1945 fought with the Basque Guernika Battalion against the last German pockets of the Pointe-de-Grave. Some of the weapons he captured went directly to the anti-Franco guerrillas bound for Spain. He remained a member of the Comarcale de Valderrobres in exile, the militia of the FL-CNT in Bordeaux.