The two photographs here presented were taken during Robert Capa's coverage of the fall of the revolutionary areas around Barcelona, Spain on 15 January 1939.

The photographs were used in Capas story on the refugees from Tarragona entitled “Tragedy of Spain” in Picture Post, February 4, 1939. Capa's caption for the photograph of a mother and her children reads: “A Mother and Her Children Set Out on Foot. One little girl carries her doll. Another has a basket with a little food - and, of all things, and umbrella. The mother supports her youngest on her hip. At her back hangs something to drink when the children get thirsty on the way.”

The caption of the other photograph of women fleeing - with a sign hanging behind them pointing in another direction towards “Refugi” - reads: “Still Pouring into Tarragona. While the towns people are fleeing, country people are still pouring in.” Capa's own reportage from this event and this issue of Picture Post is depicted in Whelan: This is War, Robert Capa at work, 2008, p. 188.

“On January 15, 1939, Capa photographed refugees making their way along the coastal road from Tarragona to Barcelona. Many were on foot; some pushed carts so heavily laden with their possesions that their mules were unable to pull them. Before the refugees could reach their destination, fascist planes strafed them mercilessly, killing many and scattering their belongings.” Whelan: Robert Capa, the definitive collection. 2004, p. 224.