"[The] failure of humane democracy in Spain had given way to one of the coldest-hearted men, a man intolerant of human foibles, humourless but able, calm, and determined. One day in winter, Bernhardt was lunching with Franco (whom he admired). The question came up as to what to do with four militiawomen, captured, armed with rifles. Franco believed that all women captured in arms should be shot. 'There is nothing else to be done', he said, 'shoot them', without changing the tone that he would use for a discussion of the weather."
- Thomas Hughes, The Spanish Civil War
