Crowds Running for Shelter When the Air-raid Alarm Sounded

Crowds Running for Shelter When the Air-raid Alarm Sounded is a black and white photograph taken by Robert Capa in Bilbao, Basque Country, during the Spanish Civil War in May 1937.

Capa took many photographs of crowds running for shelter during the Spanish Civil War (1937, 1939)[2] and in 1938, in China.

[3][4] The picture depicts the moment when a group of people listens to the air-raid alarm, indicating that enemy aviation was approaching for a bombardment.

The Basque Country was traditionally a conservative region of Spain but nevertheless was supportive of the Republican government in their struggle against Francisco Franco nationalists and their allies.

[5] Other scholars have described how the popularity of this image and similar photographs by Capa created a sense that fascism was a particularly European phenomenon.