In main cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, bombings were frequent and unpredictable. Journalist Martha Gellhorn writes, “You would be walking down a street, hearing only the city noises of streetcars and automobiles and people calling to one another, and suddenly, crushing it all out, would be the huge stony deep booming of a falling shell, at the corner.” There was nowhere to run or hide from the bombings, as the next shell could fall anywhere.
The unpredictable nature of the bombings caused significant fear and insecurity for families living in combat zones. Even when immediate danger was not present, the sound of distant explosions would often produce fear symptoms in children.