Federico Borrell García, a young Republican militiaman in the
Spanish civil war, died, it now seems certain, on September 5
1936, shot by Francoist rebels on a hillside in Cerro Muriano
near Cordoba. His death might have gone unremarked, except that
the image of that moment was celebrated for 40 years as one of
the most famous war photographs of the 20th century. It was not
Borrell's name that was famous - his identity was established
only relatively recently - but that of Robert Capa, whose
reputation was made by the photograph. Then, in 1975, came the
suggestion that Capa had faked the picture. Now new evidence
suggests another, darker twist to the story and adds a new
dimension to the complex ethics of reporting war. The first
doubts were raised by journalist Phillip Knightley, in his book
on media and propaganda war, The First Casualty, in which he
alleged that Capa had staged the scene for the camera. Knightley
discovered that the picture had first been published in the
French magazine, Vu. The caption,