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p When the military rebellion broke out in Spain in July 1936, there already existed in Britain a broadly-based organisation, the Relief Committee for the Victims of Fascism, which had done much to arouse public opinion, especially working-class opinion, to the dangers of fascism and war. Outstanding among this Committee’s activities had been its holding in London of an international legal enquiry into the Reichstag Fire trial; its fight for the lives of Ernst Thaelmann, Edgar Andre and other German anti-fascists; the sending of a delegation to Brazil to intervene on behalf of Luis Carlos Prestes; and its actions in 1934 on behalf of the Asturian miners in Spain.

p The existence and lively activity of the Relief Committee for the Victims of Fascism made it possible to move quickly in support of the Spanish people. On July 31, 1936, the Committee initiated a meeting which formed the Spanish Medical Aid Committee: the first British ambulance unit with its accompanying doctors, nurses and other medical personnel left Britain on August 10, less than four weeks after the start of the revolt. A stream of ambulances, medical supplies and personnel was sent by this committee right up to the end of the war.

p Meanwhile the Relief Committee for the Victims of Fascism sent a delegation to Spain to investigate the role of German and Italian fascism, whose help to the insurgents was being denied by the Conservative British Government. The delegation, consisting of two Labour members of Parliament, one Labour member of the House of Lords and one Communist, brought back to England copious evidence in the form of German bombs, Italian parachutes and other captured equipment which was presented at the Labour Party’s conference at Edinburgh in September 1936.

p A wider committee was next formed, the National Joint Committee for Spanish Relief. It consisted of representatives from every political party, from the trade-union movement, from various religious denominations and from existing committees. Its chairman 59 was the Conservative Duchess of Atholl, its joint secretaries a Labour, a Liberal and a Conservative member of Parliament. It is worthy of note that though the Conservative Government backed the insurgents throughout the whole period of the war, there was a substantial group of Conservatives who supported the campaign on behalf of the Spanish Republican Government, chiefly because of their recognition of the danger to Britain’s imperial trade routes and national interest of a Spain in fascist hands.

p It is also noteworthy that in the interests of the broadest possible unity of action, the National Joint Committee for Spanish Relief never asked its constituent members for a formal declaration of support for the Republican Government, agreement being founded on the proposal to send aid "where the need was greatest”. Members of the Communist Party, always in a minority on local or national committees to aid Spain, adhered loyally to this agreement and did not press for the adoption of their full political programme with regard to Spain, for which they worked outside the broad "Aid Spain" movement. An outstanding contribution was made in this respect by Isabel Brown, a leading Communist whose powerful oratory and deep political understanding made her name nationally known and respected.

p The broad united struggle on behalf of the Spanish people had its basis first and foremost among the organised workers, already alerted to the dangers of fascism by the growth of nazism, the destruction of the German working-class organisations, the fascist putsch in Austria and their own street battles against the fascist gangs of Oswald Mosley. They recognised the class character of the war in Spain, and saw with clear vision that the bombs which fell on Barcelona, Guernica and Malaga were a rehearsal for London, Clydebank and Coventry.

p Along with the workers were the intellectuals, who saw the menace which fascism presented to their interests and to the whole fabric of European culture. Religious bodies recognised the fascist threat to religious freedom and were moved by their humanitarian beliefs to help the sufferers. Leading Labour politicians were urged forward by pressure from the rank-and-file of their party; Clement Attlee, leader of the Labour Party, was photographed on the terrace of the House of Commons giving the "Red Front" salute, and in December 1937 visited the British Battalion of the International Brigades, one of whose companies was named after him. Liberal politicians came forward to help in defence of bourgeois democracy. Conservatives in defence of British trading interests—a separate Committee of British Shipowners Trading to Spain was formed to combat the government’s refusal to protect British shipping; these shipowners bought a whole page of advertising in the London Times to protest against the policy of “non-intervention”.

60

p Following the destruction of Guernica, when Mola threatened to “raze Bilbao to the ground”, in May 1937 the British people opened their doors to 4,000 Basque children. A miracle of voluntary organisation transformed bare fields outside the port of Southampton into a well-equipped transit camp from which the children were sent to various homes organised to welcome them by trades councils, trade union branches, religious bodies and Basque children’s committees where they were taught in their own language and enabled to cherish their own national culture, songs and dances as well as to grow up strong and healthy and free from fear. Over two thousand children returned to their homes and parents at the end of the war in Spain; many of the remainder have continued in Britain and now have families of their own.

p The whole period of the Spanish struggle was marked by great public demonstrations, meetings and marches. Workers straight from their factories marched down Whitehall demanding “Arms for Spain!"—not once but many times. Traffic at London’s central “hub”, Piccadilly Circus, was held up by people demonstrating with the same demand. London print workers formed a permanent organisation—the Printers’ Anti-Fascist Movement. Mass meetings were held in Trafalgar Square; thousands of meetings, great and small, took place up and down the country. Scarcely a town in Britain lacked an Aid Spain Committee; several cities sent their own ambulances, provided through local collections. Unemployed workers, of whom there were over two million in Britain at that time, gave from their meagre resources tins of milk, clothing and whatever they could spare.

p In all, over £2 million worth of cash and goods were contributed to help the people of Spain. Convoys of food and medical supplies were driven across France and over the Pyrenees. Twentynine “foodships” sailed into ports of the Spanish Republic, not counting the commercial vessels which continued to trade with Republican Spain despite the fascist blockade: a notable figure in this traffic was the well-known Captain “Potato” Jones of Cardiff, who sailed time and again to Spain’s northern ports.

p Within a few hours of the arrival, in February 1939, of the first refugees from Catalonia across the Pyrenees into France, a British committee had set up its headquarters in Perpignan to bring them aid. In June 1939, the S.S. Sinaia, chartered by the National Joint Committee for Spanish Relief, sailed for Mexico with 1,200 Spaniards aboard, whole families having been reunited with the help of the Perpignan committee. The British Committee for Refugees from Spain, formed after the end of the war to assist those Spaniards and international brigaders who succeeded in reaching England, remained in existence until the livelihood of every refugee was assured.

p The movement of solidarity with the Spanish people was 61
An appeal for funds by Britain’s National Joint Committee of Spanish Relief without doubt the broadest and most widespread movement of international solidarity ever seen in Britain up to that time, uniting the most diverse sections of the whole population in support of the heroic fight of the Spanish people against fascism.

p How, then, in face of this great campaign of solidarity and aid for Republican Spain, were the governments of Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain able to pursue, from the beginning of the Spanish war to the end, a policy which ultimately ensured the military victory of Franco in Spain?

p Bitterly anti-communist, the dominant section of the British ruling class was behind a policy of striving for agreement with the fascist dictators and of making concessions to them in the hope that the armed forces of Hitler Germany, in particular, would be launched towards the East in a “crusade” against the Soviet Union. That policy was given most shameful and dramatic expression in the Munich betrayal of Czechoslovakia, but it also ensured the equally infamous betrayal of the Spanish Republic. The second factor was the attitude of the Right-wing leadership of the Labour Party and the Trades Union Congress, which prevented the mobilisation of a great united movement, led by the working class, of such strength that the reactionaries would have been compelled to give way before it.

p From the very beginning of the Spanish war the rebel generals enjoyed the warm support of the reactionary forces in Britain and 62 a massive Conservative majority in Parliament. A person like the Duchess of Atholl, who was prepared to jeopardise a political career in the Conservative ranks in order to stand up for the Spanish Republic and principles of justice and decency, was a notable exception in the circles in which she moved.

p While strangling the Spanish Republic with the noose of “ nonintervention”, the governments of Baldwin and Chamberlain pretended to be neutral. Some reactionary members of Parliament, however, disregarded the fig-leaf of “neutrality” and openly proclaimed their full support for Franco. Sir Henry Page Croft, for instance, said on March 23, 1938: “I recognise General Franco to be a gallant Christian gentleman, and I believe his word.” Speaking at the same London meeting, Captain Victor Cazalet described General Franco as “the Leader of our cause today”. “I hope to God Franco wins in Spain, and the sooner the better,” exclaimed Sir Arnold Wilson.

p Many, many other examples could be given of the deep devotion of many Conservative M.P.’s to that “gallant Christian gentleman" who drowned Spain in blood. Churchill referred to this warm sympathy for Franco among the wealthy and privileged in Britain when he wrote at the end of 1938: “Nothing has strengthened the Prime Minister’s (Chamberlain’s—Ed.) hold upon well- todo society more remarkably than the belief that he is friendly to General Franco and the Nationalist cause in Spain."  [62•1 

p Sympathy for Franco—and for Hitler and Mussolini—went hand in hand with a fanatical hatred for the Soviet Union. Describing the instructions which he gave Foreign Secretary Eden shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish war, Baldwin said: “On no account, French or other, must he bring us into the fight on the side of the Russians.”

p For Baldwin (and for General Franco) the Spanish Republican Government, which consisted entirely of moderate bourgeois republican democrats, was Red, and the refusal of Manuel Azana and Jose Giral to let fascism enslave the country was nothing but “Russian intrigues”. The suppression of Spanish democracy was the only outcome of the Spanish war, acceptable to British ruling circles. They saw the non-intervention policy, serving as a disguise for their true aims, as the means towards achieving the desired outcome. The policy of bogus neutrality was “sold” to the British people with the big lie that it was a policy of peace, that the only alternative was a European war. With this argument of “peace in our time”, Parliament and people were expected to swallow the intervention of Italy and Germany in Spain, the sinking of British merchant ships carrying goods and foodstuffs to Republican Spain, the growing threat to British communications in the 63 Mediterranean and the pro-Franco acts of the British Government which became increasingly shameless as the Spanish war approached its conclusion.

p The official policy of encouraging fascism met with no resistance from the parliamentary opposition represented by the Labour Party.

p The Right-wing leaders of the Labour Party and the Trades Union Congress were more concerned with waging a battle against their own Left wing, and the Communist Party in particular, than with mobilising the people of Britain for militant action on behalf of the Spanish Republic. In fact the very idea of such action was abhorrent to them; moreover, they did their utmost to prevent anyone else from giving the leadership which they themselves refused to provide. On January 18, 1937, the Socialist League ( consisting of Left-wing members of the Labour Party), the Communist Party and the Independent Labour Party announced that they were going to launch a united campaign. On January 27, the Socialist League was expelled from the Labour Party.

p There was a neat division of labour. The British Government brought pressure to bear on the French Government to ensure the continuation of the “non-intervention” policy, while Right-wing Labour leaders in Britain excused their own prolonged support for discredited “non-intervention” by pointing to the example of the French Government headed by the "tried Socialist" Leon Blum. Speaking at the 1936 Congress, Walter Citrine, then General Secretary of the TUG, tried to intimidate the delegates saying that a European war would break out if the munitions supplies needed by the Spanish Government were continued. This was a specious argument because Hitler Germany was not ready for war at the time. But it was appreciated by the Chamberlain Government, too.

p Not until July 27, 1937, did the National Council of Labour (on which the Labour Party, the TUG and the Co-operative Movement were represented) finally dissociate itself officially from “non- intervention”. But even after that the many proposals for industrial action of one kind or another—protest strikes, refusals to handle goods destined for the Franco zone, etc.—were rejected one and all by the Right-wing leadership as “impracticable”.

p What many members of the Labour Party thought of the policy which had been pursued by their Right-wing leaders, however, was made clear in their speeches at the Labour annual conference in May 1939. When discussing a resolution moved by the party leadership, in which they expressed their hypocritical “admiration for the heroism of the Spanish people" and censured the British Government for rendering aid to the insurgents, Delegate J. Poole told the conference: “Those of us who have been tied up with the Spanish struggle the last two and a half years cannot allow that the conscience of the Party shall be finally appeased, or that the 64 sacrifices of the Spanish people shall be written off in a resolution and a few complacent paragraphs of the Executive’s report.” Delegate Sybil Wingate spoke out even more strongly: “Lord Halifax has told us recently that this Government has no Spanish blood on its hands.... We know what to think of that Pontius Pilate, but what are we to say of ourselves, our own movement, of our National Executive who by their betrayal during the first terrible year, and their obstinate refusal to take any effective action worthy of the situation afterwards, have cost us the key position in the fight against fascism and sacrificed the lives of so many of our best and bravest comrades?”

p The honour of the British labour movement was vindicated by the men and women who went to Spain to fight alongside their heroic Spanish brothers and sisters.

p Eighty per cent of the 2,000 British volunteers came from the working class; the majority of them were Communists and members of the Labour Party.

p The first British life to be given on behalf of Spanish freedom was that of Felicia Browne, a young woman artist. Felicia Browne was in Barcelona when the revolt broke out; she had travelled there, to attend the People’s Olympiad, and immediately enrolled in the militia. She was shot on August 25, 1936, while rescuing a wounded comrade, Paolo Comida, after her patrol, engaged in a night operation on the Aragon Front, had been attacked and outnumbered by the enemy.

p First move to organise a group of British volunteers was initiated by Sam Masters and Nat Cohen, two young London clothing workers, who were on a cycling holiday in France at the time or the revolt and at once crossed the frontier into Spain. In Barcelona they founded the Tom Mann Centuria from among the handful of British volunteers who had begun to arrive. When news came of the gathering of all the international volunteers at Albacete this group, now numbering 18 men, went to the newly-formed base and were attached to the Thaelmann Battalion. A dozen other Britishers who had by this time reached Albacete formed a machine-gun group and were enrolled in the French Battalion. Both these groups took part in the defence of Madrid.

p Meanwhile in Britain the call had gone out for the formation of a British Battalion, and hundreds of volunteers had come forward. A tremendous lead in this campaign was given by Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the Communist Party. Recruiting was carried on more or less openly until, on January 9, 1937, the British Government decided to make the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870 applicable to Spain, and threatened those guilty of an offence under this Act with imprisonment up to two years or a fine, or both. Still more difficulties were encountered when the Non- intervention Committee on February 20 enforced its ban on 65 volunteers and announced a system of control. But these obstacles only made the British anti-fascists more determined. A weekend ticket to Paris permitted exist from Britain and into France without a passport. They set out as “tourists”, went to Paris and then, with the magnificent help of the French comrades, crossed the Pyrenees on foot or made the journey by sea, sometimes in small open boats.

p During November and December 1936, nearly 500 British volunteers arrived at Madrigueras near Albacete, an assembly point for other English-speaking volunteers—Irishmen, Canadians, Cubans, Cypriots, etc. It must be remembered that Britain at that time did not have compulsory military service; only a small proportion of the volunteers (mostly veterans from the First World War) had had any military training or experience, and they were needed to help in the training of the younger men.

p In late December the command of the Republican Army ordered the Albacete base to form a new International Brigade to be sent to the Southern Front. It was to check the insurgents’ offensive in the Cordoba-Andujar sector. The new, 14th Brigade was formed in a matter of few days. The first to be sent to the front, on December 24, 1936, was the Marseillaise Battalion with a 145-strong company composed largely of British volunteers. Commander of the company was Captain George Nathan, a retired British Army officer; its political commissar was the Communist Ralph Fox, author, journalist and historian. The 14th Brigade, together with the Spanish units, fulfilled the task of checking the fascist breakthrough. But it lost many of its fighters. Ralph Fox lost his life in the battle for Lopera. This battle was the last for the gallant brigaders Lorrimer Birch, scientist and Oxford University graduate; John Cornford, Cambridge University graduate, Communist student leader and a poet of considerable promise; Joe Gough, unemployed worker from Luton; “Tich”, formerly a sergeant in the British Army; McLaurin, a native of New Zealand who had come to Spain from England, and many others.

p After nearly one month’s fighting the company—by this time only 67 strong—returned to Madrigueras, where the work of training and organising the new recruits was going on steadily.

p By the end of January 1937 the British Battalion, six hundred strong and composed of four companies with auxiliary units, was organised and ready. The leading part in its organisation was played by D. F. Springhall, who became battalion commissar, and Peter Kerrigan, who later took his place. It was incorporated into the newly-formed 15th Brigade along with the Franco-Belgian, Dimitrov and American battalions. The 15th Brigade went into battle on the Jarama in February.

p On the 12th, 13th and 14th of February, 1937, the British Battalion underwent its "baptism of fire”, in position between two of 66 the advancing fascist columns (Moroccans and the Foreign Legion mercenaries) who were the spearhead of the attack. By the morning of the second day its numbers had been reduced to 225. During; the first half of that day it repelled a fascist attempt to advance. Later the Moroccans broke through on the battalion’s right flank and the entire machine-gun company was captured. Shortly afterwards the battalion commander, Tom Wintringham, was carried off with a wound in his thigh. The men stuck tenaciously tothe sunken road which was now their front line. On the morning of the 14th they were still there, tired, hungry, but undaunted. Commanded now by the Scotsman Jock Cunningham, who had “escaped” from hospital, they prepared to attack, but were surprised by enemy tanks followed by Moroccans. Without anti-tank guns or hand-grenades, small groups continued to fight on, but soon the tanks were on the road and the Republican line began to retreat. But then the retreating troops rallied. With Cunningham at their head, the 140 British survivors marched back to their positions. The line was held again. By nightfall the men who had been routed a few hours before settled down on the ground they had recaptured. In subsequent days the British beat back a series of minor attacks, and went into action again on February 27, when the Republican forces, attacking along the entire front, finally brought the battle to a close. The Jarama battle took heavy toll among; the British Battalion and particularly among its leadership. On the first day, the battalion lost two-thirds of its political and military commanders, and the next day practically the remainder. Newleadership sprang from the rank and file to replace the fallen and the wounded. Company Commander Briskey was one of the many competent and modest leaders of the British working class. Under his guidance, his company held a practically untenable position throughout February 12. He died as he wished to die, in action with his men. Ken Stalker, assuming command of a company in the thick of battle and disdaining to retreat, died at his post. Clem Beckett, famous in England as a “dirt-track” rider, was one of a group which held out for hours against superior forces. He and C. St. John Sprigg (the Marxist writer Christopher Caudwell) died side by side.

p In those first days there fell too, Jim Wash from Birkenhead, Leonard Bibby from Liverpool and Clifford Lawther from Durham. George Bright was killed as he was bringing up much- needed ammunition. Outstanding among the British comrades was; Londoner Ralph Campeau, political commissar of No. 1 Company, whose organising ability and comradeship marked him as SL leader among men. On February 12, in the thick of battle, his voice could be heard singing the “Young Guardsman" as he rallied and steadied the men. Severely wounded by machine-gun fire, he died some days later. M. Davidovitch of London, leader of the first-aid 67

A grave of British volunteers killed in action near the River Jarama in
February 1937
section showed great bravery throughout the terrible day of February 12. Up and down, across bullet-swept slopes, he and his men carried the wounded. He escaped death a hundred times until in the late afternoon, when running to help another wounded man, he was himself fatally wounded. As he lay dying he told those who came to succour him to leave him there and attend to men whose lives might be saved.

p In March the battalion, together with the whole of the 15th Brigade, settled down to trench life, which continued until June 17, when it said goodbye to the Jarama and was then under marching orders for the great offensive at Brunete.

p Meanwhile, in March, a group consisting of new British recruits and some men who had recovered from wounds received at Cordoba and Madrid were enrolled in the 20th Battalion of the 86th mixed Spanish Brigade to take part in the defence of Pozoblanco. Led by the Irish Lieutenant Paddy O’Daire, the British and Irish, some 40 in all, formed No. 1 Section of the Anglo-American company. After nearly four months on the Southern Front, this company returned to Albacete for the purpose of joining the 15th Brigade.

p Between July 9 and 18, the British Battalion was in the thick of the fighting at Brunete. Major George Nathan was chief of operations, Jock Cunningham was in command of three of the six battalions of the 15th Brigade, and the British Battalion was led by Fred Copeman. On July 6 the British Battalion was ordered to 68 approach the town of Villanueva de la Canada, in order to cut the road leading to Brunete. There the fascists attempted a sortie using civilian men, women and children as their screen—an incident none of those present will ever forget.

p The battalion remained in action for eight days and suffered heavy losses, many of its leading men being killed, including George Nathan, Bob Elliott, a Communist councillor from Durham, Bill Meredith, one of the heroes of the Jarama, Alex McDade of Glasgow (who wrote the words of the song “Jarama” which became the song of the British Battalion), and George Brown, a leading Communist from Manchester. Both Fred Copeman, the commander, and Bert Williams, the commissar, were compelled to leave the front line due to sickness; their places were taken by Joe Hinks and Walter Tapsell. The commander of the newly-formed anti-tank battery, Malcolm Dunbar, was wounded and his place was taken by Hugh Slater.

p Slater (in The Book of the 15th Brigade] described an incident on the third day of the Brunete offensive in these terms: “... Malcolm Dunbar and I were walking back from our most forward gun, over one of the undulations in the hills. We saw that our base was being violently bombarded. Some cases of ammunition were exploding in howling syncopation with the screaming of the enemy shells. The grass all round the guns and Cunningham’s dugout was on fire. The whole area was a private little inferno.. . . Behind the smoke, moving about, we could see four or five grey, ghost-like forms. It was hardly believable that there could be men out in the open in the middle of crashing shells.. .. The members of the battery had been beating out the blazing grass with blankets. They had by their really magnificent nerve prevented further supplies of shells, and even the guns themselves, from being destroyed. The members of our anti-tank battery who were concerned in this splendidly courageous incident were Arthur Nicholl of Dundee, Geoffrey Mildwater of Finchley, Otto Estensen of Ormesby, Jimmy Arthur of Edinburgh, Jack Black of Dover, and Cooperman of the Brigade Staff. Black, our second-in-command, was killed after he had made two journeys to the ammunition-dump, pulling out cases.. .. This is simply one of the innumerable heroic actions which happened during those days.. ..”

p On July 22, the British were ordered to hold a key position at the end of the line which ran south from Villafranca at the point where it turned west towards Brunete. After two days they were ordered to retire to defensive positions, but the order did not reach them for several hours, and they were in danger of being cut off. In the later afternoon, with only 42 men remaining out of the original 300, they advanced again and occupied a new position. The following day the fascists made several attempts to advance but were repulsed by the American Battalion. Only by July 26 had 69 the enemy’s counter-attack spent itself. The 15th Brigade was moved into a reserve position.

p After a few weeks’ rest in the village of Mondejar, the British Battalion, now under command of Paddy O’Daire with Arthur Ollerenshaw, a former pilot in the Royal Air Force as his adjutant, took part in the capture of Quinto and Belchite, being given the task of defending Mediana, ten miles north of Belchite, in order to hold back a fascist force marching to the relief of the besieged town. When Belchite fell, the British Battalion went into reserve for a period, after being assured by General Walter ( Karol Swierczewski), in command of the 35th Division, that "in these operations the British Battalion fully justified its role and maintained the traditions of worthy and often outstanding effort which it has established in Spain”. Proudly inscribed in the records of the 15th Brigade is a copy of the telegram sent by the Commander of the Army of the East to General Walter:

p “I send my most enthusiastic congratulations to all the commanders, officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of that brave Division, and especially to yourself and the llth and 15th brigades for the heroism and fighting spirit shown in brilliant action of the taking of Quinto ... an episode of great importance for the triumph of our cause.”

p In October, the British Battalion moved back to the lines facing Fuentes del Ebro, where all battalions of the 15th Brigade were engaged, the major role in this operation being played by the Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion and a tank task force of the Spanish Battalion. The British suffered the loss of their commander, Harold Fry, and their commissar, Eric Whaley, fresh from England.

p The 15th Brigade at the end of October went back to a group of villages near Madrid for reorganisation and renewed military and political training. In November, the battalion received from Britain a richly-embroidered banner, which was presented at a special parade attended by the commander of the 15th Brigade and the Mayor of Mondejar. Before Christmas came, two visitors had brought immense encouragement and stimulus to the British lads: Arthur Horner, later to become General Secretary of the Welsh Miners and of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain, and Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the Communist Party, who visited not only the British Battalion but every hospital and convalescent home where his compatriots were lying.

p Teruel was taken by Spanish troops on December 22, 1937. In the first days of January 1938, the British Battalion, commanded by Bill Alexander, with Walter Tapsell as political commissar, began a period of service which was to last three months, 70 marking some of its best and most heroic actions but costing the lives of some 200 valiant comrades.

p Half way through January the Brigade Headquarters was moved out from a railway-arch a few kilometres north-east of Teruel and established in the town itself. The four battalions moved into position facing the expected fascist counter-attack. This began on the morning of January 19. The Spanish, Canadian and British comrades smashed the fascist attempt to advance down the valley leading directly into Teruel. On the evening of January 20, the commander of the 5th Army Corps, Juan Modesto, specially commended the British Battalion on its stand, and its commander, Bill Alexander, was promoted on the field to the rank of captain.

p In February the British Battalion was again in action, this time in the vicinity of Segura de los Banos. “The 15th Brigade again stole the day.. . . We took prisoner a whole company with its commander, a captain; captured nine machine-guns, three mortars and more than a hundred rifles. On the following day, February 16, the 15th Brigade inflicted heavy losses on the two fresh counter-attacking enemy battalions,"  [70•1  wrote General Walter, commander of the 35th Division. Here the battalion successfully routed superior fascist forces and was again commended by General Walter. Casualties in this action were somewhat lighter than before; this can perhaps be attributed to the increased military efficiency and battle-training of the battalion. But Bill Alexander was wounded and became so seriously ill that he was finally invalided back to England in July. Sam Wild, who had formerly served in the Royal Navy, became commander of the battalion.

p March and April of 1938 were the days of trial for the British Battalion and the entire 15th Brigade; the fascists had succeeded in breaking the Aragon Front, and the Republican troops were retreating in disorder. As soon as the first reports on the enemy offensive were received, the 15th Brigade was ordered by the divisional command to move to the front line. But it was not yet known that the front line had been left behind by the retreating Republican troops.

p Marching towards Belchite in the early hours of March 10, the British Battalion entered an olive grove some two kilometres north of the town, where they found themselves in the immediate vicinity of the enemy. Subjected to heavy machine-gun and artillery fire, the battalion held on until they were literally blasted out. Sam Wild ordered each company to march down the road and take up positions for covering the retreat. During their retreat through the “dead” town, the British took up positions five times and combated the enemy. The last of the Republican forces to leave 71 the town were 90 Britishers who kept up a brilliant resistance to the last moment and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy.

p On March 11, still withdrawing, the battalion found itself almost encircled, but after a night’s forced marching, it broke out and reached the Brigade Headquarters at Vinaceite. The British reached Caspe on March 15 and fought a heavy rearguard action there in the course of which, due to the infiltrating tactics of the enemy and the difficulty of telling friend from foe, Battalion Commander Sam Wild and three others were captured—but smashed their way through their captors, one of the four using a tin of corned beef as a club!—and escaped. The commander received orders to occupy a new position on the fringe of the town and did so, but during the night the position was encircled and the British had to retire again. They retired through Caspe, taking up every position into which they were ordered and holding it until ordered to move. For this work Sam Wild was promoted to the rank of captain.

p On March 31, 1938, the British Battalion, marching through Calaceite on its way to the front, marched into an enemy ambush. A fierce struggle ensued in which they put several enemy tanks out of action. But 140 men were taken prisoner that morning. Among those captured was the popular commissar of the battalion, Walter Tapsell, who later was shot by the fascists.

p After the next 24-hour fighting, during which a further 150 men were killed and wounded, the battalion was regrouped under Captain Malcolm Dunbar, and Bob Cooney as commissar. Crossing mountainous country under heavy fire, they took up position on the high ground commanding the two roads to Tortosa and Mora del Ebro. For twelve hours they prevented a large fascist column from moving down the road, giving the Republican forces time to blow up the bridge across the Ebro. By nightfall their position had become untenable, and the following morning they crossed the river in small boats and rejoined the main body of their division.

p During the next eight weeks, while the enemy was concentrating on Valencia, the Ebro Front was quieter. The time was spent in regrouping, reorganising and preparing for the crossing of the Ebro. It was at this time that Pandit Nehru and Krishna Menon visited the battalion.

p At midnight on July 25, the battalion received its long- awaited orders for the crossing of the Ebro.

p The 15th Brigade crossed at Mora del Ebro; the first of its battalions to cross was the Canadian. But they had been preceded by Spanish troops from other brigades which had mopped up all resistance. The British followed the Canadians, some in boats and some on the first pontoon bridge. They advanced quickly in the direction of Corbera and by late afternoon were outside the town 72 and attacking the hills on the left, which were occupied by Moroccans. In an all-night battle the Moroccans were driven off and the Dabrowski Brigade was able to advance and occupy Corbera.

p It was in the fight against the hill protecting Gandesa that the British fought their toughest action in this campaign and won the title of "shock battalion”. This high fortified hill, known as Hill 481, resisted all attacks. Collaborating on different occasions with their Canadian and American comrades and with the Spanish units of the 5th Corps the British and Irish attacked the hill for five successive days. On August 1, they flung themselves into the final and most furious assault, which lasted twelve continuous hours. At one time the leading men were within 20 metres from the fascist positions, but were driven back by fire from three directions—from the hilltop, from Gandesa and from a valley on their right flank. At 10 o’clock that night they were ordered to stop, though they were preparing—and prepared—for yet another attempt.

p On the night of August 6, after thirteen days’ continuous action, the battalion went into reserve. After eight days it went back into the line and fought in the defence of the famous Hill 666 in the Sierra Pandols. It was here that Battalion Commander Sam Wild was wounded in the hand. He refused to leave the line. For his leadership in the Ebro battle he was awarded the Medal of Valour and, before his departure from Spain, was raised to the rank of major.

p On August 26 the battalion went into rest, but was back in the line on September 6, acting as shock troops wherever necessary. On September 22 the 15th Brigade was ordered to relieve the 13th Brigade and move into action. By this time it was known that the Republican Government had decided to withdraw the International Brigades. The battalion’s last fight on the Ebro was as fierce as its first fight on the Jarama in February 1937.

p On September 23, they crossed the Ebro once more—to take leave of their comrades of the Republican Army and prepare for their return to England. Their ranks were sadly depleted. Harry Dobson, Lewis Clive, David Guest, Morris Miller, Jack Nalty, Liam McGregor—all commanders or commissars, were among those who had fallen in the last battle. British volunteers were returning home having trained many young Spanish fighters to take their place. The British Battalion, like other international units, had long been replenished by Spanish fighters, and the 15th Brigade was lately commanded by a Spaniard.

p War was not over for all of the volunteers. British medical personnel continued to save the lives of the wounded and convalescing Republicans. Several of the medical volunteers remained with their patients during the retreat from Catalonia into France and continued to care for them in the French camps. Eleven doctors and 29 73 nurses, with some 35 ambulance drivers, administrative workers and other personnel, took part in the Spanish war alongside the British volunteers. One doctor, Sollenberger, was killed at Brunete. The British medical personnel served on all fronts, and British funds were contributed to the upkeep of two base hospitals, at Huete and Ucles, and one convalescent hospital at Valdeganga.

p Dr R.S. Saxton continued the work begun by the Canadian -Dr Norman Bethune, and his mobile blood-transfusion service played an important part in the Ebro campaign. Dr L. Crome became divisional medical officer of the 35th Division. The British nurses were highly-esteemed for their excellent training, their courage and devotion to duty. Among the medical and other personnel sent to Spain was a group of highly-skilled motor-mechanics led by Harry Evans whose superb work in repairing and refitting damaged ambulances and other vehicles was of tremendous help.

p British volunteers took part in the unforgettable farewell parade in Barcelona. Owing to difficulties caused by the hostile attitude of the British and French governments, the British Battalion did not arrive back in London until December 7, 1938. They were received at Victoria Station by a vast crowd which completely dislocated the traffic and broke through the police cordons which were attempting to control the situation. After welcoming speeches from Clement Attlee, Sir Stafford Cripps, Tom Mann, the trade-union leader, William Gallacher, Communist member of Parliament and the President of the Mineworkers’ Federation, Will Lawther (whose brother had been killed in Spain), Sam Wild replied in these words:

p “We intend to keep the promise we made to the Spanish people before we left—that we would change our front but continue to fight in England for the assistance of Spain.”

p The International Brigade Association was formed immediately after the return of the British Battalion to England and has remained in active existence ever since. It did not have to undertake the task of caring for the disabled fighters or the families of the fallen, because this task had already been undertaken by the Dependents’ Aid Committee of the International Brigade, formed in June 1937, which raised well over £50,000 to meet these needs.

p The Association entered the political struggle for continued support to the Spanish Republic, its members going on speaking tours throughout the country to enlist further aid and support for Spain. It also began to raise funds and to campaign on behalf of the less fortunate comrades-in-arms of the International Brigades who could not return to their homes—those in the camps of southern France and those still in prison in Spain.

p After the outbreak of the Second World War the Association conducted a vigorous campaign on behalf of those international volunteers who were in prisons and concentration camps in France 74
Welcoming British volunteers of the International Brigades at London’s Victoria Station, 1938 and North Africa; a highlight of this campaign was the collection of hundreds of signatures of notable people on behalf of Franz Dahlem, Heinrich Rau and Luigi Longo after the German occupation of France. The Association also called a conference of exiled governments in London to urge these governments to demand the release of their nationals from Spanish prisons and camps and allow them to proceed to England to take part in the war against fascism.

p The great majority of the British volunteers entered the armed forces—though some, because of prejudice in high places, were refused and many were denied promotion. A number of outstanding anti-fascist fighters gave their lives in this continuation of the struggle.

p The Association itself published a monthly journal, first called The Volunteer for Liberty and later Spain Today which continued to give news of the struggle of the Spanish people and to rally support for it for fifteen unbroken years until it was compelled by rapidly rising printing costs to stop publication. The Association never ceased to campaign on behalf of the Spanish people and their Republican leaders, rallying great support on behalf of such noted figures as Santiago Alvarez, Sebastian Zapirain, and Gregorio Lopez Raimundo, and raising large sums of money to send British lawyers to attend trials of Spanish political prisoners; 75 tribute has been paid over and over again to the effectiveness of these campaigns and to the presence of British legal observers at Franco trials—though in some lamentable instances such as the trial of Julian Grimau, the protest and the presence of international lawyers were not sufficient to prevent disaster.

p Basing itself always in the British trade-union and labour movement, the Association has continued, and still continues, to rally support for the Spanish people’s struggle for freedom. Under its four successive secretaries, Bill Rowe, Jack Brent, Alec Digges and Nan Green, it has won and kept its high standing among the British working class and people. It has issued thousands of pamphlets and leaflets, protest cards and posters; to this day scarcely a week goes past without its members going out to address meetings of trade-union branches, youth groups and other organisations. It has held great public rallies and demonstrations. Every leading representative of the Franco regime visiting England—- Castiella, Fraga Iribarne and so on—has been met by demonstrations of workers and trade unionists carrying banners and shouting slogans on behalf of Spanish democracy and against Franco and his regime.

p Former British volunteers have won leading positions in many trade-union organisations, notable among these being Will Paynter of the National Union of Mineworkers and J. L. Jones of the Transport & General Workers’ Union, both highly respected national figures.

p The Association’s activity has helped to keep fresh in people’s minds the memories of the heroic anti-fascist struggle of the Spanish people in the thirties.

Today solidarity with the Spanish people and support for their struggle against the Franco regime remains, as in the thirties, part of the peace movement of the working class and progressives in Britain.