Book tells of Welsh heroes who fought in the Spanish Civil War
EIGHTY years ago this month, hundreds of Welsh volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War returned home.
Between 1936-39, at least 35,000 volunteers from all over Europe fought alongside Spanish Republicans against Franco’s fascist army in the International Brigades.
Of these, approximately 2,500 were British and researchers have identified almost 200 Welsh people who volunteered themselves during the conflict. On December 7, 1938, British volunteers returned home to Victoria ia Station in London to great at fanfare. But at least 35 5 Welsh volunteers who lost st their lives during the bruutal war would not return n home to their families.
The Spanish Civil War r was sparked after a military coup led by conservative elements in the coun- try failed to win control of f the country.
A bloody civil war r ensued, fought with great t ferocity on both sides, , with the Nationalists s receiving support from m Fascist Italy and Nazi Ger- many. The Republicans s received aid from the e Soviet Union, as well as s from the International l Brigades, which were e composed of volunteers s from Europe and the e United States.
Governmental crises s culminated in elections in n February 16, 1936, which h brought to power a popu- lar front government supported by most of the parties on the left and d opposed by the parties on n the right.
A well-planned military y uprising began on July 17, 1936, and by July 21, the Nationalist rebels had achieved control in Spanish Morocco, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and parts of northern Spain.
Seeing themselves as too weak to win a decisive early victory, both the Nationalist and Republican sides turned to neighbouring countries for help.
Germany and Italy sent soldiers and weaponry to aid the Nationalists, while the Soviet Union contributed equipment and supplies to the Republicans.
In August 1936, France joined Britain and a host of other countries in sign- ing a non-intervention agreement that would later be ignored by the Germans, Italians and Soviets. But about 40,000 foreigners did volunteer to fight on the Republican side in what became known as the International Brigades.
Graham Davies, from Cardiff, is the author of You Are Legend, a recently published book detailing the story of some of the volunteers from Wales who joined the International Brigades.
According to Graham, the Welsh volunteers played a distinctive role in Spain, with many acting as company commanders and political commissars.
Their largely militant coalfield background, digging experience and singing also left their mark. By the end of 1936, the Nationalists had advanced to the border of Madrid but a subsequent siege was unable to get beyond the University City area. The Basque northern provinces were captured by the Nationalists in 1937 and then Asturias, meaning the rebels controlled the whole northern coast. A war of attrition followed.
The Nationalists eventually drove eastward through Teruel, reaching the Mediterranean and splitting the republic in two in April 1938. By Feb- ruary the following year, 250,000 Republican soldiers had fled across the border into France, soon followed by the Republican government in March. Nationalist forces entered Madrid on March 28, signalling a decisive victory for the rebels.
For Britain and France, the conflict represented a new threat to the international equilibrium. After struggling to contain the situation, it eventually c collapsed into the Second W World War in 1939.
A farewell parade was h held in Barcelona in 1938, w with Welshmen present alongside the British Batt talion who were marching b behind the Presidential G Guard.
Jim Brewer, from Rhymney, was chosen to hold the Battalion banner while fighter planes circled overhead to protect the occasion.
The men lined up on the city’s most important avenue, the Avinguda Diagonal, which was strewn with roses. Volunteers were addressed by President Azana and Prime Minister Negrin.
When the men arrived at Victoria Station in London on December 7, 1938, they were greeted by crowds of thousands.
Mr Davies said: “When the Welsh volunteers returned home they were greeted in their communities as heroes, but many felt betrayed by the British government and were at first unwilling to share their experiences.
“However, as time went on, plaques were erected, memoirs and biographies were written and historians began to carefully curate the individual pieces of this fascinating jigsaw, which I’ve assembled into one remarkable story of idealism and bravery.”
Graham said many soldiers were given a warm welcome when they returned home, and their villages and towns decorated with flags and bunting. Surviving volunteers included Godfrey Price from Riverside in Cardiff, who arrived back in Cardiff to a hero’s welcome, but who never forgot his six comrades from Cardiff who died while fighting in Spain.
One included Alec Cummings, a college lecturer and former Welsh Guardsman, who is believed to have died at
EDWIN Greening, a miner from Aberaman, was an activist and agitator against war, poverty and unemployment in his community. In Spain, Greening was regarded as being efficient and having considerable ability with a wide knowledge of political affairs.
William Lloyd, from Aberaman, started work at Cwmaman pit at 14. Lloyd was raised in a staunch communist family and as an anti-fascist activist. He was an early arrival in Spain and deployed as a battalion runner at the Battle of Jarama. Following a request made in March 1937, he was sent back to Britain to raise funds and recruit for the battalion.
Morien Morgan, a student from Ynysybwl, was studying languages at Cardiff University when he became involved in political debate. He was appalled by the lack of response to Mussolini’s aggression in Abyssinia and Hitler’s rearmament of Germany, so volunteered for Spain.
While serving as a rifleman, he was engaged in battle at Calaceite and escaped with a group of comrades.
However, ill and hallucinating, he became separated from them, and walked into a Nationalist camp by mistake and was captured, to spend the next six months in San Pedro concentration the Battle of Ebro. Alec had been commended for bravery after the Battle of Brunete, but was said to be a broken man when he went into battle for the final time.
The Rhondda Leader reported Archie Cook’s homecoming to Ystrad, where flags were hoisted near his house and a large crowd waited at the train station.
A similar welcome awaited Tommy Adlam from his imprisonment in San Pedro, with a dramatic reunion with his father, and also for Jack Jones of Blaenclydach on his release, when it was reported that 1,000 people turned out to greet him.
Les Brickell, from Tredegar, was commended for his bravery at Hill 481, when, under bombing camp. On his repatriation in 1939, Morgan taught French in Pontypridd.
Ronald Brown, a lorry driver and miner from Aberaman, was named as an official survivor when the Cuidad de Barcelona was torpedoed. Brown is described as a very good worker, ambulance driver and mechanic, who was sincere, earnest and capable.
Bob Condon was a miner from Aberaman who wrote letters home about the high morale of the Brigaders.
During the fighting at the Battle of Jarama he suffered shell-shock and bruising of the head and subsequently suffered from a nervous condition.
Glyn Thomas, from Cwmbach, left for Spain with Bob Condon, but had to return after being declared medically unfit in Paris. In the Aberdare Leader, he later rejected suggestions published in the Daily Mail that recruits were offered substantial financial inducements to fight.
William Durston, a diecaster from Aberaman, is believed to have died during the Battle of the Ebro.
David Barrett, from Blackwood, was taken prisoner at Calaceite along with a number of other Welsh volunteers when confronted by Italian tanks and is on the official prisoner list at San Pedro concentration camp. and machine gun fire, he threw hand grenades at a fascist machine gun on the summit.
He was also praised for his exceptional bravery as a runner. Wounded in August 1938, Brickell rejoined the battalion in September 1938 and was one of those captured at one of the last battles, Corbera d’Ebre, on September 23, 1938, and imprisoned at San Pedro concentration camp until February, 1939.
David Barrett, a labourer from Blackwood, was taken prisoner at Calaceite along with a number of other Welsh volunteers after being confronted by Italian tanks.
Following the tumultuous send-off parade in Barcelona, the Welsh vol-
Robert Cox, from Tredegar, was inspired by Aneurin Bevan to stand against fascist violence. Cox became a member of a workers’ freedom group. One of the older volunteers at 38, he served at Jarama and Brunete, before being repatriated with fatigue.
Margaret Powell, Monmouthshire. Born at Cwm Farm, Llangenny, Powell lived on a small Welsh hill farm.
She trained as a nurse and, after finishing midwifery training, she was accepted by the Spanish Medical Aid Committee and left for Spain in early 1937.
Thora Silverthorne, from Abertillery. The daughter of a Bargoed miner who joined the Young Communist League aged 16, Silverthorne had moved to England where she trained as a nurse at Oxford, and gave medical assistance to the passing hunger marchers.
After volunteering for Spain, she was one of the first nurses to be sent with the British Medical Unit which pioneered the Brigade’s first hospital in Granen, commandeered by cleaning up an old farmhouse.
Thora also nursed in Huesca and other fronts, sometimes working up to 20 hours a day, and was admired for her kindness, sense of humour and regarded as outstandingly competent. unteers were thanked for their bravery by celebrated political heroine of the civil war Dolores Ibárruri Gómez – known as La Pasionaria (the passionflower).
She is quoted as saying: “Mothers! Women! When the years pass by and the wounds of war are stanched; when the memory of the sad and bloody days dissipates in a present of liberty, of peace and of wellbeing... speak to your children.
“Tell them of these men of the International Brigades. You are legend.”
Graham says her words provided a “fitting tribute” to the volunteers of the International Brigade.
You Are Legend is published in paperback by Welsh Academic Press, at £19.99.