I WAS A TRANSLATOR FOR SOVIET INSTRUCTORS by Joze Repinc
The “Spanija” series translates selected autobiographical accounts by Yugoslavian and Montenegrin volunteers of their actions in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Ray Hoff used Google translate from Croatian to English and he edited the selections. As this is a machine translation, the idiomatic features of Croatian or Serbian and the translation of names and places are “best effort”. The full five-volume collection was entitled: The Participants write Spanija 1936-1939: collection of memories of Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish War
It was assembled by Editor-in-Chief Cedo Kapor and published by the Initiative Committee of the Association of Spanish Fighters, The War History of our Peoples, Book 130, Military Publishing Institute, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1971, 5 volumes.
Chris Brooks posted and provided links to volunteers.
I WAS A TRANSLATOR FOR SOVIET INSTRUCTORS
by Jože Repinc
Spanija, V2, pp 408-413
When the Spanish Civil War began, I had already been in the Soviet Union for the third year as a political émigré. At the end of November 1936, I traveled via Sweden to Paris, under the name Oto Baršak, which I kept throughout my stay in Spain. Since I had a valid passport, I traveled from Paris to Spain by train without any problems. After ten days, on December 9, 1936, I was already at work – at the post office and censorship – at the International Brigade Base in Albacete. All mail for the units of the International Brigades had to go through this censorship. I worked on receiving and sending mail. Since the Fascists also wanted to use our mail in every way, I burned about 30 kg of various Fascist newspapers and similar material almost every day. Many packages with books in various languages were arriving, mostly – anarchist literature. We reported such mail to the security service, which had its headquarters in the same building.
The Yugoslav Committee in Paris had extensive our literature at its disposal. These were mostly Lenin’s works, whose shipment to Spain was organized by Comrade Maslarić and Gustinčič. Naturally, that passed through my hands. Thus, we Yugoslavs had access to Leninist literature in the languages of our peoples.
I worked in censorship for four months. Although my work there was useful, I felt that I was missing contact with the fighters at the front and the Spanish people.
Since it was trained to work on censorship at that time more of our sick and wounded comrades, Andre Marty, the political leader of the International Brigades, to whom I brought mail every day, advised me to go to the officers’ school in Pozorubio. That’s what I did. There I found several of our friends: Laza Latinović, [Lazar] Udovički, [Milo] Damjanović, [Bora] Leontić, [Juraj] Rozman and some others. I arrived at school as the last of the Yugoslavs, but due to circumstances I was the first to leave. Namely, I knew the Russian language and quite a bit of Spanish, and since several Soviet advisors (officers and other experts) arrived in Spain at that time and needed an interpreter, I was one of the 12 Yugoslavs who were assigned to the Soviet command. So, after only a month spent in the officer’s school, I was reassigned to the Soviet commandant’s office, where I stayed for thirteen months as an interpreter and instructor on Soviet weapons. I spent most of that time at the front. It started at Brunete, then came Escorial, Madrid, Teruel, Aragon, and ended at the Ebro, where I got a concussion from a bomb explosion.
I felt how thankless the duty of an interpreter was already in the first month. I was assigned to Colonel Miheyev [{not seen in Rusos – rmh}, then the commander of the 1st Proletarian Division, from Moscow. He was assigned to the Anarchist division, which was located in positions north of Brunete. The division commander was an old anarchist leader. This is why he allegedly refused to have a Soviet adviser in the headquarters next to him. The decision for Colonel Mihejev to be in the anarchist division was made by General Miaja, because this division as a whole had only Soviet weapons, which until then they managed very unprofessionally. When Mihejev saw that there was nothing for him to do in the headquarters itself, we went to the battalions, from machine gun to machine gun, to give instructions. The anarchists were reluctant to accept advice and they looked at us Communists as if we were going to take away the command of their division. All of this happened at a time when heavy fighting was going on in the section of our front. Since Mihejev was not supported by the Division headquarters, our success was not so effective.
Command staff in Spanish units was usually assigned according to political affiliation, i.e. whether they were communist, socialist or anarchist divisions. Each of them distributed only its press to its units. It was obvious that the People’s Front did not have its own joint newspaper, at least not at the front. The lack of unity between the parties was obvious. Although the Communist newspaper Mundo Obrero tried to connect all parties on the line of the Popular Front, it was not very successful. The anarchist and socialist commanders did not allow Mundo Obrero to be sent to their units. However, later developments forced the anarchists to adapt in principle to the demands of the so-called regular army of the Spanish Republic. However, they continued to consistently implement their policy in their units and did not allow anyone to interfere in their internal affairs. The socialists also adhered to this later. All this was fateful for the Republic. There were also very naive cases when anarchists tried to introduce the rule that fighting at the front lasts for a limited time. Franco’s Moroccans knew how to use it well.
After a month’s stay at the front near Brunete, Colonel Mihejev and I were transferred from the Anarchist Division. I was assigned to the Soviet instructor Captain Pidorenko {see Rusos – rmh}, who advocated that the 3rd Division be as well trained as possible for combat. It had positions in the Escorial sector, northwest of Madrid, and had Soviet weapons at its disposal. The officers and soldiers treated us very kindly. In the first month, as an instructor, I visited the battalions that were spread over the surrounding hills, where, when necessary, I stayed even at night. Pidorenko spent most of his time in the headquarters among the Spaniards and learned their language relatively quickly. I bore a large part of the responsibility for the proper functioning of the Maxim machine gun.
During September and October 1937, courses were organized in the 3rd Division, which were attended by officers from various brigades from the Madrid front. Pidorenko gave a lecture, and I just helped him with the language. I worked as an interpreter in all units. I had the rank of lieutenant at the time. In addition, in Escorial, I translated from Russian into Spanish a short manual with a technical description and instructions for the use of Soviet weapons, which was printed in a large number of copies and distributed to all units that had these weapons at their disposal.
The situation in the 3rd Division was satisfactory, so I was transferred for a month to the 42nd Brigade in Madrid, where Soviet Captain Plehkov {not in Rusos – rmh} had just arrived. It was necessary for Plehkov to take a look at the Spanish conditions, which was not possible without an interpreter. Of the three battalions that the 42nd Brigade had, two were in the first line of the already partially destroyed suburb of Carabanchel, and the third was in reserve next to the Manzanares River. The entire brigade was Communist. Of the Soviet armament, it had only four machine guns of the Maxim system at its disposal. However, the enemy was convinced that the brigade also had a secret weapon, a cannon, which was used to throw bombs weighing 5 kg and up to 200 m away. In fact, it was an improvised device, a kind of sling that was attached to two pillars. Only Brigade Commander Manolo could “shoot” with it, because it required great strength.
This 42nd brigade was also a kind of mining unit (“dinamateros”). Namely, the suburbs of Madrid lie on relatively soft layers of earth, without hard rocks, and one part of our trenches, several hundred meters long, was very close This made it possible to approach and retreat under enemy trenches by digging mine galleries and to blow them up with dynamite. This caused panic in the enemy’s ranks, and enabled us to reach the prisoners, especially the officers, as well as the weapons and ammunition through quick penetrations. After that, a quick retreat would follow. In such cases, enemy artillery and aviation could not operate due to the proximity of our and the enemy’s positions.
My work as an interpreter in the 42nd Brigade was relatively easy. On the other hand, the role of instructor in the training of new fighters was more difficult for me line in the handling of weapons.
I visited the brigades with Captain Plehkov every day and we still had freedom – more time. At that time, this brigade did not have any stronger battles, so we (Plehkov and I) returned to the brigade headquarters early in the afternoon.
I had the opportunity to stay in Madrid as well, but it seemed that, at that moment, the suburb of Carabanchel was more important than the city center. In those difficult times in Madrid, there was no fun. Only two cinemas were open in the evening. The streets were dark, without lights or traffic. Shell explosions echoed through the city almost every night, looking for their victims. The civilian population in the city lacked food. Despite that, Madrid played a heroic role, significant for the entire Republic. Most of the men were at the front, almost exclusively in combat units. Women also worked for the front, primarily on the production of hand grenades, which were mainly of Madrid origin. In addition, women and girls worked in all administrative institutions of the People’s Front. In Madrid, female literacy was much higher than in the rest of Spain, and this greatly benefited the Republic. I remember an event that happened almost at the end of the war, when the Fifth Columnists killed a large group of women activists. Madrid is a city where, during the civil war, the vast majority of women freed themselves from centuries of backwardness.
At the end of December 1937, I went to the command post again, this time in Valencia. New Soviet officers arrived again who could not work without us as interpreters. I was assigned to Captain Antonov {probably Gregori Antonov, Jefe de Bateria, Rusos, – rmh}, an artilleryman. Antonov and I were sent to the Teruel front, where we helped with the selection of positions for artillery pieces, their masking, procurement of ammunition, repair of cannons, etc. The small number of artillery pieces on very wide fronts could not satisfy all that was required of the artillery. Already at Teruel, I saw that it is very difficult to save the cannons when the enemy undertakes a more energetic attack, and especially in the case when the guns run out of ammunition. A greater effect was achieved only when a greater number of batteries were concentrated.
I remember that, in February 1938, all our artillery was moved from Teruel to Aragon. Although we got there too late, we still managed to inflict heavy losses on the enemy. In Aragon, I was mostly in the positions of the 3rd Division, so it was not difficult for me to always get machine guns to protect our two cannons. On the other hand, the cannons protected the transfer of machine guns to new positions. The rocky terrain on the Aragon front gave us considerable advantages over the attackers and enabled us to successfully slow down their advance. However, due to the long distance, the supply was made with a long delay. On that difficult terrain, I practically no longer acted as an interpreter for Antonov. He himself went from headquarters to Brigade Headquarters, while I stayed at the headquarters of the 3rd division, where Captain Plehkov was also located. In May 1938, I was on the Ebro, where I suffered a concussion from a bomb explosion. My activity was over. The Medical Commission in Barcelona declared me unfit. Soon I was involved in the transport for the evacuation of the sick and wounded to France.
Jože REPINC
