Arthur Witt lived an interesting and full, but all too short, life. The first child of Herman and Ida Witkowsky, he was born on October 4, 1907, in Brooklyn, New York. The family changed its name to Witt in late 1916. He died February 27, 1937, fighting the Fascists on the battlefield at...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, v. 2, No. 33, October 6, 1938 When Major E. Cecil-Smith Commander of the Mac-Paps was wounded at Hill 565, Teniente Gunnar Ebb, Finnish commander of Company 5 of the Battalion became what the Spanish Army calls an “accidental” commander of the Battalion. But there is nothing accidental about Comrade...
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  The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, No. 25, July 19, 1938 Just outside of Belchite towards Fuentes de Todos, a shell landed in the Estado Mayor of the Lincoln, killing commander Reiss and Battalion Commissar Parker. One of the corpse fell against Frank Rogers – a piece of shrapnel wounded him in the leg....
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Written During An Airplane Attack by Daniel Hutner American Volunteer Killed In Action –September, 1937 The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 1, No. 15, September 20, 1937   Dawn still sleeps; but we awake, Aware that soon those shadows in The sky may hover.   Everywhere about us the earth is raw, With wounds from...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 2, No. 32, September 17, 1938. You know, when we got all those new Spanish recruits late in May, we looked at them and a lot of us thought “Hells Bells, look at the kindergarten broke loose.” Why, those kids –they didn’t shave, some of’em would cry if you...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, no. 33, October 6, 1938 There is not a man of us who did not like and appreciate Teniente Johnny Cookson Adjutant of the Transmission Company of the 15th Brigade for he combined the rare qualities of a man of science, a good organizer, and a sincere simple and...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 2, No. 31, September 5, 1938   We moved down off the hill in single file, the taste of breakfast still in our mouths –coffee, chocolate, ham and sardines, bread, marmalade and plums. There was a comfortable weight inside us., and there was, too, the inevitable nervousness, the pre-action...
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Two Poems by Miles Tomalin The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, No. 35, November 7, 1938 TO ENGLAND From the English Dead We, who were English once had eyes and saw The savage greed of those who made this war Tear up from earth, like a hog loose in flowers So many lives as young...
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One Who Came Back by Joseph Rehill The Volunteer for Liberty, v. II, no. 29, August 13, 1938 I have been asked time and again “What made you boys come back to Spain?” Some comrades. I am sure must think that we had committed a crime and came back as fugitives from justice. I...
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Fighting Men from a Fighting Union by Archie Brown, Political Commissar, Co. 1, Battalion 58 The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 2, No. 32, September 17, 1938. The nights were cold enough for picketing but in the bargain, there were the cops and the strike breakers. Broken heads and even killings were common. On July...
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