Originally published in The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, No. 33, October 6, 1938 Deep in a natural cave at the head of a baranco is the command post of our Brigade. Here, at one time, peasants had utilized the natural shelter, filled its mouth with masonry and constructed a home. The cavern is partitioned...
Read more »
The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, No. 31, September 5, 1938. It was a great game. The Mac-Paps put up a swell battle and lost gamely. (It isn’t too much out of the way to say they took it sort of hard, so why not...
Read more »
The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, no. 33, October 6, 1938 ARAGON BALLAD Francisco Franco, fascist chief, Of him is the story told, His “justice” fills the Aragon hills, His curse is manifold: He’s taken toll of the North and South The gore it reached far; And they tell the tale of his “charity”...
Read more »
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...
Read more »
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....
Read more »
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...
Read more »
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...
Read more »
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...
Read more »
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...
Read more »
“We Couldn’t Believe It…” by George Kaye, Machine gun Co. 58th Battalion The Volunteer for Liberty v. 2, No. 33, October 6, 1938. Hill 666 means several things to us of the Lincolns –eight hours of unadulterated hell, for one thing. As...
Read more »
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) is an educational non-profit dedicated to promoting social activism and the defense of human rights. ALBA’s work is inspired by the American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Learn more at our website or
sign up to receive email updates from ALBA. Support ALBA through a tax-deductible gift! To inquire about a donation, please contact the ALBA office at info@alba-valb.org or 212-674-5398.
My grandfather (Nana), Suresh, moved to the United States in 1959 as a young man on a student visa pursuing his master’s degree. His parents, my great grandparents, sought value in being ‘foreign educated’ and bringing his education home – to Mumbai, India to run their family business. 2 years after my Nana moved...
Read more »
Peter N. Carroll, a respected and prolific writer, poet, and US historian, died after a short illness on September 16, surrounded by his family. He was 80. Born in New York City in 1943 to a secular Jewish family, Peter grew up in the Bronx and Queens, where his father worked as a composer,...
Read more »
LA RÉPUBLIQUE -QUOTIDINEN DE COMBAT RADICAL ET SOCIALISTE, February 5, 1938 Foreign Volunteer Arrested On March 27 last, 29 North Americans were arrested on board the boat Sans-Pareil while they were attempting to reach the Spanish Coast. They were sentenced to a prison term for violating the decree of February 18, 1937 on the...
Read more »
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...
Read more »
The Spanija series translates select 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 Croatioan or Serbian and the translation of names and...
Read more »
Peter Verburgh’s translation from the French Newpaper Le Journal about a group of 29 Americans arrested in France. “29 American Volunteers Arrested in Muret” Le Journal, 5 April 1937 Toulouse, 4 April- The Control services of the Non-Intervention Committee do not remain inactive, especially with the help of the French Police and Gendarmerie. Thus...
Read more »
ALBA Board Member Steve Birnbaum made the trek on Memorial Day to the Home of Eternity Cemetary in Oakland, California to pay tribute to ALB veteran Hans Joachim. Joachim was born in Berlin, Germany in 1906 and moved to the US in 1924. He served in Spain with the George Washington Battalion and later...
Read more »
Please find attached photos of my visits to the graves of Lester Rowlson and Tersil Obriot last weekend. I left a brigade flag and a fresh white rose at each. ,,, I was also proud to include aspects of my Clapton CFC scarf; you might have heard of this small football club in London that...
Read more »
Peter Verbergh translated this article from CeSoir describing the arrest of the Dallet-Nelson Group. “The Interrogation of the Passengers of the Sans-Pareil”, CeSoir, March 29, 1937 (From our Special Correspondent) Perpignan March 28 (By Telephone) Yesterday morning around 10am, The Coast Guard Vessel Cebère docked in the port of Port-Vendres alongside the torpedo boat...
Read more »
Only five veterans of the Spanish Civil War are known to be buried in Virginia outside of Arlington National Cemetery: two in Richmond, two in Norfolk, and one in Big Stone Gap. ALB Tribute visited the graves of Harry Edward Farris and Thomas Moore in Richmond as well as Manuel Lizarrago and Crawford Morgan...
Read more »
ALBA's project to provide a complete list of the more than 2,800 individuals who left from U.S. territory to fight with the Spanish Republic
Search the Database