Our Fathers Fought Franco by Willy Maley sampler
resonant piece of working class history, this book is a living link to four extraordinary stories. Why did these young men put their lives on the line and go to Spain to fight with the International Brigades? How did they all end up in the same prison cell? And what is their legacy today? James Maley, George Watters, Donald Renton and Archibald Williams were members of Machine Gun Company No. 2 of the XV International Brigade. This is the first book to focus on a small group of men who, from different starting-points, ended up on the same battleground at Jarama, and then in the same prisons after capture by Franco’s forces. Their remarkable story is told both in their own words and in the recollections of their sons and daughters, through a prison notebook, newspaper reports, stills cut from newsreels, interviews, anecdotes and memories, with a foreword by Daniel Gray. Our Fathers Fought Franco is a collective biography that promises to add significantly to the understanding of the motives of those who ‘went because their open eyes could see no other way’.
resonant piece of working class history, this book is a living link to four extraordinary stories. Why did these young men put their lives on the line and go to Spain to fight with the International Brigades? How did they all end up in the same prison cell? And what is their legacy today?
James Maley, George Watters, Donald Renton and Archibald Williams were members of Machine Gun Company No. 2 of the XV International Brigade. This is the first book to focus on a small group of men who, from different starting-points, ended up on the same battleground at Jarama, and then in the same prisons after capture by Franco’s forces.
Their remarkable story is told both in their own words and in the recollections of their sons and daughters, through a prison notebook, newspaper reports, stills cut from newsreels, interviews, anecdotes and memories, with a foreword by Daniel Gray.
Our Fathers Fought Franco is a collective biography that promises to add significantly to the understanding of the motives of those who ‘went because their open eyes could see no other way’.
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Timeline<br />
23 August Republican counter-offensive at Belchite fails to stem<br />
fascist advance.<br />
13 October Battle of Ebro begins.<br />
17 December British Battalion in action as Republicans take Teruel.<br />
1938<br />
8 January Teruel recaptured <strong>by</strong> <strong>Franco</strong>’s forces.<br />
25 July A Republican counter-offensive across the River Ebro proves<br />
unsuccessful.<br />
1 August The 15th Brigade launch attack on Hill 481 near Gandesa.<br />
22 September Last action of British Battalion.<br />
Juan Negrín, leader of the Republican government,<br />
announces withdrawal of the International Brigades.<br />
30 September Munich Agreement signed <strong>by</strong> Britain, France, Germany and<br />
Italy.<br />
28 October International Brigades honoured with a farewell parade<br />
through Barcelona and speech <strong>by</strong> Isadora Dolores Ibárruri<br />
Gómez, ‘La Pasionaria’.<br />
23 December <strong>Franco</strong> attacks Catalonia.<br />
1939<br />
26 January Fall of Barcelona.<br />
27 February British Government recognises <strong>Franco</strong> as the legitimate<br />
authority in Spain.<br />
28 March <strong>Franco</strong>’s forces enter Madrid.<br />
1 April Spanish Civil War ends.<br />
1 September Germany invades Poland, triggering the outbreak of WW2.<br />
17
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