THE ARAGON FRONT
Following the failures at Brunete the Republicans looked towards an offensive in Aragon with the aim of capturing Zaragoza. There were both military and political reasons for this move. On the one hand, it was aimed at relieving the situation by slowing down Franco’s gains in the north of the country. There Bilbao had been captured, Guernica mercilessly bombed and Santander threatened by the Nationalists. Also Zaragoza was not only the communications centre for the Nationalists but also the home of the anarchist movement in Aragon, and their domination of the lines could be ended. The war in Spain had been very much about the capture of key towns or positions rather than controlling wide areas of the countryside and Zaragoza was near the enemy front. In fact the Nationalists had only three Divisions across the 300 metres of the front and the rest of their troops were in the towns. The Republican plan was to break through at seven points on the 100-kilometre stretch from Zuera to Belchite, ensuring that they would not make the mistake of Brunete in offering too many targets for bombing and strafing. Although it was only six weeks since Brunete, Republican army leaders believed that they had superiority on the ground and in the air and that the action would be a success.1
QUINTO ('You Are Legend' pages 111-115)
The attack on Quinto began on the morning of 24th August, 1937. First it was a pounding by the artillery, followed by aerial bombing, and the tanks led the attack as the men captured the trenches outside the town. The tanks pursued the Nationalist troops as they retreated into the town. Houses were strongly fortified and machine-guns and snipers were everywhere.
As often was the case the church provided refuge for a large group of soldiers and the tower provided a perfect location for a machine-gun. The Anti-tank Battery was firing from a wooded height into the side of the church and, as they tried to deal with a sniper, hit the bell in the tower. Even from such an acute angle they fired through the open windows and managed to silence snipers inside. Evidence of their shells’ impact on the inside of the church can be seen today.
The accuracy was amazing. Jim Brewer adds more details from his account. After Tom Wintringham was wounded in the shoulder, battery Commander Dunbar identified a sniper in the church tower. Brewer’s gun was trained on the tower and they hit the metal casing of the bell. When the hill was surrendered the sniper was caught running away in civilian clothes and was placed before a firing squad. [Insert image 41 – the church at Quinto] Having been asked to join the squad Brewer refused on a point of honour. He claimed that there was a legitimate government which should try the “civilian” and also that the sniper could have easily shot him when he walked from the ambulance where he had taken a wounded comrade.
The British Battalion’s next objective was to take control of the heights overlooking Quinto. They were tasked with attacking the conical hill called Purburell and were under the impression from reports that the hill was not strongly fortified; but as it turned out it was cleverly fortified by German engineers.
Three companies went down into a gulley connecting the hills and began climbing the slopes. Then from the Nationalist trenches near the top of the hill came a torrent of machine-gun fire. It was obvious that the hill was very strongly held and there was no possibility of advancing further.
In this first skirmish Jack Roberts was wounded in the shoulder and there were other casualties. This was to be the last action in the war for Jack “Russia” Roberts. He had run down the rear of the hill to locate a machine-gun company to cover the assault, but on his return journey he was not low enough to avoid a machine-gun burst which tore through his right shoulder. Holding his wounded shoulder he headed for the field dressing station. With the wound cleaned and bandaged, he was taken by ambulance to the railway station and joined a host of wounded men waiting to be transported to the hospital at Benicassim.
BELCHITE ('You Are Legend' pages 115-118)
A small group of visitors stood in twos and threes stood outside the gate of the compound which is now the abandoned town of Belchite. Although it was about five o’clock in the evening and the day was cooling,
I filled my water bottle up from the little fountain outside. It seemed the right thing to do, to engage in a tangible way with normality since what I was to experience I knew would be surreal and emotive. In the foyer was a small exhibition of photographs depicting the outcomes of the conflict in the town.
The mood was sombre as the guide led the little group through the broken streets and shattered buildings while the ghosts of those whose homes and lives were taken looked on in disbelief.
This was Belchite, left to die after the war with its broken streets and shattered buildings.
It can be imagined that the ghosts of those whose homes and lives were taken look on in disbelief. This was Belchite, left in its cadaverous state after the war. All photos copyright Graham Davies
Torre del Reloj
(Clock Tower)
The church of San Juan once stood in the cenre of the town. This tower remains, known as the clock tower.
It is believed that the church was built on the site of an old Jewish synagogue or a mosque.
It seems the tower existed at the end of the 16th century and the clock was in place in 1765.
The church and Convent of San Agustin dates back to the late 16th century. It was abandoned in the nineteenth century although the church remained open for worship until the 1868 revolution - the “Glorious Revolution” which resulted in the deposition of Queen Isabella II. After a fire in 1869 it was restored at the initiative of Father Felipe Ayala and with the help of the villagers. The church and its bell tower is of baroque style although it betrays the Moorish influence often seen in Aragon. It remains now as it was left, a memorial to the war and one of the last stops in the sad trek around the ruins. Inside, ribs of precarious arches, open to the sky, provide no protection to the remnants of frescoes which once stirred the emotions of worshippers.
The church of San Martin was built in was built in 1560. The church is pictured below before it was destroyed in the Battle of Belchite. The ruins. like the rest of the town, remain as a national monument and memorial to the battle.
Photo above left is courtesy of Creative Commons and Mireille Marseille. All other photos are copyright Graham Davies.
MAS DE LA MATAS ('You are Legend' pages 118-121)
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After a time of rest and reorganisation in Mondéjar there was a long train journey to the town of Alcaniz. The men marched through this desolate and dusty town, mainly deserted by the people and with its shops boarded up. With the strains of “Tipperary” on the mouth organ there began a demanding uphill hike to the mountain village of Mas de la Matas. It was in a sheltered, pleasant valley with the river Guadalope on its outskirts and cypress trees covering its banks.
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The men were billeted in private houses and one large house in which the priest had lived became the home of the machine-gun section. There was no shortage of food and wine and the cold days of December leading up to Christmas were largely enjoyable.
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On Christmas Day, the British Battalion paraded in the village square which was a blaze of colour with bunting and a variety of flags – Catalonian, Republican, Russian, Anarchist. Christmas was celebrated with “a very fat pig, wine and nuts”.
TERUEL ('You Are Legend' pages 121-126)
Teruel is set high in the mountainous Aragon region of eastern Spain. 3000 feet above seal level it has a varied and sometimes harsh climate and travelling up from Valencia demonstrated that. Much of the architecture is Moorish and it is regarded as the 'town of mudéjar'. It was badly damaged in the civil war. The following photos were taken by the author in 2015.
Views of the Mudéjar Catedral de Santa María and La Torre de El Salvador
On New Year’s Eve 1937 scores of trucks rumbled into the village to take the men to the Teruel front. In below freezing temperatures they sat on steel floors as the trucks crunched their way up steep mountain roads, sliding dangerously on bends, until they arrived at the top of a mountain range. A further march brought them nearer the Nationalists who had brought up reinforcements with the aim of retaking Teruel. The British position was on a high cliff, north west of Teruel, and protecting any approach by the enemy along the valley
The site of the British Battalion's position on the hill at Santa Barbara with Teruel in the background.
The author and Alan Warren, historian, at Santa Barbara.
Although the British guns were able to repel Nationalist infantry moving forward, the following day the Thaelmanns were forced off their mountain position. At this point three British companies were ordered to move down into the valley and cross the river to protect the flank of the Mac Paps. This was a dangerous move, exposing the British to Nationalist shelling.
It was in this manoeuvre on 20th January that Francisco Zamora from Abercrave was killed. The photos on the right indicate the location of his death.
Alun Menai Williams’ memory of Teruel was of a blizzard where a bitter wind was blowing through a railway tunnel used as a clearing station and a shelter from the shells and bullets.25 His hands were sticking to metal and frostbite was a major factor in that battle. There was a shortage of food and clothing and he didn’t have any shoes, just rope sandals.
The Welshmen of the Anti-tanks did not fare any better as, following behind the Battalion, trucks slid off the road, men were dashing into snow-filled ditches to avoid enemy aircraft, and there was a lot of hanging around in barns waiting for orders. Temperatures were 20 degrees below freezing and the first hot meal for three days was sardines and bread.
Courtesy WikiMedia Commons
POSITIONS AROUND TERUEL
Earlier positions near Cuevas Labradas in the Alfambra valley to the north where the British were based from January 1st to 15th 1938.
There is evidence of the railway tunnel where the 15th Brigade tried to shelter from the freezing cold of January 1938.
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There are also sections of an unfinished railway line which the Americans called “The Great Teruel & Manyana Railway Line”
It is possible to see in one of the derelict stations some graffiti left by the Lincoln Washington battalion (see left)
Following Teruel the British were called into action again. This time they were on their way north of Teruel to the village of Segura de los Baños, about 70 kilometres north of Teruel.
Bob Clark remembers it as a romantic location surrounded by thick pinewoods and populated with Spanish cavalry sporting red satin-lined cloaks, riding boots and stirrups.
The purpose of this surprise action was to take some pressure off the Republican army defending Teruel, and on 16th February the Lincolns and the Mac Paps moved first against the main target, the village of Vivel de Rio Martin.
Any respite after Teruel was short-lived. Franco had decided to take advantage of Republican weakness after the long, hard winter battles and launch a massive offensive. The result was a series of PHASED WITHDRAWALS until the Battalion crossed the River Ebro at Cherta on 3rd April. the Nationalists were constantly pushing them back along the road towards Hijar, Alcaniz and Caspe where they could not really be called a Battalion any longer.
At Calaceite a disaster took place which resulted in the death of about of about 150 men and the capture of almost the same number. No. 1 and No. 2 companies were marching in two single lines.
Some shots were heard from the front group and it turned out that in the poor early morning light they had turned around a bend only to find they had run into a group of Nationalist armoured cars and tanks.
For many of the retreating troops Mora de Ebre was the route back across the Ebro.
