dropped almost at the feet of the Battalion Commander, Comrade 
Wintringham. 
He rose to see what was wrong and immediately received a bullet 
through the thigh. 
A moment later, there was a bayonet charge by our boys to rescue 
their comrades, so shamefully tricked. Forty men climbed over the 
parapet and charged. Their faces were grim with a determination to 
recapture the trench or to die in the attempt. But the maxim guns 
had been reversed on us and out of the forty of us who started out, only 
six returned.” 

Third Day: The Tank Attack 
(Described by O. R.) 

After the capture of Fry and his men, there was a considerable 
amount of chaos. Wintringham, wounded, had been taken away so 
quickly that many comrades, knowing only that he was absent, believed 
him killed. There had been little real Company organisation during 
the day. André Diamint had gathered the remnants of No. 1 Company. 
Fry and forty men of No. 2 Company had been either captured or killed. 
The remnants of No. 3 and No. 4 Companies were fighting as one body. 
George Aitken, Battalion Commissar, took over. He called for, and 
promptly got, twelve volunteers to form a right flank, or patrol rather, 
in the direction of the San Martín de la Vega road. 
Later, Jock Cunningham, breaking out of hospital where he had 
been ill for five days, took charge. T he sunken road was now our front 
line. It was a night of alarms: flaring Verey lights, continual bursts 
of wild firing from both sides. When morning dawned, we were still 
holding the sunken road. There was no food. A meal had been brought 
up the previous night, but most comrades had been unable to contact 
the food-wagon. For many it was the third day without food. 
Shortly after daybreak, I went with Manuel Lizarraga to collect any 
of our stragglers in the olive groves. We located some, and then went 
to the Brigade to report. Here we met our Chief of Staff, Major Nathan, 
cheery as usual. He gave me a rough sketch of our front. It showed 
the Franco-Belge on our right, the Lister Brigade to our left. When I 
told him of the gaps he smiled. “Go back”, he said. “Sit tight. At one 
o’clock our tanks will advance through those gaps, on your right and 
left. Meanwhile, dig in and await further instructions.” 
I met Copeman. He had again escaped from hospital, but Springie 

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