They Made the Supreme Sacrifice « ‘ —Dr. Norman Bethune, Claznuaryl 1st,. (1937

at our job in the hospitals, the staccato tack-tack—tack of machine guns come through the windows, as if they Were. firing at the end of the street, so clear is this cold Spanish Winter air. In truth, they were nearly a mile distant. . p The burst of field gun-fire has been almost continuous reminding your commentator of the barrages onithe Western Front in 1915. To these dangers are added the attacks of Fascist bombers, attended by their fighting escort. I German Plane Brought Down

In today’s attack, by 15 German and Italian bombers, five of the escort fighters attacked one solitary Spanish Government pursuit plane. They set him on fire, but, as he fell, overcome in the unequal contest, he charged full-out, head-on, into one of Franco’s planes. They fell together, in flames, crashing into a vine covered hill one hundred yards apart. Both pilots were killed instantly.

As I happened to be at a clearing station hospital close by, we walked across the fieldsto inspect the wreckage. I took] from the Fascist machine the Plate off its engine and have it infront of me as I speak. (See cut on page 13). The pilot was a young German military pilot. I A

THERE HAS BEEN heavy fighting today. As we were working

tMade the Supreme Sacrifice . , Now within Sight of these planes is the cemetery of the.Inter-

national Brigade. Here row on row lie the bodies of those men who

died as Anti-Fascists to save Spain from the? fate of their own countries. They——-these Workers, students and intellectuals, who so dedicated their young, lives in the cause of Spanish Democracy, are from every country in Europe. They are from Italy, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria.

These young men volunteered fully and they travelled, many in disguise, thousands of miles from their native lands, working their Way out secretly to escape the police terrorism. They left their wives and families and in the pride of their young strength and fine political convictions, died under this old Spanish sun, on the bare hills, among the vines and olive trees of this beautiful land surrounded by people of whom not more than .a' handful could speak their own language, facing over-whelming odds of trained mercenary professional troops. Against .a military machine dominated by German and Italian Staff Olfficers, fighting with rifles, some of them datingbefore the so-called Great War of 1914, against modern German and Italian machine guns, without steel helmets or proper clothing. ,

From German cities, from Italian towns, from French villages, English farms, Scottish highlands and American plains, theseserious, calm-eyed, earnest workmen and intellectuals and students came, thinking not of their personal comfort or safety, fighting not for money (their pay was 10 pesetas--about 50c a day) fighting not for King or Country, not at the franticurging of selfish bank barons or masters of finance, who saw theirwprofits in danger, but fighting and dying for an ideal of human freedom. From that same high motivation