Lieut. Bee of Topography

Lieutenant Bee disrupted the O. T. C. in a School to which he —— son of a ploughman, and right proud of it! —- won his way by a Scholarship. The same forcefulness kept him daily cycling thirty miles to and thirty miles from school, and brought him eventually to a remunerative post as Architect with a London firm, and withal an active member of the Communist Party.

Hehad little regrets for the O. T. C. training he had spurned, when he volunteered for the British Battalion of the International Brigades in December 1936. Even if the Brigade had not a Topographical Depart- ment, at least the Battalion should have one, he argued. And life was miserable for Commanders until Comrade Bee had his way. At Jarama, there were no maps; Bee’s staff promptly produced them.

But Lieutenant Bee insists on acknowledging the success of his work —— and the existence in the XV Brigade today of a Topographical De- partment which has been and is being used as a model by other’ Bri- gades —— to the interest taken in his efforts in those early days by the Brigade Commander and the Chief of Staff, and to the help of Phil Goodman, Nottingham aircraft designer, Michael Sivesay of His Ma- jesty’s Board of Works, London (who fell in action at Segovia in June 1937), Pat ‘Gurney, South African sculptor, Alexander Anderson, Lon- don advertising man and other pioneers of topography in the XV Bri- gade. Of them Comrades Goodman and Anderson are still in the Bri- gade department, transmitting to others the fruits of their knowledge and experience — and always under the guidance of Lieutenant Bee.

Captain Smercka, Chief of lnformation

Captain Radumir Smercka, Chief of the Bureau of Information, holds many records: he commanded four Companies of the Dimitrov Battalion in succession, and was wounded While commanding each of the four. Although he received fourteen separate wounds, he took such "brief periods: out for hospitalization that he never missed an impor- tant engagemlent.He has served at Jarama, Brunete and Aragon.

Thirty-three years of age, Captain Smercka is a Czecho-Slovak, with experience in the army of his native country in the capacity of an ob- server in the air-force. He is every inch a soldier, and though a strict disciplinarian, is popular with every member of his staff; they appre- ciate a good soldier and a good comrade. S. M.

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