T the Fascist lines. Hours seemed to have passed in ever mounting tens-

ion. Then the break came.

A Fascist soldier, a former student, wounded in the shoulder, who spoke a littl-e English, came over the barricades asking for medical aid. They were about to take him to the First Aid Post. Doran grasped the situation and pounced on it in a flash. He instructed the prisoner to go back to his comrades and persuade them to surrender, promising him that none of them would be harmed.

The prisoner was reluctant, but Doran gave him no alternative. He made his way back over the barricades and remained there. There was another half-hour of mounting suspense, then suddenly —

The street behind the Fascist barricades began swarming with men, Fascist soldiers shouting “Viva la Republica” and “Viva ell Frente Po- pular”, came over the barricades, without arms——one by one. i

The surrender of the rank and file of the Fascists was complete. They gave themselves up to a force inferior in numbers. Force of arms had been supplemented with politics, and the costly attack planned for the morrow was not needed any more. The officers, seeing that the men were deserting them, made a desperate sortie under cover of women and children, trying to get away under a shower of hand-grenades but were subdued in a fierce hand—to-hand combat. Next day was spent in clean- ing-up the rest of the houses.

Belchite Was again in Republican hands.

S. M.

279

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