With the British Battalion

From narratives of members of the Battalion Staff 

Early in the morning of February 12, we started out in lorries from 
Chinchón. We knew the front was near. All the previous day, as we 
awaited orders, we could hear the thunder of artillery and the rattle of 
machine-guns. Our planes as well as those of the enemy had been seen 
at intervals throughout the day. It was 5-30 a.m. when we dismounted 
near the point where the road from Morata to San Martín de la Vega 
crosses the road from Chinchón to Madrid. Our cooks had already 
occupied a house near the cross-roads, thenceforward to be known as 
“the Cook House”. Hot coffee was welcome that raw February morning. 
Captain Tom Wintringham commanded the Battalion. George Ait- 
ken was Commissar. We had no maps, little knowledge of what was 
happening. We knew that the Fascists had advanced during the previ- 
ous six days, that they had crossed the river Jarama, and that they were 
attempting to cut the Valencia-Madrid road. We believed there was a 
front somewhere ahead; we were reserve troops, we understood. Ac- 
tually, as we discovered a few hours later, troops that had been in front 
of us had been brushed aside. The Fascist break-through was in reality 
a big push. 
At 10 a.m. a runner came to tell us “the Fascists are coming”. The 
Battalion which had been sheltering in the olive groves promptly fell 
in, and proceeded in divided artillery formation in the direction of San 
Martín de la Vega. We climbed gentle slopes covered with gorse, wild 
thyme and sage, with occasional olive groves and vineyards. As we 
traversed a valley there was a cry of “Avions”. Faces to earth we 
awaited the Fascist planes. Our luck was in; they passed over without 
observing us. 
It was a day of broiling heat, and the upward climb was tiring. A 
halt was made to dump packs where they could later be collected. 
Resuming the advance, the Battalion had almost reached the crest of 
the range of hills, when again the warning cry of “Avions” was given. 

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