Prisoners of Franco 

In August 1937, Harold Fry and other Volunteers, who had been cap- 
tured by the Fascists at Jarama and released and repatriated in May, 
returned to Spain. The following is a description of their three months’ 
captivity. 

Fooled by the anti-Fascist salute, and overwhelmed by the sheer num- 
bers of the enemy whom we recognised too late, our resistance was 
quickly broken. Some of our comrades had been killed and others 
wounded. No one ever saw the wounded again. 
We, were disarmed, and pushed from our trench towards the enemy 
lines. Then we had to march over an open valley under the fire of our 
Battalion which had opened up against our captors. We were placed 
between the fire of our own comrades and the Fascists thus making co- 
ver for the latter. This being observed by the British Battalion their 
fire shifted so as not to claim us as their victims. 
It was during this march towards the enemy positions that the co- 
wardly murder of Elias and Stevens took place. We were marching 
with our hands above our heads, and Elias asked, in the little Spanish 
he knew, for permission to smoke. The permission given, Elias dropp- 
ed his hands and reached into his pocket for his cigarettes. Immedia- 
tely a sub-machine gun spluttered and riddled him through the stomach. 
The bullets passing through him killed Stevens. 
This cowardly action angered us, and we had difficulty in restraining 
Dickenson from bursting out. As it was, his contempt for his captors 
was so apparent that they halted the march. Dickenson was taken from 
the ranks, placed against a tree and shot through the head in front of 
our eyes. He smiled, raised his clenched fist and called “Salud”, just 
as they fired. 
These scenes of brutality prepared us for anything that might follow. 
Eventually when we were lined up before a firing squad it did not come 
as any great surprise. We only hoped that they would finish the job 
without preliminaries. We were standing, tensed, waiting for the bul- 
lets which would end it all, when an officer who appeared to be a Ger- 
man advanced towards the firing squad. He spoke to the Spanish offi- 
cer in charge of the executioners, and it was apparently decided not to 

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