13-14 Julio “Cleaning us out of many things”

July 13-14
Robert Merriman’s diary from July 13 and 14th, 1937

In another two days of training, we see another maneuver in Tarazona using available topography… a ditch becomes a trench.  Merriman notes that Company 1 under Bill Skinner generally does ok after a rough start and that they used their new telephones for the first time.   We also see how Tarazona was used as a staging area for the front at Brunete.  Men returned with prisoners who were screened and then sent on to Albacete.  In return, Tarazona was a staging base for supplies and Merriman says that Tarazona was being cleaned out to keep the front supplied.  Even food was running short.   A timeline of the battle of Brunete shows that on the 14th the offensive would stall and some retreating from the front would occur.

On the 14th, maneuvers were cancelled because of confusion of entertainment for the troops.   July 14 was Bastille Day in France and would be a probable cause for a celebration.  Merriman is pleased with a new ambulance which has arrived and which was sponsored by the Independent Workers Union.