Robert Merriman’s diary for the 7th and 8th of April, 1937
Over the next few months, Merriman will have difficulty squeezing all that he wants to remember into a diary with a half page per day. His hand will become smaller and smaller and more difficult to read.
He finishes his report on being in Albacete and meeting with Vidal and Marty about the new camp at Pozo Rubio. It is remarkable that Pozo Rubio is even mentioned in the diary since the location of the Officer’s School was a big secret at this time. “Maximville”, a photo from the Tamiment’s Russian archive, is believed to be at Pozo Rubio.
“Maximville”, believed to be at Pozo Rubio, the Officer’s Training School. Source: ALBA Photo 177_178029, Tamiment Library, NYU
Merriman admits that the morale was low amongst the Brigadistas. The leadership of Brodsky was a serious issue about this time and Merriman had to win over the respect of the men who were senior enough to be considered for Officer Training. It appears that by the end of April 7, he had begun organization of the men.
Merriman mentions Peter Hampkins who stayed at the school for some time in 1937. Hampkins’ photo was shown on the April 2 posting. Another name, “Guiven”?, is not certain. Walter Garland is also seen in the same photo with Hampkins. It appears that Garland was made head of the Officer’s School and he probably reported to Merriman. Colonel Jules Dumont, who had been the Commander of the Commune de Paris 14th Battalion, was Commander of the Albacete training base in February. He is mentioned in this essay by Bernard Knox. And there is a film clip of Jules Dumont speaking to the CGT in 1938. Jules Dumont was executed by the Nazis in France in 1943.
Merriman mentions Walsh again (who was head of the NCO school) and “Epstein”. The only Epstein in Spain at this time was David Epstein. He and Marion met again at Albacete and Merriman ate dinner with Jock Cunningham of the British Battalion.
Robert Merriman’s Diary for February 11 and 12, 1937
On the 9th and 10th, Merriman gathered supplies and suggested that the Lincolns would shortly be moving “to the forest”. On the 11th, he says “to move soon maybe tomorrow”. The diary does not say that this move will be to the front, but we know that from history.
Problems with John Scott and Merriman continue. They talked on the 9th, but Merriman says that he spoke extensively with Stember about whether it was inevitable that Scott would have to be replaced as Company 1 commander. Scott must have threatened resignation “Scott demanded to see them — resign”.
Merriman relates that the Intendent (head of the Intendencia or supply depot) was preparing a dinner for 1300 men (approximately two battalions). In the Book of the XVth Brigade³ says “The day before we left Villaneuva de la Jara for the front a dance was held for the Americans in another old building [the church in the diary] adjacent to our barracks”. “Wolf” above is not an American Volunteer. There is a Lou Wolf mentioned in April but no connection to him or the Intendencia is made. There also was a doctor named Wolf Jungermann. At this point it is still a bit of a mystery who this man is.
On the 12th, Merriman again says “Scott trouble” and he was in the field with the Lincolns in training when Andre Marty visited the troops on the 12th.
Herrick made the statement “Adjutant Commander Merriman was partial to the infantry commander, Scott, two WASPs on a hot tin roof”…¹ Clearly, Herrick had this mostly wrong, if we are to trust Merriman’s diary. There was no love lost between the two of them. Herrick’s recollections were often second (or third) hand and here probably incorrect. John Scott would lead his men into an attack on February 23 and be shot in the attack. Scott would lie wounded in the field for most of a day and men risked their lives to get him back to the lines and to the safety of the Health Service. Merriman’s “Scott trouble” would be a short one as Scott dies on February 23.
Art Landis² says that Merriman received orders on the 12th that changed their destination from Pozo Rubio to the front. As we will see shortly, he has the dates wrong by about two days. As of February 12, Merriman still is in training mode.
The Book of the Brigade becomes very active on 11 and 12 of February. “On February 11, at sunrise, the rebels succeeded in capturing Pintoca bridge by a surprise attack” (this bridge is near Vaciamadrid in the map of 9-10 Feb’s post). On the night of February 11, nearly 10,000 enemy troops starting moving in the Jarama sector. The night of February 12, the enemy made their first assault on Pingarron Hill which was to be the high ground in the Battle for Jarama. H. Galli (perhaps Humberto or Umberto Galliani) with the Franco-Belge Battalion³ says “February 11. We assemble to march to the front.” Laza Wovicky of the Dimitrov Battalion says “February 12. Noon. We marched towards the olive trees, where the enemy were. The enemy saw us and opened out a violent machine gun fire against us. We spread into fighting formation. We advanced about 300 yards without firing a single shot”.³ The notes of the British Battalion staff say
” Early in the morning of February 12, we started out in lorries from Chinchón. We knew the front was near….. Captain Tom Wintringham commanded the Battalion. George Aitken was Commissar. We had no maps, little knowledge of what was happening. We knew that the Fascists had advanced during the previous 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. Actually, 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”.³
Richard Baxell describes the events of February 12 in detail. The British moved up from Chinchon where they had left the rail transport that brought them to the front on the 11th and moved by trucks up to the San Martin de la Vega road. Just before the road was a cookhouse where the men dismounted and climbed the ridge to the west. Reaching the top with little trouble, they were fanned out along the ridge when they were given orders to move west into the Jarama Valley and to attack the fascist positions on the heights on the western side. The Fascists were well entrenched and had enfilading machine gun fire and artillery that made the British lives hell. This counterattack, which began in the late morning, had bogged down on “Suicide Hill” to the south of the line and the “conical hill” to the north side, both of which had machine gun protection. By 1400, the British had stalled and lacked machine gun support of their own by Harry Fry’s machine gun company who found that their ammunition belts were loaded with the wrong size ammunition and were jamming the guns.
The British began their retreat later in the afternoon back up onto the plateau where they were silhouetted against the skyline and fell in dozens. The Moroccan Moors who were part of the Spanish Fascist Tercera attacked and “with astonishing speed over nearly two thousand meters of uphill ground”4. The Moors were experienced troops and knew how to attack with limited cover and the inexperienced British were unable to stop their advance. A slaughter ensued and Tom Wintringham had difficulty constraining the situation from becoming a rout. General Gal ordered the British to hold at all costs. Wintringham did not know that Bill Briskey and Kit Conway, his field commanders were dead. The Moors retook Suicide Hill with its white farm house.
The situation turned late in the afternoon when Fred Coleman and Harry Fry were able to reload by hand the machine gun belts for Fry’s Company and machine gun fire from Fry’s five machine guns were ready. As the Moors assaulted the eastern ridge of the valley, Fry’s company opened up and put nearly 1000 rounds into them in 3 minutes. Over half of the Moors fell in the barrage and the assault stopped.
The 600 men in the British battalion were down to 200 effectives by the end of February 12. Another 100 returned to the lines over the following days. Of the men who had left the hill, stories abound of those who where walking out to the east and had to be stopped under threat from General Gal and George Aitken and Jock Cunningham. Baxell says:
Another group of men was found hiding in wine vaults in the farmhouse behind the lines by Fred Copeman and André Diamant, an anglicised Egyptian now in command of No. 1 Company. Copeman and Diamond threatened to throw grenades into the vaults and almost one hundred men who had been hiding promptly revealed themselves.4
The British inexperience would similarly be reflected in Merriman’s troops in a few days. There was no lack of courage amongst these men but the shock of war was something for which they were unprepared.
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¹ W. Herrick, Jumping the Line, ibid.
² Art Landis, Abraham Lincoln Brigade, ibid.
³ Book of the XVth Brigade, ibid.
4 Richard Baxell, Unlikely Warriors: The British in the Spanish Civil War and the Struggle Against Fascism, Aurum Library, London, 2012. pp 149-150.
Merriman is still in Madrid and talks to Ed Rolfe about trouble in the 5th Regiment du Tren, when the repatriation policy is overstated. Luigi Gallo was not in Madrid at the time and Merriman says “Galli” helped them find food. That is possibly Humberto Galliani. Marion Greenspan and Merriman leave for Ambite where the Brigade is based and they still missed Gallo who was moving fast. He was with a Brigadista named “Franz” (unknown). Merriman says that Klaus explained his actions against Marcovics and threatened anyone who told Marcovics what he said with court martial. This must have been a very awkward position for Merriman to be in, knowing that Marcovics and he were not close, but that Nelson and other Americans must have told him Marcovics’ side of the story.
Merriman stops in Tarancon and meets with Al Stone (Albert Gottlieb) and “Rose” (probably Solomon Rose, who would have been in hospital from injuries at Brunete). Apparently there was a woman from San Francisco there representing what looks like “Cadres” (but is frankly indecipherable) and he mentions the name “Fay” (also unknown). He tears back to Tarazona for a meeting and the next day reveals the reason.
Robert Merriman’s diary is unique in unraveling the machinations of the leadership adjustments in August 1937. While Merriman was talking about an American going to the Staff level of the Brigade in his August 7-8 diary pages, that adjustment took exactly two days. In a flurry of activity that involved the rotation out of a number of British and Americans who had been in Spain from the beginning, Vladimir Copic returned to the Brigade and shook things up. On the 10th of August, Merriman is told he is to be the Chief of Staff to Copic. The French were not pleased with the Americanisation of the Brigades and one recalls that Lucien Vidal was recently removed from Albacete base command.
Merriman speaks with Copic about recommendations for comrades who fought in Brunete. He includes Marcovics in that list. Merriman has clearly sided with the American view that Colonel Klaus was unreasonable in his orders and that Marcovics was correct in resisting them. Merriman says that he has permission to “clean Albacete”. In another unreadable word, he has a session with a comrade and solidifies Lou Secundy’s placement in Transports. Secundy did a good job in getting the Battalion to Albares on previous days.
Nelson spoke at Pozo Rubio and Tom Wintringham was viewed as weak. The training at the school is noted as “slow”. Another new name “Seegar” appears and he will go to Madrigueras from Pozo Rubio. Merriman speaks with the men at Pozo Rubio and explains what happened with Vincent Usera and Mirko Markovics at the front. Merriman’s sympathy for their actions is apparent and quite unjudgmental.
Robert Merriman’s diary for June 21 and 22, 1937Niilo Makela, as Commissar of the Mac-Paps, 1938. ALBA Photo 11-1281, Tamiment Library, NYUJesse Wallach, as Secretary of the Mac-Pap Battalion, 1938. ALBA Photo 11-0947, Tamiment Library, NYU
The third English Speaking Battalion will come to be known as the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion although they won’t be referred to as such for another week. At this point, formation of the first company is at hand, and Canadian Niilo Makela has been named as the commander of Company 1. “Coapman” is probably Fred Copeman, an Englishman who fought through Jarama, and who will be a Section Leader. Wallach is likely to be Canadian Jesse Wallach who is being sent to Officer’s school. Canadian William Skinner will be the commissar in the section and American Carl Bradley will become the Company political commissar. Since the Canadian William Bradley had already been a disciplinary problem, it is unlikely he would be assigned this sensitive political posting. This is a top heavy officer cadre and likely Merriman was readying some of these men for leadership of the second company which would be formed when sufficient troops were available.
Merriman seems to say that he filed a plan of instruction for the Battalion with the Brigade Etat Major in Albacete (although the words which look like “4 who” don’t make sense in this context). {Note added: Chris Brooks’ comment below offers a correction to “4 wks – weeks – plan of instruction}. Kudos on reading the handwriting} Merriman is still interested in gaining information on the failed coup against Copic so he drives to Pozo Rubio where Englishmen George Nathan and Tom Wintringham are leading exercises with probably an Italian named Mazzi. Apparently, they were loose lipped enough to let their feelings out on the realignment of the leadership. George Nathan wants to be Copic’s Chief of Staff with Wintringham as his Adjutant. Since it is unlikely that there would be two Chiefs of Staff at the Brigade level, the next line “Johnson Chief” is confusing. The Brigade will divide into two regiments and Nathan will lead one while Miklos Szalway (Chapayev) will lead the other. Allan Johnson will remain in the school so it is possible that Merriman intended to say that Johnson would be Chief of Instruction. Jock Cunningham is being proposed for a line command and George Aitken as a political commissar in the field. The British say that they are against Copic and Klaus but it is likely that this is what Merriman just wanted to hear. Cecil Eby’s review of this event says the British aligned with Copic. Apparently Nathan tells Merriman that Vidal has told him that “Copic is in” and will be in charge of 1/2 the Brigade and that the “G” (which could be German Thaelmann or more likely, Italian Garabaldi) battalion would be split. Merriman’s diary should not be viewed as authoritative since this is not quite the lineup that occurs over the next two weeks in preparation for the Battle of Brunete. Merriman says that this is his last time in his old bed, so he will be moving from Pozo Rubio to Tarazona permanently.
On the 22nd, the training was again followed up by a fiesta where the officers finally have had a chance to give their “stunt”. Merriman says it goes over well enough but the Canadian Allan Knight was a “rage” and was awarded a prize. Many of the significant leadership of the Brigade were in Pozo Rubio for this celebration.
Over the next few days, there will be a dinner celebration held at Ambite Mill which was General Gal’s headquarters. Almost all of the International Brigade leadership will be required to attend. This meeting was held between June 23-25 (exact date is not yet determined) but some of the leaders above will go and some will not. Merriman, Dallet, Bender, Lawrence, Johnson do not attend that meeting. The British (Aitken and Nathan) and Martin Hourihan and Steve Nelson (who were closer to the resting points of the Lincolns at Albares, the British at Mondejar, and the Washington’s at Morata) do attend. More on this event in a coming post.
Merriman makes no entry in his diary on June 17. On the 16th of June, Harry Haywood made a presentation to Vladimir Copic that Copic should resign. Haywood, the Battalion Commissar, acted as the representative of the Americans and took the brunt of Copic’s reaction to the suggestion and the others must have been busy trying to gain political support for this. On the 18th, Merriman says he meets Marion and “clears up much hazy atmosphere”. He reveals that Mirko Marcovics and Hans Klaus were part of the discussion and it is believed that both Klaus and Marcovics provided support for Copic. Cecil Eby describes the event:
A mutiny did occur, but only within the officer caste, not the rank and file. With Harry Haywood as spearhead, the top-ranking American Communists demanded that Copic be relieved as commander of the XVth Brigade because he had lost his men’s confidence. The mutineers, who included Nelson, Johnson, Hourihan and Mates, sought to form a new brigade led by Americans. Merriman, who suffered more than any other under Copic’s tenure, refused to join them. The British had no affection for a martinet like Copic, but they interpreted this move as a signal that the Americans planned to take control of the brigade because of their numerical and financial superiority. Men who, like George Aitken, brigade commissar; Major George Nathan, chief of operations and Major “Jock” Cunningham, the commander of the British battalion, had distinguished themselves as outstanding leaders from the first hours of the Jarama fighting had no intention of yielding to Johnny-come-latelies. Markovicz refused to join the conspiracy, making it clear that he flew the flag of the Comintern not the CPUSA. On learning that his own commissar had joined the mutineers, he gave Mates a tongue-lashing and forced a retraction. Copic’s headquarters became the setting for the final act of this palace coup when Haywood entered to deliver his ultimatum. {Eby repeats the diary segment presented on June 16 here} ¹
Hans Klaus would have been in a difficult position since he was adjutant in the Brigade at the time of Jarama. The criticism of the Americans would have brought up whether it was Klaus or Copic who issued the demand that the Americans go over the top on the 27th of February.
In a very unclear word in the diary, we interpret the writing as “Yanks out.” Whether this means out of the running for leadership, or out the running for a battalion, or out in the field, we will never know what Merriman intended here. Merriman finishes the day’s training and then goes into Albacete to meet Marion and a “Ruth” believed to be Ruth Epstein a nurse who arrived in early June 1937. He also meets with Lou Secundy and Pierre Lamotte from the Auto Parc.
The new men brought with them a treasure… a new shipment of Lucky Strike cigarettes from America. Along with soap and fresh shoes or boots, there was little that was more desired by the Americans in Spain than American cigarettes. Merriman takes the smokes with him to Tarazona, probably to put them under guard as he would for ammunition.
Frank Rogers, ALBA Photo 177-188048, Tamiment Library, NYUDavid Doran, ALBA Photo 177-190027, Tamiment Library, NYU
Frank Rogers arrived with Ruth Epstein from the May 29th sailing of the Britannic. Rogers, from Regina, Saskatchewan, and a Communist Party member since 1927, would become the Commissar for the third battalion in the fall of 1937. Rogers came to Albacete with Ed Bender and George Brodsky. Also arriving was Joseph Lash who was the President of the American Students Union and David Doran who was a leader in the Young Communist League. Doran would rise rapidly in the ranks and become XVth Brigade Commissar in 1938. In the afternoon or evening, a fiesta was held for the arriving personnel and Hyde, Evans and Rushton performed a skit. Harry Albert Rushton, from Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, was 45 years old at this point and was a long time Communist Party member in Canada. He would go on to become a Commissar in the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion. Rushton would later become a Mackenzie-Papineau historian after the war. Tom Hyde we have met on previous diary pages. Hyde did not depart with the Washington’s medical group and is now in the third battalion. Evans is likely to be Lloyd Evans of Regina Saskatchewan or Winnipeg, Manitoba.²
Merriman said that Read, Bradley and Walker were out of the Battalion. This is probably William Bradley from Vancouver who was arrested in June 1937 and deserted in July 1937. He was arrested for drunkenness.² Walker is probably Frederick Walker (a.k.a. Dan Wilson) who never deserted but Michael Petrou’s notes say “No {did not desert}, but discipline problem, detained at the ‘Maison de Prevention.’ drunk”². There is no Read in the Canadian list, but there is a John Reid. There is a Patrick Read who was in the Lincoln Battalion but it seems unlikely this reference is to him. In another disciplinary case, Merriman visits what looks like a “Cross” in the prison in Guarda Nacionale. Cross doesn’t show up as an American or Canadian brigadista. We leave the name highlighted as the scrawl may be a completely different name.
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¹ Cecil Eby, Comrades and Commissars, ibid., pp 173-174.
² Michael Petrou, Table 1 (Mac-Pap List), private communication.
Robert Merriman's Diary from 1937 and a day-by-day transcription. Spend a year as Robert Merriman did.
