Alexander, William (Oral history)

British gunner and political commissar served with Anti-Tank Bty, 15th International Bde, 3/1937-10/1937; served as adjutant and commander of British Bn, 15th International Bde in Spain, 10/1937-2/1938

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1910-1936: family; employment as industrial chemist; recruitment to Communist Party of Great Britain, 1932. Aspects of volunteering for International Brigades and journey to Spain, 1937: volunteering for service; journey from GB to Spain via France; visiting latrines in South of France. Recollections of period as gunner and political commissar with Anti-Tank Bty, 15th International Bde in Spain, 5/1937-10/1937: formation of unit; training; accuracy of anti-tank guns; positions on Jarama front; unit activity on Jarama front; reactions to being under-fire; opinions of Hugh Slater and Malcolm Dunbar; organisation of 15th International Bde; sight of Nationalist bombing of Lincoln and Washington Battalions; promotion to political commissar at Brunete, 7/1937; Nationalist counter attacks at Brunete, 7/1937; manoeuvring guns; seeking out water supplies. REEL 2 Continues: effects of Nationalist Air Force superiority on supplies; physical extent of the Brunete front; deployment of anti-tank guns; Nationalist counter attack and difficulty of re-deploying guns; rations; opinion of Fred Copeman and George Nathan; retreat from Brunete front; activities during rest period at Ambite; action at Purburrel Hil and Belchite during Aragon Offensive, 8/1937-10/1937; role of unit; receiving reinforcements; opinion of relations between officers in British Bn. REEL 3 Continues: opinion of political commissars including Jock Cunningham; character of tank attack at Fuentes de Ebro, 10/1937; changes in command and fate of battalion commanders. Aspects of period as adjutant and commander of British Bn, 15th International Bde in Spain, 10/1937-2/1938: appointment as adjutant and later commander of unit at Mondejar; move to Teruel, 12/1937; nature of fighting at Teruel; significance of Battle of Teruel; promotion to command battalion, 27/12/1937; advance at Segura de los Banos, 2/1938; wounding and subsequent hospitalisation; return to GB, 6/1938. Reflections of experiences with International Brigades in Spain, 1937-1938: question of shooting of battalion deserters. REEL 4 Continues: opinion of Hugh Thomas’s book ‘The Spanish Civil War’; opinion of Fred Copeman’s views; activities on return to GB, 1938-1939; attitude towards prospect of Republican victory; opinion of Soviet Union’s role in war; reactions to policies of Communist Party, Popular Front, Anarchists and Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM); attitude towards Barcelona uprising, 5/1937 including military control of telephone exchange. REEL 5 Continues: question of Spanish Communist Party’s relations with middle classes; opinion of effectiveness of Anarchist forces including description of Anarchist trenches on Aragon front; story of treatment of British aircraft engineers by trade unionists in Barcelona, 1937; attitude to returning to Spain in 1976; effects of experiences during Spanish Civil War.