Walker, Robert Stamp (Oral history)

British machine gunner served with No 2 (Machine Gun) Coy, British Bn, XV International Bde in Spain, 3/1937-12/1937; officer cadet with XV Brigade Officers' Training School at Taragoza de la Mancha, Spain, 12/1937-2/1938; officer served with Machine Gun Coy, XV International Bde in Spain, 2/1938-10/1938

REEL 1 Background in Edinburgh, GB, 1912-1936: family; father's footballing career; employment; death of parents, 1930; attitude towards service in Scots Guards, 1930-1933. Aspects of volunteering for International Bdes in GB and journey to Spain, 3/1937: volunteering for Spain; accommodation and police checks in France; initial impressions of Spain; reaction to meeting Anarchists in barracks in Barcelona; comparison of discipline at Anarchist and International Bdes training centres; International Bde uniform; training at Mondejar. Recollections of period as machine gunner with No 2 (Machine Gun) Coy, British Bn, XV International Bde in Spain, 3/1937-12/1937: joining unit; move to Jarama front, 4/1937; duties; attitudes towards lice infestation at Jarama, 4/1937; lack of money during leave in Madrid; literacy levels amongst Spaniards. REEL 2 Continues: morale; reaction to wounding of comrade in action near Brunete, 7/1937; water supplies at Villanueva de la Cañada; opinion of arms; advance at Mosquito Ridge; burying of dead volunteers; effects of influx of non-British volunteers into battalion; attack on Purburrel Hill; participation in actions at Belchite and Huesca, 8/1937-10/1937; background to attack at Fuentes de Ebro, 10/1937; story of fraternisation between Anarchists and Nationalists; preparations for action; opinion of tactics; attack at Fuentes de Ebro, 13/10/1937; death of Harold Fry at Fuentes de Ebro, 13/10/1937; opinion of rations; erratic nature of supplies. REEL 3 Continues: distribution of rations; problems with water supply; incidence of shell shock; question of relevance of previous military experience. Aspects of period as officer cadet at XV Brigade Officers' Training School at Tarazona de la Mancha in Spain, 1/12/1937-26/2/1938: memories of German ex-soldier volunteer and his attitude towards discipline; advice received on machine gun firing techniques; opinion of training; background to break up of No 2 (Machine Gun) Coy at Teruel, 12/1937; story of losing command of Machine Gun Coy during training at Tarazona de la Mancha. Aspects of period as officer with Machine Gun Coy, XV International Bde in Spain, 2/1938-10/1938: unit visit to bathhouse; move to Belchite. REEL 4 Continues: character of Spanish Republican Army withdrawal from Belchite including sight of Moorish cavalry of Nationalist Army of Africa advancing towards Spanish Republican Army tanks; move to Caspe; taking up positions at Caspe; retreat from positions; escaping capture during encounter with Spanish Nationalists Army troops; swimming river at Caspe; rejoining battalion; taking up positions at Calaceite, 3/1938; ambush by Italian Corps of Volunteers at Calaceite, 31/3/1938. REEL 5 Continues: attempts to repulse tank attack; question of circumstances of Wally Tapsell's death, 31/3/1938; receiving shrapnel wound and keeping wounded comrade conscious, 31/3/1938; evacuation by ambulance to hospital in Tortosa; medical treatment in convent hospital; story of taking flowers to nun at Mataro; encounter with Scottish ex-French Foreign Legionnaire in hospital; rejoining unit, 6/1938; transfer of company to machine gun unit; reaction to language barrier in unit; duties as observer; discovery of champagne at Corbera; receiving head wound; treatment in Cave Hospital at La Bisbal de Falset; sight of wounded patients being moved by boat across River Ebro; conditions in clearing hospital near Barcelona. REEL 6 Continues: Spanish Nationalist infantry and air attacks; hearing of proposed withdrawal of International Bdes; final action in Sierra Pandols, 9/1938; opinion of International Bdes farewell parade in Barcelona; awaiting repatriation in Ripoll. Aspects of repatriation to GB, 1939: journey through France; refusal of Salvation Army food at Versailles in France; opinion of withdrawal of International Bdes; reaction to being asked to pay for journey home by British Government; question of discrimination as ex-International Bde member; comrade's treatment for wounds; removal from Army Reserve list, 1939; employment in reserved occupation at D Napier & Son Ltd in Acton, London, 9/1939. Impressions of Spain during visit, 1964.