British Anti-Tank Gun Battery
Generous, gifted, brave, sincere and true,
to futurity gave all that was best in you.
Bravely you lived, nobly you died,
what you believed, treachery denied.
We will remember those pioneer years,
the heroic number our hopes and our fears.
Salud! dear comrade, we honour with pride
the artist who lived, the fighter who died
Mary Brooksbank
to futurity gave all that was best in you.
Bravely you lived, nobly you died,
what you believed, treachery denied.
We will remember those pioneer years,
the heroic number our hopes and our fears.
Salud! dear comrade, we honour with pride
the artist who lived, the fighter who died
Mary Brooksbank
Thomas Jones: born 13/10/1908, Lancashire. Moved to Rhosllanerchrugog, Denbigshire as a boy. Enlistment Address; 56 Chapel Street, Wrexham. CPGB (1931) Occupation: Miner. Left England for Spain 03/04/1937. Arrived in Spain 13/5/1937. Enlisted in Battalion; 16/5/1937. Member of the anti-tank battery. Reported killed in error 17/9/1938. Badly injured in the right arm at the Ebro, and taken prisoner in September 1938. 11/03/1939 reported as a prisoner at San Pedro de Cardena. Released in March 1940, only after the British government agreed to sign a trade agreement that was, according to some, worth £2,000,000. Probably the last British Brigader to see Major Frank Ryan alive. Arrived in London on 2/4/1940, along with Scotsman Frank Cameron. Always know as "Tom Spain" thereafter. died 1990.
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William Cranston: born 07/01/11, Leith. Scotland. Enlistment Address: 3 Abbey Street, Edinburgh, Lothian. also: c/o Renton, 7 High Street, Portobello. Age 26, Salesman. (Father) 6 Lochend Park, Edinburgh. Married with one child. CPGB. (1935) Arrived in Spain 15/5/1937. Enlisted 18/5/1937. Rank: Cabo. Anti-Tank battery, Quartermaster In charge of ammunition. Wounded at Fuentes del Ebro October 1937. Joined British Battalion on 15/4/1938 after the ATB was disbanded. Arrived back at Newhaven, UK on 1/12/1938. Battalion No. 1081
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Miles Ridley Tomalin: Born; 4/2/1903. Sanderstead, Surrey. Enlistment Address: 40 Primrose Hill Road, London. Cambridge Graduate. Occupation: Writer. CPGB (1935) Married with one Child. Arrived in Spain 10/5/1937. Enlisted in Battalion 13/5/1937. Member of the British Anti-Tank Battery, No. 1 Gun, Gunner, Cultural Delegate of Battery, 'Volunteer for Liberty' staff member, Madrid and Barcelona, December 1937-2/2/1938. XV Brigade Commisseriat, February 1938-April 1938. XV Brigade Estado Mayor, International Mailman, April-August 1938. Actions present at: Jarama, Brunete, Quinto, Belchite, Fuentes de Ebro, Seguera de los Banos, Aragon and the Ebro Offensive. Registered as being present at the IB hospital at Santa Coloma de Farnes on 31/8/1938 and 14/10/1938 (posioned foot?) The originator of the wall newspaper the 'Assault and Battery News' Miles was journalist, poet, writer and recorder player. Repatriated 7/12/1938. Moscow Archives, Fond: 545 Op: 6 Delo:
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Suggested Reading:
'To Tilt at Windmills, A Memoir of the Spanish Civil War' Fred Thomas
'To Tilt at Windmills, A Memoir of the Spanish Civil War' Fred Thomas