No Cover Image
To Tilt at Windmills: A Memoir of the Spanish Civil War
Fred Thomas
Copyright Date: 1996
Published by: Michigan State University Press
Pages: 175
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt130hjm5
Search for reviews of this book
Book Info
To Tilt at Windmills
Book Description:

To Tilt at Windmillsis the memoir of Briton Fred Thomas who served with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War (July 1936-March 1939).Inspired by a memorable return to Iberian battlefields forty years later, and based on diaries kept during the many months Thomas spent as a gunner with the British Anti-Tank Battery, the narrative moves eloquently along a journey into the war zone, through the several campaigns in which he fought and where he was twice wounded, and finally to the withdrawal of the Brigades from the conflict. What distinguishes Thomas' account is the remarkable detail provided by the diaries and the measured tone of his reminiscence, There is, as well, the poignant inquiry of the veteran into the shape and meaning of experience as a young soldier. The historian Paul Preston has cited the "warmth, directness and deep humanity" ofTo Tilt at Windmills, "an important contribution to the collective memory of the war.

eISBN: 978-0-87013-959-8
Subjects: History
You do not have access to this book on JSTOR. Try logging in through your institution for access.
Log in to your personal account or through your institution.
Table of Contents
Export Selected Citations Export to NoodleTools Export to RefWorks Export to EasyBib Export a RIS file (For EndNote, ProCite, Reference Manager, Zotero, Mendeley...) Export a Text file (For BibTex)
Select / Unselect all
  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. vii-viii)
  3. Preface
    Preface (pp. ix-xiv)
    Paul Preston
  4. Acknowledgements
    Acknowledgements (pp. xv-xvi)
  5. I May-June 1937. From Hackney to the Jarama Front
    I May-June 1937. From Hackney to the Jarama Front (pp. 1-32)

    A plane touched down at Madrid Airport in the evening of 30th April 1981. Forty-two of the hundred or so passengers shared a common excitement. Some old, all at least elderly, we might have been on a Saga package tour somewhat off course for one of Spain’s warmer resorts. We were in fact all veterans of the International Brigade, a fast diminishing band who went from many countries to fight on the side of the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. Now, some of the few who remain, we had come from Britain to see again those...

  6. II July-November, 1937. The Battle of Brunete
    II July-November, 1937. The Battle of Brunete (pp. 33-52)

    Saturday, 3rd July. Much to everybody’s surprise the trucks arrived promptly at 4.30 this morning. Loaded up and left at once. Going straight in the direction of Madrid.

    12 noon. Just my luck! Again dodged Madrid, rode all round the place through the outer suburbs. I should have liked to see it. Maybe there’s plenty of time.

    We are now pretty obviously bound for the Guadalajara Front in the mountains. Have stopped somewhere about 15 kilometres from Madrid, name unknown, here till dark. We have connected with our own British Battalion and the 15th Brigade. Terrific concentration of troops and...

  7. III December, 1937-January, 1938. The Battle of Teruel
    III December, 1937-January, 1938. The Battle of Teruel (pp. 53-82)

    But at last I was back with the Battery. Once again they were in billets in Mondejar, though the month before had seen them in action with the British Battalion.24

    Many changes in the Battery since I left them. Chiefly for the better. Dunbar, of course, was wounded a day or two after me and since then Hugh Slater has been in command. At the moment though, he and Alan Gilchrist are in hospital with flu and so Otto Estenson is in charge. This seems to suit everybody (it does me too) since Slater is not very popular while we....

  8. IV February-May, 1938. From Teruel to the Ebro
    IV February-May, 1938. From Teruel to the Ebro (pp. 83-106)

    Whatever revolutionary ardor was left in me evaporated rapidly during that ride in the ambulance. For several hours, mostly in the dark, as we bumped along the rough roads and rougher tracks, I tried to keep on my right side of the narrow bunk. But my curses were many and varied as, too frequently, I was thrown around, falling on my back so that I yelled with the pain from my backside or, worse still, came down on my left side and the ill-fitting splint on my arm fell off. I was most unhappy.

    There were three of us. A...

  9. V June-August, 1938. The Battle of the Ebro I
    V June-August, 1938. The Battle of the Ebro I (pp. 107-140)

    Rejoining the Brigade was like waking from a nightmare to find all is well. I felt, thought, and acted like another being from the angry, frustrated chap I was at Badelona. Watching and listening to my comrades of this new set up, I was satisfied. We were a well-matched group, too. Chris Smith and I knew each other well; George Baker, I have written much of already—I was very glad to be with him once more. Ben Glazer, active in London’s Unity Theatre before coming to Spain, had his own special entertainment to offer at almost any time, though...

  10. [Illustrations]
    [Illustrations] (pp. None)
  11. VI September, 1938. The Battle of the Ebro II
    VI September, 1938. The Battle of the Ebro II (pp. 141-160)

    So the First British Anti-tank Battery ceased to exist. Not since the retreats of April had it been a Battery; for even longer it was of Spanish/British composition. We eight, trundling our little gun around, well aware of its limitations and inadequacies, subject to the quips and cracks of our fellows as well as to the varying attitudes of Commanders from Brigade to Company, remembered all too well the respect the Battery and its three deadly guns had rightly earned in past battles. Yet I know we also felt that while we remained a unit, few though we were and...

  12. VII October-December, 1938. Repatriation
    VII October-December, 1938. Repatriation (pp. 161-170)

    From the day Prime Minister Negrin announced the withdrawal of all International Brigade volunteers, our continued presence in Spain became another burden on the desperately struggling Republic. There were several thousand of us: we had to be fed, precious fuel and transport used to serve our needs. But in the more than two frustrating months before we British finally went home we were treated individually and collectively as, in Pasionaria’s words, “Honored guests.”

    A few days after coming out of the Line, the 15th International Brigade became an all-Spanish Brigade and at once left to return to the Ebro and...

  13. Notes
    Notes (pp. 171-178)
  14. Index
    Index (pp. 179-181)
Michigan State University Press logo