MADRID IN THE MELTING-POT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23203, 29 May 1937, Page 4

MADRID IN THE MELTING-POT

GEOFFREY COX TELLS OF A SIEGE WITHSTOOD

" Defence of Madrid." By Geoff rey Cox. London: Gollancz. . 4s.

The boast of General Franco was that he would be in Madrid by October, 1936; General Mola . declared that he would take coffee in the Puerta del Sol, in the centre of. the city, on the twelfth of that month, and on the day appointed coffee for one was laid outside a cafe there, with the quip: "Reserved for General Mola." The Fascist-inspired uprising . had encountered unexpected opposition. But by the end of October, when Geoffrey Cox, war correspondent for the News Chronicle, and former Rhodes scholar from Dunedin, reached the beleaguered city by aeroplane, people were asking:,. "When will the Russians come?" The Spanish "People's Army" was in full-, retreat upon Madrid. The Times was talking' of the "helpless and discredited " Madrid Government, and of facts which would make Great Britain '• consider with less hesitation the pros-

•forces'had its own theories and its individual command, went so far as to suggest as a slogan for the loyalist front, "Organise indiscipline." Then, as the People's Army was in the process of consolidation into an efficient force, the International Column came into being. When its services were offered to the Spanish Government its leadersiaid: " We make only one request—that we should be sent to posts of greatest danger." Political refugees, survivors from a dozen post-war upheavals, adventurers, idealists, an American who joined because ,he was "broke" and out of a job, a New Zealander who had conducted a Leftist bookshop in Cambridge, a Spanish girl of 16 from Cuidad Real, Austnans, Germans, Italians, they were organised by Emilio Kleber, veteran of three civil wars, into a spearhead for the defence. Mr Cox reserves his greatest admiration for the Cdlumn:

What a body of men they were! They formed what must be one of the finest forces of troops the world has ever seen. Every man of them knew for what he was fighting, and was ready "to "die-for it if necessary. Every day saw more incidents of ■ gallantry and fighting skill enacted by them/. . . It was not a question of a Garibaldi, a Kosciusko, a Byron, but of scores; . . .'They Vwere the' mbsif impressive sight! I have' ever seen; fdf they were the ifirst : body of men I have yet en- ' countered who Ijave me the lmpres- . sioh of being not only more just and more intelligent than the Fascists they were opposing, but more powerful as well.

The International Column, the author declares, was the definite factor in tipping the' balance in favour of the defenders in the early weeks of Madrid's defence. The masses of Madrid would have fought bitterly and bloodily had the Column not come, but it was the trained, mobile force which met the Moors and held up their smashing advance; that checked the attacks on the Escorial road; that provided the shock troops which,, night and day, were ready to rush to the assistance of any hard-pressed sector. "Defence of Madrid ". is, as readers will not require to be told, an uncompleted ; narrative. While the struggle' is still in ghastly progress, the author of this book was recalled to London, and sodn had been despatched for service with the Beaverbrook press as correspondent in' Vienna.' But it provides a first-hand account of an incident in history, worth recording re-, gardless of the outcome. And Mr Cox proves himself a worthy chronicler. His book is superb reporting. In this day, when the roving correspondent is as well-informed as the diplomat, and a great deal more candid and lucid — perhaps sometimes a little more shrewd —that is a sufficient commendation of a first-rate work. J. M.

pect of recognising the Government of General Franco." The heart seemed to have gone from Madrid's defenders, a soldier told Mr Cox: . They just don't see the use of standing up to odds like this. Why should they? They came out here ..to fight Fascists, but they never see them —just aeroplanes - A and shells. This isn't fighting as they know it.

Towards the end of May, 1937. seven months after the frustration of Franco's prognostication and Mola's impudent claim, and months after Mr Cox returned to London to write his striking account of "one of the finest chapters in the history of the common people of the world," Madrid is still in the hands of the loyalists. The armies nominally in the charge of Franco still are. battering at the gates of the citadel, while aircraft from abroad—from the seats of despotism in Europe—rain death and destruction indiscriminately upon the Spanish people adhering to their dulv-elected Government. And still the issue, which was so gravely m doubt when Mr Cox left Madrid for Paris, to find the papers a few hundred miles from the scene of carnage shrieking about Mrs Simpson, is in the meltcipitated as observer into his first war, describes with a calm, convinced enthusiasm the resistance with which the citizenry of Madrid has faced the latest crisis in Spain's storm-wracked history. In this book, "Defence of Madrid," he makes it clear what impulses and circumstances coalesced to write an epic of heroism and determination in this strange, grim struggle. One of these forces was, undoubtedly, the advent of the Russians. Considering this tale with more detachment than belongs to Mr Cox—though he is by and large, an objective reporter —one mav still savour the communicated thrill when, giving substance to the oft-repeated query. " When will the Russians come?" there arrived

Lumbering up through the mist . . . four greenish-khaki caterpillar tanks, each surmounted by a turret out of which pointed a light gun and two machine guns. They were ugly, squat things, like reptiles from some muddy swamps. But to these men, who had been fighting he latest Italian tanks with only rifles and hand grenades, they were beauty itself. There was no need for an order to attack. The men jumped from their trenches, shouting and singing, and weeping. They paid dearly for it. for the enemy were in good positions, and used their machine guns for a time with effect. But even they were surprised by these tanks, and gave way.

Another of the revitalising forces—and perhaps the most powerful—which put courage into the defence organisation was the International Column. It might, in truth, be said to have provided the backbone of resistance in the long-drawn-out seige. When Madrid was first threatened, the army thrown into the field by the Government was little more than a disordered rabble. Above all. Mr Cox says, he felt the longing for leadershin among the untrained and dispirited men. "They needed officers who could show them what to do. who would not merelv wave revolvers at them and shoot them when they ran, or, as often as not, lead the running themselves. They wanted someone who could show them how to deal with these tanks and planes and shells, who could give them a chance in this unequal struggle. Of course, they wanted armies . . but. with them, they wanted leaders." The anarchists, in the preliminary stages of the conflict, when every unit of the defence