The next day, another column r commanded by General Varela attacked further south of the capital. Opposite her the entire 11th International Brigade orders from Lazare Stem, a Hungarian, said:The quarryman and the mason
The next day, another column r commanded by General Varela attacked further south of the capital. Opposite her the entire 11th International Brigade orders from Lazare Stem, Hungarian, said General Emile Kléber. Throughout the day, each of the adversaries, supported by their tanks, passed and repassed the Manzanares. The "internationals" cling to the bridge of the French. In the evening, they repel the Moroccans with bayonets.
On the 10th, the Francoist attack is general but a new international brigade, the 12th, assembled in a few days, joins the 11th. Many Italians, including Pietro Nenni, Germans, including the writer Ludwig Renn, French, Slavs, Anglo-Saxons. At its head, General Lukacz (Mate Zalka), a Hungarian who will soon be killed in battle. Luigi Longo is the political commissioner. Until November 21, the Cité universitaire is the stake of an incredibly fierce struggle. In one of its buildings, the Casa de Vacas, the "internationals" hold the ground floor, Moroccans and Falangists the upper floors.
Grenades are thrown at each other through the holey ceilings , we fight with daggers on the stairs.
Meanwhile, the first Soviet tanks have arrived. The insurgent offensive is halted. There will be others, even more powerful, to try to seize the capital. The two bloodiest:that of the Rio Jaramà, in February 1937, carried out with great resources, will cost heavy losses to the "internationals", especially the Germans, but will fail. The second, in March, takes place on the road to France, in Guadalajara. A Francoist division made up of Navarrese and Moroccans and four Duce divisions, commanded by General Roatta, are on one side. On the other, the 11th and 12th international brigades, the spearhead of two Spanish divisions commanded respectively by the communist Enrique Lister, a former quarryman, and by the anarchist Cipriano Mera, a former mason. From March 6 to 12, the Republicans retreated. From the 12th to the 20th, they counter-attacked, broke the front and put General Roatta's men to flight.