XV International Brigade

"Abraham Lincoln Brigade" redirects here. For the battalion, see Lincoln Battalion.

XV International Brigade Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Active	1936–1939
Country	United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia, France, Belgium, and Cuba
Allegiance	Spain
Branch	International Brigades
Type	Mixed Brigade – Infantry
Role	Home Defence
Size	Four battalions: the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th (January 1937)
Part of	35th Division (1937–1939)
Garrison/HQ	Albacete, Barcelona
Nickname(s)	Brigada Abraham Lincoln
March	Jarama Valley and Viva la XV Brigada
Engagements	Spanish Civil War Battle of Jarama Battle of Brunete Battle of Belchite Battle of Teruel Aragon Withdrawal Battle of Gandesa Battle of the Ebro
Commanders
Notable commanders	Janos Galicz Vladimir Ćopić Robert Hale Merriman Milton Wolff Veli Dedi

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade (Spanish: Brigada Abraham Lincoln), officially the XV International Brigade (XV Brigada Internacional), was a mixed brigade that fought for the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War as a part of the International Brigades.

The brigade mustered at Albacete in Spain, in January 1937, comprising mainly English-speaking volunteers – arranged into the mostly British Saklatvala Battalion and the mostly North American Lincoln Battalion. It also included two non-English-speaking battalions, the Balkan Dimitrov Battalion and the Franco-Belgian Sixth February Battalion. It fought at Jarama, Brunete, Boadilla, Belchite, Fuentes de Ebro, Teruel and the Ebro River.

The brigade's songs were "Jarama Valley" and "Viva la Quince Brigada".

History

The XVth Brigade first fought at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937 and suffered many casualties. The British lost 225 men out of 600, the Lincolns 120 out of 500. After the battle, the brigade was seriously under-strength.

At the end of March, a Spanish battalion, Voluntario 24 (the 24th Volunteers), joined the brigade. Over the next few months, under the close supervision of Janos Galicz, the brigade was re-organised into two regiments of about 1,200 men. He appointed "the gallant major", George Nathan, as brigade Chief of Staff.

The first regiment, commanded by Jock Cunningham, with Harry Haywood as political commissar, was English-speaking and comprised the depleted British and Lincolns, as well as the recently formed but under-strength second battalion of American volunteers, the George Washington Battalion. The second regiment was commanded by Major "Chapaiev" (Mihaly Szalvay) and consisted of the Dimitrov Battalion, the Sixth February Battalion and the Voluntario 24 Battalion.

This was the composition in July 1937 for the Battle of Brunete. As with the Battle of Jarama, the brigade suffered huge casualties; the brigade strength was reduced from six to four battalions. In particular, the two American battalions were so depleted that they merged to form the Lincoln-Washington Battalion. (This name did not last: it was renamed the Lincoln Battalion in October 1937.) The 6 February, which also suffered severe casualties, was transferred after Brunete. After Belchite, the nominally Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion joined the brigade, while the Dimitrov Battalion departed.

During the fall of 1937 the units of the International Brigade were integrated into the Spanish Popular Army and the Battalions were re-numbered. The British Bn became the 57th, the Lincoln-Washington the 58th, the Spanish (formerly known as the 24th), became the 59th and the Mackenzie-Papineau the 60th. The battalion line-up remained stable through the withdrawal of the Internationals during the Ebro Campaign.

The XVth International Brigade also included volunteers from Latin America, who, after incidents of bad treatment from North Americans, left the international Brigades and joined other units such as El Campesino's First Mobile Shock Brigade.

After an invitation from J. B. S. Haldane, American singer and activist Paul Robeson traveled to Spain in 1938 because he believed in the International Brigades' cause, visited the hospital of the Benicàssim, singing to the wounded soldiers. Robeson also visited the battlefront and provided a morale boost to the Republicans at a time when their victory was unlikely.

On 13 March 2015, Dan Kaufman interviewed Del Berg, a 99-year-old veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, who he described as the last known survivor of the Brigade. Berg died 28 February 2016.

Overview of battalions

Flag of the 17th battalion of the brigade. It was also known as the 1st American Battalion; the 2nd American Battalion was the Washington Battalion.

Date joined	Number	Battalion Name	Composition	Date left	Comments
31 Jan 1937	16th/57th	Saklatvala Battalion	British, Irish, Dominion	23 Sep 1938	Demobilized
31 Jan 1937	17th/58th	Lincoln Battalion	American, Canadian, Irish, British	23 Sep 1938	Demobilized
31 Jan 1937	18th	Dimitrov Battalion	Bulgarian, Greek and Yugoslav	20 Sep 1937	Moved to 45th Div. Reserve
31 Jan 1937	19th	Sixth February Battalion	French and Belgian	4 Aug 1937	Moved to 14th Brigade
14 Mar 1937	24th/59th	Voluntario 24 Battalion	Cuban	10 Nov 1937	Moved to a Spanish Mixed brigade
29 Jun 1937	60th	Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion	American and Canadian	23 Sep 1938	Demobilized
4 Jul 1937	20th	Washington Battalion	American	14 Jul 1937	Merged with Lincoln Battalion

• Sub-battalion units attached to the Brigade
  • Brigade Anti-Tank Company
  • XVth Brigade Photographic Unit (Aug 1937 – Sep 1938) Archive
  • Connolly Column

Notable members

• Delmer Berg – American political activist
• Edward A. Carter Jr. – American Medal of Honor recipient
• Theodore Cogswell – American science fiction writer
• Fred Copeman – English battalion commander
• Milan Ćopić – Yugoslav prison warden
• Vladimir Ćopić – Yugoslav brigade commander
• Jock Cunningham – Scottish battalion commander
• Petar Dapčević – Yugoslav commander
• Malcolm Dunbar – British chief of staff
• Ralph Fasanella – American painter
• Janos Galicz – Hungarian division commander
• William Herrick – American novelist
• Jack Jones – English company commissar
• Oliver Law – American battalion commander
• James Maley – Scottish political activist
• Roland Masferrer – Cuban political activist
• Robert Hale Merriman – American brigade chief of staff
• Conlon Nancarrow – American-Mexican composer
• George Nathan – British brigade chief of staff
• Paddy O'Daire – Irish battalion commander
• Abe Osheroff – American activist
• Edwin Rolfe – American commissar
• William Lindsay Gresham – American novelist, volunteer medic
• Frank Ryan – Irish commissar
• Milton Wolff – American author, and commander of the Lincoln Battalion
• Bill Bailey – American communist labor activist and actor
• Archie Brown – American communist labor activist

See also

• List of military units named after people
• American Medical Bureau

References

Sources

Books

• Beevor, Antony (2006). The Battle for Spain.
• Eby, Cecil (2007). Comrades and Commissars.
• Landis, Arthur H. (1967). The Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Citadel Press.
• Thomas, Hugh (2001). The Spanish Civil War (4th Rev. ed.).
• Wyden, Peter (1983). The Passionate War: The Narrative History of the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0671253301.

Websites

• EPR Order of Battle Website (in Spanish)
• Associació Catalana Website (in Catalan)

Further reading

• Bradley, Ken (26 May 1994). International Brigades in Spain 1936–39. Chappel, Mike (illus.). Elite. ISBN 978-1855323674.
• Raeburn, Fraser (2022). "'The Surest of All Morale Barometers': Transnational Encounters in the XV International Brigade". Contemporary European History. 31 (1): 85–99. doi:10.1017/S0960777321000217. S2CID 237807295.

External links

• Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at NYU.