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Renegades
Studies in Canadian Military History
The Canadian War Museum, Canada’s national museum of military history, has a
threefold mandate: to remember, to preserve, and to educate. It does so through an
interlocking and mutually supporting combination of exhibitions, public programs,
and electronic outreach. Military history, military historical scholarship, and the
ways in which Canadians see and understand themselves have always been closely
intertwined. Studies in Canadian Military History builds on a record of success
in forging those links by regular and innovative contributions based on the best
contemporary scholarship. Published by UBC Press in association with the Museum,
the series especially encourages the work of new generations of scholars and the
investigation of important gaps in the existing historiography, pursuits not always
well served by traditional sources of academic support. The results produced feed
immediately into future exhibitions, programs, and outreach efforts by the Canadian
War Museum. It is a modest goal that they feed into a deeper understanding of our
nation’s common past as well.

John Griffith Armstrong, The Halifax Explosion and the Royal Canadian Navy:
Inquiry and Intrigue
Andrew Richter, Avoiding Armageddon: Canadian Military Strategy and Nuclear
Weapons, 1950-63
William Johnston, A War of Patrols: Canadian Army Operations in Korea
Julian Gwyn, Frigates and Foremasts: The North American Squadron in
Nova Scotia Waters, 1745-1815
Jeffrey A. Keshen, Saints, Sinners, and Soldiers: Canada’s Second World War
Desmond Morton, Fight or Pay: Soldiers’ Families in the Great War
Douglas E. Delaney, The Soldiers’ General: Bert Hoffmeister at War
Michael Whitby, ed., Commanding Canadians: The Second World War Diaries of
A.F.C. Layard
Martin Auger, Prisoners of the Home Front: German POWs and “Enemy Aliens” in
Southern Quebec, 1940-46
Tim Cook, Clio’s Warriors: Canadian Historians and the Writing of the World Wars
Serge Marc Durflinger, Fighting from Home: The Second World War in Verdun,
Quebec
Richard O. Mayne, Betrayed: Scandal, Politics, and Canadian Naval Leadership
P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Battle Grounds: The Canadian Military and Aboriginal Lands
Cynthia Toman, An Officer and a Lady: Canadian Military Nursing and the Second
World War
Michael Petrou

Renegades
Canadians in the Spanish Civil War
© UBC Press 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written
permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other
reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright
Licensing Agency), www.accesscopyright.ca.
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in Canada on ancient-forest-free paper (100% post-consumer recycled) that
is processed chlorine- and acid-free, with vegetable-based inks.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Petrou, Michael, 1974-
Renegades : Canadians in the Spanish Civil War / Michael Petrou.
(Studies in Canadian military history, issn 1499-6251)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-7748-1417-1 (bound); isbn 978-0-7748-1418-8 (pbk.)
1. Spain – History – Civil War, 1936-1939 – Participation, Canadian. i. Title.
ii. Series.
dp269.47.c2p48 2008 946.081 c2008-900086-2

UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for our publishing
program of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry
Development Program (BPIDP), and of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the
British Columbia Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly
Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Publication of this book has been financially supported by the Canadian
War Museum.
Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens
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Spain

When the bare branch responds to leaf and light

Remember them: it is for this they fight.
It is for haze-swept hills and the green thrust
Of pine, that they lie choked with battle dust.

You who hold beauty at your finger-tips

Hold it because the splintering gunshot rips
Between your comrades’ eyes; hold it across
Their bodies’ barricade of blood and loss.

You who live quietly in sunlit space

Reading The Herald after morning grace
Can count peace dear, when it has driven
Your sons to struggle for this grim, new heaven.

Dorothy Livesay
This page intentionally left blank
Contents

Maps and Illustrations / ix

Preface: Spanish Tinderbox / xiii
Acknowledgments / xix
Chronology / xxi

Introduction / 3

Part 1: Origins of the Volunteers

1 Who Were the Canadian Volunteers? / 10
2 Why Did They Fight? / 26

Part 2: International Brigades

3 Going to War / 52
4 Protecting Madrid, February-July 1937 / 61
5 Aragón Battles, August 1937-February 1938 / 71
6 Retreats, March-April 1938 / 84
7 Back to the Ebro, May-September 1938 / 93
8 Leaving Spain / 100

Part 3: Discipline in the International Brigades

9 Crimes / 108
10 Punishments / 125

Part 4: Renegades
11 The Photographer: Bill Williamson / 140
12 The Idealist: William Krehm / 148
13 The Doctor: Norman Bethune / 158
viii Contents

Part 5: Aftermath
14 Undesirables / 170

Conclusion / 181
Postscript / 185
Appendix: Canadian Volunteers / 189
Notes / 242
Select Bibliography / 267
Index / 272
 Maps and Illustrations

Maps
Spain, July 1936 / 2
Spanish Civil War military actions involving Canadians / 4
Spanish Civil War military actions involving Canadians, detail / 5

Plates
Following p. 74
1 Alex Forbes and Walter Hellund, two of many Canadian veterans who
returned home wounded
2 American nurses and Spanish aides pose in front of an ambulance donated
by the CPC
3 International volunteers man a Soviet-made Maxim heavy machine-gun
4 Niilo Makela, a miner and lumberjack from northern Ontario
5 Belchite’s main square after fierce, close-quarters fighting, September 1937
6 Norman Bethune stands before a vehicle attached to his Canadian Blood
Transfusion Service
7 Members of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion pose with a banner that
reads, “Fascism shall be destroyed”
8 American Joseph Dallet, Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion’s first commissar
9 William Skinner, from Winnipeg, asked that his wife be allowed to join
him in Spain
10 International volunteers relax between actions
11 New Yorker John Gates rose to the rank of commissar of the 15th
International Brigade
12 Wilfred Cowan, a twenty-year-old volunteer from Toronto, one of many
Spanish Civil War veterans who served with the Canadian army during the
Second World War
13 Members of the 15th International Brigade assaulted several frozen
hilltop positions near the village of Segura de los Baños in February 1938
x Maps and Illustrations

14 Following the disastrous retreats of March and April 1938, members of

the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion recuperate in Marçà
15 Lightly armed attackers crossing the Ebro River in boats
16 A floating bridge is built across the Ebro River on the first day of
the offensive
17 Granollers after a nationalist air raid in late May or early June 1938
18 A captured German airman
19 Lionel Edwards commanded a company of the Mackenzie-Papineau
Battalion during the battle of Teruel in January 1938
20 Canadians gather for lunch
21 An international volunteer fires at his pursuers during the retreats of
April 1938
22 Norman Bethune collects blood for future transfusions, c. December
1936-January 1937
23 Ed Potvin returns visibly affected by a wound he suffered in August 1938
24 A wounded nationalist prisoner is treated by republican medical staff
25 The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion’s soccer team, spring or summer 1938
26 Norman Bethune, assisted by Henning Sorensen, performs a blood
transfusion

Following page 138

27 Crowds in Montreal greet returning Canadian veterans
28 Returning veterans disembark in Canada
29 Dolores and Carmen, two militia women with whom Canadian Bill
Williamson fought during the early days of the war
30 Edward Cecil-Smith, the highest-ranking Canadian in Spain, led the
Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion
31 Jules Paivio arrived in Spain at the age of nineteen
32 New International Brigades recruits drilling, c. December 1936-January 1937
33 Spanish republican refugees in Le Perthus, France, are guarded by French
regulars and North African cavalry, c. February 1939
34 Members of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion cross the Ebro on 25 July
1938, the first day of the Ebro offensive
35 International volunteers in rope-soled sandals known as alpargatas
36 Bill Williamson, the first Canadian to join the war, poses with a Czech
comrade
37 Thomas Beckett, the first Canadian to die in Spain
38 Arriving in Spain one day after the war began, Bill Williamson encountered
citizens’ militias that included women and old men
39 A Spanish youth group visits the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion at Marçà in
June 1938
40 Mortimer Kosowatski, also known as Jack Steele, was sent home to Canada
in October 1937 but returned to Spain and was killed
 Maps and Illustrations xi

41 In the early days of the war, Bill Williamson witnessed women dancing in
the streets, wearing summer dresses and carrying rifles
42 A memorial erected near the Jarama River
43 International volunteers rest in a dry riverbed beneath Mosquito Ridge
during the battle of Brunete in July 1937
44 Members of the International Brigades salute at a British cookhouse in
Albacete
45 Paddy O’Daire introduced Canadians to his repertoire of Irish rebel songs
during labour disputes in the 1930s
46 Norman Bethune and his lover, Kajsa Rothman, visit republican troops near
Madrid
47 A wounded republican soldier is rushed to safety during the nationalist
assault on Madrid, c. December 1936-January 1937
48 An ambulance named after Tom Ewen, a leading Canadian communist,
struggles through heavy snow near Teruel
49 Vladimir Copic, the Yugoslav commander of the 15th International
Brigade
50 William Krehm at his home in Toronto in November 2004
51 Jules Paivio at a 2004 ceremony in Ottawa commemorating Canadian
volunteers in the Spanish Civil War
This page intentionally left blank
Preface: Spanish Tinderbox

Spain, on the eve of its civil war of 1936 to 1939, was a country plagued by
unsustainable divisions. The modernizing reforms that had swept much of
Europe passed over Spain, leaving a country that was conservative, backward,
and home to growing unrest among the poor and those who sought to
break down the power of the military, the landed nobility, and the Catholic
Church. In 1931, these tensions forced the abdication of King Alfonso XIII
and the restoration of democracy in the form of the Second Republic. The
new left-leaning government embarked on a series of ambitious measures to
secularize the country and curb the power of wealthy landowners. This led to
fury from conservatives, and also disillusionment from many rural peasants,
who remained mired in poverty. A right-wing coalition therefore triumphed
in the elections of 1933. Factions among the Spanish left tried to launch a
nationwide revolutionary strike the following year. They were most successful
in the northern coal-mining region of Asturias, where the strike morphed into
a military uprising. Miners held out for two weeks before they were bombed
and shelled into submission and overrun by government forces. The uprising
led to accusations from the right that their opponents on the left respected
the electoral process only when they were successful.
The left, however, did learn the lessons of democracy. It formed a broad
coalition of socialists, liberals, Catalan nationalists, and anarchists who called
themselves the Popular Front to contest the 1936 elections. The Popular Front
defeated a right-wing coalition known as the National Front, and in May 1936
Manuel Azaña was elected president of the Republic. By this time, however,
the divisions within Spain were irreconcilable and conflict was moving beyond
the political arena. Churches were torched, and high-profile assassinations
shook the country.
Spain’s military elite began planning a coup to depose their country’s elected
government. It was launched, by Francisco Franco and other generals, on the
night of 17 July 1936, with a revolt by the colonial army in Morocco. The
rebellion spread to mainland Spain the following day. It was, however, not totally
xiv Preface

successful. Some military garrisons remained loyal to the Republic; others

that rebelled were defeated by informal citizen militias. Almost immediately,
Spain was divided into regions controlled by forces loyal to the insurgents and
those that stood with the government. The rebels were victorious in much
of northwestern Spain. Crucially, however, the Basque and Asturian regions
remained loyal to the Republic. Although traditional and fiercely Catholic,
the Basques – like the Catalans – sought greater autonomy and supported the
government because it promised them exactly this. The Republic held most
of eastern Spain, including its two greatest cities, Barcelona and the country’s
capital, Madrid. Both sides committed widespread atrocities against real and
imagined political opponents. These acts hardened divisions within Spain.
Those who supported the coup feared the changes underway in their
country and fought to preserve the old order and their privileged positions in
it. Their coalition included monarchists, conservatives, outright fascists, and
wealthy landowners.
Those who opposed the rebellion included socialists, anarchists, regional
nationalists, liberal democrats, and communists. Their unlikely alliance
would be strained – sometimes to the breaking point – during the course of
the war. At issue was not their opposition to fascism or to Franco’s rebellion
but, rather, contrary ideas about how the war should be fought and the kind of
country they wanted Spain to become. Some fought for regional autonomy and
for their rights as Basques or Catalans. Some fought for communism, some
fought for socialism, some fought for an anarchist revolution, and some fought
for a traditional liberal democracy. These competing visions were reconciled
– or at least accommodated – for much of the war. But tensions among those
who fought together in Spain also erupted into episodes of violence.1
Some of those who fought for the rebels, or for the government, also did
so because of an accident of geography. The tragic reality of a civil war is
that many will find themselves trapped in what they consider to be enemy
territory.

Facing a probable defeat in the early days of the war, the Spanish rebels
requested and received assistance from Adolf Hitler to transport the crack
Army of Africa, including Spain’s foreign legion, across the Strait of Gibraltar
to southern Spain, from where their columns began a seemingly unstoppable
offensive north.
Hitler and his fellow dictator Benito Mussolini in Italy would later provide
Franco with tanks, artillery, planes, pilots, instructors, and tens of thousands
of troops. Germany’s contribution amounted to some six hundred planes,
two hundred tanks, highly effective artillery pieces, and sixteen thousand
men, including civilian instructors.2 Spain functioned as a testing ground for
Hitler’s incipient war machine and was also something of a secret playground
for the young pilots of Germany’s Condor Legion. Adolf Galand, a German
 Spanish Tinderbox xv

pilot, recalled that between 1936 and 1939 a colleague who had disappeared
for six months might suddenly show up again in Germany “in high spirits,
with a suntan and having bought himself a new car” and confide to his friends
about his Spanish adventures.3
Benito Mussolini, motivated by ideological affinity with Franco as well
as grandiose national vanity, sent 75,000 soldiers and airmen, 800 artillery
pieces, 660 aircraft, 150 tanks, as well as aircraft motors, bombs, ammunition,
rifles, and almost 7,660 motor vehicles. Italian airmen were extremely active
in bombing raids and in aerial combat; Italian warships and submarines were
also engaged in the war. But Italy’s intervention was not as pleasing for those
who took part as it was for the Germans. Italian troops were mauled on the
battlefield, with more than 4,000 killed over the course of the war. Italy also
lost perhaps as much as 25 percent of the effective military equipment that it
had sent to Spain.4
Franco’s soldiers included some seventy-five thousand Moroccan Moors
from Spain’s colony in North Africa. These capable troops were used to great
effect during Franco’s advance north from the Strait of Gibraltar and, along
with his German and Italian allies, would prove crucial to his ultimate success
in the war. Smaller contingents, notably soldiers from Portugal and private vol-
unteers from Ireland, also fought for the rebels, though their support was not
decisive. Two Canadians are known to have fought with Franco. Warde Harry
Phalen volunteered as a pilot but was soon back in Canada and charged with
assaulting a taxi driver.5 The second man, “Tug” Wilson, deserted a British navy
vessel to join the Spanish Foreign Legion and subsequently deserted again,
surreptitiously leaving the country with the Irish volunteers for Franco.6
The Spanish government also sought help from abroad. The Republic,
however, was barred from buying weapons on the open market by an arms
embargo imposed by the great powers. Nominally designed to prevent Spain’s
civil war from spreading, the Non-Intervention Agreement placed Spain’s
elected government on equal footing with the rebels leading a coup d’état. The
agreement itself was a chimera designed to give the international community
the veneer of neutrality. But the blockade still severely restricted the Spanish
government’s ability to defend itself. Mexico flouted the agreement and sold
Spain rifles, ammunition, and trucks, though much of the equipment was of
poor quality.7 France also supplied equipment and planes, and the Republic
was able to obtain weapons from international arms dealers. Spain’s biggest
and most reliable supplier was the Soviet Union, which sold Spain a thousand
aircraft and nine hundred tanks, as well as ammunition, fuel, artillery, and
trucks.8 Soviet personnel in Spain included pilots, tank drivers, and instructors
– and also military advisors and intelligence agents who were able to pressure
and influence the Spanish government and military because of the aid they
brought with them. The size and strength of the Spanish Communist Party
would grow substantially during the course of the war.
xvi Preface

Soviet leaders might have sympathized with the left-leaning Spanish

government, but their support for Spain was also motivated by Russian
security concerns. When the Spanish Civil War began, the Soviet Union was
following a policy of rapprochement with the Western democracies against
the growing powers of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Fearing an attack
from Germany, the Soviet Union entered the League of Nations in 1934, and
in 1935 concluded a pact with France. Moscow instructed foreign communist
parties to pursue a popular front strategy, seeking alliances with “progressive”
or anti-fascist movements in their own countries, even those composed of
the so-called liberal bourgeoisie. The only anti-fascists whom communists
were instructed to shun were Trotskyists – a term that referred to followers
of Stalin’s former rival and nemesis Leon Trotsky, but which was a label
communists affixed to almost anyone suspected of opposition to their party.
After hoping for more than a decade to export socialist revolution, the
Communist International, or Comintern, now postponed this goal and
concentrated on protecting the Soviet Union. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
feared that a nationalist victory in Spain would surround the Soviet Union’s
ally France on three sides with potentially hostile neighbours, making it easier
for an emboldened Germany to attack Russia without worrying about a French
strike from the west.9 These concerns were articulated at a 3 November 1936
meeting between Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to London, and British
foreign secretary Anthony Eden. Eden reported that Maisky told him that
the Soviet government was convinced that if General Franco were to win,
“the encouragement given to Germany and Italy would be such as to bring
nearer the day when another active aggression would be committed – this
time perhaps in central or eastern Europe. That was a state of affairs that
Russia wished at all costs to avoid and that was her main reason for wishing
the Spanish government to win in this civil strife.”10 Laurence Collier, head of
the Northern Department at the Foreign Office, accepted Maisky’s account
as “substantially accurate.”11
The Soviets, however, did not commit sufficient troops and materiel to
guarantee a quick victory. They were concerned that a victorious Spanish
Republic, especially one explicitly committed to socialist revolution, might
lead to a wider European conflict, with France and Britain neutral or possibly
even aligned against Russia. Stalin wanted to avoid altering the international
balance of power and alienating France and Britain while his armies were
unprepared for war. Instead, he hoped to prolong the war in Spain, bog down
Hitler far from Russia’s borders, and keep the Spanish Republic alive for as
long as possible while the Soviet Union rearmed and prepared for an inevitable
confrontation with Nazi Germany.12
The Soviet Union, through the Communist International and national
communist parties around the world, was also responsible for the recruitment
and organization of forty thousand international volunteers, who fought in
 Spanish Tinderbox xvii

Spain on the side of the Spanish government. These volunteers, known as

the International Brigades, included the vast majority of the Canadians who
took part in the Spanish Civil War. Shortly after hostilities began in Spain,
it became clear that there was a desire among sufficient numbers of leftists
and democrats around the world to physically confront fascism. Unorganized
volunteers intent on fighting had been arriving in Spain since the war began.
The Soviet Union saw an opportunity to capitalize on popular sentiment and
seized it. The International Brigades epitomized the Soviet ideal of a broad,
anti-fascist popular front. Built on a communist foundation, but with wider
leftist and even mainstream support, the brigades were a stirring and tangible
symbol of global support for an anti-fascist cause that was not explicitly linked
to the Soviet Union. The Spanish government, though initially reluctant,
accepted its formation in October 1936, recognizing both the military and
propaganda value of the international volunteers, and the benefits of Soviet
military aid, which would not have been so forthcoming had the Republic
rejected the brigades.
The International Brigades made their first appearance as a fighting force
in November 1936, as rebel columns began their assault on Madrid. The
Spanish capital took on enormous symbolic importance around the world
for those who believed that Spain was the centre of a global showdown
between fascism and freedom. The city was expected to fall quickly. But
pro-government militias and civilians, poorly armed and desperate, kept the
attacking rebels at bay under banners that read No Pasarán – “They shall
not pass.” Madrid’s defenders were joined by mostly German and Italian
volunteers, plus some British, French, and Polish. No Canadians were yet
in their ranks; they would arrive within months. But already the Canadian
doctor Norman Bethune was at work in the besieged city, bringing blood to
wounded soldiers and civilians. Together, the city’s defenders stopped the
nationalist advance on Madrid.
The Spanish capital would remain beyond the reach of Franco until the
final days of the war, in March 1939. By then the Spanish Republic was
defeated and in ruins. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were streaming
toward France or to Spanish ports, hoping – usually in vain – that they would
be evacuated before Franco’s troops caught up with them.
Their fear was justified; tens of thousands of suspected republican
supporters and soldiers were imprisoned, sentenced to forced labour, and
executed in bloody purges after Franco’s victory. The international volunteers
who had survived the previous three years had all left Spain by this time.
Thousands of Germans, Italians, and Hungarians, who knew they would face
prison or worse in their home countries, stayed in France, where many were
interned in concentration camps. Volunteers from Canada, the United States,
and Britain, those with homes to which they could safely return, did so.
War, however, would soon find these men, as it would engulf the world.
xviii Preface

The Second World War, a conflict many internationals in Spain said they had
foreseen and fought to prevent, broke out within months of Franco’s victory.
The Western democracies, which had turned a blind eye to fascism’s rise
in Europe, and which had sacrificed Spain in a vain attempt to appease it,
belatedly took up arms in their own defence.
Acknowledgments

This book began as a doctoral thesis, which was completed at the University
of Oxford in 2006. I wish to acknowledge and thank my supervisor, Tom
Buchanan, who was a steady source of insight and guidance. I would like to
thank my internal and external thesis examiners, Frances Lannon and Tim
Rees. Oxford is a dynamic place to live and study, and this book is no doubt
better because of my time spent there. Completing a doctorate at Oxford is
also an expensive undertaking. I received financial assistance from the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the British High Commission
through the Chevening scholarship program, and Saint Antony’s College. I
am grateful for it.
I have benefited from the helpfulness, efficiency, and depth of knowledge of
archivists and librarians at institutions in Canada, the United States, and Britain.
I must thank especially Myron Momryk, an accomplished scholar now retired
from Library and Archives Canada, who shared the results of his research on
the Canadians who fought in the Spanish Civil War and was always available
with advice and expertise. Momryk’s not yet published list of the Canadians
who fought in Spain, “The Fighting Canucks: Biographical Dictionary of the
Canadian Volunteers, Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939,” contains information on
most of the volunteers and provided the foundation of my own biographical
database.
I interviewed – in person, by phone, by email, and by letter – the following
Spanish Civil War veterans: Maurice Constant, John Dunlop, Carl Geiser, Joe
Juk, Arne Knudson, Fred Kostyk, William Krehm, Jules Paivio, Bob Peters,
David Smith, and Jack Vanderlught. All touched me with their kindness and
willingness to share their experiences and insights. I am deeply grateful to
all of them but must thank especially Maurice Constant (deceased), Fred
Kostyk (deceased), William Krehm, Jules Paivio, and their families. I visited
all these men. In some cases, they or their families provided me with a meal
or a place to stay. Maurice Constant agreed to meet me in the palliative-care
wing of a Kitchener-Waterloo hospital. I am also particularly grateful to Joe
xx Acknowledgments

Juk, who shared with me his unpublished memoirs.

Another veteran invited me into his home and sat down for a long interview
during the course of my doctoral research. However, he later asked not to be
identified and so is quoted only anonymously. I thank him also.
Large portions of the archival material I consulted were written in Spanish
or French. Much of this, including almost all documents written in French,
I translated myself. The more complicated documents, particularly those
written in Spanish, were translated by Jacqueline Behrend. Behrend also
translated important documents from German to English and from Italian
to English. She did professional work, and I owe her my thanks. Christian
Claesson, Emma Eckered, and Richard Eklow all translated articles from
Swedish to English, which were extremely useful as I researched Kajsa Roth-
man’s relationship with Norman Bethune.
Glenn Wright, in the RCMP’s historical section, kindly verified many
details pertaining to the RCMP, such as the ranks, divisions, and assignments
of RCMP members discussed in the text.
In the course of researching and writing this book, I have been helped
in unexpected ways by scores of scholars, historians, researchers, archivists,
and others who simply shared an interest in my topic. Some sent files from
archives I could not visit; others shared the results of their own research
or critiqued my own. Some provided me with a place to present my work.
Inevitably, I will inadvertently omit some, but I would like to thank the
following people by name: Richard Baxell, Phil Buckner, Stephen Burgess-
Whiting, Jim Carmody, Peter Carroll, Erika Gottfried, Larry Hannant, John
E. Haynes, James Hopkins, Samuel Karlsson, Judith Keen, John Kraljic, Gail
Malmgreen, Paul Philipou, Paul Preston, Sharon Skup, Robert Stradling, and
Mark Zuehlke.
UBC Press and the Canadian War Museum, publishers of this book, were
wonderful partners, especially for a first-time author. A special thank you is
owed to Emily Andrew and Camilla Blakeley at UBC Press, who guided this
book through to completion with patience and good advice.
I am grateful to the estate of Dorothy Livesay for permission to reproduce
her poem “Spain” as the epigraph to this work.
Finally, I should acknowledge Maclean’s magazine, in which portions of the
chapter on Norman Bethune have previously been published.
This book is dedicated with love and thanks to Janyce McGregor, my wife.
Chronology

April 1931 Second Spanish Republic

proclaimed following
abdication of King Alfonso XIII

November 1933 Right-wing coalition wins

general election

October 1934 Attempted uprising in Asturias

February 1936 Popular Front wins general election

July 1936 Spanish Civil War begins

Bill Williamson arrives in Spain

September 1936 William Krehm arrives in Spain

November 1936 Norman Bethune arrives in Madrid

International Brigades join
defence of the Spanish capital

January 1937 First volunteers from Canada enlist

in the International Brigades

February-June 1937 Battle of Jarama

May 1937 Violent clashes in Barcelona

between republican advocates
and opponents of revolution
Norman Bethune leaves Spain
xxii Chronology

July 1937 Formation of Mackenzie-

Papineau Battalion
Battle of Brunete

August-October 1937 Battles at Quinto, Belchite,

Fuentes de Ebro

December 1937-February 1938 Battles at Teruel and

Segura de los Baños

March-April 1938 Retreats

July-November 1938 Battle of the Ebro

September 1938 International Brigades

withdrawn from lines

January 1939 Barcelona falls to the nationalists

Canadians begin leaving
Spain in large numbers

March 1939 Nationalists enter Madrid

April 1939 General Francisco Franco

announces that the war is over
Renegades
Spain, July 1936
Introduction

Canadians in the 1930s had little obvious reason to feel as if their own lives
and fates were entwined with those of Spaniards. Spain was, after all, far
away. Its inhabitants spoke a different language. Few Canadians could trace
their origins to Spain or had any relatives there. The two nations might as well
have belonged to different worlds. And yet, between 1936 and 1939, almost
seventeen hundred Canadians chose to fight in the Spanish Civil War, of
whom more than four hundred were killed. Why?
This book is an attempt to answer that question – to establish who were the
Canadian men and handful of women who risked their lives in Spain, why
they volunteered, and what happened to them during the course of the war
and in the years that followed. The focus is on the majority of the Canadians
who served in the International Brigades, and several chapters are devoted
to the major campaigns in which they fought. But this book also includes
chapters on three Canadians – Bill Williamson, William Krehm, and Nor-
man Bethune – who spent significant amounts of time in other units. Their
stories are unique and have been given a detailed examination here. Two
chapters are devoted to the issues of discipline, morale, and punishments in
the International Brigades – a topic on which much of the current historio-
graphical debate on internationals in Spain is centred. The book concludes by
examining the reaction of the Canadian government and security services to
Canadians fighting in Spain, and to the return of the volunteers in the years,
and decades, after the war.
Writing history, especially the history of a war, is always contentious and
political. But rarely has a war evoked such passion and produced such intense
debate as has the Spanish Civil War. It was a conflict that divided much of
the world as it occurred, and today, seven decades later, old and new divisions
are fought out in history books, movies, novels, and academic journals.
The battle over how the civil war should be described and remembered
began as soon as the guns fell silent. During the almost forty years of Franco’s
dictatorship, Spanish historians were not permitted to write accounts of the
4 Introduction

Spanish Civil War military actions involving Canadians

civil war in a way that cast shame on the nationalist cause and on Franco’s
regime. Francoist historians blamed the war on left wing, usually communist,
extremists who drove moderate men in the Spanish military to fight in defence
of Spain. Atrocities committed by republicans, especially crimes against the
Catholic Church and clergy, were recounted in detail; nationalist crimes were
brushed over.1
Franco had good reasons to portray his military rebellion as a necessary, glo-
rious, and defensive war beyond a need to legitimize his regime. The Second
World War concluded with many observers believing that Franco’s fate would
soon follow that of his erstwhile comrades Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
But as Berlin fell to the Allies, a new conflict – the Cold War – divided Europe.
Franco’s regime now found itself on the right side of the Iron Curtain, and it
sought to exploit its position as sentinel of the West against communism. Fran-
coist historians played up the dictator’s supposed clairvoyance in recognizing
the dangers of communism and fighting against it. Franco was rehabilitated in
the eyes of the West, and his regime persisted unmolested for decades.
Of course, not all Spaniards who survived the Spanish Civil War were
nationalists, and many republicans were equally anxious to write about the
 Introduction 5

Spanish Civil War military actions involving Canadians, detail

conflict. Those in Spain, for obvious reasons, could not. But thousands of
republicans found exile outside the country. They were hampered by their
lack of access to Spanish archives. For some, the wounds of war were also
too fresh. Unable to agree on the reason for their defeat, exiled republicans
continued wartime debates about how the war should have been fought in the
first place.
The inevitable result of all this turmoil within Spanish historiography
was that many of the most important histories written about the conflict in
the decades following the war were published outside Spain.2 Non-Spanish
historians have been criticized for exaggerating the international dimension
of the civil war. This criticism is valid – to a point. The Spanish Civil War
was deeply rooted in Spain’s class and regional divides. However, the conflict
was also played out on the international stage. Tens of thousands of foreign-
ers fought on both sides of the civil war, and international diplomacy and
intervention played a significant role. The nationalist uprising might have
failed at its inception without the assistance of Hitler’s air force, which carried
Franco’s Army of Africa to mainland Spain.
The International Brigades also sharply reflected the Spanish Civil War’s
6 Introduction

global dimensions. For nationalists, the brigades represented the threat of

international communism made real. The existence of foreigners fighting
on behalf of the Republic provided them with tangible proof that they were
fighting to liberate Spain from outsiders and traitors. For their supporters,
the brigades were the purest example of international solidarity. Foreigners
have always been especially inspired by the International Brigades and have
written most of the books about them.3
The Canadians, however, have attracted little attention. This is only the
fourth book to be written about Canadians in the Spanish Civil War. The
first, The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, by Victor Hoar, was not published
until 1969.4 Hoar’s study was hampered by his inability to access key archives
in the Soviet Union. But he assembled an impressive collection of material
and recollections from surviving veterans; his book is still essential reading
for anyone interested in the topic. Canadian Volunteers: Spain 1936-1939, by
veteran William Beeching, is a celebratory account of Canadians in Spain that
lacks much in the way of objective analysis but contains valuable recollections
from veterans who were still living in the 1980s.5 The Gallant Cause: Canadians
in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939, by Mark Zuehlke, is written in a style the
author describes as literary non-fiction.6 It is a vivid description of the war
from the perspective of those who took part. It lacks footnotes or endnotes.
In addition to these books about the entire Canadian contingent in Spain,
there is one published memoir, by Douglas Padrig (Pat) Stephens, which is
an engaging account of the author’s experiences. Greg Lewis recently wrote
a short and lively biography of Bob Peters, who emigrated to Canada in 1931
and later fought in Spain. A biography of volunteer Jack Brent, who was born
in Cobourg, Ontario, and moved to Scotland as a child, was also published
over fifty years ago.7
This book builds on the work of previous authors but also breaks significant
new ground, in part because of its extensive use of recently declassified docu-
ments from the archives of the Communist International in Moscow. These
documents reveal tantalizing details about the makeup of the volunteers, how
they lived in Spain, the battles they fought, and the influence of the Communist
Party among them.8 The party carefully evaluated the Canadian volunteers
on their attitudes and political commitment and kept detailed notes. Many,
while described as brave men and good soldiers, were accused of insufficient
loyalty to the Communist Party. These evaluations help us to understand what
demands were made by the party in Spain and how Canadians responded.
Most did so with solid, if irreverent, resolve to continue their fight against
fascism. Others rebelled against the party. Faced with high casualty rates and
extremely punishing conditions, scores of Canadians tried to flee the war.
Documents in the Comintern archives show how these men were treated.
The archives also include sensational material about two Canadians
– one famous, one virtually unknown – who were both unjustly accused of
 Introduction 7

espionage in Spain. The first, Dr. Norman Bethune, became romantically

embroiled with a woman whom Spanish authorities believed was a spy or a
fascist. Bethune left Spain with his life and reputation intact. The second,
William Krehm, a young student at the University of Toronto, was accused of
spying by the Republican secret police but had no fame to protect him. He
spent three months in various Barcelona jails and was lucky to escape Spain
alive. I interviewed Krehm at his Toronto home in 2004.
Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa contains several collections pertain-
ing to Canadians in the Spanish Civil War, including extensive files from the
RCMP, which closely watched the volunteers during and after the war. I have
obtained additional material from the RCMP through government access-to-
information requests.9
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio Archives in Toronto holds
dozens of interviews with Canadian veterans of the Spanish Civil War that were
recorded in the 1960s but never broadcast. They are an excellent resource.10
The Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library at the University of Toronto con-
tains material relating to Methodist minister and communist Albert E. Smith,
including a notebook he kept with him while visiting Canadians in Spain. The
library has a small amount of good material on radical anti-Stalinist leftist
organizations in Toronto during the 1930s, including the League for a Revolu-
tionary Workers’ Party, to which William Krehm belonged. William Krehm’s
personal archives are also an excellent resource. They are located at his home,
and it is, of course, necessary to obtain Krehm’s permission to consult them.
The Sound Archive of the Imperial War Museum in London contains
recordings of interviews with several Canadian veterans who lived in Britain
after the war. The museum’s Department of Documents holds letters and
recollections from Canadian veteran Joseph Turnbull, and its Photograph
Archive includes good unpublished material on the Dr. Norman Bethune.
The Marx Memorial Library in London, an excellent repository of material
on the British in the Spanish Civil War, has useful material on Canadians in
the conflict.
Twelve veterans shared their memories and recollections with me as I
researched this book. Their insights were invaluable. I have also visited
the battlefields where Canadians fought and died, and the villages where
they prepared for attacks and recuperated afterward. International Brigades
veterans and Spaniards, civilians and former fighters, were there and recalled
what they had seen and experienced all those years before. The civil war is
never very deep beneath the surface in Spain, and this becomes clear when
one walks on the ground where it was fought.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 Dreadful News. 331 next day, climbing dangerous
precipices, and clambering over enormous angular blocks, from
between which sprang up wait-a-bit thorns of the most harassing
character. After fourteen hours' hard tramping, we stumbled into
camp at Baringo in a pitch-dark night, and amid a pouring rain. And
so ended my hunting and exploring trip roimd the lake. In the
course of the ten days I had shot six zebra, four rhinoceroses, four
buffaloes, three elephants, one giraffe, and one antelope. On my
return there was still no news of Jumba, and I therefore determined
to march homeward, as we were in danger of starvation — neither
the Njemps people nor those of Kamasia having any food to sell.
This would necessitate the desertion of the men whom Jumba had
left behind ; but then I had a duty I owed to my own caravan, which
would run a very great risk of being stuck entirely up country- for
want of goods. I had determined to start on the 17th of February,
when we were all shocked by most dreadful news brought by
Jumlm's Njemps guide. He declared he was the only man left of the
entire caravan, every one having lx!en massacred in ElgumL He told
his story in such a circumstantial and apparently truthful manner,
that I could not but believe him. After that, of course the traders
could not be deserted. Moran and Haniis, who were in Kamasia,
must be sent for, so that we might all return together. On the 22nd
of February, we left our camp under the sycamore- tree of Guaso
Tigirish and moved on to Njemps of Guaso na Nyuki, where I
stopped another day to await the arrival of Moran, who had
exceeded his time. Next day fortunately he arrived, and shortly after
appeared a native of Njemps, who had just come from the Suk
country, and who brought the remarkable intelligence that the story
of Jumba's annihilation was all a lie. Here was a proper quandary ! I
was inclined to believe the first messenger, the traders the second.
On going into council, I made it clear to them that I could upon no
account stop to verify the intelligence, as my men were already on
half-rations, and our goods nearly finished. The traders, however,
with sentiments which did them much honour, declared that they
were quite resolved not to desert Jumba or forsake the trust reposed
in them. They must wait for him, though they shoultl starve or be
killed. Hamis elected to go with us, and we took charge of several
loads of ivory. As all the goods of the traders were
 332 Through Masai Land. exhausted, I had to give them
some of my sadly diminislied stores, to keep them from starvation.
On the 24th of February, we resumed our march towards Naivasha.
Our route lay S.S.E. to the end of the alhivial plain of Baringo, where
it forms an angle with its apex to the south. Here a considerable
area is occupied by a marshy lake, fed by two streams and a number
of large springs, which on examination proved to have a
temperature of 100°. From the marsh, we entered a close glen or
gorge. Through this ran a fine stream, the IS'gare Eongei (Narrow
River), which also had its source in a number of hot springs, that
were to be seen bubbling up along a line of fault. To judge from the
large deposits of travertin, there must be great quantities of lime in
solution in the springs. Pushing on rapidly up the glen — which on
our left presented a precipice, and on our right a slope grading up to
form a hill — we soon after reached a more open space with a
marshy expanse formed by the head springs of the N"gare Kongei.
Here we camped, and had to'be content to drink warm water.
Eunning parallel to our route, was another glen to the east with
exactly similar topographical features ; namely, a precipice marking a
line of fault, with numerous hot springs gushing from the fissures,
and a slope leading upwards to drop off in another precipice along a
line of fault. The whole depression, indeed, between Lykipia and
Kamasia is formed by a sinking of the ground ; but, besides, there
have been at least three secondary earth movements parallel to the
main lines. I had now been for some days feeling uneasy at certain
dysenteric symptoms which had appeared in me, brought on,
doubtless, by the bad fare of the last two months. They at last had
begun to assert themselves in a most uncompromising manner,
though as yet not alarmingly. On leaving ISTgare Eongei, I felt very
ill and weak, but had to rouse myself up to shoot meat for the men.
I knocked over tAvo waterbuck, though I could hardly hold up the
rifle. After a couple of hours I was compelled to mount the donkey,
but, owing to the thorns and roughness of the road, I had to walk as
much as ride. I contrived, however, to shoot one rhinoceros, and
Brahim a second. A third I had a very narrow escape from. I was
riding away ahead with Muhinna and the cook, while my guns were
far behind. We were suddeidy thrown un our beam-ends by the sight
of a rhino charging straight for us out of the bushes. Struggling oif
the donkey (" Nil Des 
 Alarming Prospect. 333 perandum "), I seized Muhinna's
Snider, only to find it unloaded. With eager haste I crammed in a
cartridge, and with weak and shaky hands I fired when the beast
was actually within three yards. The ball took eflfect in the shoulder,
causing the brute to swerve and pass on one side. After a waterless
march of eight hours, we camped on the Guaso na Nyuki. I here
became much worse, and covJd neither eat nor sleep. Next da)''s
march was distinguished by my rapidly increasing illness, and by the
sight of enormous herds of buffalo grazing on the succulent new
grass springing up on the lower plains. In spite of my illness, my
shooting powers kept up wonderfully, as I brought down buffaloes
with single shots and at great distances. At 150 yards I shot three,
the single buUet in each case being sufficient "NVe crossed the beds
of two small dried-up lakes, and at mid-day we halted beside a fine
stream flowing to the Guaso na Nyuki. Cloee to camp I shot a zebra
at 200 yards. On the 27th I could not walk ; yet we had no
alternative but to push on. We reached a kraal of El-moran and their
sweethearts. These young warriors were magnificent specimens, and
were surprisingly on their good behaviour. I now made certain that I
was suffering from dysentery of the worst type, and my look-out was
certainly gloomy enough, as I had not a single European article
except tea — not even common salt Next day I struggled onward,
but was almost glatl that we were compelled to halt at a kraal of El-
moran, after little more than an hour's tramp. We were here almost
due east of the north end of the salt lake of Xakuro. Our next camp,
which was near the north end of Elmeteita, we reached after a four
hours' swift march, under a terribly hot sun. By this time I required
to be supported on the donkey. The whole country presented a
fearful spectacle of skeletons and dried skins, which told eloquently
a tale of disease and death. The scourge had found its way from the
plateau, and had hardly left a head of cattle in the entire country. At
this camp the place was pointed out where, a few years ago, a
Mombasa caravan had been utterly annihilated by the !Masai, owing
to some trivial dispute. The following march was to Kekupe, past the
edge of Elmeteita, great patches of which seemed to be suffus^
with a pinky glow. This is due to multitudes of flamingoes. More
dead than alive, and held on the donkey more like
 334 Through Masai Land. a corpse than a sentient being, I
was borne away from Kekupe. The one refrain that passed hopefully
through my brain was, *' Let us get to Naivasha, and milk will put
me all right." And so, heedless of horrid tortures and burning suns, I
pressed the men onward. One man died of dysentery. The Masai
saw the death, and consequently he had to be left to the hyenas.
Martin, good soul, was in despair, and he said eloquently — though
unintentionally — with his eyes, " You are dying ! and what on earth
shall I do ? " I smiled, however, at the idea, as I had not yet made
up my mind to cave in, and the will, after all, has something to do
with these matters. On the 4th of March we reached our old
camping-ground of Msegina, at the north end of IsTaivasha, and
there I utterly collapsed. I could neither stand nor sit. Even milk
curdled in the stomach, and the crisis of my fate had come. I had
much reason to fear perforation of the colon, which I knew would
mean speedy death. The rest, however, had a good effect. The lamp
of life flickered a little, then became more steady. I never lost hope,
and the idea of my becoming moat for the hyenas was one I would
never permit myself to entertain for a moment. For seven days I got
absolutely nothing but a few cups of clear soup to keep me going.
Owing to the cattle disease, no food was to be had for love or
money. Martin and the men, however, contrived to shoot three zebra
and to buy two rotten bullocks, which staved off starvation. While
we were at Naivasha, the remnants of a war-party got back from
Xandi, near Kavirondo, where they had been utterly thrashed and
one-half of their number killed, — the rest ]*etuming home in ones
and twos, some without spears, many without shields. Finding
myself a little better after two days' rest, I resolved to proceed to
Mianzi-ni (place of bamboos), on the plateau, and try to get into
communication with the "Wa-kikuyu for the purpose of procuring
food. A hammock was rigged on a pole. I was lifted into it, and off
we started. We rounded the lake, and soon were moving up the
slopes towards Mianzi-ni. At our camp another man died of
dysentery, and again Martin was compelled to leave the poor fellow
as a feast to the hyenas. Martin, thinking tliat my fate was likely
.speedily to bo the same, did not tell me anything about it till long
after. On the third march we surmounted the last stop of the
 A MAGNIFICENT ViEW 335 escarpment, and then a
magnificent view burst upon us. We were looking across a great
plain, slightly undulating and perfectly treeless, bounded on the east
by the imposing mass of the Aberdare Range, with Donyo Kinangop
rising in picturesque distinction. Through a slight gap the snowy
peak of Kenia glittered in crystal purity. To the south-east lay the
wooded highlands of Kikuyu, with forests of bamboo in the
foreground. To the south-west we saw the yawning pit of Donyo
Longonot, and the romantic expanse of Naivasha, To the south the
desolate plain of Dogil^mi, and to the east the massive escarpment
of Mau. I got myself held up to view this grand landscape —
probably unsurpassed anywhere — HIAXZI-XI PBOSI THE SOUTH.
MASAI KBAAL UT THE JOBBOBOFITO. and, weak and weary as I
was, I surveyed the glorious panorama with infinite delight, though
also with a spice of awe. "^ Shortly after, we entered the bamboo
forest, and, to our great astonishment, we were soon made aware
that the traders we had left with the Andorobbo of Kenia had found
their way thither, and were hiding among the hunters, unable to
return alone, and hoping for the appearance of Jumba's caravan.
The sight of our party of course raised their spirits as they were now
able to come forth and join us. ' At Mianzi-ni we found ourselves at a
height of nearly 9000 feet, and anything but comfortable. The cold
was excessive
 336 Theough Masai Land. and the misery of it was
unspeakably intensified by the damp and the almost daily rain. It felt
worse than the east of Scotland in early spring. A steady wind blew
from the east during the day, though fortunately falling away at
night. Everything was sloppy and wet, and hail-storms were
common. For the first two days I began to feel myself getting better,
and I might have been all right within a fortnight if I had had a little
proper food and medicine ;but clear soup made from diseased meat
of the most disgusting character was hardly suitable as an invalid's
food. On the 12th of March I find the following entry in my diary : —
" After a critical three days, during Avhich I hovered on the verge of
the grave, I have contrived to give Death the slip by timely 'joukin'
roun' the corner,' and to strike out on more hopeful bearings.
Appetite returning, and, after some fourteen days' starvation, able to
eat a little." After that there appears in my journal a blank of six
weeks, which tells eloquently its own tale. On the day following the
entry, I was removed from the tent into an imperfectly-thatched
grass hut. Immediately after, a terrific storm of thunder and hail
burst over Mianzini. For hours great lumps of ice fell incessantly,
amidst crashing thunder and vivid lightning. Everything was
drenched, and I myself was speedily soaking. The whole country for
sixteen hours — at least wherever it was free from forest — lay
absolutely white. It was like a winter scene in England. The
consequence of this wetting was a relapse under the most Avretched
circumstances. Throughout the period represented by the blank I lay
at death's door. I never knew what it was to have more than fifteen
minutes' sleep. I was confined to a grass hut without a window.
Owing to the cold, even the door had to be kept shut, so that I lay in
almost complete darkness. A f^re could not be liglited, and I had no
material to make candles. Martin, poor fellow, felt my situation too
acutely to be a very enjoyable companion. I myself could not talk,
and many times I actually thought I had seen the last of this world.
And through the dreadful, weary, sleepless nights, how mournfully
did the wind sigh through the l)amboos, and how gratefully I
thanked God to hear the cock crow (we had brought one with us
from Kavirondo), and then waited and listened to hear the chirping
of the feathered inhabitants of the wilds gradually
 A Six Weeks' Struggle with Death. 337 rising in volume, till
through the chinks in the grass walls could be seen faint pencils of
light, and I knew that another weary day had begun. Then would
appear Songoro with some soup, and later on Martin would turn up
with kindly inquiries. I became an object fearful to look upon, with
eyes sunk away deep into my skull. A skin bag drawn tightly over a
skeleton and enclosing a few indispensable organs of the human
frame might express graphically my general appearance. I was
almost afraid to bend myself, lest the skin would not bear the
tension over my bones. Fortunately my pains were only occasionally
acute, but if ever I attempted the smaUest bit of solid food it caused
me to writhe alx)ut in agony. But enough of these detaUs, which can
have little interest for the reader. The Masai of the surroimding
district were at this time in despair through the almost utter loss of
their cattle, and from the absence of rains in the low-lying district
causing them to remain up in the cold bleak highlands. They were
greatly disposed to ascribe their misfortunes to our presence. " What
do you want here ? " they would ask. " You have no goods left ; you
can't give our young warriors their customary presents. The rain is
not coming, and the grass has not sprimg up. Our cattle are dying
off. You must be the cause of all this." ^feanwhile it had to be kept
secret that I was ill, or we should have been bundled out bag and
baggage. It was represented that the great white lybon was
hatching some infallible medicine, that he was in consultation with
the gods, and must not be seen by mortal eye. The temper of the
Masai was well shown one day, when a porter, having declared he
had not a string of beads to give in alms to a waiTior, the latter
showetl his belief that he had no right to be crawling between
heaven and earth in that miserable plight by spitting him on one of
their temble spears, and afterwards splitting his skull open. That
event took place at the very gates of the camp, and before we got
the matter squared up ice had to pay compensation to the Masai for
blood having been spQt in their territory. Towards the end of April
we were all greatly astonished and delighted by the appearance of
Jumba Kimameta and his entire caravan, all safe and sound, and
fairly well loaded with ivory from regions never before reached by a
coast caravan. The weary days thus went on, and I alternated
between z
 338 Through Masai Land. periods of hope and despair,
though frequently I would have welcomed death as a happy release.
It noAv, however, "became increasingly clear to me that I should
never get hotter in the cold, wet heights of Mianzi-ni, and I at last
determined that, as death in any case seemed almost certain, I
might as well close my career in an attempt, however hopeless, to
reach the coast. I was accordingly borne off, the mere shadow of my
old self. Descending the escarpment, we camped behind Donyo
Kejabe, where I got a good supply of milk. I^ext day I was joined by
Jumba, and we proceeded to our old. camp at Guaso Kedong. There
we found the ivory cache all safe, though a Masai kraal had been
built on the top of it. The warriors were in great numbers around us,
and during the night we were kept in a very lively state by their
incessant attempts to steal, which ended in their carrying off a large
number of donkeys. Next day they showed a disposition to fight, but
fortunately we got off without bloodshed. Two days later we reached
Ngongo-a-Bagas, and there we found a huge caravan of 1 200 men.
"We were received with great hospitality, and a large tax was levied
for our benefit ; for it is customary for a caravan proceeding up
country to assist gratis with goods a caravan going coastwards,
which is supposed to have nothing but ivory, and to be at the
starvation point — a description which we certainly merited. Jumba
and the entire caravan now brought pressure to bear on me to make
me give up my project of crossing Kapte and proceeding via U-
kambani and Teita to IMombasa. They were determined I should
return with them to Pangani, and they told the most dreadful tale of
massacres and plunder committed by the ferocious warriors of
Kapte. I was obdurate, however, and would listen to none of them.
Go I would by the route I had determined. Finding at last that
neither lies nor truths had any effect upon me, they gave way, and
Jumba, with surprising generosity, gave me a very large present of
beads, cloth, and wire, to help mo onward. A more thoroughly good
fellow than Jumba Kimameta never lived (though he possessed
almost all the characteristic vices of his race), and I thought he had
been poorly repaid for his services when I left 100?. in the hands of
Sir John Kirk, to be spent for his benefit. I Avas assisted by him in
every way, and rarely thwarted — a statement that can seldom be
made by a European with regard to his connection with a coast
trader.
 Out of Masai Land. 339 On the 7th of !^^ay I left Jumba
and his caravan, and crossed the Kapte plain, which here extends in
treeless monotony to the hills of U-kambani ^vith hardly an
undulation to vary the grassy expanse. In two marches we reached
the eastern boundaries of !^^asai Land without meeting any
warriors, as they had all retreated to the low country. Our progress
was enlivened by our being scattered by a rhinoceros, and by an
attempt of mine to shoot a magnificent lion. On leaving Kaptc we
entered upon the mountainous district of Ulu, which we found to be
densely inhabited, fertile, and well cultivated, with cattle also in
great numbers. In a few hard marches I traversed this friendly
district, with rising hopes of life, and dreams of home and friends.
Instead of becoming worse, I was getting better, and the only bar to
a rapid recovery from my state of emaciation was the absence of
any digestible food. Leaving Ulu, we emerged on the barren wastes
which stretch away to Kikumbuliu, and at a killing rate wo rushed
through this forbidding, uninhabited wilderness — for our goods
were exhausted, and the men were on half-rations. But there were
no grumbles heard, no remonstrances expressed. The men worked
like heroes, and pushed on cheerfully from mom till dewy eve, often
parched for want of water, and with fell famine gnawing at their
stomachs. They saw their bright silvery dollars shining ahead, and I,
as the surety for the realization of their hopes, was carried forwartl
right heartily. jNIy vow registered at the coast was fulfilled These
porters were regenerated morally and physically. I had taken them
away as the refuse of Zanzibar rascaldom ; they were returning as
men, with their moral and physical defects cast off, and their good
points in the ascendant. They laughed at hartlships, and made jokes
regarding the emptiness of their stomachs. "We were once more in
the " Xyika," with all its inevitable horrors. We crossed Kikumbuliu,
and found the people dying of famine ; so no food was to be got
there. The Tzavo was reached, ami then Ndi of Teita. Our food was
absolutely finished. One day the men did not get an article, and the
next only a comparatively infinitesimal quantity. At this point my two
white donkeys, that had followed me from first to last, got poisoned
in some way or other, and on the same day, to my great grief, they
both died. At Ndi we found the famine also devastating the land. No
food was to be got. Ndara was reached on the 21st of May. There
Mr. z 2
 340 Theough Masai Land. "Wray took pity on my condition,
and gave me a small quantity of coast salt and a cupful of rice. We
stayed at Ndara only one day. Famine Avas the cry everywhere, and
my men at Ndara could get nothing but sugar-cane — not a very
nutritious article of food taken by itself. Three days later we startled
the inhabitants of Rabai by coming upon them unexpectedly and
firing off repeated volleys ; but speedily the panic Avas allayed, as I
was seen walking through the village to greet my friends, the Rev. A.
D. Shaw and his charming wife. This was the first bit I had walked
for more than three months, and I was glad to seek repose. I need
not tell how I got to Zanzibar, to find my old friend Sir John Kirk back
at his post, nor how I began rapidly to improve under his judicious
care. After a short stay I proceeded homeward, via Bombay and
Brindisi — the Sultan of Zanzibar generously giving me a free
passage in one of his steamers to Bombay. I have but one word to
add in conclusion, and that word is in well-merited eulogy of James
Martin. I cannot speak in too high terms of this young sailor, who
was ever prompt to do whatever was required, always cheerful, and,
though uneducated, an intelligent companion. He never presumed
upon the favour with which I regarded him, and he had no opinions
of his own — an admirable quality for a subordinate in an African
expedition. The fact that from first to last Ave tramped along in the
most admirable harmony, and never once quarrelled, speaks
volumes of itself. FINIS.
 APPENDIX. Metallic Ear Ornaments, or Pendants, brought
from East Central Africa by ^Ir. Joseph Thomson, and examined by
Mr. Richard Smith, of the Royal School of Mines, London. a. Large
Ornament, crescent-moon shaped, and nearly circular. The total
weight of the specimen was 3343.8 grains, or a little under a half-
pound avoirdupois. The specific gravity was 8.61 6. The external
surface had a pale brass yellow colour, and was less finished and
rather greyer in tint than b. The fracture was somewhat dull,
irregular, and granular. It was submitted to chemical analysis with
the following results : — Composition per cent. Copper .... 81.15
Zinc . . 17.792 Tin . 0.43 Lead . Bismuth 0.33 traces Iron 0.28 Silver
. 0.018 Gold . . minute trace 100.00 h. Small Ornament, crescent-
moon shaped, and nearly circular. The total weight of the specimen
was 983.9 grains, or about two and a quarter ounces avoirdupois.
The specific gravity was 8.692. The external surface was bright,
smooth, and pale brass yellow. The fracture was somewhat dull,
irregular, and granular. It was submitted to chemical analysis with
the following results : — Composition per cent. Copper .... 81.75
Zinc . 16.792 Tin . . . 0.44 Lead . 0.55 Bismuth traces Iron 0.45
Silver . . . 0.018 Gold . minute trace 100.00
 342 Appendix. Remarhs. — The analyses prove that the
ear-ornaments are brass, an alloy of copper and zinc. Lead and iron
are often present in small quantities in copper and zinc. Silver in
minute amount is generally present in copper. The tin may have
been added to the brass purpostly, as is sometimes the case, to alter
its physical character somewhat, or it may have been present as an
accidental impurity in the copper. The brass is probably of European
origin, or introduced into the locality by traders of some kind ; the
ornaments having been formed into shape by hammering a solid
piece of the metal, or by first casting the alloy in a mould and
afterwards finishing by hammering. I am not aware that any of the
natives of Africa are acquainted with the methods of making brass
from copper and zinc ; either by the direct method of melting the
two metals together, or by the older method of "cementation," or the
heating of copper embedded in a mixture of zinc ore and charcoal or
coal. The first is the ordinary method in use at the present day for
making brass corresponding in composition to the specimens, and
other varieties of this alloy. The latter process of making brass was
in use for many centuries before metallic zinc was discovered. Brass
similar in composition to the above, and probably made by the
cementation method, was known in ancient times, as is proved by
the following analysis, made many years ago by Mr. J. A. Phillips,
and which are added for comparision. Large brass of Cassio family,
B.C. 20, metal of a yellow colour. Copper .... 82.26 Zinc 17.31 Iron
0.35 99.92 Specific gravity . 8.62 Large brass of Nero, a.d. 60, metal
of a bright yellow colour Copper . . . .81.07 Zinc 17.81 Tin 1.05
99.93 Specific gravity . 8.59 It would be a very interesting subject
for further investigation to ascertain whether any of the native tribes
of Africa are acquainted with a method of making brass, and to
obtain exact details of the process. At the same time it woxild be
desirable to know whether they had a knowledge of the art before
any intercourse with European or other traders existed.
 Appendix. 343 [With regard to the metallic omamenta
brought by me from Kilimanjaro, I need but add a few facts to Mr.
Smith's note. The ornaments were obtained at Kilimanjaro, the
inhabitants of which use them as weights to drag down the lobe of
the ear, or as ornaments for the wrist and for the neck. The natives
declare that they pick up the metal in grains in the dry beds of the
streams after the rains, and hammer it into the required shapes.
They all agree on this point. Against the theory of the metal being
imported are the following facts : — 1st. The traders from the coast
have the same story as the natives about its being found on the
mountain. 2nd. They buy these ornaments from the Wa-chaga to
barter with the ti-ibes beyond. 3rd. On several occasions the traders,
deceived by the weight and colour, have taken the metal to the coast
in the belief that it was gold. 4th. TTie "Wa-chaga prefer iron or pure
copper to this form of brass, and eagerly barter it for those metals.
5th. No two specimens have the same density, and the majority of
the wrist and neck ornaments differ very litUe in weight from our
common forms of brass. 6th. No other tribe has similar metal
objects. There seem to be but two explanations of these facts. Either
the brass is an importation of a very early date, or it is found, as the
natives say, as a natural alloy, an occurrence, I believe, unknown to
science. — J. T.] List of the Plants collected by Mr. Thomson,
F.R.G.S., on the Mountains of Eastern Equatorial Africa, by Prof.
Daniel Oliver, F.RS., trith Observations on their Distribution, by Sir J.
D. Hooker, F.R.S. [Read 15th January, 1885.] In offering to the
Linnean Society the accompanying catalogue, by Professor Oliver, of
the small but very interesting herbarium made by Mr. Thomson in
the highlands of Eastern Equatorial Africa, and presented by him to
Kew, I think it may interest the Fellows if I preface it with some
results in botanical geography which I have gleaned from a study of
its contents. I may premise that of the mountain flora of Equatorial
Africa nothing whatever was known previous to 1860, when Mr.
Gustav Mann, who had acted as botanist to Dr. Baikie's Niger
Expedition, was (on Sir William Hooker's recommendation) instructed
by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to explore botanically
the mountain-peaks of the Gulf of
 344 Appendix. Guinea and its islands. Mr. Maun accordingly
made several ascents of Clarence Peak, Fernando Po, alt. 9469 feet ;
one of St. Thomas's Island, alt. 7500 feet ; and two of the
Cameroons range, the culminating point of which he found to he
13,100 feet. The results of Mr. Mann's admirable labours are well
known to this Society, being published in the 6th and 7th volumes of
our Journal. To those results the following remarks may be regarded
as complementary, and consisting of an extension of our knowledge
of the mountain flora of Equatorial Africa from the western coast of
the continent to the eastei'n. Of collections made in the highest
regions of Eastern Africa prior to those of Mr. Thomson, the only one
known to me is that of the enterprising missionary, the late Rev. Mr.
New, who was the first to reach and ascend the great mountain
Kilimanjaro (in 1871), and who, at Dr. Kirk's instigation, collected a
few flowering plants, about twenty in all, in the uppermost zone of
vegetation. These were named by Prof. Oliver, and are published in
Mr. New's narrative. They are characteristic of a higher elevation
than that obtained by Mr. Thomson on that mountain. Amongst them
are two northern genera not collected by the latter traveller,
Artemisia and Bartsia, which I have added to the list from which the
following conclusions are drawn. The localities from which Mr.
Thomson's specimens were brought are, with their elevations : —
Lafc. Lonff. Elevation. Species. Kilimanjaro , . S.3°0'. B. 37° 30 .
9000—10,000 feet. 35. Lykipia . N. 1°— S. 1°. E. 36° 37'. 6000—
8000 „ 68. Kapt^ plateau .. . S. 1°— 2°. E. 36'37'. 5000-6000 „ 34.
Lake Naivasna.. . S. 1°. E. 36°. 7000—8000 „ 9. The subjects most
worthy of comment indicated by a study of these collections may be
grouped as follows : — 1. The number and affinities of the plants
characteristic of the European flora. 2. The number and affinities of
plants characteristic of the South African flora. 3. The comparison of
the Eastern Equatorial mountain-flora with that of the western side
of the continent. 4. The affinity of the flora with that of the
highlands of Abyssinia. 5. Origin of the flora as assumed from these
data. 1. The Northern or European J^lement. — Of the 107 genera
and 140 sjDecies of flowcriug-plants, no less than 27 genera,
including 37 sijecies, are of a distinctly northern type, and comprise,
amongst others, species of Ulematis, Ranunnthis, Anemone,
Delphinium, Cerastium, Ili/pericum, Oera7iium, Tri' folium, Lotus,
Epilohium, Caucalis, Galium, Scahiosa, Echinops, Artemisia, Sonchus,
Erica, Swertia, Bartsia, Leonotis, Sumex, Junlperus, and Momulea.
And amongst the species are Ce 
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