Brian: A potted history ... Like other soldiers of
las Brigadas Internacionales, members of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion began to leave Spain in October 1938. With Franco's victory, a Mexico-based Republican government in exile was established. After September 1939, efforts were made to re-join the armed struggle against Fascism but France and Britain showed little interest. It was the US entry into the War that changed Republican fortunes.
The Allied powers agreed that a Spanish Republican force could be formed by combining the Spanish contingents already established in Mexico and the Soviet Union. Once joined, this
Nuevo Ejército Republicano force took part in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa.
Under the agreement with the Allies, nationals from the US, British Commonwealth, or Soviet Union could not join the NER. But, from inception,
I Brigada Mixta del NER had international brigade units. These were drawn mostly from Latin America but also from refugees from the Fascist states of Europe -- primarily Germans and Italians but also other Europeans.
My illustrations all emphasizing the gleaned origins of NER equipment. But that was true of recruiting in North Africa as well. The new
Brigadas Internacionales were swollen by fresh recruits taken from the captive Vichy
Légion étrangère. Persistant rumors suggested that former members of the Lincoln-Washington Battalion were among those recruits.
Not all of the Morocco and Algeria stockade recruits were foreigners. One very willing recruit was Cipriano Mera who had joined the
Légion étrangère from an Oran prison in 1940. The former chief of the Republican 14th Division, Lt-Col Mera became the most celebrated commanders of the NER's
Columna Anarquista ... including the famous
21ª Batallón de Infantería Mecanizada ('Durruti').