Trip numero uno

I'm awful at this posting thing so I guess I'll just put up the dates with each new entry whenever I'm on this blog.

9/17/09

Today I had the archive for the Battle of Madrid (ALBA Vertical File, in case anyone else wants to find it). Basically it's someone's account of the battle. At first you think it's a letter but then you realize it's not signed or addressed to someone. Anyways back to the point, it's a firsthand account of the Battle of Madrid.

So this guy (it sounds like a guy and the handwriting seems like a guy's), he talks about how there is this brigade fromed in Orihuela. They had no decent preparation for the war; the only thing that kept them going was the thought of helping this greater cause. So after the quick training they go on their way to Madrid where they try to avoid the Fascist aviation, which is obviously given by either Italy or Germany (I'm guessing Germany).

Then they're near Madrid, just on the outskirts hiding in an olive grove. And the cool thing here is some literary function of him describing an olive he eats. What happens is he bites into an olive and it's bitter and he states that this is the first time fruits haven't been harvested.

All of a sudden there's a turn of events when they start getting hit by the Fascists and realize that there was a betrayal amongst them. Everyone thinks they're going to die but then out of nowhere, these places come out of nowhere and start attacking the bigger planes, which are flying up above at the same time.

The guy then states that one of the guys from their "helper" forces has parachuted down from his burning plane but he's shot dead and he can't believe that people would be that cruel.

Afterwards the "flies" as he calls them, leave as they have to refuel.

This is where his account of the battle ends.


In this folder, there was also a newspaper article about the Battle of Madrid with some basic summaries but I felt that this drew me in more.