The volunteer gardeners who look after the International Brigades memorial wall in Madrid’s Fuencarral Cemetery have been hard at work this April. They’ve been cleaning, weeding, fertilising and planting new greenery and flowers for the rest of 2026. The memorial wall includes a plaque dedicated to the units of the XV Brigade, including the British […]
Alan Warren, from Porta de la Història, reports alarming news from Spain… Historical researcher José Maria Olivera Marco has, over the past few years, tried to locate the British battalion Memorial at Jarama, and after an article in The Times by David Sharrock, the Ayuntamiento (council) of Morata de Tajuña assisted the Madrid-based Association of […]
David Hyman ‘Hy’ Wallach (1914-1999) was a Lincoln Brigader who also served in the US Fifth Army in the Second World War. He wrote this letter to his two-year-old daughter, Victoria, in anticipation of the victory over fascism. It was read by her sister, Nancy Wallach, at Belfast City Hall in October 2025 as part […]
The annual Dundee Commemoration took place on 14 February at the city's International Brigade memorial… The Dundee memorial in Peace Gardens, Albert Square. It was erected by Dundee City Council on 23 February 1975 and rededicated, with a supplementary plaque, by Jack Jones and Jack Edwards on 11 October 2008.Photo: Lorraine McGarry IBMT Scotland Secretary […]
IBMT Scotland Secretary reports from the commemorations in Spain between 20 and 22 February 2026... The third weekend in February has, since 2007, seen eyes turn to Madrid and AABI’s annual commemoration of the Battle of Jarama. This year saw their 18th Annual Jarama March, with the focus on the role in the battles around […]
Marking the annual Dundee commemoration on 14 February, MSP Mercedes Villalba submitted motion S6M-20760 to remember the Scottish volunteers who went to Spain… 'That the Parliament notes that 14 February will mark the Annual Dundee Commemoration for the International Brigades; further notes that 2026 marks the 90th anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil […]
Fraser Raeburn looks at how the veterans of the International Brigades were viewed and treated by MI5 and the military authorities after the Spanish Civil War. This article was originally published in ¡No Pasarán! 1-2019. As the train from Newhaven pulled into London’s Victoria Station on the evening of 7 December 1938, hundreds of returning […]
Cover: the family of Bernard McKenna stand in front of the International Brigade memorial outside Caspe, near where his ashes have now been interred. Issue 1-2026 of the IBMT digital magazine, ¡No Pasaran!, has been emailed to all paid-up members. On the cover is the family of Brigader Bernard McKenna in front of the International Brigade […]
AABI (the Madrid-based Association of Friends of the International Brigades) has confirmed the plans for the 18th annual commemoration of the Battle of Jarama. You can find the full programme of AABI events on its website. Friday 20 February – Ciudad Universitaria visit– Route: following in the footsteps of the French Commune de Paris Battalion– […]
Graham Davies, author of ‘You Are Legend: The Welsh Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War’ (Welsh Academic Press, 2018), writes… On 19 April 1937, at 10pm, Capt William Roberts’s Seven Seas Spray, owned by the Veronica Steamship Company in Cardiff, without permission from the harbour master and without navigation lights, slipped out of the French […]
The IBMT is launching a major project to update and enhance the online directory of memorials across Britain and Ireland dedicated to the International Brigades – whether sculptures, plaques or memorial benches and trees. Along with a database of volunteers who served in Spain, the directory enables IBMT members, historians and researchers to search for […]
Author Chris Hall previews his new book about the volunteers at home and in Spain… Ninety years ago, a civil war broke out in a then little-known country. For thousands of British, Irish and Commonwealth people, the Spanish Civil War was their main focus for three years. Over 2,500 ‘British’ (including Irish and Commonwealth) men […]
