New list of Battle of the Ebro dead

A list with the 872 names of International Brigaders who died during the 1938 Battle of the Ebro has been compiled and published by the Memorial Democràtic agency of the Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya).

In English and Catalan, the new list identifies 95 volunteers from the UK and 15 from the Republic of Ireland – though there is some overlap between the two categories. Each name has a link containing information on the volunteer’s death.

This latest development is part of the agency’s Alvah Bessie Programme – named after a famous US volunteer – to locate the remains of all the Brigaders who died during the battle or as a result of injuries sustained in it. Last year a list of 522 volunteers, including 86 from Britain and six from Ireland, was published.

As part of the programme, family relative are being invited to come forward and register in Memorial Democràtic’s census of those who died or went missing in the fighting in Catalonia. They will have the option of providing a DNA sample for its genetic identification project. Anyone interested in taking part should contact the IBMT .

Plaque naming 90 British Battalion members who died during the Battle of the Ebro in the memorial garden of the Marx Memorial Library in London. The plaque was originally unveiled at a site on the battlefield but vandalised by Spanish neo-fascists, who cut it in pieces. The original has been replaced. Pictured studying the names is MML trustee Simon Renton.