In a workers army discipline istheoretically
voluntary.
But I admit that at first sight the state of
affairs at the front horrifiedme.
Then to my alarm I heard several of them coming
down the hilltowards me. A life as uneventful as a city clerks, andalmost as
regular. Ahead of us was the low sierra that lies between Alcubierre
andZaragoza.
In the afternoon we did our first guard and
Benjamin showed us round theposition. Georges Kopp, on his periodical tours of
inspection, was quitefrank with us.
How on earth could the war be won by an army of
this type? Firewood was the one thing that really mattered.
Next to his rifle it was hismost important
possession. Ofcourse I was often under heavy machine-gun fire, but usually at
longish. It was whateveryone was saying at the time, and though it was true it was
alsounreasonable.
Ofcourse I was often under heavy machine-gun fire,
but usually at longish. You went ongathering reeds, however; nothing mattered in
comparison with firewood.
Beside the cold the other discomforts seemed
petty.
It was bad for your boots, but it was very good
foryour feet. Nor was sleeping in onesclothes any hardship after a day or
two.
If the Fascist machine-gunners saw you they gave
you a drum ofammunition all to yourself.
But on our side the gunssimply did not
exist.
Of course all of us werepermanently dirty. That
night the Fascists made a sort of abortive attack.
I nowthink that from any point of view it was a
legitimate manoeuvre. This was repeated over and over by relays of men; sometimes
itcontinued almost the whole night.
I do not think I have ever seen a country
wherethere were so few birds. I peered cautiously through a loophole, trying tofind
the Fascist trench. Of coursethere were casualties, but the majority of them were
self-inflicted. They were simply remoteblack insects whom one occasionally saw
hopping to and fro.