Viva la Muerte! The Battle of Brunete, July 1937

“Viva la Muerte!”—Rallying cry of the Nationalist forces during much of the Spanish Civil War.

“The boys were confident and kidding. But there was a solemn, deep undertone to all the kidding for we realized fully that many would not come out of it alive.—Reflection by Samuel Levinger, member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, about the eve of the Republican Brunete offensive.

The first half of 1937 was an almost complete series of disasters for the Republican cause in the north and west of Spain. Only in the territories leading to Madrid and to the south were the Nationalists thwarted, but at an increasingly bloody cost. The Soviet Union sent massive amounts of weaponry and equipment, while volunteers poured in from throughout Europe, the US and Canada to support the Republican cause. The leadership of the Republican military decided to launch a counter-attack against the Nationalists that were deployed directly west of Madrid. The plan was to attack from the Republican held northern salient to take the crucial town of Brunete, and the main highway leading to Madrid to its south. Success here would compel the fascists to withdraw from the territory closest to the national capitol, and give the Republicans a badly needed victory. One of the largest battles of the war to-date was about to unfold.

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—description from the publisher