Joe
Garber,
the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia,
was born in 1911. Influenced
by his father's left-wing views, Garber joined the Communist
Party
and was involved in the campaign against Oswald
Mosley and the British
Union of Fascists
in the East End of London.
On the outbreak of the
Spanish
Civil War, Garber
travelled to Spain and joined the International
Brigades at Albacete. He fought at Jarama
where he was shot in the groin. After recovering in hospital he rejoined
the frontline and was badly wounded at Brunete
while defending Madrid.
Garber served in the British
Army during
the Second World War. After the war he worked
in the cosmetic wholesale trade.
(1)
Joe
Garber
was interviewed by Peter Lennon in the Guardian (10th November,
2000)
We
were issued with uniforms and rifles of all descriptions. Most of
the Spanish had Mausers from 1896. First I was given a Canadian Ross,
a kind of elephant gun. But then the Russians sent us a whole load
of bayoneted rifles.
My first battle was the
bloodiest of the whole war, at Jarama, near Madrid. Oh, it was horrible.
It was like a Hollywood film. We were issued with machine guns, German
Maxims, water-cooled things. We had dug ourselves into this escarpment
and the bastards, loads of them, came up howling. They had these Mauser
grenade rifles. I had a lump in my throat but I let fly at the bastards
with my machine gun and they all dropped down. I was really enthusiastic.
We had come to our enemies now, not just the Spanish - they were bloody
Germans. And there were a bunch of Italian Black Arrows too. I let
fly and got a couple of them as well.
The battle lasted a fortnight.
On the third day, over 200 of our boys lay dead out of 600. That's
where I copped it. I was shot in the groin.
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