Lilian
Urmston, the daughter of a steel worker, was
born in Stalybridge. In
1936 Urmston joined the British medical unit that was supporting the
International
Brigades during
the Spanish Civil
War.
During the Second
World War Urmston was with the British
Army
during the evacuation at Dunkirk. Later
she served as a nurse in Egypt,
Syria,
Sicily
and Italy.
(1)
Lilian Urmston, was interviewed about her experiences at Ebro
during the Spanish
Civil War in
October 1938.
We moved forward to just a few kilometres from
the river Ebro.
We took a huge cave - our first bomb-proof hospital, and
installed 120 beds. For a few days the wounded poured in. Ambulances
were continually arriving, day and night. Then rumours began to circulate
that hundreds of wounded were lying on the other side of the river,
and could not be brought across. The fascist aviators were bombing
the pontoon bridges all day long, and all night long our fortification
battalions were repairing them. Also, almost all the territory which
we had taken was within range of the fascist artillery. We were all
sick with horror at the thought of this unnecessary suffering, and
begged our chiefs to send us across the river ...
The following morning,
at 1 a.m., the Spanish Medical Director told me to pack equipment
and be ready in 20 minutes to move across the river. I hurriedly issued
orders, and in a very short time we were ready. I was to go, along
with Dr Jolly, the Spanish doctors and sanitarios (medical auxiliaries),
and set up as large a hospital as possible.
Just as dawn was breaking,
we were crossing the newly-repaired pontoon bridges. We had just reached
the other side, and our ambulances were toiling along the hastily
prepared road, when we heard the familiar cry of 'Aviacion!' Ambulances
were pulled up at the side of the road, under the shelter of the cliffs
- and we lay in ditches, tense with expectation and apprehension.
But it was only our usual early morning caller, the observation plane.
We continued our journey for exactly 25 minutes, and then twelve huge
bombers came into sight. We all pulled into an olive grove, just off
the road, and hastily camouflaged our ambulances and autochir. Then,
a brief whistle - no movement - and we all lay down under trees and
bushes. The planes bombed all along the river banks, and roads and
crossroads. Our anti-aircraft guns were going magnificently, and managed
to bring down one bomber.
Suddenly came the familiar
rat-tat-tat of machine guns - they were strafing the helpless people
who happened to be anywhere in view. At last came a number, six I
think, of our pursuit planes, and engaged in a glorious dog fight.
It is a most stimulating sight,this, to see our small planes tackling
these gigantic bombers. After an hour of this the bombers soared higher,
and disappeared. We were all relieved. And weren't we hungry! Rations
of bully beef and bread were issued, then we again moved off. At 2
p.m. we reached Santa Magdalena, a huge white hermitage set high on
the hills. Rather a landmark - but the only available habitation.
We cheerfully acted as charwomen, then quickly set up a hospital.
We were again interrupted by a heavy bombardment - luckily the bombs
did not fall too near. By 11 p.m. our hospital was complete, and a
steady stream of ambulances started to arrive. We only received the
more severely wounded cases and our beds were quickly filled.
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