Chapter 3:
On February 11th, under the command of Colonel Escamez, we successfully crossed the river and captured the Pingaron Hills, our original objective.
But as feared, the Republican forces had been heavily reinforced during the rain, and the fortified enemy on the eastern hills of Jarama put up a stubborn resistance.
The International Brigade, which came from Britain, is said to have resisted despite countless casualties, even losing its battalion commander, but eventually gave up the hill and fled.
Famous poets were also said to have died, presumably in a desperate struggle to defend democracy and justice.
The Nationalists, seeing their corpses, derided them as foolish communists incited by the Bolsheviks.
The Nationalist leadership's foolish strategy of launching a ground offensive, which was deviating from the plan when faced with fierce resistance from the Republicans, was resulting in enormous casualties.
Although the exact number isn't known, casualties are estimated at at least 4,000. Four thousand? Our company had a total of 101 members, including the commander.
The company I served in in Korea also had roughly that many.
Looking at the records of tens of millions of people dying in World War II, and feeling that it was a horrific war, it was a different feeling to realize that on this battlefield where I stand now, more than 40 times the number of casualties of our unit had occurred.