Sam Wild

Sam Wild was born in England. He joined the British Navy and served as a boatswain's mate. He later recalled: "These experiences accentuated the sympathy I had for minorities and a feeling that something was terribly wrong with the world." Eventually he "became anti-Queen, anti-King, anti-ruling class and anti-officer."

Wild became very concerned with the emergence of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. He became a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and was active in the protests against Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists.

Wild joined the International Brigades that fought on the side of the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. He explained why he took this decision: "Well, to me it was elementary. Here was fascism spreading all over the world, the rape of Abyssinia, the rise of fascism in Germany and the persecution of the Jews there, and the rise of the Blackshirts in Britain with their anti-Semitism, and especially their anti-Irishism. I felt that somebody had to do something to try and stop it."

He was wounded five times but recovered and was still in the front-line at Teruel in January 1938. The following month, Bill Alexander, the commander of the British Battalion, was wounded in the shoulder and invalided back home. Wild now replaced Alexander as the commander of the battalion.

Wild was a very unconventional commander. In his book, Into the Heart of the Fire: The British in the Spanish Civil War (1998), James Hopkins points out: "On one occasion, Wild happened to pass by as two of his men engaged in a lively fight. He immediately challenged whoever won, although both were considerably bigger than he. The second fight was as vigorous as the first, and Wild proved, as he had many times, why his manner was so well suited to a proletarian army. No one doubted Sam Wild's personal courage or leadership abilities, but he was also capable of impetuously stiffening the loose discipline that prevailed in the battalion with potentially devastating consequences."

James Griffiths was one of those who saw the fight: "One evening, while larking about, Joe Latus started to wrestle with one of his mates, an electrician from Liverpool. Joe was a big chap, about 5ft 10in. His opponent wets well over 6ft and well muscled. It was a good scrap. While it was on, Sam Wild came along. He watched for a while and when it was over he challenged the winner. I think it was Latus. Sam was not very big - about 5ft 7in, wiry muscle and bone. They rolled about stripped to the waist, over stones and pebbles and rough ground until both were exhausted. It finished in a friendly atmosphere. I relate this incident to indicate what sort of a man Wild was, perhaps one most fitted for the job he had to do."

It has been argued that Wild was "so verbally violent to his subordinates that the uninitiated departed with their confidence shaken." He had virtually no knowledge of military tactics but according to several of the men who were members of the battalion became "the best of the British commanders and was regarded by his followers as the most outstanding in the brigade."

Wild had an unconventional philosophy concerning leadership: "I've always been a man that thought all human beings are beautiful until I find them out, then when I find them out I'll kick them to death." John Dunlop claimed that on one occasion Wild executed one of his men after he got drunk and fired on his comrades: "I was told later that Sam Wild, the commander of the battalion and George Fletcher the second in command took Maurice Ryan for a walk and told him to go ahead of them and then they shot him in the back of the head. I also heard that George Fletcher was in tears over that."

Wild also had a serious drink problem. One of his men claimed: "If you've known Sam, you've never seen him sober." Wild was defended by another member of the battalion: "Sometimes comrades became the worse for drink. To deny that would be denying human nature... One could not be too hard on the few comrades who drank a glass too much at times. One never knew what the next day would bring."

On 15th March, 1938, Wild and the British Battalion begun its defence of Belchite. At Caspe they were forced to fight a heavy rearguard action. Wild and Harry Dobson were both captured but managed to escape. Wild was highly critical of his superiors: "I complained to brigade after the Caspe action on the lack of written orders stating at the time that the lack of written orders was responsible for a lot of the confusion."

Sam Wild wearing a beret is kneeling on the right of the picture.

Juan Negrin, in an attempt to relieve the pressure on the Spanish capital, ordered an attack across the fast-flowing Ebro. General Juan Modesto, a member of the Communist Party (PCE), was placed in charge of the offensive. Over 80,000 Republican troops, including the 15th International Brigade and the British Battalion, began crossing the river in boats on 25th July. The men then moved forward towards Corbera and Gandesa.

On 26th July the Republican Army attempted to capture Hill 481, a key position at Gandesa. Hill 481 was well protected with barbed wire, trenches and bunkers. The Republicans suffered heavy casualties and after six days was forced to retreat to Hill 666 on the Sierra Pandols. It successfully defended the hill from a Nationalist offensive in September but once again large numbers were killed.

Wild was the commander of the British Battalion at Ebro. After the battle he received the Republic's highest decoration for bravery. The citation read: "His untiring energy and efficiency gave an example of bravery to the whole battalion."

On 25th September 1938, Juan Negrin, head of the Republican government, announced for diplomatic reasons that the International Brigades would be unilaterally withdrawn from Spain. Before leaving for home Wild was quoted as saying: "The British Battalion is prepared to carry on the work begun here to see to it that our 500 comrades who sleep for ever beneath Spanish soil shall serve as an example to the entire British people in the struggle against fascism."

Sam Wild died in 1975. One of his former comrades said at the funeral that he "was a hero in his time, a leader of men who, when the call came, was ready to answer it."