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A new book to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War praises brave men from North Wales who volunteered to fight fascism in Spain.

Written by Graham Davies, the book, called 'You Are Legend', includes 10 men who returned home on December 7 1939 after travelling abroad to fight for Spain's democratically elected Republican Government against Franco's army.

It is the first book to fully document all of the Welsh volunteers who served in the Spanish Civil War.

Almost 200 Welshmen and women volunteered to join the International Brigade with more than 150 returning home, but at least 35 died during the brutal conflict.

John Hughes

A former journalist, broadcaster and ambulance driver from Marian Glas on Anglesey, Hughes volunteered with the Welsh Ambulance Unit in Spain motivated by humanitarian concerns.

He helped raise money for two ambulances to go out to Spain before leading the Welsh Ambulance Unit, in Valencia and Madrid.

He also sent broadcasts on the progress of the war from Madrid, in English and Welsh.

Harry Parry Thomas

Thomas was from Carreglefn on Anglsey and fought in World War I as a soldier with the King's Liverpool Regiment in World War I.

During the Spanish Civil War he fought with the POUM (The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification) and was wounded and hospitalised at Ermita Salas.

Robert Williams

The only available information about Williams is that he is originally from Anglesey and fought with the POUM.

Robert Penry Roberts

Roberts was a slate quarry miner from Caernarfon and former soldier who had joined the British Army in 1924.

He was captured at Belchite in March 1938, and imprisoned in Bilbao.

Charles Humphreys

A trained motor mechanic with Ford from Caernarfon, who had also served seven years with the Royal Tank Corps, Humphreys was regarded as a good soldier.

He is mentioned by a comrade as fighting in a gun unit overlooking the Ebro, almost blind due to his broken glasses.

Humphreys was wounded at the Battle of the Ebro on July 7, 1938.

Thomas Jones

A miner from Rhosllanerchrugog, Jones was a member of the Anti-tank Battery and mistakenly reported killed.

Badly injured in the right arm at the Ebro he was taken prisoner and interned in San Pedro Concentration Camp, and wasn't released until March 1940 after a government deal.

George Milbourn

A seaman from Dyserth, Milbourn worked as a navigation officer on a 3,000-ton ship and was 27 years of age when he volunteered stating that he wanted to go to Spain to use his skills.

Charles Palmer

Palmer, a painter from Llandudno, served as a soldier, cook and armourer in Spain.

He was wounded twice, in the knee and elbow, while stretcher-bearing and in combat and spent two months in hospital.

A sincere anti-fascist, he eventually requested repatriation because of the ill-health of his wife.

William Rogers

Rogers was a plasterer and lorry driver from Wrexham.

He arrived in Spain much later on having been praise locally for his political activity in north Wales with people describing him as steady and enthusiastic.

Richard Priestley

A mechanic from Tremadoc, little is known of Priestly except that he was wounded and repatriated in 1938.

Author Mr Davies, a Cardiff-born former education advisor and schools inspector now living in Burry Port, said: "The writing of this book resulted from a confluence of emotive experiences.

"They began with a mesmerising assault on the senses by Pablo Picasso's masterpiece Guernica , and were nurtured by the discovery, in the Burry Port Institute in Carmarthenshire, of a plaque commemorating the men from south Wales who were killed fighting against fascism in Spain.

"The outcome is a book which examines the phenomenon of the Welsh who volunteer to fight against the fascist coup, in 1936, against Spain’s democratically elected Republican Government .

"My book outlines the motives, values and actions of the volunteers from Wales, by exploring the social, cultural, religious and political context of Wales during the 1930s.

"It also provides a fascinating insight into who they were, their political backgrounds, and follows their journeys to Spain, their experiences in a series of key battles fought by the British Battalion, before documenting their deaths or safe return to Wales.

"When the Welsh volunteers returned home they were greeted in their communities as heroes, but many felt betrayed by the British government and were at first unwilling to share their experiences.

"However, as time went on, plaques were erected, memoirs and biographies were written and historians began to carefully curate the individual pieces of this fascinating jigsaw, which I've assembled into one remarkable story of idealism and bravery."