A Moment of War by Laurie Lee

This is the last book in Laurie Lee’s Autobiographical trilogy.  In December 1937 Laurie Lee crossed the Pyrenees from France to join the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.  He joined the war as part of the International Brigade.  The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries.  He didn’t see much action as he spent a lot of his time in the training camp in Albacete and in Tarazona, waiting for orders.   The winter of 1937 was extremely harsh.   He was eventually deployed to Teruel and found himself fighting just when the Republicans were being forced to retreat.  The prose is full of vivid descriptions, but he doesn’t gloss over the cruelty and senselessness of war.  It’s a short book and one which I will read again.