"Bashert" by Conrad Singer            Chapter 11 Teruel

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TERUEL  
                        “ I do not believe in God.  I know there is a God”
                                                                                                        Carl Gustav Jung

    One day and in great secrecy, my detachment left the village for the battle of Teruel. It had already been captured by a "Putsch", led by our elite units. They paid homage to their commanders by singing:

“All the soldiers are fearless
Thanks to Lister, Modesto and Campesino….”

    A triangle of buildings, including a well-fortified convent, was being used as a place of resistance. From our position on the hilltop, the detachment fired their field guns at point blank range. For over a week many shells were fired into the buildings before the fascists surrendered

   Evidently the place was of such prestige to justify an enormous counter attack by Franco’s military. They had strong support from the German and Italian air forces and a considerable reinforcement of troops. Even with some of our crack units, we could only hold Teruel for a month. Even so, our retreat 

Calandra, Aragon, prior to the battle of Teruel, Dec '37

   There was a constant need for changes in position, both for our own protection and to lend support to offensives. One time we slept in a cemetery amongst human bones and skeletons, revealed by enemy action.

   On another occasion, during the spring of the following year, my battery commander sent me with a message for another section of the front. Heavy shells were falling around our battery from a counter barrage which the fascists had launched with their very heavy calibre guns.

   As they exploded, after burying themselves very deeply in the soft ground, great quantities of soil were thrown in to the air. We called these the “Tosinos” or “Little Pigs”. In my hurry across open country, I remembered the old saying that a shell rarely fell in to the same hole made by an earlier shell. I was just about to jump in to the very next hole, shells bursting around me, only to see one of the tosinos beat me to it. I was almost buried in the resulting cloud of soil.

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