To tilt at windmills
by Fred Thomas
To Tilt at Windmills is the memoir of Briton Fred Thomas who served with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War (July 1936-March 1939). Thomas's story was inspired by a memorable return to Iberian battlefields forty years after and based on diaries kept during the many months he spent as a gunner with the British Anti-tank Battery.
The narrative moves eloquently along a journey into the war zone, through the several campaigns in which Thomas fought and was wounded twice, and finally to the withdrawal of the Brigades from the conflict. What distinguishes Thomas's book from the other accounts of the Spanish Civil War is the remarkable detail provided by the diaries and the measured tone of his reminiscence. There is, as well, the poignant inquiry of the veteran into the shape and meaning of his experience as a young soldier.
