The River Ebro flowing fast near Mora d’Ebre. They crossed it on a moonless night in July 1938, seeming a great victory, became a terrible defeat. Later they sang to it in union halls in Glasgow, exile cafes in Caracas and Toulouse, secretly at night in camp huts in Austria in Europe’s dark heart.

Republican forces crossing the Ebro river at Minavet at start of eponymous battle in July 1938. The image is in fact staged as propaganda shot some time after crossing (which in any case was at night) but portrays dramatism of events.