ABSTRACT
On the thirteenth the Americans reached the hills south of the bombed-out village of Hijar, which was already in enemy hands. Members of the English and Spanish Battalions arrived from other directions, and soon the brigade was a jumble of Spanish, English, Canadian, and American troops mixed irregularly together. To avoid a collapse of morale, commissars raced 15 miles back to Alcaniz, bullied recalcitrant supply sergeants, and forced their way into storerooms without proper authority to take blankets, clothes, weapons, and ammunition. Not only did the rebels have total control of the skies over the Aragon front, but also the rebel infantry was largely riding to war in trucks. News came that the motorized enemy had swept by and the Americans had to start marching again, 10 miles over the rugged hills to Hijar. The soldiers were now weary to the marrow of their bones, and some fell out of the line of march.
