ABSTRACT
The Americans who fought under the banner of the XVth International Brigade were sometimes referred to by the Communist Party as latterday Lafayettes, paying off the debts contracted by the United States during the American Revolution. Perhaps they occasionally did think that because Europeans had fought for American freedom, it was only right for Americans to do the same in Europe. Many would agree—in spite of certain blemishes on the Abraham Lincolns' record—with Louis Fischer's estimation: "The Brigade's life stands as an untarnished epic." The XVth Brigade was in the vanguard of three of the four major offensives of the war, and at Brunete, Aragosn, and the Ebro, the American battalions reached the farthest limits of Loyalist gains, doing as much as any battalions to aid the doomed government cause. Of course, many ex-brigaders disapproved of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade actions and many Americans still have a warm spot for the Lincolns in their hearts.
