Alfredo Balsa 

Captain Alfredo Balsa, present Commander of the Spanish Battalion 
in the XV Brigade, has a long record of militant revolutionary history. 
Born in 1899, in Lugo, he emigrated at an early age to Cuba and thence 
to the Argentine. Returning, he was called for military service in the 
war in Morocco, throughout which he served. Demobilised, he went to 
work in Madrid. In 1930 he was imprisoned for revolutionary activity. 
On the outbreak of the revolt, he left home and family and volunteer- 
ed for service with the government forces. He has served since on many 
fronts, and in January 1937, was given command of a Battalion, with 
the rank of Captain. He came to the XV Brigade during the Jarama 
campaign, and was subsequently appointed to command the Spanish 
Battalion, which post he still fills. 

Commissar José Maria Varela 

José Maria Varela was born in Madrid in 1915. His father died young, 
and José maintained the family on his meagre wages as a motor-mechan- 
ic. He was prominent in the United Socialist Youth, in which organ- 
isation he filled important posts. 
On the outbreak of the Fascist revolt, he joined the Mangada Column 
and saw service on many fronts. When the famous Fifth Regiment, 
nucleus of the present Republican Army, was organised young José 
Maria became Commissar of the Canarias Battalion. After the unificat- 
ion of the army, he was attached to the Campesino Brigade, and was 
subsequently transferred as Battalion Commissar to the Spanish Bat- 
talion of our Brigade. 

Captain E. Cecil Smith 

Capt. E. Cecil Smith, Commander of the Mackenzie-Papineaus is by 
profession a newspapermen, but has tried his hand at many a trade, 
covering three continents. 
Born in 1903, Smith spent some time at Shanghai before going to 
work on a newspaper in Canada. He had worked in a shipyard, was 
a machinist, drove a truck and did what most young men do to earn 
a living. 

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