Spanish steps

I am working on a project for my university degree that involves some photography at old Spanish Civil War battle sites.

Today I was at the location of the Battle of Jarama, south east of Madrid, where many British volunteers were killed or injured in a heroic attempt to prevent Franco's fascists seizing the Madrid-Valencia road.

It was an unsettling experience to be at this location. Not only were graphic details of the 1937 carnage fresh in my mind from books I have been reading, but as I was taking my pictures rifle shots rang out from different directions around me.

It was a hint of what it must have been like for those volunteers - although no more than a hint. Their experiences were unbelievably brutal.

The reason for the gunfire was that this is hunting country. My wife told me later that where she parked our hire car after dropping me off, she had encountered several men armed with rifles meeting up before heading off into the countryside.

I'm glad I hadn't seen them before venturing out with my camera. I might have just got straight back in the car and left without a single picture taken!

Later in the day we drove to the site of the Battle of Brunete, west of Madrid, including the town of Villanueva de la Cañada. British volunteers were heavily involved at these locations.

I took some photos along the road where the famous photographer Gerda Taro was fatally injured and I also found old nationalist pill boxes.