12th February, 1937 - Battle of Jarama

After failing to take Madrid by frontal assault General Francisco Franco gave orders for the road that linked the city to the rest of Republican Spain to be cut. A Nationalist force of 40,000 men, including men from theArmy of Africa, crossed the Jarama River on 11th February, 1937.
General José Miaja sent three International Brigades including the Dimitrov Battalion and the British Battalion to the Jarama Valley to block the advance. Jason Gurney pointed out in his book, Crusade in Spain(1974): "I got back to Wintringham's HQ and relayed the Brigadier's orders. Runners were sent out to 1, 3 and 4 Companies to order the advance. I went up to No. 2 Company's trench to observe their movement and report back. William Briskey's No. 3 Company on the Casa Blanca hill was the first to move down the hill from its summit, followed shortly after by No. 1 Company under Kit Conway."
On 12th February, at what became known as Suicide Hill, the Republicans suffered heavy casualties. This included Walter Grant, Christopher Caudwell, Clem Beckett and William Briskey, who was in charge of No. 3 Company. As a result of a lack of the right ammunition, Harry Fry and Fred Copeman of No. 2 Company, had to load the shells individually.
Later that day Tom Wintringham sent Jason Gurney to find out what was happening: "During a lull in the firing, Wintringham sent me down to the Casa Blanca hill to get a situation report from Briskey as we had received no word from him since the barrage started. I went along the sunken road and made my way across the dead ground in the rear of the hill. The firing had died down considerably but was still heavy enough to be frightening. When I reached the crest of the hill, the scene I found was really horrible. Briskey was dead and No. 3 Company had lost more than half of its total strength, either dead or wounded."