Milton Wolff

Milton 'Milt' Wolff (nicknamed El Lobo) (1915-2008) was born into a working class Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York, and in early 1937 joined the Lincoln Brigade fighting for the Spanish Republicans - feeling that as a Jew he should be at the forefront of fighting against Fascism. Originally a pacifist, he served as a medic, but after earlier commanders were killed in the fierce fighting, he was in March 1938 elevated to command the Lincoln Brigade. He soon gained a reputation as as a capable and courageous commaning officer, admired by the volunteer soldiers under his command as well as by his Spanish Republican allies, and was highly praised in the reports of Ernest Hemingway from Spain. Wolff led the Lincoln Brigade during the Battle of the Ebro, the Republic's last-ditch effort to survive. After the Republican defeat in that battle, Wolff like other international volunteers was evacuted from Spain in November 1938. During the Second World War he continued his struggle agaisnt Fascism, working with partisans and guerrilas in occupied Europe on behalf of the British Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services. In later life he was involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the US and in opposing the Vietnam War and South African Apartheid.

Milton Wolff in The War That Came Early
Milton Wolff commanded the Lincoln Brigade during the crucial Battle of the Ebro. When the German invasion of Czechoslovakia caused the outbreak of a general European war, Wolff and the volunteer soldiers under his command were able to make good use of the sudden flow of munitions from France. After the Republican victory on the Ebro, he remained in command of the brigade, now stationed on a deadlocked front which was largely forgotten in the wider world. Having gone virtually unascthed through several years of very fierce fighting, Milton Wolff was in early 1939 severely wounded in a chance skirmish, the Nationalist soldiers who fired the near-fatal shots having no idea at whom they were firing. Chaim Weinberg was involved in saving Wolff's life and getting him to urgent medical treatment. The famous El Lobo being severely wounded and having to be replaced was considered a blow, not only to the Lincoln Brigade but to the Republican Cause as a whole.