Jūlijs Jenšs: Commander of the Thälmann Battalion.

• Born in Poland, 1905.
• Day labourer in Riga
• Degree on economic studies in London.
• Arrived in Spain in October, 1936. Came with the first British volunteers
• Commander of the Thaelmann Battalion. Since December 15,1936
• Killed in action on December 20, 1936 in Boadilla
• One of the first Latvians killed in action

Between December 1936 and January 1937, Franco’s army launched a second major operation in order to capture Madrid. Unlike the previous offensive, this was an ”enveloping operation”, the idea was to cut the communications between the capital and the Republican northern front in Guadarrama by capturing A Coruña Road (current A-6 road). The operation had three different phases, until January 7, 1937, when the rebel troops finally captured the villages which enclosed the route of this road. In this important battle was killed Jūlijs Jenšs, a Latvian who commanded the Thälmann Battalion.

The Thälmann Battalion was named in honor to Ernst Thälmann, the leader of the German Communist Party  (KPD), who was imprisoned in 1933 by the Gestapo and executed in the camp of Buchenwald in 1944 following Hitler’s orders. Most of its composing troops were German and Austrian, but there were also Scandinavians and some other minority groups. There was also (at least) a Latvian among them. Who can be considered as one of the first Latvians killed in action in Spain: Jūlijs Jenšs.

The battle for Boadilla (a village placed in the Western region of Madrid) was a extremely hard experience for the International Brigades, which consumed whole battalions for the defense of this crucial frontline. Between December 14-22, bloody and fierce fights took place in Boadilla. The Rebel shock forces (composed mainly by legionary and Moorish troops) showed an impressive power and advance in open fields. The Francoist forces overwhelmed the XIIth International Brigade battalions that, once again, were holding the very first front line. On December 15th, the English Battalion was almost liquidated, and only 10 men remained alive and unwounded. They were transferred to the Thälmann Battalion, equipped and sent back to the frontline in Boadilla. Jūlijs Jenšs was promoted to commander of the unit.

Jenšs was born in 1905 into a Latvian family settled in Zduńska Wola (a city placed in the current heart of Poland). Being a kid, Jenšs returned back to Riga with his family. There he finished the high school in 19020 and began the military service. His father was an engineering professor of the University of Latvia. After completing his military service, the young Jenšs worked as day laborer in several factories until 1929, when he decided to move to England in order to luck for a better life. There he began economic studies in England since 1929, when he was 24 years old. In 1932 returned to Latvia with his wife. He opened his own shop and reparation workshop for bikes in the Latvian capital. But the business does not succeed at all and he closed. Then he moved back to London.  In October 1936, Jūlijs Jenšs joined one of the first groups of British volunteers in London. He was transferred to one of the first international units: the XIIth International Brigade. He participated in the Defense of Madrid by mid- November, 1936. This was the first military operation in which the Inernational Brigades took part. 

Since their first involvement in the front of Madrid the ”Internacionales” were deployed by Ciudad Universitaria and Casa de Campo, and gained recognition of ”shock troops’‘. The Thälmann Battalion was decimated because of the several fights and reorganized at different times. The High Staff of the Republican Army considered it as one of the best military units deployed along the front of Madrid, so when in December 1936 the Rebel troops approached Boadilla ”die Thälmann” was sent to close the open gap. On December 20th the first two International Brigades were deployed into the frontline.

The fights around Boadilla were ferocious and cruel.  The Thälmann Battalion was almost annihilated. Its commander’s fate was not different: Jūlijs Jenšs died defending the lines in Boadilla. Jūlijs Jenšs can be considered a sone of the first Latvians in joining the IB and as one of the first Latvians killed in action.

A very interesting and illustrative tale on this episode can be found in the memoirs of Esmond Romilly (brigadista who was Winston Churchuill’s nephew and Charles Darwin’s great-grandson) who fought in Spain between fall 1936 and January 1937. His memoirs are called ”Boadilla”. Such was the impression of those fights. Shocked because of the violence of the battles, he fled to England, where he published this work in 1937. He joined the Royal Air Force and died during the Battle of London when his craft was shot down by the Luftwaffe. However in his book, it is dramatically told how after the fights in which Jūlijs Jenšs and so many brigadistas died, the General Staff was giving the account out of the troops:

”Walter took in his hands the list of the first company of the Thaelmann Battalion, just before midnight , meanwhile the guard change was taking place. He was pronouncing every name and paused until the silence became unbearable.

Oswald and his patrol of fifteen men … all were missing; I suddenly remembered those rifles pointing down in that trench and those bayoneted bodies. The commander crossed their names out with the same word: “gefallen” (fallen in German).

From the first and second section, only fifteen men answered: hier! (Here!). Forty-three did not respond. Third section, three German responded hier! Until he reached the English group:

Addley: unanswered, without information, gefallen!;

Avener: dead, gefallen!; Brich: unanswered, probably dead, gefallen!;

Cox died: gefallen!

I knew they were dead, but still could not believe it. It was as if were witnessing the last chance for the men to appeal against a death sentence that I knew it was irrevocable.

Gillan: wounded; Gough: dead, gefallen!; Jeans (Jenšs) disappeared, gefallen! 

Messer: no answer, disappeared, gefallen!

 

”Soldier in the Ernst Thaelmann Brigade fighting for the Republic, Madrid, Spain.” / International Center of Photography

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SOURCES:

Romilly, Esmond: Boadilla (1937, London)

Latvijas Cīnītāji Spānijā (1966, Riga)