Hans Amlie | |
|---|---|
 Amlie in 1937 | |
| Born | (1900-09-05)September 5, 1900 |
| Died | December 14, 1949(1949-12-14) (aged 49) Somerton, Arizona, U.S. |
| Allegiance |  United States Spanish Republic |
| Branch |  United States Army United States Marine Corps International Brigades |
| Service years | 1917–1919 1919–1921 1937 |
| Rank | Corporal Private Battalion Commander |
| Unit | The "Abraham Lincoln" XV International Brigade |
| Commands | Lincoln Battalion |
| Conflicts | |
| Resting place | Golden Gate National Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Montana State School of Mines |
| Political party | Socialist(before 1937) Communist(after 1937) |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Relatives | Thomas Ryum Amlie (brother) |
Hansford "Hans" Amlie (September 5, 1900 – December 14, 1949) was an Americanmining engineer, political activist and soldier who served in theUnited States Army andMarine Corps during and afterWorld War I and in theInternational Brigades during theSpanish Civil War. In the latter conflict, he rose from commanding the 25-man "Debs Column" to the 500-manLincoln Battalion.
Hansford Amlie was born on September 5, 1900 inCooperstown, North Dakota.[1] His family was ofNorwegian descent.[2][3] He was active in radical politics as young as 14 years old, when he joined theIndustrial Workers of the World[4] following theLudlow Massacre.[5] He attendedCooperstown High School and was on the debate team with his brother, futurecongressmanThomas Ryum Amlie.[6]
FollowingAmerican entry into World War I, Amlie enlisted in the Army at the age of 16,[7] serving inFrance as aCorporal.[8][9] After thewar's end, he re-enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1919,[10] serving as aprivate until 1921.[1][11] Some sources also give his rank assergeant.[5][12] During his second tour, he married a woman named Margaret with whom he separated in 1936.[13]
After leaving the military, Amlie attended theMontana State School of Mines and became a mining engineer. Turning away from the declining IWW, he joined theUnited Mine Workers of America and supportedProgressive SenatorRobert M. La Follette in the1924 presidential election.[4]
During theGreat Depression, Amlie moved toCalifornia[4] and was involved in the labor movement there, taking part in the1934 West Coast waterfront strike.[14] By 1937, he was living inSan Francisco and working as anorderly at theFrench Hospital.[15]
Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, theSocialist Party of New York put out a call for 500 men to form a "Eugene V. Debs Column" to join the pro-Republican International Brigades.[16][17] Amlie, having been a member of theSocialist Party since he cast his first vote for Debs in1920,[18] answered the call and was chosen to lead the column.[1] However, the officiallypacifist national party was noncommital in its support for the column,[16] and in the end only 25 men could be mustered. Amlie, disgusted by the party's actions, resigned to join theCommunist Party.[19]
Amlie arrived in Spain on March 17, 1937, joining theXV International Brigade's predominantly-AmericanGeorge Washington Battalion. He attended officer training school and was given command of the battalion's 1st Company ahead of theBattle of Brunete.[1] Assigned to him aspolitical commissar was civil rights lawyerBernard Ades.[20] During the advance onVillanueva de la Cañada, Amlie tried to lead his men out of a sniper's line of fire and was shot in the hip.[21] As he later recalled:
I had gone only a few steps when I saw the head and shoulders of the foe lift. I knew that I'd made a blunder and started dropping. A bullet caught me low in the side and plowed through to the backbone. It felt as if I had been cut through the back with a hot cleaver. I remembered letting loose a long groan and thinking, "I've been killed," but I recovered my senses almost immediately. I had fallen in a small irrigation ditch a few inches deep. I was paralyzed from the waist down, but my arms were all right and my head was clear.[22]
Amlie was eventually pulled to safety and hospitalized at theRitz Hotel inMadrid. Upon his recovery, he was promoted to battalion commander of the reorganizedLincoln-Washington Battalion[21] (now numbering less than 500 men after heavy losses),[23] withBelfast-born[24]International Seamen's Union organizer John Quigley Robinson assigned to him as battalion commissar.[20] Deeply caring for the wellbeing of his men,[19] one of Amlie's first acts as commander was ensuring those with poor eyesight had spare glasses in case theirs were broken in combat.[21]
Amlie first led the battalion into combat atQuinto, where they were called on to reinforce theDimitrov Battalion in a three-day battle that resulted in a Republican victory.[25] Notably, the Americans led the assault, and did so withartillery,armored, andclose air support, the first time they were afforded such luxuries.[20] The town would subsequently serve as brigade headquarters for the next several months.[26]
Amlie’s second and last battle as battalion commander would be atBelchite. After taking up positions in shallow trenches outside the town, he and his men came under heavy sniper fire. Unable to effectively take cover or retreat without being picked off, they were forced to attack. Without the support they’d had at Quinto, they quickly sustained heavy casualties; in one assault, 22 men were sent forward, of which 20 were killed and the remaining two could not make it.[19] When brigade chief of staffRobert Hale Merriman came on the radio to order another attack, Amlie flat out refused, and was backed up by his commissar, Robinson.[23] One of his subordinates, Wilbur Wellman (also from San Francisco),[27] described the situation as follows:
...Amlie would not tell the men to continue the advance. When Amlie got the orders: "Either send your men and see that they go, or you face court-martial!" Amlie said to us: "What'll I do? Court-martial at the front meansshot!" And we said, "Well, you just give us the order. You order us to go and thenwe'll refuse. Then you tell them to come down here andlead us, and we'll followthem!"[23]
The situation was resolved when brigade commissarSteve Nelson came to the frontline himself and discovered aculvert than ran directly into Belchite, sparing Amlie and his men from another frontal assault. Though the Republicans were ultimately victorious, Amlie was again wounded, this time shot in the head. While the wound wasn't fatal, it was bad enough that he could not continue fighting and therefore had to be replaced as battalion commander.[19]
While recovering in a field hospital, Amlie metMilly Bennett, an American journalist sent by theAssociated Press to cover the civil war. While in country, she had learned that an old boyfriend, Wallace Burton, was serving in the Lincoln Brigade, but by the time she reached the front he had been killed.[3] She sought out Amlie, his commanding officer, to find out how he had died, and after getting to know each other Amlie and Bennett fell in love with each other.[28] They were married on December 1[29] in a "deathbed marriage;" neither of them had the birth certificates required for a regular marriage, so a friendly doctor was convinced to provide paperwork that Amlie was on his deathbed.[3] The couple returned to the United States on January 1, 1938.[28]
Upon his return, Amlie has his passport confiscated by theU.S. government for his involvement in the war.[11] He then embarked on a continentwide[30] speaking tour to raise funds and awareness for the Lincoln Brigade and the war in Spain.[28] Even his brother Thomas, who had voted the previous year to ban the exportation of weapons to either side in Spain,[31] raised money to bring wounded Americans home.[12]
In December 1938, Amlie and Bennett moved toMill Valley, California.[32] By 1940, Amlie was working as a migrant camp superintendent for theCalifornia State Relief Administration.[33] He was later hired by theFarm Security Administration[34] andWar Food Administration[28] to manage similar camps across theWestern United States.[11] During and afterWorld War II, he and his wife were investigated by theFederal Bureau of Investigation for alleged Communist activity, although little evidence was found and Amlie was allowed to continue working for the government.[28]
Amlie died at a migrant camp inSomerton, Arizona on December 14, 1949.[35] He had gone down into acesspool to fix a clog in theseptic tank,[21] and as he was climbing back up heasphyxiated on the fumes and collapsed.[35] Two migrant workers attempted to rescue him but died as well.[36]
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