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Oliver Law | |
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| Born | 23 October 1900 Texas,United States of America |
| Died | 9 July 1937(1937-07-09) (aged 36) Mosquito Crest (Mosquito Hill),Spain |
| Allegiance | United States Communist Party USA Second Spanish Republic |
| Service | United States Army International Brigades |
| Rank | Commander |
| Commands | Commander of theLincoln Battalion |
| Spouse(s) | Corrine Booker Light-foot |
Oliver Law (October 23, 1900 – July 9, 1937) was anAfrican-Americancommunist and labor organizer, who fought for the Republic in theSpanish Civil War. Having previously served in the United States Army, he traveled to Spain and becamecommander of theAbraham Lincoln Battalion for several days andcommander of its Machine Gun Company for much longer.[1][2]
Born in westTexas, Law joined theUS Army in 1919. He stayed on until 1925. He served as aprivate in the24th Infantry Regiment, an Afro-American outfit on the Mexican border. After leaving the army, he went toBluffton, Indiana, where he worked in a cement plant. He moved on toChicago, where he drove a taxi with theYellow Cab Company. In theGreat Depression he found work as astevedore and joined theInternational Longshoremen's Association. He then tried his luck with a small restaurant, but failed and got a job with theWorks Project Administration. Law was a member of theInternational Labor Defense and joined theCommunist Party (CP) in 1932. In 1930 he was very active in the unemployment movement.
Law worked withHarry Haywood to organize mass protests againstItaly's occupation ofEthiopia at theSecond Italo-Abyssinian War. He was arrested speaking at a demonstration in Chicago on August 31, 1935.
Law was married to Corrine Booker Light-foot, mother of the regionalCommunist Party of the USA (CPUSA) leaderClaude Lightfoot.
In 1936 Law joined theAbraham Lincoln Brigade. He arrived inSpain on January 16, 1937, to fight for thePopular Front againstFrancisco Franco and theNationalists. Having met theInternational Brigades atAlbacete, Law first served as a group leader of a machine-gun company engaged on theJarama front. There were three group leaders, under the two section leaders and the company officers.
After failing to takeMadrid 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 theJarama River on February 11, 1937. GeneralJosé Miaja sent three International Brigades to the Jarama Valley to block the advance. Law first saw action on February 17. After disastrous setbacks on February 27, Law had performed well on the day and was soon promoted to section leader. Two weeks later he was made commander of the machine-gun company, when his superior officer was killed. The battalion leadership was annihilated at Jarama and Law advanced fast in rank, even though there was some criticism of his performance at the attack onVillanueva de la Cañada.
The experienced battalion commander Martin Hourihan recognized Law's abilities and wanted to send him to officer's training school. When Hourihan became ill, Law was chosen to replace him temporarily. After Houridan transferred permanently to the regimental staff, the choice of battalion commander was between Law and Walter Garland, who was still recovering from wounds, and Law was chosen and led the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in the first days of theBattle of Brunete. At the beginning of July the Popular Front government launched a major attack to relieve the threat to Madrid. GeneralVicente Rojo Lluch sent the Republican Army toBrunete, challenging Nationalist control of the western approaches to the capital. The 80,000 Republican soldiers made good early progress, but they were brought to a halt when General Francisco Franco brought up his reserves.
The Internationals also suffered heavy losses. Oliver Law was killed on July 9, leading his men in an attack on Mosquito Crest (Mosquito Hill).[3]
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