János Gálicz | |
|---|---|
 Photo of a Soviet officer, presumably Gálicz | |
| Born | 1890 Tótkomlós, Békés County, Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, Austria-Hungary) |
| Died | 20 October 1939 (aged 49) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Cause of death | Execution by shooting |
| Nationality | Hungarian |
| Known for | His actions during the Spanish Civil War |
János Gálicz (1890 – 20 October 1939), also known as José Ivanovich Gal or General Gal, was a Hungarian-Soviet brigade commander who served in the Spanish Civil War.
Gálicz gained infamy for his actions during the Battle of Jarama in 1937 in which he sent hundreds of his own men to their deaths in what Ernest Hemingway later described as an "idiotic, stupidly conceived and insanely executed attack"[1] on Pingarrón Hill, also dubbed "Suicide Hill".[2] During the attack, he threw outnumbered and inexperienced troops belonging to the XV International Brigade at an entrenched, uphill enemy position, against the advice of his subordinates[3], getting many of them killed in the process. Hemingway wrote that "He [Gálicz] should have been shot at the time."[1]
Gálicz was removed from his position as commander of the XV International Brigade after the "deplorable" conditions in his sector became known, and in 1939, upon returning to the Soviet Union, Gálicz was tried by a people's court in Moscow and sentenced to death.[1] The sentence was carried out on 20 October 1939.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Regler, Gustav; Hemingway, Ernest; Chambers, Whittaker; Mussey, June Barrows (1940).: The Great Crusade. Longmans, Green & Co. New York. p. vii.
- ↑ Wintringham, Thomas Henry (1940).: Comrades of Jarama. Volunteer for Liberty. p. 4.
- ↑ Merriman, Marion (1986).: For Whom the Bell Tolled. The Washington Post.