Killed Near Madrid

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 82, 23 April 1937, Page 4

Killed Near Madrid

FORMER NAPIER MAN Adventurous Life oi Mr Fred Robertson DIED ON BATTLEFIELD ' 4 Adventurer, wanderer, conversationallist, psychologist — and always a gallant gentlemen. That was the Fred Robertson whom I was proud to cali my friend. Although he died on tbe battlefield, he was at heart a great pacifist, and I really believa that he offered his services to the Spanish Loyalist Army because he felt that their cause was a just one," That is how Mr. William Haxton, of Napier, describes his dear friend, Frederick Eobe^rtson, an Englishman who lived and worked some years in Napier before and after the 1931 earthquake. News has just been received that he died on the battlefield near Madrid last month. Although details as to how he met his death are vague, it is believed that, after being badly wounded by the bullet» or b:|youets of General Franco's army, he was among those who were slain by soldiers who declined to take prisoners— ■ alive or wounded. Some insight into the adventurous life of Mr. Robertson was gii4m this morning by . Mr. Haxton, to whom the news of his friend 's death comes as a great shoek. "It is only those who came into per* sonal contact with Fred who can *eadily and ahly appreciate his good qualities," he said.' "He was a man of high1 jdeals, hroadminded and with long vision. He was a brilliant conversationalist and was well versed in world affairs and labour conditions generally. "At heart he was a rover, which accounts for the fact that he spent much of his life as a seaman. He was born at Cairo and was educated by cosmopolitan schoolmasters. He spoke Arabic like a native and. also had a speaking knowledge of French and Germao, ' ' o Learned Horrors of "War.

After receiving his education _he went to England and received training as a seaman at a mercantile marino college, added Mr. Haxton. Then he wonfc to sea. While Sir JBasil Zarahoil was "fleecing the Greeks and Turks" (as Mr. Haxton put it) during their mapy and varied slaughterings, Fred Robertson, then in his 'teens, was a seaman on a troopship, and there he first learned by actual experience the truth and horrors of wars.

*'The roVing spiiit of the Acabs was in his blood," Mr. Haxton continued. "He left the sea and with a little capital went in for a small farm in , Queensiand. He did npt meet with much sueeess, for bad luck followed him, So he turned his stqps towards New Zealand and worked as a labourer in Wellington. The East Coast Railway attracted him to Hawke's Bay, and he was given a job on the Mohaka viAduct. There he nearly lost his life when he met wj$;h a serious accident, necessitating his removal to the Wairoa Hospital. "Back to "Napier he came after a while, and when the 1931 earthquake happened he was well to the forefront rescuing nurses *nd patients from the Public Hospital. He workea night and day for about a week, almost "without Test, helping with the evacu,ation of hospital patients from the earthquake RTAR. "Later on he gof a job as careiaker at the Napier aerodrome, but because he could tiot see eye-to-eye with his employers about a matter of pay when he was offered promotion as overseer, he packed his kit and went back to the sea on the coastal service." • Tom Spiller, a Napier man, was a staunch friend of Fred Robertson, and the pair of them decided to go to Europe. They left New Zealand on April 7,- 1936, but when. they reached London their, plans were upset by ihe Spanish conflict. They talked seriously about this war, and finally both decided to offer their services to the Loyalist Army. "My friend Robertson proved bimself to be a daring and com*ageoas fighter-— which was rather' strange because at heart he was a pacifist," went on Mr Haxton.' "He met his death during liand-to-hand fighting with the Faseists. The exacfc details o£ his death are as yet vague, but I think he was first wounded and then slain. At that time General Franco's soldier s took no prisoners, alive or wounded."

Fierce Fighting. The following excerpt from a letter written- by Tom Spiller to a friend, Mr Athol Mace, of Napier, gives some idea of the grimness of the fighting when Fred Robertson met his death. "Robbie is dead. I . felt like crying when I heard about it (a German ma-chine-gunner is Uelting — out of this dug-out at the moment). Robbie aud 1 were togefcher a lot in Spain. He was killed on February 15. 1937, or the third day of fighting. He was a brave i'ollow. You know, Robbie was not one who looked for iight. It was all the more to his credit for enlisting to help free Spain lrom the Fascists. The Fascists attacked on the third day with over 100 planes, dozens of tanks, Moor, Italian and German machine-gunners, etc. We only had rifles and a few machine guns to fight back with, and they pushed us back about one and abalf kilometres. Just on night-fall we attacked at tbe point of the bayonet (it was during this attack that Robbie was bumped off). It was a ■ Hellish night, but we held the advance up. Since then we have attacked at least eight tim.es, until we are only 200yds off our former position. The Fascists were so close that it was impossibl© to miss them. Our losses during those weeks were heavy, but the Fascists lost 13,000 men, killed or wounded. The Fascists during our three-day retreat bayoneted every one of our wounded comrades, I saw them with my own

eyes. Wait until we get them on the run The concluding episode in the drama of Fred Robertson's life and death lies in the facf, that his father died in England last December. Under the will, Fred came into £400, but he never kncw of this because his people did not know wker© to get in touch witfc himi. To Fred Robertson, wanderer and adventurr-:. £4(j0 would have been * God-seud i