Page "Laurie Lee" Paragraph 2

After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936 Lee was picked up by a British destroyer from Gibraltar, collecting marooned British subjects on the southern Spanish coast.

During this period, he met a woman who supported him financially.

He started to study for an art degree but returned to Spain in 1937 as an International Brigade volunteer.

His service in the Brigade was cut short by his epilepsy.

These experiences were recounted in A Moment of War ( 1991 ), an austere memoir of his time as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War.

According to many biographical sources, Lee fought in the Spanish Civil War ( 1936 – 39 ) in the Republican army against Franco's Nationalists.

After his death there were claims that Lee's involvement in the war was a fantasy ; the claims were dismissed as " ludicrous " by his widow.