George Nathan
| Samuel George Montague Nathan | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | George Nathan |
| Born | 20 January 1895 Hackney, London, England |
| Died | 16 July 1937 Madrid, Spain |
| Allegiance |
 British Empire Second Spanish Republic
|
| Service/branch |
Army Cyclist Corps (1913-17) Royal Warwickshire Regiment (1917-20) Auxiliary Division (1920-21) West Yorkshire Regiment (1921-22) Royal Fusiliers (1925-26) International Brigades (1936-37)
|
| Rank | Lieutenant (British Army) Major (International Brigades) |
| Commands held | Chief of Staff of the XV International Brigade |
| Battles/wars | |
World War I
Irish War of Independence
Spanish Civil War
Samuel George Montague Nathan (20 January 1895 – 16 July 1937) was a British volunteer in the International Brigades in Spain. He initially commanded the British Company of the otherwise French Marseillaise Battalion but was appointed battalion commander in early 1937 following the execution of his predecessor (Major Gaston Delasalle) for espionage.
He later became Chief of Staff of the XV International Brigade and was killed on 16 July 1937 at the Battle of Brunete. Even though he had been turned down for Communist Party membership — either because of his "sexual orientation" or because of his unwillingness to "pretend great political enthusiasm" - Comintern observers admired him for his "cool arrogance under fire".
Samuel George Montague Nathan was born in Hackney, London in 1895. His father was Jewish and the Nathans had been settled in England since the 18th century. His mother was an Englishwoman and was a Christian. George Nathan himself was baptised into the Church of England at St Mark's, Bow Street on 24 January 1897. Although nominally raised an Anglican and identifying himself as such earlier in life, after 1917 he referred to himself as Jewish.
During the First World War, he fought in the British Army on the Western Front. He rose from private to company sergeant major and "after three years and 334 days in the service, he was commissioned in the field on 9 April 1917" to become "the only Jewish officer in the Brigade of Guards". This is what he claimed but Nathan was, as his medal index card shows, commissioned into the Warwickshire Regiment and was never a CSM.
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Wikipedia