View source for Lincoln Battalion

===1938-1939===
[[File:Abraham Lincoln Battalion button.jpg|thumb|A political button worn by supporters of the unit]]
March found the Lincoln-Washington in reserve positions in [[Aragon]]. Their rest proved short-lived as the XVth Brigade was swept up in the disaster known as "The Retreats".<ref>{{cite journal |title=In the footsteps of the Lincoln-Washington Battalion |last=Martí |first=Anna |date=1 July 2012 |url=https://albavolunteer.org/2012/07/in-the-footsteps-of-the-lincoln-washington-battalion/ |journal=The Volunteer}}</ref> Nationalist forces punched through the Republican lines and drove to the sea, cutting the Republic in two. The Lincoln-Washington Battalion was dispersed, reformed, and dispersed again in a confused series of holding actions and retreats in which it lost most of its personnel killed, captured, or missing. Robert Merriman and Dave Doran, two of the highest-ranking American officers in the XVth Brigade, were presumed captured and executed as Nationalist forces normally executed all international prisoners. The remnants of the Battalion gathered on the far side of the [[Ebro River]], where they were slowly reconstituted with a limited number of international volunteers from the hospitals and rear areas.

Spanish troops, many young conscripts, were drafted into the XVth Brigade's battalions to bring them fully up to strength. Spaniards were integrated into the Lincoln Battalion as early as Jarama. Spanish companies were added to the international battalions as the flow of volunteers from North America decreased. After the Retreats, Spanish troops were integrated across all battalions and comprised most of the XVth Brigade's strength in its last action.

In July 1938, the rebuilt Lincoln-Washington Battalion participated in the [[Battle of the Ebro|Ebro offensive]]. The XVth Brigade crossed the Ebro and rapidly advanced across the territory they had retreated through in March and April. However, the Nationalist forces quickly rallied, and the offensive stalled. The Republican troops returned to the defensive, contesting the area captured in the offensive. 

On 21 September 1938, [[Juan Negrín]], the [[Prime Minister of Spain|Spanish prime minister]], announced to the [[League of Nations]] the unilateral withdrawal of the International Brigades from battle. [[Juan Negrín]] was trying to negotiate peace as his only hope. He had been informed that the International Brigades were no longer of military value, Although he maintained a vain hope that the Nationalists would withdraw their German and Italian troops, Franco kept his German and Italian forces until the war's end.{{sfn|Clifford|2020|p=206}}

[[File:Last parade of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade 1938 Edit.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|The last parade of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 1938]]

On 1 November 1938, International Brigadists received a warm farewell from the people in Barcelona, where 250,000 people gathered to say goodbye to the international brigades for freedom. In a famous farewell speech, [[Dolores Ibárruri]], "La Pasionaria", declared: "You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy's solidarity and universality in the face of the vile and accommodating spirit of those who interpret democratic principles with their eyes on hoards of wealth or corporate shares which they want to safeguard from all risk."<ref>{{cite web |title='You are history. You are legend.' |url=https://international-brigades.org.uk/news-and-blog/you-are-history-you-are-legend/ |date=29 October 2023 |publisher=International Brigade Memorial Trust}}</ref>

[[File:Medal of the International Brigades.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Spanish Civil War Medal awarded to the International Brigades]]

Surviving Americans from across Spain were sent to Ripoll, where the International Red Cross and the US government verified their nationality before repatriating them. Many were able to participate in the farewell activities, including a parade in Barcelona where the International Brigades were officially disbanded. Most American volunteers returned to the US between December 1938 and January 1939. American [[prisoner of war|POWs]] were released after the fall of the Republican government, although the last POWs did not arrive in the United States until September 1939.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}