Homage to CataloniaAfter travelling to Spain at the end of 1936 with the intention of working as a correspondent for a British socialist newspaper, thirty three year old George Orwell decided to join the Republican efforts to overturn Franco's Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Having enrolled in the POUM militias, the young writer was soon forced to experience first hand the hardships and dangers of trench warfare, before becoming involved in the Barcelona May Day