John Hopkins

The couple become involved in the Siege of Seguenta, one of the towns the Francoists need to take if they are to reach Madrid.

In August 1936, Mika's husband is killed in action, but her war is only just beginning.

Taking up his pistol, she is elected head of her fighting division, a role she wastes no time in embracing.

October 1936.

In the historic town of Siguenza, in the heart of Spain, the last feeble rays of light linger on the horizon.

Inside the town's monumental Gothic cathedral, Mika Feldman, a dark-haired Republican fighter, flinches as the boom of cannon fire sounds outside the building's west wall.

A few seconds later, she stumbles as the floor beneath her shakes with the impact.

As she regains her feet, her stomach clenches painfully.

Along with a group of her fellow soldiers, she's been trapped in the cathedral for the past four days.

Their supplies have been exhausted.

Suddenly, a huge chunk of stonework falls from the ceiling at the far end of the aisle, smashing heavily onto the tiled floor.

Horrified, Mika watches as a man screams and dives out of the way.

She throws up a hand to shield her face as a cannonball tears through a nearby stained glass window, filling the air with glittering fragments.

Coughing now as plaster dust falls from the ceiling, Mika peers cautiously up at the damage.

The walls surely cannot withstand much more.

Taking a deep breath, she continues her walk around of the cathedral's interior.

The scene before her is more reminiscent of a morgue than a church, thick with the scent of rotten flesh.

Bodies lie in the aisle, gazing sightlessly at the intricate vaulted ceiling above.

Among them, her wounded comrades lie in the pews, groaning softly.

Now Mika heads towards the altar, where the surviving militia members are clustered.