Gustav Regler was born in Germany on 25th May, in 1898. He served in the German Army during the First World War and afterwards joined the German Communist Party. Regler fled from Nazi Germany and on the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War he joined the International Brigades.

Regler became a commissar in the army and took part in the defence of Madrid in the winter of 1936. He was seriously wounded at Huesca on 11th June 1937. He spent many months in hospital before leaving Spain.

Regler later wrote two books about the Spanish Civil War, The Great Crusade (1940) and The Owl of Minerva (1960). Gustav Regler died in 1963.