MacEoin's IRA history, page 388, speaks only of the "International Brigade" and states "reports were received that on February 6 [1937] of the deaths of four men of the International Brigade, serving on the Jarama and Cordova front, south of Madrid. Their names were: Dan Boyle of Belfast, Frank Conroy of Kildare, Bill Beattie of Belfast and John Meehan of Galway".

Bell's IRA history refers to "the James Connolly Battalion of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade"..."ultimately some four hundred Irishmen, most of them old IRA men, would make their way to Spain and the International Brigades...42 were killed, 12 captured, including Frank Ryan, 114 wounded. Their record was in stark contrast to O'Duffy's Brigade, which fought only two brief actions: the first with a Nationalist unit from the Canary Islands resulted in the only battle deaths - two....most of the time was spent on a quiet sector of the line".