As a divisional commander, he helped stall the Nationalist attack along the Jarama and played a significant role within the successful Republican counterattack at the Battle of Guadalajara.

[8] Beevor quotes the chief Soviet advisor as reporting that Líster's division collapsed and 'lost its head and fled.

[10] The "11ª División" did, however suffer a severe setback when it failed to capture Fuentes de Ebro in the Republican offensive in Aragon in August 1937.

This loss led to mutual hatred between Lister and Juan Modesto, commander of the 5th Corps (which "11th Division" formed a part of).

He stated;"The enemy rank and file are restive and dissatisfied with the constant deceptions played upon them by Franco and with the conviction that he is incompetent both as a military and political leader.

[12] According to Christopher Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky, when in late 1959 Fidel Castro's intelligence chief Ramiro Valdés contacted the KGB in Mexico City, the Soviets sent over one hundred mostly Spanish-speaking advisors, including Enrique Líster, to organize the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution in Cuba.

Líster wrote four books, two of them —Nuestra guerra (1966) and Memorias de un luchador (1977)— were about his personal experiences in the Spanish Civil War.