International militiamen

The first international militiamen in the Spanish Civil War were mainly participants in the People's Olympiad in Barcelona and political emigrants who lived in Spain . There were around 300 international militiamen who organized themselves into groups (Spanish: Grupo ) after the military coup in Barcelona . They formed groups of international militiamen with the first international volunteers who came to Spain via France. These groups were divided into hundreds ( Centuria in Spanish ). At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, these hundreds fought primarily on the Aragon front . According to Sebastián Herreros Agüí, militia groups have also formed in Irun and in the Sierra de Guadarrama west of Madrid . Communist international volunteers fought mainly in PSUC militia units, socialist international volunteers mainly in POUM militia units, and anarchist ones mainly in CNT militia units under the high command of Buenaventura Durruti .

On October 16, 1936, the "Gaceta de la Republica" (the official body of the Spanish government) published the resolution to form a People's Army (Spanish "Ejército Popular") and the resolution to set up international brigades . After the decision to establish the International Brigades, all international militiamen were gradually grouped into the battalions of the International Brigades. In the first step, only the communist-led hundreds submitted to the authority of the people's army. From October 1936, all international battalions were set up in Albacete , the central training camp of the International Brigades. The first battalions were the André Marty Battalion , the Dąbrowski Battalion and the Edgar André Battalion . During the entire Spanish Civil War, 32,000 to 35,000 volunteers from 53 nations fought in the International Brigades. In addition, another 5,000 international volunteers served in POUM militia units and anarchist CNT militia units.

Militia group	Centuria	Countries of origin	place	later unit	comment
Edgar André		Germany	Irun	Edgar André Battalion or Hans Battalion
Hoffmann Group Group around Comrade Hoffmann		Germany	Irun
International UGT militia group			Bilbao		International militia group in the UGT battalion " Indalecio Prieto ", the aim was to form an international brigade.
Thälmann group around Arthur Pfeiffer		Germany	Northern Spain
Thälmann group around Max Friedemann		Germany	Barcelona
	Centuria Thalmann , formed by Hans Beimler , unit in the Maxim Gorki Battalion, PSUC Division Carlos Marx	Germany and Great Britain, later also Italians, Poles, Greeks and Yugoslavs	Barcelona	Thalmann Battalion	see Thälmann Group and Thälmann Column
	Dombrowski	Poland	Barcelona	Dąbrowski Battalion	see Dąbrowski Battalion
Wroblewski		Poland France	Irun		see Dąbrowski Battalion
	Commune de Paris	France Belgium Great Britain ?	Barcelona	Commune de Paris battalion	There was also a militia unit within the Fifth Regiment called the Commune de Paris
	Dimitrov	Greece Yugoslavia	Barcelona	Dimitrov Battalion	From September 28th, grouped into the Mixta Brigade
Rákosi	Unit in the Columna de Ferro (International)	Hungary (only applies to the Rákosi group)	Barcelona	Rákosi Battalion	JSU / UHP militiamen
Tom Mann	Tom Mann	England USA  ?	Barcelona	Saklatvala Battalion	Relocation to the base of the International Brigades in Albacete (end of October 1936), namesake was Tom Mann , members: Tom Wintringham (later commander of a British battalion) and Esmond Romilly (nephew of Winston Churchill)
	Giustizia e Libertà	Italy  ?	Barcelona	Garibaldi Battalion	Emerged from the radical socialist political movement Giustizia e Libertà
	Gastone-Sozzi	Italy  ?	Barcelona	Garibaldi Battalion	In the summer of 1936, Carlo Rosselli suggested to Randolfo Pacciardi, former secretary of the Italian Republican Party, that an Italian battalion be set up in the International Brigades. Relocated to the Madrid front on September 9, 1936.
First international centuria of the Durruti column	Column Durruti	Barcelona	?	Anarchist CNT militiamen, from July 19 the Colunma Durruti fought in Aragon, they captured Bujaraloz and marched towards Pina de Ebro .
	Faure		Barcelona	?	anarchist CNT militiamen
	Sacco and Vanzetti		Barcelona	?	anarchist CNT militiamen
	Erich Mühsam		Barcelona	?	anarchist CNT militiamen
			Barcelona	Battalion de la Muerte	anarchist CNT militiamen
Gorizia			Irun		Commander Remigio Maurovich (Italian)
	Jesús Larrañaga	French Italians Bulgarians	Basque Country / Bilbao	Larrañaga Battalion	In early December 1936, the international militiamen fought at Elorrio .
Fernando de Rosa		Italy Spain	Sierra de Guadarrama		Italian communists
Italian group		Italy
mexican group		Mexico  ?		Battalion Mexico
	Guttieras	Latin America		Abraham Lincoln Brigade
	Connolly	Ireland		Abraham Lincoln Brigade
	Centuria Extranjero I and Centuria Extranjero II	French Italians German English  ?	Aragon	Militia unit Rovira	In the international POUM militia units fought u. a. Members of Trotskyist , left-wing socialist and opposition communist groups such as the German SAP and KPO . Well-known personalities such as George Orwell and the later social democratic member of the Bundestag Peter Blachstein fought in the POUM militia units .

Web links

• Sebastián Herreros Agüí: The International Brigade in the Spanish War 1936 (English)
• Sebastián Herreros Agüí: Semiotica de las Brigades Internationales, 1st Los internacionales antes de las Brigdas (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Antony Beevor, The Spanish Civil War , 2nd edition, ISBN 978-3-442-15492-0 , page 204.
2. ↑ Hanns Maaßen : Brigada Internacional is our honorary name ... , Röderberg-Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt / Main 1976, ISBN 3-87682-515-6 , page 389
3. ↑ Hanns Maaßen: Brigada Internacional is our honorary name ... , Röderberg-Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt / Main 1976, ISBN 3-87682-515-6 , page 397
4. ↑ Sebastián Herreros Agüí: The International Brigades in the Spanish war 1936-1939: Flags and Symbols, Wand and Schützenzeitung from October 15, 1936 (English; PDF; 6.4 MB), accessed on September 3, 2012
5. ^ La Guerra Civil Española, El Batallón Británico , accessed on May 11, 2012, p. 12
6. ^ Hanns Maaßen : Brigada Internacional is our honorary name ... , Röderberg-Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt / Main 1976, ISBN 3-87682-515-6 , page 75
7. ^ Antony Beevor : The Spanish Civil War , ISBN 978-3-442-15492-0 , 2nd edition, page 261