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International Brigades

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For the militia force run by The Other Russia of E. V. Limonov, see Interbrigades.

International Brigades
Emblem of the International Brigades
Active18 September 1936 – 23 September 1938 (1936-09-18 – 1938-09-23)
CountryAlbania, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, United States, Ireland, Yugoslavia, United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Mexico, Argentina, Netherlands, and others...
Allegiance
TypeInfantry
RoleParamilitary
Sizebetween 40,000 and 59,000
Garrison/HQAlbacete
Motto(s)
Engagements
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Insignia
Flag
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The International Brigades (Spanish: Brigadas Internacionales) were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Brigades existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938. It is estimated that during the entire war, there were between 40,000 and 59,000 Brigaders, including some 10,000 who died in combat. Beyond the Spanish Civil War, "International Brigades" is also sometimes used interchangeably with the term foreign legion in reference to military units comprising foreigners who volunteer to fight in the military of another state, often in times of war.[1]

The headquarters of the brigade was located at the Gran Hotel,[2] Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha. They participated in the battles of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Belchite, Teruel, Aragon and the Ebro. Most of these ended in defeat. For the last year of its existence, the International Brigades were integrated into the Spanish Republican Army as part of the Spanish Foreign Legion. The organisation was dissolved on 23 September 1938 by Spanish Prime Minister Juan Negrín in a vain attempt to get more support from the liberal democracies on the Non-Intervention Committee.

The International Brigades were strongly supported by the Comintern and represented the Soviet Union's commitment to assisting the Spanish Republic (with arms, logistics, military advisers and the NKVD), just as Portugal, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany were assisting the opposing Nationalist insurgency.[3] The largest number of volunteers came from France (where the French Communist Party had many members) and communist exiles from Italy and Germany. Many Jews were part of the brigades, being particularly numerous within the volunteers coming from the United States, Poland, France, England and Argentina.[4]

Republican volunteers who were opposed to Stalinism did not join the Brigades but instead enlisted in the separate Popular Front, the POUM (formed from Trotskyist, Bukharinist, and other anti-Stalinist groups, which did not separate Spaniards and foreign volunteers),[5] or anarcho-syndicalist groups such as the Durruti Column, the IWA, and the CNT.

Formation and recruitment

[edit]
A unit of the Bulgarian International Brigade, 1937
Flag of the Hungarian Rakosi Group (part of the anarchist Iron Column).

Using foreign communist parties to recruit volunteers for Spain was first proposed in August 1936 by British writer and military theorist Tom Wintringham who had already travelled to Spain, but the idea was not formally raised with the Comintern in the Soviet Union until September 1936—apparently at the suggestion of Maurice Thorez[6]—by Willi Münzenberg, chief of Comintern propaganda for Western Europe. As a security measure, non-communist volunteers would first be interviewed by an NKVD agent.

By the end of September, the British, Italian and French Communist Parties had decided to set up a column. Luigi Longo, ex-leader of the Italian Communist Youth, was charged to make the necessary arrangements with the Spanish government. The Soviet Ministry of Defense also helped, since they had an experience of dealing with corps of international volunteers during the Russian Civil War. The idea was initially opposed by Largo Caballero, but after the first setbacks of the war, he changed his mind and finally agreed to the operation on 22 October. However, the Soviet Union did not withdraw from the Non-Intervention Committee, probably to avoid diplomatic conflict with France and the United Kingdom.

The main recruitment center was in Paris, under the supervision of Soviet colonel Karol "Walter" Świerczewski. On 17 October 1936, an open letter by Joseph Stalin to José Díaz was published in Mundo Obrero, arguing that victory for the Spanish second republic was a matter not only for Spaniards but also for the whole of "progressive humanity"; in short order, communist activists joined with moderate socialist and liberal groups to form anti-fascist "popular front" militias in several countries, most of them under the control of or influenced by the Comintern.[7]

Entry to Spain was arranged for volunteers, for instance, a Yugoslav, Josip Broz, who would become famous as Marshal Tito, was in Paris to provide assistance, money, and passports for volunteers from Eastern Europe (including numerous Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish Civil War). Volunteers were sent by train or ship from France to Spain, and sent to the base at Albacete. Many of them also went by themselves to Spain. The volunteers were under no contract, nor defined engagement period, which would later prove a problem.

Also, many Italians, Germans, and people from other countries joined the movement, with the idea that combat in Spain was the first step to restore democracy or advance a revolutionary cause in their own country. There were also many unemployed workers (especially from France), and adventurers. Finally, some 500 communists who had been exiled to Russia were sent to Spain (among them, experienced military leaders from the First World War like "Kléber" Stern, "Gomez" Zaisser, "Lukacs" Zalka and "Gal" Galicz, who would prove invaluable in combat).

The operation was met with enthusiasm by communists, but by anarchists with skepticism, at best. At first, the anarchists, who controlled the borders with France, were told to refuse communist volunteers, but reluctantly allowed their passage after protests. Keith Scott Watson, a journalist who fought alongside Esmond Romilly at Cerro de los Ángeles and who later "resigned" from the Thälmann Battalion, describes in his memoirs how he was detained and interrogated by Anarchist border guards before eventually being allowed into the country.[8] A group of 500 volunteers (mainly French, with a few exiled Poles and Germans) arrived in Albacete on 14 October 1936. They were met by international volunteers who had already been fighting in Spain: Germans from the Thälmann Battalion, Italians from the Centuria Gastone Sozzi and French grouped together with Belgians under the Commune de Paris Battalion. Among them was the poet John Cornford, who had travelled down through France and Spain with a group of fellow intellectuals and artists including Wintringham, John Sommerfield, Bernard Knox, Ralph Bates and Jan Kurzke, all of whom left detailed memoirs of their battle experiences.[9][10][11][12]

On 30 May 1937, the Spanish liner Ciudad de Barcelona, carrying 200–250 volunteers from Marseille to Spain, was torpedoed by a Nationalist submarine off the coast of Malgrat de Mar. The ship sank and up to 65 volunteers are estimated to have drowned.[13]

Albacete soon became the International Brigades headquarters and its main depot. It was run by a troika of Comintern heavyweights: André Marty was commander; Luigi Longo (Gallo) was Inspector-General; and Giuseppe Di Vittorio (Nicoletti) was chief political commissar.[14]

There were many Jewish volunteers amongst the brigadiers – about a quarter of the total. A Jewish company was formed within the Polish battalion that was named after Naftali Botwin, a young Jewish communist killed in Poland in 1925.[15]

The French Communist Party provided uniforms for the Brigades. They were organized into mixed brigades, the basic military unit of the Republican People's Army.[16] Discipline was severe. For several weeks, the Brigades were locked in their base while their strict military training was underway.

Service

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First engagements: Siege of Madrid

[edit]
The flag of the International Brigades was the Spanish Republican flag with the three-pointed star of the Popular Front in the center

The Battle of Madrid was a major success for the Republic, and staved off the prospect of a rapid defeat at the hands of Francisco Franco's forces. The role of the International Brigades in this victory was generally recognized but was exaggerated by Comintern propaganda so that the outside world heard only of their victories and not those of Spanish units. So successful was such propaganda that the British Ambassador, Sir Henry Chilton, declared that there were no Spaniards in the army which had defended Madrid. The International Brigade forces that fought in Madrid arrived after another successful Republican fighting. Of the 40,000 Republican troops in the city, the foreign troops numbered less than 3,000.[17]

Even though the International Brigades did not win the battle by themselves, nor significantly change the situation, they certainly did provide an example by their determined fighting and improved the morale of the population by demonstrating the concern of other nations in the fight. Many of the older members of the International Brigades provided valuable combat experience, having fought during the First World War (Spain remained neutral in 1914–1918) and the Irish War of Independence (some had fought in the British Army while others had fought in the Irish Republican Army (IRA)).

One of the strategic positions in Madrid was the Casa de Campo. There the Nationalist troops were Moroccans, commanded by General José Enrique Varela. They were stopped by III and IV Brigades of the Spanish Republican Army.

On 9 November 1936, the XI International Brigade – comprising 1,900 men from the Edgar André Battalion, the Commune de Paris Battalion and the Dabrowski Battalion, together with a British machine-gun company — took up position at the Casa de Campo. In the evening, its commander, General Kléber, launched an assault on the Nationalist positions. This lasted for the whole night and part of the next morning. At the end of the fight, the Nationalist troops had been forced to retreat, abandoning all hopes of a direct assault on Madrid by Casa de Campo, while the XIth Brigade had lost a third of its personnel.[18]

On 13 November, the 1,550-man strong XII International Brigade, made up of the Thälmann Battalion, the Garibaldi Battalion and the André Marty Battalion, deployed. Commanded by General "Lukacs", they assaulted Nationalist positions on the high ground of Cerro de Los Angeles. As a result of language and communication problems, command issues, lack of rest, poor coordination with armored units, and insufficient artillery support, the attack failed.

On 19 November, the anarchist militias were forced to retreat, and Nationalist troops — Moroccans and Spanish Foreign Legionnaires, covered by the Nazi Condor Legion — captured a foothold in the University City. The 11th Brigade was sent to drive the Nationalists out of the University City. The battle was extremely bloody, a mix of artillery and aerial bombardment, with bayonet and grenade fights, room by room. Anarchist leader Buenaventura Durruti was shot there on 19 November 1936 and died the next day. The battle in the university went on until three-quarters of the University City was under Nationalist control. Both sides then started setting up trenches and fortifications. It was then clear that any assault from either side would be far too costly; the Nationalist leaders had to renounce the idea of a direct assault on Madrid, and prepare for a siege of the capital.

On 13 December 1936, 18,000 nationalist troops attempted an attack to close the encirclement of Madrid at Guadarrama — an engagement known as the Battle of the Corunna Road. The Republicans sent in a Soviet armored unit, under General Dmitry Pavlov, and both XI and XII International Brigades. Violent combat followed, and they stopped the Nationalist advance.

An attack was then launched by the Republic on the Córdoba front. The battle ended in a form of stalemate; a communique was issued, saying: "During the day the advance continued without the loss of any territory." Poets Ralph Winston Fox and John Cornford were killed at the Battle of Lopera, as was Dubliner Tommy Wood, aged 17.[19] Eventually, the Nationalists advanced, taking the hydroelectric station at El Campo. André Marty accused the commander of the Marseillaise Battalion, Gaston Delasalle, of espionage and treason and had him executed. (It is doubtful that Delasalle would have been a spy for Francisco Franco; he was denounced by his second-in-command, André Heussler, who was subsequently executed for treason during World War II by the French Resistance.)

Further Nationalist attempts after Christmas to encircle Madrid met with failure, but not without extremely violent combat. On 6 January 1937, the Thälmann Battalion arrived at Las Rozas and held its positions until it was destroyed as a fighting force. On 9 January, only 10 km had been lost to the Nationalists, when the XIII International Brigade and XIV International Brigade and the 1st British Company, arrived in Madrid. Violent Republican assaults were launched in an attempt to retake the land, with little success. On 15 January, trenches and fortifications were built by both sides, resulting in a stalemate.

The Nationalists did not take Madrid until the very end of the war, in March 1939, when they marched in unopposed. There were some pockets of resistance during the subsequent months.

Battle of Jarama

[edit]

On 6 February 1937, following the fall of Málaga, the nationalists launched an attack on the Madrid–Andalusia road, south of Madrid. The Nationalists quickly advanced on the little town of Ciempozuelos, held by the XV International Brigade. was composed of the British Battalion (British Commonwealth and Irish), the Dimitrov Battalion (miscellaneous Balkan nationalities), the Sixth February Battalion (Belgians and French), the Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. An independent 80-men-strong (mainly) Irish unit, known afterward as the Connolly Column, also fought. Battalions were rarely composed entirely of one nationality, rather they were, for the most part, a mix of many.

On 11 February 1937, a Nationalist brigade launched a surprise attack on the André Marty Battalion (XIV International Brigade), killing its sentries silently and crossing the Jarama. The Garibaldi Battalion stopped the advance with heavy fire. At another point, the same tactic allowed the Nationalists to move their troops across the river. On 12 February, the British Battalion, XV International Brigade took the brunt of the attack, remaining under heavy fire for seven hours. The position became known as "Suicide Hill". At the end of the day, only 225 of the 600 members of the British battalion remained. One company was captured by ruse, when Nationalists advanced among their ranks singing The Internationale.

On 17 February, the Republican Army counterattacked. On 23 and 27 February, the International Brigades were engaged, but with little success. The Lincoln Battalion was put under great pressure, with no artillery support. It suffered 120 killed and 175 wounded. Amongst the dead was the Irish poet Charles Donnelly and Leo Greene.[20]

There were heavy casualties on both sides, and although "both claimed victory ... both suffered defeats".[21] The battle resulted in a stalemate, with both sides digging in and creating elaborate trench systems. On 22 February 1937, the League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee ban on foreign volunteers went into effect.

Battle of Guadalajara

[edit]
Main article: Battle of Guadalajara
Flag of Garibaldi battalion of the XII International Brigade, formed by italian volunteers

After the failed assault on the Jarama, the Nationalists attempted another assault on Madrid, this time from the northeast. The objective was the town of Guadalajara, 50 km from Madrid. The whole Italian expeditionary corps — 35,000 men, with 80 battle tanks and 200 field artillery — was deployed, as Benito Mussolini wanted the victory to be credited to Italy. On 9 March 1937, the Italians made a breach in the Republican lines but did not properly exploit the advance. However, the rest of the Nationalist army was advancing, and the situation appeared critical for the Republicans. A formation drawn from the best available units of the Republican army, including the XI and XII International Brigades, was quickly assembled.

At dawn on 10 March, the Nationalists closed in, and by noon, the Garibaldi Battalion counterattacked. Some confusion arose from the fact that the sides were not aware of each other's movements, and that both sides spoke Italian; this resulted in scouts from both sides exchanging information without realizing they were enemies.[22] The Republican lines advanced and made contact with XI International Brigade. Nationalist tanks were shot at and infantry patrols came into action.

On 11 March, the Nationalist army broke the front of the Republican army. The Thälmann Battalion suffered heavy losses but succeeded in holding the Trijueque–Torija road. The Garibaldi also held its positions. On 12 March, Republican planes and tanks attacked. The Thälmann Battalion attacked Trijuete in a bayonet charge and re-took the town, capturing numerous prisoners.

Other battles

[edit]

The International Brigades also saw combat in the Battle of Teruel in January 1938. The 35th International Division suffered heavily in this battle from aerial bombardment as well as shortages of food, winter clothing, and ammunition. The XIV International Brigade fought in the Battle of Ebro in July 1938, the last Republican offensive of the war.

Casualties

[edit]

Existing primary sources provide conflicting information as to the number of brigadiers killed; a report of the IB Albacete staff from late March 1938 claimed 4,575 KIA,[23] an internal Soviet communication to Moscow by an NKVD major Semyon Gendin from late July 1938 claimed 3,615 KIA,[24] while the prime minister Juan Negrín in his farewell address in Barcelona of October 28, 1938, mentioned 5,000 fallen.[25]

Also, in historiography there is no agreement as to fatal casualties. The highest estimate identified is 15,000 KIA.[26] Many scholars prefer 10,000, also in recently published works.[27] One exact figure offered is 9,934; it was calculated in the mid-1970s[28] and is at times repeated until today.[29] The popular Osprey series claims there were at least 7,800 killed.[30] However, other authors provide estimates that point rather to the range from 6,100[31] to 6,500.[32] In some non-scholarly publications the number is given as 4,900.[33] The above figures include brigadiers killed in action, these who died of wounds later or those who were executed as POWs. They do not include brigadiers who were executed by their own side, the figure that some claim might have been 500;[34] they also do not include victims of accidents (self-shooting, traffic, drownings etc.) or these who perished due to health problems (illness, frostbite, poisoning etc.).

POW brigadiers in Cardeña give the fascist salute, October 1938

The total number of casualties is given as 48,909[35] or 55,162.[36] It includes killed, missing and wounded, though probably contains numerous duplicated/multiplicated cases, as one individual might have suffered wounds a few times.The missing contain the category of POW; their total figure is unknown, yet estimates as to the number of interbrigadistas held prisoner in the key prison camp for foreign combatants, located in San Pedro de Cardeña, exceed 700.[37]

The ratio of KIA to all IB combatants as calculated by historians might differ even more as it depends not only on estimates as to the number of killed, but also on estimates as to the total number of volunteers. Some sources suggest the figure of 8.3%,[33] some authors claim 15%,[38] others opt for 16.8%,[39] prefer 24.7%[40] or endorse the ratio of 28.6%;[41] a single author arrived at 33%[42] and one claims "a half".[43] In comparison, in shock units used by the Nationalists, though they were not entirely comparable, the ratio was 11.3% for the Carlist requetés[44] and 14.6% for the Moroccan regulares.[45] The overall percentage of killed in action in armies of both sides is estimated at some 7%.[46]

Estimates of KIA ratio for major national contingents differ enormously and often bear no reasonable relation to the overall KIA ratio, calculated for the Brigades. For volunteers from Latin America (mostly Cubans, Argentinians, and Mexicans) the figures range between 11% and 13%,[47] for the French (including French-speaking Belgians and Swiss)[48] between 12%[49] and 18%;[39] for the Czechs/Slovaks 17%,[50] for the Italians[51] between 18%[39] and 20%;[52] for the British[53] between 16%[39] and 22%;[54] for the Americans[55] between 13%[39] and 32%;[56] for the Germans (including Austrians and German-speaking Swiss)[57] between 22%[39] and 40%;[58] for the Yugoslavs between 35%[39] and 50%,[59] for the Canadians[57] between 43% and 57%,[60] for the Poles (including Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusians)[61] between 30%[62][63] and 62%.[64] Among smaller contingents, the KIA ratio calculated appears to be 10% for the Cubans,[65] 18% for the Austrians,[66] 21% for the Balts (Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians),[67] 21-25% for the Swiss,[68] 31% for the Finns,[69] 13%-33% for the Greeks,[70] 23-35% for the Swedes,[71] 40% for the Danes,[72] and 44% for the Norwegians.[73] In case of some minuscule national contingents, e.g. the Australians, the ratio of KIA appears to be some 21-22%.[74]

Disbandment

[edit]
Bronze plaque honoring the British soldiers of the International Brigades who died defending the Spanish Republic at the monument on Hill 705, Serra de Pàndols.

In October 1938, at the height of the Battle of the Ebro, the Non-Intervention Committee demanded the withdrawal of the International Brigades.[75] The Republican government of Juan Negrín announced the decision in the League of Nations on 21 September 1938. The disbandment was part of an ill-advised effort to get the Nationalists' foreign backers to withdraw their troops and to persuade the Western democracies such as France and Britain to end their arms embargo on the Republic.

By this time there were about an estimated 10,000 foreign volunteers still serving in Spain for the Republican side, and about 50,000 foreign conscripts for the Nationalists (excluding another 30,000 Moroccans).[76] Perhaps half of the International Brigadistas were exiles or refugees from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy or other countries, such as Hungary, which had authoritarian right-wing governments at the time. These men could not safely return home, and some were instead given honorary Spanish citizenship and integrated into Spanish units of the Popular Army. The remainder were repatriated to their own countries. The Belgian and Dutch volunteers lost their citizenship because they had served in a foreign army.[5]

Composition

[edit]

Overview

[edit]
For military structure and organization, see International Brigades order of battle.

The first brigades were composed mostly of French, Belgian, Italian, and German volunteers, backed by a sizeable contingent of Polish miners from Northern France and Belgium. The XIth, XIIth and XIIIth were the first brigades formed. Later, the XIVth and XVth Brigades were raised, mixing experienced soldiers with new volunteers. Smaller Brigades — the 86th, 129th and 150th – were formed in late 1937 and 1938, mostly for temporary tactical reasons.

About 32,000[3] foreigners volunteered to defend the Spanish Republic, the vast majority of them with the International Brigades. Many were veterans of World War I. Their early engagements in 1936 during the Siege of Madrid amply demonstrated their military and propaganda value.

The international volunteers were mainly socialists, communists, or others willing to accept communist authority, and a high proportion were Jewish. Some were involved in the Barcelona May Days fighting against leftist opponents of the Communists: the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista, an anti-Stalinist Marxist party) and the anarchist CNT (CNT, Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) and FAI (FAI, Iberian Anarchist Federation), who had strong support in Catalonia. These libertarian groups attracted fewer foreign volunteers.

To simplify communication, the battalions usually concentrated on people of the same nationality or language group. The battalions were often (formally, at least) named after inspirational people or events. From spring 1937 onwards, many battalions contained one Spanish volunteer company of about 150 men.

Later in the war, military discipline tightened and learning Spanish became mandatory. By decree of 23 September 1937, the International Brigades formally became units of the Spanish Foreign Legion.[77] This made them subject to the Spanish Code of Military Justice. However, the Spanish Foreign Legion itself sided with the Nationalists throughout the coup and the civil war.[77] The same decree also specified that non-Spanish officers in the Brigades should not exceed Spanish ones by more than 50 percent.[78]

Non-Spanish battalions

[edit]
Spanish Civil War Medal awarded to the International Brigades
  • Abraham Lincoln Battalion – from the United States and Canada, with some British, Cypriots, and Chileans from the Chilean Worker Club of New York.
  • Mickiewicz Battalion – predominantly Polish.
  • André Marty Battalion – predominantly French and Belgian.
  • British Battalion – mainly British but with many from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Cyprus and other Commonwealth countries.
  • Checo-Balcánico Battalion – Czechoslovakian and Balkan.
  • Commune de Paris Battalion – predominantly French.
  • Deba Blagoiev Battalion – predominantly Bulgarian, later merged into the Đaković Battalion.
  • Dimitrov Battalion – Greek, Yugoslav, Bulgarian, Czechoslovakian, Hungarian and Romanian (named after Georgi Dimitrov).
  • Đuro Đaković Battalion – Yugoslav, Bulgarian, anarchist, named for former Yugoslav Communist Party secretary Djuro Đaković.
  • Dabrowski Battalion – mostly Polish and Hungarian, also Czechoslovak, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Palestinian Jews.
  • Edgar André Battalion – mostly German, also Austrian, Yugoslav, Bulgarian, Albanian, Romanian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Dutch.
  • Español Battalion – Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Chilean, Argentine and Bolivian.
  • Figlio Battalion – mostly Italian; later merged with the Garibaldi Battalion.
  • Garibaldi Battalion – raised as the Italoespañol Battalion and renamed. Mostly Italian and Spanish but contained some Albanians.
  • George Washington Battalion – the second U.S. battalion. Later merged with the Lincoln Battalion, to form the Lincoln-Washington Battalion.
  • Hans Beimler Battalion – mostly German; later merged with the Thälmann Battalion.
  • Henri Barbusse Battalion – predominantly French.
  • Henri Vuilleman Battalion – predominantly French.
  • Italian Column (Matteotti Battalion) – predominantly Italian and the first international group to reach Spain.[79][80]
  • Louise Michel Battalions – French-speaking, later merged with the Henri Vuillemin Battalion.
  • Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion – the "Mac-Paps", predominantly Canadian.
  • Marseillaise Battalion – predominantly French, commanded by George Nathan.
    • Incorporated one separate British company.
  • Palafox Battalion – Yugoslav, Polish, Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, Jewish and French.
  • Pierre Brachet Battalion – mostly French.
  • Rakosi Battalion – mainly Hungarian, also Czechoslovaks, Ukrainians, Poles, Chinese, Mongolians and Palestinian Jews.
  • Nine Nations Battalion (also known as the Sans nons and Neuf Nationalités) – French, Belgian, Italian, German, Austrian, Dutch, Danish, Swiss and Polish.
  • Sixth of February Battalion – French, Belgian, Moroccan, Algerian, Libyan, Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Filipino and Palestinian Jewish.
  • Thälmann Battalion – predominantly German, named after German communist leader Ernst Thälmann.
    • Tom Mann Centuria – a small, mostly British, group who operated as a section of the Thälmann Battalion.
  • Thomas Masaryk Battalion: mostly Czechoslovak.
  • Chapaev Battalion – composed of 21 nationalities (Ukrainian, Polish, Czechoslovakian, Bulgarian, Yugoslavian, Turkish, Italian, German, Austrian, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Belgian, French, Greek, Albanian, Dutch, Swiss, Lithuanian and Estonian).[81]
  • Vaillant-Couturier Battalion – French, Belgian, Czechoslovakian, Bulgarian, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.
  • Veinte Battalion – American, British, Italian, Yugoslav and Bulgarian.
  • Zwölfte Februar Battalion – mostly Austrian.
  • Company De Zeven Provinciën – Dutch.

Brigadistas by country of origin

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Country Estimate Notes
France 8,962[82]–9,000[3][83]
Italy 3,000[82][83]–3,350[84]
Germany 3,000[3]–5,000[83] Beevor quotes 2,217 Germans and 872 Austrians.[82]
Austria Austrian Resistance documents name 1,400 Austrians. Annexed in 1938 by Germany.
Poland 500[85]–5,000[86] International historiography tends to hover around the figure of 3,000 "Poles".[3][83][82] It includes migrants from Poland but recruited in France and Belgium, who made up some 75% of the Polish contingent;[87] it also includes volunteers of Belarusian, Ukrainian and especially Jewish origin; the latter might have accounted for 45% of all volunteers classified as "Poles".[88]
 United Kingdom 2,500[89]
 United States 2,341[82]–2,800[83][84]
Czechoslovakia 2,200[90] some 20% of volunteers from Czechoslovakia were Germans, and some 11% were Hungarians[91]
Yugoslavia 1,900[3]–2,095[82]
 Belgium 1,600[83]–1,722[82]
 Canada 1,546–2,000[83] Thomas estimates 1,000.[84]
Cuba 1,101[92][93]
 Argentina 740[94]
 Netherlands 628[82]–691[95]
 Denmark 550 220 died.
Hungary 528[82]–1,500[3]
 Sweden 500[96] Est. 799[82]–1,000[84] from Scandinavia (of whom 500 were Swedes[96]).
Romania 500
Bulgaria 462
  Switzerland 408[82]–800[97]
 Lithuania 300–600[98][82]
Ireland 250 Split between the British Battalion and the Lincoln Battalion which included the famed Connolly Column.
 Norway 225 100 died.[99][100][101]
 Finland 225 Including 78 Finnish Americans and 73 Finnish Canadians, ca. 70 died.[102]
Estonia 200[103][82]
Greece 290–400[104]
Portugal 134[82] Due to the geographic and linguistic proximity most Portuguese volunteers joined the Republican forces directly and not the International Brigades (such is the case of Emídio Guerreiro and that was the plan of the failed 1936 Naval Revolt). At the time it was estimated that about 2,000 Portuguese fought on the Republican side, spread throughout different units (estimate of Jaime Cortesão).[105]
 Luxembourg 103[106] Livre historiographic d'Henri Wehenkel – D'Spueniekämfer (1997)
China 100[107] Organised by the Chinese Communist Party, members were mostly overseas Chinese led by Xie Weijin.[108]
 Mexico 90
Cyprus 60[104]
 Australia 60[109] Of whom 16 killed.[109]
Philippines 50[110][111]
Albania 43 Organised in the "Garibaldi Battalion" together with Italians. They were led by the Kosovar revolutionary Asim Vokshi.
 Costa Rica 24[3]
New Zealand 20 [112] Mixed into British units.
Others 1,122[82]

Status after the war

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East German stamp honoring Hans Beimler with a combat scene of the International Brigades in the background

After the Civil War was eventually won by the Nationalists, the brigaders were initially on the "wrong side" of history, especially as most of their home countries had right-wing governments (in France, for instance, the Popular Front was not in power anymore). However, since most of these countries soon found themselves at war with the very powers which had been supporting the Nationalists, the brigadistas gained some prestige as the first guard of the democracies, as having foreseen the danger of fascism and gone to fight it. Some glory therefore accrued to the volunteers (a great many of the survivors also fought during World War II), but this soon faded in the fear that it would promote communism by association.

The highest-ranking post-war IB combatant was Koča Popović, who briefly served as the vice-president of Yugoslavia (1966–1967). Two became prime ministers: Mehmet Shehu (Albania, 1954–1981) and Ferenc Münnich (Hungary, 1958–1961), while Heinrich Rau was the chairman of DWK, sort of government of what would become East Germany (1948–1949). There were four deputy prime ministers: Petre Borilă (Romania, 1954–1965), Eugeniusz Szyr (Poland, 1959–1972), Gogu Rădulescu (Romania, 1963–1979), and Pietro Nenni (Italy, 1963–1968); Rodoljub Čolaković served as prime minister of Bosnia and Hercegovina, the federative component of Yugoslavia (1945-1948). In communist countries tens of ex-combatants served as ministers (e.g. Karlo Lukanov in Bulgaria, Josef Pavel in Czechoslovakia, Gheorghe Vasilichi in Romania, Ernő Gerő in Hungary, Maks Baće in Yugoslavia), or held other key state jobs, especially in the army and security (e.g. Erich Mielke in East Germany). In the West the only person holding a ministerial job identified was Nenni, though Lou Lichtveld was minister in the Dutch-dependent Surinam. In the West few became senators, like Armando Fedeli (Italy, 1948–1958) and Raymond Guyeot (France, 1959–1977), and a handful served as members of lower houses in their national parliaments, especially in France (e.g. Auguste Lecœur in 1945-1955) and Italy (e.g. Aristodemo Maniera in 1948-1958); however, the highest-ranking combatant in national legislative was Ferdinand Kozovski, the longtime chairman of the National Assembly of Bulgaria (1949–1966). Beyond the official state structures single individuals grew to high political positions: in the mid-1970s Jack Jones as General Secretary of General Workers Union was considered the most powerful person in Britain.

Canada

[edit]

Survivors of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion were often investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and denied employment when they returned to Canada. Some were prevented from serving in the military during the Second World War due to "political unreliability".[citation needed]

In 1995 a monument to veterans of the war was built near Ontario's provincial parliament.[113] On 12 February 2000, a bronze statue "The Spirit of the Republic" by sculptor Jack Harman, based on an original poster from the Spanish Republic, was placed on the grounds of the British Columbia Legislature.[114] In 2001, the few remaining Canadian veterans of the Spanish Civil War dedicated a monument to Canadian members of the International Brigades in Ottawa's Green Island Park.

East Germany

[edit]
Erich Mielke, most powerful DDR combatant

Probably in no country of the world did the International Brigades combatants enjoy the prestige comparable to that bestowed on them in East Germany.[115] Though after 1945, they were celebrated in all communist states as freedom fighters against fascism, their position was secondary and the official narrative centred upon other threads, e.g. the USSR-raised army in Poland, the Slovak National Uprising in Czechoslovakia, or the partisan quasi-state in Yugoslavia. No such narrative was available in the case of East Germany, whose “communist government found itself without historical roots beyond the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe and turned the heroism of the Spanish Civil War fighters into the myth that became a central focus of the German Democratic Republic”.[116] Factional purges of the early 1950s affected German veterans (e.g. the cases of Franz Dahlem or Wilhelm Zaisser) far less than e.g. in Czechoslovakia, though some “Brigaders faced an uncertain existence as they navigated the tortuous political hairpin curves of life under Stalinism and the continual and often critical need for political realignment”.[117]

Like in other communist countries, the IB veterans – usually referred to as Spanienkämpfer – were overrepresented in power structures. They took three of the most important military posts: Heinz Hoffmann as commander of Nationale Volksarmee, Erich Mielke as head of Ministry for Security, and Friedrich Dickel as Minister of Interior. Many held other key posts in army and security, e.g. Herbert Grünstein was Deputy Minister of the Interior while Ewald Munschke became chief of administration in NVA. There were 10 former interbrigadistas who entered the Political Bureau of Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, some briefly (e.g. Anton Ackermann, Dahlem or Zaisser) and some for decades (e.g. Paul Verner, Kurt Hager and Alfred Neumann).[118] Numerous ex-combatants assumed high positions in media.[119] The list of veterans who “rose to the highest ranks in the East German government runs into hundreds”.[120]

Spanienkämpfer monument, Berlin

German participation in the International Brigades remained the ideological historiographic backbone of DDR until its collapse. East Germany itself officially acknowledged that “the German-speaking units of the International Brigades represented the nucleus of the armed forces of the future GDR”.[121] Books by Ludwig Renn became standard works and at times obligatory reading.[122] Numerous streets, schools, bridges, factories and troop units were named after the Spanienkämpfer;[123] in 1968 they were dedicated a monument, unveiled in East Berlin.[124] Attempts to challenge the propagandistic use of German IB history, like the 1979 novel Collin by Stefan Heym, remained isolated episodes with no major impact. The 1986 fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the war saw another outpouring of adulation,[125] even though over time the volunteers “became cardboard figures which mirrored the ossification of the State itself”.[126] However, only a few days before the fall of the Berlin Wall, on November 5, 1989, Walter Janka appeared at a public reading of his memoirs to an overflow crowd at the Deutsches Theater. The event was broadcast live on radio and shown later on television.[127]

Czechoslovakia

[edit]
Josef Pavel, highest-ranking IB combatant

Most Czechoslovak volunteers[128] remained in France; in 1939-40 many got enlisted in troops, raised by the exile government. Later their fate differed: some served in Czechoslovak units raised in Britain,[129] some were members of French resistance, some returned home, and some ended up in concentration camps.[130]

In re-born Czechoslovakia the Interbrigadistas, known as španěláci, were granted ex-combatant rights. They were overrepresented in KSČ-controlled power structures (army, public order, security, intelligence). Some of them – like Pavel – were instrumental when carrying out the coup of February 1948. The Security Five, key men controlling security institutions – was composed of former IB volunteers: Pavel, Hofman, Hromádko, Valeš and Závodský.[131] Some rose to deputy ministers (London and Dufek in foreign affairs, Hušek in information and Kriegel in health).[132]

Vlasta Veselá, possibly tortured to death

At the turn of the decades a drastic wave of political purges heavily affected the former Interbrigadistas. Almost all lost their posts and many underwent brutal interrogation; Veselá died in prison. In the early 1950s there was a show-trial planned, intended to denounce “International Brigades as a Trotskyist-Titoist gang”,[133] though eventually most prison sentences were delivered during small-scale trials. In 1952 Otto Šling was executed as an enemy spy.[134]

Following another political change in 1956 those still behind bars were set free and gradually re-admitted to public administration. The 1960s was the golden era for Czechoslovak IB combatants, hailed as the first ones who confronted Fascism. Some (Holdoš, Kriegel, Falbra) took advantage of their linguistic skills and were despatched as advisors to Castro’s Cuba. Politically the Czechoslovak Interbrigadistas tended to support the reformist wing of KSČ. Few rose to top positions, e.g. in 1968 Kriegel became chairman of the National Front, and Pavel assumed the ministry of interior.

The invasion of 1968 marked another downturn; most of these at high positions were dismissed, though there was no wave of heavy repression. Some resigned (Pavel, Holdoš), few left for exile (Hromádko) and some were involved in dissident movement (Kriegel). After 1989 there was some confusion in both Czechia and Slovakia as to how the IB veterans should be approached, though the controversy was not comparable to the similar one in Poland;[135] eventually the image which seems to prevail is this of anti-fascist combatants. In 2016 the Czech minister of defense Kühnl awarded commemorative medals to last living Interbrigadistas.[136] A 2021 monograph presents the španěláci in balanced, but somewhat sympathetic terms.[137]

Poland

[edit]
Eugeniusz Szyr, highest-ranking IB combatant

In line with the 1920 legislation, Polish citizens who volunteered to the IB were automatically stripped of citizenship as individuals who without formal approval served in foreign armed forces.[138] Following republican defeat the combatants recruited in France and Belgium returned there.[139] Among the others some served in pro-Communist partisan units in the German-occupied Poland,[140] while some made it to the USSR and served in the pro-Communist Polish army raised there.[141]

In the Communist Poland the IB combatants – referred to as Dąbrowszczacy[142] - were granted veteran rights and formed an own ex-combatant organisation, later to be amalgamanted into a general one.[143] In the early post-war period they enjoyed some official exaltation; the group was supported by Karol Świerczewski, in Spain a career Soviet commander who during few strings commanded IB units.[144] Some assumed high positions in administration,[145] but they were heavily overrepresented in power structures (army, security);[146] some departments became their fiefdoms, like counter-intelligence branch of the army.[147] During purges of early 1950s there were also cases of deposition, arrest and prison on trumped-up charges of political conspiracy;[148] these were released in the mid-1950s.[149]

Though from the onset Polish engagement in IB was hailed as "working class taking to arms against Fascism", the most intense idolization took place between the mid-1950s and the mid-1960s, with a spate of publications, schools and streets named after Dąbrowszczacy.[150] However, an antisemitic turn in the late 1960s again produced de-emphasizing of IB volunteers, many of whom left Poland.[151] Until the end of Communist rule the IB episode was duly acknowledged, but propaganda related was a far cry from veneration reserved for wartime Communist partisans or the USSR-raised Polish army.[152] Despite some efforts on part of IB combatants, no monument has been erected.[153] Unlike in East Germany, except Szyr no-one made it to the very top strata of the Communist elite (member of Political Bureau of PZPR, minister).

Squat with IB murale, Warsaw.
Squat with IB murale, Warsaw.

After 1989 it was unclear whether Dąbrowszczacy were furtherly entitled to veteran privileges; the issue generated political debates until they became pointless, as almost all IB combatants had passed away.[154] Another question was about homage references, existent in public space. A state-run institution IPN declared Polish IB combatants in service of the Stalinist regime and related homage references subject to de-communisation legislation.[155] However, efficiency of purges of public space differs depending upon local political configuration and occasionally there is heated public debate ensuing; in some cases there was conflict between regional and municipal authorities, one trying to overrule another.[156] Until today the role of Polish IB combatants remains a highly divisive topic; for some they are traitors and for some they are heroes.[157] In post-Communist Poland they gained few scientific articles, yet no larger scientific monograph on Dąbrowszczacy has been published.[158]

Switzerland

[edit]
Monument to Swiss IB volunteers, Geneva.

In Switzerland, public sympathy was high for the Republican cause, but the federal government banned all fundraising and recruiting activities a month after the start of the war as part of the country's long-standing policy of neutrality.[97] Around 800 Swiss volunteers joined the International Brigades, among them a small number of women.[97] Sixty percent of Swiss volunteers identified as communists, while the others included socialists, anarchists and antifascists.[97]

Some 170 Swiss volunteers were killed in the war.[97] The survivors were tried by military courts upon their return to Switzerland for violating the criminal prohibition on foreign military service.[97][159] The courts pronounced 420 sentences which ranged from around 2 weeks to 4 years in prison, and often also stripped the convicts of their political rights for the period of up to 5 years. In the Swiss society, traditionally highly appreciative of civic virtues, this translated to longtime stigmatization also after the penalty period expired.[160] In the judgment of Swiss historian Mauro Cerutti, volunteers were punished more harshly in Switzerland than in any other democratic country.[97]

Zürich Volkshaus; plaque is visible left to main entrance

Motions to pardon the Swiss brigaders on the account that they fought for a just cause have been repeatedly introduced in the Swiss federal parliament. A first such proposal was defeated in 1939 on neutrality grounds.[97] In 2002, Parliament again rejected a pardon of the Swiss war volunteers, with a majority arguing that they broke a law that remains in effect to this day.[161] In March 2009, Parliament adopted the third bill of pardon, retroactively rehabilitating Swiss brigades, only a handful of whom were still alive.[162]

In 2000 there was a monument honoring Swiss IB combatants unveiled in Geneva; there are also numerous plaques mounted elsewhere, e.g., at the Volkshaus in Zürich.[163] Since 2003 there is "Place des Brigades-internationales" in La Chaux-de-Fonds. No Swiss IB ex-combatants became widely known personalities, though in the late 20th century some acquired certain public recognition; these were the cases of Ernst Stauffer (local civil servant and author of memoirs) and Hans Hutter (author and activist for rehabilitation). IG Spanienfreiwillige, an organisation set up to cultivate the memory of Swiss volunteers, built up a database of around 800 individuals, more than a half of them listed with some biographical details.[164]

United Kingdom

[edit]

On disbandment, 305 British volunteers left Spain to return home.[165] They arrived at Victoria Station in central London on 7 December and were met warmly as returning heroes by a crowd of supporters including Clement Attlee, Stafford Cripps, Willie Gallacher, Ellen Wilkinson and Will Lawther.[166]

The last surviving British member of the International Brigades, Geoffrey Servante, died in April 2019 aged 99.[167]

IBMT

[edit]
See also: International Brigade Memorial Trust

The International Brigade Memorial Trust is a registered charity that handles activities around the memory of volunteers from Britain and Ireland. The group maintains a map of memorials to volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and organises yearly events to commemorate the war.[168]

United States

[edit]
Main article: Abraham Lincoln Brigade

In the United States, the returned volunteers were labeled "premature anti-fascists" by the FBI, denied promotion during service in the U.S. military during World War II, and pursued by Congressional committees during the Red Scare of 1947–1957.[169][170] However, threats of loss of citizenship were not carried out.

Recognition

[edit]

Josep Almudéver, believed to be the last surviving veteran of the International Brigades, died on 23 May 2021 at the age of 101. Although born into a Spanish family and living in Spain at the outbreak of the conflict, he also held French citizenship and enlisted in the International Brigades to avoid age restrictions in the Spanish Republican army. He served in the CXXIX International Brigade and later fought in the Spanish Maquis, and after the war lived in exile in France.[171]

Spain

[edit]

On 26 January 1996, the Spanish government gave Spanish citizenship to the 600 or so remaining Brigadistas, fulfilling a promise made by Prime Minister Juan Negrín in 1938.

France

[edit]

In 1996, Jacques Chirac, then French President, granted the former French members of the International Brigades the legal status of former service personnel ("ancient combatants") following the request of two French communist Members of Parliament, Lefort and Asensi, both children of volunteers. Before 1996, the same request was turned down several times including by François Mitterrand, the former Socialist President.

Symbolism and heraldry

[edit]

The International Brigades were inheritors of a socialist aesthetic. The flags featured the colors of the Spanish Republic: red, yellow and purple, often along with socialist symbols (red flags, hammer and sickle, fist). The emblem of the brigades themselves was the three-pointed red star, which is often featured.[172]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ Grasmeder, Elizabeth M.F. (2021). "Leaning on Legionnaires: Why Modern States Recruit Foreign Soldiers". International Security. 46 (1): 147–195. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00411. S2CID 236094319. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Reportaje | La última brigadista". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). 11 December 2011. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thomas 2003, pp. 941–945
  4. ^ Rein, Raanan (2020). "De Moisés Ville a Madrid: Los argentinos judíos y la solidaridad con el bando republicano durante la Guerra Civil Española". Cuadernos de Historia de España (87). Buenos Aires: UBA: 13–36. doi:10.34096/che.n87.9046. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b Orwell 1984
  6. ^ Beevor 1999, p. 124
  7. ^ Third International | association of political parties at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  8. ^ Watson, Keith Scott (2022) [1937]. Single to Spain. The Clapton Press. ISBN 978-1-913693-11-4. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  9. ^ Sommerfield, John (1937). Volunteer in Spain. London: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd.
  10. ^ Wintringham, Tom (1939). English Captain. London: Faber & Faber.
  11. ^ Bates, Ralph (1939). The Miraculous Horde. London: Johnathan Cape.
  12. ^ Kurzke, Jan (2021). The Good Comrade: Memoirs of an International Brigader. The Clapton Press. ISBN 978-1-913693-06-0. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  13. ^ "The Sinking of the "Ciudad de Barcelona", 30th May 1937". Ciudad de Barcelona. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  14. ^ Thomas 2003, p. 443
  15. ^ Graham, Helen (2005). The Spanish Civil War: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 44. ISBN 0-19-280377-8. OCLC 57243230. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  16. ^ Orden, circular, creando un Comisariado general de Guerra con la misión que se indica (PDF). Vol. Año CCLXXV Tomo IV, Núm. 290. Gaceta de Madrid: diario oficial de la República. 16 October 1936. p. 355. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  17. ^ Beevor 1999; Anderson 2003, p. 59.
  18. ^ Romilly, Esmond (2018). Boadilla. London: The Clapton Press. ISBN 978-1999654306.
  19. ^ Stradling, R. A. (1999). The Irish and the Spanish Civil War, 1936–39: Crusades in Conflict. Manchester University Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-901341-13-3.
  20. ^ McInerney, Michael (December 1979). "The Enigma of Frank Ryan part 1" (PDF). Old Limerick Journal. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  21. ^ Thomas 2003, p. 579
  22. ^ Beevor 1999, p. 158
  23. ^ Tremlett, Giles (13 May 2021). The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-5266-4454-1. The national contingents with the highest number of KIAs were reported as French (942), Italians (526), Poles (466), Germans (308) and Americans (276), though the list contained also a large number (864) of others, unidentified etc
  24. ^ "report of Semyon Gendin РГВА, ф. 33987, оп. 3, д. 1149, л. 260—269". Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  25. ^ Pastor García, Daniel; Celada, Antonio R. (2 October 2017). "The Victors Write History, the Vanquished Literature: Myth, Distortion and Truth in the XV Brigade". In Belenguer, Susana; Cosgrove, Ciaran; Whiston, James (eds.). Living the Death of Democracy in Spain. Routledge. p. 312. ISBN 978-1-317-52543-1.
  26. ^ "some raise the figure to 15,000, which seems to be entirely unfounded", Pastor García & Celada 2017, p. 312. However, one author claims there were 17,620 "dead or missing", Hooton, E. R. (19 March 2019). Spain in Arms. Philadelphia ; Oxford: Casemate. ISBN 978-1-61200-637-6. OCLC 1104030290., referred after Clifford, Alexander (2020). Fighting for Spain. Pen & Sword Military. p. 226. ISBN 9781526774385.
  27. ^ see e.g. Casanova, Julián (19 September 2019). A Short History of the Spanish Civil War. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-350-12758-6., quoting Lefebvre & Skoutelsky 2003
  28. ^ Castells, Andreu (1974). Les Brigades Internacionales de la Guerra España. p. 383.
  29. ^ Mugnai, Bruno (2019). Foreign Volunteers and International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. Luca Cristini Editore (Soldiershop). p. 66. ISBN 978-88-9327-421-0., Engel, Carlos (1999). Azul y rojo: imágenes de la Guerra Civil Española (in Spanish). Madrid: Almena. p. 78. ISBN 978-84-930713-0-1.
  30. ^ Bradley, K.; Chappell, M. (1994). International Brigades in Spain 1936–39. Elite. Bloomsbury USA. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-85532-367-4.
  31. ^ Payne, Stanley G. (13 August 2012). The Spanish Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 153, 157. ISBN 978-0-521-17470-1. of the total of 41,000 volunteers" there were "approximately 15 percent of the volunteers killed
  32. ^ Kozłowski, Eugeniusz (1989). "Brygady Międzynarodowe w obronie republiki hiszpańskiej". Dąbrowszczacy w wojnie hiszpańskiej 1936–1939: 81.
  33. ^ a b Simkin, John. "International Brigades". Spartacus Educational. Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  34. ^ Andre Marty claimed he personally shot 500 men for cowardice, indiscipline and desertion, but the figure is doubted, Beevor, Antony (23 August 2012). Battle for Spain: the Spanish Civil War. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-78022-453-4.
  35. ^ Engel 1999, p. 78
  36. ^ Clifford 2020, p. 226
  37. ^ opinion of the author of the monograph in question. She quotes also other estimates ranging between 480 and 900, Vilar Oviedo, Celia (2021). Los brigadistas internacionales de San Pedro de Cardeña (MA thesis) (in Spanish). University of Burgos. p. 37.
  38. ^ Payne 2012, p. 157. Also the IB report from March 1938 claimed 15%, namely 4.575 KIA out of 31.369 volunteers
  39. ^ a b c d e f g Castells 1974, p. 383
  40. ^ a "composite index", Jackson 1994, p. 106
  41. ^ Casanova 2019, p. 96
  42. ^ Durgan, Andy (Autumn 1999). "Freedom fighters or Comintern army? The International Brigades in Spain". International Socialism. 2 (84). Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022. An estimated third of all international volunteers were killed
  43. ^ Jackson, M. W. (1986). "The Army of Strangers: The International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War*". Australian Journal of Politics & History. 32 (1): 105–118. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8497.1986.tb00344.x. ISSN 0004-9522. Perhaps half of the foreign volunteers in the International Brigades died in Spain
  44. ^ Payne 2012, p. 184
  45. ^ Wright, Stephanie (2020). "Glorious Brothers, Unsuitable Lovers: Moroccan Veterans, Spanish Women, and the Mechanisms of Francoist Paternalism". Journal of Contemporary History. 55 (1): 52–74. doi:10.1177/0022009418778777. ISSN 0022-0094. 11,500 out of 78,500
  46. ^ Payne, Stanley G. (11 March 2011). The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism. Yale University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-300-17832-6. the rate of loss was about average for the two contending armies (which averaged approximately 7 percent fatalities) and was exceeded only by that of special units, such as the International Brigades, about 15 percent of whose effectives were killed
  47. ^ 11% in case of KIA, 12,9% if missing or POWs are counted in, Baumann, Gerold Gino F. (2009). Los voluntarios latinoamericanos en la Guerra Civil Española (in Spanish). Cuenca: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. p. 34. ISBN 978-84-8427-643-2.; however, for national contingents estimates are usually higher, e.g. in case of Venezuelans 11%, Peruvians 13% and Mexicans 16%
  48. ^ IB report of April 1938 claimed their KIA ratio of 11%, Payne, Stanley G. (1970). The Spanish Revolution. Revolutions in the modern world. Norton. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-393-09885-3.
  49. ^ L'epopée de L'espagne, Paris 1957, p. 80, referred after Jackson, Michael W. (1994). Fallen Sparrows: The International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-87169-212-2.
  50. ^ Nedvěd, Jiří (2008). Českoslovenští dobrovolníci, mezinárodní brigády a občanská válka ve Španělsku v letech 1936–1939 (MA thesis) (in Czech). Praha: Charles University in Prague., claims that out of 2170 volunteers from Czechoslovakia (p. 90) there were 370 KIA, POW and MIA (p. 144); IB report of April 1938 claimed 18%, Payne 1970, p. 328
  51. ^ IB report of April 1938 claimed 18%, Payne 1970, p. 328
  52. ^ Togliatti, Palmiro (1961). Le Parti Communiste Italien. p. 102., referred after Jackson 1994, p. 106
  53. ^ IB report of April 1938 claimed 7%, Payne 1970, p. 328
  54. ^ "British volunteers in the Spanish Civil War". International Brigade Memorial Trust. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link); the figure of 20% in Wood, Neal (1959). Communism and British Intellectuals. p. 56., referred after Jackson 1994, p. 106
  55. ^ IB report of April 1938 claimed 12%, Payne 1970, p. 328
  56. ^ Rolfe, Edwin (1939). The Lincoln Battalion. p. 7., referred after Jackson 1994, p. 106
  57. ^ a b IB report of April 1938 claimed 14%, Payne 1970, p. 328
  58. ^ Kantorowicz 1948, p. 15, referred after Jackson 1994, p. 106
  59. ^ "Tito speaks". Life. 28 April 1952., referred after Jackson 1994, p. 106
  60. ^ "Monument to Spanish Civil War's Mac-Paps veterans unveiled". archive.news.gov.bc.ca. 12 April 1998. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  61. ^ IB report of April 1938 claimed 15%, Payne 1970, p. 328
  62. ^ Różycki, Bartłomiej (2015). Polska Ludowa wobec Hiszpanii frankistowskiej i hiszpańskiej transformacji ustrojowej, 1945-1977 (in Polish). Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu. p. 146. ISBN 978-83-7629-765-1.
  63. ^ Pietrzak, Jacek (30 December 2016). "Polscy uczestnicy hiszpańskiej wojny domowej". Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Historica (97). Uniwersytet Lodzki (University of Lodz): 65–86. doi:10.18778/0208-6050.97.04. hdl:11089/22617. ISSN 2450-6990.
  64. ^ allegedly 3,500 out of 5,200, Wyszczelski, Lech (1989). "Wysiłek organizacyjny i bojowy dąbrowszczaków w wojnie hiszpańskiej w latach 1936–1939". Dąbrowszczacy w wojnie hiszpańskiej 1936–1939: 98.
  65. ^ "111 muertos para 1 101 combatientes", "Los voluntarios cubanos en la GCE". Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  66. ^ Gálvez, Fran (13 October 2016). "Austria recuerda a sus brigadistas que lucharon en la Guerra Civil de España". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). De los 1.400 voluntarios austríacos, unos 250 murieron en diferentes frentes de la guerra; IB report of April 1938 claimed 16%, Payne 1970, p. 328
  67. ^ 190 out of 892 volunteers, referred after de la Torre, Ignacio (2015). The role of the Baltics in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War (MA thesis). Riga: University of Latvia. p. 35.; IB report of April 1938 (which includes Finns among "the Balts") claimed 21%, Payne 1970, p. 328
  68. ^ out of some 800 Swiss volunteers there were 170 KIA, Mariani 2008. According to another work out of 815 Swiss volunteers there were 185-200 dead (23-25%), Ramón Carrión, Manuel Alberto (14 January 2020). "Los voluntarios suizos en las Brigadas Internacionales (1936-1938)" [Swiss Volunteers in International Brigades (1936-1938)]. HISPANIA NOVA. Primera Revista de Historia Contemporánea on-line en castellano. Segunda Época. Universidad Carlos III de Madrid: 233. doi:10.20318/hn.2020.5105. ISSN 1138-7319.; IB report of April 1938 claimed 19%, Payne 1970, p. 328
  69. ^ 70 KIA out of 225 volunteers, Juusela, Jyrki (2003). Suomalaiset Espanjan sisällissodassa 1936-1939 (in Finnish). Atena Kustannus Oy. ISBN 978-951-796-324-4., referred after de la Torre 2015, p. 35
  70. ^ including Cypriots; there are 53 KIA known by name, though the number is believed to be around 100 KIA, all out of 300 or 400 volunteers, efor. "The Greek antifascist volunteers in the Spanish Civil War". EAGAINST.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  71. ^ estimates as to irrecoverable losses for some 500-men-strong Swedish contingent, Padilla, Fernando Camacho; Criado, Ana de la Asunción (1 June 2018). "El papel de Suecia en la guerra civil española (1936-1939)". Les Cahiers de Framespa. E-STORIA (27). UMR 5136 – FRAMESPA. doi:10.4000/framespa.4879. ISSN 1760-4761.; IB report of April 1938 claimed 14% KIA ratio among Danes, Norwegians and Swedes combined, Payne 1970, p. 328
  72. ^ 220 dead out of 550, Lefebvre & Skoutelsky 2003, referred after de la Torre 2015, p. 35; IB report of April 1938 claimed 14% KIA ratio among Danes, Norwegians and Swedes combined, Payne 1970, p. 328
  73. ^ 100 KIA out of 225 volunteers, Moen, Jo Stein; Sæther, Rolf (2009). Tusen dager: Norge og den spanske borgerkrigen 1936–1939 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal. ISBN 978-82-05-39351-6., referred after de la Torre 2015, p. 35; IB report of April 1938 claimed 14% KIA ratio among Danes, Norwegians and Swedes combined, Payne 1970, p. 328
  74. ^ there are 14 Australians killed in Spain listed by name in Palmer, Nettie; Fox, Len (1948). Australians in Spain. pp. 11–24.. The overall number of Australians serving in IB is estimated as 66, though some authors claim 44, Gould, Bronte (2012). "Australian Participation in the Spanish Civil War". The Flinders Journal of History and Politics. 28: 102.
  75. ^ Lorenzo Peña. "Mensaje de de Despedida a Los voluntarios de las Brigadas Internacionales y otros discursos de La Pasionaria". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  76. ^ "WAR IN SPAIN: Exit". Time. 3 October 1938. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010.
  77. ^ a b Beevor 2006, p. 309
  78. ^ Castells 1974, pp. 258–259
  79. ^ Sachar, Howard M. (2013). Farewell Espana: The World of the Sephardim Remembered. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-8041-5053-8.
  80. ^ Pugliese, Stanislao G. (1999). Carlo Rosselli: Socialist Heretic and Antifascist Exile. Harvard University Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-674-00053-7.
  81. ^ Kantorowicz 1948
  82. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lefebvre & Skoutelsky 2003, p. 16. Quoted by Beevor 2006, p. 468.
  83. ^ a b c d e f g Quoted in Alvarez 1996.
  84. ^ a b c d Thomas 2003, pp. 634–639
  85. ^ the number of volunteers arriving directly from Poland is estimated at 500, 600, 800 or at best 1,200, Cieplewicz, Mieczysław (1990). Zarys dziejów wojskowości polskiej w latach 1864–1939 (in Polish). p. 734., Pietrzak 2016, p. 65
  86. ^ the figure of 5,000 volunteers "from Poland" at times appears in general Polish public discourse or in semi-scientific publications, compare "all in all, in Spain there were some 5,000 volunteers from Poland", Szymowski, Leszek (29 July 2018). "Wojna domowa w Hiszpanii: Pomocnicy spod czerwonej gwiazdy". Rzeczpospolita (in Polish). Archived from the original on 20 December 2019., "there were some 5,000 volunteers from Poland during the Civil War in Spain", Siek, Magdalena (2010). "Wojna domowa w Hiszpanii. Wstęp" (PDF). p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2019.. Older Polish prints, often intended for propaganda purposes, when quoting the 5,000 figure referred more vaguely to "Polish volunteers", "Polish citizens" or "Poles", see e.g. "over 5,000 Polish volunteers", "Dąbrowszczacy. Tow. Eugeniusz Szyr o udziale Polaków w antyfaszystowskiej walce ludu hiszpańskiego". Trybuna Ludu. 21 October 1966. p. 3., quoted after Różycki, Bartłomiej (2013). "Dąbrowszczacy i pamięć o hiszpańskiej wojnie domowej". Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość. 12 (1): 186.. In present-day Polish historiography the figure of 5,000 "Polish volunteers" is relatively rare, but it does appear, see e.g. "it is accepted that they were ca. 4,5-5,000", Pietrzak 2016, p. 6
  87. ^ Pietrzak 2016, p. 65
  88. ^ Siek 2010, p. 2
  89. ^ Baxell, Richard (2012). British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War.
  90. ^ David Majtenyi, Jiří Rajlich, Říkali jim Španěláci, Praha 2021, ISBN: 978-80-7573-099-2
  91. ^ Maroš Timko, Czechoslovak-Spanish relations (1918-1977) [MA thesis Univerzita Karlova v Praze], Praha 2022, p. 28
  92. ^ "Los voluntarios cubanos en la GCE". Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  93. ^ "New book on Cubans in SCW". Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
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  95. ^ Petram, Lodewijk; Kruizinga, Samuël (2020). De oorlog tegemoet. p. 262.
  96. ^ a b Thomas 2003, p. 943
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  98. ^ "Lietuviai Ispanijos pilietiniame kare – Praeities paslaptys". www.praeitiespaslaptys.lt (in Lithuanian). Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  99. ^ * Moen, Jo Stein; Sæther, Rolf (2009). Tusen dager (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal. ISBN 978-82-05-39351-6.
  100. ^ "Nyheter fra arbeidslivet og fagbevegelsen". frifagbevegelse.no (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  101. ^ "Tusen dager" (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  102. ^ Juusela, Jyrki (2003). Suomalaiset Espanjan sisällissodassa 1936-1939 (in Finnish). ISBN 951-796-324-6.
  103. ^ Kuuli, Riis & Utt 1965
  104. ^ a b efor. "The Greek antifascist volunteers in the Spanish Civil War". EAGAINST.com. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  105. ^ "Jaime Cortesão e os antifascistas portugueses na Espanha republicana e na guerra civil". Esquerda (in Portuguese). 30 January 2021. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021.
  106. ^ Wehenkel, Henri (1997). D'Spueniekämpfer – volontaires de la Guerre d'Espagne partis du Luxembourg. p. 14.
  107. ^ "朱德等赠给国际纵队中国支队的锦旗" (in Chinese). National Museum of China. 31 May 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
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  109. ^ a b "Serving in Spain". Australia & the Spanish Civil War: Activism & Reaction. Australian National University. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
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  112. ^ "The Spanish Civil War". New Zealand History. New Zealand Government. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  113. ^ Kastner, Susan (4 June 1995). "Unsung Canadian soldiers honored ... at last". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012.
  114. ^ ""Mac-Pap" Monument Unveiling". workingTV. Archived from the original on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  115. ^ "only Poland came close in its adulation of former Spanish veterans", Arnold Krammer, The Cult of the Spanish Civil War in East Germany, [in:] Journal of Contemporary History 39/4 (2004), p. 535. More detailed monographs are Josie McLellan, Anti-Fascism and Memory in East Germany. Remembering the International Brigades 1945-1989, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0199276269, and Michael Uhl, Mythos Spanien. Das Erbe der Internationalen Brigaden in der DDR, Bonn 2004, ISBN 3801250318
  116. ^ Arnold Krammer, Internationale Brigaden in der DDR, [in:] H/Soz/Kult 42/2 (2005)
  117. ^ “by 1950, the Party had purified the anti-fascist movement of resistance workers, concentration camp survivors, and anti-Nazi spies, leaving only active fighters and committed Party members. What remained was to bring the story of the anti-fascist fighters, a common euphemism for the International Brigades, into ideological alignment”, Kramer 2005
  118. ^ Krammer 2004, p. 539
  119. ^ Max Kahane founded Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst and was the chief commentator of Neues Deutschland. Georg Stibi was the chief editor of Berliner Zeitung, then Leipziger Volkszeitung, and finally Neues Deutschland. Frieda Kantorowicz had a high administrative position with ADN. Erich Henschke was the editor-in-chief of Berliner Zeitung and Kurt Julius Goldstein held the same position in the Deutschlandsender broadcast station
  120. ^ Krammer 2004, p. 537
  121. ^ Peter Joachim Lapp, Traditionspflege in der DDR, Berlin [West] 1988, ISBN 9783921226322, pp. 74-75
  122. ^ Krammer 2004, p. 535
  123. ^ Krammer 2005
  124. ^ Denkmal für die deutschen Interbrigadisten, [in:] Bildhauerei in Berlin sevice
  125. ^ Krammer 2004, p. 558
  126. ^ Krammer 2005
  127. ^ Krammer 2004, p. 559
  128. ^ it is estimated that out of Czechoslovak volunteers, only 66% were Czechs or Slovaks; 20% were Germans and 11% were Hungarians, Maroš Timko, Czechoslovak-Spanish relations (1918-1977) [MA thesis Univerzita Karlova v Praze], Praha 2022, p. 28
  129. ^ Zdenko Maršálek, Internacionalisté pod drobnohledem. Interbrigadisté v československých jednotkách za druhé světové války pohledem sociologických kategorií, [in:] Paginae historiae 25/1 (2017), p. 47
  130. ^ Jiří Nedvěd, Českoslovenští dobrovolníci, mezinárodní brigády a občanská válka ve Španělsku v letech 1936 – 1939 [MA thesis Univerzita Karloyva v Praze], Praha 2008, pp. 147-149
  131. ^ Timko 2022, pp. 73-74
  132. ^ Nedvěd 2008, pp. 149-152
  133. ^ Timko 2022, p. 74
  134. ^ Nedvěd 2008, pp. 152-154
  135. ^ when noting that “téma dokonce dodnes neztratilo na své kontroverznosti”, the Czech autor quotes the Polish example, not any from Czechia, Maršálek 2017, p. 44
  136. ^ Nedvěd 2008, pp. 154-156
  137. ^ compare David Majtenyi, Jiří Rajlich, Říkali jim Španěláci, Praha 2021, ISBN 978-80-7573-099-2
  138. ^ Różycki 2015, p. 149
  139. ^ Różycki 2015, p. 148
  140. ^ individual paths from internment camps to occupied Poland differed, e.g. in 1940 some ex-combatants volunteered to German labor units, recruited in occupied France and deployed in the East; some fought in the Polish army in France or in the French army and were taken prisoner by the Germans, later released from Stalag camps
  141. ^ usually they remained in French internment camps in Algeria until liberated by the Americans; in 1942–1943 from Africa via Middle East they made it to the USSR. In few cases some Polish IB volunteers were recalled from Spain to the USSR in 1937-1939, mostly to be executed; this was the case e.g. of Kazimierz Cichowski and Gustaw Reicher
  142. ^ unlike e.g. in East Germany, Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia, where IB volunteers gained collective names related to Spain (“Spanienkämpfer”, “španěláci”, “Španci”), in Poland it was not the case. The term “Hiszpanie” (Spaniards) briefly functioned in internal communist parlance, often to denote one of the party factions, but it was not used officially. The term “Dąbrowszczacy” [Dombrovskites] is derived from the surname of Jarosław Dąbrowski, a 19th-century left-wing commander who had been adopted as patron of the XIII International Brigade, the unit where most volunteers from Poland used to serve
  143. ^ Różycki 2015, pp. 150–151
  144. ^ Różycki 2015, p. 152
  145. ^ the highest-ranking IB combatant was Eugeniusz Szyr, who served as deputy prime minister in 1959–1972, Pietrzak 2016, p. 78
  146. ^ key figures were Mieczysław Mietkowski, Grzegorz Korczyński, Leon Rubinstein, Józef Mrozek, Franciszek Księżarczyk, Mieczysław Broniatowski, Henryk Toruńczyk, Juliusz Hibner, Jan Rutkowski, Paweł Szkliniarz, and Wacław Komar, who held various jobs in the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, army (especially counter-intelligence), and police, Pietrzak 2016, p. 78
  147. ^ Różycki 2015, p. 180
  148. ^ Grzegorz Korczyński, Wacław Komar, Stanisław Flato, Michał Bron, Wiktor Taubenfliegel, Pietrzak 2016, p. 78
  149. ^ Różycki 2015, p. 186
  150. ^ Różycki 2015, pp. 186–187
  151. ^ Różycki 2015, pp. 187–188. The best-known are Emanuel Mink, Michał Bron, Wiktor Taubenfligel, Józef Kutin, Eugenia Łozińska, Aleksander Szurek, Artur Kowalski and Ludwik Zagórski
  152. ^ Różycki 2015, pp. 188–190
  153. ^ except a commemorative stone in the Powązki military cemetery
  154. ^ the legislation adopted in 1991 declared that veterans are individuals who "actively participated in the struggles for Poland's independence and sovereignty"; the veteran status allowed a number of privileges, see Dubisz, Radosław (9 October 2023). "Veteran Privileges". Urząd do Spraw Kombatantów i Osób Represjonowanych. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022.
  155. ^ "ul. Dąbrowszczaków". Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (in Polish). 31 August 2021. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Byli realizatorami polityki stalinowskiej na Półwyspie Iberyjskim
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  158. ^ the closest thing is an exercise in micro-history, Dariusz Zalega, Śląsk zbuntowany, Katowice 2019, ISBN 9788380499362, commercial version of a PhD dissertation on volunteers from Upper Silesia (both German and Polish)
  159. ^ Swiss Military Penal Code , SR/RS 321.0 (E·D·F·I), art. 94 (E·D·F·I)
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Sources

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