XII International Brigade
The XII International Brigade was mustered on 7 November 1936 at Albacete, Spain. It was formerly named the Garibaldi Brigade, after the most famous and inspiring leader in the Italian Independence Wars, General Giuseppe Garibaldi. Structure Its first commanding officer was a Soviet advisor of Hungarian origin, Gen. "Pavol Lukács" ( Máté Zalka), who went on to command the 45th Division of the Spanish Republican Army (he was killed during the Huesca Offensive), and its first political commisar was Gustav Regler. The brigade included, among others, the following battalions: *Garibaldi Battalion – Albanian, Italian and Spanish volunteers, led by Randolfo Pacciardi. * André Marty Battalion – Franco-Belgian volunteers (named after André Marty). *Dabrowski Battalion also known as the Dombrowski Battalion – exiled Polish volunteers * Thaelmann Battalion – German and Austrian volunteers (named after Ernst Thälmann), led by Ludwig Renn. *Figlio Battalion – Spanish volun ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Flag Of Spain 1931 1939
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is challenging (such as the maritime environment, where semaphore is used). Many flags fall into groups of similar designs called flag families. The study of flags is known as "vexillology" from the Latin , meaning "flag" or "banner". National flags are patriotic symbols with widely varied interpretations that often include strong military associations because of their original and ongoing use for that purpose. Flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for decorative purposes. Some military units are called "flags" after their use of flags. A ''flag'' (Arabic: ) is equivalent to a brigade i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Garibaldi Battalion
The Garibaldi Battalion (Garibaldi Brigade after April 1937) was a largely-Italian volunteer unit of the International Brigades that fought on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War from October 1936 to 1938. It was named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, an Italian military and political figure of the nineteenth century. History The Italian Legion was established on 27 October 1936, through an agreement signed in Paris between Italian republicans, socialists and Communists.Randolfo Pacciardi, ''Il Battaglione Garibaldi. Volontari italiani nella Spagna Repubblicana'', La Lanterna, Roma, 1945, pp. 41-42 It was headed by the Republican commander Randolfo Pacciardi and Communist political commissars Antonio Roasio, Luigi Longo and socialist Amedeo Azzi. It was part of the XII International Brigade along with André Marty Battalion and Dimitrov Battalion. It had a baptism of fire on the November 13, 1936 at Cerro de los Ángeles during the Siege of Madrid, then the battalion fought by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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International Brigades Order Of Battle
The International Brigades (IB) were volunteer military units of foreigners who fought on the side of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The number of combatant volunteers has been estimated at between 32,000–35,000, though with no more than about 20,000 active at any one time.Thomas (2003), pp 941-5; Beevor (2006), p. 257. A further 10,000 people probably participated in non-combatant roles and about 3,000–5,000 foreigners were members of CNT or POUM. They came from a claimed "53 nations" to fight against the Spanish Nationalist forces led by General Francisco Franco and assisted by German and Italian forces.Thomas (2003), pp 941-5 The volunteers were motivated to fight on political or social grounds and made their way to Spain independently of the Spanish government. The brigades were not initially formally conceived and methodically recruited. Instead, they evolved as a means of organising the streams of volunteers arriving from every quarter of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Brunete
The Battle of Brunete (6–25 July 1937), fought west of Madrid, was a Republican attempt to alleviate the pressure exerted by the Nationalists on the capital and on the north during the Spanish Civil War. Although initially successful, the Republicans were forced to retreat from Brunete after Nationalist counterattacks, and suffered devastating casualties from the battle. Prelude After the capture of Bilbao on June 19, the Republicans devised the attack on Brunete to divert Nationalist forces from the north and allow the fleeing Republicans time to reorganize. In addition, Brunete was also chosen because it was situated on the Extremadura road and its capture would make it harder for the Nationalists to resupply their forces besieging Madrid, perhaps even forcing them to withdraw. Once Brunete had been taken, and after some reorganization, the plan was that the offensive would then in a second phase continue in the direction of Talavera de la Reina, a move that would eventua ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Segovia Offensive
The Segovia Offensive was a Republican diversionary offensive which took place between 31 May and 6 June 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. The main goal of the offensive was to occupy Segovia and divert Nationalist forces from their advance on Bilbao. After a brief initial advance the offensive failed due to Nationalist air superiority. Background In April 1937, the Nationalists started an offensive against the Republican held, Biscay Province, and, by the end of May, the Navarrese troops had reached the eastern side of Bilbao's defenses. The Republican government then decided to launch two diversionary offensives on the Aragon and Madrid fronts in order to divert Nationalist troops. Battle The Republican Army had three divisions in the ''Sierra de Guadarrama'': Galan's 34th, General Walther's 33rd and Duran's 69th divisions (according to Thomas, the commander of the 69th division was Luis Barceló), under the command of Colonel Domingo Moriones, supported by artillery a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Guadalajara
The Battle of Guadalajara (March 8–23, 1937) saw the victory of the People's Republican Army (''Ejército Popular Republicano'', or EPR) and of the International Brigades over the Italian and Nationalist forces attempting to encircle Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalist forces involved in the Battle of Guadalajara were primarily the Italian Corps of Volunteer Troops (''Corpo Truppe Volontarie'', or CTV). The battle opened with an Italian offensive on 8 March. This offensive was halted by 11 March. Between 12 March and 14 March, renewed Italian attacks were supported by Spanish Nationalist units. These were halted too. On 15 March, a Republican counter-offensive was prepared. The Republicans successfully launched their counter-offensive from 18 March to 23 March. Background After the collapse of the third offensive on Madrid, Spanish Nationalist General Francisco Franco decided to continue with a fourth offensive aimed at closing the pincer around the capital ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Second Battle Of The Corunna Road
The Second Battle of the Corunna Road ( es, Batalla de la Carretera de Coruña) was a battle of the Spanish Civil War that took place from 13 December 1936 to 15 January 1937, northwest of Madrid. In December 1936, the Nationalists launched an offensive in order to cut the Corunna Road and isolate Madrid, but a Republican counter-offensive stopped the Nationalist advance. The Nationalists cut the Corunna road but failed to encircle Madrid. Background The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 had been fought to a standstill, including the First Battle of the Corunna Road, with the Nationalists under Franco failing to take the city. They then started to besiege it, aiming to cut its links to the rest of Spain. Franco decided to attack the city from the north-west in order to cut off water and electricity supplies from the Sierra de Guadarrama and encircle the city. After a failed offensive in November, the Nationalists summoned a force of 17,000 men, led by General Orgaz, with four ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Siege Of Madrid
The siege of Madrid was a two-and-a-half-year siege of the Republican-controlled Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist armies, under General Francisco Franco, during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The city, besieged from October 1936, fell to the Nationalist armies on 28 March 1939. The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 saw the most intense fighting in and around the city when the Nationalists made their most determined attempt to take the Republican capital. The highest military awards of the Spanish Republic, the Laureate Plate of Madrid ( es, Placa Laureada de Madrid), and the Madrid Distinction ( es, Distintivo de Madrid), established by the Republican government to reward courage, were named after the capital of Spain because the city symbolised valour and Republican resistance during the long siege throughout the war. Uprising: Madrid held for the Republic (July 1936) The Spanish Civil War began with a failed ''coup d'état'' against the Popular Fr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ludwig Renn
Ludwig Renn (born Arnold Friedrich Vieth von Golßenau; 22 April 1889 – 21 July 1979) was a German author. Born a Saxon nobleman, he later became a committed communist and lived in East Berlin.''Oxford Companion to German Literature'', ed. Henry and Mary Garland. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1986) pp. 740-741 Youth and the First World War Ludwig Renn was the assumed name of Arnold Friedrich Vieth von Golßenau who was born into a noble Saxon family whose family seat was in Golßen (Niederlausitz). He adopted the name Ludwig Renn in 1930, after becoming a communist, renouncing his noble title and taking the name of the hero of his first successful novel, ''Krieg'' (1928). His mother, Bertha, maiden name Raspe (1867 – 1949) was the daughter of a Moscow apothecary, whilst his father, Carl Johann Vieth von Golßenau (1856 – 1938), was a teacher of mathematics and physics at the Royal Court of Saxony in Dresden. Through him, Ludwig Renn came to know the Crown Prince of Sax ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (; 16 April 1886 – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician, and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933. A committed Marxist-Leninist and Stalinist, Thälmann played a major role during the political instability of the Weimar Republic, especially in its final years, when the KPD explicitly sought to overthrow the liberal democracy of the republic. Under his leadership the KPD became intimately associated with the government of the Soviet Union and the policies of Joseph Stalin. The KPD under Thälmann's leadership regarded the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as its main adversary and the party adopted the position that the social democrats were "social fascists". Thälmann was also leader of the paramilitary ''Roter Frontkämpferbund'' (which was banned as extremist by the governing social democrats in 1929). In 1932 he established Antifaschistische Aktion, commonly shortened to " Antifa". He was arrested by the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dabrowski Battalion
The Dabrowski Battalion, also known as Dąbrowszczacy (), was a battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. It was initially formed entirely of volunteers, "chiefly composed of Polish miners recently living and working in France and Belgium".Thomas, The Spanish Civil War, p. 324 Due to the relatively short travelling distances, these men were amongst the first to arrive in Spain. The battalion had a strong Polish flavour and even when, towards the end of the war, Poles were heavily outnumbered by Spanish troops, the officers and non-commissioned officers were still predominantly Polish. It also contained a significant nucleus of Red Army officers. It fought from 1936-1939. The battalion was raised in Albacete (the headquarters depot of the International Brigades) in mid-October 1936. Soldiers About 5,000 Poles fought in the unit. The Brigade was named after the 19th century Polish general Jarosław Dąbrowski. The unit was formed as ''Dąbrowski's battal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |