The 8th Mixed Brigade ( es, 8.ª Brigada Mixta) was a

mixed brigade Mixed brigade ( es, brigada mixta) was a basic tactical military unit of the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War. It was initially designed as “pocket division”, an innovative maneuverable combined-arms formation. Because of high sa ...

of the

Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army ( es, Ejército de la República Española) was the main branch of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la Rep� ...

in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. It was formed at the beginning of the

Defence 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 Oct ...

in early spring 1937 with

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

s of the ''

Carabineros The was an armed carabiniers force of Spain under both the monarchy and the Second Spanish Republic, Second Republic. The formal mission of this paramilitary gendarmerie was to patrol the coasts and borders of the country, operating against ...

'' corps and it remained in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

all along the war. Its first commander was ''Carabineros'' Lt. Colonel Enrique del Castillo Bravo who was succeeded by ''Carabineros'' Commanders Emeterio Jarillo Orgaz and José Casted Sena.Carlos Engel, ''Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del E. P. de la República'', 1999 This unit should not be confused with the 8th Santander Brigade or 8th Mixed Brigade of the Santander Army Corps ''(Cuerpo del Ejército de Santander)'' led by Militia Major Juan Egea Jiménez,Miguel Ángel Solla Gutiérrez, ''La República sitiada: Trece meses de Guerra Civil en Cantabria'', p. 324 which later became the 169th Mixed Brigade.

History

A predecessor unit was established in March 1937 at the

Madrid Front 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 Octo ...

as ''"Brigada M"''. It was organized with the 4th, 15th and

16th 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...

''Carabineros'' battalions. During the instruction period the unit was under the command of ''Carabineros'' Lt. Colonel Enrique del Castillo Bravo. At the onset of the Civil War del Castillo was

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

Captain at the Nr 1 Railway Regiment ''(Regimiento de Ferrocarriles nº 1)'' at

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popul ...

and was transferred to the ''Carabineros'' Corps. Later the command of the unit was handed over to ''Carabineros'' Commander Emeterio Jarillo Orgaz, who at the time of the coup of July 1936 was Lieutenant at the 6th Command of the corps in Alicante Province. The Chief of Staff was Major Ruiz del Toro and the

Comissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and Ea ...

Demetrio Martín Martínez. One month after its establishment the ''Brigada M'' was renamed 8th Mixed Brigade ''(8.ª Brigada Mixta)'' and was placed under the 18th Division of the III Army Corps of the Central Army. Towards the end of 1937 Jarillo was replaced by ''Carabineros'' Commander José Casted Sena, who had been as well at the 6th Command of the ''Carabineros'' corps in Alicante, but as captain. The unit remained in the same division and at the same sector of the Madrid Front for the remaining two years of the war. It specialized in

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became a ...

and remained in its post until 27 March 1939 when the Madrid defense crumbled. Militia Captain Juan Borrás Garcerán was named Chief of Staff a few days before the surrender of the Republic that marked the end of the war.

References

Bibliography

* Alpert, Michael. ''The Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939'', Cambridge University Press. 2013. *Engel, Carlos. ''Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del E. P. de la República'', Almena. Madrid. 1999. * Salas Larrazábal, Ramón. ''Historia del Ejército Popular de la República,'' La Esfera de los Libros, Madrid. 2006.

External links

Condecorados con la Medalla del Valor - Combatientes
{{Mixed brigades of Spain Military units and formations established in 1937 Military units and formations disestablished in 1939 Mixed Brigades (Spain) Carabineros

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links