The Gastone Sozzi Centuria ( es, Centuria Gastone Sozzi) was a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

unit raised in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

by Italian and Catalan volunteers who, at the beginning of 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 ...

, went to 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 ...

, besieged by the Rebel Army. The name of the unit was in honour of Italian communist Gastone Sozzi, assassinated in 1928 by Fascist

Blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Natio ...

History

After the Spanish coup of July 1936, which was seen by many anti-Fascist unions as a Fascist uprising against the democratically elected

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

, a series of Italian anti-Fascists departed to

from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

and Saint-Etienne. On 2 September 1936, around eighty Italian volunteers arrived at the Carlos Marx Barracks in the city, including at least two elements of different nationalities and some athletes that had come to Barcelona to participate in the

People's Olympiad The People's Olympiad (Catalan: ''Olimpíada Popular'', Spanish: ''Olimpiada Popular'') was a planned international multi-sport event that was intended to take place in Barcelona, the capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia within the Spani ...

. On 3 September, the column was officially established. Three groups of Italian volunteers had been created in

. The first, very small, left with the first columns of Catalan volunteers to the front. The other two gave rise to the Giustizia e Libertà

Centuria ''Centuria'' (, plural ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the century changed over time, and from the first century BC through most ...

, of

Anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

orientation, although directed by the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

Carlo Rosselli, and the Gastone Sozzi Centuria, with Gotardo Rinaldi as commander and Captain Francesco Leone as political commissar. The Gastone Sozzi Centuria, formed on 3 September, comprised 86 Italians, 29 Poles, 10 French, some Belgians and one Dane. The Catalan authorities had planned the unit to go to the

Aragon Front The Aragon Offensive was an important military campaign during the Spanish Civil War, which began after the Battle of Teruel. The offensive, which ran from March 7, 1938, to April 19, 1938, smashed the Republican forces, overran Aragon, and conqu ...

, but it was integrated into the

PSUC The Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya, PSUC) was a communist political party active in Catalonia between 1936 and 1997. It was the Catalan branch of the Communist Party of Spain and the only party n ...

Liberty Column as the 22nd Centuria of the unit. On 3 September the centuria was involved in trying to slow the Nationalist advance at Talavera. The centuria arrived 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 ...

on 8 September, and quickly collaborated with the

Fifth Regiment The Fifth Regiment ( es, Quinto Regimiento, the full name ''Quinto Regimiento de Milicias Populares)'', was an elite corps loyal to the Spanish Republic at the onset of the Spanish Civil War. Made up of volunteers, the Fifth Regiment was active i ...

in the defence of the city. On 13 September, it was already fighting at the 1300 Hill, in Cenicientos, on the Extremadura Road. The centuria was framed as the 3nd Company of the

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 Ga ...

on 10 October 1936. Between 16 and 18 October, they fought at Chapinería, before being sent to the base at

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-ea ...

. It was then attached, with mainly Italian volunteers, to the

XI International Brigade The XI International Brigade fought for the Spanish Second Republic in the Spanish Civil War. It would become especially renowned for providing desperately needed support in the darkest hours of the Republican defense of Madrid on 8 November 193 ...

on 22 October, and later the

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 ...

Personnel

*Francesco Leone - Captain, political commissar *Gotardo Rinaldi - Commander

References

{{Reflist , refs= {{cite book, last=Castells, first=Andreu, title=Las Brigadas Internacionales en la Guerra de España, year=1974, publisher=Ariel, location=

Esplugues de Llobregat Esplugues de Llobregat () is a municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Formerly in the ''Barcelonès'', since 1990 it has been part of the comarca of Baix Llobregat. During recent decades Esplugues has evolved from a predominantly indus ...

, isbn=8434424606 {{cite book, last=López, first=Álvaro, title=La Centuria Gastone Sozzi, year=1984, publisher= AICVAS, location=

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, isbn= {{cite book, last=Mugnai, first=Bruno, title=Volontari Stranieri e le Brigate Internazionali in Spagna (1936-39), year=2010, publisher= Soldiershop, location=

Zanica Zanica ( Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of around 8,804 inhabitants in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and south of Bergamo. Zanica borders the following municipalities: ...

, isbn=9788896519394 Anti-fascism in Italy Defunct communist militant groups Early Republican international units Left-wing militant groups in Spain Military history of Italy Military units and formations established in 1936 International Brigades