The Fifth Regiment ( es, Quinto Regimiento, the full name ''Quinto Regimiento de Milicias Populares)'', was an elite corps loyal to the
Spanish Republic
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 A ...
at the onset 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 ...
. Made up of volunteers, the Fifth Regiment was active in the first critical phase of the war and became one of the most renowned units loyal to the Republic.
[Comín Colomer, Eduardo (1973); El 5º Regimiento de Milicias Populares. Madrid.]
The number of soldiers in the Fifth Regiment quickly rose from about 6,000 in August to over 20,000 in November 1936. This loyalist elite corps lasted only until 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 Repú ...
was reorganized in the second year of the civil war, but in barely half a year it had managed to become one of the most famous units of the whole conflict.
The Fifth Regiment used the
desecrated
Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful, contemptuous, or destructive treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual.
Detail
Many consider acts of desecration to ...
building of the
Church of San Francisco de Sales in Madrid as its headquarters. The mouthpiece of this military unit was the ''
Milicia Popular'' newspaper
and its anthem the ''
El quinto regimiento'' song.
History
Shortly after the
Spanish coup of the 17 July 1936, the Republican Government took the radical decision of dissolving the
Spanish Republican Armed Forces
The Spanish Republican Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de la República Española) were initially formed by the following two branches of the military of the Second Spanish Republic:
*Spanish Republican Army (''Ejército de la República Espa ...
by granting unlimited leave to all military personnel and arming the trade unions. The measure was taken in order to ward off further rebellions of officers by depriving them of troops at their command. In the face of the void thus created, the
Communist Party of Spain
The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving as ...
led the implementation of a policy that sought to replace the spontaneous and disorganized bands fighting for the Spanish Republic with loyal, disciplined and militarized units.
Finally, the Communist-led
Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias
{{anti-fascism sidebar, Interwar anti-fascism
The Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias ( es, Milicias Antifascistas Obreras y Campesinas, MAOC) were a militia group founded in the Second Spanish Republic in 1934. Their purpose was to protect l ...
(MAOC) formed five battalions that took an active part in the
Siege of Cuartel de la Montaña
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterize ...
on 20 July 1936. One of these battalions became the "Fifth Regiment" (''5º Regimiento de Milicias Populares''), a military unit intended as a model for other military units to follow in the initial chaotic period of the civil war. Its first commander was
Enrique Castro Delgado. Later the Fifth Regiment would take an active part in the battles of
Somosierra
Somosierra is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located at 83 km north of Madrid, in the mountain pass with the same name, at an elevation of 1433 metres above sea level, being the northernmost town of Community of Madri ...
and
Guadarrama
Guadarrama is a town and municipality in the Cuenca del Guadarrama comarca, in the Community of Madrid, Spain.
Its population is 13,032 (winter, according to a 2006 census); the population swells to approximately 60,000 in summer.
Its name co ...
, as well as in the
Battle of Talavera
The Battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809) was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish ar ...
and the
Siege of the Alcázar
The Siege of the Alcázar was a highly symbolic Nationalist victory in Toledo in the opening stages of the Spanish Civil War. The Alcázar of Toledo was held by a variety of military forces in favour of the Nationalist uprising. Militias of th ...
, ending up becoming one of the crucial military units engaged in 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 ...
.
Most of the initial Fifth Regiment members belonged to the MAOC. However, it soon attracted members from other ideologies owing to its efficiency and capacity for organization in a critical time for the Republic, as compared to the chaotic militia groups that operated at the onset of the war. In the Fifth Regiment soldiers were not allowed to discuss the orders given by their superiors, a common practice in most of the spontaneous militia units that sprung up when weapons were issued to the trade unions. This fact alone made the Fifth Regiment much more effective against the first attacks of the rebel forces.
[De Miguel, Jesús y Sánchez, Antonio: ''Batalla de Madrid,'' in his ''Historia Ilustrada de la Guerra Civil Española.'' Alcobendas, Editorial LIBSA, 2006, pp. 189-221.]
On 22 January 1937 the Fifth Regiment was integrated into the Popular Army of the Republic, the reorganized Spanish Republican Army, for which it had provided a basic pattern. Most of its members ended up in the
First Mixed Brigade
The First Mixed Brigade ( es, 1.ª Brigada Mixta), also known as Brigada Lister, was a mixed brigade of the Spanish Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. It was disbanded on 9 February 1939.
History
The First Mixed Brigade was established fro ...
and in the
11th Division led by
Enrique Líster
Enrique Líster Forján (21 April 1907 – 8 December 1994) was a Spanish communist politician and military officer.
Early life
Líster was born in 1907 at Ameneiro, A Coruña. A stonemason, he spent his adolescence in Cuba, before returni ...
while others joined the different units of the Republican Army and this famous regiment became extinct.
Besides Enrique Líster, other important leaders of the Spanish Republican Army such as
Juan Guilloto León "Modesto",
Valentín González
Valentín González González (4 November 1904 – 20 October 1983), popularly known as ''El Campesino'' (the Peasant), was a Spanish Republican military commander during the Spanish Civil War.
Life
Spanish Civil War
Born in Malcoc ...
"El Campesino" and
Etelvino Vega Martínez
Etelvino Vega Martínez (1906–1939) was a Spanish politician and military officer.
Life
In 1931, he was a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE). In 1932, after the failed ''coup'' of Sanjurjo, he supported the ...
, were formed in the ranks of the Fifth Regiment.
Model unit
The Fifth Regiment was more than a military unit, for its activities reached into the social and cultural fields. Its members contributed to the development of education, imparting basic skills and knowledge to the poor and the less favoured members of Spanish society, vowing to eradicate illiteracy and social ills. Quinto Regimiento propaganda posters and murals became ubiquitous and well known in Madrid at the time, as well as its mobile libraries and its "Theatre Guerrillas" ''("guerrillas teatrales)'', both in the city streets and in the front lines.
Quite a number of notable people were either members of the Fifth regiment or became associated with it. Among these the following deserve mention: Poets and writers such as
Rafael Alberti
Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won numerou ...
,
César Arconada,
Pedro Garfias
Pedro Garfias Zurita (May 27, 1901 – August 9, 1967) was a Spanish poet.
Garfias was born in Salamanca, Spain, but spent his childhood and youth in the Andalusian cities of Seville and Córdoba. In 1918 he moved to Madrid in order to study La ...
,
Miguel Hernández
Miguel Hernández Gilabert (30 October 1910 – 28 March 1942
) was a 20th-century Spanish-language poet and playwright associated with the Generation of '27 and the Generation of '36 movements. Born and raised in a family of low resources, h ...
,
José Herrera Petere,
María Teresa León
María Teresa León Goyri (31 October 1903 – 13 December 1988) was a Spanish writer, activist and cultural ambassador. Born in Logroño, she was the niece of the Spanish feminist and writer María Goyri (the wife of Ramón Menéndez Pidal). S ...
and
Juan Rejano, teachers such as
Josep Renau
Josep Renau Berenguer (17 May 1907 — 11 November 1982) was an artist and communist revolutionary, notable for his propaganda work during the Spanish Civil War. Among his production, he is remarkable for his art deco period, his political propa ...
,
Wenceslao Roces and
Alberto Sánchez, and artists such as
Alberto Sánchez Pérez, as well as engineers and architects, such as
Luis Lacasa Navarro
Luis Lacasa Navarro (1899 – 30 March 1966) was a Spanish architect. His work in Spain and Paris before and during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) was rationalist and functional. He is best known as co-designer of the Spanish Pavilion at the 19 ...
and
Manuel Sánchez Arcas
Manuel Sánchez Arcas (1897–1970) was a Spanish Modernist architect. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) he served in the Republican government as Undersecretary for Propaganda. After the Republican defeat he went into exile in Moscow, Wa ...
, and physicians such as
Juan Planelles Ripoll.
In literature
The Fifth Regiment became an almost mythical unit that was the subject of poems and songs during the Spanish Civil War; one of these was ''¡Soy del Quinto Regimiento!'' by
Rafael Alberti
Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won numerou ...
:
Books
*
See also
*
Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias
{{anti-fascism sidebar, Interwar anti-fascism
The Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias ( es, Milicias Antifascistas Obreras y Campesinas, MAOC) were a militia group founded in the Second Spanish Republic in 1934. Their purpose was to protect l ...
*
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 Repú ...
*
1st Mixed Brigade
The First Mixed Brigade ( es, 1.ª Brigada Mixta), also known as Brigada Lister, was a mixed brigade of the Spanish Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. It was disbanded on 9 February 1939.
History
The First Mixed Brigade was established fro ...
References
External links
Canción del Quinto Regimiento lyricsEl Quinto Regimiento - YouTube{{Mixed brigades of Spain
Military units and formations of the Spanish Civil War
Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic
Military history of Spain
Communist Party of Spain
Military units and formations established in 1936
Military units and formations disestablished in 1937