Great portraits of the International Brigade in Spain

Metatron · Jan 15, 2013

This might have been posted before, but I think it deserves it's own thread.
Have a look at this website which features very striking portraits of volunteers in the Spanish civil war.
http://dlib.nyu.edu/randall-photo/

The mix of civilian casual, workwear and military clothing that they wore is interesting. Some of my favourites:

check out this strange 'double breasted' sweater.

Metatron · Jan 16, 2013

In retrospect I think this thread may belong to the 'Golden Era' forum. Apologies for any inconvenience to the moderators.

cookie · Jan 16, 2013

There is a Spanish Civil War type thread somewhere.

Fastuni · Jan 16, 2013

Cookie, do you mean this big SCW thread? http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?9795-The-Spanish-Civil-War/
There are several smaller ones, also on the cache of photos.
I think it's not too bad to have a separate thread on the clothing aspect of these photos... in any case:

Metatron, thanks for bringing up this angle. The Spanish Civil War holds an immense fascination, and clothing is yet another interesting angle to it.
Come to think of it... with volunteers coming from all corners of the globe and equipped with a motley assortment of workwear, sportswear and surplus uniforms, the Spanish Civil War possibly was the largest gathering of international 30's work-wear.

This is also a great one - especially the zipped plaid jacket with breeches:

http://dlib.nyu.edu/randall-photo/node/864

Edward · Jan 16, 2013

Metatron said:
check out this strange 'double breasted' sweater.

Oh! I love that!

Guttersnipe · Jan 17, 2013

Thanks for posting! It's worth noting that the English speaking XVa Brigada Internacional was especially known for its motley dress. Because the background of most of its members was decidedly non-militaristic -- lots of artists, academics, students, politically active trade unionists and blue collar workers-- they actively eschewed all things spit'n'polish.

My dad knew the fellow second row center pretty well, Teniente Bill Bailey, commander of the Machine Gun Company of the Lincoln-Washington Battalion (58a Batallón del Ejército Popular) .

He was a character that could've been straight out of 1930s central casting. When I was a kid, he used to call the house and when I'd answer the phone, his greeting was always, "Say, Hiya kid! Lemme talk ta yer pops."

Guttersnipe · Jan 17, 2013

Here's another good one. On the left, in the really cool leather jacket, is John Robinson and on right, in the beret, is Frank Ryan. Both men were on the staff of the XVa Brigada Internacional.

Maguire · Jan 17, 2013

I'd be curious to see how the Nationalist rebels' non army components and allies dressed- not germans and italians, naturally they wore their military uniforms, but the actual foreign volunteer units, falangist units, etc. I imagine they probably used party uniforms, (ie the blue shirt) but also the Romanian volunteers, the Irish volunteers and the like. Its hard to come by photos of any of them that i've seen, one would think it wouldn't be, given that they won.

Fastuni · Jan 17, 2013

Few if any foreign volunteers on the Nationalist rebels side would wear civilian clothes.

Most foreign contingents were attached to the Spanish Foreign Legion, while individual foreign nationals fought in the ranks of the Nationalist insurgent armies. So both wore respective uniforms, the contingents with particular insignia, the individuals not.

Two Types · Jan 17, 2013

The Irish wore German uniforms dyed green.

Maguire · Jan 17, 2013

Two Types said:
The Irish wore German uniforms dyed green.

To my knowledge the irish army's uniforms until WWII were german surplus to begin with, stalhelm and all, green. I suppose it makes sense- i'm not talking about the Spanish Foreign Legion, i'm talking about foreign contigents that fought, i know for example, several leaders of the iron guard died fighting in Spain, and led a contingent of Romanians (i assume they wore some sort of legionary uniform but thats a guess), and i know the irish also sent a sizeable group as well. These were not attached to the foreign legion.

Good pictures though, interesting to see what a motley crew the international brigades were.

Fastuni · Jan 17, 2013

i'm not talking about the Spanish Foreign Legion, i'm talking about foreign contigents that fought, i know for example, several leaders of the iron guard died fighting in Spain, and led a contingent of Romanians (i assume they wore some sort of legionary uniform but thats a guess), and i know the irish also sent a sizeable group as well. These were not attached to the foreign legion.

Both the Irish contingent and Romanians (8 persons actually) were attached to the Spanish foreign legion.

V.C. Brunswick · Jan 17, 2013

Another popular clothing item was the mono or boilersuit which was often worn (usually by the various Republican militias) to symbolize working class solidarity.

Maguire · Jan 17, 2013

Fastuni said:
Both the Irish contingent and Romanians (8 persons actually) were attached to the Spanish foreign legion.

where did you get that info? I'm not doubting it, i'm just curious as i find it very hard to come by information on them, save for the fact that Vasile Marin and Ion Mota both died there in 1937.

Fastuni · Jan 17, 2013

The wikipedia page on foreign volunteers on the Nationalist side details that the Irish (who fought only very briefly and were met with skepticism by Franco) were attached to the Spanish "foreign" Legion (indeed most Legionaries were Spanish) - as the 15th Batallion. The Romanians, per Wikipedia, also joined the Legion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreig...nish_Civil_War#Nationalist_foreign_volunteers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Brigade_(Spanish_Civil_War)#Training_and_deployment

Indeed the Romanian involvement was quite minor... it was a group of eight "Iron Guard" leaders paying a solidarity visit to the rebels and decided to join them once in Spain. They also fought only briefly.

On this topic there is the book "Fighting for Franco" by Judith Keene. She gives also a very detailed account of the individual Romanian volunteers.

On page 127 she specifically mentions that the Irish who returned to Ireland after their brief stint in Spain, wore uniforms of the Spanish Foreign Legion.

Regarding the "German uniforms dyed green" of the Irish... Keene on page 122 details that the uniforms the Irish were issued in the Spanish foreign legion were of German origin. Since the standard Legion uniform was green with breeches, I strongly assume that these were Legion uniforms manufactured in Germany (who may have simply dyed shirts and coats for the Spanish). Per wikipedia they had some own Insignia attached to it.

Guttersnipe · Jan 18, 2013

Maguire said:
I'd be curious to see how the Nationalist rebels' non army components and allies dressed- not germans and italians, naturally they wore their military uniforms, but the actual foreign volunteer units, falangist units, etc. I imagine they probably used party uniforms, (ie the blue shirt) but also the Romanian volunteers, the Irish volunteers and the like. Its hard to come by photos of any of them that i've seen, one would think it wouldn't be, given that they won.

Actually, it's a common misnomer that there were "non-army" components to the nationalist armed forces. Initially there were armed groups from various rightist factions -- the red beret wearing Requeté of the Carlist party, the blue shirted militias of the Falange Española -- however, Franco and the other rebel generals specifically demanded that such groups to be integrated into regular military foces.

Early in the war, these units wore their pre-war party uniforms. Later on, the regiments and divisions that traced their linage to such pre-war paramilitary organizations included elements of their party uniforms,like red berets or Falangist symbols as unit patches, into their regular army uniforms.

Here are some Requetés hearing mass:

Maguire · Jan 18, 2013

Guttersnipe said:
Actually, it's a common misnomer that there were "non-army" components to the nationalist armed forces. Initially there were armed groups from various rightist factions -- the red beret wearing Requeté of the Carlist party, the blue shirted militias of the Falange Española -- however, Franco and the other rebel generals specifically demanded that such groups to be integrated into regular military foces.

Early in the war, these units wore their pre-war party uniforms. Later on, the regiments and divisions that traced their linage to such pre-war paramilitary organizations included elements of their party uniforms,like red berets or Falangist symbols as unit patches, into their regular army uniforms.

Here are some Requetés hearing mass:

OH i'm aware of that- but before Franco condensed the various factions into his FET y de las JONS, they came from somewhere- for example in the early days officers rebelled from their barracks and endured sieges where they were supported by elements of the Falangist party, in those spur of the moment attacks there wasn't time to organize or intergrate these into the army- probably one of the biggest strengths of the Nationalists and weaknesses of the Republic was the fact that the nationalists were able to more or less rally around franco despite having oftentimes conflicting and completely contrary aims, aside from say, anti communism or anti republic sentiment while the Republicans squandered time infighting, and were riddled with disunity between the anarchists, the moderates, and the competing communist factions.

cookie · Jan 18, 2013

Maguire said:
OH i'm aware of that- but before Franco condensed the various factions into his FET y de las JONS, they came from somewhere- for example in the early days officers rebelled from their barracks and endured sieges where they were supported by elements of the Falangist party, in those spur of the moment attacks there wasn't time to organize or intergrate these into the army- probably one of the biggest strengths of the Nationalists and weaknesses of the Republic was the fact that the nationalists were able to more or less rally around franco despite having oftentimes conflicting and completely contrary aims, aside from say, anti communism or anti republic sentiment while the Republicans squandered time infighting, and were riddled with disunity between the anarchists, the moderates, and the competing communist factions.

Unidad o muerte. The disunity and conflict of the Republican side was one of the reasons that the Right/aka Franco triumphed. But then when the Left started killing the religious people that really turned the tide. The Left gave a glimpse of the post Civil War agenda aka a second Reign of Terror like post Bastille France.

Interestingly a good friend of mine who was born in Seville has a relative who has his unenacted death notice on his wall as a souvenir of the Civil War!

Fastuni · Jan 18, 2013

But then when the Left started killing the religious people that really turned the tide.

Anticlerical violence (much of it spontaneous and on local initiative) was strongest during the Summer of '36, in the early phase of the war. At that time it wasn't at all that clear that the insurgents would win - so it was hardly what turned the tide in the war.

Speaking about PR: The clergy was also widely unpopular even among "simple Spaniards" for it's reactionary positions and open support for the insurgents of a great deal of it's members. While the anti-clericalism may have lost the Republic sympathies in Spain and particularly outside, Franco's use of rampant mass-murder and obvious reliance on marauding Moroccan mercenaries (a rich irony) and military support from Germany and Italy (which the Nationalist side prudently tried to play down publicly) weren't exactly winning over hearts either. Franco's "winning strategy" was to strike terror and war-weariness into the populace as he (deliberately slowly) pushed on through Spain.

I'd concur that the disunity between the Leftist forces, the counterproductive meddling of the USSR and the lack of support for the Republic from the Western democracies, chiefly Britain and France, were the chief causes of Republican weakness.
One shouldn't overlook though that the USSR-backed Communists, while ruthlessly heavy-handed, brought in a semblance of military and political discipline on the Republican side. Without them the disorganization of the Republicans might have been even worse and the war lost earlier on. On the other hand, the lack of support by the West for the Republic made Soviet dominance possible in the first place, strengthening the Communists (a previously marginal force on the politically diverse Republican side).

Maguire · Jan 18, 2013

This is correct.

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