International Festivals of the Sea The International Brigades ( ) were military units made up of volunteers from different countries , who traveled to Spain to fight for the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939 . 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 . 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 Falangist forces led by General Francisco Franco who was assisted by German and Italian forces . Formation and recruitment . Using foreign to recruit volunteers for Spain was first proposed in the Soviet Union in September 1936 — apparently at the suggestion of Maurice Thorez — by Willi Münzenberg , chief of Comintern propaganda for Western Europe . As a security measure , non - Communist volunteers would first be interviewed by an NKVD agent . By the end of September , the Italian and French Communist Parties had decided to set up a column . Luigi Longo , ex - leader of the Italian Communist Youth , was charged to make the necessary arrangements with the Spanish government . The Soviet Ministry of Defense also helped , since they had experience of dealing with corps of international volunteers during the Russian Civil War . The idea was initially opposed by Largo Caballero , but after the first setbacks of the war , he changed his mind , and finally agreed to the operation on 22 October . However , the Soviet Union did not withdraw from the Non - Intervention Committee , probably to avoid diplomatic conflict with France and the United Kingdom . The main recruitment centre was in Paris , under the supervision of Polish communist colonel Karol " Walter " Świerczewski . On 17 October 1936 , an open letter by Joseph Stalin to José Díaz was published in " Mundo Obrero " , arguing that victory for the Spanish second republic was a matter not only for Spaniards , but also for the whole of " progressive humanity " ; in a matter of days , support organisations for the Spanish Republic were founded in most countries , all more or less controlled by the Comintern . Entry to Spain was arranged for volunteers : for instance , a Yugoslav ( ethnic Croat ) , Josip Broz , who would become famous as Marshal Josip Broz Tito , was in Paris to provide assistance , money and passports for volunteers from Eastern Europe . Volunteers were sent by train or ship from France to Spain , and sent to the base at Albacete . However , many of them also went by themselves to Spain . The volunteers were under no contract , nor defined engagement period , which would later prove a problem . Also many Italians , Germans , and people from other countries joined the movement , with the idea that combat in Spain was a first step to restore democracy or advance a revolutionary cause in their own country . There were also many unemployed workers ( especially from France ) , and adventurers . Finally , some 500 communists who had been exiled to Russia were sent to Spain ( among them , experienced military leaders from the First World War like " Kléber " Stern , " Gomez " Zaisser , " Lukacs " Zalka and " Gal " Galicz , who would prove invaluable in combat ) . The operation was met by communists with enthusiasm , but by anarchists with skepticism , at best . At first , the anarchists who controlled the borders with France were told to refuse communist volunteers , and reluctantly allowed their passage after protests . A group of 500 volunteers ( mainly French , with a few exiled Poles and Germans ) arrived in Albacete on 14 October 1936 . They were met by international volunteers who had already been fighting in Spain : Germans from the Thälmann Battalion , Italians from Centuria Gastone Sozzi and French from Commune de Paris Battalion . Among them was British poet John Cornford . Men were sorted according to their experience and origin , and dispatched to units . Albacete soon became the International Brigades headquarters and its main depot . It was run by a " troika " of Comintern heavyweights : André Marty was commander ; Luigi Longo ( " Gallo " ) was Inspector - General ; and Giuseppe Di Vittorio ( " Nicoletti " ) was chief political commissar . The French Communist Party provided uniforms for the Brigades . They were organized into mixed brigade s , the basic military unit of the Republican People ' s Army . Discipline was extreme . For several weeks , the Brigades were locked in their base while their strict military training was under way . Service . First engagements : Siege of Madrid . The Battle of Madrid was a major success for the Republic . It staved off the prospect of a rapid defeat at the hands of Francisco Franco ' s forces . The role of the International Brigades in this victory was generally recognised , but was exaggerated by Comintern propaganda , so that the outside world heard only of their victories , and not those of Spanish units . So successful was such propaganda that the British Ambassador , Sir Henry Chilton , declared that there were no Spaniards in the army which had defended Madrid . The International Brigade forces that fought in Madrid arrived after other successful Republican fighting . Of the 40 , 000 Republican troops in the city , the foreign troops numbered less than 3 , 000 . Even though the International Brigades did not win the battle by themselves , nor significantly change the situation , they certainly did provide an example by their determined fighting , and improved the morale of the population by demonstrating the concern of other nations in the fight . Many of the older members of the International Brigades provided valuable combat experience , having fought during the First World War ( Spain remained neutral in 1914 – 18 ) and the Irish War of Independence ( Some fought in the IRA while others fought in the British army ) . One of the strategic positions in Madrid was the Casa de Campo . There the Nationalist troops were Moroccans , commanded by General José Enrique Varela . They were stopped by III and IV Brigades of the Spanish Republican Army . On 9 November 1936 , the XI International Brigade - comprising 1 , 900 men from the Edgar André Battalion , the Commune de Paris Battalion and the Dabrowski Battalion , together with a British machine - gun company — took up position at the Casa de Campo . In the evening , its commander , General Kléber , launched an assault on the Nationalist positions . This lasted for the whole night and part of the next morning . At the end of the fight , the Nationalist troops had been forced to retreat , abandoning all hopes of a direct assault on Madrid by Casa de Campo , while the XIth Brigade had lost a third of its personnel . On 13 November , the 1 , 550 - man strong XII International Brigade , made up of the Thälmann Battalion , the Garibaldi Battalion and the André Marty Battalion , deployed . Commanded by General " Lukacs " , they assaulted Nationalist positions on the high ground of Cerro de los Angeles . As a result of language and communication problems , command issues , lack of rest , poor coordination with armoured units , and insufficient artillery support , the attack failed . On November 19 , the anarchist militia s were forced to retreat , and Nationalist troops — Moroccans and Spanish Foreign Legion naires , covered by the Nazi Condor Legion — captured a foothold in the University City . The 11th Brigade was sent to drive the Nationalists out of the University City . The battle was extremely bloody , a mix of artillery and aerial bombardment , with bayonet and grenade fights , room by room . Anarchist leader Buenaventura Durruti was shot there on 19 November 1936 , and died the next day . The battle in the University went on until three quarters of the University City was under Nationalist control . Both sides then started setting up trenches and fortifications . It was then clear that any assault from either side would be far too costly ; the nationalist leaders had to renounce the idea of a direct assault on Madrid , and prepare for a siege of the capital . On 13 December 1936 , 18 , 000 nationalist troops attempted an attack to close the encirclement of Madrid at Guadarrama — an engagement known as the Battle of the Corunna Road . The Republicans sent in a Soviet armoured unit , under General Dmitry Pavlov , and both XI and XII International Brigades . Violent combat followed , and they stopped the Nationalist advance . An attack was then launched by the Republic on the Córdoba front . The battle ended in a form of stalemate ; a communique was issued , saying : " [ t ] oday , our advance continued without loss of land " . Poets Ralph Winston Fox and John Cornford were killed . Eventually , the Nationalists advanced , taking the hydro electric station at El Campo . André Marty accused the commander of the Marseillaise Battalion , Gaston Delasalle , of espionage and treason and had him executed . ( It is doubtful that Delasalle would have been a spy for Francisco Franco ; he was denounced by his own second - in - command , André Heussler , who was subsequently executed for treason during World War II by the French Resistance . ) Further Nationalist attempts after Christmas to encircle Madrid met with failure , but not without extremely violent combat . On 6 January 1937 , the Thälmann Battalion arrived at Las Rozas , and held its positions until it was destroyed as a fighting force . On January 9 , only 10 km had been lost to the Nationalists , when the XIII International Brigade and XIV International Brigade and the 1st British Company , arrived in Madrid . Violent Republican assaults were launched in attempt to retake the land , with little success . On January 15 , trenches and fortifications were built by both sides , resulting in a stalemate . The Nationalists did not take Madrid until the very end of the war , in March 1939 . There were also some pockets of resistance during the consecutive months . Battle of Jarama . On 6 February 1937 , following the fall of Málaga , the nationalists launched an attack on the Madrid – Andalusia road , south of Madrid . The Nationalists quickly advanced on the little town Ciempozuelos , held by the XV International Brigade , which was composed of the British Battalion ( British Commonwealth and Irish ) , the Dimitrov Battalion ( miscellaneous Balkan nationalities ) , the 6 Février Battalion ( Belgians and French ) , the Canadian Mackenzie - Papineau Battalion and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade ( Americans , including African - American ) . An independent 80 - men - strong ( mainly ) Irish unit , known as the Connolly Column , made up of people from both sides of the Irish border also fought . Several histories of the Irish in Spain record that they included an ex - Catholic Christian Brother and an ordained Church of Ireland ( Anglican Protestant ) Clergyman , fighting and dying on the same side . ( These battalions were not composed entirely of one nationality or another , rather they were for the most part a mix of many ) On 11 February 1937 , a Nationalist brigade launched a surprise attack on the André Marty Battalion ( XIV International Brigade ) , stabbing its sentries and crossing the Jarama . The Garibaldi Battalion stopped the advance with heavy fire . At another point , the same tactic allowed the Nationalists to move their troops across the river . On 12 February , the British Battalion , XV International Brigade took the brunt of the attack , remaining under heavy fire for seven hours . The position became known as " Suicide Hill " . At the end of the day , only 225 of the 600 members of the British battalion remained . One company was captured by ruse , when Nationalists advanced among their ranks singing " The Internationale " . On 17 February , the Republican Army counter - attacked . On February 23 and 27 , the International Brigades were engaged , but with little success . The Lincoln Battalion was put under great pressure , with no artillery support . It suffered 120 killed and 175 wounded . Amongst the dead was the Irish poet Charles Donnelly and Leo Greene . There were heavy casualties on both sides , and although " both claimed victory . . . both suffered defeats " . It resulted in a stalemate , with both sides digging in , creating elaborate trench systems . On 22 February 1937 the League of Nations Non - Intervention Committee ban on foreign volunteers went into effect . Battle of Guadalajara . After the failed assault on the Jarama , the Nationalists attempted another assault on Madrid , from the North - East this time . The objective was the town of Guadalajara , 50 km from Madrid . The whole Italian expeditionary corps — 35 , 000 men , with 80 battle tanks and 200 field artillery — was deployed , as Benito Mussolini wanted the victory to be credited to Italy . On 9 March 1937 , the Italians made a breach in the Republican lines , but did not properly exploit the advance . However , the rest of the Nationalist army was advancing , and the situation appeared critical for the Republicans . A formation drawn from the best available units of the Republican army , including the XI and XII International Brigade s , was quickly assembled . At dawn on 10 March , the Nationalists closed in , and by noon , the Garibaldi Battalion counterattacked . Some confusion arose from the fact that the sides were not aware of each other ' s movements , and that both sides spoke Italian ; this resulted in scouts from both sides exchanging information without realising they were enemies . The Republican lines advanced and made contact with XI International Brigade . Nationalist tanks were shot at and infantry patrols came into action . On March 11 , the Nationalist army broke the front of the Republican army . The Thälmann Battalion suffered heavy losses , but succeeded in holding the Trijueque – Torija road . The Garibaldi also held its positions . On March 12 , Republican planes and tanks attacked . The Thälmann Battalion attacked Trijuete in a bayonet charge and re - took the town , capturing numerous prisoners . The International Brigades also saw combat in the Battle of Teruel in January 1938 . The 35th International Division suffered heavily in this battle from aerial bombardment as well as shortages of food , winter clothing and ammunition . The XIV International Brigade fought in the Battle of Ebro in July 1938 , the last Republican offensive of the war . Disbandment . In October 1938 , at the height of the Battle of the Ebro , the Non - Intervention Committee ordered the withdrawal of the International Brigades which were fighting on the Republican side . The Republican government of Juan Negrín , announced the decision in the League of Nations on 21 September 1938 . The disbandment was part of an ill - advised effort to get the Nationalists ' foreign backers to withdraw their troops and to persuade the western democracies such as France and Britain to end their arms embargo on the Republic . By this time there were about an estimated 10 , 000 foreign volunteers still serving in Spain for the Republican side , and about 50 , 000 foreign conscripts for the Nationalists ( excluding another 30 , 000 Moroccans ) . Perhaps half of the International Brigadists came from Nazi Germany , Fascist Italy or other countries , such as Hungary , which had authoritarian right - wing governments at the time . These men could not safely return home and some were instead given honorary Spanish citizenship and integrated into Spanish units of the Popular Army . The remainder were repatriated to their own countries . The Belgian and Dutch volunteers lost their citizenship because they had served in a foreign army . Composition . Overview . The first brigades were composed mostly of French , Belgian , Italian , and German volunteers , backed by a sizeable contingent of Polish miners from Northern France and Belgium . The XIth , XIIth and XIIIth were the first brigades formed . Later , the XIVth and XVth Brigades were raised , mixing experienced soldiers with new volunteers . Smaller Brigades — the 86th , 129th and 150th - were formed in late 1937 and 1938 , mostly for temporary tactical reasons . About 32 , 000 people volunteered to defend the Spanish Republic . Many were veterans of World War I . Their early engagements in 1936 during the Siege of Madrid amply demonstrated their military and propaganda value . The international volunteers were mainly socialists , communists , or under communist authority , and a high proportion were Jewish . Some were involved in the fighting in Barcelona against Republican opponents of the Communists : the Workers ' Party of Marxist Unification ( POUM ) ( " Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista " , an anti - Stalinist Marxist party ) and anarchists . These more libertarian groups like the POUM fought together on the front with the anarchist federations of the CNT ( CNT , Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ) and the FAI ( FAI , Iberian Anarchist Federation ) who had large support in the area of Catalonia . However , overseas volunteers from anarchist , socialist , liberal and other political positions also served with the international brigades . To simplify communication , the battalions usually concentrated people of the same nationality or language group . The battalions were often ( formally , at least ) named after inspirational people or events . From Spring 1937 onwards , many battalions contained one Spanish volunteer company ( about 150 men ) . Later in the war , military discipline tightened and learning Spanish became mandatory . By decree of 23 September 1937 , the International Brigades formally became units of the Spanish Foreign Legion . < ref name = " Beevor 2006 / 309 " > Beevor ( 2006 ) , p . 309 . < / ref > This made them subject to the Spanish Code of Military Justice . However the Spanish Foreign Legion itself sided with the Nationalists throughout the coup and the civil war . The same decree also specified that non - Spanish officers in the Brigades should not exceed Spanish ones by more than 50 per cent Status after the war . Since the Civil War was eventually won by the Nationalists , the Brigadiers were initially on the " wrong side " of history , especially since most of their home countries had a right - wing government ( in France , for instance , the Popular Front was not in power any more ) . However , since most of these countries found themselves at war with the very powers which had been supporting the Nationalists , the Brigadists gained some prestige as the first guard of the democracies , having fought a prophetical combat . Retrospectively , it was clear that the war in Spain was as much a precursor of the Second World War as a Spanish civil war . Some glory was therefore accredited to the volunteers ( a great deal of the survivors also fought during World War II ) , but this soon faded in the fear that it would promote ( by association ) communism . An exception is among groups to the left of the Communist Parties , for example anarchists . Among these groups the Brigades , or at least their leadership , are criticised for their alleged role in suppressing the Spanish Revolution . An example of a modern work which promotes this view is Ken Loach ' s film " Land and Freedom " . A well - known contemporary account of the Spanish Civil War which also takes this view is George Orwell ' s book " Homage to Catalonia " . East Germany . After the Second World War , the German Democratic Republic found itself in need of a ' founding myth ' going beyond the conquest of eastern Nazi Germany by the Red Army . The Spanish Civil War , and especially the role of the International Brigades , were considered ideal , and became a substantial part of East Germany ' s memorial rituals , because of the substantial numbers of German communists who had served in the brigades . Canada . Survivors of the Mackenzie - Papineau Battalion were often investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and denied employment when they returned to Canada . Some were prevented from serving in the military during the Second World War due to " political unreliability " . In 1995 a monument to veterans of the war was built near Ontario ' s provincial parliament . On February 12 , 2000 , a bronze statue " The Spirit of the Republic " based on an original poster from the Spanish Republic , by sculptor Jack Harman , was placed on the grounds of the BC Legislature . And in 2001 , the few remaining Canadian veterans of the Spanish Civil War dedicated a monument to Canadian members of the International Brigades in Ottawa ' s Green Park . Switzerland . In Switzerland , public sympathy was high for the Republican cause , but the federal government banned all fundraising and recruiting activities a month after the start of the war so as to preserve Swiss neutrality . Around 800 Swiss volunteers joined the International Brigades , among them a small number of women . Sixty percent of Swiss volunteers identified as communists , while the others included socialists , anarchists and antifascists . Some 170 Swiss volunteers were killed in the war . The survivors were tried by military court s upon their return to Switzerland for violating the criminal prohibition on foreign military service . The courts pronounced 420 sentences which ranged from around two weeks to four years in prison , and often also stripped the convicts of their political rights . In the judgment of Swiss historian Mauro Cerutti , volunteers were punished more harshly in Switzerland than in any other democratic country . Motions to pardon the Swiss brigadists on the account that they fought for a just cause have been repeatedly introduced in the Swiss federal parliament . A first such proposal was defeated in 1939 on neutrality grounds . In 2002 , Parliament again rejected a pardon of the Swiss war volunteers , with a majority arguing that they did break a law that remains in effect to this day . In March 2009 , Parliament adopted a third bill of pardon , retroactively rehabilitating Swiss brigadists , only a handful of whom were still alive . United Kingdom . On disbandment , 305 British volunteers left Spain . They arrived at Victoria Station on 7 December , to be met by a crowd of supporters including Clement Attlee , Stafford Cripps , Willie Gallacher , and Will Lawther . United States . In the United States , the volunteers were labeled as " premature anti - fascists " by the FBI , denied promotion during service in the US military during World War II , and pursued by Congressional committees during the Red Scare . Recognition . Spain . On 26 January 1996 , the Spanish government gave Spanish citizenship to the Brigadists . At the time , roughly 600 remained . At the end of 1938 , Prime Minister Juan Negrín had promised Spanish citizenship to the Brigadists , a promise which he could not personally keep as the Republic had lost the war . France . In 1996 , Jacques Chirac , then French President , granted the former French members of the International Brigades the legal status of former service personnel ( " anciens combattants " ) following the request of two French communist Members of Parliament , Lefort and Asensi , both children of volunteers . Before 1996 , the same request was turned down several times including by François Mitterrand , the former Socialist President . Monuments . There is a full list of British and Irish monuments on the International Brigade Memorial Trust ' s website . Symbolism and heraldry . The International Brigades were inheritors of a socialist aesthetic . The flags featured the colours of the Spanish Republic : red , yellow and purple , often along with socialist symbols ( red flags , hammer and sickle , fist ) . The emblem of the brigades themselves was the three - pointed red star , which is often featured . This star and the Seal of Solomon were upon the signet rings of N . C . O . s and Officers in this communist horde [ … ] I have seen them myself in wear .