Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

Last modified: 2003-07-12 by santiago dotor
Keywords: spain | spanish civil war | international brigades | star: 3 points (red) | italian legion | legión italiana | military | canton: italy |
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• First Air Force Region 1931-1939
• International Brigades
• Mackenzie-Papineau Batallion
• Italian Legion (Legión Italiana)

See also:

• Political Parties 1931-1939 (Spain)
• Second Spanish Republic 1931-1939
• Historical Flags 1936-1938 (Spain)
• Historical Flags 1938-1945 (Spain)
• Spain

Other sites:

• Guerra 1936-1939: Les Brigades Internacionals (War 1936-1939: The International Brigades, Catalan text only), at the Catalan Vexillological Association Website

by Roberto Pla

Roberto Pla, webmaster of the unofficial (but very good) Ejército del Aire website (Spanish Air Force) sent me this image of the flag of the 1st Air (Force) Region during the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939). His source is a photograph he took of the actual flag in the Spanish Air Museum.

Santiago Dotor, 1 March 2001

Brigadas Internacionales

by Vincent Morley

The central symbol is not a triangle, but rather a three-pointed star, which was the symbol of the International Brigades. I have a book, International Solidarity with the Spanish Republic (Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1975), which shows several flags of individual brigades on which this symbol appears - but they all have additional devices or text along with the star - usually the arms of the Spanish republic or a symbol of the country or countries from which the brigade was recruited. The simplest flag is that shown in a photograph of the brigades' final parade in Barcelona before their departure from Spain. That is a tricolour, with the star on the lower purple stripe (and it must have been a very pale purple because the star appears darker in this black and white photo - or perhaps the star was black in this example?) with text in the upper stripe of which only the word Mixta is visible in the fly - my guess would be that it read Brigada Mixta [Combined Brigade].

Vincent Morley, 12 March 1999

See this website and its links for the three tined star of the International Brigades and a wide range of Spanish republican imagery.

Knut A. Berg, 12 March 1999

Incorrect International Brigades flag, reported as flag of the Republican Provisional Government

by Jorge Candeias

Official Flag
by Sebastia Herreros

1937 Flag
by Sebastia Herreros

Legión Italiana

by José Manuel Erbez

Flag shown in one of a series of postcards about the actions of the Legión Italiana (Italian Legion), a nominally voluntary corps (in fact regular troops) sent by Mussolini to help the Nationalist side. Source: Jordi and Arnau Carulla, La Guerra Civil en 2000 Carteles (The Civil War in 2000 Posters), 1999.

José Manuel Erbez, 14 March 2000