Other Forces

Milicies Estat Català

Desperta.Ferro

Members of the militia of Estat Català (Catalan State) on the way to land in the island of Mallorca. This operation called landing of Mallorca or "Reconquesta de Mallorca" (Recapture of Mallorca) happenend between August 12th and September 11th 1936 tried to recapture the Balearic islands (Mallorca, Menorca and Eivissa) of the hands of the rebels. The Generalitat of Catalunya and the Comitè Central de Milícies Antifeixistes de Catalunya (Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia) planned this operation with the help of the Captain Alberto Bayo Giraud and the polity parties of PCE (Partido Comunista de España), the PVE (Partit Valencianista d'Esquerra) and the CNT-FAI. In some days the militia of Estat Català and the CNT-FAI controlled the Balearic islands but in few days the arrival of the Italian help and the non-collaboration of the Spanish government (they didn't like that independentist men controlled the islands and they decided not to supply them) the Catalans and the Anarchists must evacuate their troops to use them in other fronts, like Aragón, Madrid or Extremadura. The men of this picture ended the war in Extremadura and with a lot of problems with the members of the PCE that defended a ultra-centralized communist state. Also, we must said that these men (and all the men of the militia of Estat Català) were awarded with the medal of collective military valor. Another interesting thing, is that this militia was a "Brigada Mixta" (Mixt Brigade) with men and women.