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Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

International Brigades
Mackenzie-Papineau Batallion
Italian Legion (Legión Italiana)

See also:

Political Parties 1931-1939 (Spain)
Historical Flags 1931-1939 (Second Spanish Republic)
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

International Brigades

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

Mackenzie-Papineau Batallion

Official Flag
by Sebastia Herreros

1937 Flag
by Sebastia Herreros

Italian Legion

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