XI International Brigade

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The XI International Brigade fought for the Spanish Second Republic in the Spanish Civil War.

It would become especially renowned for providing desperately needed support in the darkest hours of the Republican defense of Madrid on 8 November 1936, when, with great losses, it helped repulse a major assault by veteran Nationalist troops, buying time for more Republican troops to be brought into the city.^[1]

1 Order of Battle
2 Commemoration
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Order of Battle

It was originally mustered from international volunteers at Albacete, Spain, in mid-October 1936 as the IX Brigada Movíl, with four battalions:

Franco-Belgian Battalion (14 Oct 1936)
Austro-German Battalion (14 Oct 1936)
Italo-Spanish Battalion (14 Oct 1936)
Polish-Balkan Battalion (17 Oct 1936)

On 22 Oct 1936, it was redesignated the XI "Hans Beimler" International Brigade on 22 Oct 1936, with General "Kléber" (Manfred Stern) commanding^[2]. The original battalions were renamed as follows:

The Franco-Belgian battalion became the Commune de Paris Battalion
The Austro-German battalion became the Edgar André Battalion, (after Edgar André).
The Italo-Spanish battalion became the Garibaldi Battalion, (after Giuseppe Garibaldi).
The Polish-Balkan battalion became the Dabrowski Battalion (pronounced "Dombrowski"), (after Jarosław Dąbrowski).

On 3 Nov 1936, the Garibaldi Battalion (which had no rifles) and the Thälmann Battalion (which was in XII International Brigade) swopped places.

Other units that formed part of XI International Brigade at other times were:

Austrias Heredia Battalion
Hans Beimler Battalion
Madrid Battalion
Pacifico Battalion
Pasionaria Battalion
Zwölfter Februar Battalion

Its political commissar was the energetic Giuseppe Di Vittorio.

[edit] Commemoration

On 18 July 1956, the German Democratic Republic issued the Hans Beimler Medal to veterans of the XI International Brigade, and other volunteer units in Spain. At the time, there were 632 surviving veterans alive. On the 20th anniversary of the end of the war, in September 1959, a further 112 were awarded.^[3] The medal is silver with a relief portrait of Hans Beimler on one side, and the three-pointed star of the International Brigades on the reverse, with the inscription "KAMPFER FVR SPANIENS FREIHEIT 1936-1939", Fighters for Spanish Liberty (1936-1939).