SMALL IN NUMBER, GREAT IN SACRIFICE: THE WAR IN SPAIN AND THE YUGOSLAVS

SMALL IN NUMBER, GREAT IN SACRIFICE: The War in Spain and the Yugoslavs

"Not neutrality, but the fullest possible aid is due to the legal
Spanish government from all member  states of the League of Nations.
It is a question of the fascist intention to destroy all nations. It
is a question of the most terrible danger of war. It is not possible
to avoid it by neutrality, which means a blockade of  the legal
Spanish government, but by the speedy and full military, technical and
material aid and support of the world democracy,

of all  who want peace, for the Spanish people."
"Proleter", official newspaper of CP of Yugoslavia

"Spain was one of the brightest moments of this century. It

was something special, not only in the lives of the generation of Yugoslav

students studying, but for all progressive people in the world."

 The Spanish veteran Ivo Vejovoda

Introduction

The Yugoslav volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, known as Spanish fighters and Yugoslav brigadistas was a contingent of volunteers from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that fought beside the Republican side (in support of the Second Spanish Republic) in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). An estimated 1,664 "Yugoslav brigadistas" fought in the war, out of whom c. 800 were killed in action. According to the Spanish statistics, 148 Yugoslav volunteers received the officer rank during the conflict. 

Most of them fought in the battalions Dimitrov and Đuro Đaković of the International Brigades, and a large number of them participated and perished during the Battle of Ebro in 1938. They were recruited by the outlawed Communist Party of Yugoslavia. There were four airmen among the volunteers the most notable one being the fighter pilot Božidar "Boško" Petrović who attained the flying ace status.

After the war, those who managed to flee across the Pyrenees, fell captive in internment camps in France, where the Yugoslav communist organization illegally repatriated many of them. Some of whom became leaders of the resistance against the Nazi occupation. Three members of the International brigades that fought on the Republican side ended up commanding the four armies of the Partisan Liberation Army that fought the Nazis in World War II: Peko Dapčević, Kosta Nađ and Petar Drapšin.

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Monument to the International Brigades in Belgrade

The Spanish were the first nation in Europe to be attacked by the forces of the fascist and  nazi axis.

A large number of Yugoslavs, mostly young people, rushed to Spain, fought in the ranks of the Spanish Republican Army, and shed their blood for the freedom of the Spanish people. Those of them, who after this war returned to their homes, joined the anti-fascist war raging in their homeland. Our "Spaniards" - as the people called them - brought  with them from Spain  rich military and political experiences. Because of this, their role in  organizing our uprising and during the whole liberation war was conspicuous.


The republican government, the anti-fascist parties and the trade unions  started to organized and arm their units. This way the birth of the glorious Spanish Republican Army, which bore the main burden of the fight against the fascist onslaught till the end of the war. However,  unlike the fascist forces, the republican army received no help from  abroad. The western "democratic" government, led by Great Britain  and France, announced a  "policy of non-interference" - first alone and later in accordance with the  decision of the League of Nations. On the other hand, all true anti-fascists in Europe and the rest of the world felt that the war in Spain in character reached far beyond the borders of Spain.  They knew that the rebellion of the Spanish generals constituted the first major trial of strength between fascism and democracy. Many  progressive parties, especially communist parties, started to organize aid for Spain, and the most important way to help was to send volunteers to that country.

Jugoslav fighters in Spain

At  the beginning of October 1936, when the battle of Madrid, mercilessly  bombed by German and Italian aviation, broke out, the volunteers, anti-fascists from many countries, among them Yugoslavia, were already  in the front ranks on the republican side. The Yugoslavs served in various brigades. Some, especially those from Trieste and from Istria served in the 12th  "Garibaldi" Italian brigade; the former "Balkan" company was renamed  the "Dura Dakovic" company and was incorporated into the "Chapajev"  battalion of the 13th "Dombrovski" Polish brigade. Other were  mostly in the 15th "Lincoln" brigade, composed of volunteers from English-speaking countries, which with the Czechs, Bulgarians and other formed the "Dimitrov" battalion, which included  the "Matija Gubec" Yugoslav company.

Yugoslavs were always among the best, among the most courageous. Out of 1300  Yugoslav volunteers, more than half laid down their lives in Spain. Those  who survived showed their high morale in the new trials, awaiting them in France, where, with volunteers from other countries, they were imprisoned in  improvised concentration camps. On the initiative of the Party  organization, led by Ivan Gosnjak, our "Spaniards" succeeded in changing these camps into schools for political and general education. They were in the front line of the internees' battles against the  attempts of the authorities to change them into a listless and obedient mass, usable for various tasks such as clearing mine-fields. Our  "Spaniards" organized hunger strikes and rebellions against the policy of the authorities and against the unbearable living condition. With  the help of KPJ, they finally succeeded in escaping from the camps, and  a large number of them, about 250, returned by various ways to Yugoslavia.

But their homeland, Yugoslavia,  was already under foreign under occupation. This was in the summer and autumn  of 1941. The enemy, who had won in Spain,  has already reached this country and for our "Spaniards" the battles  began anew. They were among the first military advisers in the organs of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, among the first organizers of our  uprising, the first soldiers, commandeers and commissars of the first partisan units, among the most popular heroes.

Many were killed at the  beginning of the war - Zikica Jovanovich, Milan Blagojevich, Branko Krsmanovich, Slobodan Mitrov Danko... Our "Spaniards" were among the best known organizers of the regular National Liberation Army, among the  commanders, commissars and chiefs of major headquarters and larger operational units. During the closing operations, in the spring of  1945, when four armies were formed, all four were commanded by  "Spaniards" - Koca Popovich, Peko Dapcevic, Kosta Nadj and Petar Drapsin.

Something  of the role played by our "Spaniards" during the National Liberation  War can be seen by the fact that every fifth has been proclamation a  National Hero, while every ninth reached the rank of general.  More than half our "Spaniards" were killed in  action.

Just as in our country, the former volunteers in Spain  were among the best fighters against the fascist oppressor, among the  best organizers of armed uprising and participants in guerilla actions  in many other European countries-in France, Italy, Poland  and Bulgaria. The  foreign volunteers, Polish, French, German, Yugoslav and of many other  nations, though outmatched from the military point of view because of  the aid received by the fascists, were nevertheless a sign and a symbol  of the forces of international  solidarity  in action.


Their fight and their sacrifices are built into the foundations of the future world - the world of peace, freedom and brotherhood among nations. For us, Yugoslavs, who took up arms in occupied Europe and were the first people to form a regular anti-fascist army in the center of the European fortress, the example of the Spanish republican  army was very significant.