History 86th Mixed Brigade

1 history

1.1 first phase
1.2 international brigade period
1.3 end of unit

history
first phase

a unit known brigada móvil de puertollano established towards end of 1936 led infantry lieutenant colonel ernesto martín del castillo. organized 2 carabineros battalions requena , castellón, pablo iglesias nr 2 battalion valencia , carabineros battalion joined unit in linares.

in march 1937 military unit became 86th mixed brigade (86.ª brigada mixta) , 1 of carabineros battalions replaced 20th international battalion (20.º batallón internacional). newly-formed battalion had 4 companies: first (1ª compañía) french; second (2ª compañía) or anglo-american company english-speaking latin-american, american , british , irish section; third (3ª compañía) included czechoslovak , polish volunteers; , fourth (4ª compañía de ametralladoras) made of germans , austrians.

the leader of new unit italian militia major aldo morandi, replaced head of 20th international battalion mexican colonel juan bautista gómez, german major fritz schiller chief of staff. reorganized brigade became part of 24th division of spanish republican army.

on 10 march brigade performed poorly in combats around sierra mulva. between 27 march , 13 april took part in military operations on peñarroya-pueblonuevo, attacking pozoblanco in left flank of campaign. on 22 august brigade badly shattered @ puerto de san vicente. between 18 , 20 october took part in defense of sierra de la noria. in december made part of 63rd division of 8th army corps , again suffered lot of casualties during attack against granja de torrehermosa, relieved of duties , sent villanueva de córdoba in order reorganized. @ time there numerous desertions among remaining members of wrecked brigade.

international brigade period

in january 1938, result of heavy restructuring, 20th international battalion split 3 battalions, 20th, 21st , 22nd. @ same time 3 of carabineros battalions transferred 222nd mixed brigade remaining spanish battalion pablo iglesias nr 2 battalion . 86th mixed brigade became 1 more international brigade, 2,338 international fighters of 57 leaders , officers , 29 sub-officers. newly-formed battalions led militia majors ernst düdel, paul odpadlik, cuni bernhardt , adolf rach, while machine gun company led georg prunzings.

the restructured brigade returned front line @ sierra del castaño , peña del Águila, replacing 103rd mixed brigade. saw action during attack against rebel positions @ villafranca de córdoba covering front in guadalmellato , miradero positions. however, in order satisfy demands of non-intervention committee, foreign members of brigade withdrawn on 1 october 1938 , replaced battalions of spanish conscripts. being composed of local soldiers, thenceforward 86th mixed brigade wrapped international brigade.

end of unit

in last phase 86th mixed brigade led militia major lino carrasco ortiz, replaced militia major ramón lleida gómez after month. unit saw little action in intervening months until final defeat , surrender of spanish republic in march 1939.