Irish Brigade (Spanish Civil War)
- Irish Brigade (Spanish Civil War)
An Irish Brigade, also known as "la bandera Irlandesa", fought on the Nationalist side of Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. The unit was formed by the politician Eoin O'Duffy, who had previously organised the banned quasi-fascist Blueshirts and Greenshirts in Ireland.
Despite the declaration by the Irish Government that participation in the war was illegal, 700 of O'Duffy's followers went to Spain. The Irish contingent originally refused Franco's order to fight against the Basque nationalists of the Republican side, seeing parallels between their recent struggle and Basque aspirations. General O'Duffy later remarked that they "have as much right to partition from Spain as the six counties of Ulster do from Ireland." They saw their primary role in Spain as fighting for the Roman Catholic religion against the Loyalist death squads who targeted priests and nuns (see Red Terror (Spain). They also saw many religious and historical parallels in the two nations, and hoped to protect Spain from Communism and Socialism.
The Irish Brigade saw little fighting, however. Advancing towards the front line at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937, they were mistaken by Nationalist regulares for Republican foreign volunteers. A fire fight ensued, during which several men were killed and injured on either side. Thereafter, the Brigade were deliberately kept out of the front lines. Franco requested that they return to Ireland not long afterwards.
An Irish republican contingent, known as the Connolly Column, also fought in Spain, on the leftist Republican side in the International Brigades.
External links
* [http://www.geocities.com/irelandscw/band-MurphyNed.htm Obituary of Ned Murphy; last known member of the Bandera when he died in Feb. 2007]
* [http://www.freewebs.com/nsafp/1irish1.htm Analysis of the Irish Brigade]
* [http://www.geocities.com/irelandscw/top-Contents-OD.htm For material on the Bandera members visit here]
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