XV International Brigade

*Brigade name/s: XVth Brigade
*Brigade songs: Jarama Valley, Viva la Quinta Brigada
*Battles: Jarama, Brunete, Boadilla, Belchite, Fuentes de Ebro, Teruel, El Ebro

The XV International Brigade fought for the Spanish Second Republic in the Spanish Civil War as a part of the International Brigades. It was mustered at Albacete, Spain, in January 1937, comprising many English-speaking volunteers - arranged into a mostly British British Battalion and a mostly North American Lincoln Battalion - plus two non-English-speaking battalions, the Balkan Dimitrov Battalion and the French Sixth February Battalion.

The XVth Brigade first fought at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937 and suffered terrible casualties. The British lost 225 men from 600 ["Beevor (2006)", p. 211] ; the Lincolns 120 from 500 ["Beevor (2006)", p. 214] . After the battle, the brigade was seriously understrength.

At the end of March, a Spanish battalion, "Volontario 24" "(24th Volunteers)" joined the brigade. Over the next few months, under the close supervision of Janos Galicz, the brigade was re-organised into two regiments of about 1,200 men. He appointed "the gallant major" ["Thomas" (2001) p693] , George Nathan, as brigade Chief of Staff.

The first regiment, commanded by Jock Cunningham, with Harry Haywood as political commissar ["Eby" (2007), p174] , was English-speaking and comprised the depleted British and Lincolns; as well as the recently formed but understrength second battalion of American volunteers, George Washington Battalion. The second regiment was commanded by Major "Chapaiev" "(Miklos Szalway" ["Eby" (2007), p174] and consisted of the Dimitrov Battalion, the Sixth February Battalion and the "Volontario 24" Battalion.

This was the composition in July 1937 for the Battle of Brunete. As with Jarama, the brigade suffered huge casualties and "brigade strength was reduced from four to two battalions". ["Beevor (2006)" p 285] In particular, the two American battalions were so depleted that they merged to form the Lincoln-Washington Battalion ["Eby" (2007), p 196. "... losses in killed and wounded approached four hundred out of close to eight hundred just eight days before..."] (This name didn't last: it was re-named the "Lincoln" Battalion in October 1937. Two additional battalions - the nominally Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion and the Latin-American Español Battalion - joined the brigade to (again) make up numbers.

Battalions: overview

:

*Sub-battalion units attached to the Brigade
**Brigade Anti-Tank Company
**XVth Brigade Photographic Unit (Aug 1937-Sep 1938) [http://dlib.nyu.edu/eadapp/transform?source=tamwag/randall_photo.xml&style=tamwag/tamwag.xsl Archive]

Notable people

*Lt-Col Vladimir Copic
*Major George Nathan
*General "Gal" (Janos Galicz)
*Oliver Law
*Fred Copeman
*Robert Hale Merriman
*Jock Cunningham
*Frank Ryan
*Liam Beattie

References and footnotes

*es icon [http://www.ogqn.com/odb_gce/epr/brigadas/xv_bi.htm EPR Order of Battle Website]
*ca icon [http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/vexicat/brigades/bi_brigades.htm Associació Catalana Website]
*Hugh Thomas, "The Spanish Civil War", 2001. 4th Rev. Ed. 2001.
*Antony Beevor, "The Battle for Spain", 2006.
*Cecil Eby, "Comrades and Commissars", 2007.