The Malatesta Battalion, formed of exiled Italians, many women and men who were veteran anti-Fascist fighters from the Arditi del Popolo, and who gave their lives in June 1937 in the defence of Basque Country from 65,000 Spanish Falangists and 25,000 Italian Fascists backed by the Nazi Condor Legion's bombers.
The anarchist militia of the Spanish Revolution are usually reduced by historians to only the Durruti Column, Ascaso Column, Land and Freedom Column, and Iron Column, but as this nearly-complete list shows, the phenomenon of the working class under arms was phenomenally widespread. "Confederal Milita" are those of the CNT-FAI-FIJL (or CNT-FAI-JJLL in Catalonia), while "Syndicalist Militia" are those of the Syndicalist Party. Note that I am *excluding* regular Republican Army units dominated by anarchists (though I indicate where anarchist columns were later militarised as part of that Army), or units formed by the Confederation and its allies but consisting primarily of professional soldiers, civil guards etc. I have also not indicated the four international centuries formed within the Durruti Column, the one formed within the Iron Column, the one within the Land and Liberty Column, and the one within the Ascaso Column, but do list the International Battalion in Basque Country as it was a free-standing reserve unit.
- Confederal Militia, Asturias [mil]: CNT Battalion No.1
CNT Battalion No.2
CNT Battalion No.3
CNT Battalion No.4
CNT Battalion No.5
CNT Battalion No.6
CNT Battalion No.7
CNT Battalion No.8
Galicia Battalion
- Confederal Militia, Basque Country [mil]: 1st Battalion of Engineers
Bakunin Battalion (no.65)
Celtic Battalion (No.30)
CNT-FAI Battalion
Durruti Battalion (No.51)
Freedom Battalion
International Battalion
Isaac Puente Battalion (No.11))
Malatesta Battalion (No.36)
Sacco-Vanzetti Battalion (No.12)
- Confederal Militia, Aragon [mil]: Aguiluchos Column, later 125th Mixed Brigade
Alpine Battalion
Ascaso Column, later 125th Mixed Brigade
Durruti Column, later 26th Division
Kropotkin Battalion, JJLL
Land and Freedom Column, later 153rd Mixed Brigade
Red and Black Column, later 127th Mixed Brigade
Sur-Ebro Column
- Confederal Militia, Centre [mil]: Bakunin Battalion
Espartacus Battalions (x4), later 77th Mixed Brigade
Ferrer Battalion
Free Spain Column, later 70th Mixed Brigade
Juvenil Libertario Battalion
Orobón Fernández Battalion
Palacios Column
Sigüenza Battalion
Toledo Battalion
- Confederal Militia, Valencia [mil]: CNT No.13
Confederal Column No.2
Iberia Column, FAI-FIJL, ex CH
Iron Column (CH), later 83rd Mixed Brigade
Malatesta Division, ex CH
Torres-Benedito Column
- Confederal Milita, West and South [mil]: Alcoy Battalion
Andalusia-Extremadura Column (CAE)
Andrés Naranjo Battalion
Ascaso No.1 Battalion
Ascaso No.2 Battalion
Bujalance Sparrows Century, later CAE
CEFA Column
Fermín Salvochea Battalion, later CAE
Juan Arcas Battalion, later CAE
Makhno Battalion
Pancho Villa Battalion, later CAE
Pedro López Battalion
Raya Battalion
Sebastian Faure Battalion
Zimmerman Battalion, later CAE
- Syndicalist Militia [mil]: Jaime Cubedo Battalion (Valencia)
Syndicalist Battalion (Asturias)
[ENDS]
