Requeté

"Requete" redirects here. For the Spanish superlative prefix, see Spanish adjectives. For the French title, see Master of Requests (France).

The Requeté (Spanish: [rekeˈte]; Catalan: Requetè, Basque: Errekete) was a Carlist organization, at times with paramilitary units, that operated between the mid-1900s and the early 1970s, though exact dates are not clear.

Requetés
Clockwise from top left: Olot, late Restoration; Andalusia, Second Republic; Pérez Nájera; Zamanillo; monument to Requeté, Montserrat; Donostia, Spanish Civil War; Llorens; Roma. Centre: standard-bearer
Active	1900s-1970s
Country	Spain
Type	Militia
Engagements	Spanish Civil War

The Requeté formula differed over the decades, and according to its changes the history of the movement falls into several phases: 1) heterogeneous youth organisation (mid-1900s to mid-1910s); 2) urban street-fighting squads (mid-1910s to early 1920s); 3) dormant structure with no particular direction (early 1920s to early 1930s); 4) paramilitary party militia (1931–1936); 5) army shock units (1936–1939); 6) party branch in-between youth and ex-combatant organisation (1940s–1950s); 7) internal "order of the faithful" (1960s).

The Requeté played a major role in Spanish history in early months of the Civil War, when its units were critical for ensuring Nationalist advantage on some key frontline sections. It is not clear whether there is any Requeté network operational today.

Background

 

Early scouting, Spain

Apart from academic associations, until the end of the 19th century there were no youth organisations in Spain. They started to emerge in the early 1900s as branches of various political movements; in 1903, a first youth socialist group appeared in Bilbao and in 1906 Federación de Juventudes Socialistas staged its national congress.^[1] In 1904 the Basque nationalists set up Juventud Vasca.^[2] The same year in Barcelona the radical republicans founded Juventud Republicana, operating under a colloquial name of "jóvenes bárbaros"; in 1911 they formed Federación de Juventudes Radicales.^[3] In the early 1910s youth conservative Maurista groups started to emerge.^[4] At that time also non-political organizations began to appear; the first Boy Scouts group was recorded in 1911,^[5] in its Catalanized version as "Exploradores de Barcelona" born in 1912.^[6] Though in the early 20th century there were already various sporting, tourist, or other leisure associations operational in Spain, they were oriented towards young adult males and were not specifically intended to group minors.

The first Carlist youth formations started to emerge in the early 1900s, but their origins are highly unclear. Groups named Batallones de la Juventud were recorded in Madrid (1902) and Barcelona (1903) when staging marches and parades, apparently intended to demonstrate prowess of Traditionalism and perhaps also to intimidate political enemies.^[7] Some scholars see these initiatives not as part of freshly born political mobilization among the urban youth, but rather as continuation of the old Carlist "tradition of direct action". They claim that "abortive resumption of violence at the turn of the century" – i.e. a series of minor disturbances, staged mostly in Catalonia in 1900 – as their important consequence produced loose "armed squads of Carlists", which engaged in petty urban violence during the following years.^[8] These gangs were easily suppressed by forces of order, yet their emergence demonstrated a new phenomenon: mostly urban Carlist militancy, independent of official movement structures and oriented towards street violence.

 

Carlist youth, Barceloneta

It is not clear whether birth of Juventud Carlista, a party youth organisation, was supposed to take emerging violence under control or was rather an attempt to institutionalize and enhance the violent strategy. Its first branch was set up at unspecified time in Madrid; since 1903 the organization operated in Barcelona and proved particularly dynamic in the urban Catalan milieu.^[9] It soon turned out that Catalonia in general and Barcelona in particular by far outpaced other regions in terms of mobilization of Carlist youth. At that time the region was rapidly undergoing massive social transformation, turning from a mountainous rural area to a region dominated by the industrialized, urban coastal belt; profound social changes proved fertile soil for growth of new urban phenomena.^[10] Mushrooming and loosely-organized groups of Juventud engaged in military drills; they also got increasingly involved in street clashes with hit-squads related to Left-wing politics, especially the Radicals and the Anarchists.^[11]

Emergence (1907)

 

Manresa requeté

Exact origins of requeté organisation are not clear. In the early 1900s loose Carlist groups in Catalonia referred to themselves as "requeté",^[12] a name that dates back to the crack battalion of Navarre in the First Carlist War, distinguished by general Zumalacarregui for their gallantry.^[13] Also some correspondents of Traditionalist press used the term as their pen-name.^[14] It seems that first attempts to create a Carlism-flavored framework for juvenile and youth activities were related to the city of Manresa. In 1907 a local review Lo Mestre Titas was referred to as "portavoz del requeté escolar"^[15] and present-day scholars also consider it an unofficial mouthpiece of local juvenile Carlism.^[16] Historians often repeat a theory that the first organization named "Requeté" was set up in Manresa in 1907 by a 37-year-old publisher and propagandist Juan María Roma.^[17] The first press reference is dated 1908, it points to "Requeté Carlí de Manresa" and does not mention Roma.^[18] The principal objective of the organisation was defined as "fem propaganda", and called "joves carlins de Catalunya" to follow suit.^[19] Indeed, soon groupings from other locations like Sabadell^[20] or Girona^[21] notified setup of their own requeté branches.

 

"Mom, I am training to become requeté"^[22]

There is not a single case of provincial or regional Carlist juntas having been mentioned as involved in buildup of the requeté cells. It seems that their emergence was related to or inspired by Juventud Carlista; its members were at times referred as "older brothers" of "jovencitos" from requeté,^[23] requeté was approached as sort of preparatory stage for entry into Juventud^[24] and at times the organisation was named as "Requeté de la Juventud Carlista".^[25] Sporadically requete was explicitly referred as "organized under the Juventud auspices".^[26] Most geographical references to requeté were related either to Catalonia^[27] or Levante.^[28] Since 1910 there were notes related also to Madrid,^[29] since 1911 to Andalusia,^[30] Aragón, Galicia,^[31] Old Castile^[32] and Vascongadas,^[33] and since 1912 to Navarre^[34] and Canarias.^[35] However, in various parts of Spain local cells were perceived as emulation of "‘Requeté’ al estilo de Barcelona".^[36]

A party document from somewhat later period claims that originally requeté was intended for older children and younger teenagers aged 12–16, who could not enlist to Juventudes; other notes specify the age limits as 8–15. Historians describe the organization of its constitutive phase as "pacífico y infantil", similar to later Pelayos of the 1930s rather than to a paramilitary organisation.^[37] Indeed, press from the era used to describe requeté members as "jovenes", "jovencitos", "chicos", "niños", "infantiles", "muchachos", or "chiquillos". Purpose and objectives of requeté were described vaguely as "mature, learn, and train to be a soldier of God", though growing in peace, but also "prepared for war". Early notes suggest that a requeté member had to be a good Christian, but did not necessarily have to be a Carlist.^[38] Initially some naming confusion ensued; members of the organisation could have been named "requetés", "requeténs" or "requetenistas".^[39]

Early phase (1907–1913)

 

Abanderadas, Barcelona

In 1909 the Catalan Junta Regional asked Roma to prepare a formal set of regulations which would define the requeté modus operandi;^[40] there is no immediate follow up known. In 1911 some press titles published an anonymous ordinance draft; it is unlikely that it was adopted, let alone implemented.^[41] It appears that separate requeté groups operated on their own with no provincial or regional network organized; until the mid-1910s there was no co-coordinative body or executive ever mentioned. Membership remains unclear; according to friendly press there were over 100 associates in Barcelona in 1910^[42] and 130 in Lleida;^[43] a 1911 rally in Terrasa gathered 200 youth,^[44] while in the town of Valls there were 50 members enlisted in 1912.^[45] A hardly credible note claims that a rally in Valencia was attended by 800 requetés.^[46] Though the draft rulebook envisioned only boys as members, photos demonstrate that there were also girls present,^[47] some sources refer to "requeté de damas blancas"^[48] and adolescent females served even as standard-bearers.^[49]

Larger of more affluent groups boasted of their own standards, usually received during pompous ceremonies; in Catalonia the first such case was noted in 1910,^[50] while in Valencia in 1911.^[51] At least basic governing structures started to emerge, usually with president, but at times also with vice-president, treasurer, secretary, librarian or members of junta directiva.^[52] Larger local groups started to set-up specialized sub-sections, like sección dramática,^[53] de caridad,^[54] excursionista,^[55] instructiva,^[56] ciclista,^[57] recreativa,^[58] militar,^[59] alpina,^[60] politico-religiosa, de prensa y propaganda or sección de sport.^[61] None of the sources consulted confirms existence of dedicated premises and it is not clear whether members of local cells met in private, in Carlist círculos or outdoors. Since 1911 there are vague references to common gear,^[62] usually red^[63] or blue^[64] berets, but prior to 1913 there was no explicit note of a shirt or other part of uniform identified.

 

Junta de requeté, Barcelona

Personal information on leadership is scattered, fragmented and imprecise. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Juan María Roma played a major if not key role in organisation of early requeté. Another Catalan Carlist leader associated was Dalmacio Iglesias, allegedly bent on turning requeté into shock troops designed to take part in street fightings.^[65] In Valencia the major person related was a retired artilleryman, in the Carlist ranks known as general, Joaquín Llorens; already in 1910 some press titles referred to "requeté d’en Llorens."^[66] Among leaders of local groups, in 1910 the president of Barcelona requeté was named as Martin Gibernau;^[67] in 1911 it was first Fernando Bertrán^[68] and then Valentin Estefanell.^[69] Still in 1911, Joaquín Font y Fargas was named "director del requeté jaimista".^[70] In 1912 the elected president of Barcelona requeté organisation was Julian Oliver.^[71] In other major centers Francisco Alcón Orrico presided over the Valencia branch^[72] and Joaquín Castaneda over the Madrid one.^[73]

Main activities (1910s)

 

Requeté on excursion

One of key requeté activities was propaganda.^[74] The members were selling party periodicals^[75] or pamphlets with Carlist Cortes speeches,^[76] distributing free press,^[77] leafleting,^[78] or tearing down street materials of competitive groups.^[79] Propaganda tours^[80] might have included small musical bands^[81] or parades.^[82] Various cultural initiatives were also flavored with Traditionalist propagandistic zeal. They included literary evenings,^[83] at times covering also musical pieces,^[84] choirs,^[85] reading poetry,^[86] infantile recitations,^[87] journalistic competitions,^[88] theatrical performances,^[89] dance,^[90] music^[91] and other "bellas artes".^[92] Some gatherings turned into multi-cultural events.^[93] A related field was education; some circles organized lectures^[94] and at one point there was even an "Academia del Requeté" set up.^[95]

Standard requeté practice was taking part in religious events,^[96] usually field masses, parades or pilgrimages.^[97] Members of the group were supposed to practice to become good Christians, e.g. they were expected to take holy communion at least monthly;^[98] however, there is no explicit information identified on abstinence vows taken, e.g. these related to tobacco or alcohol. Many requeté cells embarked on charity,^[99] reported as engaged in social work among the poor or the sick^[100] or involved in other initiatives.^[101] In some cells there were specific charity sections set up.^[102]

Among outdoor activities, numerous excursions^[103] were usually formatted in-between tourism, religion and propaganda.^[104] Marching in organized, disciplined and military-like formations with standards and at times with accompanying music,^[105] the members walked to sanctuaries like Montserrat^[106] or Poblet;^[107] single individuals embarked on longer journeys.^[108] There are fairly frequent press notes about requeté members in military foot drills.^[109] A recurring theme is shooting practice.^[110] Last but not least, requetés were noted as involved in sports. The discipline mentioned in particular was cycling;^[111] football seemed much less popular,^[112] and a single case of a climbing group was noted.^[113] Trophies involved were named "Copa Requeté".^[114]

 

Tarragona requeté

Since 1909 Republican press reported numerous incidents of requeté-related violence, ranging from insulting other juveniles^[115] to provocative marches,^[116] assaults on premises of left-wing newspapers^[117] and organisations^[118] or attempts to stop tram circulation in order to enforce observance of religious holidays.^[119] Hostile press agonized about "juvenil y bizarro ejército"^[120] trained for "asesinato, el robo y el incendio",^[121] educated in hate and "ready to die and to kill";^[122] in the best case, they were "creatures 8 to 10 years, cigarettes in their mouths and cards in their hands".^[123] Progressist authors warned about "burlesca comedia de una guerra civil"^[124] and in every second report "requeté" was paired with "browning".^[125] There were requeté militants detained by security or court-martialled,^[126] clashes with police^[127] and Guardia Civil,^[128] arms confiscations,^[129] or administrative measures applied by civil governors against specific circulos.^[130] The 1911 street battle in Sant Feliú de Llobregat, which left few people dead, might have involved some requeté members.^[131] Violence was reported not only in Catalonia, but also in the Vascongadas.^[132] Carlist press when discussing violence presented requeté as preventing assaults on churches^[133] or ensuring safety during Carlist rallies.^[134]

Attempted overhaul (1913)

 

Olot requeté

Requeté of the early 1910s was a heterogeneous formation hosting 10-year-old children and young men, its activities falling between culture and street violence. At times differences led to comical confusion,^[135] but there was no uniform framework emerging. Some historians suggest that the impulse to reform the organization came from the new Carlist claimant, Don Jaime. Reportedly impressed by the 1908-established French monarchist formation Camelots du Roi, he intended to build a similar structure.^[136] Already in 1910 he discussed the plan with Llorens,^[137] though his first public references to requeté are dated 1911.^[138] General guidelines for a new requeté formula were issued in late1912;^[139] the news soon became public^[140] and the first known draft of the re-alignment plan was dated on early 1913. The same year the 59-year-old Llorens was nominated head of Comisíon de Requetés, one of 10 sub-sections of the party executive, Junta Superior Central. This was also the first moment when Requeté was officially recognized by the party as its branch.^[141]

 

Abanderada, Pamplona

Llorens intended to build an organization of disciplined, trained young men, structured in units and capable of co-ordinated action, with a view of forming a future "ejército".^[142] He intended to name them "Grupos de Defensa"^[143] and Requeté and Juventud were supposed to be sort of training or logistics arrangements.^[144] They were to form a network with various command layers, and the entire structure was to remain under supervision of Carlist politicians. A draft attributed to Llorens envisioned that Requeté were to be split into a younger and an older section.^[145] A 16-man squad was to be as a basic unit, 4 squads would make a sección and 2 sections would make a company, all commanded by individuals of specific ranks.^[146] The draft envisioned also insignia and a grey-colored uniform.^[147]

In 1913 a body named Junta Central Tradicionalista Organizadora de los Requetes de Cataluña was set up, with Matías Llorens Palau nominated its president. The Junta issued a number of guidelines intended to discipline and unite existing requeté cells^[148] and proceeded with nomination of provincial juntas.^[149] Apparently a rulebook has been edited and published.^[150] Since late 1913 there were sporadic news of dissolving existing structures and creating escuadras as outlined in manuals issued by Junta Organizadora;^[151] at times there was only "reorganización" of specific branches mentioned.^[152] The same year first requeté units were reported as appearing in public uniformed in gear "modelo Llorens".^[153]

Exact outcome of the reform attempted by Llorens is not clear. It is known that "Grupos de Defensa" have never emerged and that both Requeté and Juventud continued to operate as autonomous structures. Junta Central Organizadora proved to be a rather short-lived body, as there is no news of its existence after 1914;^[154] instead, there were sporadic references to Comisión de Requetés, active until 1919.^[155] To what extent the local requeté cells were indeed transformed into structured, disciplined units focused on paramilitary activity remains unknown.^[156] Some scholars suggest that the attempted reform was largely a failure.^[157]

Post-reform organization (1913–1920)

 

Requeté ridiculed

The reform attempted by Llorens coincided with peak of requeté activity during the Restoration era; in the late 1910s it was in steady decline.^[158] It seems that at the time Requeté was increasingly getting formatted as a paramilitary organization, as news on related violence clearly prevail over information on cultural,^[159] leisure^[160] or charity^[161] activities, dominant in the early part of the decade. Carlist youth was reported as engaged in street altercations with other groupings, especially Jóvenes Bárbaros of the Radicals;^[162] however, there were also news about clashes with Catalanist^[163] and Basque nationalist youth.^[164] Not few of these incidents involved use of firearms and produced casualties,^[165] including fatal ones.^[166] Since 1915 there are news on automobiles used during shooting incidents.^[167] It is usually impossible to tell who started violence, especially given all groups behaved provocatively. However, it is clear that in many cases it was the requeté youth which assaulted premises deemed hostile^[168] or tried to break down rallies of the opposition.^[169] There is also increasingly frequent information on requeté groups sabotaging electoral action, e.g. attempting to destroy ballot boxes.^[170]

Slightly ahead of the Great War the Requeté activity assumed a visibly pro-German and anti-French tone. When the president of France Raymond Poincaré travelled by train to Madrid, in Catalonia he was greeted with "¡Viva España y Alemania!" paintings, signed by Requeté.^[171] During the hostilities, when the question of Spanish stand versus the conflict remained a heated political issue, requeté militants provided protection to rallies advancing either neutralist (effectively pro-German) or openly pro-German and pro-Austrian narrative.^[172] During a popular feast in Barcelona they assaulted participants who carried cartoons mocking the Kaiser^[173] and in 1917 some politicians already suggested that the organization was actually financed by Germany;^[174] as there has never been a shadow of evidence unearthed, the claim was most likely entirely unsubstantiated.

 

Sant Feliu requeté

There is information suggesting that fairly frequently requeté appeared uniformed, though it seems also that police or Guardia Civil approached half-military gear as threat to public order, and organized groups of adolescent boys were permitted to operate – e.g. to exercise marches – only when unarmed and in plain clothes.^[175] Partial and sporadic data provides evidence that at least some elements of organized structure, including military ranks^[176] and hierarchical command layers,^[177] have been introduced; there are also unconfirmed news about expulsions from the organization.^[178] Relations with the official political Traditionalist hierarchy remain unclear; there are cases of militant youth exalting regional leadership reported,^[179] but there are also cases of Carlist deputies voicing unease and even suggesting dissolution of specific requeté cells.^[180] In the late 1910s no political party heavyweights seemed particularly related to the organisation.^[181] Llorens ceased to appear as engaged, especially that due to the Germanophile stand, he found himself conflicted with the claimant.^[182] In 1920 Don Jaime nominated Juan Pérez Nájera, a 75-year-old military, the jefé of all requeté in Spain.^[183]

Dormant phase (1920–1930)

 

Valls requeté

Since the mid-1910s the activity of Requeté was in steady decline, but at the turn of the decades the organisation entered the period of lethargy and hibernation, by scholars dubbed "disengagement and paralysis"^[184] or "irremisible decadencia".^[185] It is not clear wheter the crisis^[186] was related to any single factor, like half-completed Llorens’ reform, grave political crisis of Carlism during the Mellista breakup of 1919, inefficiency of Najera and the new leadership, or limitations on public activity imposed by the Primo de Rivera dictatorship of 1923. It is neither known to what extent the deteriorating militancy resulted rather from other processes, like general downturn of Carlism in Catalonia, outpaced by republican, Catalanist or Anarchist organizations.

In the early 1920s it might have appeared that the Carlist urban militancy was re-channelled from youth organizations like Requeté or Juventud to syndicalist groupings, or that some sort of synergy between two types of organizations was near. Numerous proletarian members of Carlist-affiliated Sindicatos Libres involved in violent clashes with competitive labor unions were former requetés;^[187] the first identified requeté killed during inter-syndicalist violence was José Torrecasana Valentine.^[188] However, Sindicatos Libres failed to gain dynamics and stagnated.^[189] In 1922 Don Jaime asked the Carlist political leader Marqués de Villores to revitalize Requeté and Juventudes into "action groups",^[190] but there is no tangible outcome of this initiative known. While in 1923 Catalonia saw another surge of violence bordering collapse of public order, requeté contributed little; at times noted for clashes of their organized squads with the police,^[191] they were increasingly frequently on the defeated end during skirmishes with left-wing hit-squads. Having declared 3 members dead, in June the Barcelona requeté promised to retalliate and take bold action.^[192] At that time there were also first references to requeté against the Fascist background.^[193]

 

Rare picture of requeté in action, strike unrest in Barcelona

Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera cracked down on street violence and restored calm. Since then there are no news on requeté-related disturbances, and if noted in the press, they were mentioned e.g. in relation to pilgrimages,^[194] issuing bulletins,^[195] sending protest letters^[196] or taking part in religious services.^[197] In some provinces requeté activity ceased completely.^[198] In unclear circumstances a Barcelona branch declared itself dissolved and renamed to "Los Mosqueteros de Jaime III".^[199] Relations with the primoderiverista militia Somatén remained ambiguous. In the early 1920s the two formations used to confront each other in violent fist-fights;^[200] later it was reported that some individuals held double membership.^[201] Since the mid-1920s numerous requeté members entered Somatén, especially that such a move was officially recommended by de Villores.^[202] In 1927–1928 the regime suspected requeté of planning a coup d'état and some detentions followed,^[203] e.g. this of the Barcelona requeté president Felix Oliveras y Cots.^[204] Indeed, some Catalan Carlist hotheads engaged in anti-Primo conspiracy, promptly dismantled by the party executive.^[205]

Reformatting (1930–1931)

 

Carlist standard

When the 1930 fall of the Primo regime removed limitations on public activity the Carlists voiced their relief after the end of "seis añox largos de silencio impuestos por una Dictadura".^[206] Scholars claim that the entire movement was at its lowest point ever,^[207] though none of the sources consulted provides estimates as to the state of Requeté at the moment. The information available suggests the organization languished as few isolated and rather inactive cells, engaged mostly in resumption of party propaganda and religious activities;^[208] there were attempts to return to the old format with renewed excursionist^[209] or sporting bids.^[210] Most news of requeté activity, scarce as they were, came traditionally either from Catalonia^[211] or Levante.^[212] The latter region was somewhat privileged as this is where the party leader, marqués de Villores, resided; at times he appeared in public with the local Valencian requeté leader, Pelayo Beltrán Ripollés.

In May 1930 Don Jaime called the Carlist leaders to Paris and set up Comité de Acción. Historians speculate that as the situation in Spain was getting increasingly fragile, the claimant acted with a view to future violent developments;^[213] some maintain that "revitalization of shock groups was key concern" for him at the time.^[214] However, there was no follow up visible. A study on Catalan Carlism of the early 1930s does not contain a single paragraph on any attempt to revitalize the requeté structures in the region in 1930–1931;^[215] the only evidence of focus on the organization was Cruz de la Legitimidad Proscrita, the high Carlist honor the claimant conferred upon Beltrán.^[216] When in April 1931 the monarchy collapsed and Republic was declared, Requeté continued to stagnate with no apparent direction. In the summer of 1931 the Carlist executive engaged in talks with the Alfonsists and army generals about an anti-Republican coup, but given shortage of resources, they realized ruritanian nature of any such attempt.^[217]

 

Don Jaime

In late summer of 1931 Comité decided to focus on expansion and re-formatting of Requeté. Some scholars claim it was to act "para impulsor un eventual movimiento insurreccional"^[218] and to become volunteer army able to rise and control some territory in "the old 19th-century style";^[219] however, there is also opinion that the organization was to maintain "eminently defensive character".^[220] Any remnants of juvenile features were abandoned and the organization was to group fit, young adult males. Its centre of gravity was to be moved from Catalonia and Levante to the vasco-navarrese area,^[221] which implied reliance on rural and small-town militancy rather than on large urban centers like Barcelona or Valencia. Requeté was to acquire a format in-between a para-military and a militia organisation, its members to be disciplined, structured, trained in combat and use of firearms; professional army officers were to supervise the change. The decisions adopted in late 1931 set an entirely new course and in short time they were to transform Requeté into a totally new formation, with no resemblance either to juvenile format from its early phase or to urban street-fight squads from the late 1910s.^[222]

New Requeté (1931–1936)

 

Madrid requeté, 1933

The history of Requeté during the Republic falls into three phases. The first one is associated with Colonel Eugenio Sanz de Lerín, appointed the Requeté chief instructor in 1931. In few months he managed to develop a Navarrese network of 2,000 men, grouped into newly established 10-men sub-units named decurias;^[223] its immediate objective was protection of religious buildings.^[224] With assistance of local parish priests,^[225] by year-end the force at least tripled.^[226] However, in early 1932 Requeté suffered a number of setbacks. Comité de Acción was disbanded,^[227] key instructors were detained by the security,^[228] and some cells were outlawed by administration. Most decurias got "practically dismantled"; apart from disorganized Navarrese network,^[229] elsewhere Requeté were restricted to harmless groups in big cities.^[230] During a meeting of military conspirators prior to the August 1932 Sanjurjada Sanz de Lerín offered 6,000 requetés, but scholars dismiss this claim as pure fantasy.^[231] Beyond Navarre there was barely any growth and even in Catalonia requeté was much of a disappointment.^[232]

The second phase is associated with suspended army colonel, Enrique Varela; in late 1932 he was appointed Jefé Nacional of Requeté.^[233] He replaced the decuria scheme with a military-like structure up to the battalion level^[234] and issued a number of rulebooks,^[235] but above all in 1933–1934 he toured the country making appointments,^[236] issuing orders, supervising buildup and delivering training himself.^[237] Though in regions like Catalonia standardization efforts encountered some resistance,^[238] the organization gained momentum also beyond Navarre.^[239] In early 1934 the party executive formed Frente Nacional de Boinas Rojas,^[240] the attempt to create a hierarchical^[241] national Requeté structure,^[242] detached from local Carlist juntas.^[243] Its political leader^[244] was appointed José-Luis Zamanillo.^[245] Some 150 militants attended military training in Fascist Italy.^[246] In late 1934 requetés for the first time ever offered their service to military commanders confronted with the October revolution.^[247] In early 1935 Requeté has already gained a convincingly military character which it had previously lacked;^[248] its strength was 20,000 men.^[249]

 

Drill of Andalusian requeté, 1934

The third phase commenced when in mid-1935 Varela^[250] handed over as Inspector General to Ricardo Rada.^[251] At the time the chief concern was weapons, with small arms being smuggled from France^[252] or procured internally; in early 1935 the organization owned 450 machine-guns.^[253] There were already plans for military action prepared, though intended as counter-revolutionary defense rather than as insurrectional coup.^[254] By late 1935 requeté sections were no longer add-ons to Carlist círculos; they became the most dynamic part of the Carlist machinery and it might have seemed that all the rest was just an add-on to Requeté.^[255] December 1935 produced first case of Requeté on alert awaiting the order to rise;^[256] another plan, this time to stage a Carlist-only rising, was developed and then abandoned in April–May 1936.^[257] In late spring of 1936 Requeté grouped 10,000 fully armed and trained men plus 20,000 forming an auxiliary pool.^[258] In contrast to urban-oriented action groups "primarily accustomed to street fighting and pistolerismo", maintained by other parties,^[259] Requeté was a "genuine citizen army" capable of performing small-scale tactical military operations.^[260]

Civil War (1936–1939)

 

on parade, Civil War

The early period of the Civil War was the only moment when Requeté had a tangible impact on Spanish history. In 3 out of 4 regions of highest Carlist militancy, Catalonia, Levante and Vascongadas, the military coup failed and requeté rebels fell prisoners, went into hiding or fled to the Nationalist zone.^[261] However, in Navarre the organization was powerful enough^[262] to seize control over the region almost single-handedly;^[263] moreover, it contributed to rapid capture of Western Aragón,^[264] and in the late summer of 1936 it proved crucial for Nationalist takeover of Gipuzkoa.^[265] Smaller Requeté detachments played some role during seizure of Western Andalusia.^[266] Units from Navarre, Old Castile, Leon and Galicia formed part of troops attempting to cross Sierra de Guadarrama and reach Madrid, but failed. During first weeks of the war the requeté volunteers might have formed some 15% of all Nationalist troops on the peninsula^[267] and proved vital for some of their initial strategic achievements, namely cutting off the Northern enclave from France and forming a bulwark which separated the Republican-held Vascongadas and Aragon.^[268]

Over time Requeté was losing importance as proportional component of the rebel troops. Already in October 1936 they formed only 6.5% of all Nationalist military personnel,^[269] and though later the organization maintained 20–25,000 people in its frontline units,^[270] due to overall growth of the Nationalist army the percentage kept dropping to some 3% by the end of the war.^[271] They were grouped in Carlist-only infantry battalions named tercio. There are some 40 of them known, though many were understrength and short-lived, later to be merged into other units; only about 15 operated throughout most of the war.^[272] They were typically commanded by professional army officers, possibly though not necessarily of Traditionalist leaning.^[273] The Navarrese tercios were grouped into so-called Brigades of Navarre, units composed also of army detachments and other militias;^[274] during much of the war they operated jointly as the Navarre Army Corps. Other tercios were assigned to various larger heterogeneous units.^[275] The wartime deployment of most Requeté tercios was first in the Vascongadas, then Cantabria, Asturias, the Teruel front, Maestrazgo and finally in Catalonia.^[276]

 

In mass, Civil War

Political unification did not affect Requeté tercios much; though formally incorporated into the army, they continued to operate as Carlist battalions.^[277] Recruitment was volunteer, ensured by party political structures in the rear.^[278] Exact social composition of the units is not clear; existing data suggests they were composed mostly of working-class militants, their share ranging between 55%^[279] and 85%.^[280] It is estimated that some 60,000^[281] to 70,000^[282] men served in Requeté one time or another, more than a half of them from Navarre.^[283] Cases of brothers, cousins or father-and-son pairs were by no means exceptional,^[284] and there were even few cases of 3 generations serving.^[285] Because along the Moroccan Regulares and the Foreign Legion the Requetés were usually deployed as shock troops,^[286] their casualties were above the average Nationalist losses.^[287] The number of KIAs is estimated between 4,000 and 6,000;^[288] the total number of casualties is given between 13,000 and 34,000.^[289]

Early Francoism (1940s)

 

Requeté combatant: post-war propaganda image

After the war Requeté battalions were disbanded, though the organization languished as part of local Carlist structures. Theoretically Comunión Tradicionalista amalgamated within the state party, but the movement operated unofficially or on a semiclandestine basis.^[290] None of the sources consulted confirms existence of nationwide Requeté executive, though Zamanillo – who in protest against the unification resigned his position in 1937 – at some point in the early 1940s re-assumed the duties of Delegado Nacional de Requetés.^[291] At least in areas of high Carlist militancy Juntas Regionales included a Requeté delegate^[292] and in regions like Navarre or Catalonia many loose requeté cells operated locally.^[293] National party leadership tried to reorganize the network; in the ambience of disintegration and bewilderment, they were anxious to ensure Requeté loyalty to the command chain^[294] or even to turn it into the party's backbone.^[295] Some authors refer to "reconstuido Requeté".^[296] New members were being recruited,^[297] ranks were maintained^[298] and in some cases, sub-sections were developed.^[299]

Exact role of Requeté is not clear. There is no information on military training, though various groups contemplated using the structures either as recruitment pool for units supposed to fight along the Nazis^[300] or as an espionage network for the British.^[301] It seems that the cells were engaged mostly in illicit propaganda activities, like leafleting, graffiti^[302] or sale of Carlist ware.^[303] However, a Requeté bulletin was issued officially, posing as print of former soldiers.^[304] Uniformed detachments^[305] attended various gatherings, usually either religious or related to commemorations of wartime deeds.^[306] Propaganda activities often led to skirmishes with FET or security forces.^[307] Already prior to 1939 most conflicts within the state party were related to requetés refusing to abandon their identity^[308] and to embrace the official national-syndicalism.^[309] During the 1940s the Falangists and groups referred as "requetés" engaged in intimidation,^[310] fist-fights, sabotaging rallies or assaults on premises;^[311] some Carlist cells proudly reported these engagements as their key activities.^[312] The largest riots occurred in 1945 in Pamplona, when official requeté structures actively prepared the disturbances.^[313] With diminishing frequency the brawls continued until the early 1950s.^[314]

 

Unidentified uniformed unit with Carlist flags, Donostia 1942

Police kept monitoring requeté cells but there was no systematic effort to suppress them.^[315] Displaying a badge in public^[316] or having a Requeté ID card^[317] could have been a motive for detention, but presence of small uniformed groups was usually tolerated during ex-combatant or religious events.^[318] However, at times even commemorative requeté rallies were banned^[319] or officials who had permitted them were admonished;^[320] an attempt to open Museo del Requeté in Seville ended up in administrative forbiddance.^[321] Requeté members detained during street brawls were usually released after some 2 weeks in arrest,^[322] though following the Pamplona riots few leaders were kept behind bars much longer.^[323] At the turn of the 1940s and 1950s the administration condoned public appearances of a requeté-styled group which accompanied an offshoot carloctavista claimant cultivated by the regime.^[324] Over time the official policy towards Carlist organizations became more lenient and administration permitted even massive rallies.^[325]

Mid-Francoism (1950s)

 

Montejurra, 1954

In the early 1950s Requeté was increasingly trapped in a generation gap. Wartime ex-combatants^[326] were approaching or in their 40s, consumed by daily routine^[327] and cultivating their Carlism as chats about wartime deeds over a glass of wine.^[328] Among young militants the centre of gravity shifted from rural or small-town ambience to large cities, and these activists tended rather towards the party academic organisation AET. To them, Requeté was more of a glorious remnant of the past, tailored to wartime needs and unsuitable as vehicle of political militancy.^[329] There are no membership numbers available, though the organization played little role in the Carlist machinery; when in the mid-1950s the party abandoned its opposition strategy and replaced it with cautious collaboration with the regime, Requeté was not involved and remained on the sidelines of the decision-making process.^[330] Zamanillo as Delegado Nacional de Requeté kept representing the organization in Secretaría Nacional^[331] and regional jefés operated locally,^[332] but it is not clear how much the network was still rooted in the ground.^[333]

Visible revitalisation of Carlism, related to the 1957 appearance of Don Carlos Hugo and his team, affected Requeté little; the focus was rather on AET.^[334] Uniformed militants were needed as part Traditionalist rallies like the Montejurra ascent^[335] and in large cities "requetés" were at times detained, e.g. for carrying placards aimed against Don Juan Carlos,^[336] however it is not clear whether in both cases the individuals in question were actually members of the Requeté organisation or rather ex-combatants and party militants. There were some signs of attempted revival, though. In 1957 Zamanillo nominated the 33-year-old Arturo Márquez de Prado y Pareja as "chief instructor" with apparent aim to resume military training.^[337] Also some sub-sections of the organization have been established; in 1958 a "Comisión Técnica Nacional del Requeté" was noted for its lengthy political analysis. Intended for the party leader José María Valiente, it recommended a firm and intransigent stand versus the Juanistas and the regime.^[338]

 

Requeté bulletin, 1959

In the late 1950s Requeté, increasingly perceived as an antiquated section of Carlist machinery, was getting more and more sidelined. Though the young Huguistas were inclined to allow it to rot, others saw the need for reorganisation. However, various proposals emerging to address the issue were at times contradictory. In 1959 the Navarrese jefé Francisco Javier Astraín complained about eternal dissent within the regional organisation, which "siempre había en la provincia para encontrar un jefe de requeté"; he suggested appointment of a new, strong-hand, military leader.^[339] On the other hand, some reports advocated exactly the opposite, namely more independence for the Requeté structures.^[340] The response from central party command was inconclusive. In 1960 latest the party executive Junta Nacional formed 7 specialized departments, and Comisión de Requeté was one of them.^[341] The same year Zamanillo, at the time Valiente's right hand, was promoted to Secretario General of the Comunión; he vacated the seat of Requete delegate, held for over 25 years.^[342] At this role he was replaced by Márquez de Prado.^[343]

Late Francoism (1960s)

 

uniformed Requeté members during a rally near Madrid, 1966

Under the new command Requeté put more focus on paramilitary instruction. There were systematic training courses organized,^[344] Márquez de Prado pondered upon assistance to Cuban counter-revolutionaries and to OAS in Algeria,^[345] and a police report from 1962 claimed that the structures were "perfectly organized".^[346] Carlists in the entourage of Don Carlos Hugo were increasingly anxious about the Requeté "influencia militarista" in the Comunión.^[347] At the time the organization was for the first time ever getting engaged in political debates within the party. Márquez de Prado remained suspicious about the prince, his entourage and their new ideas,^[348] while Requeté was gradually turning into the bulwark of Traditionalist orthodoxy.^[349] Ramón Massó and other Huguista leaders concluded that Márquez de Prado, obsessed with confronting counter-revolution, had to be sidelined.^[350] As to the organisation itself they were undecided whether there was a chance to control it or whether it should be marginalized.^[351]

In 1963 one of the Huguistas, Pedro José Zabala, presented Valiente with his draft of the Requeté overhaul. The group envisioned that the organisation "debía tener una misión más social y política"^[352] and that Márquez de Prado be ousted;^[353] brother of another Huguista partisan, Juan Zavala Castella, was proposed as new delegado nacional.^[354] The same year Márquez de Prado asked Valiente for the opposite, namely consolidation of his own powers; some considered it a pre-emptive strike inspired by Zamanillo, already expulsed from the Comunión.^[355] At the time "paulatino desmantelamiento" of Requeté, apparently intended by the Huguistas, was ongoing,^[356] even though its uniformed units played ceremonial roles during key Carlist rallies.^[357] Still officially represented in Junta Nacional^[358] and Secretaría Nacional,^[359] in 1963 the Requeté budget was merely 4% of the entire Comunión spending.^[360] The pressure on Valiente mounted and eventually in early 1965 Márquez de Prado was dismissed;^[361] as Delegado Nacional de Requeté he was replaced by a 56-year-old Navarrese, Miguel de San Cristobál Ursua.^[362]

 

Requeté guard of honour at Montejurra, 1960s

Initial line of San Cristobál is unclear.^[363] On the one hand, he prepared decentralization^[364] and demilitarization of the organisation.^[365] On the other, some decisions suggested buildup of "grupos de acción", possibly engaged in terrorist activity;^[366] during the party congress of 1966 this was the future Requeté direction supported by most participants.^[367] However, the same year another option was chosen. Like in case of most other sections, the nationwide Requeté executive was disbanded^[368] and its local structures were subordinated to corresponding juntas,^[369] which marked reversal to the pre-1934 pattern. All the above, plus San Cristobál's address at Montejurra,^[370] triggered protests; some Juntas Provinciales accused the Huguista-dominated secretariat of manipulating Carlist structures^[371] and many militants resigned or left.^[372] An internal report of 1967 claimed that disorganization of Requeté "es total";^[373] some historians maintain that in few years following decentralization, Requeté "practicamente desaparece".^[374] During the 1968 Montejurra there were first fist-fights recorded between requetés and members of the newly emerged GAC.^[375] However, some Traditionalists have concluded that the Huguistas had already won the battle for Requeté, which in turn enabled their control of the entire party.^[376]

Decomposition (1970s)

 

Montejurra, 1973

Since the late 1960s chief propaganda vehicles of the Huguista faction ceased referring to requeté.^[377] In the very early 1970s San Cristobál was noted in the party press as merely the Navarrese jefé regional^[378] and even regional executive bodies did not include a Requeté representative.^[379] The Traditionalist faction abandoned any attempt to regain control over the organization and focused on struggle to retain influence in the ex-combatant Requeté hermandad, since 1965 headed by another Huguista, Ignacio Romero Osborne.^[380] With assistance of state security services the bid proved successful,^[381] but the entire ex-combatant movement, always prone to fragmentation,^[382] soon decomposed into total chaos. In 1971 Romero set up a competitive organisation based in France,^[383] while various other Hermandades pursued own political paths, usually centred around late Francoist structures and Don Juan Carlos;^[384] in 1972–1973 some of them acted as intended but failed centers of revitalized, anti-Huguista Carlist movement.^[385]

In the early 1970s the Huguista-dominated Carlist movement underwent total structural transformation; the intention was to turn it into a new, mass-based party. During a series of rallies staged in 1971–1972 in the French Arbonné Comunión Tradicionalista was transformed into a totally new entity, Partido Carlista. Its structures did not envision any Requeté section.^[386] There is no document or single decision dissolving the entire organization known, but historians claim that during buildup of Partido Carlista of the early 1970s, the Requeté – at that time already almost defunct^[387] – was effectively dissolved along all other sections of the movement, like AET, MOT or the Margaritas.^[388] The role of a violent, paramilitary arm was assumed by Grupos de Acción Carlista, the section which purposely broke with the requeté tradition as reminiscent of old civil war divisions and the reactionary currents;^[389] some scholars tend to suppose that in some respects, GAC was somewhat in-between an heir to and a bastard of Requeté.^[390]

 

Don Sixto (later photo)

At the time the Traditionalists sought to build their own Requeté infrastructure. "La persona fundamental" in this process was Márquez de Prado,^[391] assisted by Zamanillo;^[392] at one point it seemed that even San Cristobál might get involved.^[393] Exact results of these efforts are not clear. In 1973 a body named Comisión Permanente of Junta Nacional de Jefes de Requetés, led by Márquez de Prado,^[394] issued a manifesto which declared Don Carlos Hugo traitor to the sacred cause and pledged to re-build a genuine Carlist organization;^[395] it is not clear whether there was any structure behind it or the signatories represented themselves only. Initially the group seemed leaning towards Don Juan Carlos as a dynastical leader, though they also declared some "reserva mental". Eventually, in 1975 Márquez de Prado and his followers pledged loyalty to Don Sixto.^[396] His group, named Jefatura Nacional de Requetés, kept issuing manifestos also in 1976^[397] and it might have been involved in the Montejurra shooting of the same year.^[398] In 1977 de Prado was nominated Jefe Nacional de Requetés by the emergent Comunión Tradicionalista.^[399] However, there is hardly any trace of organized Requeté network existent in the late 1970s.^[400] The ETA campaign of assassinations against Carlists produced no emergence of any retaliatory structures.^[401]

Recent times (1980s and afterwards)

 

Stone erected by ex-combatant requeté organisation, Catalonia

In the 1980s all Carlist structures underwent a period of confusion, chaos and convulsive transformations; however, none of numerous organizations or bodies claiming to have represented the Carlist or Traditionalist line maintained a section posing as straightforward or indirect continuation of Requeté. GAC, never officially endorsed by Partido Carlista as part of its structures, ceased to operate.^[402] Asociación Juvenil Tradicionalista, a feeble and shadowy structure associated with Don Sixto which emerged in the late 1970s, its members appearing on right-wing feasts in khaki uniforms and red berets, went out of sight as well.^[403] The name of "requeté" appeared most often in relation to various ex-combatant organisations, either engaged in post-Francoist rallies – e.g. on anniversary of dictator's death in 1981^[404] – or in commemorative feasts related to milestones of Carlist history, e.g. in 1984 in Seville.^[405]

In the late 20th century the only organizations associated with the Requeté tradition identified as operational were various hermandades of former soldiers in the civil war tercios. Due to changing political climate and anti-Francoist shift in public opinion, their activity was decreasingly public and increasingly formatted as private, small-circle meetings, even in Navarre.^[406] Some went on as legal owners of sanctuaries built during Francoism and issued publications on history of their units,^[407] though fairly frequent death notices, published in the press and referring to just deceased "requeté hasta su muerte"^[408] or "requeté voluntario de la Cruzada",^[409] demonstrated that the ranks of combatants were getting increasingly thin. The death notices are still being published today, though now usually referring to "the last living combatant" from specific region,^[410] battalion,^[411] or even at all.^[412]

 

Repeatedly vandalized stones with names of fallen requetés, Navarre

Arrival of the digital era and the social media has produced a resurgence of individuals or groups posing as "Requeté". A few profiles on platforms like Instagram,^[413] Twitter,^[414] Facebook^[415] or YouTube^[416] demonstrate some sort of self-proclaimed adhesion to the requeté tradition. Some go somewhat further and form informal "Friends of Requeté" groups,^[417] re-enactment teams,^[418] Requeté associations of "mujeres y hombres defensores del tradicional cuatrilema de Dios, Patria, Fueros, y Rey Legítimo",^[419] or adopt a posture of a military-like, uniformed "New Requeté" organization;^[420] most though not all of these profiles are either inactive or hardly active. Some keep publishing notes styled as official communiqués and signed either by "Comandante General del Requeté"^[421] or by "Jefatura Nacional del Requeté", e.g. in 2016^[422] or 2020.^[423] Individuals who sign these notes assume a military tone,^[424] appear to be aligned with the claimant Don Carlos Javier, lecture competitive Traditionalist groupings on rights to use the Requeté symbols or uniforms and imply that the organization is still operational.^[425] Persons related to the profile appear at Montejurra ascents organized by Partido Carlista, where indeed some participants, including females, don a military-like gear.^[426]

Appendix. Major Civil War battles

Major Civil War Requeté battles:

Location	Part of	Date^[427]	Battalions engaged	Assignement	Strength^[428]	Total Losses^[429]	Killed^[430]	Result
Approaches to Irún^[431]	Gipuzkoa Campaign	1936/8-9	S.Fermín, Lácar, S.Miguel, Montejurra, Navarra^[432]	Offensive	2,500^[433]	500^[434]	100^[435]	Success
Deva Line^[436]	Gipuzkoa Campaign	1936/10^[437]	N.S.d.Camino, S.Fermín, Lácar, Navarra^[438]	Offensive	2,000^[439]	300^[440]	50^[441]	Failure
Approaches to Bilbao^[442]	Biscay Campaign	1937/4-6	N.S.d.Camino, S.Ignacio, Lácar, Montejurra, S.Miguel, Navarra, Oriamendi, Zumalacárregui	Offensive	4,000^[443]	1,200^[444]	300^[445]	Success
Central Aragon^[446]	Battle of Aragon^[447]	1937/8^[448]	Almogávares, M.d.Molina, Montserrat, M.d.l.Nieves	Defensive	1,200^[449]	800^[450]	550^[451]	Failure
Sierra de Mazuco^[452]	Asturias Campaign	1937/9-10	S. Fermín, Lácar, Montejurra, Navarra, Roncesvalles-Mola, Zumalácarregui	Offensive	2,500^[453]	500^[454]	150^[455]	Success
La Muela de Teruel^[456]	Battle of Teruel	1938/1-2^[457]	N.S.d.Begoña, N.S.d.Camino, Lácar, Montejurra, Navarra, Oriamendi, V.Blanca	Defensive	4,500^[458]	1,000^[459]	200^[460]	Success
Milano^[461]	Maestrazgo Campaign^[462]	1938/5	N.S.d.Begoña, N.S.d.Camino, Lácar, Montejurra	Offensive	2,000^[463]	200^[464]	50^[465]	Success
Sierra de Espadán^[466]	Maestrazgo Campaign	1938/7-8^[467]	N.S.d.Begoña, N.S.d.Camino, Lácar, S.Miguel, Castellano-Mola, Montejurra, M.d.l.Nieves	Offensive	4,000^[468]	500^[469]	100^[470]	Failure
Sierra de Pàndols/Caballs^[471]	Battle of Ebro	1938/9-11^[472]	Alcazar, Burgos-Sangüesa, Cristo Rey, Lácar, Montejurra, N.S.d.Pilar	Offensive	4,000^[473]	1,300^[474]	200^[475]	Success
Catalonia^[476]	Catalonia Offensive	1939/1-3^[477]	Castellano-Mola, Lácar, Montejurra, S.Miguel, Oriamendi, Ortiz d.Zárate, N.S.d.Pilar, V.Blanca	Offensive	5,500^[478]	400^[479]	100^[480]	Success

Other notable Civil War Requeté engagements:

Year	Location (month; units engaged)
1936	Cuelgamuros (July; Abarzuza); Braojos (September–October; d. Rey, Estibaliz); Isusquiza (October; Virgen Blanca, 8. Alava); Villareal de Alava (November–December; Virgen Blanca)
1937	Lopera (January; S. Rafael); Matillas (January; Burgos-Sanguesa); Jarama (February; Alcazar); Marquína (April; Lácar); Monte Saibigain (April–May; S. Miguel, Oriamendi); Brunete (July; S. Miguel); Fuentes del Tajo (July; M.d.Molina); Andújar-Arjona (December; Virgén d.l. Reyes)
1938	Caspe (March; Lácar); Esquedas (March; Ortiz d. Zarate); Mano de Hierro (March; Virgén d.l. Reyes); Puente de Montañana (April; Ortiz d. Zarate); Peñas de Aholo (May; Oriamendi); Merida Pocket (July, Montserrat); Vilalba de los Arcos (August; Montserrat)
1939	Valsequillo (January; Montserrat)

See also

• Carlism
• Traditionalism (Spain)

Footnotes

1. González Calleja, Eduardo; Sandra Souto Kustrín, "De la dictadura a la república. Orígenes y auge de los movimientos juveniles en España", [in:] Revista española de historia 67/225 (2007), p. 76.
2. González, Souto 2007, p. 80.
3. for details, see Joan B. Culla, Ni tan jóvenes ni tan bárbaros; las juventudes en el republicanismo lerrouxista barcelonés, [in:] Ayer 59 (2005), pp. 51–67.
4. González, Souto 2007, p. 78.
5. González, Souto 2007, p. 77.
6. Barba, C.; et al., Organizaciones infantiles y juveniles de tiempo libre, Madrid 1994, ISBN 9788427710641, p. 98.
7. González, Souto 2007, p. 77.
8. Blinkhorn, Martin (2008). Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931–1939, Cambridge, ISBN 9780521207294, p. 39.
9. by some authors these organisations are named "precursores de los famosos Requetés, Melchor Ferrer, Historia del tradicionalismo español, vol. XXVIII/1, Sevilla 1959, pp. 273–274.
10. social transformations as background of emergence of youth Catalanist movement are discussed in initial chapter of Genís Samper i Triedu, Joventut fa Catalunya: 1900–1985, Barcelona 1987, ISBN 9788439308706
11. Aróstegui, Julio (2013). Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil española, 1936–1939, Madrid, ISBN 9788499709758, p. 53.
12. La Libertad 19.09.03, available here
13. Walton, William (1837). The Revolutions of Spain, from 1808 to the End of 1836, vol. 2, London, p. 438, available here; the name was also used by some Carlist units in the Third Carlist War, see e.g. Las Provincias 15.11.01, available here.
14. El Tradicionalista 08.12.04, available here
15. El Tradicionalista 04.04.07, available here
16. Canal i Morell, Jordi (2006). Banderas blancas, boinas rojas: una historia política del carlismo, 1876–1939, Madrid, ISBN 9788496467347, p. 38.
17. Canal, Jordi (2000). El carlismo, Madrid, ISBN 8420639478, p. 265
18. two years later the Manresa requeté president was Jaime Rius y Godayol, La Bandera Regional 12.03.10, available here
19. La Bandera Regional 03.10.08, available here
20. La Bandera Regional 31.10.08, available here
21. La Bandera Regional 14.11.08, available here
22. at a first glance it seems that the drawing ridicules the requeté idea: the boy willing to enter the organization appears to be an overweight sissy from a well-off urban family, and contrast between his combative intentions and the cozy señorito ambience is amusing. However, as the cartoon was published in a Traditionalist periodical La Bandera Regional, it was rather expected to boost recruitment. Perhaps the wealthy ambience pictured is supposed to encourage candidates from somewhat less affluent but aspiring families. Perhaps the cartoon is directed at parents rather than minors, and the author intended to convince them that the requeté was a harmless project supported also by the well-to-do
23. La Bandera Regional 13.02.09, available here
24. La Bandera Regional 26.12.08, available here
25. La Bandera Regional 04.12.09, available here
26. in Tarrasa the local branch was to "organizar bajo la base de la Juventud tradicionalista un requeté", El Eco de Navarra 16.11.12, available here
27. in 1909–1913 the requeté cells were noted in Badalona, Barcelona, Blanes, Girona, Igualada, Lérida, Manresa, Olot, Plá de Cabra, Reus, Sabadell, Tarragona, Tarrasa, Tortosa, Vich and other Catalan locations
28. in 1909–1913 the requeté cells were noted in Alcoy, Castellón, Orihuela, Valencia, Villarreal, Cartagena and other Levantine locations
29. El Salmantino 02.12.10, available here
30. for Córdoba see Diario de Córdoba 07.08.11, available here
31. for Orense see El Noroeste 06.06.11, available here
32. for Palencia see La Bandera Regional 28.10.11, available here
33. for Bilbao see La Bandera Regional 12.08.11, available here
34. for Pamplona see El Norte 16.05.12, available here
35. for Santa Cruz de Tenerife see El Progreso 08.11.12, available here
36. El Correo Español 19.01.10, available here
37. Canal 2000, p. 265.
38. La Bandera Regional 26.12.08, available here
39. Diario de Córdoba 07.05.21, available here
40. La Bandera Regional 24.07.09, available here
41. the draft envisioned 3 categories of members: protectores (pay 0,25 ptas monthly, no voting rights, any member of circulo tradicionalista), numerarios (10–17 years, also pay 0,25 ptas), and aspirantes (below 10 years, pay at least 0,10 ptas, can participate in sections but no voting rights). The governing body was Junta Directiva (section heads + 6 members). Every branch was to be composed of 6 sections: Religión, Política y Sociología, Bellas Artes, Ciencias, Prensa and Sport, each with separate junta (president, secretary and 2 members), La Bandera Regional 06.05.11, available here
42. La Bandera Regional 08.01.10, available here
43. Las Provincias 22.06.10, available here
44. La Cruz 12.09.11, available here
45. La Cruz 06.08.12, available here
46. El Correo Español 22.03.11, available here
47. see accompanying photos
48. El Clamor 02.09.11, available here
49. see e.g. photos in La Hormiga de Oro, 06.07.12, La Hormiga de Oro, 15.06.12, La Hormiga de Oro, 21.09.12
50. some of the requeté standards featured the Catalan symbol, "cuatro barras", see e.g. La Correspondencia de España 10.06.10, available here
51. Aróstegui 2013, p. 57.
52. La Bandera Regional 04.03.11, available here, La Bandera Regional 17.12.11, available here
53. Diario de Reus 29.01.11, available here, La Defensa 30.07.11, available here
54. El Restaurador 18.11.15, available here
55. El Norte 18.05.11, available here
56. El Norte 18.05.11, available here
57. La Tradición 20.07.12, available here
58. El Norte 14.08.12, available here
59. El Norte 14.08.12, available here
60. Diario de Galicia 23.04.14, available here
61. El Restaurador 09.01.13, available here
62. La Aurora 01.07.11, available here, La Correspondencia de España 05.08.12, available here
63. El Diario Palentino 27.01.13, available here
64. Los Debates 02.11.10, available here
65. Eduardo González Calleja, Paramilitarització i violencia politica a l’Espanya del primer terc de segle: el requeté tradicionalista (1900–1936), [in:] Revista de Girona 147 (1991), p. 70
66. La Campañia de Gracia 06.08.10, available here
67. El Correo Español 09.12.10, available here
68. La Bandera Regional 02.09.11, available here, La Bandera Regional 16.09.11, available here
69. El Norte 10.12.11, available here
70. La Regeneracion 15.10.11, available here
71. El Norte 05.11.12, available here
72. Diario de Valencia 25.08.12, available here
73. El Salmantino 29.09.12, available here
74. "si en aquel tiempo luchaban con el fusil en la mano ahora tenemos que luchar con el periódico", El Restaurador 21.10.10, available here
75. El Correo Español 19.01.10, available here
76. Las Provincias 01.02.12, available here
77. La Bandera Regional 11.12.09, available here
78. Diario de Tortosa 28.11.14, available here
79. La Correspondencia de España 15.04.11, available here
80. La Tradición 21.06.13, available here
81. Diario de Valencia 08.06.13, available here
82. El País 01.06.11, available here
83. El Norte 21.01.10, available here
84. El Porvenir 22.04.09, available here, also La Defensa 29.10.10, available here
85. El Tradicionalista 09.01.09, available here
86. La Bandera Regional 04.12.09, available here, also La Bandera Regional 17.09.10, available here
87. Diario de Valencia 25.06.13, available here
88. El Porvenir 01.02.12, available here
89. La Tradición 20.04.12, available here
90. La Bandera Regional 24.07.09, available here
91. El Norte 06.11.10, available here
92. El Conquistador 15.02.12, available here
93. which included orchestral music, poetry, films, stage acting and literary monologues , see e.g. La Bandera Regional 08.12.11, available here
94. El Norte 09.05.11, available here
95. La Cruz 27.07.11, available here
96. Libertad 03.11.10, available here
97. El Norte 05.12.11, available here. In a few cases a requeté cell had its "director espiritual", La Tradición 29.07.11, available here
98. El Restaurador 25.02.11, available here
99. El Norte 20.05.10, available here
100. El Porvenir 22.04.09, available hhere
101. El Norte 09.02.11, available here
102. El Restaurador 18.11.15, available here
103. La Correspondencia de España 06.11.10, available here, also El Restaurador 25.04.11, available here, also La Tradición 20.07.12, available here
104. Los Debates 02.11.10, available here
105. El País 01.06.11, available here
106. La Correspondencia de España 17.04.11, available here
107. El Conquistador 15.02.12, available here
108. e.g. on foot from Valencia to Lourdes, Diario de Valencia 21.04.13, available here
109. La Rioja 04.06.12, available here, El Cantábrico 23.12.12, available here
110. La Bandera Regional 15.10.10, available here, also La Bandera Regional 17.02.12, available here
111. El Tiempo 13.08.12, available here
112. El Clamor 02.09.11, available here, also La Correspondencia de Valencia 23.10.17, available here
113. Diario de Galicia 23.04.14, available here
114. El Restaurador 10.12.18, available here
115. El Pueblo 06.06.10, available here
116. e.g. in 1912 groups of requetés prowled along Ramblas shouting "abajo la república portuguesa" La Atalaya 14.07.12, available here
117. La Correspondencia de España 14.07.12, available here
118. El Pueblo 08.09.09, available here
119. Las Provincias 14.04.11, available here; also one year later requetés pelted Barcelona trams with stones to enforce halt in circulation,El Pueblo 06.04.12, available here
120. Diario del Comercio 03.12.10, available here
121. El Pueblo 28.09.11, available here
122. El Pueblo 02.11.11, available here
123. El Pueblo 19.04.11, available here
124. La Region Extremeña 06.12.12, available here
125. El Pueblo 29.05.13, available here, El Pueblo 17.06.11, available here
126. in 1911 a 16-year-old was court-martialled for cutting down telegraph poles during unrest and strike in Cullera and Jativa, El Pueblo 22.12.11, available here
127. La Correspondencia de España 06.02.11, available here, also Diario de Tortosa 24.11.10, available here
128. El Pueblo 28.11.11, available here
129. El Defensor de Córdoba 26.07.12, available here
130. Diario de Comercio 03.12.10, available here
131. Ferrer 1960, p. 46
132. especially a 1912 incident in Villaviciosa was noted by many press titles, see e.g. El Pueblo 10.08.12, available here; for clashes between requetés and bizkaitarras in Bilbao see Las Provincias 24.12.12, available here
133. Eduardo González Calleja, La razón de la fuerza: orden público, subversión y violencia política en la España de la Restauración, Madrid 1998, ISBN 9788400077785, p. 479
134. Las Provincias 08.06.14, available here
135. Ferrer 1960, pp. 65–66
136. Aróstegui 2013, p. 53
137. Aróstegui 2013, p. 56
138. in 1911 Don Jaime referred to "mis queridos requetés", La Bandera Regional 08.12.11, available here
139. Aróstegui 2013, p. 57
140. already in November 1911 the republican press ridiculed Llorens and his reorganisación, La Opinión 26.11.12, available here
141. Agustín Fernández Escudero, El marqués de Cerralbo (1845–1922): biografía politica [PhD thesis], Madrid 2012, p. 458
142. Canal 2006, p. 38
143. Aróstegui 2013, p. 60
144. González Calleja 1998, p. 492
145. so-called "Requeté Joven" was to group teenagers capable of withstanding a march with 12 kg backpack; "Requeté Viejo" was to group adults
146. the basic cell was to be an "escuadra" of 16 men commanded by a cabo; 2 escuadras were to be led by a sargento, 4 escuadras (sección) by teniente, 8 escuadras (compañia) by captain
147. the requeté badge was to be: "margarita blanca de metal, homenaje a la santa Reina que se llamó el Angel de la Caridad". The uniform was to consist of "boina, blusa, pantalón, polaina y mochilla de color gris". The information was provided by a Carlist militant publisher Cirici Ventalló, so it might not reflect fully the original idea of Llorens, Diario de Valencia 04.04.13, available here
148. it was stressed that the disciplined few were more valuable than the undisciplined many; the language employed suggests there might have been some resistance against unification measures. It was prohibited to claim the name of Requeté with no prior authorisation or to build similar groupings, El Norte 15.10.13, available here
149. El Norte 03.12.13, available here
150. no copy survived until today. According to its referred statements, requetés were to learn the military craft and be ready to give blood "for God, Fatherland and Don Jaime", González Calleja 1998, p. 492
151. La Correspondencia de España 23.10.13, available here
152. El Norte 05.06.13, available here
153. El Porvenir 05.06.13, available here
154. El Norte 08.11.14, available here
155. Aróstegui 2013, p. 60
156. it seems that there were individuals named "Instructor de Requetes" deployed, probably to co-ordinate military training; their efforts were revealed decades later, see El Cruzado Espanol 13.06.30, available here
157. reportedly because the advent of World War One shifted attention, Eduardo G. Calleja, Julio Aróstegui Sánchez, La tradición recuperada. El Requeté carlista y la insurrección, [in:] Historia contemporánea 11 (1994), p. 32
158. according to the digital Spanish press archive PrensaHistorica, "requeté" was mentioned 13 times in the press titles of 1908. For the following years the numbers are as follows: 1909: 18; 1910: 109; 1911: 478; 1912: 586; 1913: 730; 1914: 387; 1915: 315; 1916: 214; 1917: 166; 1918: 100; 1919: 102; 1920: 46; 1921: 24; 1922: 31; 1923: 58; 1924: 23; 1925: 24; 1926: 39; 1927: 21; 1928: 17; 1929: 5; 1930: 18
159. La Tradición 24.07.18, available here
160. El Restaurador 10.12.18, available here, also La Correspondencia de Valencia 23.10.17, available here
161. El Restaurador 12.12.16, available here, also La Tradición 22.12.17, available here, also La Tradición 06.04.18, available here
162. e.g. in 1913 a group of requeté when on excursion was provoked by the Radicals, who demanded them to take down their berets; an altercation ensused. One requeté member fired a revolver and heavily wounded one of the challengers, El Adelanto 28.04.13, available here, also La Atalaya 15.11.15, available here, also El Luchador 01.06.17, available here
163. La Correspondencia de España 27.01.19, available here
164. Heraldo de Zamora 28.07.13, available here
165. La Correspondencia de España 06.02.17 available here
166. La Información 10.11.13, available here
167. El Avisador Numantino 17.11.15, available here
168. Diario de Valencia 11.09.13, available here
169. El Pueblo 24.06.15, available here
170. La Atalaya 09.03.14, available here, also La Atalaya 10.04.16, available here, also El Salmantino 27.10.15, available here
171. El Norte 11.10.13, available here
172. El Pueblo 08.02.15, available here
173. La Prensa 19.02.15, available here
174. Heraldo de Menorca 10.05.17, available here
175. El Noroeste 25.07.15, available here
176. see references to "sargento del requeté", El Luchador 13.08.20, available here, also El Debate 14.08.20, available here
177. see references to "jefe del distrito", El Correo Español 28.08.19, available here
178. El Pueblo 22.06.19, available here
179. see e.g. a note on requeté parade from the Cathedral to the palace of the then Catalan Carlist leader, Duque de Solferino, who was greeted with vivas, La Correspondencia de España 23.05.13, available here
180. see reference on Luis Garcia Guijarro, El Cantábrico 09.10.16, available here. Though the organisation was apparently born in Manresa, the leader of Manresan Carlism, Joaquín Gomis Cornet, has never been mentioned as related to requeté
181. in 1915 the president of Valencian requeté was Ramón Tarazona, an individual who was not later noted for Carlist activity, Diario de Valencia 18.03.15, available here
182. González Calleja 1991, p. 70
183. González Calleja 1991, p. 71. It is not clear how long Najera continued at his role. The last identified reference to Pérez Nájera as the requete jefe comes from 1922, El Debate 10.03.22,available here
184. Canal 2000, p. 267
185. González Calleja 1991, p. 70
186. in the early 1910s information on new Requeté circulos having been set up were abundant; by end of the decade they were exceptional, like the case of a new círculo opened in Alicante, El Norte 19.05.18, available here
187. El Progreso 29.12.20, available here, also Diario de Córdoba 07.05.21, available here. It seems that there were not a marginal number of workers involced in Requeté, as some were later noted as involved in Sindicatos Libres, see e.g. El Día de Palencia 17.10.30, available here
188. La Correspondencia de España 07.05.21, available here. According to other sources the name was "José Torrecasa", Diario de Córdoba 07.05.21, available here,"José Torres Casanova", El Eco de Santiago 07.05.21, available here, or "José Torrecasana", El Avisador Numantino 07.05.21, available here
189. for details see Colin M. Winston, Carlist worker groups in Catalonia, 1900–1923, [in:] Stanley G. Payne (ed.), Identidad y nacionalismo en la España contemporánea: el Carlismo 1833–1875, Madrid 1996, ISBN 8487863469, pp. 85–101
190. González Calleja 1991, p. 70
191. La Correspondencia de España 08.01.23, available here
192. La Correspondencia de España 06.06.23, available here
193. El Pueblo 30.04.22, available here
194. El Eco de Gerona 24.01.25, available here
195. El Eco de Gerona 30.01.26, available here
196. El Adelanto 18.09.26, available here
197. El Eco de Gerona 12.05.28, available here
198. for Santander see El Cantábrico 01.06.23, available here
199. La Tierra 26.07.24, available here
200. El Luchador 13.08.20, available here
201. El Orzán 18.03.21, available here
202. Julio Prada Rodríguez, El Fenix que siempre renace. El carlismo ourensano (1894–1936), [in:] Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Series V, Historía Contemporánea 17 (2005), p. 125. Villores joined Somatén himself, , who joined the organization himself, see Somatén. Boletín Oficial I/10 (1924), available here
203. e.g. in August 1927 the Ministry of Interior warned the civil governors of Catalan provinces that a meeting of some 150 Carlists, called by the Barcelona requete, was about planning the coup, Robert Vallverdú i Martí, El carlisme català durant la Segona República Espanyola 1931–1936, Barcelona 2008, ISBN 9788478260805, p. 16
204. La Tradició Catalana 19.02.27, available here
205. El Eco de Gerona 25.02.28, available here, Vallverdú i Martí 2008, p. 17
206. El Cruzado Español 28.02.30, available here
207. Robert Vallverdú i Martí, El carlisme català durant la Segona República Espanyola 1931–1936, Barcelona 2008, ISBN 9788478260805, p. 19
208. El Cruzado Español 21.02.30, available here
209. e.g. in May 1930 the Barcelona Requeté prepare excursion to Sanctuario de la Virgen de Queralt, El Cruzado Español 09.05.30, available [1]
210. compare April 1930 April notes about requeté taking part in sporting competition in Paris in presence of the claimant Don Jaime, El Cruzado Español 11.04.30, available here
211. see e.g. news on Barcelona requetés celebrating the Carlist feast of Martyrs of Tradtition, El Cruzado Español 21.03.30, available here
212. El Cruzado Español 26.12.30, available here
213. González Calleja 1991, p. 71, Aróstegui 2013, p. 70
214. Aróstegui 2013, p. 71
215. compare Vallverdú i Martí 2008, pp. 19–20, 32–36
216. El Cruzado Español 26.12.30, available here
217. González Calleja 1991, p. 71, Canal 2000, p. 298, Aróstegui 2013, p. 73
218. Eduardo González Calleja, Contrarrevolucionarios. Radicalización violenta de las derechas durante la Segunda República 1931–1936, Madrid 2011, ISBN 9788420664552, p. 68, Canal 2000, p. 298
219. Aróstegui 2013, p. 73
220. González Calleja 1991, p. 71
221. with branches in Sandander, Barcelona and Bilbao, González Calleja 1991, p. 71, Canal 2000, p. 298
222. some authors claim even that in 1931 Requeté was born as a new organisation and see little or no continuity compared to earlier efforts, Jeremy MacClancy, The Decline of Carlism, Reno 2000, ISBN 9780874173444, p. 27
223. Recruitment and instruction was to be led by Jaime del Burgo and Generoso Huarte, González Calleja 1991, p. 71.
224. González Calleja 1991, p. 71; Canal 2000, p. 298; Aróstegui 2013, p. 73.
225. the key religious involved were the parish priests Jesus Yaniz (Caparroso), Pascasio Osacar (Noain), Jesus Ulibarri (Yerri-Ugar), Fermin Erice (Esquiroz) and Jose Maria Solabre (Berriozar); some claimed that "Requeté de Navarra fue la obra del clero", referred after González Calleja 2011, p. 69. Some authors tend to agree with this statement, see Aróstegui 2013, p. 75.
226. González Calleja 2011, p. 69; Blinkhorn 2008, p. 63.
227. Comité de Acción was dissolved by the new claimant, Don Alfonso Carlos, as it interfered with talks with the Alfonsinos, González Calleja 1991, p. 72; González Calleja 2011, p. 76.
228. in May 1932 Huarte, del Burgo and others were detained as info on decurias and rumors about smuggling or arms leaked out, González Calleja 1991, p. 72; González Calleja 2011, p. 79. Some point also to disturbances in Bilbao as motives for detention Aróstegui 2013, p. 76. Del Burgo remained in prison until November 1932, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 78.
229. Canal 2000, p. 299, Aróstegui 2013, p. 76
230. "outside Navarre the Requeté and AET were largely restricted to big cities, and even there most Requeté groups consisted merely of members of the Carlist Youth who donned red berets and khaki battle dress for special occasions", Blinkhorn 2008, p. 76. In terms of street militancy at times Requeté was outpaced by AET, for Barcelona see Vallverdú i Martí 2008, pp. 93–94, for Pamplona see González Calleja 2011, pp. 79, 192
231. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 90. During Sanjurjada there were 2 Carlists dead during the skirmishes in Madrid; they might have been requeté members, González Calleja 1991, p. 72
232. e.g. in March 1933 there were some 500 requetés expected to attend the religious act in Sant Llorenc del Munt; in fact, barely 50 turned up, Vallverdú i Martí 2008, p. 139. Until early 1933 in Catalonia the reqeuté organisation was "més propagandistica que efectiva. Organitzaven serveis de vigiláncia d’esgléises i convents", some marches or uniformed guards in front of religious monuments during Semana Santa and "poca cosa més", Vallverdú i Martí 2008, pp. 138–139
233. González Calleja 2011, p. 123
234. 6 requetés formed a patrulla; 3 patrullas formed a pelotón (some 20 men); 3 pelotóns formed a piqueté (some 70 men); 3 piquetés formed a requeté (some 246 men); 3 requetés formed a tercio (some 720 men). All were to use a khaki uniform. Executive "delegaciones" were to operate on national, provincial and local levels. Originally there were 3 layers envisiones: "profesional", "activo" and "reserva", but it seems this particular feature was abandoned. Larger units were to encompass specialized sub-units and detachment, like a liaison platoon, González Calleja 2011, pp. 123–124, Aróstegui 2013, p. 77, Canal 2000, p. 300
235. in late 1932 Varela wrote Compendio de Ordenanzas, Reglamento y Obligaciones del Boina Roja, Jefe de Patrulla and Jefe del Requeté rulebooks, modeled on the regular army ordinance, González Calleja 1991, p. 72. However, in 1934 Jaime del Burgo issues "Reglamento Táctico", González Calleja 2011, p. 199; it is not clear whether del Burgo's rulebook was to supplement or replace earlier Varela's regulations
236. in 1934 Junta Delegada ordered that presidents of local executives were to be nominated and not – as it used to be – elected, which was a further step towards turning Requeté from a citizen militia into a military structure, González Calleja 2011, p. 189
237. González Calleja 2011, p. 199
238. some existing Catalan requeté juntas refused to dissolve themselves; the regional leader Lorenzo Alier had to issue specific orders and press the issue, though local requeté still insisted on remnants of autonomy, e.g. own uniforms. The Catalan commander Josep Cunill found it hard to enforce homogeneity, Vallverdú i Martí 2008, pp. 199–200
239. in 1934 requeté was quite structured in Navarre, with major outlets in Catalonia, Biscay, Andalusia and Valencia, González Calleja 1991, p. 72, Aróstegui 2013, p. 77. An impressive display of Andalusian militancy came on April 15, 1934, when at a Quintillo estate near Seville some 650 trained and uniformed requetés made a stunning impression on all those watching; following a parade and foot drills, a simulation of assault on enemy position followed, González Calleja 2011, pp. 194–195. Another display of progress of requeté militarisation was staged in the Basque Zumarraga on July 22, 1934, when half a thousand of uniformed militants marched drilled in military formations, dazzling the audience, Aróstegui 2013, p. 82. There was no similar show of prowess in Catalonia, though local leaders Sivatte and Cunill advanced the military buildup as well, Vallverdú i Martí 2008, p. 140
240. González Calleja 1991, p. 74, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 136
241. examples of extremely efficient delegados regionales, appointed by Delegado Nacional, were Antonio Lizarza in Navarre and Josép M. Cunill in Catalonia, Aróstegui 2013, p. 81
242. González Calleja 2011, p. 193
243. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 208
244. the role was mostly about appointemtns, liaison, propaganda and logistics; dstirctly military issues were sorted out by first Varela and then Rada, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 221
245. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 207 González Calleja 2011, p. 199. In late 1934 the new Carlist political leader Manuel Fal Conde set up also Junta Técnica, sort of advisory board to Requeté. The broadly sketched plans are perhaps best demonstrated by presence of representatives of all army branches – including Navy and Aviation, González Calleja 2011, p. 197-8
246. in the summe of 1934 summer first 15 Carlists travelled to Rome to receive training in La Dispoli base in Furbara. Other groups soon followed. The instruction covered usage of modern arms (like machine guns and mortars) and infantry tactics (like manouvre or fire management), González Calleja 2011, p. 198 Blinkhorn 2008, p. 214
247. in many provinces local requetés reported to military barracks and offered assistance; indeed, in some cases they did participate in "en tareas defensivas y represivas" Aróstegui 2013, p. 83. In some areas, notably in Catalonia, they proved of much value, Vallverdú i Martí 2008, p. 181
248. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 221
249. the requeté army was heavily dependent on Navarre, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 220. According to various authors the Navarrese troops amounted to 5,400 men – González Calleja 2011, p. 264, 6,000 men – Blinkhorn 2008, p. 224, or 5,694 men – Canal 2000, p. 322. Other regions with highest militancy were Catalonia (4,000 men), Levante (at least 3,700 men, data for Valencia missing), Vascongadas (at least 2,500 men, data for Biscay missing), Old Castile (1,380 men), Madrid (740 men), Andalusia (at least 640 men, data for Eastern provinces missing). The total was around 20,000 men, Vallverdú i Martí 2008, p. 257. Other scholers provide data also for Aragón (some 150 men), Aróstegui 2013, p. 84
250. following the 1933 electoral triumph of the Right, in 1934 Varela (suspended following Sanjurjada) was reinstated in the army, Aróstegui 2013, p. 81. For some time he tried to continue with his earlier Requeté engagements, but constantly monitored by security he finally gave up and focused on his army duties, González Calleja 2011, p. 261
251. González Calleja 2011, p. 199, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 222. Some scholars claim the handover between Varela and Rada took place in late 1935, Aróstegui 2013, p. 86
252. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 223 González Calleja 2011, p. 372, Vallverdú i Martí 2008, pp. 303–306
253. José Manuel Martínez Bande, Los años críticos: República, conspiración, revolución y alzamiento, Madrid 2011, ISBN 9788499207469, p. 194
254. González Calleja 1991, p. 74 González Calleja 2011, p. 261. The assumption was that requeté units would report to local military commanders and offer assistance, González Calleja 2011, p. 262
255. compare a picturesque description of the Carlist headquarters in Pamplona, which turned into sort of military general staff. With guards in strict military drill manning the entry, various floors and rooms were bustling with organization work; provincial commanders were arriving to report on scheduled hours, couriers with orders and messages kept coming and going and telephones kept ringing, González Calleja 2011, p. 262, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 213
256. in December 1935 Catalan Requeté were put on alert following Gil-Robles’ departure from the Ministry of War and anticipated turmoil; some Requeté commanders spent 3 days in secret locations waiting for an order to rise, Vallverdú i Martí 2008, pp. 284–285
257. the Carlist plan of the rising in the spring of 1936 remains a largely unresearched affair. The plan was allegedly prepared by Muslera, Baselga and Cuerda. There were 5 focos of rebellion prepared: 1) Navarre, Vascongadas, Cantabria, Burgos, Rioja, under the command of Sanjurjo; 2) Maestrazgo – grouping units from Aragón, Levante, and Catalonia commanded by, coronel Serrador; 3) southern Andalusia near Rosal de la Frontera, commanded by coronel Redondo; 4) Sierra de Gata in Extremadura, to group volunteers from Castille, Extremadura, and León commanded by general Villegas; 5) Madrid (no closer info available), see e.g. González Calleja 2011, pp. 376–377. Other scholars present a somewhat different picture, with just 3 locations: Sierra de Aracena and Sierra de Gata as diversionary hubs, and Madrid as the centre of action, reinforced by groups from Navarre, Vascongadas, Catalonia, Levante, Logroño, Aragón and Old Castile, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 240, González Calleja 2011, p. 373, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 224. Detailed discussion in Roberto Muñoz Bolaños, "Por Dios, por la Patria y el Rey marchemos sobre Madrid". El intento de sublevación carlista en la primavera de 1936, [in:] Daniel Macías Fernández, Fernando Puell de la Villa (eds.), David contra Goliat: guerra y asimetría en la Edad Contemporánea, Madrid 2014, ISBN 9788461705504, pp. 143–169
258. González Calleja 2011, p. 373, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 224
259. some scholars note that in mid-1936 the total number of Requeté volunteer was not much more than those in Falange's Primera Linea, but that they were definitely better armed and trained; as the result, no other militia was even close compared to military performance and potential of Requeté, González Calleja 2011, p. 373
260. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 224. In June 1936 the Requeté organisation included two tenientes coroneles, capable of commanding units comparable to a regiment, Rada and Utrilla, Antonio Lizarza Iribarren, Memorias de la conspiración. Cómo se preparó en Navarra la Cruzada. 1931–1936, Pamplona 1953, pp. 66, 83, Joaquín Arrarás, Historia de la Segunda República Española, Madrid 1965, p. 494
261. in Catalonia and Vascongadas the requeté conspirators were engaged in the coup and in the fightings which ensued, in both major cities like Barcelona and San Sebastián or minor locations like Vilalba de los Arcos and Azcoitia. There were no notable engagements with Requeté participation in Levante
262. for a hagiographic account of Carlist rising in Navarre see Antonio de Lizarza et al., Navarra Fue La Primera 1936–1939, Pamplona 2006, ISBN 8493508187. For a decidedly hostile account, see Fernando Mikelarena Peña, Sin piedad: Limpieza política en Navarra, 1936. Responsables, colaboradores y ejecutores, Pamplona 2015, ISBN 9788476819166. For brief academic narrative see Angel Pascual Bonis, Navarra 1936: ¿Insurrección militar y/o levantamiento popular?, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 5 (1986), pp. 131–140. For massive anthropological study see Javier Ugarte, La nueva Covadonga insurgente: Orígenes sociales y culturales de la sublevación de 1936 en Navarra y el País Vasco, Madrid 1998, ISBN 9788470305313
263. "en cuestión de días, las milicias carlistas—el Requeté—había establecido su control sobre Navarra", Paul Preston, Revolución y guerra en España, 1931–1939, Madrid 1986, ISBN 9788420695327, p. 59
264. Aróstegui 2013, p. 406
265. Aróstegui 2013, pp. 164–176, 192–202, 229–236, 262–269
266. led by the Andalu' requete leader Luis Redondo and local commanders like Ignacio Romero Osborne and Enrique Barrau Salado, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 705–781
267. in late July 1936 out of 90,140 Nationalist troops on the peninsula some 35,000 were militiamen, Aróstegui 2013, p. 808. How many of them were requetés is not clear, though according to some data the Navarrese Carlist volunteers only were 8,500. To the expert historian "estas cantidades parecen quedarse cortas", Aróstegui 2013, p. 808. Some historians claim that there were 40,000 Carlist volunteers "en los primeros dias" of the war, Josep Carles Clemente Muñoz, Breve historia de las guerras carlistas, Madrid 2011, ISBN 9788499671710, p. 168. Others suggest rather the figure of 30,000 requeté volunteers, compared to 10,000 of the Falange, Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis in Historia Contemporanea, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia], Valencia 2009, pp. 80–81
268. in late July 1936 the Northern enclave, composed of Asturias, Cantabria and part of Vascongadas, was separated from the closest outlets of main Republican republican territory by some 140-km-wide area of western Aragón and Navarre
269. in October 1936 the Nationalist intendancy figures were 188.581 men under arms in total, of which there were 12,213 requetes; falangist volunteers were 25,307, Lucas Molina Franco, Pablo Sagarra Renedo, Óscar González López, El factor humano. Organización y liderazgo para ganar una guerra. La Jefatura de Movilización, Instrucción y Recuperación en la Guerra Civil española, Madrid 2021, ISBN 9788490916100, p. 101
270. Aróstegui 2013, p. 810
271. in March 1939 the Nationalists had some 900,000 men in their ranks, Stanley G. Payne, The Franco Regime, Madison 1987, ISBN 9780299110741, p. 244
272. for detailed discussion see Aróstegui 2013, pp. 159–790
273. like José Solchaga Zala, Rafael García-Valiño, Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Rafael Latorre Vega, Camilo Alonso Vega, Juan B. Sanchez González. Other non-Carlist high commanders in the Brigades were Tomás Garricano Goñi, Pedro Ibissate Gorría and José Monasterio Ituarte
274. one scholar claims that Carlist volunteers formed "columna vertebral" of Navarrese Brigades, Daniel Jesús García Riol, La resistencia tradicionalista a la renovación ideológica del carlismo (1965–1973) [PhD thesis UNED], Madrid 2015, p. 37
275. e.g. Tercio de Montserrat formed part of 5. División Organica, a cavalry division, a reserve brigade and a Moroccan division, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 693–694
276. this wartime itinerary was typical. Deployment of particular tercios could have differed vastly, e.g. Tercio de Abárzuza spent most of the war, from July 1936 to March 1939, on stationary positions around Alto de León in Sierra de Guadarrama. Tercio de Montserrat was first stationed in Aragón, then North-East of Madrid, in Extremadura, in southern Catalonia, again in Extremadura and finally in New Castile
277. Stanley G. Payne, Fascism in Spain, Madison 2000, ISBN 9780299165642, p. 269
278. there are scholars who claim that in specific cases, some "men were 'volunteers' only in name", namely when they were shamed by females from their village for not having volunteered yet, MacClancy 2000, p. 51. Degree of free will might be disputed also in case of Republican POWs; e.g. it was a common practice in the Montserrat Terç that freshly taken prisoners were interrogated on the spot, and Catalans were offered enlisting before having been reported as POWs, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 84
279. the ratio calculated for Tercio de Montserrat, originating from Catalonia, Robert Vallverdú i Martí, La metamorfosi del carlisme català: del "Déu, Pàtria i Rei" a l'Assamblea de Catalunya (1936–1975), Barcelona 2014, ISBN 9788498837261, p. 33
280. the ratio calculated for some tercios from Alava, Germán Ruiz Llano, El voluntariado alavés durante la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis Universidad Complutense], Madrid 2016, pp. 109, 165
281. "minimo de sesenta mil", Jordi Canal i Morell, Banderas blancas, boinas rojas: una historia política del carlismo, 1876–1939, Madrid 2006, ISBN 9788496467347, p. 329
282. "El número de requetés encuadrados en los Tercios o en otras unidades menores y de segunda línea, pasó de los 70.000 en algunos momentos", Luis Redondo, Juan de Zavala, El requeté: la tradición no muere, Madrid 1957, p. 379; some earlier Carlist propaganda prints claimed even 100,000, compare "cien mil requetés de la última cruzada", José María Codon Fernández, Tradición y monarquia, Sevilla 1961, p. 17, and this figure is at times maintained – though not by professional historians – also recently, see Miguel Ayuso, El carlismo en la conspiración y guerra en España, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 12 (2006), p. 164
283. one scholar estimated that some 55% of requeté volunteers came from Navarre, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 256; according to another source, Navarrese volunteers alone were as many as 40,000, Redondo, Zavala, 1957
284. e.g. in Tercio de Montserrat there were 9 pairs of 2 brothers, 1 case of 3 brothers, and 2 pairs of father and son serving (all 4 were killed in action), Francisco Javier de Lizarza, Los combatientes carlistas en la Guerra de España (1936–1939), [in:] Stanley G. Payne (ed.), Identidad y nacionalismo en la España contemporánea: el carlismo, 1833–1975, Madrid 2001, ISBN 8487863469, p. 148
285. the best known case, widely publicized by the Francoist propaganda, was this of the Hernandorena volunteers; the one in his 60s was the father of a mid-age volunteer, who in turn was the father of another, teenage volunteer, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 259
286. Javier Munoz-Basols, Manuel Delgado Morales, Laura Lonsdale, The Routledge Companion to Iberian Studies, London 2017, ISBN 9781317487319, p. 419, Isidora Dolores Ibárruri, Autobiography, New York 2005, ISBN 9780717804689, p. 181
287. Payne 2012, p. 184
288. summarised KIA losses by tercio as given by Aróstegui 2013, pp. 828–832; the author seems leaning towards a lower end of the estimates. For preference for the upper end see Ramón María Rodón Guinjoan, Invierno, primavera y otoño del carlismo (1939–1976) [PhD thesis Universitat Abat Oliba CEU], Barcelona 2015, p. 28. Some authors claim that there were "at least" 6,000 dead, see "nejméně 6 000 mužů", Jiří Chalupa, Poražení vítězové – konflikt z let 1936–39 jako "čtvrtá karlistická válka", [in:] Paulína Springerová (ed.), Sedmdesát let od vypuknutí španělské občanské války – vnitřní a vnější aspekty konfliktu, Hradec Králové 2007, ISBN 9788070417881, p. 12
289. Aróstegui 2013, pp. 828–832. The author provides the data with reservation that they are "sin duda, una aproximación", p. 827. More definite statement, with strong preference for upper limit of the estimates, in Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 28. In post-war Carlist propaganda the number of requete killed or wounded was even given as 40,000, referred after Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 353
290. MacClancy 2000, p. 75
291. Canal 2000, p. 344
292. this was the case of Navarre in 1939, Aurora Villanueva Martínez, Organizacion, actividad y bases del carlismo navarro durante el primer franquismo [in:] Geronimo de Uztariz 19 (2003 ), p. 101
293. membership was not imposing. In 1945 the Pamplona Requeté organisation grouped some 180 members. In all Navarre Requeté cells existed – at least on paper – in 35 locations, Aurora Villanueva Martínez, Los incidentes del 3 de diciembre de 1945 en la Plaza del Castillo, [in:] Principe de Viana 58 (1997). In the early 1940s the Navarrese Requeté was plagued by disintegration and internal conflict between prominent leaders of the organisation, like Antonio Lizarza, Esteban Ezcurra, Juan Villanueva, Amadeo Marco, Benito Santesteban or Jaime del Burgo. Some scholars claim that Requeté drifted with no particular direction, apart that it sought independence from local political structures, Villanueva Martínez 2003, pp. 105, 108
294. see notes on "trabajos reorganizativos" of early 1940, inspired by the nationwide Carlist leadership. As usual, the Navarrese remained extremely cautious, anxious not to be subjected to external command, Villanueva Martínez 2003, p. 102-103
295. during early Francoism in Navarre "la oficialidad del Requete, que, en el clima de desmovilizacion social y politica de la posguerra, todavia conservaban en estos primeros anos ciertos niveles de conexion interna y politizacion, necesarios para producir pronunciamientos colectivos" Villanueva Martínez 2003, p. 102
296. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 203
297. e.g. in 1944 the Navarrese organisation distributed leaflets calling for recruitment, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 247
298. e.g. in 1946 one militant was nominated "sargento del Requeté", Josep Miralles Climent, La rebeldía carlista. Memoria de una represión silenciada: Enfrentamientos, marginación y persecución durante la primera mitad del régimen franquista (1936–1955), Madrid 2018, ISBN 9788416558711, p. 298
299. in the early 1940s the Navarrese organisation included so-called "Requeté Auxiliar", grouping older or less dedicated members, Villanueva Martínez 1997, p. 632; in 1942, also in Navarre, an "embrionaria organización de juventud carlista" emerged out of Requeté, Villanueva Martínez 2003, p. 105
300. following outbreak of the German-Soviet war some requeté ex-combatants expected CT at least to pronounce in favor of Germany. A number of requeté ex-combatants, like Amadeo Marco, Antonio Lizarza, Cesareo Sanz Orrio, Juan Villanueva and Mario Ozcoidi, on their own addressed the German and Italian consulates with their offer of assistance, Villanueva Martínez 2003, p. 103. Indeed, some requetés enlisted to División Azul, but officially the Carlist executive discouraged recruitment, Canal 2000, pp. 348–349
301. it is not clear who nurtured the vision of requeté gathering intelligence for the British. The plans must have been serious, since Fal Conde and the Navarrese leader Joaquín Baleztema formally prohibited such activity and demanded neutrality, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 268
302. Robert Vallverdú i Martí, La metamorfosi del carlisme català: del "Déu, Pàtria i Rei" a l'Assamblea de Catalunya (1936–1975), Barcelona 2014, ISBN 9788498837261, p. 91. Some leaflets were aimed against the Francoist regime, e.g. these signed by "El requeté de Cataluña" and demanding that Fal Conde be released from exile, Vallverdú i Martí 2014, p. 91. Some were aimed against some Carlist leaders, accused of inactivity and appeasement versus the regime, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 216
303. e.g. in 1940 some clandestine Requeté centers were selling shirts, berets, badges and other ware, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 215
304. the print was named Boletín de Información del Requeté, Miralles Climent 2018, p. 158. It was undergoing the usual censorship and some issues were withdrawn, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 326
305. historiographic literature and prints from the era often refer to "requetés" attending various rallies. However, it is not clear whether they were members of existing Requeté organisation or rather members of numerous ex-combatant associations, named Hermandades; many of them, grouping combatants from particular battalions, were set up in the 1940s; they usually had no political flavor, Canal 2000, p. 346. Moreover, members of the Carlist academic organisation AET also sported military-like uniforms, which made them almost undistinguishable from requeté, compare e.g. a photo of AET militants in Manuel Martorell Pérez, Carlos Hugo frente a Juan Carlos. La solución federal para España que Franco rechazó, Madrid 2014, ISBN 9788477682653, p. 40. Moreover, it seems that in the mid-1940s in some regions AET and Requeté sections were merged, see ID card reproduced in Martorell Pérez 2014, p. 44
306. they were typically commemorative annual rallies in Montserrat, Montejurra or Poblet, also the annual feast known as Mártires de la Tradición, or minor local events, Miralles Climent 2018, p. 167, Canal 2000, p. 347. Requetés usually appeared uniformed, though their gear was highly irregular, at times home-made, and worn out; participants admitted with regret that they were no match for perfectly uniformed Falange units, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 233. Some claim that "even when, from 1959 on, uniformed requetés did begin to line up on the morning of Montejurra, the ceremony still remained much more relaxed than the strictly regulated events staged by the Government. Today ex-progresistas claim that these parades were far less disciplined and more shambolic than proud veteran requetés might like to admit", Jeremy MacClancy, An anthropological approach to carlism ritual. Montejurra during francoism, [in:] Violencias fraticidas: carlistas y liberales en el siglo XIX, Estella 2009, ISBN 9788423531653, p. 305
307. Martorell Pérez 2009, pp. 60–70, 197, Miralles Climent 2018, pp. 62–125
308. "en el conjunto periodo un 70% de los registros que hacen referencia a la resistencia a la Unificacíon mencionan al requeté" Mercedes Peñalba Sotorrío, Entre la boina roja y la camisa azul, Estella 2013, ISBN 9788423533657, p. 102. At times Requetés refused to share the barracks with Falange units, Peñalba Sotorrío 2012, p. 105
309. internal FET statistics of conflicts devised a number of rubrics the categorize them, with headings like "Falange exige el sometimiento al requeté", "Catalanismo del requeté", or "apoyo del clero al requeté", Peñalba Sotorrío 2012, pp. 100–103
310. e.g. in 1940 requeté militants used to visit bookstores and demand that books of José Antonio Primo de Rivera and other pro-Falangist prints be removed from windows, otherwise "the Requeté police will come and burn you down", Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 234
311. some Carlist militants apparently enjoyed the fights, e.g. an account from 1947 reads that "era fantástico". It seems that participants were not uniformed (except berets); also, the person in question referred to himself and his colleagues as "jóvenes" (not requetes), Miralles Climent 2018, pp. 264–265, 298
312. Miralles Climent 2018, p. 171. See also Villanueva Martínez 2003, p. 107
313. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 305. The leaders implicated were the member of local Navarrese Requeté leadership Juan Cruz Ancín, Miralles Climent 2018, p. 278, and Zamanillo, Villanueva Martínez 1997, p. 637
314. the last identified episode of street-fights involving requetés is from 1953, Miralles Climent 2018, p. 298
315. see e.g. a 1942 police report about "grupos clandestinos del Requeté", Miralles Climent 2018, p. 138. Some reports mention rather "elementos procedentes del antigue Requeté", which remain hostile to Caudillo, engage in subversive propaganda, and wear "their ‘own’ uniforms", Miralles Climent 2018, p. 131
316. Miralles Climent 2018, p. 382
317. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 209
318. "solían ser seguidos y observados por policías o emisarios del Gobernador Civil", Miralles Climent 2018, p. 167, for sample see e.g. Pensamiento Alaves 25.01.40, available here. However, at times the rallies ended in detentions, e.g. following a 1945 Mártires de la Tradición sermon in Madrid there were 32 participants detained; some were later sent to labor camps, Miralles Climent 2018, p. 167
319. e.g. in 1946 the administration prohibited a Carlist rally in Vilalba de los Arcos, intended to honor the dead fallen during the battle of 1938; the order was enforced by Guardia Civil, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 320.
320. Miralles Climent 2018, p. 334
321. Miralles Climent 2018, p. 393
322. Miralles Climent 2018, p. 298
323. this was the case of Luis Elizalde, Miralles Climent 2018, p. 396
324. the Carloctavistas formed a uniformed group styled as "Tercio Carlos VII". Some scholars claim that as most members of the public did not distinguish between various currents within Carlism, appearances of "Tercio Carlos VII" helped to enhance the public image of Carlism as such, Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 135
325. the Montejurra gathering of 1954 was reportedly attended by 12,000 requetés, García Riol 2015, p. 42. The figure seems overstated if applied strictly to Requeté members; it is not clear whether there were 12,000 requetés in entire Spain. The figure might stand also for ex-combatants or simply for militant Carlists
326. there were even much older Requeté members present in the organisation. Perhaps a unique case was this of Perico Olaortúa, a metalworking industry worker from Biscay, who was an active requeté in 1909, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 411
327. e.g. one scholar claims that apart from ceremonial duties, Requeté was partially turning into a mutual assistance organization, busy with day-to-day matters like common insurance, Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, El naufragio de las ortodoxias. El carlismo, 1962–1977, Pamplona 1997; ISBN 9788431315641, p. 30
328. compare the image of somnabulic Carlist centres in the early 1950s as described by young party militants, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 380
329. "los universitarios no estaban para llevar el Requeté a la Universidad. Comenzamos a plantear que el Requeté estaba muy bien para la guerra pero que no tenía nada que ver con la lucha universitaria. Queríamos hacer algo distinto, dar un aire nuevo al 18 de Julio frente a Franco y a los generales", the opinion of a young Carlist militant Pérez-España, referred after Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 385
330. e.g. Requeté is barely mentioned in a monographic article on change of the Carlist policy of the mid-1950s, compare Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, El nuevo rumbo político del carlismo hacia la colaboración con el régimen (1955–56), [in:] Hispania 69 (2009), pp. 179–208
331. Canal 2000, p. 356
332. e.g. in the early 1950s the Requeté jefé in Catalonia was Jesús Calderón, Vallverdú i Martí 2014, p. 136
333. e.g. in the town of Tudela, in the Carlist heartland Navarre, there was a group of requetés active in the early 1940s; in 1941 and posing as part of the state party, they issued an own bulletin, compare Todocolección service, available here. However, at some point later on the cell disappeared and there was no requeté group operational in the city until 1961, Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, La oposición al colaboracionismo carlista en Navarra, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 262 (2015), p. 800
334. e.g. during the carefully prepared inaugural address of Don Carlos Hugo at the summit of Montejurra in 1957, it was not the Requeté members but the AET affiliates who formed personal guard of the prince, Martorell Pérez 2014, p. 87
335. García Riol 2015, p. 42
336. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 435
337. Jacek Bartyzel, Żołnierz Tradycji. José Arturo Márquez de Prado (1924–2017), [in:] Myśl Konserwatywna service 20.06.17, available here
338. Vázquez de Prada 2016, pp. 72–74; for decisively anti-Juanista stand of Requeté, see also García Riol 2015, pp. 206–207. However, the 1959-established ex-requeté organisation Hermandad Nacional Monárquica del Maestrazgo was strongly leaning towards Don Juan, Ramón Rodón Guinjoan, Una aproximación al estudio de la Hermandad Nacional Monárquica del Maestrazgo y del Partido Social Regionalista, [in:] Aportes 88 (2015), p. 171. Also the Alfonsist press was careful to note all cases of alleged requeté support for Don Juan, see e.g. ABC 15.05.66, available here
339. Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, El papel del carlismo navarro en el inicio de la fragmentación definitiva de la comunión tradicionalista (1957–1960), [in:] Príncipe de Viana 72 (2011), p. 405
340. Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, El final de una ilusión. Auge y declive del tradicionalismo carlista (1957–1967), Madrid 2016, ISBN 9788416558407, pp. 72–74
341. Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 95
342. Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 118
343. José Martín Brocos Fernández, José Arturo Márquez de Prado y Pareja, [in:] Real Academia de Historia service, available here, also Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 435, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 120
344. José Martín Brocos Fernández, José Arturo Márquez de Prado y Pareja, [in:] Real Academia de Historia service, available here
345. Miguel Ayuso, El ultimo jefe de requetes, [in:] ABC 13.06.17, available here
346. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 30
347. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 476
348. Márquez de Prado first met Carlos Hugo in 1962. He concluded that the prince was unstable, had little if any public experience, no firm religious education, did not like history, did not know Carlism, did not know how to deal with people and the local Carlist jefes, and that in general, he was of "much smaller format" than his father, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 160
349. in the mid-1960s the purpose of Requeté was officially defined as "defender la integridad de nuestros sacrosantos ideales", which leads a present-day scholar to suppose that the organisation was gradually turning into sort of an internal Carlist "order of the faithful", "como una orden de caballería vinculada por sus juramentos, promesas y devoción a la la defensa de un ideario cuyo fundamento último era de orden espiritual", Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 122. See also "se podría afirmar que los Requetés se consideraban así mismos como los garantes de las más puras esencias del Carlismo. Eran "los cruzados de la Causa", los depositarios de la espiritualidad y la acción de todo lo carlista", García Riol 2015, p. 309
350. in the early 1960s Carlos Hugo, freshly arrived from France, was briefly hosted by Márquez de Prado. The then political guide of the prince, Massó, was seriously concerned that Márquez might ruin all of his own formative work, done to turn Carlos Hugo into a progressist, new-style Carlist. Massó judged that Márquez "estaba obsesionado con la guerra subversiva contrarrevolucionaria" and that he had to be isolated and contained. Eventually, Massó and his team "a los del Requetés de Pepe Arturo [Márquez de Prado] no les hacíamos ni caso; la gente que cogíamos era gente nueva o gente recuperada", Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 476
351. some scholars speculate that the hardline and militarist appeal of Requeté might have been the reason why the organisation "perdiese importancia en el seno del carlismo javierista", Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 122. However, other historians note some efforts to seize control over the organization by means of personal appointments, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 197
352. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 476
353. "Pepe Arturo [Márquez de Prado], era un hombre que necesitaba decir que la Universidad la controlaba él; era gente muy efectiva pero poco preparada políticamente; estaban al margen del carlismo de entonces, seguían pensando en un carlismo de guerra", opinion of one of the Huguistas, referred after Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 477
354. Juan Zavala Castella (1915–1975) was a requeté commander during the war and a professional military later, which might seem hardly compatible with Huguista concerns about excessive Requeté militarisation. He was the older brother of José María Zavala Castella (29 year old at the time), who formed the Huguista hard political core. Deputy jefé delegado was suggested to be José Cruz de Berasaluce, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 197
355. in late 1963 Márquez de Prado asked Valiente that local requeté jefes be appointed directly by Delegación Nacional de Requetés (it is not clear what was the mechanism of their appointments before). The Navarrese jefé Astraín claimed that Zamanillo was the true author of the concept, and warned Valiente that in Navarre there already was "Consejo del Requeté", bent on confronting political Comunión structures, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 190
356. Miralles Climent 2015, p. 223, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 251
357. e.g. in 1962 "fueron 2,000 los requetés uniformados" at the Montejurra ascent, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 300-301. In 1963 "a truckload of Sevillan requetés made the cross-country trip to attend Montejurra", MacClancy 2000, p. 135. Apart from ceremonial roles, uniformed requetés formed security guard during Traditionalist rallies and provided personal protection to members of the royal family when present, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 123
358. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 80-81. Elsewhere the author points to existence of the entire body, named Delegación Nacional, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 45
359. in 1962 Secretaría Nacional was divided into 4 departments, and one of them was for Requeté, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 165
360. in 1963 all party financial needs were estimated at 2,8m ptas; the Requeté needs were specified as 0,1m, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 178
361. at the same time he received from the claimant the Orden de la Legitimidad Proscrita, the highest Carlist award, Miguel Ayuso, El ultimo jefe de requetes, [in:] ABC 13.06.17, available here. It is not clear whether his decoration during the year of his destitution was the mark of disorientation within the party ranks, internal struggle, or cynical manoeuvring intended to ensure his compliance
362. Miralles Climent 2015, p. 223, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 251. Hermenegildo García Llorente was appointed "delegado adjunto", Sixto Barranco "delegado de infanteria militar", José Luis Díaz Iribarren secretary, Andrés Olona de Armenteras "inspector" and Emilió Marín de Burgos "inspector de pelayos", which suggests that the infantile section of Pelayos existed as sub-division of Requeté, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 126. Miguel de San Cristobál Ursua (1909–1993) was a landholder and aristocrat from Falces in southern Navarre; he is one of the least known Carlist militants of the era and one of the oldest members of the Huguista faction. A wartime requeté combatant, it seems that in the mid-1960s he was either disoriented or meek; when confronted with fronda within Requeté he asked Valiente for advice; the party leader suggested that Zavala was to deal with internal party matters and that San Cristobál should focus on propaganda issues, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 256. His later address at the summit of Montejurra, which caused enormous resistance among the Traditionalists, was most likely written by someone else, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 89
363. one of the first moves of San Cristóbal as the new Requeté jefe was to call a nationwide meeting of all regional Requeté jefes in Pamplona, the first ever and probably also the last one in history of the organisation
364. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 98
365. San Cristobál demanded that local juntas be formalized on all lower levels. He also launched preparations to political instruction classes ("cursos de formación"), and asked to create delegates for sports and infantile sub-sections. He declared that Junta Nacional would be busy mostly with information and propaganda, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 124
366. during the 1965 Asamblea Nacional de Requetés San Cristobál issued instructions to "crear un aorganización propia para su actuación dentro de un terreno de semi-clandestinidad"; so-called "grupos de acción" were to be formed in every province. They were supposed to engage in 5 types of activity: 1) organization; 2) education; 3) psychological warfare; 4) technical instruction (shooting, explosives, radiocommunication, driving, topografy) and 5) defense (espionage, counter-espionage, judicial action), Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 125
367. during the Congress the attendees were asked to vote for one of 4 future paths of Requeté development. Buildup of "Grupos de Acción" was supported by 104 participants, with other options being that Requeté becomes an organisation "político-militar" (94), "social" (42), and "militar" (28), García Riol 2015, pp. 474–475
368. both the position of Delegado Nacional de Requetés was abandoned and the entire Delegación Nacional de Requetés was dissolved, Miralles Climent 2015, p. 224, Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 275
369. Vallverdú i Martí 2014, p. 199
370. the 1965 address delivered by San Cristobál at Montejurra was one of the most controversial ever recorded during the history of the rally, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 89. The Traditionalists considered it scandalous as they perceived it as dismantling the basis of requeté identity. San Cristobal caused outrage as he declared that "con nuestros hijos están también, con nosotros, muchos hijos de quienes fueron nuestros enemigos hace veinticinco [in other accounts: veintitantos] años. Figuran entre las altas personalidades del carlismo hombres cuyos padres fueron fusilados por los nacionales", Martorell Pérez 2014, p. 210. It is not clear who personally was evoked in the second sentence. Full text of his address in Montejurra I/7 (1965), pp. 18–19
371. already in 1965 the Madrid Junta Provincial of Requeté protested against Secretaria taking all control of movement branches, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 478; in 1968 the same Madrid branch issued manifestos against "camarilla" of Carlos Hugo manipulating the movement into subversive, left-wing direction, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 230
372. Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 255
373. Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 279
374. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 121, see also p. 127
375. García Riol 2015, pp. 120–121
376. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 77
377. even against the historical background. In the vastly popular Montejurra monthly the last identified usage of the word "requeté" is in the issue of IV/41 (1968). The monthly kept appearing until it was forcibly closed in the spring of 1971, but in the issues from 1969–1971 the term "requeté" does not appear at all, be it as reference to the Civil War or to the present Carlist organization
378. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 303
379. e.g. in 1971 a new Catalan executive did not include a representative for requeté, Vallverdú i Martí 2014, p. 226
380. until 1962 the nationwide organisation of ex-requeté combatants was led by Zamanillo; he was then succeeded by Julio Pérez Salas, Carlos Ponce de León, and since 1965 by Ignacio Romero Osborne, Marquéz de Marchellina (1903–1985), Canal 2000, p. 357
381. in 1971 a group signed as Dirección Nacional de Acción Política y Participación demanded immediate dismissal of Manuel Piorno, José María Zavala, Juan J. Palomino, Marqués de Marchelina, Elías Querejeta, Ricardo Ruiz de Gauna, Gabriel Zubiaga, Rafael Ferrando and Luis Doreste Machado, it is all members of Junta de la Hermandad Nacional de Antiguos Combatientes de Tercios de Requetés. Once Marchelina dismissed the claim the organisation premises were raided by police on grounds of subversive activity suspicion, and were eventually handed to Comisión Reorganizadora, headed by the one of the rebels, José María Codón. Merchelina set up a shadow organisation in France, García Riol 2015, pp. 313–320
382. e.g. in 1959 some pro-Juanista Carlists set up Hermandad Nacional Monárquica del Maestrazgo, Ramón Rodón Guinjoan, Una aproximación al estudio de la Hermandad Nacional Monárquica del Maestrazgo y del Partido Social Regionalista, [in:] Aportes: Revista de historia contemporánea 30/88 (2015), p. 171. Hermandad de Cristo Rey, another organisation created in 1962, was also from the onset tending towards Juanismo, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 37. In 1968 it issued a statement that Carlos Hugo was "neither a Spaniard nor a Carlist heir", García Riol 2015, p. 239
383. García Riol 2015, pp. 313–320
384. e.g. in 1969 representatives of Hermandad de Maestrazgo were admitted by Don Juan Carlos shortly after his taking oath as the future king of Spain, Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 177
385. Hermandad de Maestrazgo was revitalized in the 1970s, possibly in collusion with state services, as the new Carlist pro-Francoist organization, Canal 2000, p. 374. It remained very active until 1973, Vallverdú i Martí 2014, pp. 262–263. Some scholars refer to "Operación Maestrazgo", a state-aided attempt to re-channel Carlist mobilisation from Partido Carlista to new, pro-Francoist structures, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, pp. 193, 234–237
386. a lengthy 1971 document named Declaracíon al I Congreso del Pueblo Carlista did not mtention Requeté a single time, Josep Carles Clemente, Historia del carlismo contemporaneo, 1935–1972, Barcelona 1977, ISBN 8425307597, pp. 327–336. Another lengthy document from 1972, Linea ideológica del carlismo, approved at the II Congreso del Pueblo Carlista, contained outline of the party organization but failed to mention Requeté, Clemente 1977, pp. 342–350
387. Miralles Climent 2015, p. 515
388. Miralles Climent 2015, p. 272
389. this was also the reason why Huguistas were determined not to use the "requeté" name, Miralles Climent 2015, p. 224
390. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 246
391. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, pp. 230–232, García Riol 2015, p. 321
392. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 158
393. in 1972 Fal Conde corresponded with San Cristobál on re-establishing Carlist structures based on a Requeté organization, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 180
394. other signatories included Hermenegildo García Llorente, José María Vázquez de Prada Juárez, Luis Ulloa Messeguer, Antonio Fernández Cortés and Federico Ferrando Sales, García Riol 2015, p. 323
395. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 138
396. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 271
397. Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 264
398. the episode is highly unclear, though most sources point to foreign mercenaries and aged former combatants rather than to young militants involved on part of Don Sixto. Some, however, assume their presence and speculate that the shooting might have been accidental, as "jóvenes requetés que se hallaban con don Sixto no tenían verdadera instrucción militar" and might have fired in panic, Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 623
399. Juan Carlos Senent Sansegundo, La Comunión Tradicionalista (CT): de su formación a la unidad de los tradicionalistas (1975-1986), [in:] Investigaciones Históricas 42 (2022), p. 1243
400. an amateur footage, reportedly of 1976–1977, shows a 10-men uniformed requete-styled team during outdoor drills in Catalonia. It is unclear whether the group was representative of any organized structure, see YouTube service, available here. Another photo, reportedly from 1979, apparently shows a ceremony of new recruits taking oath, see Twitter service 29.08.19, available here. Again, it is not clear whether this was an act organized by a local, isolated cell, or whether there was a wider structure involved
401. a 230-page study on ETA war against the Carlists, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, does not contain a single note on any revenge squad or armed self-defence on part of the Traditionalists, see Víctor Javier Ibáñez, Una resistencia olvidada. Tradicionalistas mártires del terrorismo, s.l. 2017
402. compare Jeremy MacClancy, GAC, Militant Carlist Activism, 1968–1972, [in:] Essays in Basque social Anthropology and History, Reno 1989, ISBN 9781877802027, pp. 177–185
403. in the press Asociación Juvenil Tradicionalista was referred as "a handful of young requetés" who "visten camisa y pantalón caqui, correaje y boina roja con borlete. Su símbolo son las aspas tradicionalistas", Blanco y Negro 24.12.80, available here
404. ABC 17.11.81, available here
405. the specific date was related to the 50th anniversary of the Carlist rally at an estate known as Quintillo, which at the time sent shock waves across most of Spain, ABC 18.05.84, available here
406. e.g. a Navarrese Hermandad de Caballeros Voluntarios de la Cruz used to organize public sermons in Pamplona in the late 1970s, Fernando Mikelarena, Víctor Moreno, José Ramón Urtasun, Carlos Martínez, Pablo Ibáñez, Txema Aranaz, ¿Qué esconde la Hermandad de Caballeros Voluntarios de la Cruz?, [in:] NuevaTribuna service 22.10.18, available here, but later moved to rather defensive positions, e.g. protesting against perceived attempts to wipe them out form history, Fernando Mikelarena, Víctor Moreno, José Ramón Urtasun, Pablo Ibáñez, Carlos Martínez, Ángel Zoco, La connivencia de la Iglesia con la Hermandad de Caballeros Voluntarios de la Cruz, [in:] NuevaTribuna service 31.10.18, available here
407. e.g. Hermandad del Tercio de Requetés de Nuestra Senyora de Montserrat was and is legal owner of the Requeté Mausoleum, built in the Montserrat complex. In the early 1990s it re-published an account of the wartime past of the battalion, Salvador Nonel Brú, El Laureado Tercio de Requetés de Nuestra Senyora de Montserrat, Barcelona 1992
408. ABC 30.09.95, available here
409. ABC 26.04.95, available here
410. ABC 25.09.14, available here
411. see e.g. the death notice reproduced in Ha mort Felio Vilarrubias Solanes, glòria catalana d’Espanya, [in:] DolcaCatalunya blog 10.04.19, available here
412. Fernando Alejandre, ¿El último requeté? Félix Urrizburu Cabodevilla (1920-2023), [in:] El Debate 05.07.23, available here
413. see #requetés and #requetes hashtags in Instagram service, available respectively here and here
414. see Tercios Requetés profile, [in:] Twitter service, available here
415. see profiles Requeté Català or Requeté Colomenc, [in:] Facebook service, available respectively here and here
416. see Requeté Carlista profile, [in:] YouTube service, available here
417. see Amigos del Requete profile, [in:] Facebook service, available here
418. see #requeté hashtag, [in:] Instagram service, available here
419. see Requeté profile, [in:] Facebook service, available here
420. see Nuevos Requetés profile, [in:] Twitter service, available here
421. see e.g. Nota de la Jefatura Nacional del Requeté post, [in:] Facebook service 02.08.15, available here. The individual signed as Requeté commander maintains also his private profile, see Gilberto Motilla Olmo, [in:] Facebook service, available here
422. see e.g. Comunicado oficial del Requeté, [in:] Facebook service 20.11.16, available here
423. see e.g. death notice of María Teresa de Borbón Parma, signed by La Jefatura Nacional del Requeté, [in:] Facebook service 26.03.20, available here
424. "dado en mi Puesto di Control", Nota de la Jefatura Nacional del Requeté, [in:] Facebook service 02.08.15, available here
425. "el Requeté es el Ejercito Legitimista Español", "El Requeté, en la actualidad, usa los mismos emblemas..." etc, Nota de la Jefatura Nacional del Requeté, [in:] Facebook service 02.08.15, available here
426. see photo of 02.05.20, [in:] Facebook service, available here
427. Year / Month(s)
428. Number of soldiers in Carlist units; combatants in non-Carlist units forming the Nationalist troops excluded
429. Killed, wounded and missing
430. Includes the category known as KIA and combatants counted as MIA and presumed POWs executed by the enemy
431. Heaviest fighting took place in the mountain range known as Peña de Aya (especially at Monte Pikoketa), and on approaches to Andoain, Renteria and the Irún suburbs of San Marcial and Behovia
432. In some cases battalion names are applied retrospectively; companies or irregular sub-units which formed them were at the time known rather as components as "Columna Beorlegui", "Columna Los Arcos", "Columna Galbis" , "Columna Iruretagoyena" or similar, see e.g. Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil española, 1936–1939, Madrid 2013, ISBN 9788499709970, pp. 234, 299. Units listed emerged in course of the second half of 1936 or even later
433. Total number of troops commanded by Beorlegui, Aróstegui 2013, p. 171. Navarra was some 550 men, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 164–166, Lácar was 850 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 195, Montejurra was 660 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 234, S. Miguel was 380 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 265, S. Fermin was 200 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 293.
434. Detailed figures unknown. After the entire Gipuzkoa Campaign (including the Deva Line combat) the Navarra battalion reported total losses as 250 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 176. Lácar reported 230 losses before engagement in the Deva Line, Aróstegui 2013, p. 202. Details for other units unknown
435. Detailed figures unknown. The usual ratio of KIA to all losses was around 20%
436. By late September 1936 the Nationalist troops overran most of Gipuzkoa and crossed the Deva river, seeking entry into Biscay. They were offered stiff resistance in mountainous terrain on Western bank of the Deva river. Geographical references repeatedly referred as points of heavy fighting were Monte Calamúa, Monte Arrate, Monte Cónico and Morcaicu; they changed hands a number of times, as pro-Republican Basque units and Carlist troops, many also composed of the Basques, engaged in hand-to-hand combat
437. Fighting commenced already during the last days of September. Once the battle extinguished, the frontline eventually stalled at Monte Arrate and Monte Calamúa until March 1937, and occasional combat took place there also in November and December 1936. Another battle followed in the same mountain range in March/April 1937
438. Some of the units were in the process of being formed, e.g. companies which later formed the battalion of N.S.d.Camino were at the time known rather as "Columna Cayuela", Aróstegui 2013, p. 319
439. Columna Cayuela was 950 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 319; Navarre was full 4 companies, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 294–296; Fermin was 2 companies ca. 300 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 294; Lacar strength unknown
440. By year-end the Navarra battalion reported 250 casualties since the beginning of hostilities, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 176. Lacar reported 230 losses before Deva, Aróstegui 2013, p. 202, and 420 at year-end, Aróstegui 2013, p. 205. Data for other tercios unknown
441. Estimate, probably tending to underreporting. There is only partial and anecdotic information on irrecoverable losses. The usual 20% KIA ratio applied
442. Locations hosting major combat were (proceeding from South-East towards Bilbao, and also from early April to early June) Ochandiano, Aramayona valley, Peñas de Amboto, Monte Saibigain, Amorebieta, Monte Urcullu and Peñas de Lemona. The campaign was a series of maneouvres targeting specific valleys and mountain ranges, with no particular battle climax recorded
443. Camino 200 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 321, S. Ignacio 380 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 480; Lácar 420 men, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 206–207; Montejurra 690 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 238; S. Miguel 440 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 270, Navarra 300 men (?), Aróstegui 2013, p. 177; Oriamendi 600 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 466, Zumalacarregui 570 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 488.
444. There is no available information on total losses. It is typical to encounter references to "excepcional dureza" of combat, Aróstegui 2013, p. 271; in case of S. Ignacio a scholar claims that the unit was "almost destroyed", Aróstegui 2013, p. 482; even single incidents claimed 8–11 KIAs, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 177, 208; the Montejurra battalion lost 100 men (including 40 KIA) at Monte Urcullu only, Aróstegui 2013, p. 241. Hypothetical extrapolation of partial data would produce the figures of slightly above 1,000 losses
445. Estimate based on partial and anecdotic data, see Aróstegui 2013, pp. 177, 208, 238, 241, 270, 321, 467–468, 482, 489.
446. Carlist battalions were deployed at separate though not distant points: M.d. Molina in Quinto del Ebro, Montserrat in Codo, M.d.l. Nieves and Almogavares both in Belchite
447. In August 1937 Republican army commenced a strategic advance across Aragon, with the objective of taking Zaragoza
448. The battle was very brief and extremely fulminant; it took place in 3 days between August 24 and 26. Much stronger Republican troops rolled over the outnumbered Nationalist defence; at all 3 strongholds the requetés resisted until they were almost totally encircled, and then attempted a breakthrough to own lines
449. Some battalions remained below nominal strength and consisted of 2 companies as they were in the process of being formed; Montserrat was 200 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 690; N.S.d.Molina was 530 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 545; Almogavares was 200 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 578; strength of M.d.l.Nieves is unclear, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 408–9
450. Montserrat lost almost 200 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 690; Molina lost 240 men, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 546–547; Almogavares lost 240 men, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 579–580; for M.d.l.Nieves data unclear
451. It is known that Montserrat lost 110 to 140 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 692, and M.d.Molina lost 240 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 546–547. KIA for Almogavares and M.d.l.Nieves unclear, but both units were almost wiped out
452. Loyalist troops for a few weeks held up 7-times-stronger Nationalist units. The engagement formed key part of the Battle of Asturias. Having conquered Cantabria, the rebels- their total strength estimated at 30,000 – pushed West towards Gijón
453. Navarra 300, Aróstegui 2013, p. 180; Lácar 566, Aróstegui 2013, p. 209; Montejurra 380, Aróstegui 2013, p. 243, S.Fermín 375, Aróstegui 2013, p. 310; Mola 455, Aróstegui 2013, p. 347; Zumalacarregui 370, Aróstegui 2013, p. 489.
454. Partial data from 3 tercios indicates at least 250 casualties. Some battalions – e.g. Tercio de Navarra – almost ceased to exist as operational units, Aróstegui 2013, p. 179; and some – e.g. Tercio de Montejurra – lost 30% of their men, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 242, 243
455. Partial data from 3 tercios indicates at least 110 KIA; Navarra lost 59 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 180, Lácar lost at least 25 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 210, and Mola lost some 10 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 47
456. La Muela is a small plateau just West to the city of Teruel
457. Climax of the battle fell on the second week of January 1938
458. Navarra 770 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 182; Lácar 740 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 213; Montejurra 600 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 246; N.S.d.Camino 660 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 333; Virgen Blanca 460 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 450; Oriamendi 530 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 471; Begoña 560 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 500.
459. Total losses are not known; estimate based on extrapolation of Navarra battalion losses, which were 197 casualties, Aróstegui 2013, p. 183
460. Totals unknown. Navarra recorded at least 51 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 183; Begoña reported at least 25 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 500; data for the other 5 battalions unknown
461. The area in question is located between the villages of Iglesuela del Cid and Mosqueruela in the very Southern Aragon, bordering the Valencia region. In absence of widely known geographical reference points, the ones which appear most often in accounts of the battle are specific defensive positions held by the Republicans, named "Loma Milano", "Monte Silverio" and "Posición Barragán"; the battleground is generally known in historiography as Milano (at times distinguished into "posición Milano I" and "posición Milano II")
462. Having gained access to the Mediterranean in April 1938, Nationalist troops were commencing their drive South towards the Levantine plain; they were crossing the depopulated Maestrazgo region
463. Begoña 270 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 504; N.S.d.Camino 750 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 333; Montejurra 576 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 249; for Lácar figures unclear
464. The losses are not known; though at some positions combat was hand-to-hand and very heavy, average casualty ratio was reportedly "very low", Aróstegui 2013, p. 220; given the scale of forces gathered, this should probably be understood as few hundred casualties
465. No figures available; upper limit of the usual 20% KIA ratio of all casualties applied
466. Having crossed Maestrazgo in May and June the Nationalists were pushing on towards Valencia; the sierra was the last natural obstacle separating them from the Levantine capital
467. Most combat took place in July
468. Probably slightly less. Lácar was 500 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 217; Montejrura was 570 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 249; S.Miguel was 700 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 280; N.S.d.Camino was 680 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 336; M.d.l.Nieves was probably around 400 men, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 425–426; N.S.d.Begoña was 260 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 504; Mola was 680 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 642.
469. Total figures unknown. Montejurra reported 203 casualties, Aróstegui 2013, p. 252; N.S.d.Camino reported 70, Aróstegui 2013, p. 335; Lácar reported 22, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 219–220; figures for other 3 battalions unknown
470. Exact KIA figures unknown. Lácar in a single episode lost 22 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, pp. 219–220. N.S.d.Camino reported 5 KIA vs 65 WIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 335. The total extrapolated
471. Carlist troops, based around Gandesa and Bot, were to seize the hilly area known as Vertice Gaeta in the North (battalions of Alcazár, Cristo Rey, N.S.d. Pilar) and the mountain ranges of Sierra de Caballs and Sierra de Pandols in the East (battalions of Burgos-Sanguesa, Montejurra, Lácar)
472. Heaviest fighting took place in early September and at the turn of October and November; during much of October some of the battalions remained in reserve, while other army units were manning the frontline
473. Lácar 800 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 221; Montejurra unclear; Cristo Rey 400 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 681; Burgos-Sanguesa 600 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 606; Alcazar 570 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 664; N.S.d.Pilar 720 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 532; there was an autonomour 8. Company of Alava engaged with some 250 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 796.
474. Lácar in September only lost 180 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 222; single incidents produced losses of 10–15 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 223; Alcazar was reduced to a half, Aróstegui 2013, p. 665; Pilar lost 340 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 533; 8.Alava lost 64, Aróstegui 2013, p. 796; Burgos-Sanguesa recorded "gran numero de bajas", Aróstegui 2013, p. 606, while in case of Montejurra it was "relativamente pocas bajas", Aróstegui 2013, p. 254
475. Information on KIA is fragmentary, though it is known that some units were losing 20–30 men during single tactical engagements, e.g. Lacar lost 25 KIA during assault on cota 361, Aróstegui 2013, p. 222. At various points in time Lácar reported 40 KIA, Montejurra 10 KIA, Cristo Rey 10 KIA, Burgos-Sanguesa 30 KIA, 8.Alava 20 KIA, Alcazar 40 KIA, N.S.d.Pilar 50 KIA
476. Carlist troops advanced along a lengthy frontline of some 150 km and there is no specific battle to be singled out; some battalions were engaged in the Southern counties of Reus and Valls, while some advanced through Northern comarcas of Seu d’Urgell and Olot
477. N.S.d. Pilar was withdrawn already in mid-January, Virgen Blanca and Oriamendi left in mid-Feb; the remaining battalions remained in Catalonia until mid-March
478. Lácar 960 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 225; Montejurra 600 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 256; Mola 870 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 643; other battalions unknown, but supposed to be in full 5-company-strength.
479. Some tercios reported 60 casualties each during their Catalan advance, e.g. Mola claimed 59 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 644, and N.S.d.Pilar claimed 63 men, Aróstegui 2013, p. 533. Data for other tercios assumed to be comparable
480. Totals unknown. S.Miguel reported 21 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 281; Mola reported at least 11 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 644; Oriamendi reported at least 10 KIA, Aróstegui 2013, p. 474; figures for other 5 battalions assumed to be comparable

Further reading

• Aróstegui, Julio (2013). Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil española, 1936–1939, Madrid, ISBN 9788499709758
• Aróstegui, Julio (1988). La tradición militar del carlismo y el origen del Requeté, [in:] Aportes 8, pp. 3–24
• Blinkhorn, Martin (2008). Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931–1939, Cambridge, ISBN 9780521207294
• Calleja, Eduardo G.; Julio Aróstegui (1994). La tradición recuperada. El Requeté carlista y la insurrección, [in:] Historia contemporánea 11, pp. 29–54
• Caspistegui Gorasurreta, Francisco Javier (1997). El naufragio de las ortodoxias. El carlismo, 1962–1977, Pamplona, ISBN 9788431315641
• Clemente, Josep Carles (2016). La insurgencia carlista. Los grupos armados del carlismo: el Requeté, los G.A.C. y las F.A.R.C., Cuenca, ISBN 9788416373031
• Manuel Ferrer Muñoz, Carlismo y violencia en la II República: 1931–36, la organización del Requeté vasco-navarro, [in:] Historia 16/194 (1992), pp. 12–20
• Maximiliano García Venero, Historia de la Unificación, Madrid 1970
• Eduardo González Calleja, Contrarrevolucionarios. Radicalización violenta de las derechas durante la Segunda República 1931–1936, Madrid 2011, ISBN 9788420664552
• Eduardo González Calleja, Paramilitarització i violencia politica a l’Espanya del primer terc de segle: el requeté tradicionalista (1900–1936) , [in:] Revista de Girona 147 (1991), pp. 69–76
• Eduardo González Calleja, La razón de la fuerza: orden público, subversión y violencia política en la España de la Restauración, Madrid 1998, ISBN 9788400077785
• Daniel Jesús García Riol, La resistencia tradicionalista a la renovación ideológica del carlismo (1965–1973) [PhD thesis UNED], Madrid 2015
• Pablo Larraz Andía, Víctor Sierra-Sesumaga, Requetés: de las trincheras al olvido, Madrid 2011, ISBN 9788499700465
• Jeremy MacClancy, The Decline of Carlism, Reno 2000, ISBN 9780874173444
• Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis UNED], Valencia 2009
• Manuel Martorell Pérez, Retorno a la lealtad; el desafío carlista al franquismo, Madrid 2010, ISBN 9788497391115
• Josep Miralles Climent, El Carlismo frente al estado español: rebelión, cultura y lucha política, Madrid 2004, ISBN 9788475600864
• Josep Miralles Climent, El carlismo militante (1965–1980). Del tradicionalismo al socialismo autogestionario [PhD thesis Universidad Jaume I], Castellón 2015
• Josep Miralles Climent, La rebeldía carlista. Memoria de una represión silenciada: Enfrentamientos, marginación y persecución durante la primera mitad del régimen franquista (1936–1955), Madrid 2018, ISBN 9788416558711
• Ramón María Rodón Guinjoan, Invierno, primavera y otoño del carlismo (1939–1976) [PhD thesis Universitat Abat Oliba CEU], Barcelona 2015
• Ferrán Sánchez Agustí, El Requetè contra Franco: el carloctavisme, [in:] Daniel Montañá Buchaca, Josep Rafart Canals (eds.) El carlisme ahir i avui, Berga 2013, ISBN 9788494101700, pp. 167–178
• Robert Vallverdú i Martí, La metamorfosi del carlisme català: del "Déu, Pàtria i Rei" a l'Assamblea de Catalunya (1936–1975) , Barcelona 2014, ISBN 9788498837261
• Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, El final de una ilusión. Auge y declive del tradicionalismo carlista (1957–1967) , Madrid 2016, ISBN 9788416558407
• Aurora Villanueva Martínez, Organizacion, actividad y bases del carlismo navarro durante el primer franquismo, [in:] Geronimo de Uztariz 19 (2003), pp. 97–117

External links

• (in Spanish) Requetés