Active 1936–1939 Branch International Brigades | Allegiance Spain Role Home Defence | |
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Country US, British, Canada, Irish, Balkanic, French, Belgian,among others. Type Mixed Brigade – Infantry | ||
The XV International Brigade was a mixed brigade (Brigada mixta) that fought for the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War as a part of the International Brigades.
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Nicknamed Brigada Abraham Lincoln, it mustered at Albacete in Spain, in January 1937, comprising many English-speaking volunteers – arranged into a mostly British Battalion and a mostly North American Lincoln Battalion. It also included two non-English-speaking battalions, the Balkan Dimitrov Battalion and the Franco-Belgian Sixth February Battalion. It fought at Jarama, Brunete, Boadilla, Belchite, Fuentes de Ebro, Teruel and the Ebro River.
The brigade's songs were "Jarama Valley" and "Viva la Quinta Brigada".
History
The XVth Brigade first fought at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937 and suffered many casualties. The British lost 225 men from 600; the Lincolns 120 from 500. After the battle, the brigade was seriously understrength.
At the end of March, a Spanish battalion, Voluntario 24 (the 24th Volunteers), joined the brigade. Over the next few months, under the close supervision of Janos Galicz, the brigade was re-organised into two regiments of about 1,200 men. He appointed "the gallant major", George Nathan, as brigade Chief of Staff.
The first regiment, commanded by Jock Cunningham, with Harry Haywood as political commissar, was English-speaking and comprised the depleted British and Lincolns; as well as the recently formed but understrength second battalion of American volunteers, the George Washington Battalion. The second regiment was commanded by Major "Chapaiev" (Mihaly Szalvay) and consisted of the Dimitrov Battalion, the Sixth February Battalion and the Voluntario 24 Battalion.
This was the composition in July 1937 for the Battle of Brunete. As with the Battle of Jarama, the brigade suffered huge casualties; the brigade strength was reduced from six to four battalions. In particular, the two American battalions were so depleted that they merged to form the Lincoln-Washington Battalion. (This name did not last: it was renamed the 'Lincoln' Battalion in October 1937.) The 6 February, which also suffered severe casualties, was transferred after Brunete. After Belchite the nominally Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, joined the brigade while the Dimitrov Battalion departed.
During the fall of 1937 the units of the International Brigade were integrated into the Spanish Popular Army and the Battalions were re-numbered. The British Bn became the 57th, the Lincoln-Washington the 58th, the Spanish (formerly known as the 24th), became the 59th and the Mackenzie-Papineau the 60th. The battalion line-up remained stable through the withdrawal of the Internationals during the Ebro Campaign.
The XVth International Brigade also included volunteers from Latin America, who after multiple incidents of bad treatment by the Americans left the international brigades and joined other units such as El Campesino's First Mobile Shock Brigade.
On March 13, 2015, Dan Kaufman interviewed Del Berg, a 99-year-old veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, who he described as the last known survivor of the Brigade. Berg died February 28, 2016.