Although defeated during the last carlist war (1876), and after some internal struggles, Carlism kept a military organization.
The "Requete" was born in 1907 as a military organization for scholars between 12 to16 years. Its name came from a popular name given to the Third Battalion of 'Guias de Navarra' during the First Carlist war. It also had youth paramilitary units: "Batallones de la Juventud". These units were trained by Carlist army officers, under a strict and hierarchical principle.
During the early 1930's and with Fal Condes' arrival came a new concept of military organization, linked to the fascist idea of a unique leader. Colonel Sam de Lerin organized a militia called "decurias" (ten men) which had around 10,000 members with guard duties for the"Circulos Tradicionalistas", street propaganda and political street fights, religious buildings protection and others.
During 1932 and after quite a few street gunfights many Carlists were arrested. Following General Sanjurjo's failed coup the repression against Carlism military units increased.
Lt. Colonel (later General during the SCW) Enrique Varela wrote the "Compendio de Ordenanzas, Reglamento y Obligaciones del Boina Roja, Jefe de Patrulla y Jefe de Requete" a real military Code for the red berets, although not the first military manual among the Carlists.
From that moment the Requete was to be organized following the Army structure (Army of Africa: Foreign Legion Tercio) as follows: "Patrullas" (patrols) of five red berets, with a leader or n.c.o., "Grupos" (squads) with an n.c.o.,a C.O., and three "Patrullas" totalling 20 men. "Piquetes" (sections) with a leader, 3 messengers, 6 sanitary aid berets, and three "Grupos" with a total of 70 men. "Requetes" (as a company) with a leader and three "Piquetes" totalling 246 men; and Tercio (Btn.) with three "Requetes" -600 to 800 men- leaded by a Comandante.
Varela was named "Jefe Nacional" at the end of 1932, and was assisted by General Muslera who was in prison. The real leadership was in the hands of Ltnant. Col. Ricardo Rada, who became afterwards a Falange de Primera Linea (shock troops of Falange de las JONS) instructor.
During 1934 the Requete developed considerably, and due to links withMussolini's regime, the Carlists began to receive huge amount of weapons (including rifles machine guns, hand grenades and ammunition) and economic support, plus military training for future Carlist officers given at the Air Base "La Dispoli" nearby Furbara.
From April 1934 the Carlist shock troops had begun military training in the open, as the spectacular forces deployment and parade at Seville's "Fuente Quintillo" cortijo.
Fal Condes' leadership was made public in May, and from that moment on, all the military structure changed to build up a proper army aimed either to negotiate with the insurgent regular Army, or to uprise by themselves. The special party hierarchy organization merged with the paramilitary organization, and these forces either intervene or were offered to local authorities against the leftist uprisings of 1934 (Asturias, Cataloniia, Madrid...).
In June 1935 a 30,000 people demonstration was held at Poblet (Tarragonas famous monastery) with a huge Requete military parade in front of Fal Conde as leader. In November 3rd another demonstration with 40,000 people took place at Montserrat monastery, with several armed and uniformed Requete units parading.
During 1935 the different Carlist organizations became also militarized ( "Pelayos" the childhood organization, "Margaritas" the female organization, "Socorro Bianco" the prisoners aid, and the 'Circulos Tradicionalistas' which became military depots and conscription headquarters). For instance, Seville Circulo Tradicionalista had a depot with weapons, 700 uniforms, leather belts, blankets, sanitary aid, etc.. The General Secretary said that in April 1935 there were 700 "Juntas", 350 "Circulos", 250 Youth Sections, 300 "Margarita's "Groups and 80 local sections of Requete. Navarra region had 5694 Requete soldiers, which increased to 8000 at the beginning of 1936. Tactic's training, manoeuvres and shooting exercises were a daily activity.
The Carlist's were without a doubt the most militarized organization and military trained political movement before the war.
At the end of 1935 Varela who was already army General, had to delegate many of his duties, due to police investigation. Rada (who was back from his Falange training) and Zamanillo inherited most of the responsibilities and began to develop a "first line Requete" and a rearguard organization. Following the "Delegacion Nacional de Requetes", on February 28th 1936 there was a paramilitary organization of 25000 first and second line soldiers as follows [Piquetes (70 men), Requetes (240 men), and Tercios (740 men)].
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Alava: 1500 men
Asturias: 70 men in a piquete
Cadiz: 140 men in two piquetes
Cataluna: 4000 men
Cordoba: 240 men in a Requete
Guipuzcoa: 1000 men
Huelva: 20 men
Logrono: 740 men in a Tercio
Navarra: 6360 men in 9 Tercios
Santander: 500 men in two Requetes
Toledo: 500 men
Valladolid: 40 men
Zaragoza: 740 men in a Tercio
Almeria: 140 men in two Piquetes
Burgos: 140 men in two Piquetes
Castellon: 3700 men in 5 Tercios
Ciudad Real: 240 men in a Requete
Galicia: 240 men in a Requete
Granada: unknown number in a Piquete
Jaen: 70 men in a Piquete
Malaga: 30 men
Madrid: 740 men in a Tercio
Sevilla: 500 men in two Requetes
Valencia: 2100 men in 3 Tercios
Vizcaya: 1500 men in two tercios
Requete unit names changed in March 1936 to infantry unit names (escuadras, pelotones, companias and Batallones), as the involvement in the conspiracy for the military coup grew. At the end of March a "Junta Suprema Militar Carlista" was established in San Juan de Luz under Fal Conde and Javier de Borbon y Parma.
Among other military members of such Junta were General Muslera, Lt Colonel Baselga who developed an isurrectional plan in Navarra and the Basque provinces and other places. Such a plan which was to take place between 19-24 April, was cancelled as General Varela, and Orgaz were under arrest. Negotiations with Mola followed on under the leadership of General Sanjurjo. The agreement was reached in extremis and meant the success of the Alzamiento in Navarra, Zaragoza, and probably Andalucia.
During the war the tercios were organized and reorganized following the Army scheme for infantry Battalions i.e.: four rifle Companies and an support company (machine guns -and sometimes a mortar section.
This is a resume of a chapter dedicated to II Republic militarization under thetitle :"La tradicion recuperada: El Requete' carlista y la insurreccion ", by Eduardo G. Calleja and Julio Ar6stegui, published under "Historia Contemporcinea vol. II, 1994, University of the Basque country.
Note: There is a curious footnote by Julio Arostegui in which he condemns his own masterwork "Los combatientes carlistas en la guerra civil espanola" published by Aportes 1991, due to many geographial errors and place names, corrected by the author,and which were not included by the publishers as the book was already being printed.
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© Copyright 1998 by Rolfe Hedges
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