"FAI / CNT in SCW" Topic

I know one can't be too dogmatic about these things, they are an anarchist militia after all but perhaps someone could steer me right with this.

The rather splendid Balagan site advises that the forage caps are "Black over red with colours divided diagonally from bottom left to top right (on both sides)." link

So whether you look at the figure from the left or the right hand side the cap will aways be Blk/Red with black being in the top left area and red being in the bottom right section.

But the FAI / CNT flag looks like this; link

It's divided top left to bottom right. So do the caps look like the flag whether you look at them from the left hand side or the right hand side? Or is Mr Balagan correct?

I realise of course that not every militia man has a cap like this and it's a hotch potch of uniforms and equipment, but I'm just getting into this period and once those figures go off to the Sri Lankan painting service it's a long way to send them back for corrections!!!

There are some nicely painted examples on Doktor Merkury's site. I am at an odd computer and not sure if I can find them, but beyond the cap mine are in a mix of drab and blue

For myself I`d trust Steve Thomas (Mr Balagan) his research is always solid – hes a nice guy too :-)

As you say militia would not all be dressed the same anyway, very mix`n match……..

Hi Alan

If you scroll down a bit there is a anarchist militiaman. Mr Balagan seems to be correct:-)

link

Cheers,

Peter

Hi,

Actually there was no standard pattern, so there could be seen examples of flags divided either diagonally left-ro-right and right-to-left, horizontally or even vertically. As a spaniard, I can testify you to have seen hundreds of contemporary pictures and posters showing all of the combinations above.

I've tried to represent this variety in a flagsheets collection recently started, which is based on a wide Spanish-published bibliography. You can find it at wargames.cat/Dwnload/Vex . Take a special look at flagsheets REP04 and REP06.

Anarchist trade unions are still alive in Spain (splitted into two separate organizations due to internal disagreements, CNT and CGT). Both of them are using the traditional diagonally divided black-red flag, but I must point out to have never seen any example of anarchist flag preserving the same pattern for both sides (at least, since mid-1970s, when I started to get conscious in politic affairs) -that is, anarchist flags' sides are always specular to each other.

However, it seems that forage caps followed a different arrangement than flags, and I guess it was due to manufacturing process. I believe that you shouldn't bother too much in the actual distribution you assign to a particular cap, provided you keep the same pattern for each side.

Cheers

Lluís
Catalonia, Spain

thats correct the anarchist red/black cap is fairly common from july 1936 .

the cap pretty much disappears with the 37 army reforms and the merging of the militias into the rep' army .

many other sources such as bueno and militaria collectors and scw militaria catlalogues support this .

I have seen photos in various books that contradict uniform sidecaps for the Anarchist.

In the booklet "1936: The Spanish Revolution" one militiaman wears what appears to be a standard army sidecap modified for CNT use. The cap retains its lace and tassel, but the fore and aft peaks are now black-or covered in a black patch-with CNT written in white on the front. The photo is black and white, but it is fairly clear that the cap is drab and not red, and the letters white on a black patch. Another man in the same book appears to wear a black side cap with possibly red lace and tassel. Odd thing is he wears his mono with shirt and tie, but is clearly a grizzled worker. He has a comrade in the photo, but his side cap is so light you can't tell what it looks like beyond the shape. Yet another photo shows a CNT man cutting out patterns for overalls and he has a sidecap without tassel, but with lighter colored lace around the sides and crown.

That being said, photos of the Durutti Column show a mix of bareheads, typical 1930s worker's caps, miner's caps, army sidecaps, the broad-brimmed tropical cap, bandannas worn pirate fashion, and berets. These are in the same booklet(it accompanies a couple of 45 records by Dutch anarchist musicians The Ex) and dated August 1936 on the Aragon Front.

mlitias would wear whatever they could get their hands on , in any unit u could see 25 men all wearing something different on their heads if anything at all …

This film on Youtube shows the varied dress and headgear of the Durruti Column in the early stages of the war:

YouTube link

Durruti is seen wearing a red/black forage cap ("gorillo") with a tassel on the front.

Another photo shows him wearing a khaki forage cap with coloured trim and tassel:
picture

Also photos show him wearing the leather peaked cap with fold down flap that became popular with the militia later on. The first with red/black triangle and "Columna Durruti" initials:
picture
Another with red/black chevron and no initials:
picture

Cheers,
Mike

Great input there guys, thanks.