SCW Nationalist Update

Finally, I have got some of the Minairons Nationalists completed! As mentioned elsewhere, I made the mistake of doing the cavalry first - only EIGHT mounted figures (plus one dismounted horse holder not featured here) but they have taken me an age to finish!

The full mounted complement

The command element

Officer

Standard Bearer

Bugler (ok, I realise the titles are a bit redundant!)

I will not bother "describing " the rest of them, I am sure its pretty obvious what they are!

Alongside the cavalry, I also made a start on the Requete Militia 

The Requetés (from the French requêté, “hunting call) were the Carlist militia during the Spanish Civil War. Wearing red berets, they mostly came from Navarre and were highly religious with many regarding the war as a Crusade. They were often accompanied by priests as field chaplains, who were known for risking their lives to perform the Last Sacrament on the battlefield, and who also urged the men on. A Spanish encyclopedia of 1965 defines the Requetés as a “group of traditionalists whose object is to encourage amongst themselves the goals of the political party, valorous sentiments, physical prowess, initiative, spirit of resistance, and the acceptance of responsibility, and who during the civil wars of Spain, fought in corps (tercios) in defense of the religious and monarchical traditions. The earliest use of the term was applied to the Third Battalion of Navarre (Tercer Batallón de Navarra), in 1835, during the First Carlist War, and was later applied generally to all Carlist combatants. The Carlist Requetés had been receiving military training during the Second Spansih republic. During the early and medium periods of the Spanish Civil War the Requeté units were well known as highly motivated and (comparatively) well trained assault troops for the nationalists. Carlist units were instrumental in several nationalist victories, notably during the tough fighting in the and around the two northern provinces of the basque territories, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, during the Northern Campaign in 1937.

The negotiations with the conspiring generals were tough. By July 1936, however, Carlism unanimously supported the nationalist side on the Spanish Civil War. From the start there were serious troubles, between the Carlists, especially their then political head Manuel Fal Conde, and the military government. On 8 December 1936, Manuel Fal had to leave temporarily for Portugal, after a major clash with Franco.

On 19 April 1937 their political branch was "unified" with the Falange party. Both the Falange and the regent Javier de Borbón protested this move, and, after a meeting with Franciso Franco, Javier de Borbón was expelled from Spain. Due to the necessities of the war, actions against the Unification did not go much further, but meant the loss of all material wealth of the party (buildings, newspapers, etc.).

As you have noted from the box, there are a total of 18 Requetes, with the command figures incorporated into this number

Here are the first six of the figures, all sporting the distinctive red beret

Bearded officer

The box comes complete with a choice of three possible flags

They were, after all, religious zealots.....! The icon is nicely sculpted and cast though....

On the painting desk currently are the rest of the HaT plastic artillery, more Requetes militiamen, a second HaT supply wagon and one of the Minairons artillery crews - so hopefully a new post will be forthcoming in a few days. I need to get my finger out as I am aiming for a minimum of 10 per month and so far, this is only the second in July.. :(