SCW Falangist Militia

 The Blueshirts (Spanish: Camisas Azules) were the Falangist paramilitary militia in Spain. The name refers to the blue uniform worn by members of the militia. The colour blue was chosen for the uniforms in 1934 by the FE de las JONS because it was, according to José Antonio Primo de Rivera, "clear, whole, and proletarian," and is the colour typically worn by workers, as the Falange sought to gain support among the Spanish working class. In Francoist Spain the Blueshirts were officially reorganized and officially renamed the Falange Militia of the FET y de las JONS in 1940.

Flag of the Spanish Falange

The Falange Española was originally a Spanish fascist political party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the former Spanish leader Miguel Primo de Rivera. The Falange was created with the financial assistance of Alfonsist monarchist funding. Upon being formed, the Falange was officially anti-clerical and anti-monarchist. As a landowner and aristocrat, Primo de Rivera assured the upper classes that Spanish fascism would not get out of their control like its equivalents in Germany and Italy. In 1934, the Falange merged with the pro-Nazi Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista of Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, to form the Falange Española de las JONS.

Initially, the Falange was short of funds and was a small student-based movement that preached of a utopian violent nationalist revolution. The Falange committed acts of violence prior to the war, including becoming involved in street brawls with their political opponents that helped to create a state of lawlessness that the right-wing press blamed on the republic to support a military uprising. Falangist terror squads sought to create an atmosphere of disorder in order to justify the imposition of an authoritarian regime. With the onset of middle-class disillusionment with the CEDA's legalism, support for the Falange expanded rapidly. By September 1936, the total Falangist volunteers numbered at 35,000, accounting for 55 percent of all civilian forces of the Nationalists.

Falange Española de las JONS was one of the original supporters of the military coup d'état against the republic, the other being the Carlists. After the death of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Manuel Hedilla sought to take control of the Falange, but this was usurped by Franco who sought to take control of the movement as part of his move to take control of the Nationalist faction. In 1937, Franco announced a decree of unification of the Nationalist political movements, particularly the Falange and the Carlists, into a single movement, nominally still the Falange, under his leadership, with the name Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS. Both the Falangists and Carlists were initially furious at the decision, the Falangists in particular saw their ideological role as being usurped by the Catholic Church and their revolution being indefinitely postponed - which it was!

To add this faction to my SCW collection, I used the second batch of Spanish Foreign Legion figures by Panzer Garage, and I think they work very well indeed - see what you think:

The officer isn't quite right probably, but as an irregular militia, I am sure they had some interesting combinations of uniform, so I am happy enough with him!

LMG crew

The whole "bandara" so far - this may be all I end up doing.

And finally, it had to happen I guess - yes, three years after New Zealand went into a one month, nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of the Covid 19 virus, I caught it at work - bugger!

I got sick on the Saturday and as a result, pulled out of the big Sunday AWI game at Barry's, which irritated me a bit, but as I tested positive for the first time on the Monday, I am glad I didn't go along and risk infecting any of the other guys.

As with many people. my experience of Covid was different from a lot of others. Initially, I was very low on energy and did a lot of sleeping on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday I was still pretty lethargic and did not a lot of anything. I did not really have any issues with headaches, sore throat or sneezing though - I just felt like I had drunk 4-6 beers...... all the time! 

On Mon, Tues and Weds night, I had trouble getting more than 2-3 hours of sleep, but I was able to function ok during the day and did about 6 hours working from home Tues-Fri. Thurs night I slept fine and since then, I really have not had any symptoms at all, although on Friday, I did another test and the two lines came up in about twenty seconds, almost as soon as the test liquid had spread along the whole kit.

On Friday evening, I missed a game at Julians, so I am not very happy with Covid, given the paucity of games I have had in the last couple of months! I am even thinking of doing a mini solo game in the garage to get my fix!

I have done ZERO hobby stuff for ten days - the Falangists were painted a couple of weeks ago - but I could not even build up the motivation to post them on the blog until today!

Hopefully April will be a better month and I can get back into the routine of posting every three days or so.