It is only by strongly arming the people that the government has been able to keep control of a large part of the country, but all of a sudden the real power is in the streets, in the hands of the various left-wing parties and the trade union centers which, even in the face of danger, have not buried their quarrels, far from it. Only a few units of the assault guard, a majority of airmen (but the Spanish air force is weak) and a certain number of tank crews remained loyal to the Republic. The fiercely conservative naval officer corps would have gone entirely to the insurgents had not the crews on several ships stopped them, often by violence.
Outside these elements of the regular army, the government can only rely on the popular militias. Each party, each union has its own:the Iberian Anarchist Federation and its trade union federation, the C.N.T., the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Trotskyists of the POUM, the P.S.U.C. Catalan, the trade unionists of the U.G.T. There are also, in places, unitary militias under the acronym U.H.P. (Union, fraternal of the proletarians). Full of courage but devoid of military training, they differ, according to their allegiance, on the policy to be pursued. These men - and this is already a miracle - succeeded in putting down the uprising in several regions but did not manage for long to stem the advance of the Francoist troops. The Republic must therefore at the same time rebuild a State and an army under increasing pressure from the adversary. It is in this situation that the role of foreign volunteers falls.
In mid-August, the first foreign centuria was created, made up of Italians. It was formed by two anti-fascist refugees in France, the brothers Carlo and Nello Rosselli and takes the name of the socializing movement that they founded in emigration:Justice and Liberty. Engaged in Aragon, it repels the Francoist attack on Monte Pelado. Wounded during the fighting, the Rosselli brothers went to convalesce in France. They were soon assassinated in Bagnoles-de-l'Orne.
The Germans formed another century. Commanded by the communist deputy Hans Beimler, escaped from Dachau after having strangled an S.S., this unit takes the name of Thiilmann (leader of the German CP then 1945). The arrival of the Germans marching in quick step, observing iron discipline, caused a sensation in the hubbub of the militias. Frenchmen, Belgians, Hungarians will soon swell the ranks of this century which will be hard hits.
In Irun, attacked on August 18 by the Francoists supported by Italian planes, a another foreign century participates in the defense of the city. It includes French, Italians, Germans, Belgians, Czechs, Yugoslavs. It is commanded by a French reserve captain, Jacques Manachem. At the nearby French border, arms wagons are blocked:the democracies have just decided not to intervene...