Order of Battle
It was originally mustered from international volunteers at Albacete, Spain, in mid-October 1936 as the IX Brigada Movíl, with four battalions:
- Franco-Belgian Battalion (14 Oct 1936)
- Austro-German Battalion (14 Oct 1936)
- Italo-Spanish Battalion (14 Oct 1936)
- Polish-Balkan Battalion (17 Oct 1936)
On 22 Oct 1936, it was redesignated the XI "Hans Beimler" International Brigade on 22 Oct 1936, with General "Kléber" (Manfred Stern) commanding. The original battalions were renamed as follows:
- The Franco-Belgian battalion became the Commune de Paris Battalion
- The Austro-German battalion became the Edgar André Battalion, (after Edgar André).
- The Italo-Spanish battalion became the Garibaldi Battalion, (after Giuseppe Garibaldi).
- The Polish-Balkan battalion became the Dabrowski Battalion (pronounced "Dombrowski"), (after Jarosław Dąbrowski).
Shortly after the formation of XII International Brigade in November, 1936, its Thälmann Battalion and the Garibaldi Battalion (which had no rifles) swapped places.
Other units that formed part of XI International Brigade at other times were:
- Austrias Heredia Battalion
- Hans Beimler Battalion
- Madrid Battalion
- Pacifico Battalion
- Pasionaria Battalion
- Zwölfter Februar Battalion
After the death of Hans Beimler the energetic Giuseppe Di Vittorio became the political commissar.
Read more about this topic: XI International Brigade
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“Compassion has no place in the natural order of the world which operates on the basis of necessity. Compassion opposes this order and is therefore best thought of as being in some way supernatural.”
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