Harriers Column


The Harriers Column of the FAI, or Los Aguiluchos, was the last of the great Catalan anarcho-syndicalist columns. Later, more militias left Catalonia for the front, but they would no longer do so in the form of a column but rather as reinforcement units of the existing columns. This column was supposed to form a large unit - of around 10,000 combatants - but it ended up reinforcing the Ascaso Column as an autonomous column - with about 1,500 militiamen with 200 militiawomen. Organized in the Bakunin barracks in Barcelona, it was sent to the Huesca front on August 28, with Juan García Oliver and Miguel García Vivancos leading the column.
In September, García Vivancos agreed to the militarization of the column. Later a group had to be sent home due to their opposition to militarization. The column became the 125th Mixed Brigade and participated in the battles of Belchite and Fuentes del Ebro, defended Catalonia and then fled to France.
The famous anarchist maquis Quico Sabaté participated in the Harriers column.

History

The Harriers column was another militia column organized by the Barcelona Libertarian Movement; the National Confederation of Labor, the Iberian Anarchist Federation and Libertarian Youth. It took shape in August 1936, one month after the military uprising in Barcelona. Other militia columns had already left, such as one of the PSUC, the Karl Marx column; another from POUM, the Lenin column; and three anarchist columns, the Durruti, the South Ebro and the Ascaso columns. But these columns stagnated throughout the month of August. This made it clear that they needed reinforcements, both in arms and in new militiamen. For this reason the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias, which was the body that was in charge of the war in Catalonia at that time, began to organize a new column.
In the first weeks of August the republican government of José Giral approved the military mobilization of the reservists. However, they could not enforce this measure because the republican state was totally disarticulated at the time. The republican state did not have the means to enforce its own laws, since the army had revolted and the forces of order that remained under its command were suspicious in the eyes of the people. The republican mobilization was instead channeled by the trade union organizations and the parties of the Popular Front.
Miguel García Vivancos was an anarchist militant who belonged to the Nosotros group, of the FAI. He had been involved in the fighting on July 19 and also took part in the plans for the Aragon Offensive during the 20th and 21st, when members of the CNT and the FAI elaborated a strategy to liberate Aragon through the action of militia columns. Later, once the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias had been created, it was under the influence of another member of the Nosotros group, Juan García Oliver.
Meanwhile columns were leaving for Zaragoza and Huesca, led by other members of the Nosotros group, García Vivancos was sent to Valencia at the head of a group of 60 CNT militants carrying a shipment of weapons for their Valencian comrades. At that time in Valencia, the military garrison had not opted to revolt or adhere to the Republic. The workers were unarmed. When arms arrived from Barcelona, the situation began to become clear as soon as the workers demonstrated that they were ready to fight a possible army uprising.
In mid-August, García Oliver, Gregorio Jover and himself began making plans to create a force of between 10,000 and 15,000 anarchists to launch an offensive against the nationalist line on the Aragon front. García Oliver wanted to take advantage of the call to arms made by the Government, to organize an anarchist army. However, the CNT unions did not agree to a massive mobilization for the front. García Vivancos and García Oliver were frustrated by the refusal of the unions. But they decided to go ahead with the column, thinking of creating a reinforcement to some column already present in the front. They believed that with the departure of so many troops to the front, the war industry and the then recent collectivizations of companies would be in danger. The CNT's own structure would also be in danger.
On August 19, the CNT newspaper in Catalonia, "Solidaridad Obrera", called for volunteers to start joining a new anarchist column that was being organized at the Bakunin barracks. This column would be called the FAI Harriers. "Harriers" in the anarchist terminology of the time symbolized young anarchists like the Libertarian Youth. Only young men between the ages of 16 and 18 were recruited to join this column. On August 28 the formation of the column was completed, it left the Bakunin barracks and went to parade to Via Laietana, where the CNT-FAI headquarters was located. The column started with about 1,500 militiamen, including more than 200 women. These were young women, predominantly between the ages of 16 and 20. Later the column would receive some reinforcements until reaching 2,000 troops. The column was armed with rifles and a few machine guns. Their armored vehicles were made at the Hispano-Suiza factory.
The column went by train to Grañén and then by cars and trucks to Vicién, closer to the front. The column was received by Domingo Ascaso and Cristobal Albadaltrecu, from the Ascaso Column and they coordinated to divide the front. They Harriers settled in the castle of Vicién, which served as their base.
The lack of progress, the nationalist bombardments and the lack of coordination between the columns caused republican morale to be low as of September. Juan García Oliver left the front in the command of Vivancos and Gregorio Jover.

Militarization

In September, García Vivancos started to ask for militarization, having some problems of indiscipline and confrontations with those opposed to it. The Harriers column formed the 125th Mixed Brigade, integrated into the 28th Division of the Spanish Republican Army. They participated in the Battle of Belchite and Fuentes del Ebro. There Vivancos replaced Ortiz in command of the 25th Division.

Filmography