Incredible colourised photos have been unearthed showing international volunteers in the Spanish Civil War.
The images show members of the famous International Brigade, which counted literary stars such as George Orwell, Ernest Hemmingway and Laurie Lee as members, as well as the Red Cross and local Spanish Republican militia.
They are all the work of Doug Banks, who painstakingly brought the images up to date.
Incredible colourised photos have been unearthed showing international volunteers in the Spanish Civil War. Pictured, troops at resting for a meal in front of a Polikarpov I-16 ‘Rata’ aircraft at the Els Monjos Aerodrome in the Province of Barcelona in 1938
The images show members of the famous International Brigade, which counted literary stars such as George Orwell, Ernest Hemmingway and Laurie Lee as members, as well as the Red Cross and local Spanish Republican militia. Pictured, the militia of the Spanish republic at Granen on the Aragon Front in September 1936
They show soldiers enjoying a spot of lunch in front of their aircraft and members of the Red Cross on a rescue mission after the detonation of a bomb.
‘The images are mainly of American volunteers enlisted into the Abraham Lincoln Brigade as part of the International Brigades,’ said Mr Banks.
‘They gathered at Albacete in Spain in January 1937 and comprised of many English-speaking volunteers which were arranged into a British Battalion and a North American Lincoln Brigade which fought across various regions.
‘Some of the other pictures show Spanish soldiers from both the Nationalist and Republican armies.’
The images are all the work of Doug Banks, who painstakingly brought the images up to date. Pictured, Robert Hale Merriman of Nevada, Chief of Staff of the Lincoln Battalion, XV International Brigade. Merriman returned to lead the battalion during the Battle of Teruel in Aragon
‘The images are mainly of American volunteers enlisted into the Abraham Lincoln Brigade as part of the International Brigades,’ said Mr Banks. Pictured, Irishmen Frank Ryan and John Quigley Robinson of the XV International Brigade in Spain, October 1937. Ryan led a contingent of almost 200 Irishmen to Spain to fight in the 15th International Brigade for the Republic against Franco while Robinson was the Battalion Commissar
Milton Wolff (pictured) was born in Brooklyn, New York. When civil war broke out in Spain, he responded to a call from Young Communist League for volunteers and sailed for Europe, aged 21, in March 1937. He first worked as a medic and then saw action in a machine gun unit of the Washington Battalion in The Battle Of Brunete in July 1937
From the second half of the 1930s, more than 2,000 British workers were recruited into the International Brigade through the trade union movement, with more than 500 estimated to have lost their lives.
While Nazi Germany actively fought in the Spanish Civil War, the British government’s policy of appeasing the regime meant that the UK did not send assistance to Spain and attempted to discourage British subjects from taking part.
Doug also described the process of colourising the images, giving his own thoughts on them and revealing his personal passion for the topic.
‘The history of the Spanish Civil War has always interested me, having lived in Spain for two years,’ he commented.
The Red Cross of Barcelona work to locate survivors after a Francoist bombing in 1938. The novelty of the image is the cap of the Medics. On a white background, you can differentiate to hundreds of metres away the red cross on the Medics head. The reason? In case there was a new attack, enemy pilots might observe that the members of the Red Cross were looking for wounded and not engage in warfare
Pictured left, an unknown Medic Sergeant of the MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion, Brigade Abraham Lincoln, in Spain 1937. Pictured right, D. Benito Martinez Albero in Bilbao in 1937
‘The images took anywhere between an hour and three hours each to complete depending on the detail in them.
‘My personal favourite is the one of Robert Hale Merriman, as it is haunting whilst being an amazingly clear and sharp image, the mystery surrounding his disappearance and death is also fascinating.’
Merriman, a commander in the Lincoln Battalion, disappeared during an ambush at Corbera. Conflicting reports stated that he was being held by fascist forces whilst others reported he had been killed.
Despite appeals from the U.S. State Department to press for his release, Merriman’s body was never found and by 1938 he was presumed dead.
Striking images like these are featured in British author Michael D. Carroll’s new book, Retrographic.
From the second half of the 1930s, more than 2,000 British workers were recruited into the International Brigade through the trade union movement, with more than 500 estimated to have lost their lives
While Nazi Germany actively fought in the Spanish Civil War, the British government’s policy of appeasing the regime meant that the UK did not send assistance to Spain and attempted to discourage British subjects from taking part
Pictured, a nationalist convoy of a captured Russian-made T-26 and a German Panzer I in Valencia in May 1938
Pictured, a Nationalist soldier on a captured Russian BT.5 tank in Fuentes de Ebro in 1938