Editing International Brigades (section)

== Casualties ==
Existing primary sources provide conflicting information as to the number of brigadiers killed; a report of the IB Albacete staff from late March 1938 claimed 4,575 KIA,<ref>{{cite book | last=Tremlett | first=Giles | title=The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | date=2021-05-13 | isbn=978-1-5266-4454-1 | page=7}} The national contingents with the highest number of KIAs were reported as French (942), Italians (526), Poles (466), Germans (308) and Americans (276), though the list contained also a large number (864) of others, unidentified etc</ref> an internal Soviet communication to Moscow by an [[NKVD]] major [[Semyon Gendin]] from late July 1938 claimed 3,615 KIA,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://scwnyc.stuy.edu/documents/545_6_1501.html |title=report of Semyon Gendin РГВА, ф. 33987, оп. 3, д. 1149, л. 260—269 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220711093347/https://scwnyc.stuy.edu/documents/545_6_1501.html |archive-date=11 July 2022 |accessdate=July 11, 2022}}</ref> while the prime minister [[Juan Negrín]] in his farewell address in Barcelona of October 28, 1938, mentioned 5,000 fallen.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Daniel |last1=Pastor García |first2=Antonio R. |last2=Celada |chapter=The Victors Write History, the Vanquished Literature: Myth, Distortion and Truth in the XV Brigade  | editor-last=Belenguer | editor-first=Susana | editor-last2=Cosgrove | editor-first2=Ciaran | editor-last3=Whiston | editor-first3=James | title=Living the Death of Democracy in Spain | publisher=Routledge | date=2017-10-02 | isbn=978-1-317-52543-1 | page= 312}}</ref>

Also, in historiography there is no agreement as to fatal casualties. The highest estimate identified is 15,000 KIA.<ref>"some raise the figure to 15,000, which seems to be entirely unfounded", {{harvnb|Pastor García| Celada| 2017| p= 312}}. However, one author claims there were 17,620 "dead or missing", {{cite book | last=Hooton | first=E. R. | title=Spain in Arms | publisher=Casemate | publication-place=Philadelphia ; Oxford | date=2019-03-19 | isbn=978-1-61200-637-6 | oclc=on1104030290 | page=}}, referred after {{cite book |first=Alexander |last=Clifford|title=Fighting for Spain |year=2020 |isbn=9781526774385 |page=226|publisher=Pen & Sword Military }} The figure of 15,000 is sustained also by [https://archives.anu.edu.au/exhibitions/australia-spanish-civil-war-activism-reaction/serving-spain-international-brigades Australian National University]</ref> Many scholars prefer 10,000, also in recently published works.<ref>see e.g. {{cite book | last=Casanova | first=Julián | title=A Short History of the Spanish Civil War | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | date=2019-09-19 | isbn=978-1-350-12758-6 | page=96}}, quoting {{harvnb | Lefebvre | Skoutelsky | 2003}}</ref> One exact figure offered is 9,934; it was calculated in the mid-1970s<ref>{{cite book |first=Andreu |last=Castells |title=Les Brigades Internacionales de la Guerra España |year=1974 |page=383}}</ref> and is at times repeated until today.<ref>{{cite book | last=Mugnai | first=Bruno | title=Foreign Volunteers and International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 | publisher=Luca Cristini Editore (Soldiershop) | date=2019 | isbn=978-88-9327-421-0 | page=66}}, {{cite book | last=Engel | first=Carlos | title=Azul y rojo: imágenes de la Guerra Civil Española | publisher=Almena | publication-place=Madrid | date=1999 | isbn=978-84-930713-0-1 | language=es | page=78}}</ref> The popular Osprey series claims there were at least 7,800 killed.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Bradley | first1=K. | last2=Chappell | first2=M. | title=International Brigades in Spain 1936–39 | publisher=Bloomsbury USA | series=Elite | year=1994 | isbn=978-1-85532-367-4 | page=7}}</ref> However, other authors provide estimates that point rather to the range from 6,100<ref>{{cite book|quote="of the total of 41,000 volunteers" there were "approximately 15 percent of the volunteers killed" | last=Payne | first=Stanley G. | title=The Spanish Civil War | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge | date=2012-08-13 | isbn=978-0-521-17470-1 | pages=153, 157}}</ref> to 6,500;<ref>{{cite journal |first=Eugeniusz |last=Kozłowski |title=Brygady Międzynarodowe w obronie republiki hiszpańskiej |journal=Dąbrowszczacy w wojnie hiszpańskiej 1936–1939 |year=1989 |page=81}}</ref> one author claims 6,000.<ref>{{cite book|quote="parece que en número de unas seis mil bajas que se barajaron es el mas cercano a la verdad" | last=Martínez de Baños Carillo | first=Fernando | title=El general Walter | publisher=Editorial Delsal | publication-place=Madrid | date=2011 | isbn=9788492888061 | pages=280}}</ref> In some non-scholarly publications the number is given as 4,900<ref name=SPinternational/><ref>''[https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1154511/umfrage/gefallene-auslaendische-kaempfer-im-spanischen-buergerkrieg/ Gefallene ausländische Kämpfer im Spanischen Bürgerkrieg vom 17. Juli 1936 bis zum 01. April 1939]'', [in:] ''Statista'' service</ref> and in some older monographic accounts as 4,000.<ref>"at least 4,000 were known dead", Verle B. Johnson, ''Legions of Babel. The International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War'', Harrisburg 1968, p. 181</ref> The above figures include brigadiers killed in action, these who died of wounds later or those who were executed as [[Prisoner of war|POWs]]; they include also few hundred volunteers who perished before reaching Spain.<ref>an unclear number of volunteers - with estimates ranging from 65 to 500 - lost their lives aboard  ''Ciudad de Barcelona'', a ship which transported them from Marseilles to Valencia and which was sunk by an Italian submarine on May 30, 1937</ref> They do not include brigadiers who were executed by their own side, the figure that some claim might have been 500;<ref>Andre Marty claimed he personally shot 500 men for cowardice, indiscipline and desertion, but the figure is doubted, {{cite book | last=Beevor | first=Antony | title=Battle for Spain: the Spanish Civil War | publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson | date=2012-08-23 | isbn=978-1-78022-453-4 | page=161}}</ref> they also do not include victims of accidents (self-shooting, traffic, drownings etc.) or these who perished due to health problems (illness, frostbite, poisoning etc.).
[[File:International Brigades POWs in Cardeña camp.jpg|thumb|[[Prisoner of war|POW]] brigadiers in [[:es:Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña|Cardeña]] give the fascist salute, October 1938]]
The total number of casualties is given as 48,909<ref>{{harvnb|Engel| 1999|p=78}}</ref> or 55,162.<ref>{{harvnb|Clifford| 2020|p= 226}}</ref> It includes killed, missing and wounded, though probably contains numerous duplicated/multiplicated cases, as one individual might have suffered wounds a few times; it also includes Spaniards, who at later stages formed over 50% of the IB personnel. The missing contain the category of [[Prisoner of war|POW]]; their total figure is unknown, yet estimates as to the number of ''interbrigadistas'' held prisoner in the key prison camp for foreign combatants, located in [[:es:Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña|San Pedro de Cardeña]], exceed 700.<ref>opinion of the author of the monograph in question. She quotes also other estimates ranging between 480 and 900, {{cite thesis |first=Celia |last=Vilar Oviedo |title=Los brigadistas internacionales de San Pedro de Cardeña |degree=MA |publisher=University of Burgos|year=2021 |page=37 |language=es}}</ref>

The ratio of KIA to all IB combatants as calculated by historians might differ even more as it depends not only on estimates as to the number of killed, but also on estimates as to the total number of volunteers. Some sources suggest the figure of 8.3%,<ref name=SPinternational>{{cite web | last=Simkin | first=John | title=International Brigades | website=Spartacus Educational  | url=https://spartacus-educational.com/SPinternational.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711093346/https://spartacus-educational.com/SPinternational.htm | archive-date=2022-07-11 | url-status=live |accessdate=July 11, 2022}}</ref> some authors claim 15%,<ref>{{harvnb|Payne| 2012|p=157}}. Also the IB report from March 1938 claimed 15%, namely 4.575 KIA out of 31.369 volunteers</ref> others opt for 16.8%,<ref name="Castells 1974, p. 383">{{harvnb|Castells| 1974|p=383}}, also Paul Preston, ''International Brigades'' entry, [in:] Robert Cowley, Geoffrey Parkers (eds.), ''The Reader's Companion to Military History'', Boston/New York 1996, ISBN 0618127429, p. 228, endorsed also in Gabriele Ranzato, ''The Spanish Civil War'', New York 1999, ISBN 156656297X, p. 20</ref> estimate 20%<ref>"my final, conservative estimate is that one in five volunteers died", Tremlett 2021, p. 7</ref> or 21%,<ref>"parece que un total de 59.380 hombres se habían alistado para combatir en favor de la República, sólo 12.673 de ellos quedaban en España", Gabriel Cardona, ''Las Brigadas Internacionales y el Ejército Popular'', [in:] Santos Juliá et al., ''La Guerra Civil Española y las Brigadas Internacionales'', Cuenca 1998, ISBN 9788489958197, p. 81</ref> prefer 24.7%<ref>a "composite index", {{harvnb|Jackson| 1994|p= 106}}</ref> or endorse the ratio of 28.6%;<ref>{{harvnb|Casanova| 2019| p= 96}}</ref> a single author arrived at 33%<ref>{{cite journal|quote="An estimated third of all international volunteers were killed"|first=Andy |last=Durgan |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/durgan/1999/xx/intbrigades.htm |title=Freedom fighters or Comintern army? The International Brigades in Spain |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711100506/https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/durgan/1999/xx/intbrigades.htm |archive-date=11 July 2022 |accessdate=July 11, 2022 |journal=International Socialism |volume=2|issue=84|date=Autumn 1999}}</ref> and one claims "a half".<ref>{{cite journal|quote="Perhaps half of the foreign volunteers in the International Brigades died in Spain" | last=Jackson | first=M. W. | title=The Army of Strangers: The International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War* | journal=Australian Journal of Politics & History | volume=32 | issue=1 | date=1986 | issn=0004-9522 | doi=10.1111/j.1467-8497.1986.tb00344.x | pages=105–118}}</ref> In comparison, in shock units used by the Nationalists, though they were not entirely comparable, the ratio was 11.3% for the Carlist [[requetés]]<ref>{{harvnb|Payne| 2012|p=184}}</ref> and 14.6% for the Moroccan [[regulares]].<ref>{{cite journal|quote=11,500 out of 78,500  | last=Wright | first=Stephanie | title=Glorious Brothers, Unsuitable Lovers: Moroccan Veterans, Spanish Women, and the Mechanisms of Francoist Paternalism | journal=Journal of Contemporary History | volume=55 | issue=1 | date=2020 | issn=0022-0094 | doi=10.1177/0022009418778777 | pages=52–74}}</ref> The overall percentage of killed in action in armies of both sides is estimated at some 7%.<ref>{{cite book|quote="the rate of loss was about average for the two contending armies (which averaged approximately 7 percent fatalities) and was exceeded only by that of special units, such as the International Brigades, about 15 percent of whose effectives were killed"  | last=Payne | first=Stanley G. | title=The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism | date=2011-03-11 | isbn=978-0-300-17832-6 | page=153| publisher=Yale University Press }}</ref>

Estimates of KIA ratio for major national contingents differ enormously and often bear no reasonable relation to the overall KIA ratio, calculated for the Brigades. For volunteers from Latin America (mostly Cubans, Argentinians, and Mexicans) the figures range between 11% and 13%,<ref>11% in case of KIA, 12,9% if missing or POWs are counted in, {{cite book | last=Baumann | first=Gerold Gino F. | title=Los voluntarios latinoamericanos en la Guerra Civil Española | publisher=Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha | publication-place=Cuenca | date=2009 | isbn=978-84-8427-643-2 | language=es | page=34}}; however, for national contingents estimates are usually higher, e.g. in case of Venezuelans 11%, Peruvians 13% and Mexicans 16%</ref> for the French (including French-speaking Belgians and Swiss)<ref>IB report of April 1938 claimed their KIA ratio of 11%, {{cite book | last=Payne | first=Stanley G. | title=The Spanish Revolution | publisher=Norton | series=Revolutions in the modern world | year=1970 | isbn=978-0-393-09885-3 | page=328}}</ref> between 12%<ref>''L'epopée de L'espagne'', Paris 1957, p. 80, referred after {{cite book | last=Jackson | first=Michael W. | title=Fallen Sparrows: The International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War | publisher=American Philosophical Society | publication-place=Philadelphia | date=1994 | isbn=978-0-87169-212-2 | page=106}}</ref> and 18%;<ref name="Castells 1974, p. 383" /> for the Czechs/Slovaks 17%,<ref>{{cite thesis |first=Jiří |last=Nedvěd |title=Českoslovenští dobrovolníci, mezinárodní brigády a občanská válka ve Španělsku v letech 1936–1939 |degree=MA  |publisher=Charles University in Prague |location=Praha |year=2008 |language=cs}}, claims that out of 2170 volunteers from Czechoslovakia (p. 90) there were 370 KIA, POW and MIA (p. 144); IB report of April 1938 claimed 18%, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> for the Italians<ref>IB report of April 1938 claimed 18%, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> between 18%<ref name="Castells 1974, p. 383" /> and 20%;<ref>{{cite book |first=Palmiro |last=Togliatti |title=Le Parti Communiste Italien |year=1961 |page=102}}, referred after {{harvnb|Jackson| 1994|p= 106}}</ref> for the British<ref>IB report of April 1938 claimed 7%, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> between 16%<ref name="Castells 1974, p. 383" /> and 22%;<ref>{{cite web | website=International Brigade Memorial Trust | title=British volunteers in the Spanish Civil War | url=http://www.international-brigades.org.uk:80/content/civil-war/introduction | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826151421/http://www.international-brigades.org.uk:80/content/civil-war/introduction | archive-date=2013-08-26 | url-status=unfit}}; the figure of 20% in {{cite book |first=Neal |last=Wood |title=Communism and British Intellectuals |year=1959 |page=56}}, referred after {{harvnb|Jackson|1994 |p=106}}</ref> for the Americans<ref>IB report of April 1938 claimed 12%, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p= 328}}</ref> between 13%<ref name="Castells 1974, p. 383" /> and 32%;<ref>{{cite book |first=Edwin |last=Rolfe |title=The Lincoln Battalion |year=1939 |page=7}}, referred after {{harvnb|Jackson|1994 |p=106}}</ref> for the Yugoslavs between 35%<ref name="Castells 1974, p. 383" /> and 50%,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tito speaks |magazine=Life |date=28 April 1952}}, referred after {{harvnb|Jackson|1994 |p=106}}</ref> for the Canadians<ref name="IB report April 1938"/> between 43% and 57%,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/archive/pre2001/1998/1593.asp |title=Monument to Spanish Civil War's Mac-Paps veterans unveiled |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130105855/https://archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/archive/pre2001/1998/1593.asp |archive-date=30 November 2022 |date=1998-04-12 |accessdate=July 11, 2022 |website=archive.news.gov.bc.ca}}</ref> for the Germans (including Austrians and German-speaking Swiss)<ref name="IB report April 1938">IB report of April 1938 claimed 14%, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> between 22%<ref name="Castells 1974, p. 383" /> and 60%;<ref>"Of some 5,000 German international volunteers, apparently around 3,000 died in the conflict", Gaynor Johnson (ed.), ''The International Context of the Spanish Civil War'', Cambridge 2009, ISBN 9781443804851, p. 139</ref> for the Poles (including Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusians)<ref>IB report of April 1938 claimed 15%, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> between 30%<ref>{{cite book | last=Różycki | first=Bartłomiej | title=Polska Ludowa wobec Hiszpanii frankistowskiej i hiszpańskiej transformacji ustrojowej, 1945-1977 | publisher=Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu | publication-place=Warszawa | date=2015 | isbn=978-83-7629-765-1 | language=pl | page=146}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Pietrzak | first=Jacek | title=Polscy uczestnicy hiszpańskiej wojny domowej | journal=Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Historica | publisher=Uniwersytet Lodzki (University of Lodz) | issue=97 | date=2016-12-30 | issn=2450-6990 | doi=10.18778/0208-6050.97.04 | pages=65–86| hdl=11089/22617 | hdl-access=free }}</ref> and 62%.<ref>allegedly 3,500 out of 5,200, {{cite journal |first=Lech |last=Wyszczelski |title=Wysiłek organizacyjny i bojowy dąbrowszczaków w wojnie hiszpańskiej w latach 1936–1939 |journal=Dąbrowszczacy w wojnie hiszpańskiej 1936–1939 |year=1989 |page=98}}</ref> Among smaller contingents, the KIA ratio calculated appears to be 10% for the Cubans,<ref>"111 muertos para 1 101 combatientes", {{cite web|url=http://www.albavolunteer.org/2012/07/los-voluntarios-cubanos-en-la-guerra-de-espana/|title=Los voluntarios cubanos en la GCE|access-date=25 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504020933/http://www.albavolunteer.org/2012/07/los-voluntarios-cubanos-en-la-guerra-de-espana/|archive-date=4 May 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>  18% for the Austrians,<ref>{{cite journal |quote="De los 1.400 voluntarios austríacos, unos 250 murieron en diferentes frentes de la guerra" |first=Fran |last=Gálvez |title=Austria recuerda a sus brigadistas que lucharon en la Guerra Civil de España |journal=La Vanguardia |date=13 October 2016 |language=es}}; IB report of April 1938 claimed 16%, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> 21% for the Balts (Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians),<ref>190 out of 892 volunteers, referred after {{cite thesis |first=Ignacio |last=de la Torre |title=The role of the Baltics in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War |degree=MA |publisher=University of Latvia |location=Riga |year=2015 |page=35}}; IB report of April 1938 (which includes Finns among "the Balts") claimed 21%, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> 21-25% for the Swiss,<ref>out of some 800 Swiss volunteers there were 170 KIA, {{harvnb|Mariani |2008}}. According to another work out of 815 Swiss volunteers there were 185-200 dead (23-25%), {{cite journal | last=Ramón Carrión | first=Manuel Alberto | title=Los voluntarios suizos en las Brigadas Internacionales (1936-1938) |trans-title= Swiss Volunteers in International Brigades (1936-1938) | journal=HISPANIA NOVA. Primera Revista de Historia Contemporánea on-line en castellano. Segunda Época | publisher=Universidad Carlos III de Madrid | date=2020-01-14 | issn=1138-7319 | doi=10.20318/hn.2020.5105 | page=233| doi-access=free }}; IB report of April 1938 claimed 19%, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> 31% for the Finns,<ref>70 KIA out of 225 volunteers, {{cite book | last=Juusela | first=Jyrki | title=Suomalaiset Espanjan sisällissodassa 1936-1939 | date=2003 | publisher=Atena Kustannus Oy | isbn=978-951-796-324-4 | language=fi }}, referred after {{harvnb|de la Torre| 2015|p=35}}</ref> 13%-33% for the Greeks,<ref>including Cypriots; there are 53 KIA known by name, though the number is believed to be around 100 KIA, all out of 300 or 400 volunteers, {{cite web|url=http://eagainst.com/articles/the-greek-antifascist-volunteers-in-the-spanish-civil-war/|title=The Greek antifascist volunteers in the Spanish Civil War|author=efor|work=EAGAINST.com|access-date=25 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010180200/http://eagainst.com/articles/the-greek-antifascist-volunteers-in-the-spanish-civil-war/| archive-date=10 October 2017| url-status=dead}}</ref> 23-35% for the Swedes,<ref>estimates as to irrecoverable losses for some 500-men-strong Swedish contingent, {{cite journal | last1=Padilla | first1=Fernando Camacho | last2=Criado | first2=Ana de la Asunción | title=El papel de Suecia en la guerra civil española (1936-1939) | journal=Les Cahiers de Framespa. E-STORIA | publisher=UMR 5136 – FRAMESPA | issue=27 | date=2018-06-01 | issn=1760-4761 | doi=10.4000/framespa.4879
 | url=https://journals.openedition.org/framespa/4879 | doi-access=free }}; IB report of April 1938 claimed 14% KIA ratio among Danes, Norwegians and Swedes combined, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> 40% for the Danes,<ref>220 dead out of 550, {{harvnb | Lefebvre | Skoutelsky | 2003}}, referred after {{harvnb|de la Torre| 2015|p=35}}; IB report of April 1938 claimed 14% KIA ratio among Danes, Norwegians and Swedes combined, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p=328}}</ref> and 44% for the Norwegians.<ref>100 KIA out of 225 volunteers, {{cite book | last1=Moen | first1=Jo Stein | last2=Sæther | first2=Rolf | title=Tusen dager: Norge og den spanske borgerkrigen 1936–1939 | publisher=Gyldendal | publication-place=Oslo | date=2009 | isbn=978-82-05-39351-6 | language=no}}, referred after {{harvnb|de la Torre| 2015|p=35}}; IB report of April 1938 claimed 14% KIA ratio among Danes, Norwegians and Swedes combined, {{harvnb|Payne| 1970 |p= 328}}</ref> In case of some minuscule national contingents, e.g. the Australians, the ratio of KIA appears to be some 21-22%.<ref>there are 14 Australians killed in Spain listed by name in {{cite book |first1=Nettie |last1=Palmer |first2=Len |last2=Fox |title=Australians in Spain |year=1948 |pages=11–24}}. The overall number of Australians serving in IB is estimated as 66, though some authors claim 44, {{cite journal|first=Bronte |last=Gould |title=Australian Participation in the Spanish Civil War |journal=The Flinders Journal of History and Politics |volume=28 |year=2012 |page= 102}}</ref>