Draftees

On 8 August 1936, following the failure of the coup of 18 July, the rebels’ National Defence Junta decree the forced mobilization of hundreds of thousands of men. On the Republican side, along with soldiers, Civil Guards and Carabineros, the first armed resistance came from militias organized by leftwing organizations like the Communist Party, the United Socialist Youth, and the anarchists of the CNT and FAI. This situation continued until October 1936 when the government created the Popular Army of the Republic. Political parties continued to play an important role, largely through the figure of the war commissars, but from that point on the Republican military began to function like a regular army. This brought forced recruitment, which continued until the end of the war. As a result, both armies were manned primarily by draftees.

The photograph shows a group of ten rebel soldiers who, under forcibly and subject to punishment under the Military Code of Justice, were sent to fight and die in a war they hadn’t caused. In force until 7 January 1937, this system was a crucial tool of social control for the rebels and a key to their victory. They called up the draft classes from 1928 to 1941: men who at the start of the conflict were between 30 and 16 years old.

The situation on the Republican side was similar, as men who did not report could be tried as deserters. The age range here was even greater, from the class of 1927 to the class of 1943, which mean that draftees could include boys who were 15 when the coup happened and 17 when they were called up. They were known as the baby bottle or baby formula draft.

This experience remained alive in the memory an entire generation as the militarization of adolescents was added to the absurdity of war. The duty of all these combatants was the same: kill or die. In addition, they were subject to iron discipline and a legal system in force under the Second Republic and similar in both armies.

FLC