Big Spanish Civil War Project Part 5: Milicianas

When people think of the Spanish Civil War, milicianas must surely be one of the most common images that come to mind. On the outbreak of the Nationalist rebellion, thousands of women in Republican Spain took up arms as members of trade union and party militias. Despite the Republic's reputation for being progressive, milicianas faced opposition from their leadership. They were mostly confined to special units, and efforts were made to move them away from the fronts as soon as possible.

The A World Aflame Jarama scenario I'm working towards requires some militia. I chose to paint these as belonging to the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). George Orwell fought with this party, and documented his experiences in "Homage to Catalonia". 

The POUM was completely opposed to Stalinist Russia. As the USSR was the only major power supporting the Spanish Republic, the party was seen by some as a threat to the unity of the Republic. During the "May Days" of 1937, the POUM and the anarchists came into open conflict with The Republic. Many political intrigues followed, resulting in the repression of the party. 

The whole squad/platoon (depending on ruleset). By the time of the battle at Jarama, I highly doubt militia still wore civilian clothes! Still, I like the look and it could give me the freedom to use them for other parties, as they aren't tied to a specific uniform. 

Unfortunately Peter Pig don't make female command,  so I had to use the chap in the beret instead. 

 ¡A las barricadas! 

This base was a lot of fun to make. I just epoxied some gravel together. The sandbags were made using TheTerrainTutor's mass production method. 

I never want to paint dots in 15mm ever again! 

A command stand for the whole company.

At the start of this project, I bought a Really Useful Box and magnetised it. It's really fun to see it slowly filling up! I made a second layer for this box, but I'm still not sure if it will be enough to hold the entire project!