¡Alertas Milicianos!

Those of you who know of my comings and goings will be aware I have been involved in Spanish Civil War living history for over ten years. In fact I'm off to Spain in less than a week to take part in an event to mark the end of The Battle of The Ebro as well visiting La Ruta Orwell plus several other events: it will be a busy few days so mucha comida will be needed!

As well as studying the war; learning to speak Spanish; contacting and befriending numerous Spaniards and visiting Spain I have also collected quite a lot of kit. It used to be very cheap and plentiful but given the explosion of interest in Spain this is less so now. It is sometimes hard to believe that SCW living history in Spain has gone from nothing to this in about ten years.

Pictures of (some) of my kit:

POUM Pigskin Jacket

Qué chulada!

Spanish army blanket. 

Bought it in Madrid from El Rastro Market.

Italian army blanket. 

Excess stock from Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Capote front 

A capote is an army style poncho which goes over the head and shoulders.

Note the 'patch' at the front for putting your hands in.

Well darned too!

Capote back

Showing the belt which is used to tighten the garment up once it's on.

Capote collar detail.

Once on the soldier's leather webbing and cartridge boxes can be worn quite easily over the top.

A very warm garment.

Puttees

Very popular with POUM militia.

Mine are made from 3 pairs of British army short puttees sewn together.

It's now much easier to buy full length sets.

Important to practice putting them on to avoid droopiness.

Repro Army gorillo cap with red (infantry) piping but without a tassle at the front. 

Note how the bottom of the cap curves slightly to sit more squarely on the head.

You can just see a red star at the front; true vintage in that it is stamped not cast.

Una cantimplora - repro

Cantimplora detail.

Note spring clip for attaching to a convenient point.

Eating Irons

The plate and cup are post-war but the design was the same.

The cup is a devil to drink hot coffee from. 

I usually unclip the leather strap, form it into a handle and sip from the narrow side.

The spoon fork combination is war vintage and very useful.

Leather Spanish army webbing.

3 pouches, 2 at the front one at the back.

Waist belt and shoulder straps.

Often worn with just the waist belt and pouches.

Sometimes the shoulder straps were criss-crossed over the chest.

Pouch detail

Pouches were either sewn or rivetted together.

Belt plate detail

The Infantry badge.

Other arms of service had different designs stamped.

As the war progressed plain belt plates appeared due to ease of manufacture.