Painting Asaltos (Republicans)

[H.M.Stanley]

Hi. I know that the Asaltos generally exchanged their uniforms for workers overalls. But what about their Officers?

Would it be wrong to paint their jackets blue? I have some of the lovely Empress figures incl the Command pack and i'm filling out with Force of Arms figures

Thanks

James

[Arlequín]

Not at all...



Note also that not all the men wear the commonly seen cap, but have a blue (or even khaki? in some cases) 'gorillo'. The Guardia Civil also had one in green that was often worn instead of their traditional hat. Don't presume that all these guys in the picture are Asaltos though, some might be Guardia and/or Army 'strays' incorporated into an Asalto unit. There were also mixed 'patrols' of Asaltos and Militia to begin with too.

I'm led to believe that this 'mono' (some are wearing a two piece affair too) was a khaki-buff colour and not the blue seen on worker's overalls btw. I would say that there is a likelihood that blue was worn to start with in lieu of the uniform though, I've seen no photos of this though.

[H.M.Stanley]

Perfect - thank you

[H.M.Stanley]

Just seen the extra info - muchos gracias

I have a regular army standard bearer who may now find his way into the Asaltos ... with a blue gorillo.

Any thoughts on a standard for these boys?

[Arlequín]

I've checked my bumper book of SCW war flags, but I haven't seen any standards for the Guardia de Asalto, but the Guardia Civil had them for sure... so maybe they did, maybe they didn't.

If they had them, my best guess would be the standard banner of the republic with crest (or that of the Cuerpo de Seguridad?) in the centre. The units title formed an arc above and below the crest, or sometimes a semi circle. Top bit would likely read "El Cuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto" or just "Guardias de Asalto"* (?) and the bottom bit, the battalion number followed by "Batallón de Choque" (or 'Grupo de Choque' ?).

Pre-war there were 16 Battalions or Grupos; Madrid (1a , 2º and 3º), Bilbao (4º), Sevilla (5º), Valencia (6º), Zaragoza (7º), La Coruña (8º), Malaga (9º), Oviedo (10º), Badajoz (11º), Valladolid (12º), Murcia (13º) and Barcelona (14º, 15º and 16º), each of 2-4 companies.

I'm guessing the smaller grupos were the second and third units in Madrid and Barcelona perhaps. Some 5k of the Asaltos joined the Nationalists, either as whole units, or groups of individuals, so not all of these would be Republican units.  

*After December 1936, Republican Asaltos and Guardia Civil were merged into the new 'Cuerpo de Seguridad Interior' (CSI ), so the title would change.

Hope that helps  

[H.M.Stanley]

Brill - thanks!!

I like the idea of khaki and blue caps. Webbing would be black or brown?

Sorry for all the questions 

[Arlequín]

No worries, I'm an SCW fan myself. 

Officially all the Asalto uniform and equipment leather was black... but the army's was brown, so possibly lost or replaced items could be either, depending on where the replacements came from (likewise shoes and boots!). Piping on caps and uniforms was white btw 

Your ideas really sound the part. Khaki Monos, maybe with the odd blue one (apparently light grey was another option), combined with Asalto caps/gorillos and some variation of webbing colours, should give you a group of irregular looking regulars. Looking forwards to seeing them! 

[H.M.Stanley]

ha ha - cheers for anticipating the next (what colour piping?) question although generally i'm not good enough a painter for really fine detail.

first batch of 38 figures for the British Brigade are finished (i'm waiting for a break in the weather to dullcoate them) together with their transport and AC's

I'm homing in on the Assaltos ...

[H.M.Stanley]

Now that my Attlee Co is finished i'm turning my attention to the Assaltos.

I've just watched Land and Freedom (again) and realised that the Assaltos are shown still in their blue uniform - although they were acting in their police role rather than being at the front. Do you think that this is just "artistic licence"?

I know i could paint them up in khaki, grey or blue and no-one would mind all that much but i'm just curious.

Incidentally, here's a link about the film which you may find interesting and puts a different perspective on it:

http://www.mltranslations.org/Spain/LandFreedom.htm

[H.M.Stanley]

and in the interests of balance ....

http://struggle.ws/spain/land_freedom_review.html

Note as well the last line or two

[Arlequín]

While Land and Freedom is a good film, it is a film. However it makes sense that the Asaltos at the front would wear overalls and the Asaltos in the rear would wear the ordinary uniform. Different units, different men. The Asaltos and the Guardia were combined into the Guardia Nacional Republicana in December 1936 and this may have been when the overalls were issued to Guardias going to the front line, possibly through shortages or practicality... I'm guessing here, as I've never looked into them much.

[H.M.Stanley]

First batch (9) of Assaltos painted. Just have to highlight/dullcoat then i'll post a couple of piccies

16 more on their way

[H.M.Stanley]

Still waiting for an opportunity to dullcoat .... need to darken the bases [damn you Beige rather than Dark Sand, you're all too similar to a colour-blind person!]

[H.M.Stanley]

[H.M.Stanley]

and now they're dullcoated