Cuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto

The Cuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto (English: Security and Assault Corps) was the heavy reserve force of the blue-uniformed urban police force of Spain under the Spanish Second Republic. The Assault Guards were special paramilitary units created by the Spanish Republic in 1931 to deal with urban and political violence. Most of the recruits in the Assault Guards were ex-military personnel, many of which were veterans. They would later on be reformed and utilized in the Spanish Civil War as army infantry divisions.

Security and Assault Corps
Cuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto
Common nameGuardia de Asalto
Agency overview
Formed30 January, 1932
Preceding agency
  • Compañías de Vanguardia
Dissolved1939
Superseding agencyPolicía Armada
Jurisdictional structure
National agencySpain
Operations jurisdictionSpain
Primary governing bodySpanish Republican Armed Forces
Secondary governing bodyMinistry of Governance
General nature
Operational structure
Overviewed byDirectorate-General of Security
Parent agencyCuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto

At the onset of the Spanish Civil War there were 18,000 Assault Guards. About 12,600 stayed loyal to the Republican government, while another 5,400 joined the rebel faction.[1] Many of its units fought against the Franco supporting armies and their allies. Their siding with the former Spanish Republic's government brought about the disbandment of the corps at the end of the Civil War. The members of the Guardia de Asalto who had survived the war and the ensuing Francoist purges were made part of the Policía Armada, the corps that replaced it.[2]

Origins

Following the overthrow of the Spanish Monarchy in April 1931, the new Republican regime created the Guardia de Asalto as a gendarmerie style national armed police that could be used to suppress disorders in urban areas. Armed and trained for this purpose, the Guardia de Asalto was intended to provide a more effective force for internal security duties than the ordinary police or the conscription-based army. Since its creation in 1844 the 25,000 strong Guardia Civil had been available to be ordered into the larger cities in the event of unrest there, but this efficient rural force —its officers drawn from the regular army and with an oppressive image— was not seen as being in sympathy with the new Republic or particularly suited for urban operations.

The Ministro de la Gobernación Miguel Maura accordingly reorganized elements of the existing police into a more heavily armed republican security force for service in the cities, leaving the countryside to the Guardia Civil. As an initial step Compañías de Vanguardia (Vanguard Companies) were created in the principal urban areas. These were subsequently redesignated as Sección de guardias de Asalto. As a part of the reformed Cuerpo de Seguridad they provided an instrument for controlling mass demonstrations; similar in function to modern riot squads. In 1932, the Cuerpo de Seguridad was renamed as the Cuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto.

The Spanish Civil War

Of all the reserve forces that had remained in the government zone, the Assault Guard was most highly regarded by most of the population. This made a large number of serving soldiers decide to join this body; to avoid the misgivings and suspicions that military affiliation had created among the workers' militias. This fact reached the point that the President of the Ministry of War, Largo Caballero, had to prohibit Army officers from joining the Assault Guard without authorization from the Ministry of War. The Assault Guards distinguished themselves as a reliable and shock infantry to which the Republic always entrusted its most delicate operations,[3] such as the battles of Madrid and Guadalajara, the securing of Belchite, and the suppression of the events in Barcelona during May.[4][5] Later in the war, the Assault Corps became the elite of the Spanish Republican Army. The writer George Orwell reflected it in one of his most outstanding works:[6]

"They were splendid troops, much the best I had seen in Spain [...]. I was used to the ragged, scarcely-armed militia on the Aragón front, and I had not known that the Republic possessed troops like these. It was not only that they were picked men physically, it was their weapons that most astonished me..."

The Carabineros (frontier guards) and the Assault Guards were the Spanish police and paramilitary corps where the 1936 coup found the least support. When the Civil War began, over 70% of the Assault Guards stayed loyal to the Spanish Republic. On the other hand, in the Guardia Civil the breakup of loyalists and rebels was distributed evenly at around 50%, although the highest authority of the corps, Inspector General Sebastián Pozas, remained loyal to the republican government.[7]

Ranks

Before the Civil War, eight-pointed and six-pointed silver stars were part of the officers' uniforms of the Guardias de Asalto. Following the breakout of the Civil War, and the ensuing reorganization of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces some changes were introduced and ranks were simplified.

The silver 8-pointed and six-pointed stars that had been worn between 1931 and 1936 were replaced by the five pointed red star.[8]

Officers
Rank group General / flag officers Senior officers Junior officers Officer cadet
Cuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto
(1931–1936)
 Coronel Teniente Coronel Comandante Capitán Teniente Alférez
Coronel Teniente coronel Comandante Capitán Teniente Alférez
Cuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto
(1936–1939)
 Coronel Teniente Coronel Comandante Capitán Teniente Alférez
Coronel Teniente coronel Comandante Capitán Teniente Alférez

Non-commissioned ranks
Rank group Senior NCOs Junior NCOs Enlisted
Cuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto
(1931–1936)
Subteniente Subayudante Brigada Sargento primero Sargento Cabo Guardia primero Guardia
Cuerpo de Seguridad y Asalto
(1936–1939)
Brigada Sargento Cabo Guardia

See also

References
  1. Guardia de Asalto at Spartacus Educational
  2. Farrás, Salvador. Fuerzas de orden público y transición política (y II). La Policía Armada. Diario 16. 25/10/1977.]
  3. Orwell 1938, p. 146.
  4. Thomas 1976, p. 784.
  5. Orwell 1938, p. 147.
  6. Orwell 1938, p. 229.
  7. Thomas 1976, p. 254.
  8. La guardia de asalto. Policía de la República Archived 2008-05-29 at the Wayback Machine, por Alejandro Vargas González, Cuadernos Republicanos, nº 53, Otoño 2003.

Works cited
  • Orwell, George (1938). Homenaje a Cataluña.
  • Thomas, Hugh (1976). Historia de la guerra civil española. ISBN 2-221-08559-0.
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