Terç de Requetès de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat
Requeté was founded in 1907 by Juan María Roma as a Carlist sporting and outdoor grouping for teenagers;[4] in 1913 it was re-organised by Joaquín Llorens as a paramilitary structure.
Prior to the Spanish Civil War the structure did not envision battalion-type units; its largest component was a requeté, roughly comparable to a company.
[11] As refugees kept arriving, in November the unit was set up as a battalion-type Carlist "Tercio" (in Catalan "Terç"), many of them created across the Nationalist-held regions.
[12] In line with common practice, commissioned army officers of Carlist leaning were delegated to form its command layer.
[18] In late spring of 1937 the unit grew to around 200 men, divided into 2 companies;[19] this structure endured until the Terç was decimated at Codo.
Most of its soldiers have not undergone regular army training, their military education reduced to few months (in some cases few weeks) of drills either in the barracks or on the rear of the frontline.
Due to data shortages no complete personal profiling is possible and all attempts to establish social base of the volunteers are founded on not necessarily correct statistical extrapolations.
[42] It is also noted that during political amalgamation into Falange Española Tradicionalista, "los carlistas del Tercio de Montserrat brillan por su ausencia" in the new state party.
[45] Even before the unit was fully formed its sub-components were deployed on the Aragon front in the sector of Belchite;[46] in early January 1937 the Terç took positions around the neighboring town of Codo.
[49] Between October 1937 and January 1938 the Terç was being reconstructed in the rear, in Torres de Berrellén near the Aragonese capital;[50] plans to merge it with another Tercio, considered at that time, were eventually abandoned.
[51] Then it was deployed on the frontline at southern slopes of Montes Universales in the Alto Tajo region (Guadalajara province).
[52] In June 1938 the battalion was transferred by improvised means from Alto Tajo to Sierra de Gredos (Ávila province),[57] in July to be directed towards Extremadura and to take part in closing of the Merida pocket.
[58] In late July the Terç was loaded onto train and via Salamanca, Aranda de Duero and Zaragoza urgently transferred to Catalonia, to the Ebro bend.
[59] On 29 July 1938 the Terç was deployed in the Vilalba dels Arcs sector (Tarragona province) and for 10 days successfully fought a defensive battle.
[60] Then for a week it was shuttled by trucks and on foot between different sectors with no real combat until it returned to Vilalba, this time with offensive assignment.
[63] While the recovering wounded were coming back to line and new recruits were arriving, the Terç remained in the Ebro bend on vigilance and patrolling duties.
[65] In mid-December 1938 in Fatarella the battalion was loaded onto trains and in early January 1939 it was deployed back in southern Extremadura, this time engaged in defensive operations against the last Republican offensive of the war.
The RENACE group centred around Sivatte accused its moving spirit, Nonell Brú, of appeasement versus the regime; the Sivattistas considered it outraging that memory of Terç was enveloped in the Francoist propaganda.
