The Falling Soldier

It was said to depict the death of a Republican soldier from the Libertarian Youth (FIJL) during the Battle of Cerro Muriano of the Spanish Civil War.

[8] Staging photos was a common occurrence during the Spanish Civil War because of limits imposed upon photojournalists' freedom of movement: unable to go to active fronts, or cordoned off when they were, photographers resorted to pictures of soldiers feigning combat.

[11] In José Manuel Susperregui's 2009 book Sombras de la Fotografía (Shadows of Photography), he concludes that the photograph was not taken at Cerro Muriano but at another location about 50 kilometres (30 miles) away.

Because Espejo was miles away from the battle lines when Capa was there, Susperregui said this meant that the Falling Soldier photograph was staged, as were all the others in the same series, supposedly taken on the front.

[12] Susperregui also pointed out more contradictions in the accepted account of the photograph, noting that Capa mentioned in interviews that the militiaman had been killed by a burst of machine-gun fire rather than a sniper's bullet.

[16] Photographs by Capa, Gerda Taro, and David Seymour, came to light in early 2007, when three cardboard boxes of negatives, also known as the "Mexican Suitcase", arrived in the mail at the International Center of Photography in New York.

A detailed analysis of the landscape in the series of pictures taken with that of the Falling Soldier has proven that the action, whether genuine or staged, took place near Espejo.

Robert Capa at Work, states, The image, known as Death of a Loyalist militiaman or simply The Falling Soldier, has become almost universally recognized as one of the greatest war photographs ever made.

In recent years, it has been alleged that Capa staged the scene, a charge that has forced me to undertake a fantastic amount of research over the course of two decades.