The column was created in Valencia shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

It was made up of soldiers from the former regiments of the region, as well as volunteers from the CNT, UGT, POUM, Syndicalist Party and Valencian Left.

[1] The leadership of these forces was in the hands of the anarchist Domingo Torres and the artillery lieutenant José Benedito Lleó, a member of the Valencian Left and a war delegate in the Popular Executive Committee of Valencia; while Torres acted as a kind of "political" delegate, Benedito performed the functions of military adviser.

[4] The column left Castellón on August 18, crossing the province of Teruel until they reached the Francoist lines around the city of Teruel,[5] taking positions in Villalba Baja and Corbalán.

[10] In the spring of 1937 it was militarized and transformed into the 81st Mixed Brigade,[3] a process that arrived after some internal opposition.