People's Army of Catalonia


 * This organization is not to be confused with the Exèrcit Popular Català (Catalonian People's Army or EPOCA), a terrorist organization supporting Catalan independence from Spain, active from 1976 to 1980).

The People's Army of Catalonia (Catalan: Exèrcit Popular de Catalunya) was an army created by the Generalitat of Catalonia on December 6, 1936, during the Spanish Civil War. Its existence was more theoretical than real, because the original structure of the popular militias continued to exist despite the efforts of the Generalitat.

On October 24, 1936, the Generalitat of Catalonia dissolved the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias with the aim of reorganizing the military forces in Catalonia and militarizing paramilitary militia units. On December 6, 1936, the creation of the "People's Army of Catalonia" was decreed, decree signed by the Defense Minister of Catalonia, Felipe Díaz Sandino.

The People's Army of Catalonia was made up of 9 infantry regiments, 3 artillery regiments, 3 cavalry groups, 3 engineers' groups, a group of officers and a health group, grouping the forces of the Aragon front.

The forces were distributed in three divisions, each of which under the orders of Colonel Guillem de la Peña i Cusí, José Eduardo Villalba Rubio and the commander Eduardo Medrano Rivas. In January 1937 a fourth division was added, and instead of numbering they retained the names of the columns from which they originated: Ascaso, Marx, Durruti and Macià-Companys.

The army was abolished and its units were integrated into the People's Republican Army for the events of May 1937, and divisions were numbered from 26 to 30: Anarcho-syndicalists formed divisions 25, 26 and 28, Columna Carles Marx of the PSUC formed the 27th Division, the POUM 29, and the Macià-Companys Column of ERC and Estat Català, the 30th.