The
Requetés (from the
French requêté, “hunting call”) were the
Carlist militia during the
Spanish Civil War. Wearing red
berets, they mostly came from
Navarre and were highly religious with many regarding the war as a
Crusade. They were often accompanied by priests as field chaplains, who were known for risking their lives to perform the last rites on the battlefield and who also urged the men on. A Spanish encyclopedia of 1965 defines the Requetés:
The earliest use of the term was applied to the Third Battalion of Navarre (
Tercer Batallón de Navarra) in 1835 during the
First Carlist War, and it was later applied generally to all Carlist combatants. The Carlist
Requetés had been receiving military training during the
Second Spanish Republic. During the early and middle periods of the Spanish Civil War the Requeté units were well known as highly motivated and (comparatively) well trained assault troops for the nationalists. Carlist units were instrumental in several nationalist victories, notably during the tough fighting in and around the two northern provinces of the
Basque Country,
Biscay and
Gipuzkoa, during the Northern Campaign in 1937. The negotiations with the conspiring generals were tough.