Federico Borrell García Dies (1936)

Sat Sep 05, 1936

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Image: The famous photo “The Falling Soldier” (originally titled “Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death”) by Robert Capa, showing a fatally shot soldier, thought to be Federico Garcia, falling to the ground

On this day in 1936, Republican militiaman Federico García was shot dead during the Spanish Civil War. His death was claimed to be depicted in the photo “The Falling Soldier” (shown), but doubts have been raised about the photo’s authenticity.

Federico Borrell García was born in Benilloba, Spain, and founded a local branch of the anarchist “Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth” (FIJL). When the Civil War broke out, García joined the local Loyalist militia, the Columna Alcoiana, and fought to defend the Spanish Republic against the Spanish Nationalist forces of Francisco Franco.

On September 5th, 1936, Borrell was one of about fifty men who arrived at Cerro Muriano in Córdoba to reinforce the militia against Francoist forces commanded by General José Enrique Varela.

Borrell was fatally shot around five o’clock on or near the hill known as La Loma de las Malagueñas. He was identified as the man in the photo by his brother, corroborated by the fact that Spanish government records state he was the only member of the Columna Alcoiana to die in the fighting that day.

The claim that García is the man in the photo has been disputed, with at least one documentary, “La Sombra del Iceberg” (2007), claiming that the picture was staged and that García is not the individual in the picture.