Terç de Requetès de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat

Terç de Requetès de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat (Spanish: Tercio de Requetés de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat) was a battalion-type Carlist infantry unit, forming part of Nationalist troops during the Spanish Civil War. It is known as one of two Catalan units to support Franco's uprising. It is also recognized as the unit which recorded extraordinarily high 20% KIA ratio, with corresponding average Nationalist figure estimated at 6%. Its operational history consists mostly of long periods of inactivity or low-intensity skirmishes punctuated by two heavy combat engagements, culminating on August 25, 1937 and August 19, 1938.

Requeté was founded in 1907 by Juan María Roma as a Carlist sporting and outdoor grouping for teenagers; in 1910 it was re-organised by Joaquín Llorens as a paramilitary structure. Following a period of decay, in the early 1930s the organisation experienced enormous growth and in 1935 it was re-shaped along more sophisticated military lines by José Luis Zamanillo and José Enrique Varela. Prior to the Spanish Civil War the structure did not envision battalion-type units; its largest component was a requeté, roughly comparable to a company. In Catalonia the strength of the organization was estimated as 3,000 first-line volunteers and some 15,000 in auxiliary units. Following the failed coup of July 1936 they found themselves in total disarray, some killed, some captured, some in hiding and some fleeing the region.

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