| “Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death” is a photo by journalist Robert Capa (October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) of the moment of impact of a sniper’s bullet, killing Federico Borrell García (January 3, 1912 – September 5, 1936) a soldier with the local Loyalist militia, the Columna Alcoiana, during the Battle of Cerro Muriano in Córdoba during the Spanish Civil War. The victim was originally identified as Federico Borrell García (January 3, 1912 – September 5, 1936), but that identification has since been called into question. García’s brother viewed the photo and claimed it was him. Considered 1 of the greatest war photographs of the 20th century, questions of authenticity have plagued Capa’s photo since at least 1975, when Australian journalist Philip Knightley (January 23, 1929 – December 7, 2016) wrote in his 1975 book, The 1st Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker that it was staged. Since then, Spanish documentary filmmakers have claimed that they have located the mountains in the background, 30 miles (50 kilometers) away from Cerro Muriano, in Espejo. However, Cornell Capa (April 10, 1918 – May 23, 2008), Robert Capa’s brother, and Capa’s biographer, Richard Whelan (born 1946), and others have argued that Capa’s detractors have overlooked crucial evidence and accepted testimony from flawed witnesses. They maintain the image is not posed. The photograph was 1st published in the French news magazine Vu on September 23, 1936. While the authenticity of the moment cannot be verified, the impact through the publication of published in the July 12, 1937, issue of LIFE Magazine on the American public cannot be denied. The image brought to the American public the gritty reality of the emerging European War, claiming a half 1,000,000 dead in the Spanish Civil War to that time, and began to awaken Americans to the emerging crisis of fascism in Europe. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1977.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.06 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 3000 x 1979 |
| Photographer | Robert Capa |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | September 5, 1936 |
| Location | |
| City | Cerro Muriano |
| State or Province | Córdoba |
| Country | Spain |
| Archive | International Center of Photography |
| Record Number | Accession No. 2010.86.629 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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