Spanish Civil War – CAROLINE ANGUS

This Week in Spanish Civil War History – Week 142: The Final Offensive 26 March – 1 April 1939

Published on March 27, 2019March 23, 2023 by Caroline AngusLeave a comment

March 26

General Yagüe and his troops advance north and east from the Sierra Morena mountains, on the Andalusia/Castilla La Mancha border. Any remaining Republican soldiers in the country are ordered to drop their weapons and retreat from any remaining front-lines. Nothing can be done to stop the Nationalists now. In a single day, the Nationalist troops take 200,000 square kilometres of land and take 30,000 Republican prisoners. Escobar Huerta surrenders the city of Ciudad Real to Yagüe inside an old casino, and is then shipped off to be executed.

March 27

General Solchaga’s Navarre Corps, General Garcia Valiño’s Army of Maestrazgo, and General Gambara’s Italian troops are ordered to take the city of Toledo, which has spent much of the war on the front-line, and just 70 kilometres from Madrid. The city suffers unconditional surrender and prisoners are quickly captured. Anyone Republican must be swiftly rounded up.

March 28

Republic Colonel Prada officially surrenders Madrid to the Nationalists, who have had the city surrounded for almost three years, and the Nationalists are able to enter the city without a fight. All remaining leaders of the Republicans who are in Madrid flee to Valencia in the hope of escape, including General Casado, who had been trying to negotiate a peaceful surrender with Franco.

Troops mingle with locals as they enter Madrid

March 29

The Nationalists now hold the main centre of Jaén, some 90 kilometres north of Granada, and have also marched 250 kilometres southeast of Madrid to Albacete and Cuenca, so most of Castilla La Mancha is now occupied. The port town of Sagunto, just 30 kilometres north of Valencia city, is occupied, leaving Republicans refugees almost nowhere else to go.

March 29

The ports of Valencia, Gandia, Alicante and Cartagena are still in Republican hands, and 50,000 Republican refugees are stranded along the coast, without any Republican navy to aid them from the coming onslaught. British and French ships in the regions cannot take refugees, as their governments have recognised Franco’s control over Spain. Hundreds of Spaniards rich enough to bribe foreign ship captains are able to escape, General Casado included.

March 30

The Nationalists take Valencia, marking the final demise of the Republican effort to save their country. Gambara’s Italian troops take Alicante and its port, taking 15,000 refugees prisoner at the port. Gambara is prepared to allow political refugees to leave the country, but the Nationalists shall not allow it. At the port in Alicante, refugees start committing suicide in huge numbers, to avoid the Nationalists, who are only one day away from arriving.

The British Stanbrook leaving Alicante with rich refugees, bound for Algeria.

March 31

After taking the regions of Almeria, Murcia and Cartagena in the far south-east, all of Spain is now under Nationalist occupation. All remaining refugees in Spain are huddled in Alicante port, hoping their chance to be evacuated will still come. The Nationalist troops arrive, and the refugees are slowly lined up to be taken prisoner. But there are 20,000 terrified people, and they have to suspend capturing people until the next day, giving more the chance to commit suicide at the port before being taken away. The suicide toll runs into the hundreds.

April 1

Generalissimo Francisco Franco broadcasts what will be his last radio message of the war:

Today, after having disarmed and captured the Red Army, the Nationalist troops have secured their final military objective. The war is ended. Burgos, April 1, 1939. Year of Victory.

As of April 1, only the Soviet Union does not already recognise Franco’s government. Franco already has a new Non-Aggression Pact with Portugal and a treaty of friendship with Germany, leaving Spain to be neutral in WWII, while they recover from civil war. Within a week, Franco backs the Anti-Comintern Pact between Germany and Japan to denounce Communism. German and Italian troops leave by June 1939, in preparation for the coming European war.

The Final Offensive saw 150,000 Republic soldiers and civilian rounded up in the concentration camps, bringing the total of Republic prisoners in April 1939 to upwards of 500,000. Within just several years, over 50,000 will have already been executed.

After three years of bloody battles, of murder, rape, pillaging, looting, of destruction of cities, towns, communities, ways of life, ideals, and families, evil emerges the winner. All sides of political spectrum have fought, the rich against the poor, the workers against those desperate to hold onto the monarchy, religion, and landowning feudal rulers, everyone and everything has been pitted against one another for a horror show of gore and misery. Approximately one million people are dead, murdered by people of their own country. From the sprawling rural plains to the ancient cities, everything has been reduced to nothing, every way of life hacked to pieces. Civilians have been herded and lined up to be executed, women raped until they died and left sprawled in the dirt. Bodies of nuns were dug up and displayed, family members ripped from their homes in the dead of night and shot in ditches, their families still to scared to speak up eighty years later.

Nationalist victory parade in San Sebastian

While April 1st marks the end of the Spanish Civil War, the war didn’t end for many. Franco’s first decree was to ensure all Republicans would suffer for their choices. More than 1000 concentration camps were erected in Spain, holding people well into the 1950’s. Many didn’t survive the camps. How many people died between 1939 and 1975 isn’t known, but one estimate is almost one million. Fascism and staunch Catholicism wormed its way into every part of Spanish life, its people silenced as Franco systemically destroyed everyone who hated him. Right up until Franco died, he signed death warrants, a miserable old bastard who got to die warm in his bed.

With WWII starting just a few months after Spain was brought down, Franco and what he did has been largely ignored, by history and anyone not directly affected. Franco couldn’t have won the war without Hitler and Mussolini, whose European exploits shot memories of their fascist cruelty into the hearts and minds of everyone, unforgettable despotic hatred. Franco allowed the Germans and Italians to aid him, and they used Spain as their own practice killing fields, testing new methods of warfare, such as carpet bombing, testing men and artillery, preparing for the fight to take Europe. Countries such as the UK and France sat idly by, hoping to avert a European war by doing nothing, when they could have potentially stopped Germany, Italy and Spain before the Nazis took over. But not the UK, France, nor any other country in the Non-Intervention Committee bothered to help, countries overrun by Germany soon after. The Germans and Italians assumed the UK would quickly intervene when the war started, and were surprised that nothing happened in retaliation. The US was as unhelpful in the Spanish Civil War as it was in the first two years of WWII. The only people desperate to stop all this were the Spanish Republicans, and the thousands of individuals who risked their lives to find their own way to Spain to help. Many never made it home, many who did were punished for their bravery.

I will do a separate post as to the fates of the main players of the war on both sides, as well as the struggles faced by the people in their home cities and towns in the aftermath. I will also post about the ongoing discovery of ‘disappeared’ Spaniards still being reburied, the fates of the refugees who walked into France, and what happened to the International Brigades. I will also do a post on the many sources I have used for these three years of postings.

This is not a detailed analysis, just a highlight (lowlight?) of the week’s events. Things get lost in translation – Feel free to suggest an addition/clarification/correction below. The more the world remembers, the better. All photos and captions are auto-linked to source for credit, and to provide further information.

This Week in Spanish Civil War History – Weeks 138 – 141: 1 – 25 March 1939

Published on March 11, 2019March 11, 2019 by Caroline AngusLeave a comment

March 3

Now that the Republicans have lost Catalonia, they have no chance of winning the war. The Republicans still holds Madrid after almost three years of being surrounded, and another thirty percent of the country. But Barcelona is the head of the war industry, all now in Nationalist hands. More than 220,000 men and women have died fighting the Nationalists, Republican president Azaña has quit, and the UK and France have recognised Franco’s government. Prime Minister Negrin still wants to battle on, supported by the PCE Communists, while the CNT, the SIM and the PSOE and UGT are also working together, but want to stage a coup against the Prime Minister and the Communists.

Spanish refugees in concentration camps on French beaches

March 4

Negrin sends Communist PCE Francisco Galán to Cartagena to take over command of the naval base. Cartagena has been under the control of General Casado, and remaining Republicans revolt in Cartagena, and Galán is arrested. The Fifth Column members in Cartagena decide to join Casado’s rebellion and take the coastal batteries of Los Dolores and the local radio station. They broadcast a call for help to fight the coming Nationalists and name retired General Rafael Barrionuevo as governor of the city. The Nationalists have already sent 16 ships with 20,000 men towards Cartagena, but the coup members have the coastal batteries, meaning landing is impossible.

March 5

The Nationalists bomb the harbour of Cartagena from the air so their ships can dock in the city. The surprise attack by five bombers sinks the Republican destroyer Sánchez Barcáiztegui, but those all on board manage to escape. Republican Commander Miguel Buiza orders the entire Republican fleet to leave Cartagena in an attempt to escape damage before they plan their next move. They still have three cruisers, Miguel de Cervantes, Libertad and Mendez Nuñez, as well as another eight destroyers all in good order, which head for Bizerte in Tunisia. None of the ships will ever return, interned by the French.

March 6

The Republican government flees Spain into France in permanent exile. General Casado, having staged his coup against the Prime Minister, is backed by General Miaja in Madrid, and sets out to arrest all communists in the city, believing they are going to rise up and try to take Republican Spain. Fights begin breaking out all over the city as Republicans start to turn on one another in desperation. Casado appoints himself the Commander of the Republican Army of the Centre and leader of the National Defence Council, who wish to negotiate with Franco. Colonel Barceló, who had been Commander of the Army of the Centre, resists these moves, but General Casado is supported by the heads of the Levante, Extremadura and Andalusia armies.

Franco orders his ships heading for Cartagena to hold off, as the Republican coup still have the batteries ready at the port. All ships pull back, except for the SS Castillo de Olite, which is fired upon three times at close range. The ship quickly breaks in two and sinks. While 700 Nationalist troops are rescued and taken prisoner, another 1,225 soldiers drown in what is Spain’s biggest naval tragedy.

March 11

Five days of fighting in Madrid has led to Colonel Barceló and his men marching into Madrid to take control of the city and out of General Casado’s hands. But Barceló and his men are defeated after bloody street battles. Barceló and his commissar Jose Conesa are arrested and put before a military tribunal in Madrid a day later. Up to 2,000 are dead in just five days.

The National Defence Council, Casado on the left

March 12

General Casado, leading the Consejo de Defensa Nacional (National Defence Council) with many supporting factions – Julian Besteiro, Wenceslao Carrillo, Gonzalez Marín and Eduardo Val (CNT), Antonio Perez (UGT), and Republicans representatives Miguel San Andrés and Jose del Río. They group attempt to negotiate with Franco, but Franco wants nothing but total surrender, with massive repercussions for Republicans supporters. Casado wants safety for surviving Republican soldiers and civilian sympathisers, which Franco will not agree to in any form.

Fighting has also been taking place in other Republican held areas. In Ciudad Real, Extremadura army troops rise against Communist deputy Martínez Cárton and take control of the city. Cartagena, scene of the initial uprising, is now firmly in the hands of rebel Republicans, and the Communist factions have lost all control over the port and city.

March 15

The executions of Colonel Barceló, his commissar and their supporters take place in Madrid. The Communists among the Republic have no power, and neither do any of the groups which have clung together throughout almost three years of war. Madrid cannot hold out against Nationalists troops any longer and Franco is ready to march upon the city.

March 20

Franco and his men are planning the final offensive of Spain. No negotiations from Casado or Madrid have worked, and Nationalist troops are slowly heading into every remaining Republican area to take total control. Republican troops will fight the Nationalists, lacking men, food, clothing and ammunition. The ports of Valencia and Alicante are the last place that people can run to, fleeing the coming Franco troops. All ports are blocked, all ships captured within three miles of the coast, but Valencia and Alicante are still in Republican held zones, meaning people have a slim chance of getting on board a foreign ship. Many would rather kill themselves on the dock at Alicante and Valencia than be captured by the Nationalists. For the leaders of Republican troops, such as Casado, they must flee the country before the arrival of Franco’s men, or they will be immediately executed.

2,638 people managed to get on board the Welsh Stanbrook in Alicante when the captain took as many of the 30,000 refugees as he could fit in what was a trip to collect oranges and saffron.

This is not a detailed analysis, just a highlight (lowlight?) of the month’s events. Things get lost in translation – Feel free to suggest an addition/clarification/correction below. The more the world remembers, the better. All photos and captions are auto-linked to source for credit, and to provide further information.

This Week in Spanish Civil War History – Weeks 133 – 137: 1 – 28 February 1939

Published on February 18, 2019 by Caroline AngusLeave a comment

February 1

Prime Minister Negrín, holding a meeting at Figueres Castle, suggests a surrender to Franco, on one condition – those left living would be respected and they could vote on how a new government would be formed. Franco does not accept this surrender.

February 2

The Nationalists who took Barcelona have made the 100 kilometres hike north and take Girona, which no longer has any Republican protection.

February 3

The Nationalist troops from Girona hike another 15 kilometres north, to catch up with any refugees still trying to escape to France. They are now only 50 kilometres from the border to France, and will close the border once they arrive. German planes are still bombing refugees from the air.

February 4

After a month of fighting, the Valsequillo Offensive comes to end, as Nationalist forces around Peraleda del Zaucejo on the Extremadura/Andalucia border recapture all the area the Republicans had initially captured. At one stage, the Republicans had 500 square miles of land taken, though none had any strategic benefit, and the Nationalists have quickly taken it all back. The Republicans have suffered 6000 deaths and casualties, only 2000 for the Nationalists in an utterly pointless battle.

February 7

The island of Menorca, still held by the Republicans, is captured by the Nationalists by ship, with no resistance. Mallorca has been Nationalist-held for most of the war, and now the smaller island of Menorca is simply brought into the fold. Only one person is killed, but the Republicans start planning a coup with Prime Minister Negrin.

February 8

All Republican troops are ordered to get to the border and are now also allowed to cross into France, along with the hundreds of thousands of refugees trying to reach the border. On foot, or on carts or trucks, Republican Spaniards are facing sleet and snow to try to reach France.

February 9

The Nationalist troops finally reach the border into France. Between 400,000 to 500,000 Republican refugees have survived to get into France. The Republican president Manuel Azaña, Prime Minister Juan Negrín, Republican Army chief of staff Vicente Rojo, and Catalonian president Lluís Companys and his Catalan government have all made it over the border. Most people have crossed in the region have crossed at Le Perthus, but Prime Minister Negrín crosses back into Spain.

February 10

The final Republican troops of General Modesto’s Army of the Ebro cross into France, just in time, as the border into France is totally sealed by Nationalist troops. Anyone still on the Spanish side has to side with the Nationalists, or would be killed or oppressed. With Catalonia totally in Nationalist hands, the Republicans have lost 200,000 troops and the entire Catalan war industry. But the Republicans still hold thirty percent of Spain, and their Prime Minister is back in the country and confident they can continue to resist.

Refugees heading for the brutal refugees camps in France

February 12

The 10.30am train arrives in Xàtiva Railway Station, sixty kilometres south from Valencia, carrying the 49th mixed brigade of the Republican army, to be transferred north. The station was also filled with family and friends of the troops when five Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers arrive from Mallorca and drop twenty 250kg bombs from 13,800 feet. The bombing makes a direct hit on the train, killing 129 people, 109 instantly. Most are troops, though 14 women and three children are also killed. A few surviving troops are still sent on to join other brigades, as the 49th was too decimated to continue with any plans. Another 200 people are injured in the brutal attack.

February 13

From Burgos, Franco publishes his Ley de Responsabilidades Políticas (Law of Political Responsibilities). The law states that anyone who opposed the Nationalist rebellion and coup in July 1936, and anyone a member of any Republican party from October 1934, is guilty of military rebellion (ironically). As the law is backdated to 1 October 1934, all Republican sympathisers and members can be prosecuted for aiding the Republican rebellion (again, how ironic).

The Ley de Responsabilidades Políticas punishes people with fines ranging from 1000 pesetas through to confiscations of all assets. Anyone prosecuted could also be punished with restriction of movement and activities, forced to live where appointed and possible loss of Spanish citizenship, depending on their level of Republican association. Anyone dead or disappeared (either as refugees in France or those killed and dumped in the war) will have their remaining family members prosecuted on their behalf.

Between 1939 and 1945, 500,000 people, dead or alive, will be prosecuted, some two percent of the population.

February 27

Both France and Great Britain decide to end their role in the Non-Intervention agreement and recognise Franco and his Nationalist government in Burgos. With the threat of European war, and half a million Spanish refugees in the south, France has their border with Spain blocked, with Franco’s ally Germany also causing strife. France needs to focus on itself and endorses fascism in Spain, as Germany and Italy have done throughout the war.

Britain has less reason to endorse Franco. Labour leader Clement Attlee, Leader of the Opposition, is furious with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s decision. He stated, the first voice to do so, that Britain was hypocritical after almost three years of “non-intervention,” yet their lack of intervention is instead the thing that has helped fascism spread through Europe.

This Week in Spanish Civil War History – Weeks 132 – 133: 21 – 31 January 1939: 80 Years Since the Fall of Barcelona

Published on January 27, 2019January 27, 2019 by Caroline AngusLeave a comment

Civilians line up for food in Barcelona in freezing weather

January 21

Today marks the first of four days of successive bombing in Barcelona by Nationalist aircraft, with ten flyovers bringing bombs into the streets. After almost three years of war, Barcelona is weary, despite being far from the front until now. The Nationalists are fast advancing through Catalonia, with little or no resistance.

January 22

The Nationalist counteroffensive in Valsequillo is five days old, and they have taken all 500 square kilometres the Republicans have taken over the month. The Nationalists take the strategic town of Peraleda del Zaucejo, on the Extremadura/Andalucia border. The only other town the Republicans hold falls only three days later. The Republicans have lost almost 6,000 men by this time, for no gain at all.

General Solchaga and General Yagüe’s Nationalist troops reached the Llobregat river, just a few kilometres west of Barcelona, Generals Muñoz Grandes and Garcia Valiño attacked Sabadell and Terrassa, and General Gambara advances to Badalona. Barcelona is now surrounded by the Nationalists and the three lines of defense set up around Barcelona, composed of all men aged 18 -45, with all the city’s industry militarised, cannot save the city. Prime Minister Negrín gets a call from the head of the Republican Army, General Rojo, to tell him that the frontline around Barcelona has been completely shattered.

January 23

The Republican government decides to abandon Barcelona as the capital and heads for Figueres Castle, and most of Barcelona’s political prisoners are released. Much of the population of the city is now fleeing north towards France, and the men on the frontline have either been killed or have retreated from advancing Nationalists. The aircraft overhead are still bombing Barcelona ten times per day.

January 25

One day after General Garcia Valiño’s men capture Manresa, the Nationalist vanguard takes the town of Tibidabo, the highest mountain around Barcelona, which overlooks the entire city. The Nationalists are now on the outskirts of Barcelona and all the defensive lines are gone.

Sadly, some in Barcelona felt like fascism was liberation. Talk about messed up

January 26

Nationalist troops march through the streets of Barcelona, where General Yagüe’s Regulares begin their execution spree. While Barcelona is ravaged, the Catalonia offensive is halted briefly, meaning many civilians who have fled north towards France have no advancing troops at their backs . But the German Condor Legion and and Italian Aviazione Legionaria continue their campaign from the air, bombing towns and roads on the 160 kilometre hike to the French border.

January 28

The town of Granollers, thirty kilometres north of central Barcelona is captured by the Nationalists. Just eight kilometres north of Granollers, the town of La Garriga has 10,000 people, 7,000 of them Madrid and Basque refugees, and now has the remaining Republican troops under General Lister hiding with them. With the Nationalists in Granollers, the men have to leave, while the refugees have nowhere to go but towards France, if they dare.

January 29

The Italians send ten bombers to La Garriaga, and bomb the town over two days, though Republican troops are gone, leaving 13 civilian casualties; one local, five refugees and seven children. Bombing La Garriga’s train station means getting north is much harder for Republicans.

January 31

The French government, who announced they opened the border on January 28, start receiving the first of 400,000 – 500,000 refugees into the country, those who are first to make the walk through the snow. Republican troops are not yet permitted to enter, yet the remaining men are flanking the refugees on their dangerous walk, while the German Condor Legion continues to bomb them from overhead. Once the Nationalists reach the frontier, they plan to close the border, meaning there is nothing but executions and oppression for all remaining Spaniards who opposed the rebel invasion. They have only ten more days to make the freezing, bomb-ridden march towards France, while starved and/or injured and all traumatised.

This Week in Spanish Civil War History – Weeks 129 – 131: 1 – 21 January 1939

Published on January 6, 2019January 6, 2019 by Caroline AngusLeave a comment

January 3

Nationalist occupations continue in Catalonia, with General Solchaga’s men taking Les Borges Blanques, General Valiño and General Grande’s troops take Artesa, and Yague and his Moroccan Legionnaires manage to cross the Ebro. General Moscardo starts an attack from a base in Lleida, while the Italian troops join General Solchaga’s troops in Les Borges Blanques to continue the offensive towards Barcelona.

January 5

As the Catalonia Offensive takes up all of the Nationalist attention, the far-west Extremadura Republicans plan the Battle of Valsequillo, also known as the Battle of Peñarroya, 75 kilometres north-west of Cordoba over the Andalucia border. The XXII Corps led by Colonel Juan Ibarrola (the 47th Division, 70th Division, and the 10th Divisions, joined by Major Nilamon Toral, and his 6th, 28th and 52nd divisions ), combine to attack the border and capture Hinojosa del Duque, creating an eight kilomotre break in the Nationalist frontline. Within a day, they make it through another frontline to capture Fuente Obejuna, and take Los Blazquez and Peraleda del Zaucejo by January 7.

January 7

The weather has changed in Extremadura, and while the Republicans have 90,000 men, the poor weather means their 40 tanks cannot advance any further in thick mud. The offensive needs to halt, but they have taken 500 square kilometres, though the land has no strategic value.

January 9

General Moscardo’s Aragon Army Corps combine with General Gambara’s infantry at Mollerussa, and break through a Republican frontline. The Republicans have their V and XV Republic Corps in the region, but they are beaten back in heavy fighting and are forced to retreat.

January 15

The Nationalist Aragon and Maestrazgo Corps combine and take the town of Cervera, forcing a rereat of any remaining Republicans in the area, who had been separated while fighting in Mollerusa. General Yague’s Moroccan Legionnaires march a full 50 kilometres in a single day, and occupy the hugely strategic town of Tarragona, only 100 kilometres from Barcelona. By this stage, 23,000 Republicans have been captured, another 5,000 soldiers are already dead.

January 17

The Nationalists in Extremadura and Cordoba begin their counteroffensive, bringing together 80,000 men to retake control of the area around Valsequillo. They bring seven divisions (10th, 40th, 74th, 81st, 60th, 112th and 122nd divisions) led by General Queipo de Llano and spread out, quickly recapturing the town of Peraleda del Zaucejo.

January 20

With the Nationalists moving through Catalonia at a huge speed, Franco has planned a huge bombing attack on the city of Barcelona, set to take place over January 21 -23, with 40 attacks, an in attempt to destroy all defenses the Republicans have put in place. The Nationalist men on the ground are fast making their way in Barcelona, and the people of the city need to decide if they will stay and fight or run for the French border some 150 kilometres away.