José Moscardó

José Moscardó (1941)

José Moscardó Ituarte (born October 26, 1878 in Madrid , † April 12, 1956 ) was a Spanish general and military governor of the province of Toledo during the Spanish Civil War . He fought on the side of the Francoist troops against the Republican government.

Life

Moscardó began studying at the Toledo Infantry School in 1896 and was retired as a lieutenant the following year . In 1929 he was appointed director of the María Cristina Infantry School in Toledo. In May 1931 he was lieutenant colonel and the following year the Supreme transported. Between 1934 and 1935 he served as head of the National Sports Office in the Ministry of Education and directed the Central School of Physical Education of Toledo.

In the civil war

In July 1936, Colonel José Moscardó took the side of the rebels against the republican militias as military governor of Toledo and holed himself up for several months with around 100 officers and soldiers, 800 Civil Guard, Falange members and a handful of cadets Toledo Infantry Academy in the nearby Alcázar Fortress. In addition, about 550 women and children of the fighters were in the Alcázar and several dozen republican hostages, including the civil governor Toledos. Moscardo's success was in defending the Alcázar of Toledo during its siege . During the siege, his 16-year-old son Luis was taken hostage by the Republican side and murdered. When Toledo was taken by the national relief forces under General Varela , there was a cruel massacre of the Republican soldiers and the civilian population.

Moscardó was promoted to brigadier general in October 1936 and appointed commander of the national “Soria” division, which participated in the siege of Madrid from the north . At the beginning of January 1937 his troops took part in the battle on the Carretera de la Coruña and in March 1937 with the Italian troops in the battle of Guadalajara . He then took over the command of the 53rd Division at short notice before being appointed commander of the Aragonese Army Corps in September 1937, with which he broke through the Republican lines in December 1938 and pursued the Republican troops through Catalonia to the French border. Shortly before the end of the war, he was appointed division general in February 1939 .

Honors

• 1955: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

swell

• Hugh Thomas : The Spanish Civil War , 4th Rev. 2001.
• Antony Beevor : The Battle for Spain , 2006.