Battle of the Sierra Guadalupe
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
Gijón - Oviedo - Alcázar of Toledo - Mérida - Badajoz - Guipúzcoa - Mallorca - Sierra Guadalupe - Talavera de la Reina - Madrid - Road to Coruña - Málaga - Jarama - Guadalajara - War in the north ( Durango , Guernica , Santander ) - Brunete - Belchite - Teruel - Cabo de Palos - Aragon - Ebro - Catalonia
The Battle of the Sierra Guadalupe, also known as the Tagus Offensive , was a step taken by the nationalists on their march to Madrid during the Spanish Civil War . At the end of August 1936, General Yagüe's troops marched through the mountains of Guadalupe in central Spain and advanced into the Tagus Valley. They conquered several cities and drove the Republican troops before them.
prehistory
On August 14, after the Battle of Badajoz (1936) , the city of Badajoz fell into the hands of the nationalists under General Yagüe. This cut off the Second Spanish Republic from Portugal . Franco's aim was to conquer Madrid as quickly as possible and the motorized troops are now continuing their march on Madrid .
In order to stop this advance from the south, the Republican General Manuel Riquelme and his so-called Extremadura Army , about 9,000 militiamen, were put on the march. These militias were hastily set in motion from the mountains of the "Guadarrama Front" towards the valley of the Tagus.
The battle
The government militias were poorly trained and poorly armed. It soon turned out that they were no match for the soldiers of the Spanish Legion and the Moroccan colonial troops . Many militiamen deserted and, in order not to “dishonor” themselves, many refused to dig trenches. The result was a constant danger of being overrun or encircled by nationalist troops, and the Republicans were in constant retreat.
Riquelme's forces also included anarchists who refused to obey his orders. On their own initiative, they began waging senseless attacks in the hills of San Vicente . On August 17th, Colonel Tella's troops pushed through Trujillo and crossed the Tagus at Almaraz . On August 21, Guadalupe fell into the hands of Major Antonio Castejón Espinosa .
At Medellín , Colonel Carlos Asensio Cabanillas's troops came under heavy fire from the Republican Air Force under André Malraux . On August 27, the three nationalist units met in Navalmoral and they began the first air raids on Madrid.
consequences
The battle of the Sierra Guadalupe was a major step for the nationalists on their march to Madrid . Then there was the battle of Talavera de la Reina and then the siege of Madrid .
Web links
literature
- Hugh Thomas : The Spanish Civil War. Harper & Row, New York NY et al. 1961.