Battle of Talavera (1936)
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 Talavera de la Reina found on the "march to Madrid" of the nationalists during the Spanish Civil War on 3 September 1936 instead and was the last attempt by the Republican government , the advancing troops Francos their way to Madrid in Talavera de la Reina to block.
prehistory
On August 31, the nationalists were able to take the city of Oropesa , about 20 kilometers west of Talavera de la Reina. In the first days of September 1936, after the city of Oropesa was taken, the battle of the Sierra Guadalupe broke out . Here the republican troops were defeated and now retreated to fortified positions in the hills above Talavera. General Riquelme tried, together with the communist militia leader Juan Modesto , to avoid that his republican troops had to face the nationalists again in the open country. He gathered about 10,000 men in Talavera de la Reina and a large number of artillery pieces and an armored train were at his disposal.
The battle
In the meantime the nationalists had advanced non-stop for several hundred kilometers. General Yagüe seized the opportunity and divided his troops into two columns. He ordered the two troop commanders Colonel Asensio and Major Castejón to attack flank positions of the Republicans in the heights of Talavera de la Reina at the same time. On September 2, 1936, the nationalists reached the town of Talavera de la Reina . The nationalist troops quickly managed to capture the airfield and train station. The attack by the nationalists on the city center began around noon. After a few minor street fights, they managed to capture Talavera de la Reina in the early afternoon. Once again, the Republican militias fled the enemy, knowing that if captured they would face the death penalty . When the Undersecretary of State in the Madrid War Ministry, Juan Hernández Saravia , called Talavera de la Reina that evening , a Moroccan legionnaire answered.
consequences
The attack left about 1,000 wounded and dead on the Nationalist side and about 500 on the Republican side. The Republicans also lost 42 artillery pieces. General Yagüe's contingent of troops was too weak after the battle of Talavera de la Reina to continue the offensive on Madrid . For the Republicans, this defeat meant that their positions in the heights of Talavera de la Reina were breached in defense of Madrid. After only 2 months, the nationalists reached the western suburbs of Madrid via the Tajo plain .
literature
- Hugh Thomas : The Spanish Civil War. Harper, New York NY 1961.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hugh Thomas: The Spanish Civil War. Ullstein, Berlin West et al. 1962, p. 198.