Siege of Madrid (1936-39)
Encyclopedia : S : SI : SIE : Siege of Madrid (1936-39)
| Spanish Civil War |
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| Alcázar – Mérida – Badajoz – Sierra Guadalupe – Cape Espartel – Madrid – Corunna Road – Málaga – Jarama – Guadalajara – Guernica – Brunete – Belchite – El Mazuco – Cape Cherchell – Teruel – Cape Palos – Ebro Chronology: 1936 1937 1938-9 |
July 1936 Uprising - Madrid held for the Republic
The Spanish Civil War began with a failed coup d'etat against the Popular Front government of the Spanish Republic by right wing Spanish Army officers led by Francisco Franco on July 18, 1936. In Madrid, the Republican government was unsure of what to do. It wanted to put down the coup, but was unsure if it could trust the armed forces and did not want to arm the CNT and UGT trade unions and potentially precipitate social revolution. On July 18, the government sent units of the Guardia Civil to Seville to put down the rebellion there. However, on reaching that city the Guardia defected to the insurgents. On the 19th of July Santiago Casares Quiroga resigned as Prime Minister, to be succeeded by Diego Martinez Barrio. He tried to to arrange a truce with the insurgent general Emilio Mola by telephone but Mola refused the offer and Martinez Barrio was ousted as Prime Minister by Jose Giral. Giral agreed to arm the trade unionists in defence of the Repubic and had 60,000 rifles delivered to the CNT and UGT headquarters (though only 5000 were in working order).
At the same time, General Fanjul, based in Montana barracks in Madrid was preparing to launch the military rebellion in the city. However, when he tried to march out of the barracks, his 2,500 troops were forced back inside the compound by hostile crowds and armed trade unionists. On the 20th, the barracks was stormed by a mixture of workers and Assault Guard (asalto) police loyal to the government (perhaps 10,000 fighters in total). The fighting was chaotic and on several occassions some soldiers within the barracks indicated their willingness to surrender, only for other troops to keep firing at the attackers who had advanced to take their surrender. Eventually the barracks fell when the asaltos brought up a 75mm field gun to bombard it and the gate of the complex was opened by a sapper sergeant sympathetic to the Republican side. The sergeant was killed by one of his officers, but his action allowed the Republicans to breach the walls. A number of soldiers were massacred by the crowd after the fall of Montana barracks.
Thereafter and for the remainder of the war, Madrid was held by the Republicans. However its population contained a significant number of right wing sympathisers. Over 20,000 right wingers sought refuge in foreign embassies in the city. In the weeks that followed the July uprising, some fascists, or fascist sympathisers (as the left termed them) were killed in Madrid by Republicans. For example, on August 23, 70 prisoners from the Model Prison in the city were massacred in revenge for the Nationalist killing of over 1,500 Republicans after the storming of Badajoz.
Nationalists \"Drive on Madrid\" August to October 1936
The initial strategy of the military plot had been to assume power all over the country in the manner of a Prononciamiento (military coup) of the nineteenth century. However, the resistance to the coup by Republicans meant that instead of this, Franco and his allies would have to conquer the country by military force if they wanted to sieze power. Franco himself had landed in Algeciras in southern Spain with Morrocan troops from the Spanish Army of Africa. Mola, who was in command of the colonial troops as well as the Spanish Foreign Legion and Carlist and Falangist milita, raised troops in the north. Together, they planned a "Drive on Madrid" to take the Spanish capital, Franco advancing from Badajoz, which he took in August and Mola from Burgos. Franco's colonial troops, or regulares, under General Yague, along with air cover supplied by Nazi Germany, routed the Republican militias in their path. Yague argued for a rapid advance on Madrid, but Franco overuled him in favour of relieving the Nationalist troops besieged in Toledo. This diversion held up their attack on Madrid by up to a month -giving the Republicans time to prepare its defence.
Meanwhile, in the city, the Republican government had reformed under the leadership of socialist leader Largo Caballero. Caballero's government included 6 Socialist party ministers, 2 Communists, 2 from the Republican Left party, 1 from the Catalan Left party, one Basque nationalist and one Republican Union minister. Although the communists were a minority in the government, they gained in influence through their access to arms from the USSR and foreign volunteers in the International Brigades. The Republican military commander in Madrid was nominally a spanish general, Jose Miaja, but Soviet military personel were perhaps more important. General Goriev was their overall commander. General Smushkevic controlled the air forces sent from Russia and General Pavlov commanded their armoured forces. In spite of Soviet aid, most of the Republican defenders of Madrid (c.90%) were militias, raised by left-wing political parties or trade unions, who elected their own leaders. The Republican command had relatively little control over these units in the early phase of the Civil War. Around this time, the Communist leader Dolores Ibarruri coined the famous slogan No pasaran! (they shall not pass) in support of the defenders of Madrid.
On the other side, both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy supplied Franco with air cover and armoured units for his assault on Madrid, while the German ariel units in Spain, the Condor Legion were commanded independently of Franco's officers. The Nationalists reached Madrid in early November 1936, approaching it from the north and west. On the 29th of October, a Republican counter attack by the 5th (communist) regiment under Enrique Lister was beaten off at Parla. On November 2, Brunete fell to the nationalists, leaving their troops at the western suburb of Madrid. Mola famously tried to unnerve the Republican defenders of the city by announcing that he would take Madrid with his four columns outside the city and his "Fifth column" - composed of right wing sympathisers within it. Such was the paranoia this caused on the Republican side that 1029 Nationalist prisoners held in the Model Prison were taken out and massacred in the Jarama valley on November 11 by the Republican 5th regiment as potential "Fifth Columnists". Believing the capital was about to fall, the Republican government under Caballero abandoned Madrid on the 6th of November for Valencia.
However, the Nationalist's attempt to capture Madrid had some serious tactical drawbacks. For one thing, thier troops were outnumbered over two to one by the defenders (although the Nationalists were far better trained and equipped). Another disadvantage was their inability to surround Madrid and to cut if off from outside help.
November 1936 -the Battle for Madrid
Members of the International Brigades fighting in the School of Medicine in the University City during the Battle of Madrid, December 1936.The Republicans had a geographical advantage in defending Madrid - the river Manzanares separated the Nationalists from the city centre, representing a formidable physical obstacle. Mola launched his assault on Madrid on November 8, 1936. He attacked through the Casa de Campo park (on a front only one km wide) to try to avoid street fighting, with the intention of taking the University City, just north of the city centre thus establishing a bridgehead across the Manzanares. He also launched a diversionary attack towards the suburb of Carabanchel to the southwest of the city centre. However, on the 7th of November, the Republicans had captured plans of the attack on the body of a Nationalist officer and therefore were able to concentrate their troops in the Casa de Campo to meet the main attack.
Mola attacked with 20,000 troops, mostly Moroccan regulares, supported by Italian light armour and German Panzer I tanks under German officer Wilhelm Von Thoma. The Republicans deployed 12,000 troops in Carabanchel and 30,000 more to meet the main assault at the Casa de Campo. Despite their superiority in numbers, the Republicans were very badly equipped, mostly having only small arms, with reputedly only ten rounds for each rifle. In addition, most of them had never been trained in the use of weapons, let alone experienced combat before. Nevertheless, they held off the Nationalist onslaught at Casa de Campo. Late on November 8, the first International Brigade, the XI, of 1900 men arrived at the front. Although numerically small, their arrival was a major morale boost for the defenders of Madrid. Two days afterwards, 4000 more Republican reinforcements arrived from the Aragon front -anarchist CNT militiamen under Buenaventura Durruti.
On the 9th of November, the Nationalists switched the focus of their offensive to the Carabanchel suburb, but their Moroccan troops got pinned down in house to house fighting (in which they had little previous experience) and took heavy casualties.
Republican troops counter attacked all along the front in Madrid, on the 9th, 10th and 17th of November, driving back the Nationalists in places but at a cost to some units of up to half their men.
On the 19th the Nationalists made their final frontal assault and under cover of a heavy artillery bombardment, Morrocan and Foreign Legion troops fought their way into the University City quarter of Madrid. While their advance was checked, they established a bridgehead over the river Manzanares. Bitter street fighting ensued. Durruti, the anarchist leader, was killed on the 19th, reportedly by the accidental discharge of one of his own men's weapons. Despite fierce counter attacks by the XI International Brigade and Spanish Republican units, the Nationalists kept their toehold in the University City and by the end of the battle were in possession of three quarters of the complex. However, their attempt to storm Madrid had failed, in the face of unexpectedly stiff Republican resistance. Franco stopped further infantry assaults, as he could not risk losing any more of his best regulare and legionaire troops.
Nationalist aircraft bomb Madrid in late November 1936
The Moncloa Campus in the University City was largely destroyed by artilery fire from the Francoist forces during the BattleHaving failed to take Madrid by assault, Franco ordered the ariel bombardment of the city's residential areas, with the exception of the upper class Salamanca district (which was assumed to contain many Nationalist supporters) with the intention of terrifying the civilian population into surrender. Franco is quoted as saying, "I will destroy Madrid rather than leave it to the Marxists". German bombers pounded the rest of the city from the 19th to the 23rd of November. Arguably, this tactic of Franco's was counter-productive, as the Republican population in Madrid were not cowed into surrender and the ariel bombardment of civilians (one of the first in the history of warfare) was heavily criticised by foreign journalists, among them Ernest Hemmingway.
The battle petered out in December, with both sides exhausted. A front line stabilised in the city, running from the Nationalist salient over the river Manzanares in the University City, through the Casa de Campo park and through the streets of the Carabanchel area. The population of Madrid was subjected to a sporadic artillery bombardment and food became short as the winter went on. The UGT union transferred some vital industries to metro tunnels under the city which were not in use. The casualties inflicted in the Battle of Madrid were never accurately counted, but British historian Hugh Thomas has estimated that they came to about 10,000 between the two sides and civilian population.
Franco's final action of 1936 was to attempt to cut off the road to Corunna, north east of Madrid as first step towards surrounding the Spanish captial. The battle of the Corunna Road was also a stalemate.
1937 - Battles around Madrid
After the Battle of Madrid, the Republican government tried to re-organise its armed forces from a collection of militias into a regular "Popular Army". This was achieved by integrating the militias into the structures of the elements of the pre-war army which had sided with the Republic. While in theory this reduced the power of political parties relative to the government, in practice it increased the influence of the Communist Party, who were the source of foreign volunteers, Russian arms and military advisors. The party, therefore, had a disproportionate influence in the appointment of military commanders.
The year 1937 saw two major battles in the immediate area around Madrid, the Battle of Jarama (January to February) and the Battle of Brunete in July. In addition, two other battles were fought further afield as part of the Nationalist's campaign to take the capital. In March, at Guadalajara to the north west and at the end of December at Teruel, north east of Madrid. In the first of these battles, Franco tried to cross the river Jarama to cut off the road between Madrid and Valencia, where the Republicans had moved their government. The battle's results were inconclusive. Franco's troops managed to get onto the east bank of the Jarama but failed to sever communications between Madrid and Valencia. Casualties on both sides were heavy, estimates of their losses ranging from 6,000 to 20,000 on each side.
In March, the battle of Guadalajara was fought about 60km to the north west of Madrid, when Republican troops routed an attempt by Italian troops to cross the Jarama, encircle Madrid's defences and launch an assault on the city.
In May, Republican forces under Polish communist officer Karol Swierczewski tried to break out of Madrid in an armoured assault, but were beaten back. A far more ambitious northern offensive was launched by the Republicans in July, with the intention of encircling the Nationalists. However, the ensuing Battle of Brunete again developed into a bloody stalemate. The initial Republican attack took Brunete and pushed back the Nationalist front some 12 kilometres, but determined Nationalist counter attacks re-took this territory by the end of the battle. In this case, Republican losses were significantly higher than those of the Nationalists.
In late 1937, the Nationalists took much of northern Spain -the country's industrial heartland - and with it many arms factories that had sustained the Republican war effort up to that point. At the very end of the year, the Republican commander of the IV Corps, Cipriano Mera intercepted Nationalist plans for a fresh assault on Madrid from the direction of Zaragoza. General Vicente Rojo launched a pre-emptive offensive of his own, with over 100,000 men on December 15th and took the town of Teruel. Rojo's offensive put paid to Franco's proposed assault on Madrid, but led to one of the bloodiest battles of the war, with over 100,000 casualties on both sides.
1938-March 1939, Republican infighting and the fall of Madrid
In 1938, the siege of Madrid tightened and its population suffered increasingly from a lack of food, warm clothes and arms and ammunition. However Franco by this point had given up on the idea of another frontal assault on the city and instead was happy to gradually constrict the siege, while keeping up a bombardment of the city.
By the spring of 1939, after the collapse of the Republican forces on other fronts, it was clear that the Republican cause in Madrid was destined to failure. This created a bitter division within Republican ranks. One one side was the prime minister Juan Negrin, some other government ministers, and the Communist Party, who wanted to fight to the end. They were opposed by the Republican general Segismundo Casado and others, who wanted to negotiate the surrender of Madrid to spare Republican supporters the worst of the Nationalist retribution. On the 5th of March, Casado's men arrested communist officers in Madrid and stripped them of thier powers. On the 7th, the Communist leaders, Russian advisors and the socialist Prime Minster Negrin flew out of Madrid. The following day saw fighting in the streets between communist and non-communist troops, ending with the defeat of the communists and the execution of their leader Luis Barcelo.
This left Casado free to try to negotiate surrender terms with Franco. However, the Nationalist leader insisted that unconditional surrender was all that he would accept. On March 26, Franco ordered a general advance into Madrid and on the 27th, the Republican front collapsed - many of their troops surrendering or simply throwing away their weapons and starting for home. On March 28 1939, Madrid finally fell to Franco's forces. In spite of Casado's efforts at negotiation, many of the Republican defenders of Madrid were among the 200,000 or so people executed by Franco's regime between 1939 and 1943.
The Valle de los Caidos or "valley of the fallen", a collossal memorial built by Franco near Madrid after the war to commemorate the Nationalist dead.Sources
- Chris Bishop, Ian C. Drury. Battles of the Twentieth Century, Hamlyn 1989.
- Anthony Beevor, The Spanish Civil War, Cassell 1999.
- Hugh Thomas. The Spanish Civil War, Penguin 2003.
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