The Spanish Civil War has added to universal history various episodes that we could not designate in any other way than tragic. What happened during the first two weeks of August 1936 in Badajoz would be essential to understand the subsequent events of the war, in which the Rebellious side he practiced his own blitzkriegand for the settlement of subsequent positions of both sides.
First advances of the Army of Africa
On July 22, 1936, the forces of the National side commanded by general Queipo de Llano they had already gained territorial control of Andalusia. During those days, troops from Morocco had been arriving in Seville to carry out the order given on August 1 by General Francisco Franco so that the national columns penetrated into Extremadura through Zafra and Mérida (Badajoz) with the aim of, through those places, ending up penetrating towards Madrid, where the uprising had failed in the first instance and towards where other columns coming from Valladolid, Burgos, Navarra and Zaragoza, which would be stopped in Guadarrama and Somosierra.
The advance from the south along the left flank, Extremadura, would be considerably faster than if it were carried out through the center of the peninsula because, among other things, the affinity of the Portuguese regime of Oliveira Salazar could help. Another objective of this advance was to unite with the right-wing insurgents who had taken control of a large part of the province of Cáceres since July 19 and with the forces of the Civil Guard, Carabineros, Assault, the 27th Algiers Regiment and the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion that were in Plasencia.
Thus, the entrance to Cáceres was made through the general highway of Seville where, once in Extremadura, the Republican forces only posed a real resistance in Mérida and Badajoz, having dispersed throughout the rest of the territory groups of resistance formed by carabineros, assault guards, militiamen and troops of the Regular Army.
Finally, on the afternoon of August 2, a column departed from Seville made up of the II Tabor of the Tetuán Regular Group No. 1, the IV Bandera del Tercio, two machine guns, a 70 mm battery, a train of bridges, material for fortifications and transmissions and health and quartermaster services under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Asensio Cabanillas, easily entering Badajoz until reaching Santos de Maimona. On August 5, local militiamen along with 400 men from Badajoz city (a section of machine guns and mortars from the Assault Guard, a company of carabineros and two riflemen from the Castilla Regiment nº3) tried to stop the rebel advance but were severely punished by the 70 mm artillery pieces and by the intense fire of machine guns. Despite the resistance of the government troops, the air support provided by Breguet XIX’s V Squadron and the consequent assault by the troops from Africa ended up decimating the Republican forces, with more than a hundred dying and the position falling to the 7 pm in the hands of Lieutenant Colonel Asensio and his column.
On August 3, the commander of the legion, Antonio Castejon, had also left Seville in the direction of Badajoz with another motorized column formed by the V Bandera del Tercio, the II Tabor de Regulares de Ceuta and a battery of 75 mm. This, was occupying the towns in its path until taking Zafra at dawn from August 6 to 7. To these already mentioned national forces, on August 8, the I Bandera del Tercio, the I Tabor de Tetuán Regulares would join together with several civil guards and a light battery under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Heliodoro Rolando de Tella Cantosadding to these civil guards, civil volunteers and Falangists who were in their path.
Commander Antonio Castejon
Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Asensio Cabanillas
However, after having taken Almendralejo and Torremejía, the real challenge for these three columns would not come until August 11, when they would have to assault Mérida, an important communications hub weakly defended by just two 75mm artillery pieces. but with a significant number of militiamen led by Carlos Rodriguez Medinacaptain of the city’s Assault Guard, and Pedro Martinez Cardboarda PCE deputy who became one of the militia leaders of Mérida, and later one of the chiefs of the People’s Army.
Initiating an encircling maneuver and after destroying the two artillery pieces, the columns of Asenio and Castejón (V Bandera and II Tabor de Tetuán) entered the city in just 5 hours, having small clashes with the popular militias for two more hours, which had been abandoned by Rodríguez Medina and Pedro Martínez Cartón, who fled the city. In addition, the republican air support was extremely ineffective, both the one sent from Madrid and the one that left from the Don Benito aerodrome, since they dropped bombs from a great height that caused few casualties among the national ranks.
Thus, the National Side was enjoying an undeniable success after having traveled since they left Seville and in just 10 days more than 190 kilometers on the republican lines, being able to contact the rebel forces of the province of Cáceres, under the command of Commander Jose de Linos Lagethus uniting two territorial bands of forces that had risen up against the government of the 2nd Republic.
On the morning of August 12, a primordial event would take place, since the Lieutenant Colonel Yagüe would go to Mérida to personally lead the Africa Expeditionary Armyknown to Republicans as the Column of Deathwith which, after reorganizing it, he would charge against the last important focus of Extremadura: the city Badajozpriority objective for Francisco Francowhich was already in Seville, on the Toledo city of Talavera de la Reina, also an important republican square.
Siege over the city of Badajoz
The rapid capture of Mérida by the National side and the beginning of bombardments on August 7 on the square, had greatly undermined the morale of the republican forces that were in the city of Badajoz to defend it, with Colonel Ildefonso Puigdengolas commanding. However, armed with courage and with the help of the Police Lieutenant Colonel, Antonio Pastor Palacios, prepared, thanks to the walling of the urban area, a defense with the aim of stopping the rebels just as, in 1812, the Napoleonic troops managed to stop Wellington’s army in the same city for 20 days. At that time, Puigdengolas He had 3,000 men available for the defense of the city, mostly militiamen, equipped with rifles and light weapons. This figure would decrease progressively due to the desertions and changes of sides that took place during those days.
These forces were so scarce due to the fact that days before two companies had been sent to Guadarrama to collaborate in the objective of stopping the advance from the north of the General Emilio Mola. Puigdengolas He also had the help of Commander Calderon Rinaldi, with an ensign and several volunteer non-commissioned officers from the Castilla Regiment, although he could barely count on a few civil guards and assault guards, as well as a single section of carabinieri. The rest of the men, scattered but well positioned, were located in the Menacho barracks, in the San Gabriel powder keg and in the bastions of Santa María and San Roque, located in the Badajoz wall and led by Commander Antonio Bertomeu Bisquert.
Despite the human scarcity, an effective defense had been meticulously prepared, placing machine gun posts in specific places of the walled enclosure such as the Trinidad Gate and breach, the Post Office building, the Military Hospital, the Espantaperros Tower or the Cathedral. In addition, the shelter positions for the riflemen were also well located and, together with the already mentioned machine guns, they perfectly covered many streets, the gates and the center of the urban area. In the same way, barricades had been placed both inside (in the streets parallel to the Puerta Trinidad) and outside the city, which would be protected by the soldiers of the Castilla Regiment, equipped with mortars.
The forces of the National Side (around 2,000 men) were composed of the V Flag of the Legion of the commander Antonio Castejonthe II Tabor of Regulars of Ceuta under the command of Commander Lover of the Rivers (which would lead the attack), the IV Flag of Asensio (Commander Vienna Trápaga) and the II Tabor of Tetuán, led by Commander Serrano Montaner and with the I Tabor of Tetuan Regulars, commanded by Of Polished Gold, which would function as a reserve corps. All these aforementioned bodies would remain under the absolute command of who, at that time, held the rank of lieutenant colonel, Juan Yague.
The encirclement of these forces on the city of Badajoz It would begin during the night of August 13 and would be supported first thing in the morning by its air forces, which would bombard key points in the urban area of the city, and during the afternoon by the 1st Mountain Battery, which would use its fire of 10.5 artillery from Cerro Gordo against the city. Around 20:00, the II Tabor of Regulars from Ceuta had been advancing from the southeast, taking the Menacho barracks. In turn, the V Bandera was placed to the south, at the entrance to the Seville highway, and the IV Bandera was unfurled to the west, in the vicinity of the San Roque neighborhood and Puerta Trinidad. Reaching almost to the banks of the Guadiana, the II Tabor of Tetuan Regulars surrounded the city at the north end of its wall. All these movements took place with hardly any resistance from militiamen who, faced with the arrival of africa armythey were withdrawing towards the interior of the city, reason why the operation planned by Yagüe It enjoyed great initial success, because on the same day the 13th they had already completely surrounded the city and was preparing to assault it the next day, since that night they could not count on air support.
During these operations, around several dozen soldiers and several officers of the Castilla Regiment, located in the Bomba barracks, southeast of the wall, deserted to join the ranks of the National side.
Yagüe takes Badajoz
The morning of August 14, at 5:30, Yagüe gave the order to take the city. Half an hour later, a German Junkers arrived from Seville bombarded various strategic positions on the wall and in the urban area of the city, causing great damage to the defenders, which was aggravated by the national artillery fire.
The Republicans tried to repel the push of the revolted infantry with rifle and machine gun fire, intense in some parts of the city and scarce in others. Two hours later, the mayor of the…