The Andalusia Campaign refers to the set of military operations that took place in Andalusia between the nationalist and republican forces, during the first months of the Spanish Civil War.
The military coup had managed to triumph in several Andalusian provincial capitals —Seville, Córdoba, Granada or Cádiz—, but most of the territory remained loyal to the Republic. The arrival of powerful reinforcements from the Army of Africa and the inability of the republican forces allowed the rebels to gain control of most of western Andalusia, uniting the main centers that they controlled. However, the bulk of the rebel forces headed towards Extremadura and the central area of the peninsula, so the Andalusian front would end up becoming a secondary sector during the rest of the contest.
Background
On July 17, in the afternoon, the military garrison of Melilla unexpectedly revolted. After Melilla, the other places of the protectorate of Morocco followed, and then the day following the uprising of the garrison of the Canary Islands took place, under the command of General Francisco Franco
That day the uprising spread to the Iberian Peninsula. At two in the afternoon on July 18, a part of the Seville garrison revolted against the Government. General Queipo de Llano, main leader of the conspiracy in Andalusia, arrested the commanders of the II Organic Division and took control of it. Although he encountered strong popular resistance in various parts of the city, Queipo de Llano managed to dominate the urban center and the Tablada airfield. He then gave the order to the remaining Andalusian garrisons to revolt, without waiting until the 19th as planned in Emilio Mola. A few hours later, in the city of Córdoba, Colonel Ciriaco Cascajo revolted the artillery regiment and proclaimed a state of war, managing to dominate the city. Throughout In the afternoon the garrisons of Cádiz (general José López-Pinto), Jerez de la Frontera (commander Salvador de Arizón), Algeciras (lieutenant colonel Manuel Coco) and Málaga (general Francisco Patxot). The uprising in the capital of Malaga failed miserably and left this province under government control; On the contrary, the triumph of the uprising in the province of Cádiz gave the opportunity to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to some units of the Army of Africa that would be decisive.
The garrison of Granada revolted finally on the afternoon of July 20, and managed to take full control of the city only several days later, after subduing popular resistance. For their part, Huelva, Jaén and Almería remained faithful to the republican authorities, despite the failed attempt at rebellion in Almería.
Development of operations
Seville, base of operations
On the afternoon of July 22, the rebel forces managed to secure control of Seville. This allowed them to have a very important base of operations in the south of Spain, as well as an important logistics and communications center. From Seville, various expeditions began to be sent to the surrounding towns in order to ensure control of the capital of Seville. On the 19th they managed to conquer Dos Hermanas. Two days later a column of regulars was rejected in Carmona by anarchist militias, although this town would finally be taken the following day after being subjected to intense artillery fire. These movements were important, since the conquest of Dos Hermanas made it possible to secure communications from Seville with Cádiz, while Carmona assured them communications with Córdoba. On the 22nd also Arahal fell, after which between 146 and 1,600 people were executed. On August 7, a column from Seville to conquer Lora del Río, which fell the next day after a brief artillery and aerial bombardment. In revenge for the murders that some leftists had carried out after the outbreak of the war, the conquerors undertook a very harsh repression: between 600 and 1,000 people were shot, sometimes entire families were executed.
A column commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Castejón left Seville heading east, and in a series of raids his forces managed to conquer Alcalá de Guadaira, La Puebla de Cazalla, and Morón de la Frontera, Écija, Osuna, Estepa and La Roda. The taking of Alcalá de Guadaira was significant, due to its important bakery production. In another action, on July 26, Castejón's forces took the Huelva town of La Palma del Condado, after a brief bombardment.
From Huelva the republican authorities organized a column of miners and civil guards with the intention of quelling the uprising in Seville. The column left Huelva and picked up volunteers on its way to the capital of Seville, but on the morning of July 19 it suffered an ambush in La Pañoleta, near Camas, and was practically destroyed. Shortly after, the rebels organized a column under the command of Lieutenant Commander Ramón de Carranza, who in a quick raid would end up taking Huelva on July 29. The rebels led by Carranza entered the city after discovering that many of the republican authorities had fled by sea. With this action, the majority of towns that went to the Portuguese border fell into the hands of the rebel columns. Next, the rebels launched themselves into the mining basins of Tharsis mining basin and Riotinto mining basin, of great strategic importance. The rest of the province remained in Republican hands until the end of August. The resistance in the mining regions was very tough, despite the serious military inferiority in which the militias found themselves. On September 19, 1936, with the taking of Cumbres de Enmedio, Cumbres Mayores and Hinojales it was considered occupied the entire province.
In Cádiz the rebels dominated from the first days Cádiz and its naval base, Algeciras, Jerez de la Frontera and other important towns. There were important pockets of resistance in places like San Fernando or La Línea de la Concepción, where they even had to send the 2nd Tabor of Regulars of Ceuta. The arrival of reinforcements from the Army of Africa and the formation of local militias made it possible to ensure control of the rest of the province of Cádiz by the end of August. In fact, for the August 18, most of the cities or towns in Cadiz were under the control of the rebel forces. The repression in the province was especially harsh: in almost all towns there were executions. The Tercio Mora-Figueroa stood out for its actions, which conquered several towns in its advance to the Serranía de Ronda.
Since the end of July, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy had provided transport planes to the rebels to transport the troops of the Army of Africa to the Iberian Peninsula. Between July 29 and August 5, the airlift managed to transport some 1,500 African troops. From that day on, the number of soldiers transported by air daily to the peninsula was 500. Furthermore, on August 5 a convoy rebellious managed to cross the Strait of Gibraltar and transfer another 3,000 African soldiers to the peninsula along with all their equipment. With all these troops a powerful military column could be organized that He left Seville on August 2 and headed to Extremadura, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Juan Yagüe. On their way they managed to conquer some towns in the mountains, such as Cazalla or Constantina; the latter was captured on August 9, after which the rebel forces unleashed a brutal repression. Previously, after the uprising, the Popular Front militias had carried out 92 murders. which led to the murder of some 990 people.
These rapid advances by the rebellious columns managed, already at the end of July, to dominate a large territory that went from the Portuguese border to Huelva and Seville, and from there to Algeciras. This allowed the rebels to link together some of the original centers of the uprising, constituting an important «beachhead» in the southern territory of Spain.
Granada Front
By July 25, the rebels already controlled Granada and the surrounding towns, but they found themselves isolated in the middle of the republican zone, since most of the province remained faithful to the Republic. During the first days of the war the front line passed by Güéjar Sierra, Sierra Nevada, Órgiva, La Malahá, Santa Fe, Láchar , Íllora, Cogollos Vega, Huétor Santillán, Beas, Dúdar and Quéntar. In some points the Republicans were only eight kilometers from the urban center. In the capital of Granada the rebel forces did not have a large number of forces and within the city they were still There are many supporters or possible sympathizers of the Republic. On the outskirts of Granada, the town of Víznar became an important strategic point for the rebels since from there they could intercept all possible Republican incursions into Granada, especially from the mountainous positions that the Republic had to the north of the city. During the rest of the contest the Republicans kept these positions under their control, which did not suffer any significant alteration. Despite its proximity to the war front, Víznar also became famous for being a place where the rebels took many of their victims to be shot.
With the city surrounded by Republican territory, they tried to recover it. During the first days the government forces carried out several aerial bombardments over the city. On July 30, a column of militiamen tried to reconquer Granada by attacking the sector of Huétor Santillán, but these were rejected by the defenders; The militiamen withdrew, leaving behind a good number of dead and a large amount of abandoned weapons. That was the only significant Republican attempt to recover the city. At the beginning of August a flag of the Legion was sent by air and garrisoned in the city to reinforce its defense.
Córdoba Front
After the triumph of the uprising in the capital of Cordoba, an important part of the province remains faithful to the Republic. Numerous municipalities initially fell into the hands of the rebels, but after the On July 21, many of the rebellious towns would once again be under Republican control: that same day Nueva Carteya, Santa Eufemia and Pedro Abad fell. On the 22nd, peasants from Espejo and Castro del Río take control of the towns after massacring the most prominent right-wingers; Montoro and Villafranca de Córdoba also fell; On July 23, Posadas and Puente Genil returned to Republican control after a strong fight. Despite this, several towns in the province remained under the control of the rebels. In the capital of the province, the garrison was very small and barely had support from other rebel troops.
In the core of the mining basin in the north of the province, Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo, a union congress was scheduled to be held and a large number of mining union leaders were there. The congress was suspended, but Peñarroya became the center of operations for the north of the province and for the mining militias. Although it was planned, the Civil Guard in the area finally did not join the rebels. From Peñarroya an attempt was made to reconquer the provincial capital, although the attempts were unsuccessful. to prosper and the attempts focused more on reconquering nearby towns that had revolted, such as Villaviciosa. The local Defense Committee constituted the « Terrible Battalion", although it took a long time to be definitively organized and able to act on the front. The deputy Eduardo Blanco, who became one of the republican leaders in the north of the province, moved to Madrid to try to obtain weapons and ammunition.
On August 1, a column from Seville under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Castejón advanced on Puente Genil, a town that it managed to take without much difficulty despite the strong resistance offered by its inhabitants. Something similar happened in Baena, which after initially being dominated by an anarchist committee, on July 28 was taken with blood and fire by a column commanded by Sáenz de Buruaga.
Varela Offensive
After gathering enough African troops, at the beginning of August General José Enrique Varela launched an offensive with the intention of establishing communications between Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba and Granada. At the head of a tabor of Moroccans, composed of about 400 troops, Varela managed to cross Andalusia and headed to Granada.Antequera fell on August 12, followed by Loja and Archidona. Finally, the threat that loomed over the capital of Granada ended when in the middle of the month Varela's forces managed to unite the city with the rest of the rebellious area. That meant isolation geographic of the province of Malaga. However, Varela's forces did not head towards the capital of Malaga. Varela received the order to go to Córdoba to reinforce the local garrison.