The Battle of the Ebro (Spanish: Batalla del Ebro, Catalan: Batalla de l'Ebre) was the longest and largest battle of the Spanish Civil War and the greatest, in terms of manpower, logistics and material ever fought on Spanish soil. It took place between July and November 1938, with fighting mainly concentrated in two areas on the lower course of the Ebro River, the Terra Alta comarca of Catalonia, and the Auts area close to Fayón (Faió) in the lower Matarranya, Eastern Lower Aragon. These sparsely populated areas saw the largest array of armies in the war. The battle was a massive blow to the Second Spanish Republic, with tens of thousands left dead or wounded and little effect on the advance of the Nationalists.
Background
By 1938, the Second Spanish Republic was in dire straits. The Republican Northern zone had fallen, and in the winter of 1937/38 the Republican Popular Army had spent its forces in the Battle of Teruel, a series of bloody combats in subzero temperatures around the city of Teruel, which was retaken by the Francoist army in February.
Then, the Nationalists launched an offensive in Aragon in March without giving their enemies a chance to recover. Fighting in the middle of bitter winter temperatures, the exhausted Republican army could offer only feeble resistance. By 15 April, Franco's troops reached the Mediterranean Sea at Vinaròs, cutting Republican territory in two. As a result, the Nationalist army conquered Lleida and the hydroelectric dams that provided much of the Catalan industrial areas with electricity.
Nevertheless, on 17 March 1938, after the Anschluss, the French government decided to reopen the frontier. The Republican Army in Catalonia received 18,000 tons of war material between March and mid-June and twelve new divisions were formed from Nationalist prisoners-of-war and an extended call-up, which included conscripts that ranged in age from sixteen years old, the so-called Quinta del Biberón (the baby-bottle call-up), to middle-aged fathers. A new army, the Ebro's army, was then formed.
Meanwhile, the Francoist armies attacked the XYZ Line north of Valencia with the intention of capturing the Republican capital, instead of advancing towards Barcelona, fearing that France would enter the war in support of the ailing Republic. In response to the situation, Spanish premier Juan Negrín approved a plan by General Vicente Rojo Lluch to launch attacks against the main Francoist forces advancing towards Valencia. The purpose of the attacks was to relieve the pressure on Valencia and Catalonia, as well as to show European governments that the Republican government was still viable.
Opposing armies
Loyalist Army
In order to distract the Nationalist armies that were advancing towards Valencia, the Popular Republican Army decided upon an offensive in the lower Ebro basin. The army was large, but it lacked enough air and artillery support. The Ebro Army was formed on 15 May under Lieutenant Colonel Juan Modesto, merging the 15th and the 5th Army Corps. It would receive reinforcements from the 12th and 18th Army Corps as soon as the battle began.
15th Army Corps
The 15th Army Corps XV Cuerpo del Ejército was led by Manuel Tagüeña from Escaladei and was formed by the following divisions:
- 35th International Division led by Commander Pedro Mateo Merino, including the XI, XIII and XV International Brigades.
- 3rd Division, led by Commander Esteban Cabezos Morente, including the 31st, 33rd and 60th mixed brigades.
- 42nd Division, under Commander Manuel Alvarez, including the 226th, 227th and 59th brigades.
- In mid-July the 15th Army Corps was reinforced by the 16th Popular Republican Army Division of the 12th Army Corps, the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, anti-aircraft guns, armoured vehicles and army engineers.
5th Army Corps
The 5th Army Corps V Cuerpo del Ejército Popular, led by Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Líster, with base in Salou:
- 11th Division led by Commander Joaquim Rodríguez, including the 1st, 9th and 100th mixed brigades.
- 46th Division led by Commander Valentín González "El Campesino", including the 10th, 60th and 101st mixed brigades.
- 45th Division, international division led by Lieutenant Colonel Hans Kahle, including the 12th "Garibaldi", 14th "Marsellesa" and 139th mixed brigades.
12th Army Corps
The 12th Army Corps led by Lieutenant Colonel Etelvino Vega, was based at Bisbal de Falset:
- 16th Division led by Commander Manuel Mora Torres, including the 23rd and 24th mixed brigades.
- 44th Division led by Ramón Pastor, including the 140th, 144th and 145th mixed brigades.
18th Army Corps
The 18th Army Corps, led by Lieutenant Colonel José del Barrio acted as tactical reserve of the two first ones:
- 27th Division, led by Marcelino Usatorre including the 122nd (with its 1st Battalion, "la Bruixa", 123rd and 124th mixed brigades.
- 60th Division led by Commander Manuel Ferràndiz, including the 95th, 84th and 224th mixed brigades.
- 43rd División, led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Beltrán Casaña "l'Esquinazau", including the 72nd, 102nd and 130th mixed brigades.
Spanish Nationalist Army
The Morocco Army Corps was positioned on the right bank of the Ebro. Later, the Maestrazgo Army Corps was sent as reinforcements, led by General Rafael García Valiño.
Army of the North
General Fidel Davila
Morocco Army Corps
The Morocco Army Corps Cuerpo del Ejército de Marruecos led by General Juan Yagüe:
- 40th División
- 50th División, led by Colonel Campos.
- 105th División
Except for the 50th División, made up of relatively inexperienced soldiers, all other divisions were battle-hardened Legionarios, Regulares, African mercenaries from Ifni and Western Sahara, as well as Carlist and Falangist militias.
Maestrazgo Army Corps
The Maestrazgo Army Corps Cuerpo del Ejército del Maestrazgo was led by General Rafael García Valiño.
- 1st División de Navarra, led by Mohammed el Mizzian.
- 74th División la Leona, led by Coronel Arias.
- 84th División. led by Coronel Galera.
- 13th División, led by Fernando Barron.
Battle
Republican assault
The Republican Army spent a week preparing to cross the Ebro. According to the historian Antony Beevor, the commandos of the XIV Corps slipped across the river in order to obtain information about the Nationalist positions, and the Republican troops rehearsed the crossing in ravines and rivers on the coast. Some key players, including Ramón Rufat, explained in detail the intelligence gathering and preparation process. The Nationalist intelligence assets passed back reports to the Nationalist High Command, detailing troop movements and the concentration of the International Brigades, as well as the presence of rafts and pontoon bridges on the other side of the river, but Franco thought that the Republican Army would not be ready to undertake an offensive across the Ebro.
For the crossing, the Republicans chose the bend of the Ebro River between Fayon and Benifallet, an area held by the 50th Division of the Nationalist Army. The Republican army started the crossing on the night of 24–25 July during a no moon period. Republican commandos crossed the river, killed the Nationalist guards and fastened lines for the assault boats, then the first Republican troops crossed in ninety boats (each of which carried ten men). The remaining troops of the V and XV Corps crossed the next day, using three pontoon bridges and another 12. The surprise was total and Republican forces were initially successful. Nevertheless, a secondary assault near Amposta, carried out by the XIV International Brigade, failed after 18 hours of combat, and the XIV International Brigade retreated, after suffering huge losses.
During the first day, Republican troops surrounded the troops of the Colonel Campos's 50th Division, taking 4,000 prisoners, and many other Nationalist soldiers deserted. By the evening, Tagueña had advanced three miles in the north and Lister twenty one in the center. By 26 July, the Republican troops had occupied 800 square kilometres and reached the outskirts of Gandesa; nevertheless the Nationalists deployed Barron's 13th Division in the town and the Republican troops failed to occupy it.
Then, Franco decided to send heavy reinforcements to the Ebro's front (eight divisions, more than 140 bombers and 100 fighters) and passed the order for the dams at Tremp and Camarasa to be opened. The flood water destroyed the pontoon bridges, although the Republican engineers managed to repair them within two days. Furthermore, the Condor Legion and the Aviazione Legionaria started to bomb and destroy the pontoon bridges each day, although the Republican engineers managed to repair them each night. Because of this, only 22 tanks and a handful of artillery managed to cross the Ebro River, and Republican troops began running low on supplies, ammunition and drinking water.
Siege of Gandesa
The key target for the Republicans was the town of Gandesa, some 25 km west of the Ebro, a crossroads to Catalonia and the north–south roads running parallel to the Ebro. The terrain around the town was extremely hilly, being dominated by the Cavalls, Pandols and Fatarella mountain ranges whose hard and bold limestone rocks and scant forest cover provided little shelter against Francoist fire.
On 27 July, Modesto ordered an attack on Gandesa with T-26 tanks and on 30 July decided to concentrate his tanks and artillery around Gandesa and launched an infantry assault against the city. On 1 August, the XV International Brigade launched a fierce attack against Hill 481 in front of Gandesa, suffering huge casualties; nevertheless, the Republican assault had failed due to the Nationalist air and artillery superiority and Modesto ordered the Army of the Ebro to go on the defensive.
Battle of attrition
After the end of the Republican offensive, the Republican army of the Ebro was trapped in a pocket with its back to a river and Nationalist officers wanted to attack across the unprotected Segre River and advance to Barcelona, but Franco wanted to destroy the Republican Army of the Ebro and to recover the lost territory. The Nationalists concentrated most of their artillery and air forces in the Ebro's Front. On the other hand, the Republican high command ordered their troops to resist and not to retreat. Officers and men were executed for retreating.
The battle was fought by both sides as a World War I Western Front style battle, with each side launching bloody frontal assaults on enemy positions in what became a war of attrition. The Nationalist tactic was to use artillery and aerial bombardment in small areas to soften resistance and then to launch a frontal assault with one or two infantry battalions to occupy the area. Each day 500 cannons fired more than 13,000 rounds at the Republican troops and more than 200 Nationalist aircraft dropped 10,000 pounds of bombs. Nevertheless, the Republican troops fought with stubborn bravery and repelled the Nationalist assaults with barrages of machine-gun and mortar fire. In many zones, the terrain was too hard to dig trenches or foxholes, and as the August heat became unbearable (on 4 August it was 37°C in the shade), the shortages of water and food grew worse for the Republican troops. The situation was made more desperate by the relentless bombing that the Republican troops endured from dawn to dusk, which made it impossible for bodies to be buried, and meant that the wounded could only be evacuated at night, by small boats.
The key to the battle was Nationalist air superiority, provided by the Italian Aviazione Legionaria and German Condor Legion squadrons that flew under the Aviación Nacional markings. Some 500 first class planes were available on the Nationalist side (Savoia SM-79, Savoia SM-81, BR.20, He 111, Do 17, Ju 52 and 6 Ju 87 bombers, and Bf 109 and CR.32 fighters) against only some 35 modern fighters and some 40 second class aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force. In July, the Legion Condor had destroyed 76 Republican planes and by August the Republican Air Force had lost air superiority in the area. The Republican planes were outnumbered by at least two to one, and most of the experienced Soviet pilots had been withdrawn. Republican anti-aircraft defenses proved to be inadequate and many planes were destroyed on the ground. The Nationalists used their bombers to cut the pontoon bridges on the Ebro, and as a flying artillery to smash the Republican positions in the sierras, and to destroy their supply lines: "Republican communications were bombed to oblivion and, as so many international brigader memoirs testify, their troops were blasted off the bare and rocky hillsides by the sheer force of the incendiary materiel launched."