Battle of Teruel
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Teruel was fought in and around the city of Teruel
during the Spanish Civil War
in December 1937 – February 1938. The combatants fought the battle during the worst Spanish winter in twenty years. It was one of the bloodier actions of the war. The city changed hands several times, first falling to the Republicans
and eventually being re-taken by the Nationalists. In the course of the fighting, Teruel was subjected to heavy artillery
and aerial bombardment
. The two sides suffered over 140,000 casualties between them in the two month battle. It became one of the decisive battles of the war. Francisco Franco
's use of his superiority in men and material in regaining Teruel made it the military turning point of the war.
decision to move against Teruel was motivated by several strategic priorities. Republican military leaders thought that Teruel was not strongly held and sought to regain the initiative through its capture. By 1937, the Teruel salient
was similar to the fingernail on a fat finger of Nationalist territory inserted into Republican Spain, and its capture would shorten the lines of communication between central Republican Spain and Valencia on the coast. Teruel was surrounded on three sides by Republican Spain. In addition, Teruel was a symbol of Nationalist power on the Aragon
Front. Indalecio Prieto
, Republican Minister of War, wanted a spectacular victory to reflect well on his tenure in the war department and to show how the army could function under his reorganization. A victory at Teruel would also aid the government
of Prime Minister Juan Negrín
in its quest to take over the industries of Catalonia
from their workers. Finally, Republican intelligence learned that Franco intended to start a major offensive against Madrid
in the Guadalajara
sector on December 18. The Republic wanted to divert the Nationalists away from the Madrid area. The Republic therefore started the battle on December 15.
, population, 20,000 was the bleak walled capital of a poor province, renowned for the glum legend of the Lovers of Teruel
. It had been fortified in 1170 to buffer the warring
Moorish and Christian states; in 1937 it served essentially the same purpose, separating the Republicans in Valencia from the Nationalists in Zaragoza. Because of its elevation in the mountains (3,050 feet high), it usually had the lowest annual winter temperature in Spain. The town was Spain's remotest provincial capital, a gloomy, walled and mountain-ringed natural fortress. The town itself sits on a high knoll above the confluence of the Turia and Alfambra rivers. It is surrounded by a geological potpourri of scragged gorges, tooth-shaped peaks, and twisted ridge fingers. West of the town, however, the Calatayud highway runs up a slight gradient to a pancake-flat plain around the village of Concud, about three miles away. A key position was the ridge to the west of the town known as La Muela de Teruel—Teruel's Tooth. Teruel's defensive position was much improved by previously prepared trenches and wire because of its position protruding into Republican territory.
who had reorganized that army almost from scratch. Among the commanders under his command was the trustworthy and able Communist commander, Enrique Líster
. Lister's division was chosen to lead the first attack. The coup de main
against Teruel would be an all Spanish operation without the assistance of the International Brigades
. The Republican Army of the Levante was to conduct the main part of the assault supported by the Army of the East. The total Republican force had 100,000 men.
Colonel Domingo Rey d'Harcourt was the Nationalist commander at Teruel when the battle began. The Teruel salient had a Nationalist defending force of about 9,500 men and that would include civilians. After the attack began, Rey d'Harcourt eventually consolidated his remaining defenders into a garrison
to defend the town. The Teruel Nationalist garrison numbered between 2,000 and 6,000 according to various estimates. The garrison was probably about 4,000 and half of those were civilians.
Lister's Republican division attacked Teruel, in falling snow, on December 15, 1937, without preliminary aerial or artillery
preparation. Lister and fellow commander Colonel Enrique Fernández Heredia moved to surround the town. They immediately took a position on Teruel's Tooth, and by evening encircled Teruel. Rey d'Harcourt pulled his defenses into the town, and by December 17 gave up trying to keep a foothold on Teruel's Tooth.Francisco Franco
, Nationalist Commander, finally decided on December 23, to aid the defenders at Teruel. Franco decided as a matter of policy that no provincial capital must fall to the Republicans. That would be a political failure, and Franco determined to make no concession to the enemy. Franco had just started a major offensive at Guadalajara
and to relieve Teruel meant he had to abandon that offensive much to the disgust of his Italian and German allies. The Nationalist relief of Teruel also signified that Franco was giving up the idea of a knockout blow to end the war, and was accepting a long war of attrition to be won by weight of arms and foreign aid.
and two journalists, one being New York Times correspondent, Herbert Matthews
, accompanied the assaulting troops entering Teruel. Rey d'Harcourt, the Nationalist commander, however, pulled his remaining defenders back to an area where he could make a last stand
in the south part of the town. By Christmas Day the Nationalists still occupied a cluster of four key points, the Civil Governor's Building, the Bank of Spain, the Convent of Santa Clara and the Seminary. Republican Radio Barcelona announced that Teruel had fallen, but Rey d'Harcourt and the remnants of the 4,000 man garrison still held out. The siege continued with fighting hand to hand and building to building. The Republicans would intensely shell a building with artillery and then move in with the bayonet
.
and José Enrique Varela
in command. The Condor Legion
covered the attack. By New Year's Eve
with a supreme effort, the Nationalists were on Teruel's Tooth and actually broke into the town to take the bull ring and the railway station. The Nationalists could not hold the gains within the town, however. Then the weather actually turned for the worse with the start of a four day blizzard, four feet of snow falling and temperatures of minus 18 C. Fighting ground to a halt as guns and machines froze, and the troops suffered terribly from frostbite
. The Nationalists suffered the worse from the cold as they did not have warm clothing. Many amputations were performed to remove frozen limbs.
Franco continued to pour in men and machines and the tide slowly started to turn. The Republicans pressed home the siege however, and by New Year's Day
, 1938, the defenders of the Convent were dead. The Civil Governor's Building fell on January 3, but Rey d'Harcourt fought on. Ernest Hemingway was present during the fall of the Governor's Building. The attackers and defenders were on different stories of the building and fired at each other through holes in the floors. The defenders now had no water, few medical supplies and little food. Their defenses were piles of ruins, but still they held out. The Nationalist advances were stalled because of the weather, and finally Rey d'Harcourt with the Bishop of Teruel
at his side, gave up on January 8. The Republicans, in one of their last acts of the Civil War, killed d'Harcourt along with forty-two other prisoners including Anselmo Polanco, Bishop of Teruel
. After Rey d'Harcourt's surrender, the civilian population of Teruel was evacuated and the Republicans became the besieged and the Nationalists the besiegers. Teruel had fallen to the Republicans.
, sang for them on Christmas Eve with a repertoire that included L'Internationale and ended with Ol' Man River
. Future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Clement Attlee
, left-wing Labour
politician, Ellen Wilkinson
and future Labour Government official and diplomat Philip Noel-Baker visited a British unit.
Both high commands now were in heated trains, near the battlefield, and directing their troops in the final part of the battle. Slowly but surely, the Nationalists advanced. Teruel's Tooth fell to them. The Republican forces launched fierce counterattacks on January 25 and the next two days, but gains were temporary. Finally on February 7, the Nationalists attacked north of Teruel
. This was a weak area since most Republican forces had been concentrated to the south around Teruel itself. A massive cavalry charge, with one or two exceptions near the Caspian Sea
in World War II, the last in the history of warfare, broke the Republican defenses and scattered them. Aranda and Yagüe swiftly advanced and the victory was complete. Thousands of prisoners were taken and more thousands of tons of supplies and munitions fell to the Nationalists. Those Republicans who could, ran for their lives.
The final battle began on February 18. Aranda and Yagüe cut off the town from the north and then surrounded it similar to what the Republicans accomplished in December. On February 20, Teruel was cut off from the former Republican capital in Valencia, and with the Nationalists entering the town, Hernández Saravia gave the order of withdrawal. Most of the army escaped before the route was cut off, but about 14,500 were trapped. Colorful Communist Republican commander, El Campesino, was surrounded but eventually broke out to escape. He always claimed that Lister and other Communist commanders had left him to his fate hoping he would be killed or captured. Teruel was recaptured by the Nationalists on February 22. The Nationalists found 10,000 Republican corpses in Teruel. The battle was over.
could not replace the airplanes and arms that it lost in the Battle of Teruel. On the other hand, the Nationalists concentrated the bulk of their forces in the east as they prepared to drive through Aragon into Catalonia
and the Levante
. Franco had the edge on resupply as the Nationalists now controlled the efficiently run industrial might in the Basque Country
. The Republican Government, however, had to leave the armament industry in Catalonia in the hands of the Anarchists. One Anarchist observer reported that "Notwithstanding lavish expenditures of money on this need, our industrial organization was not able to finish a single kind of rifle
or machine gun
or cannon
...." Franco's act of retaking Teruel was a bitter blow to the Republic after the high hopes engendered by its capture. The recapture of Teruel also removed the last obstacle to Franco's breakthrough to the Mediterranean Sea.
Franco did not waste much time and began the Aragon Offensive
on March 7, 1938. The Republic had withdrawn its best troops for rebuilding purposes after the loss of Teruel on February 22, and the Republicans, still reeling from the heavy losses at Teruel, made little resistance. The Nationalists rolled through Aragon
, entered Catalonia and Valencia
Province, reached the sea, and by April 19, 1938, controlled forty miles of coast line, thereby cutting the Republic in two.
Laurie Lee
, British poet and writer, who, by his account, served in the International Brigade, sums up the Republican strategy of attacking Teruel. "The gift of Teruel at Christmas had become for the Republicans no more than a poisoned toy. It was meant to be the victory that would change the war; it was indeed the seal of defeat."
Round figures would be Nationalists 57,000 and Republicans 85,000 for a total of 142,000. To round down to an even number would make a total casualty list for both sides over 140,000.
who was a correspondent for The Times
covering the war from the Nationalist side. Evidently he was already under Moscow's orders in Spain but wrote glowing reports about Franco. Near Teruel in December, 1937, a shell hit an automobile in which Philby and three other journalists (Bradish Johnson, Eddie Neil and Ernest Sheepshanks
) were riding. Philby
was the only survivor. Franco personally decorated Philby to Philby's great exhilaration.
Teruel
Teruel is a town in Aragon, eastern Spain, and the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 34,240 in 2006 making it one of the least populated provincial capitals in the country...
during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
in December 1937 – February 1938. The combatants fought the battle during the worst Spanish winter in twenty years. It was one of the bloodier actions of the war. The city changed hands several times, first falling to the Republicans
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
and eventually being re-taken by the Nationalists. In the course of the fighting, Teruel was subjected to heavy artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
and aerial bombardment
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
. The two sides suffered over 140,000 casualties between them in the two month battle. It became one of the decisive battles of the war. Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's use of his superiority in men and material in regaining Teruel made it the military turning point of the war.
Background
The Republic'sSecond Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
decision to move against Teruel was motivated by several strategic priorities. Republican military leaders thought that Teruel was not strongly held and sought to regain the initiative through its capture. By 1937, the Teruel salient
Salients, re-entrants and pockets
A salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. The salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops occupying the salient vulnerable. The enemy's line facing a salient is referred to as a re-entrant...
was similar to the fingernail on a fat finger of Nationalist territory inserted into Republican Spain, and its capture would shorten the lines of communication between central Republican Spain and Valencia on the coast. Teruel was surrounded on three sides by Republican Spain. In addition, Teruel was a symbol of Nationalist power on the Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
Front. Indalecio Prieto
Indalecio Prieto
Indalecio Prieto Tuero was a Spanish politician, one of the leading figures of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in the years before and during the Second Spanish Republic.-Early years:...
, Republican Minister of War, wanted a spectacular victory to reflect well on his tenure in the war department and to show how the army could function under his reorganization. A victory at Teruel would also aid the government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
of Prime Minister Juan Negrín
Juan Negrín
Juan Negrín y López was a Spanish politician and physician.-Early years:Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Negrín came from a religious middle-class family...
in its quest to take over the industries of Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
from their workers. Finally, Republican intelligence learned that Franco intended to start a major offensive against Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in the Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Spain
Guadalajara is a city and municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, and in the natural region of La Alcarria. It is the capital of the province of Guadalajara. It is located roughly 60 km northeast of Madrid on the Henares River, and has a population of 83,789...
sector on December 18. The Republic wanted to divert the Nationalists away from the Madrid area. The Republic therefore started the battle on December 15.
Terrain
Teruel, located in Southern AragonAragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, population, 20,000 was the bleak walled capital of a poor province, renowned for the glum legend of the Lovers of Teruel
Lovers of Teruel
The Lovers of Teruel is a romance story that is alleged to have taken place in 1217 in the city of Teruel ....
. It had been fortified in 1170 to buffer the warring
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
Moorish and Christian states; in 1937 it served essentially the same purpose, separating the Republicans in Valencia from the Nationalists in Zaragoza. Because of its elevation in the mountains (3,050 feet high), it usually had the lowest annual winter temperature in Spain. The town was Spain's remotest provincial capital, a gloomy, walled and mountain-ringed natural fortress. The town itself sits on a high knoll above the confluence of the Turia and Alfambra rivers. It is surrounded by a geological potpourri of scragged gorges, tooth-shaped peaks, and twisted ridge fingers. West of the town, however, the Calatayud highway runs up a slight gradient to a pancake-flat plain around the village of Concud, about three miles away. A key position was the ridge to the west of the town known as La Muela de Teruel—Teruel's Tooth. Teruel's defensive position was much improved by previously prepared trenches and wire because of its position protruding into Republican territory.
Combatants
The Republican Army was under the command of Juan Hernández SaraviaJuan Hernández Saravia
Juan Hernández Saravia was a Spanish military officer prominent in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side....
who had reorganized that army almost from scratch. Among the commanders under his command was the trustworthy and able Communist commander, Enrique Líster
Enrique Líster
Enrique Líster Forján was a Spanish communist politician and military officer.-Early life:...
. Lister's division was chosen to lead the first attack. The coup de main
Coup de main
A coup de main is a swift attack that relies on speed and surprise to accomplish its objectives in a single blow. The United States Department of Defense defines it as:The literal translation from French means a stroke or blow of the hand...
against Teruel would be an all Spanish operation without the assistance of the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
. The Republican Army of the Levante was to conduct the main part of the assault supported by the Army of the East. The total Republican force had 100,000 men.
Colonel Domingo Rey d'Harcourt was the Nationalist commander at Teruel when the battle began. The Teruel salient had a Nationalist defending force of about 9,500 men and that would include civilians. After the attack began, Rey d'Harcourt eventually consolidated his remaining defenders into a garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
to defend the town. The Teruel Nationalist garrison numbered between 2,000 and 6,000 according to various estimates. The garrison was probably about 4,000 and half of those were civilians.
Battle
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
preparation. Lister and fellow commander Colonel Enrique Fernández Heredia moved to surround the town. They immediately took a position on Teruel's Tooth, and by evening encircled Teruel. Rey d'Harcourt pulled his defenses into the town, and by December 17 gave up trying to keep a foothold on Teruel's Tooth.Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, Nationalist Commander, finally decided on December 23, to aid the defenders at Teruel. Franco decided as a matter of policy that no provincial capital must fall to the Republicans. That would be a political failure, and Franco determined to make no concession to the enemy. Franco had just started a major offensive at Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Spain
Guadalajara is a city and municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, and in the natural region of La Alcarria. It is the capital of the province of Guadalajara. It is located roughly 60 km northeast of Madrid on the Henares River, and has a population of 83,789...
and to relieve Teruel meant he had to abandon that offensive much to the disgust of his Italian and German allies. The Nationalist relief of Teruel also signified that Franco was giving up the idea of a knockout blow to end the war, and was accepting a long war of attrition to be won by weight of arms and foreign aid.
Republican advances and the siege
By December 21, the Republican forces were in the town. Ernest HemingwayErnest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
and two journalists, one being New York Times correspondent, Herbert Matthews
Herbert Matthews
Herbert Lionel Matthews was a reporter and editorialist for the New York Times who grew to notoriety after revealing that Fidel Castro was still alive and living in the Sierra Maestra mountains, though Batista had claimed publicly that he was killed during the 26th of July Movement's...
, accompanied the assaulting troops entering Teruel. Rey d'Harcourt, the Nationalist commander, however, pulled his remaining defenders back to an area where he could make a last stand
Last stand
Last stand is a loose military term used to describe a body of troops holding a defensive position in the face of overwhelming odds. The defensive force usually takes very heavy casualties or is completely destroyed, as happened in "Custer's Last Stand" at the Battle of Little Big HornBryan Perrett...
in the south part of the town. By Christmas Day the Nationalists still occupied a cluster of four key points, the Civil Governor's Building, the Bank of Spain, the Convent of Santa Clara and the Seminary. Republican Radio Barcelona announced that Teruel had fallen, but Rey d'Harcourt and the remnants of the 4,000 man garrison still held out. The siege continued with fighting hand to hand and building to building. The Republicans would intensely shell a building with artillery and then move in with the bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
.
Nationalist relief attempts
Franco canceled the Guadalajara offense on December 23, but the relief force could not begin its attack until December 29. All Franco could do was send messages to Rey d'Harcourt to hold out at all costs. In the meantime the Republicans pressed home their attack in atrocious weather. The Nationalist attack began on schedule on December 29 with the experienced Nationalist Generals, Antonio ArandaAntonio Aranda
Antonio Aranda Mata was a military officer who fought on side of the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War.During the Morocco wars Aranda earned an outstanding record as an engineer and geographer. He participated in the suppression of the Asturias Revolt of 1934 and rose to the rank of Colonel...
and José Enrique Varela
José Enrique Varela
José Enrique Varela Iglesias was a Spanish military officer and Carlist noted for his role as a Nationalist commander in the Spanish Civil War.-Early career:...
in command. The Condor Legion
Condor Legion
The Condor Legion was a unit composed of volunteers from the German Air Force and from the German Army which served with the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War of July 1936 to March 1939. The Condor Legion developed methods of terror bombing which were used widely in the Second World War...
covered the attack. By New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
with a supreme effort, the Nationalists were on Teruel's Tooth and actually broke into the town to take the bull ring and the railway station. The Nationalists could not hold the gains within the town, however. Then the weather actually turned for the worse with the start of a four day blizzard, four feet of snow falling and temperatures of minus 18 C. Fighting ground to a halt as guns and machines froze, and the troops suffered terribly from frostbite
Frostbite
Frostbite is the medical condition where localized damage is caused to skin and other tissues due to extreme cold. Frostbite is most likely to happen in body parts farthest from the heart and those with large exposed areas...
. The Nationalists suffered the worse from the cold as they did not have warm clothing. Many amputations were performed to remove frozen limbs.
Franco continued to pour in men and machines and the tide slowly started to turn. The Republicans pressed home the siege however, and by New Year's Day
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
, 1938, the defenders of the Convent were dead. The Civil Governor's Building fell on January 3, but Rey d'Harcourt fought on. Ernest Hemingway was present during the fall of the Governor's Building. The attackers and defenders were on different stories of the building and fired at each other through holes in the floors. The defenders now had no water, few medical supplies and little food. Their defenses were piles of ruins, but still they held out. The Nationalist advances were stalled because of the weather, and finally Rey d'Harcourt with the Bishop of Teruel
Diocese of Teruel and Albarracín
The Diocese of Teruel and Albarracín is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory located in north-eastern Spain, in the province of Teruel, part of the autonomous community of Aragón...
at his side, gave up on January 8. The Republicans, in one of their last acts of the Civil War, killed d'Harcourt along with forty-two other prisoners including Anselmo Polanco, Bishop of Teruel
Diocese of Teruel and Albarracín
The Diocese of Teruel and Albarracín is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory located in north-eastern Spain, in the province of Teruel, part of the autonomous community of Aragón...
. After Rey d'Harcourt's surrender, the civilian population of Teruel was evacuated and the Republicans became the besieged and the Nationalists the besiegers. Teruel had fallen to the Republicans.
The Nationalist counter-offensive
After Rey d'Harcourt's surrender, the Nationalist buildup began to tell on the Republican forces. With the weather clearing, the Nationalists started a new advance on January 17, 1938. The Republican leadership finally gave up its scruples about the Battle of Teruel being an all Spanish operation and ordered the International Brigades to join the struggle on the 19th. Many of these units had been in the area but in reserve. Celebrities and politicians entertained and visited the units during this time. American Communist singer, Paul RobesonPaul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, sang for them on Christmas Eve with a repertoire that included L'Internationale and ended with Ol' Man River
Ol' Man River
"Ol' Man River" is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boat that expresses the African American hardship and struggles of the time with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River; it is sung from the point-of-view of a dock worker on a showboat, and is the most famous song from the show...
. Future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
, left-wing Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician, Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside. She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as a Member of Parliament .- History :...
and future Labour Government official and diplomat Philip Noel-Baker visited a British unit.
Both high commands now were in heated trains, near the battlefield, and directing their troops in the final part of the battle. Slowly but surely, the Nationalists advanced. Teruel's Tooth fell to them. The Republican forces launched fierce counterattacks on January 25 and the next two days, but gains were temporary. Finally on February 7, the Nationalists attacked north of Teruel
Battle of Alfambra
The Battle of Alfambra took place in Alfambra between 5 and the 8 February 1938, during the Spanish Civil War. This battle was a part of the Battle of Teruel.-Background.:...
. This was a weak area since most Republican forces had been concentrated to the south around Teruel itself. A massive cavalry charge, with one or two exceptions near the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
in World War II, the last in the history of warfare, broke the Republican defenses and scattered them. Aranda and Yagüe swiftly advanced and the victory was complete. Thousands of prisoners were taken and more thousands of tons of supplies and munitions fell to the Nationalists. Those Republicans who could, ran for their lives.
The final battle began on February 18. Aranda and Yagüe cut off the town from the north and then surrounded it similar to what the Republicans accomplished in December. On February 20, Teruel was cut off from the former Republican capital in Valencia, and with the Nationalists entering the town, Hernández Saravia gave the order of withdrawal. Most of the army escaped before the route was cut off, but about 14,500 were trapped. Colorful Communist Republican commander, El Campesino, was surrounded but eventually broke out to escape. He always claimed that Lister and other Communist commanders had left him to his fate hoping he would be killed or captured. Teruel was recaptured by the Nationalists on February 22. The Nationalists found 10,000 Republican corpses in Teruel. The battle was over.
Aftermath
The Battle of Teruel exhausted the resources of the Republican Army. The Spanish Republican Air ForceSpanish Republican Air Force
The Spanish Republican Air Force, , was the air arm of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939...
could not replace the airplanes and arms that it lost in the Battle of Teruel. On the other hand, the Nationalists concentrated the bulk of their forces in the east as they prepared to drive through Aragon into Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
and the Levante
Levante, Spain
The Levante is a name used to refer to the eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It roughly corresponds to the former Xarq Al-Andalus, but has no modern geopolitical definition...
. Franco had the edge on resupply as the Nationalists now controlled the efficiently run industrial might in the Basque Country
Basque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....
. The Republican Government, however, had to leave the armament industry in Catalonia in the hands of the Anarchists. One Anarchist observer reported that "Notwithstanding lavish expenditures of money on this need, our industrial organization was not able to finish a single kind of rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
or machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
or cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
...." Franco's act of retaking Teruel was a bitter blow to the Republic after the high hopes engendered by its capture. The recapture of Teruel also removed the last obstacle to Franco's breakthrough to the Mediterranean Sea.
Franco did not waste much time and began the Aragon Offensive
Aragon Offensive
The Aragon Offensive was a Nationalist campaign during the Spanish Civil War, which began after the Battle of Teruel. The offensive began on March 7, 1938, and ended on April 19, 1938...
on March 7, 1938. The Republic had withdrawn its best troops for rebuilding purposes after the loss of Teruel on February 22, and the Republicans, still reeling from the heavy losses at Teruel, made little resistance. The Nationalists rolled through Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, entered Catalonia and Valencia
Valencia (province)
Valencia or València is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Community.It is bordered by the provinces of Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel, Castellón, and the Mediterranean Sea...
Province, reached the sea, and by April 19, 1938, controlled forty miles of coast line, thereby cutting the Republic in two.
Laurie Lee
Laurie Lee
Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter, raised in the village of Slad, and went to Marling School, Gloucestershire. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie , As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and...
, British poet and writer, who, by his account, served in the International Brigade, sums up the Republican strategy of attacking Teruel. "The gift of Teruel at Christmas had become for the Republicans no more than a poisoned toy. It was meant to be the victory that would change the war; it was indeed the seal of defeat."
Casualties
Casualties from the Battle of Teruel are difficult to estimate. The Nationalist relief force lost about 14,000 dead, 16,000 wounded and 17,000 sick. In the original Teruel defensive force including the garrison, casualties were about 9,500 and nearly all were dead or captured. That is a total of 56,500 casualties for the Nationalists. It is very likely that the Republican casualties were 50% higher so that would be about 84,750. The Republicans lost a large number of prisoners.Round figures would be Nationalists 57,000 and Republicans 85,000 for a total of 142,000. To round down to an even number would make a total casualty list for both sides over 140,000.
Celebrities at Teruel
Mathews, Hemingway, Robeson and the British politicians have been mentioned previously, and the battle certainly attracted many other such celebrities. One of them was Soviet spy Kim PhilbyKim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
who was a correspondent for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
covering the war from the Nationalist side. Evidently he was already under Moscow's orders in Spain but wrote glowing reports about Franco. Near Teruel in December, 1937, a shell hit an automobile in which Philby and three other journalists (Bradish Johnson, Eddie Neil and Ernest Sheepshanks
Ernest Sheepshanks
Ernest Richard Sheepshanks was an English amateur first-class cricketer, who played one match for Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1929, and was a war correspondent, who was killed in the Spanish Civil War....
) were riding. Philby
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
was the only survivor. Franco personally decorated Philby to Philby's great exhilaration.
External links
- Battle of Teruel Photographs Capa, RobertRobert CapaRobert Capa was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist who covered five different wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War...
(1939) International Center of Photography. Retrieved 2010-09-23.