Battle of Teruel

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Battle of Teruel
Part of the Spanish Civil War
Spain in 1937 just before the Battle of Teruel. Note the Teruel salient south of Saragossa. Please click on the map to get a larger image. Blue is Nationalist Spain and Red is Republican Spain.
Date December 15, 1937 – February 22, 1938 Location Teruel, Aragon, Spain Result Decisive Nationalist victory[1]
Combatants
Spanish Republic	Nationalist Spain
Commanders
Juan Hernández Savaria Enrique Fernández Heredia Juan Ibarrola Enrique Lister El Campesino Karol Świerczewski	Francisco Franco Antonio Aranda José Enrique Varela Juan Yagüe Rey d'Harcourt
Casualties
~85,000	~57,000

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.^[2] 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.^[3]

[edit] Background

The Republic's 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.^[4] Teruel was surrounded on three sides by Republican Spain. In addition, Teruel was a symbol of Nationalist power on the Aragon Front.^[5] 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.^[6] A victory at Teruel would also aid the government of Prime Minister Juan Negrín in its quest to take over the industries of Catalonia. Finally, Republican intelligence learned that Franco intended to start a major offensive against Madrid in the Guadalajara area on December 18. This battle started on December 15.^[7]

[edit] The battlefield

Teruel, located in Lower Aragon, population, 20,000^[8] was the bleak walled capital of a poor province, renowned for the glum legend of the Lovers of Teruel.^[9] Its 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.^[10] Because of its elevation in the mountains (3,050 feet high),^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13] A key position was the ridge to the west of the town known as La Muela de Teruel—Teruel's Tooth.^[14]Teruel's defensive position was much improved by previously prepared trenches and wire because of its position protruding into Republican territory.^[15]

[edit] The combatants

The Republican Army was under the command of Hernández Savaria who had reorganized that army almost from scratch.^[16] Among the commanders under his command was the trustworthy and able Communist commander, Enrique Lister. Lister's division was chosen to lead the first attack.^[17] 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.^[18]

Colonel Domingo Rey d'Harcourt was the Nationalist commander at Teruel when the battle began.^[19]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.^[20] The garrison was probably about 4,000 and half of those were civilians.^[21]

[edit] The Battle

The red line in the map shows the front at the beginning of the battle. The purple line shows the front on December 20 with Teruel surrounded by the Republicans. The green line shows the front at the end of the battle. Note La Muela, Teruel's Tooth, west of the town. Click on map to get a larger view.

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.^[22] Rey d'Harcourt pulled his defenses into the town, and by December 17 gave up trying to keep a foothold on Teruel's Tooth.^[23]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.^[24] 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.^[25]

[edit] Republican advances and the siege

By December 21, the Republican forces were in the town. Ernest Hemingway and two journalists, one being New York Times correspondent, Herbert Matthews, accompanied the assaulting troops entering Teruel.^[26] 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.^[27] 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.^[28]

[edit] 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.^[29]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 Aranda 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^[30] 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.^[31] 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.

A Republican soldier seeks cover on the Plaza de Toros in Teruel, east of Madrid

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Franco continued to pour in men and machines and the tide slowly started to turn. The Republicans pushed 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.^[32] (The Republicans, in one of their last acts, massacred Rey d'Harcourt and the bishop along with a large number of other prisoners just before the war ended in February, 1939, at Gerona during the fall of Catalonia.)^[33] After Rey d'Harcourt's surrender, the civilian population of Teruel was evacuated and the Republicans became the besieged and the Nationalists the besiegers.^[34]Teruel had fallen to the Republicans.

[edit] 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, 1939. 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.^[35] 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 Robeson, sang for them on Christmas Eve with a repertoire that included L'Internationale and ended with Old Man River.^[36] Future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Clement Atlee, left-wing Labour politician, Ellen Wilkinson and future Labour Government official and diplomat Philip Noel-Baker visited a British unit.^[37]

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 lauched fierce conter attacks 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.^[38]

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 Savaria 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.^[39] The Nationalists found 10,000 Republican corpses in Teruel. The battle was over.^[40]

[edit] Aftermath

The Battle of Teruel exhausted the resources of the Republican Army. 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.^[41] 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 incompetent Anarchists. One Anarchist observor 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...."^[42] Franco did not waste much time and began a new offensive in Aragon on March 7, 1938. The Republicans, 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.^[43]

[edit] 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.^[44] Round figures would be Nationalists 57,000 and Republicans 85,000 for a total of 142,000. To round down to a even number would make a total casualty list for both sides over 140,000.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Hugh Purcell, The Spanish Civil War, (part of the Documentary History Series) (1973) ISBN 399-11283-3 (hardcover)
• Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War (1961),
• Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War (1977),
• Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War (1986), ISBN: 0-671-75876-4 (paperback)