Sebastián Pozas Perea

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Sebastián Pozas Perea (Zaragoza, 1876 - 1946) was a Spanish military officer and civil servant. Trained in the cavalry, Pozas offered a long service in Spanish Morocco, fighting in the Rif Wars and attaining the rank of general in 1926, by order of the Miguel Primo de Rivera government.

In the 1930s, Pozas served the Republic as Director General of the Guardia Civil. When the Nationalists rose against the government on June 18, 1936, leading to the Spanish Civil War, Pozas remained loyal and rallied large numbers of police and paramilitary units to the Republic. In the opening days of war he reorganized the Guardia Civil into the Guardia National.

Pozas briefly served as Minister of the Interior before being put in command of the Army of the Center. Nearly overwhelmed along the Jarama in February 1937, the Army of the Centre ultimately flung back the Nationalist pincers closing around Madrid after a bloody campaign culminating in the Battle of Guadalajara. In May Pozas led a costly attack toward Huesca that cost the Republic 10,000 casualties.^[1] Pozas was present at Belchite and Teruel. During the war he also joined the Communist Party of Spain. In 1939, with the Republic defeated, Pozas journeyed in exile to Mexico, where he died in 1946.