The Segovia Offensive was a Republican diversionary offensive which took place between 31 May and 6 June 1937, during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

. The main goal of the offensive was to occupy Segovia and divert Nationalist forces from their advance on

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

. After a brief initial advance the offensive failed due to Nationalist air superiority.

Background

In April 1937, the Nationalists started an offensive against the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

held, Biscay Province, and, by the end of May, the Navarrese troops had reached the eastern side of Bilbao's defenses. The Republican government then decided to launch two diversionary offensives on the Aragon and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

fronts in order to divert Nationalist troops.

Battle

The Republican Army had three divisions in the ''

Sierra de Guadarrama The Sierra de Guadarrama (Guadarrama Mountains) is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is located between the systems Sierra de G ...

'': Galan's 34th, General Walther's 33rd and Duran's 69th divisions (according to Thomas, the commander of the 69th division was

Luis Barceló Luis Barceló Jover (1896 – 15 March 1939) was a Spanish military officer. Spanish Civil War A professional officer of the Spanish Army, he supported the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War. In 1936 he was a major of the Sp ...

), under the command of Colonel Domingo Moriones, supported by artillery and a company of

T-26 The T-26 tank was a Soviet light tank used during many conflicts of the Interwar period and in World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and was one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s until its light ...

tanks. On 31 May the Republicans started the attack in the ''Sierra de Guadarrama'' with a heavy bombardment of the Nationalist positions, broke the Nationalist lines at

San Ildefonso San Ildefonso (), La Granja (), or La Granja de San Ildefonso, is a town and municipality in the Province of Segovia, in the Castile and León autonomous region of central Spain. It is located in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama mounta ...

and the same day the 69th division occupied Cruz de la Gallega and advanced towards Cabeza Grande, threatening the Segovia Road, although the

XIV International Brigade 300px, A memorial commemorating the International Brigades The XIV International Brigade was one of several international brigades that fought for the Spanish Second Republic during the Spanish Civil War. History and structure It was raised on ...

suffered appalling casualties. The Republican advance reached La Granja, but on 1 June the Nationalists started a counteroffensive with General Varela's division, the reinforcements brought from the Madrid front by Barrón and heavy air support. The Nationalists recovered Cabeza Grande and threatened the Republican troops. On 6 June Moriones ordered the Republican troops to retreat to their start lines. The Republicans had lost 3,000 men, among them 1,000 members of the XIV International Brigade.

Aftermath

The Republican offensive failed because of the air superiority of the Nationalists and the ineffectiveness of the Spanish Republican Air Force. Colonel Moriones said: "Our own aircraft carried out bombing attacks from a great height and carelessly...our fighters kept a respectable distance and rarely came down to machine-gun the enemy...enemy aircraft were highly active and extraordinarily effective.". The Segovia offensive only delayed the Nationalist offensive against Bilbao by two weeks.

In literature

The Segovia Offensive is the offensive described in the

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

novel, ''

For Whom the Bell Tolls ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned ...

''.Beevor, Antony (2006). ''The Battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939.'' Penguin Books. p.276

References

Bibliography

*Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. Penguin Books. London. 2006. *Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. London. 2001. {{coord missing, Spain Battles of the Spanish Civil War

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of t ...