The 26th Division ()Carlos Engel, ''Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del E. P. de la República'', 1999 was a division of the

Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army () was the main branch of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la República'' ...

in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. It was formed in April 1937 in

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

from the militarized '' Columna Durruti'' during the reorganization of the

Spanish Republican Armed Forces The Spanish Republican Armed Forces () were initially formed by the following two branches of the military of the Second Spanish Republic: * Spanish Republican Army (''Ejército de la República Española'' (1931–1936) and ''Ejército Popular ...

. The 26th Division included the 119th, 120th and 121st mixed brigades throughout the Civil War. It fought in the

Huesca Offensive The Huesca Offensive was an operation carried out during the Spanish Civil War by the Republican Army in June 1937 in order to take the Aragonese city of Huesca, which since the start of the war in July 1936 had been under the control of the N ...

, the Battle of Belchite, the

Aragon Offensive The Aragon Offensive was an important military campaign during the Spanish Civil War, which began after the Battle of Teruel. The offensive, which ran from March 7, 1938, to April 19, 1938, smashed the Republican forces, overran Aragon, and con ...

and the

Battle of the Segre The Battle of the Segre is the collective name of a series of battles that took place along the Segre River between 4 April 1938 and 3 January 1939 during the Spanish Civil War, after the Nationalist Faction had broken the lines of the Spanish ...

. Finally, it was disbanded in February 1939 after the withdrawal and rush to the border that followed the rebel

Catalonia Offensive The Catalonia Offensive (, ) was part of the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalist Army started the offensive on 23 December 1938 and rapidly conquered Republican-held Catalonia with Barcelona (the Republic's capital city from October 1937). Ba ...

History

First phase: Aragon

The 26th Division was established on 28 April 1937 in

Bujaraloz Bujaraloz is a municipality located in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 1,002 inhabitants. See also *Monegros *List of municipalities in Zaragoza This is a list ...

with former

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

militiamen and corresponded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd regiments of the Durruti Division, the successor of the Durruti Column after the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

's militarization in January 1937. It was placed under the 11th Army Corps ''(XI Cuerpo de Ejército)''. The command of the unit was entrusted to

Ricardo Sanz García Ricardo Sanz García (1898–1986) was a Valencians, Valencian anarchist militant. A member of Buenaventura Durruti's insurgent group Los Solidarios, Sanz participated in the anarchist armed struggle against the Restoration (Spain), Spanish mona ...

who had been the commander of the Durruti Column after

Buenaventura Durruti José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange (14 July 1896 – 20 November 1936) was a Spanish anarchist revolutionary involved with the CNT and the FAI in the periods before and during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. Durruti played an influe ...

's death and who would be the division's only leader. The violent events of the 1937

May Days The May Days (, ), sometimes also called May Events (, ), were a series of clashes between 3 and 8 May 1937 during which factions on the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republican side of the Spanish Civil War engaged one another in str ...

overwhelmed

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

when the division had been barely constituted. The 26th Division was then gathered in

Barbastro Barbastro (Latin: ''Barbastrum'' or ''Civitas Barbastrensis'', Aragonese: ''Balbastro'') is a city in the Somontano county, province of Huesca, Spain. The city (also known originally as Barbastra or Bergiduna) is at the junction of the rivers C ...

in order to march over the city and restore order on behalf of the government. However, when the troops listened to the radio reports of the events by anarchist leader and Justice Minister

García Oliver García or Garcia may refer to: People * García (surname) * Kings of Pamplona/Navarre ** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882 ** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970 ** García Sánchez II of Pampl ...

, they refused to intervene and decided to remain in Barbastro. Later in September the unit saw combat action in the Battle of Belchite, where its battle behaviour was clumsy, disorganized and inefficient at best. "General Kléber" commented about the 119th Mixed Brigade of the division that: 'It is totally useless' (''"No sirve para nada..."'')Carlos Engel (1999), ''Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del Ejército Popular de la República'', p. 156

Actions in Catalonia and extinction

In March 1938 the sweeping

of the

rebel faction A rebel faction usually refers to a rebellious group. Rebel faction may also refer to: Politics * Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War * Rebel Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution Fiction * Rebel Alliance, a fictional organ ...

caught the 26th Division by surprise and the whole unit retreated eastwards to

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

without putting any noteworthy fight. Later it was located at the Segre Frontline where it took part in the fruitless

Balaguer Offensive The Balaguer Offensive was an offensive carried out by the Spanish Republican Army around Balaguer, Catalonia, during the Spanish Civil War. The offensive consisted in a series of counterattacks in the spring and summer of 1938 after the disastro ...

in May. Most of the 26th Division remained at the

Segre Segre may refer to: People * Segre (surname), people with the surname Segre or Segrè Places * Segre (river), a river in Catalonia, Spain ** Sègre (department), a former French department in Catalonia ** Sègre-Ter, a former French departme ...

front until the end of 1938, but one of the battalions of the 120th Mixed Brigade of the division was at the

Battle of the Ebro The Battle of the Ebro (, ) 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 ...

. At the onset of the rebel

the division held fast its position at the

Tremp Tremp () is a municipality in Catalonia, Spain, the capital of the ''comarca'' of the Pallars Jussà. It is the largest municipality in Catalonia in terms of area (), accounting for nearly a quarter of the total area of the ''comarca''. The mun ...

bridgehead In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over ...

in an unfruitful effort to stop the sweeping advance of the Francoist armies. On 2 January 1939 its 120th and 121st mixed brigades were crushed by the rebel attacks and suffered numerous casualties. Both brigades were withdrawn in order to be reorganized and, despite the previous record of the division, the 121st brigade was highly commended for its battle actions during the bridgehead combats. Since the seriousness of the situation did not leave any option but withdrawal, the 26th Division joined the hasty retreat of the defeated republican military units towards the French border. Once in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

the survivors of the division were interned in

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

by the French authorities.

Post-Civil War

The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

began barely five months after the capitulation of the Spanish Republic. While some of the members of the 26th Division remained in the concentration camps, some of them were forced to join the

French Armed Forces The French Armed Forces (, ) are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force, and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' milita ...

. A number of them were part of the 9th Armoured Company of the 2nd Armoured Division of the Free French Forces, where they formed a majority so that it was known by its Spanish nickname ''"La Nueve"'' or ''"La Española"''. This company was one of the first to enter Paris in 1944 in order to free the city from

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

. Among the first tanks that entered the city one was named "Guadalajara" and another "Ebro", in memory of the Spanish Civil War battles; they were manned by members of the former 26th Division whose standard was the

Spanish Republican flag The flag of the Second Spanish Republic, known in Spanish as ' (the tricolour), was the official flag of Spain between 1931 and 1939 and the flag of the Spanish Republican government in exile until 1977. Its present-day use in Spain is associa ...

Commanders

*Commanders in chief **

, the only commander of the division throughout the Civil War. *Commissars, both belonged to the CNT ** Ricardo Rionda Castro ** Pedro Pey Sardá *Chief of Staff Leaders ** Infantry Commander Ramón Rodríguez Bozmediano ** Infantry Commander Pedro Cervera Serreta, since February 1938.

References

External links

SBHAC - El Ejército Popular

Organización militar republicana - 1936 - La Guerra Civil
{{Divisions of the Spanish Republic Military units and formations established in 1937 Military units and formations disestablished in 1939 Divisions of Spain Military units and formations of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Military history of Spain Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic Militarized anarchist formations