Antonio Azarola y Gresillón
Antonio Azarola y Gresillón | |
---|---|
Ferrol, Galicia | |
Buried | Vilagarcía de Arousa cemetery |
Allegiance | Spanish Republic |
Service/ | Spanish Republican Navy |
Rank | Minister of the Navy (1935-36) Rear Admiral of the Fleet |
Antonio Azarola y Gresillón (1874 – 4 August 1936) was a Spanish Navy officer,
Antonio Azarola had been the Minister of Defence of Spain between 30 December 1935 and 19 February 1936, during Manuel Portela Valladares tenure. Along with
Biography
Antonio Azarola was born in
Azarola was second in command of the Ferrol Naval Base, the most important Spanish Navy base in northern Spain, since November 1934. He was also the commander of the Naval Arsenal.
Azarola was named undersecretary of the Naval Ministry of the Spanish Republic,
July 1936 coup
In the crucial hours that followed the July 1936 coup of rebel generals, Azarola made a conscious decision to remain loyal to the Spanish Republic. When the anti-republican officers at Ferrol invited Azarola to join the rebellion he declared that his Christian principles were paramount. As the highest leader of the naval base he admonished the rebel military officers, reminding them that their rebellion was tantamount to
Baffled by a situation that he could only define as an act of treason, Rear-Admiral Azarola refused to open the doors of the Arsenal in order to arm the trade unions and leftist political parties, a measure which could have saved his life and could have spelled doom for the rebellion in that region. Finally he was arrested by rebel brothers
Azarola was executed by firing squad at 6 am on 4 August against the inner wall of the Cuartel de Dolores barracks. His body was later buried at the Vilagarcía de Arousa graveyard. He was survived by his son Antonio Azarola Fernández de Celis.
Decades later Rear Admiral Azarola was included in the list of the victims of Francoism (Spanish: Listado de víctimas del franquismo) made by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón.[7]
See also
- Spanish Republican Navy
- Spanish coup of July 1936
- List of people executed by Francoist Spain
- Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory
Bibliography
- Bruno Alonso González, La flota republicana y la guerra civil de España, Ed. Renacimiento, México 1944 ISBN 84-96133-75-3
- José Cervera, Avatares de la guerra española en el mar, Editorial Noray, 2011, ISBN 978-84-7486-237-9
- Carlos Engel Masoliver, El Cuerpo de Oficiales en la guerra de España, Ed. Quirón, ISBN 978-84-96935075
- Javier García Fernández (coord.), 25 militares de la República; "El Ejército Popular de la República y sus mandos profesionales", Ed. Ministerio de Defensa, Madrid 2011
References
- ISBN 849311751X
- ^ "El Correo Gallego - Tenente de navío Sánchez Pinzón". Archived from the original on 2018-07-03. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
- ^ Las cárceles y los consejos de guerra en el Ferrol (1936-39) Archived January 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Second Spanish Republic, Plan Naval del 11 de enero de 1936
- ^ La flota la mandan los cabos Archived July 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Fernando Orgambides, Memoria en el tiempo de una familia gaditana de ida y vuelta (del escultor Fernández Guerrero al almirante Azarola Gresillón), Ateneo: revista cultural del Ateneo de Cádiz, ISSN 1579-6868, Nº. 8, 2008, pages 165-181
- ^ Memoria Pública - Listado de víctimas del franquismo según la información del sumario del juez Baltasar Garzón
External links
- Homage to Rear Admiral Azarola (with picture)
- Javier Fernández García, Comunidad El Pais
- Asturias Republicana - Muertes paralelas
- Charismatic judge who pursued Spain's fascist assassins finds himself on trial
- Comunidad El Pais - El Alzamiento del 36 en Galicia, Edicións do Castro, autor: Carlos Fernández Santander.
- Foro por la Memoria - Provincia de Cádiz