Battle of Málaga (1937)
Battle of Málaga | |||||||
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Part of the Spanish Civil War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Spanish Republic |
Nationalist Spain CTV Germany | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
José Villalba Lacorte | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
12,000 Republican militia[1][2] 16 pieces of artillery[3] |
10,000 Italian troops[4][1] 10,000 Moroccan colonial troops[5] 5,000 Requetes militia[5] some Italian tanks[6] 100 Italian aircraft[7] 4 cruisers[8] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
3,000 to 5,000 killed[9] 3,600 captured, then executed[10] |
Spanish: Unknown Italian: 130 killed, 424 wounded[11] |
The Battle of Málaga was the culmination of an offensive in early
Prelude
After the failure to capture
On 17 January the campaign to conquer Málaga began when the newly constituted Army of the South under
Combatants
Nationalists
A mixed force of 15,000 Nationalists troops (Moroccan colonial troops,
Republicans
The Republican forces were composed of 12,000 Andalusian militiamen (only 8,000 armed)[14][1] of the National Confederation of Labour (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, or CNT). Although large in number and high in spirit, the militiamen were completely unprepared for military warfare and there was strong antagonism between CNT and communist militiamen.[1] In addition, they lacked the weapons to sustain a successful defense against the modern weapons of the Italians. Malaga lacked anti-aircraft defenses, the militiamen did not build trenches or road blocks[5] and there was a lack of ammunition.[15]
Battle
The Army of the South initiated the assault of Málaga from the west at Ronda on 3 February. Attacking from the north on the night of 4 February, the Italian Blackshirts achieved a massive breakthrough because of the Republicans being unprepared for armoured warfare.[6][16] The Nationalists continued a steady advance towards Málaga and by 6 February had reached the heights around the city. Fearing encirclement, the Republican commander, Colonel Villalba, ordered the evacuation of Málaga.[17] On 8 February Queipo de Llano and the Army of the South entered a bleak and barren Málaga.[8]
Aftermath
Nationalist repression
The Republicans who could not escape Málaga were either shot or imprisoned. After the fall of Malaga, the Nationalists executed 4,000 Republicans only in the city itself.[18] Thousands of Republican refugees fled from the city along the coast, many of them died.[8] The Nationalists caught up with the fleeing Republicans on the road to Almería and shot the men, but let the women continue so as to put the burden of feeding them on the Republican government.[19] Paul Preston said: "The crowds of refugees who blocked the road out of Malaga had been in an inferno. They were shelled from the sea, bombed from the air and then machine-gunned. The scale of the repression inside the fallen city explained why they were ready to run the gauntlet."[20]
Political and military consequences
The devastating defeat suffered by the Republicans caused the
Benito Mussolini saw the spectacular success of the Italian troops as reason to continue and increase the Italian involvement in Spain despite having agreed to the Non-Intervention Agreement. Plans to capture Valencia were abandoned in order to achieve a decisive victory by attacking and capturing Madrid.
Koestler Depiction
An eye-witness depiction of the Battle of Málaga is given by
See also
- List of Spanish Nationalist military equipment of the Spanish Civil War
- List of weapons of the Corpo Truppe Volontarie
- List of Spanish Republican military equipment of the Spanish Civil War
Notes
- ^ a b c d Beevor 2006, p. 200.
- ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. p. 567
- ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. p. 567
- ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. p. 566
- ^ a b c d e Jackson 1967, p. 343.
- ^ a b Preston 2006, p. 193.
- ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2006. p. 567
- ^ a b c d e Beevor 2006, p. 201.
- ^ CNT: Monumento en memoria de las Víctimas de la Caravana de la Muerte Archived July 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
- ^ Diario Sur (23 May 2006). "Sabemos nombres y apellidos de 3.600 fusilados en Málaga" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2010-10-19.
- ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. London. 2001. p. 569
- ^ Beevor 2006, pp. 199–200.
- ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. p. 569
- ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. London. 2001. p. 567
- ^ Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. 2001. p. 567
- ^ Borkenau 1977, p. 178.
- ^ Borkenau 1977, p. 176.
- ^ Preston 2006, p. 194.
- ^ Borkenau 1977, p. 181.
- ^ Preston 2006, p. 195.
- ^ Beevor 2006, p. 215.
- ^ "Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, My House in Málaga, (1938), London, The Clapton Press". 29 May 2019.
References
- ISBN 0-14-303765-X.
- Jackson, Gabriel (1967). The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939. Princeton University Press.
- ISBN 84-85361-01-6.
- Preston, Paul (2006). The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. London: Penguin Books.
- Thomas, Hugh (1961). The Spanish Civil War. New York: Harper & Brothers.