Juan Yagüe
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Juan Yagüe | |
---|---|
Captain General | |
Commands held | Military Commander of Melilla Captain General of the VI Military Region |
Battles/wars | Rif War Spanish Civil War |
Awards | Military Medal |
Juan Yagüe y Blanco, 1st Marquis of San Leonardo de Yagüe (19 November 1891 – 21 October 1952) was a Spanish military officer during the Spanish Civil War, one of the most important in the Nationalist side. He became known as the "Butcher of Badajoz" (Carnicero de Badajoz) because he ordered thousands killed, including wounded republican soldiers in the hospital.
Early life
The son of a doctor, he enrolled at a young age in the Toledo Infantry Academy, where Francisco Franco was a fellow cadet. The two men received their commissions concurrently and served together in Africa, where Yagüe was wounded on several occasions and received several decorations.
Yagüe was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1932. He, along with Franco and General Eduardo López Ochoa, helped suppress a workers uprising in Asturias using Moroccan Regulars and Legionnaires in 1934. He was a strong early supporter of the Falange Española and a close personal friend of José Antonio Primo de Rivera.
Spanish Civil War
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When
Yagüe's forces revolted in
Under Yagüe's direction, hundreds of prisoners, military and civilians, were killed or executed in Badajoz during the Badajoz massacre.[1][2][3][4]
Before leaving the city, Yagüe was asked by the American journalist
"Of course we shot them", he said to me. "What do you expect? Was I supposed to take 4,000 reds with me as my column advanced, racing against time? Was I expected to turn them loose in my rear and let them make Badajoz red again?"
Yagüe was then promoted to colonel and afterwards advanced on
Post-war
After the collapse of the Second Spanish Republic in 1939, Yagüe was promoted to major-general and appointed as Minister of the Air Force by General Franco. He was made a lieutenant general in 1942 and was posthumously promoted to commander-in-chief. He died of lung cancer in 1952.[10]
Notes
- ^ Rafael Tenorio, Las matanzas de Badajoz (Spanish) Archived 7 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Mario Neves (1986) "La matanza de Badajoz. Crónica de un testigo de uno de los episodios más tragicos de la guerra civil de España". Salamanca, Editora Regional de Extremadura.
- ^ Jay Allen (30 August 1935) "Slaughter of 4000 at Badajoz, City of Horrors", Chicago Tribune.
- ^ Robert Payne (1962) "The Civil War in Spain, 1936-1939". New York, Putnam.
- ^ De Madariaga, Maria Rosa. Los moros que trajo Franco ... La intervención de tropas coloniales en la guerra civil, Ediciones Martínez Roca. Barcelona. 2002. pp. 299-300
- ^ Julía, Santos; Casanova, Julián; Solé y Sabaté, Josep Maria; Villarroya, Joan; Moreno, Francisco. Victimas de la guerra civil. Ediciones Temas de Hoy. Madrid. 1999. p. 76.
- ^ Espinosa, Francisco. La columna de la muerte. El avance del ejército franquista de Sevilla a Badajoz. Editorial Crítica. Barcelona. 2003. p. 491.
- ^ Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolutions & revenge. Harper Perennial. 2006. London. p. 121
- ^ Antony Beevor, The Spanish Civil War
- ^ "Juan Yagüe Blanco | Real Academia de la Historia". dbe.rah.es. Retrieved 2023-10-16.