July 1936 military uprising in Melilla

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July 1936 military uprising in Melilla
Part of the
Tetuán and Larache in Spanish protectorate in Morocco
Result Nationalist victory: rebels seized Melilla, Ceuta and the Spanish protectorate in Morocco
Belligerents  Spanish Republic Nationalist rebelsCommanders and leaders Maj. Gen.
Col.
  • Juan Yagüe Blanco
Casualties and losses 189 executed Unknown

The July 1936 military uprising in Melilla occurred at the start of the Spanish Civil War. The rebels seized the main garrisons of the Spanish Army in Africa and by 18 July had crushed the resistance of the army officers loyal to the Republican government. The supporters of the Second Spanish Republic were detained or shot.

Background

One of the main goals of the

Spanish Army of Africa was the main shock force of the Spanish Republican Army. Their members were Spanish regular soldiers, the Spanish Legion, and Moroccan mercenaries, Regulares. Most of their officers supported the plot and rejected the liberal democracy. Only a handful of officers, such as General Manuel Romerales, the commander-in-chief of the Spanish Army in Morocco, General Gomez Morato, and the high commissioner, Placido Alvarez Buylla, were loyal to the Republic,[1] and the Spanish workers in Morocco had no weapons and were isolated from the Moroccan population.[2]

Coup

17 July: Melilla

The leader of the plot,

Virgilio Leret Ruiz, and all those who resisted the rebellion were shot.[5] When General Morato discovered the rising, he took an airplane to Melilla, but he was arrested by the rebels as soon as he landed.[6]

17 July: Ceuta and Tetuán

Seguí then telephoned

Tetuán.[8]

The rebel troops in Ceuta occupied the working class districts and killed prominent unionists and the major of the city,

Jan Luis Beigbeder gained the support of the Grand Vizier of Tetuán, Mulay Hassan, and Moroccan volunteers started to join the rebellion.[9]

18 July

In Larache the coup started at two o'clock in the morning of 18 July. Several engagements followed in which five assault guards and two rebel officers were killed, but by dawn the town was in the hands of the rebels.[8] By mid-morning the only remaining centres of resistance were the High Commissioner's residence and the air force base at Tetuán.

The rebels threatened to bomb both and after a few hours the defenders surrendered to the Nationalists;[1] all of them were executed, among them the high commissioner and the Major de la Puente Bahamonde – Francisco Franco's cousin.[6] The same day, the workers of Tetúan and Melilla attempted a general strike, but were crushed by the insurgent troops.[1]

Nationalist repression

On his secret instructions of 30 June for the coup in Morocco, Mola ordered: "to eliminate left-wing elements, communists, anarchists, union members, etc".

Francoist concentration camp in Melilla.[12]

Aftermath

By 18 July, the Spanish Army of Africa had seized all of Spanish Morocco and crushed the resistance. The same day,

French Morocco.[13]
On 19 July, Franco continued on to Tetuan and appointed himself chief of the Spanish Army in Morocco.

Most of the

managed to transport the Army of Africa's troops to the mainland and start their advance towards Madrid.[12]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e Jackson 1967, p. 232.
  2. ^ a b Beevor 2006, p. 56.
  3. ^ Thomas 2001, pp. 204–205.
  4. ^ Thomas 2001, p. 208.
  5. ^ a b Thomas 2001, p. 205.
  6. ^ a b Beevor 2006, p. 57.
  7. ^ Thomas 2001, pp. 205–206.
  8. ^ a b c d Thomas 2001, p. 206.
  9. ^ Thomas 2001, pp. 206–207.
  10. ^ Beevor 2006, p. 88.
  11. ^ Beevor 2006, pp. 55–57.
  12. ^ a b Beevor 2006, p. 64.
  13. ^ Beevor 2006, p. 63.

Bibliography

  • Beevor, A. (2006). The Battle for Spain. London:
    ISBN 9780143037651
    .
  • Jackson, G. (1967). The Spanish Republic and the Civil War.
    ISBN 9780691007571
    .
  • Thomas, H. (2001). The Spanish Civil War. New York:
    ISBN 9780375755156
    .
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