Siege of Gijón
Siege of Gijón | |||||||
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Part of the Spanish Civil War | |||||||
Monument to the fallen at Simancas barracks | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Spanish Republic Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias | Nationalist Spain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Maj. José Gállego Aragüés Manuel Otero | Col. Antonio Pinilla † | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
unknown |
600 regulars & militia 1 battleship 1 destroyer |
The siege of Gijón, one of the first actions in the
Background
The Nationalist uprising of July 1936 fared poorly in Asturias, a province overwhelmingly hostile to Franco and controlled almost from the outset of the war by a curious but effective council of state officials, technicians, and mine workers. CNT and UGT membership in Asturias totalled around 70,000, forming the backbone of a disciplined militia.
Against such opposition the
The siege
The battle for Gijón was marked by Pinilla's unwavering resistance and by the almost total lack of weapons – excepting dynamite – of the attackers. Until they secured Gijón's fall the Republicans could not concentrate their full numbers in their siege against the Nationalists in Oviedo; accordingly, their attacks were unrelenting.
The defenders soon ran out of water and went mad with thirst. Pinilla refused to give in, believing, from the distorted reports of Nationalist propaganda, that relief was imminent. As at the concurrent siege of the Alcázar in Toledo, the Anarchists abducted Pinilla's son and threatened to slay him if the defenders refused to surrender. Like his counterpart José Moscardó Ituarte, Pinilla was unmoved.[2]
In mid-August the miners stormed the barracks, hurling dynamite as they charged. The barracks burned and the Nationalist defence crumbled. Rather than surrender, Pinilla sent a radio message to the Almirante Cervera, ordering it to open fire on his position, the order was obeyed and the last defenders of Simancas barracks died in the flames.
See also
- List of Spanish Republican military equipment of the Spanish Civil War
- List of Spanish Nationalist military equipment of the Spanish Civil War
Notes
References
- ISBN 0-375-75515-2.