Battle for Catalonia
The final stronghold of the Republican cause came under attack in the final months of the war
In July 1938, Spain’s Republican forces launched an attack across the Ebro River, ending in defeat and heavy losses. Following the battle, Prime Minister Juan Negrin repatriated all members of the International Brigades, while the main force of the Republican Army was all but destroyed. The Republicans retreated into Catalonia and the cities of Barcelona and Madrid.
The Nationalist rebels had attempted to take Barcelona as early as 1936 in a swift, sharp attack. On 19 July, street fighting broke out as militias, civil troops and a handful of soldiers loyal to the Republic defended the city. The city fell under the control of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labour) – a trade union movement – and remained a Republican stronghold. By June 1937, though the Nationalist forces had made great gains across the peninsula, both Madrid and Barcelona remained defiant and the latter was now the location of Juan Negrin’s government. For the next two years Barcelona endured 194 airborne attacks, mainly from Germany’s Condor Legion.
The battle begins
Scheduled to commence on 10 December 1938, the Catalonia offensive was delayed due to poor weather. Ignoring a call for a Christmas truce from the Vatican, Nationalist chiefs moved 34,000 troops, 300 tanks, 500 aircraft and 1,400 guns to take the region. The Navarre Corps (an elite unit similar to the Army of Africa) and Italian units, supported by the Condor
Legion (military and aerial support provided by Nazi Germany), were able to breach the line. However, the other fronts found themselves blocked as the Republican 26th Division managed to keep both the forces of Muñoz Grandes and Garcia Valiño at bay. It was not until 3 January, when Nationalist forces reached both the Borjas Blancas-montblanc road as well as the town of Artesa, that progress began to be made. By 15 January 1939, the Nationalist forces had pushed through and taken Tarragona, only a few kilometres outside of Barcelona.
On 22 January, the order was given for the hospitals of Barcelona to be evacuated, as well as all health staff and officials. In the days prior the surrounding smaller hospitals had been similarly evacuated and it became clear that the situation was grave as numerous civilians were escorted out of the city. During this time Nationalist forces continued to carry out vast bombing campaigns against Barcelona. As the Nationalist troops drew nearer there was little fighting and two days later the government of Juan Negrin moved to Gerona. With the government gone there was little sense of resistance among those who remained and few serious attempts at defence. At midday on 25 January, the occupation of the city began. There was little fighting – most of the officials had left with Negrin a day prior – and many offices and buildings of importance were taken without a single shot being fired. Over the following five days there was looting and a number of killings.
The aftermath
Following the fall of Barcelona, some 500,000 Republican refugees, including soldiers, fled across the Pyrenees and into an ill-prepared France. Catalonia was now in disarray and the minister of the interior was left to personally attempt to regulate traffic into France. Those fleeing were subject to numerous aerial attacks, despite Franco’s orders to the contrary.
Those who did manage to escape to
France were placed in internment camps, the conditions of which were extremely poor. Despite still holding Madrid, with the military and industrial infrastructure of Catalonia gone the situation for the Republican Army was hopeless. Juan Negrin was deposed in a military coup and fled to France. For several years he would attempt to set up a government in exile, but with no success. Madrid would finally fall on 28 March 1939, marking the end of the Civil War. Soon after Franco declared his government, marking the beginning of his 36-year dictatorship.