Siege of Gijón

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Siege of Gijón

Date	July 19 - August 16, 1936
Location	Gijón, Asturias, Spain
Result	Republican victory

Combatants

Second Spanish Republic

Nationalist Spain

Commanders

Manuel Otero

Antonio Pinilla †

Strength

Unknown

180 regulars and militia

Casualties

Unknown

180 dead or wounded

Spanish Civil War
Alcázar – Gijón – Mérida – Mallorca – Badajoz – Sierra Guadalupe – Monte Pelato – Talavera – Cape Espartel – Madrid – Corunna Road – Málaga – Jarama – Guadalajara – Guernica – Brunete – Santander – Belchite – El Mazuco – Cape Cherchell – Teruel – Cape Palos – Ebro Chronology: 1936 1937 1938-9

The Siege of Gijón took place in the Spanish Civil War between July 19 and August 16, 1936. An army of Anarchist militia—nominally fighting in defence of the Republic—laid siege to the Simancas Barracks in the city of Gijón. These were defended by about 180 soldiers and Guardia Civil officers who had risen in support of General Franco's rebellion and seized the post for the Nationalists. The battle was remarkable for its viciousness and the stubbornness of the besieged.^[1]

1 Background
2 The Siege
3 Notes
4 References

[edit] Background

The Nationalist rising 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 totalled in the 70,000 range, forming the backbone of a disciplined and fearless militia.

Against such opposition the Military Governor of Gijón, Colonel Pinilla, dared not declare his loyalty to Franco. Few were fooled, and by late July his outpost was surrounded and cut off from General Mola's Army of the North by several hundred miles of enemy territory. From the lonely Atlantic vain support was offered by the Nationalist cruiser Almirante Cervera, whose guns bore down on the Anarchists but offered no hope of relief.

[edit] The Siege

The Almirante Cervera, here pictured, received the final sad dispatch of the siege.

The battle for Gijón was marked by Pinilla's fanatical 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 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. However, the cruiser didn't open fire fearing a trick from the revolutionaries to bomb their own troops. The defenders were murdered by the revolutionaries.