The Battle of Lopera took place between 27 and 29 December 1936 during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. This battle took place during the Nationalist's Aceituna offensive. On 27 December, the XIV International Brigade launched an attack in order to occupy the Nationalist-held town of

Lopera Lopera is a city located in the Jaén (Spanish province), province of Jaén, Spain. According to the 2014 census, the municipality has a population of 3,837 inhabitants. History Spanish Civil War The Battle of Lopera took place between 27 and 29 ...

, but the attack failed after two days and the Brigade suffered appalling casualties.

Background

In December 1936, Queipo de Llano started an offensive in order to capture the olive-growing area of

Andújar Andújar () is a Spanish municipality of 38,539 people (2005) in the province of Jaén, in Andalusia. The municipality is divided by the Guadalquivir River. The northern part of the municipality is where the Natural Park of the Sierra de Andú ...

, province of Jaén. The Republic then sent the recently formed

XIV International Brigade 300px, A memorial commemorating the International Brigades The XIV International Brigade was one of several international brigades that fought for the Spanish Second Republic during the Spanish Civil War. History and structure It was raised on ...

to the Andújar front, in order to retake the town of

occupied by the Nationalists on 24 December.

The battle

On 27 December, the Brigade launched an attack in order to recover the town of Lopera. The XIV International Brigade (3,000 men), led by General Walter, had no training or telephone communications. Furthermore, they did not have air or artillery support. On this front the Nationalists had Commander Redondo's column with a shock brigade of Andalusian ''requetes'' (2,000 men) and 2,000 Moroccan ''regulares'' and Spanish cavalry. The brigadists were decimated by the Nationalists with machine gun fire, mortars and artillery. After 36 hours the attack was called off.

Aftermath

The Brigade had lost 800 men (300 dead), among them the English poets,

John Cornford Rupert John Cornford (27 December 1915 – 28 December 1936) was an English poet and communist. During the first year of the Spanish Civil War, he was a member of the POUM militia and later the International Brigades. He died while fighting a ...

and

Ralph Winston Fox Ralph Winston Fox (30 March 1900 – 28 December 1936) was a British revolutionary, journalist, novelist, and historian, best remembered as a biographer of Lenin and Genghis Khan. Fox was one of the best-known members of the Communist Party of ...

. The English company of the 10th battalion lost 78 men out of 145. After the battle,

André Marty André Marty (6 November 1886 – 23 November 1956) was a leading figure in the French Communist Party (PCF) for nearly thirty years. He was also a member of the National Assembly, with some interruptions, from 1924 to 1955; Secretary of Comintern ...

ordered the detention of the commander of the French battalion of the Brigade, Gaston Delasalle. Delasalle was accused of incompetence, cowardice and of being a fascist spy, and executed by firing squad.Thomas, Hugh. ''The Spanish Civil War.'' Modern Library. 2001. London. p.477

References

Bibliography

*Beevor, Antony. (2006). ''The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil war, 1936–1939.'' Penguin Books. London. . *Thomas, Hugh. (2001). ''The Spanish Civil War.'' Penguin Books. London. .

External links

Battle of Lopera
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1936 in Spain