The Central Region Army Group, es, Grupo de Ejércitos de la Región Central (''GERC''), was a military formation of the Spanish Republican Army during the last phase of the Spanish Civil War. It gathered the most powerful section of the republican military and would endure until the 1939 surrender. The ''GERC'' was under the command of general José Miaja Menant, the

Defence of Madrid The siege of Madrid was a two-and-a-half-year siege of the Republican-controlled Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist armies, under General Francisco Franco, during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The city, besieged from Oct ...

hero.

History

The Central Region Army Group was established on 16 April 1938 by means of an order of the general Staff of the Popular Republican Army. It sought to reorganize the Republican forces following the disastrous campaigns of the Aragon Offensive and the splitting of the

Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 A ...

an territory in two by the rebel faction. It was initially named "Group of Armies of the Central-Southern Zone" (''Agrupación de Ejércitos de la Zona Centro-Sur'') before being renamed as Central Region Army Group. At the time of its establishment it was composed by four armies, the Andalusian Army ''(Ejército de Andalucía)'', the

Extremaduran Army The Extremaduran Army ( es, Ejército de Extremadura), was a military formation of the Spanish Republican Army during the last phase of the Spanish Civil War. It was part of the Central Region Army Group ''(GERC)''. The Republican forces deploy ...

''(Ejército de Extremadura)'', Central Army ''(Ejército del Centro)'' and

Levantine Army The Levantine Army was a unit of the Spanish Republican Army that operated during the Spanish Civil War. Under its jurisdiction were the Republican forces originally deployed on the Teruel front and, later, on the Levante front. It played an import ...

''(Ejército de Levante)'', as well as 16 Army corps, 49 divisions and 138

mixed brigade Mixed brigade ( es, brigada mixta) was a basic tactical military unit of the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War. It was initially designed as “pocket division”, an innovative maneuverable combined-arms formation. Because of high sa ...

s. It also included a Coastal Defence brigade and the two

anti-aircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

brigades of the '' Defensa Contra Aeronaves'' (DCA). In June the same year, the

Eastern Region Army Group The Eastern Region Army Group, es, Grupo de Ejércitos de la Región Oriental (GERO), was a military formation of the Spanish Republican Army during the last phase of the Spanish Civil War. It was established in June 1938 as a response to the sp ...

''Grupo de Ejércitos de la Región Oriental (GERO)'' would be established as well. In December 1938 the ''GERC'' was scheduled to take part in General

Vicente Rojo Lluch Vicente Rojo Lluch (8 October 1894 – 15 June 1966) was Chief of the General Staff of the Spanish Armed Forces during the Spanish Civil War. Early life He was the posthumous son of a military man who fought against the Carlists and in t ...

's "

Plan P A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. F ...

", an ambitious project of an offensive campaign in Extremadura that would have taken place at the same time as a disembarkment within the enemy lines in

Motril Motril () is a town and municipality on the Mediterranean coast in the Granada, Spain. It is the second largest town in the province, with a population of 60,368 as of 2016. The town is located near the Guadalfeo River and is from Granada. Hi ...

, along with diversionary attacks in other places of Andalusia and the Madrid Front. However, in the face of the opposition of General Miaja and other Republican commanders to the implementation of the whole plan, it was not carried out to its full extent and the only action taken was the

Battle of Valsequillo The Battle of Valsequillo, also known as Battle of Peñarroya, was a diversionary Republican offensive which took place in the Sierra Morena area in southern Extremadura and the north of Andalusia between 5 January and 4 February 1939 during th ...

which resulted in failure shortly before having been initiated. Following the

fall of Catalonia The Catalonia Offensive ( ca, Ofensiva de Catalunya, es, Ofensiva de Cataluña) was part of the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalist Army started the offensive on 23 December 1938 and rapidly conquered Republican-held Catalonia with Barcelona (t ...

in February, on 2 March 1939 President Juan Negrín arranged for a reorganization of the Republican Armed Forces in the Central Zone, decreeing the disbandment of the ''GERC'', as well as a reorganization of the command structure.

Ángel Bahamonde Magro Ángel Bahamonde Magro (born 1949) is a Spanish historian. He is professor of Contemporary History at the Charles III University of Madrid (UC3M). Biography Born in Madrid in 1949, he earned a PhD in history from the Complutense University of M ...

''et al'' (2000); ''Así terminó la Guerra de España'', pág. 341 However, Segismundo Casado's coup that took place a few days later would hinder the implementation of these eleventh-hour measures.

Structure

References

Bibliography

* Alpert, Michael (1989); ''El Ejército Republicano en la Guerra Civil'', Siglo XXI de España, Madrid. * Engel Masoliver, Carlos (1999); ''Historia de las Brigadas mixtas del Ejército popular de la República, 1936-1939'', Editorial Almena, Madrid, 1999 . * * Salas Larrazábal, Ramón (2006); ''Historia del Ejército Popular de la República''. La Esfera de los Libros S.L. * Thomas, Hugh (1976); ''Historia de la Guerra Civil Española''. Círculo de Lectores, Barcelona.. {{Divisions of the Spanish Republic Military units and formations of the Spanish Civil War Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic Army groups of Spain Military units and formations established in 1938 Military units and formations disestablished in 1939

History

Structure

See also

References

Bibliography