Sebastián Pozas Perea (

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tribut ...

, 1876 – 1946) was a Spanish

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contex ...

and

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

Early life

Trained in the cavalry, Pozas undertook extended service in

Spanish Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, fighting in the Rif Wars and attaining the rank of

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

in 1926, by order of the

Miguel Primo de Rivera Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquess of Estella (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a dictator, aristocrat, and military officer who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during Spain's Restoration era. He deep ...

government. In the 1930s, Pozas served the Republic as

Director General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

of the ''

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard ( es, Guardia Civil, link=no; ) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the a ...

''.

Spanish Civil War

When the Nationalists rose against the government on June 18, 1936, leading to 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 Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, Pozas remained loyal and rallied large numbers of

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest a ...

and paramilitary units to the Republic. In the opening days of war he reorganized the loyal elements of the ''Guardia Civil'' into the '' Guardia Nacional Republicana''. Pozas briefly served as

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

before being put in command of the Army of the Center, in October 1936. Nearly overwhelmed along the Jarama in February 1937, the Army of the Centre ultimately flung back the Nationalist pincers closing around

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

after a bloody campaign culminating in the

Battle of Guadalajara The Battle of Guadalajara (March 8–23, 1937) saw the victory of the People's Republican Army (''Ejército Popular Republicano'', or EPR) and of the International Brigades over the Italian and Nationalist forces attempting to encircle Madrid d ...

. In May Pozas, who has been appointed commander of the Army of the East, led a costly attack toward

Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, al ...

that cost the Republic 10,000 casualties. Pozas led the Republican Army of the East at

Belchite Belchite is a municipality and town in the province of Zaragoza, Spain, about 40 km southeast of Zaragoza. It is the capital of Campo de Belchite ''comarca'' (administrative region) and is located in a plain surrounded by low hills, the highe ...

and

Teruel Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 35,675 in 2014 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with ...

. It is said that during the war he also joined the

PSUC The Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya, PSUC) was a communist political party active in Catalonia between 1936 and 1997. It was the Catalan branch of the Communist Party of Spain and the only party n ...

, though pro-

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

sources reject this claim.

Exile and death

In 1939, with the Republic defeated, Pozas journeyed to exileThomas, Hugh. (2001). ''The Spanish Civil War.'' Penguin Books. London. p.923 in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, where he died in 1946.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pozas Perea, Sebastian 1876 births 1946 deaths People from Zaragoza Spanish generals Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Spanish police officers Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Mexico Interior ministers of Spain