Antonio Sagardía Ramos (

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

, 5 January 1880 –

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 16 January 1962) 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 (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

and

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

who fought for the

Nationalist faction The Nationalist faction (), also Rebel faction () and Francoist faction () was a major faction in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It was composed of a variety of right-leaning political groups that supported the Spanish Coup of July 1936 ...

in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. He became known as the "Butcher of Pallars" (''carnicero de Pallars'') because of the massacre committed under his command in

Pallars Sobirà Pallars Sobirà () is a independent state in the northwest region of Alt Pirineu, in Spain. The name means "Upper Pallars", distinguishing it from the more populous (and less mountainous) Pallars Jussà to its southwest. Its capital and larges ...

. Jaume Cabré (2007); ''De stemmen van de Pamano'', pág. 99

Biography

Sagardía Ramos was born in the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese capital of

, in a Basque–Navarre family. He joined the

Spanish Army The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest Standing army, active armies – dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed ...

from a young age and in 1921 he rose to the rank of colonel. After the proclamation of the

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

in 1931, he accepted the

military reform A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

Manuel Azaña Manuel Azaña Díaz (; 10 January 1880 – 3 November 1940) was a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1933 and 1936), organizer of the Popular Front in 1935 and the la ...

(''Azaña Law'') and retired from the Army.

Role in the Spanish Civil War

Once the

began following the

Spanish coup of July 1936 The Spanish coup of July 1936( or, among the rebels, ) was a military uprising that was intended to overthrow the Spanish Second Republic, but precipitated the Spanish Civil War, in which Nationalists fought against Republicans for control o ...

, Sagardía Ramos was called by one of the rebel leaders, General

Emilio Mola Emilio Mola y Vidal (9 July 1887 – 3 June 1937) was a Spanish military officer who was one of the three leaders of the Nationalist coup of July 1936 that started the Spanish Civil War. After the death of José Sanjurjo on 20 July 1936, M ...

, to rejoin the Army. He immediately commanded a unit of

Falangist Falangism () was the political ideology of three political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española, the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS), and afterwa ...

volunteers with whom he intervened in the

Campaign of Gipuzkoa The campaign of Gipuzkoa was part of the Spanish Civil War, where the Nationalist Army conquered the northern province of Gipuzkoa, held by the Republic. Background In late July Mola's troops suffered a shortage of ammunition (having only 26,000 ...

. In August and September 1937, Sagardía Ramos took part in the

War in the North The War in the North () was a theatre of the Spanish Civil War that occurred in northern Spain from 31 March to 21 October 1937. The Nationalists launched a number of offensives into parts of the Basque Country, Santander (Cantabria), and ...

and participated in the

Battle of Santander The Battle of Santander was fought in the War in the North campaign of the Spanish Civil War during the summer of 1937. Santander's fall on 26 August assured the Nationalist conquest of the province of Santander, now Cantabria. The battle deva ...

, at the head of the so-called "Sagardía Column"; the unit exercised a harsh repression against the civilians and soldiers of the Republican faction, including numerous

extrajudicial killing An extrajudicial killing (also known as an extrajudicial execution or an extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, ...

s. After the War in the North ended, the "Sagardía Column" was reorganized as the 62nd Division of the , at the head of which he took part in the

Aragon Offensive The Aragon Offensive was an important military campaign during the Spanish Civil War, which began after the Battle of Teruel. The offensive, which ran from March 7, 1938, to April 19, 1938, smashed the Republican forces, overran Aragon, and con ...

. In April 1938, Sagardía's troops were deployed in the Battle of the Segre, in which they hardly encountered any resistance. Montse Armengou, Ricard Belis (2004); ''Las Fosas Del Silencio: ¿hay un Holocausto Español?'', pág. 143 But in the face of casualties suffered by his column after a Republican attack, he said: In May 1938, several extrajudicial killings took place that ravaged the Catalan ''comarca'' of

and resulted in 67 people shot, good part of them women, elderly and children. In January 1939, Sagardía Ramos participated in the

Catalonia Offensive The Catalonia Offensive (, ) 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 (the Republic's capital city from October 1937). Ba ...

. A few weeks later he participated in the so-called " final offensive" of the war, and on 30 March he entered

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...

at the head of his unit.Monumento a una columna franquista
/ref>

Post-war career

After the Civil War ended, he was appointed Inspector General of the new ''Policía Armada'', Montse Armengou, Ricard Belis (2005); ''El convoy de los 927'', Plaza & Janés, pág. 277 and as such he was part of the delegation that visited

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in September 1940. Ignacio Merino (2004); ''Serrano Suñer: conciencia y poder'', Algaba Ediciones, pág. 70 The following month, he was one of the personalities that received

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

, during his visit to Spain. He subsequently served as military governor of Cartagena.

Bibliography

* — (1940). ''Del Alto Ebro a las fuentes del Llobregat. Treinta y dos meses de guerra de la 62 División''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sagardia Ramos, Antonio 1880 births 1962 deaths Spanish people of Basque descent Military personnel from Zaragoza 20th-century Spanish military personnel Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (National faction) Spanish generals Spanish police officers Perpetrators of political repression in Francoist Spain Spanish anti-communists