July 1936 military uprising in Melilla

Armed Uprising against the II Spanish Republic

July 1936 military uprising in Melilla

Part of the Spanish Civil War
| Date| 17–18 July 1936 (1936-07-17 – 1936-07-18)

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Location|

Melilla and Ceuta in Spain
Tetuán and Larache in Spanish protectorate in Morocco

Result|  Nationalist victory: rebels seized Melilla, Ceuta and the Spanish protectorate in Morocco
Belligerents
Spanish Republic|  Nationalist rebels
Commanders and leaders
Maj. Gen. Agustín Gomez Morato (POW)
Gen. Manuel Romerales
Cpt. Virgilio Leret Ruiz
Plácido Álvarez|  Col. E. Sáenz de Buruaga
Lt. Col. Darío Gazapo Valdés
Lt. Col. Juan Seguí Almuzara
Lt. Col. Luis Solans
Lt. Col. Juan Yagüe Blanco
Casualties and losses
189 executed|  Unknown

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Spanish Civil War

* Background
* List of battles

July 1936 uprising / Revolution

* Melilla
* Tetouan
* Seville
* 1st Barcelona
* Cuartel de la Montaña
* Gijón
* Oviedo
* Cuartel de Loyola

1936

* German intervention
* Guadarrama
* Andalusia
* Alcázar
* Extremadura
* Convoy de la Victoria
* Almendralejo
* Sigüenza
* 1st Mérida
* Badajoz
* Majorca
* Sierra Guadalupe
* Córdoba
* Gipuzkoa
* Irún
* Monte Pelado
* Talavera
* Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza
* Guinea
* Cerro Muriano
* Cape Spartel
* Seseña
* Madrid
* Ciudad Universitaria
* 1st Corunna Road
* Villarreal
* Ursula
* Aceituna
* Lopera
* 2nd Corunna Road

1937

* 3rd Corunna Road
* Málaga
* Road massacre
* Jarama
* Cape Machichaco
* Guadalajara
* Pozoblanco
* War in the North
* Cantabrian Sea
* Biscay
* Durango
* Guernica
* Bilbao
* Santander
* Asturias
* El Mazuco
* Jaén
* 2nd Barcelona
* Deutschland
* Almería
* Segovia
* Huesca
* Albarracín
* Brunete
* Zaragoza
* 1st Belchite
* Cape Cherchell
* Sabiñánigo
* 1st Lérida
* Teruel

1938

* Valladolid
* Alfambra
* Cape Palos
* Aragon
* 2nd Belchite
* 3rd Barcelona
* Caspe
* 2nd Lérida
* 1st Gandesa
* Segre
* Levante
* Balaguer
* Los Blázquez
* Alicante
* Granollers
* Bielsa
* 2nd Mérida
* Ebro
* 2nd Gandesa
* Cantabria
* Cabra
* Sant Vicenç de Calders

1939

* Catalonia
* Valsequillo
* Xàtiva
* La Garriga
* Minorca
* Cartagena
* Final offensive

The July 1936 military uprising in Melilla occurred at the start of the Spanish Civil War. The rebels seized the main garrisons of the Spanish Army in Africa, and by 18 July, had crushed the resistance of the army officers loyal to the Republican government. Supporters of the Second Spanish Republic were detained or shot.

## Background

[edit]

One of the main goals of the Spanish coup of July 1936 was to secure Spanish Morocco, as the Spanish Army of Africa was the primary shock force of the Spanish Republican Army. This force comprised were Spanish regular soldiers, the Spanish Legion, and Moroccan mercenaries known as Regulares. Most of their officers supported the plot and rejected the liberal democracy. Only a handful of officers, such as General Manuel Romerales (commander-in-chief of the Spanish Army in Morocco), General Gomez Morato, and the high commissioner, Placido Alvarez Buylla, were loyal to the Republic,[1] The Spanish workers in Morocco were unarmed and isolated from the Moroccan population.[2]

## Coup

[edit]

### 17 July: Melilla

[edit]

The leader of the plot, Emilio Mola, had ordered the Army of Africa to revolt at 5 a.m. on 18 July. However the plan was discovered by Republican officers of Melilla on 17 July, prompting the leader of the plot in the city, Colonel Segui, to initiate the uprising. Segui arrested General Romerales[3] and seized the radio station proclaiming the estado de guerra.[1] The Legionnaries, the Regulares, and the Assault Guards in Melilla joined to the rising. Seizing key buildings, they crushed the resistance in the working class quarters. General Romerales, the major of Melilla, the government delegate, the aerodrome commander,[4] Virgilio Leret Ruiz, and all those who resisted the rebellion were shot.[5] When General Morato discovered the uprising, he took an airplane to Melilla, but was arrested by the rebels upon landing.[6]

### 17 July: Ceuta and Tetuán

[edit]

See also: Bombing of Tetouan

Seguí then telephoned Ceuta and Tetuán and sent a telegraph to Franco at Las Palmas.[7] Colonel Juan Yagüe Blanco, with the II Battalion of the Spanish Legion,[8] seized Ceuta while Colonel Saenz de Buruaga, with the V Bandera of the Spanish Legion,[8] took Tetuán.[8]

The rebel troops in Ceuta occupied the working class districts and killed prominent unionists and the major of the city,[2] and in Tetuán, the Foreign Legion seized the Casa del pueblo and executed the union officers and all persons found with arms.[1] Furthermore, Colonel Jan Luis Beigbeder gained the support of the Grand Vizier of Tetuán, Mulay Hassan, and Moroccan volunteers started to join the rebellion.[9]

### 18 July

[edit]

In Larache the coup started at two o'clock in the morning of 18 July. Several engagements followed in which five assault guards and two rebel officers were killed, but by dawn the town was in the hands of the rebels.[8] By mid-morning the only remaining centres of resistance were the High Commissioner's residence and the air force base at Tetuán.

The rebels threatened to bomb both and after a few hours the defenders surrendered to the Nationalists;[1] all of them were executed, among them the high commissioner and the Major de la Puente Bahamonde – Francisco Franco's cousin.[6] The same day, the workers of Tetúan and Melilla attempted a general strike, but were crushed by the insurgent troops.[1]

### Nationalist repression

[edit]

On his secret instructions of 30 June for the coup in Morocco, Mola ordered: "to eliminate left-wing elements, communists, anarchists, union members, etc".[10] The same day as the rising all the members of trade unions, left-wing parties, Masonic lodges and anyone known to have voted for the Popular Front were arrested.[5] On the first night, the Nationalists executed 189 civilians and soldiers.[11] On 20 July, the Nationalists opened their first Francoist concentration camp in Melilla.[12]

## Aftermath

[edit]

By 18 July, the Spanish Army of Africa had seized all of Spanish Morocco and crushed the resistance. The same day, Francisco Franco started the rising in the Canary Islands. Then he took a De Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft, paid for by Luis Bolín, and flew to Casablanca in French Morocco.[13] On 19 July, Franco continued on to Tetuan and appointed himself chief of the Spanish Army in Morocco.

Most of the Republican Navy remained loyal to the government. The loyal ships patrolled the Strait of Gibraltar and Spanish Morocco was isolated from the rebel-held cities in Andalusia; Seville, Cadiz, Cordoba and Granada). Nevertheless, with the aid of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, the Nationalists managed to transport the Army of Africa's troops to the mainland and start their advance towards Madrid.[12]

## See also

[edit]

* List of Spanish Nationalist military equipment of the Spanish Civil War
* List of Spanish Republican military equipment of the Spanish Civil War

## Footnotes

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e Jackson 1967, p. 232.
2. ^ a b Beevor 2006, p. 56.
3. ^ Thomas 2001, pp. 204–205.
4. ^ Thomas 2001, p. 208.
5. ^ a b Thomas 2001, p. 205.
6. ^ a b Beevor 2006, p. 57.
7. ^ Thomas 2001, pp. 205–206.
8. ^ a b c d Thomas 2001, p. 206.
9. ^ Thomas 2001, pp. 206–207.
10. ^ Beevor 2006, p. 88.
11. ^ Beevor 2006, pp. 55–57.
12. ^ a b Beevor 2006, p. 64.
13. ^ Beevor 2006, p. 63.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Beevor, A. (2006). The Battle for Spain. London: Penguin. ISBN 9780143037651.
* Jackson, G. (1967). The Spanish Republic and the Civil War. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691007571.
* Thomas, H. (2001). The Spanish Civil War. New York: Modern Library. ISBN 9780375755156.

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Melilla

Architecture|

* Bienes de interés cultural in Melilla (es)
* Melilla border fence
* Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro
* Melilla Airport
* Melilla la Vieja
* Transport in Melilla

Geography|

* Río de Oro

History|

* Conquest of Melilla
* Siege of Melilla (1774–1775)
* First Melillan campaign
* Second Melillan campaign
* July 1936 military uprising in Melilla
* COVID-19 pandemic in Melilla

Politics|

* 2007 Morocco–Spain diplomatic conflict
* People's Party of Melilla
* Coalition for Melilla
* Melilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
* 2019 Melilla Assembly election
* List of governors of Melilla
* Mayor-President of Melilla
* Statute of Autonomy of Melilla

Sport|

* Royal Melillan Football Federation
* Ceuta-Melilla derby
* Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol in Ceuta and Melilla
* Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro

Teams|

* Casino del Real (dissolved)
* Huracán Melilla
* Melilla CD
* Melilla CF (dissolved)
* SD Melilla (dissolved)
* UD Melilla (1943) (dissolved)
* UD Melilla
* UD Melilla B
* Melilla Baloncesto
* Rusadir (dissolved)
* Tercio

Other|

* Coat of arms of Melilla
* Flag of Melilla
* Haketia
* Melilla Airlines

*[POW]: Prisoner of war
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