La Cucaracha Spanish Civil War Diary July 1937

- July 1937 -

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"They shall not pass, July 1936 -
July 1937, We shall pass "

One year of civil war...

To gain time to the Republican troops in the north and eventually break the siege on Madrid, the Republican army starts a massive offensive at Brunete. This offensive is the first big action of the Negrin government and supervised by his Soviet advisors and the Spanish Communists. It is poorly planned, confused and will be disastrous for the Republican army.

Meanwhile Negrin is fulfilling the Communist demands for more control over the opposition in the Republic. Military and diplomatically the government is completely dependent upon the good will of the Soviet Union. Stalin's paranoid purges were at their height in the spring and summer 1937.

04 Jul *International Congress of Antifascist writers in Madrid, Valencia and Paris

06 Jul *The International Brigades launch a offensive at Brunete

The International Brigades under General Lister launch an offensive at Brunete, 15 miles (25 km) west of Madrid, to lift the siege of Madrid and give some release to the Basque army in the north. The Republic launch this attack with their best troops and equipment: Around 50.000 men of 4 International Brigades (mostly the divisions of the Generals Lister, Kleber and Campesino, ), 100 modern Russian tanks and 100 Russian planes (about half the Republican air force). The armament of the soldiers themselves is poor: they are supplied with machine guns, grenades and artillery of the first World War.

The Republican offensive at Brunete

08 Jul *Franco sends reinforcements to the Brunete front

With this the Brunete offensive reaches one of it main targets, the release of the Basque army, giving the Republican troops in the north the possibility to reorganize the resistance.
Franco sends 31 battalions, 7 batteries artillery and the complete Legion Condor (around 70 planes and several motorized units). The Legion Condor uses their new and improved ME 109 and Heinkel 111, superior to their Russian opponents. In one single day the Legion Condor destroys 21 Republican planes.

*09 Jul General Campesino (IB) takes Quijorna**
	General Campesino sitting on his white horse

*11 Jul Republican troops take Villaneuva del Pardillo**
	The Fascist reinforcements are reaching the Brunete Front, artillery and Legion Condor are hammering without pause on the Republican troops, both sides are suffering horrible losses.
	Abraham Lincoln Battalion (IB) advances against Mosquito Ridge, 9th July 1937.	Left picture: This picture was taken by Sam Walters, a machine gunner with the Lincolns, and is the last picture showing the Lincolns Commander Oliver Law, before being killed leading an attack against Fascists positions (Oliver Law is the officer standing in the center right). Oliver Law served in a machine gun company and soon became the commander of the battalion. It was the first time in American history that an integrated military force was led by an African-American officer. (Many thanks to Tibby Brooks for writing me about this). To read more about Oliver Law: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPlawO.htm

*12 Jul France opens border**
	Angry by the permanent and obvious breaks of the Nonintervention by the Fascist states, France opens its border for several days, allowing a big amount of armament from several countries to pass into the Spanish republic.

*14 Jul It is not allowed anymore to criticize the Soviet Union in the Republic**
	This censorship is aimed especially against the Anarchist and POUMist press and follows a large number of complaints by the Communist party and their press.

19 Jul *The Republican army retreats at Brunete, overwhelmed by the Fascist forces

Dead volunteer of the International Brigades

Until today the Republic, at terrible cost, held the bulge they created in taking Brunete. By this time, however, the Fascists concentrated an overhelming weight of artillery and air power, drawing uppon the supplies which had been accumulated for the Santander offensive in the north, whereas Republican reserves of both men and weapons had been entirely committed.
Hundreds of Republican soldiers who could have been saved their lives by earlier retreats (while the Republican air force by number was still able to fight the Legion Condor planes and keep them back), die running under the machine-gun fire of Heinkels and Messerschmidts. Gerda Taro, companion of Robert Capa, is heavily injured by an accident during the retreat.

26 Jul *Gerda Taro, injured in an accident during the retreat from Brunete, dies in hospital

Gerda Taro and Robert Capa

She came to Spain together with Robert Capa to cover the Spanish civil war for the world press. They fell in love with each other and continued their work together. Both had a new assignment covering the invasion of China by Japan. Robert Capa was already in Paris, preparing the journey, while Gerda Taro wanted to illustrate the Brunete offensive.
During the chaotic retreat under air attack from Brunete, she got mortally injured when a tank came out of control and collided with her car.

*26 Jul End of Brunete battle**
	The Republican forces are completely thrown back to a position only 5 km away from where they started the offensive. The Republic lost around 20.000 men and half their air force, the Fascist lost around 17.000 men.