The Trenches of Madrid

Los Blázquez, in the province of Córdoba, was the site of the last Republican offensive of the war. The small town changed hands various times during the conflict, but it had been under Francoist control since June 1938. On January 9, at the same time as the front in Catalonia was collapsing, three Republican divisions attacked Los Blázquez. Drawing on the overwhelming superiority of his army, Franco immediately sent reinforcements and by January 23, the Republican attack had stalled. The rebels counter attacked the next day and by the 25th the battle was over. Hundreds of men on both sides were killed or taken prisoner while the front line had barely moved. After the war, thousands of men passed spent time in the concentration camp the Francoists established in Los Blázquez. 

The final offensive of the war took place on the Madrid front. This was the last rebel attempt to take the capital, something had they tried, and failed, to do since November 1936. And the Republicans scored one more victory, despite the favourable circumstances the rebels enjoyed. Hoping to convince France to agree to a negotiated surrender that preserved some Republican honor, on March 5, Col. Segismundo Casado had staged a military coup against the government of Juan Negrín. The next day, Negrín flew from Alicante to Toulouse and fighting broke out between Casado’s supporters and advocates of continuing resistance, especially Communist units. It last until March 12 and ended with a victory for Casado. Exactly how many people died in this internecine Republican conflict, but the number likely surpasses two thousand.  

In midst of the confusion, the Francoist officers and soldiers who attacked the capital on March 8 were convinced that the Republican troops would surrender, allowing them to enter Madrid unopposed. They were wrong. The Republicans put up a tenacious and effective resistance. Machine guns in the well-built trenches sliced through the 5,000 attackers. Five hundred were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. This short but brutal battle produced no movement in the front line. 

The Republicans did surrender en masse three weeks later. Many soldiers from the two sides embraced before the Francoists marched into Madrid and the Republicans into concentration camps. The trenches in the Casa de Campo park that protected Madrid are visible today, as the photograph shows.