Military Hospitals

This map shows the hospitals run by the Military Medical Services Unit established by the Basque government on October 13, 1936, just six days after the government itself was created. As part of the Defence Ministry, it reported directly to the Lehendakari (president), José Antonio de Aguirre, but it enjoyed broad operational autonomy. The unit was run by Dr. Fernando de Unceta, head of the emergency clinic of the large Compañía Euskalduna shipyard.  

During the Unit’s first weeks, the main tasks of its leadership were to work with the Ministry of Health to define its area of responsibility, confiscate buildings to use as military hospitals, and mobilize all available doctors, nurses, medical assistants, and orderlies and train them to be sent to the front. To date, 7,209 men and women who worked for the Unit in all capacities, including as barbers and administrators, have been identified. 

The Unit’s offices were located on the third floor of the Carlton Hotel in Bilbao, which was the site of the offices of the Basque government. It was divided into eleven sections, including: general administration; front line medical services; front line and home front hospitals; hygiene – including venereal diseases - anti-gas services; dental and stomotalogical services which ran mobile units for the front; and clinics for the barracks. There was a reorganization in 1937 which put front-line medical personnel under the command of the army, although this had little practical effect. 

The conquest of Bilbao by the rebels was a major blow to the Unit, as its director had fled a few days earlier. After the city fell, José Luis Arenillas Ojinaga was appointed to reorganize military medical services. He along with most of the other people in charge of the Unit were captured by the Francoists at Santoña. Arenillas Ojinaga was shot on December 18, 1937.