87th Mixed Brigade

87th Mixed Brigade; 87.ª Brigada Mixta
	Standard of the Carabineros Corps
Active	March 1937– March 1939
Country	Spain
Branch	Spanish Republican Army
Type	Mixed Brigade
Role	Home Defence
Size	Four battalions: ; The 345, 346, 347, and 348
Part of	40th Division (1937 - 1939)
Garrison/HQ	Lorca
Engagements	Spanish Civil War ; Battle of Teruel ; Levante Offensive ;
Decorations	Medal of Bravery
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Carlos Amores Cantos ; Andrés Nieto Carmona

Last updated March 05, 2019

The 87th Mixed Brigade (Spanish : 87.ª Brigada Mixta),^[1] was a mixed brigade of the Spanish Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. It was formed in March 1937 with battalions of the Carabineros corps. Its first commander was Infantry Colonel Carlos Amores Cantos, who was succeeded by Militia Major Andrés Nieto Carmona.^[2]

Spanish or Castilian, is a Western Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain and today has hundreds of millions of native speakers in the Americas and Spain. It is a global language and the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese.

A mixed brigade was a tactical military formation of the Spanish Republican Army following the coup of July 1936 and the onset of the Spanish Civil War. It was the basic military unit of the Republican People's Army after its war-dictated 1936 reorganization.

The Spanish Republican Army was the main branch of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939.

History

The 87th Mixed Brigade was established in the spring 1937 in Lorca. During the instruction period the unit was under the command of Colonel Carlos Amores Cantos. At the onset of the Civil War Amores was Commander at the Nr 10 Mobilization and Reserve Center (Centro de Movilización y Reserva n° 10) at Calatayud and happened to be in Madrid. Later Colonel Amores handed over the command of the unit to Major Andrés Nieto Carmona.^[3] The Chief of Staff was Militia Captain Agustín Martínez.

Lorca, Spain Municipality in Murcia, Spain

Lorca is a municipality and city in the autonomous community of Murcia in southeastern Spain, 58 kilometres (36 mi) southwest of the city of Murcia. It had a population of 478,956 in 2010, up from the 2001 census total of 399,567. Lorca is the municipality with the largest surface area in Spain with 1,675.21 km² (646.80 sq mi). The city is home to Lorca Castle and the Collegiate church dedicated to St. Patrick.

Calatayud is a municipality in the Province of Zaragoza, within Aragón, Spain, lying on the river Jalón, in the midst of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range. It is the second-largest town in the province after the capital, Zaragoza, and the largest town in Aragón other than the three provincial capitals. It is the seat of the comarca of Calatayud.

Madrid is the capital of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has almost 3.3 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union (EU), smaller than only London and Berlin, and its monocentric metropolitan area is the third-largest in the EU, smaller only than those of London and Paris. The municipality covers 604.3 km² (233.3 sq mi).

Battle of Teruel

The 87th Mixed Brigade was soon sent to the Teruel Front and was put under the 40th Division. Before taking part in the Battle of Teruel Nieto was replaced by Militia Major Alfredo Ramos Gómez.

Teruel is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 35,675 in 2014 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with a very big daily variation on temperatures and its renowned jamón serrano, its pottery, its surrounding archaeological sites, rock outcrops containing some of the oldest dinosaur remains of the Iberian Peninsula, and its famous events: La Vaquilla del Ángel during the weekend closest to 10 July and "Bodas de Isabel de Segura" around the third weekend of February.

The Battle of Teruel was fought in and around the city of Teruel during the Spanish Civil War. The combatants fought the battle between December 1937 and February 1938, during the worst Spanish winter in twenty years. The battle was one of the bloodier actions of the war with the city changing hands several times, first falling to the Republicans and eventually being re-taken by the Nationalists. In the course of the fighting, Teruel was subjected to heavy artillery and aerial bombardment. The two sides suffered over 140,000 casualties between them in the two-month battle. It was a decisive battle of the war, as Francisco Franco's use of his superiority in men and material in regaining Teruel made it the military turning point of the war.

The unit had its baptism of fire at rebel-held Teruel, which it reached via the Escandón Pass along the Sagunto road, occupying the Vértice Castellar and Castralvo, arriving within 500 m of Teruel town. On 21 December the 87th Mixed Brigade attacked the city from the left sector of the right flank, arriving the next day to the Torico Square in the center and taking over the Guardia Civil headquarters and the Cathedral.^[4] Following this it laid siege to the Seminary building. It left the city on 31 December and on 17 January 1938 it was in the vanguard, trying to contain the enemy advance. On 25 January it tried to conquer the El Muletón —an emblematic hill that rises above the Alfambra River valley, but its effort ended in failure and the unit was relieved by the 222nd Mixed Brigade.^[1]

The Escandón Pass is a mountain pass in Teruel Province, Aragon, Spain. It is located in La Puebla de Valverde municipal term, in the Sierra de Gúdar and Sierra de Javalambre zone, where the Iberian System ranges begin to descend towards the sea.

Sagunto Municipality in Valencian Community, Spain

Sagunto is a town in Eastern Spain, in the modern fertile comarca of Camp de Morvedre in the province of Valencia. It is located c. 30 km north of Valencia, close to the Costa del Azahar on the Mediterranean Sea.

Teruel Cathedral or Catedral de Santa María de Mediavilla de Teruel is a Roman Catholic church in Teruel. Dedicated to St. Mary, it is a notable example of Mudéjar architecture. Together with other churches in the town and in the province of Zaragoza, it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.

Later phase and end of the unit

The 87th Mixed Brigade later took part in the effort to contain the Levante Offensive where it was more successful that at Teruel. Together with its division it the unit was collectively awarded the Medal of Bravery. Even so, it could not contain the advance of the enemy, it only managed to delay it. Slowly, it withdrew together with other units until reaching the protection afforded by the XYZ Line. At the end of the war and the surrender of the Spanish Republic, the 87th Mixed Brigade was part of the reserve of the Levantine Army.^[1]

The Levante Offensive, launched near the end of March 1938, was an attempt by Nationalist forces under Francisco Franco to capture the Republican held city of Valencia during the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalists occupied the province of Castellón, but the offensive failed due to bad weather and the dogged resistance of the Republican troops at the XYZ defensive line.

The XYZ Line, or Matallana Line, was a system of fortifications built during the Spanish Civil War in order to defend the capital of the Second Spanish Republic in Valencia, Spain. Unlike the Maginot Line, or the Iron Belt of Bilbao, which were expensive systems of fortifications and bunkers made of reinforced concrete, the XYZ Line was a simpler system of defenses in depth consisting of trenches and bunkers that took advantage of some of the most difficult terrain in Spain in the Iberian System ranges to the north and northeast of Valencia. The defenses were built to withstand bombardment by either heavy artillery or 1,000-pound aerial bombs.

Related Research Articles

<i>Carabineros</i> Spanish law enforcement agency

The Carabineros was an armed carabiniers force of Spain under both the monarchy and the Second Republic. The formal mission of this paramilitary gendarmerie was to patrol the coasts and borders of the country, operating against fraud and smuggling. As such the Carabineros performed the dual roles of frontier guards and customs officials.

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References

1 2 3 "República - EPR - 87 B.M." Retrieved 6 October 2017.
↑ Carlos Engel, Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del E. P. de la República, 1999; p. 83
↑ Pedro Corral (2004). Si me quieres escribir: la batalla de Teruel, Debolsillo, pp. 36-37
↑ Pedro Corral (2004). Si me quieres escribir: la batalla de Teruel, Debolsillo, pp. 95-96

Bibliography

Alpert, Michael. The Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939, Cambridge University Press. 2013. ISBN 978-1107028739
Engel, Carlos. Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del E. P. de la República, Almena. Madrid. 1999. ISBN 84-922644-7-0
Salas Larrazábal, Ramón. Historia del Ejército Popular de la República, La Esfera de los Libros, Madrid. 2006. ISBN 84-9734-465-0

Michael Alpert is a klezmer and Yiddish singer, multi-instrumentalist, scholar and educator and has been called a key figure in the klezmer revival of the 1970s and 1980s. He has played in a number of groups since that time, including An-Sky Ensemble, Brave Old World, Khevrisa, Kapelye, The Brothers Nazaroff and Voices of Ashkenaz, as well as with clarinetist David Krakauer, hip-hop artist Socalled and bandurist Julian Kytasty. Alpert is also a noted teacher and researcher of Yiddish traditional dance and has worked to see dance retake its traditional place in connection with klezmer music. He is a recipient of the 2015 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Alpert has continued to perform through 2017.

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External links

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[SBHAC-1] 1 2 3 "República - EPR - 87 B.M." Retrieved 6 October 2017.

[p83-2] Carlos Engel, Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del E. P. de la República, 1999; p. 83

[3] Pedro Corral (2004). Si me quieres escribir: la batalla de Teruel, Debolsillo, pp. 36-37

[4] Pedro Corral (2004). Si me quieres escribir: la batalla de Teruel, Debolsillo, pp. 95-96