2nd Mixed Brigade

2nd Mixed Brigade; Segunda Brigada Mixta
	Military flag of the Popular Army
Active	1936–1939
Country	Spain
Branch	Spanish Republican Army
Type	Mixed Brigade
Role	Home Defence
Size	Four battalions: ; The 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th
Part of	7th Division (1936 - 1937); 10th Division (1937 - 1938); 64th Division (1938 - 1939)
Garrison/HQ	Madrid
Engagements	Spanish Civil War
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Jesús Martínez de Aragón

Last updated March 05, 2019

The Second Mixed Brigade (Spanish : 2ª Brigada Mixta),^[1]^[2] was a mixed brigade of the Spanish Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. It was formed in October 1936 as a result of the reorganization of the Spanish Republican Armed forces.

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 Second Mixed Brigade was established on 13 October 1936 in Ciudad Real with Extremaduran militias and railroad workers as well as standard troops that had been previously garrisoned in Madrid. It was placed under the 7th Division of the II Army Corps. The command of the unit was entrusted to Major Jesús Martínez de Aragón and its commissar was Felipe Gómez Hernando.^[1]

Ciudad Real is a city in Castile–La Mancha, Spain, with a population of c. 75,000. It is the capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It has a stop on the AVE high-speed rail line and has begun to grow as a long-distance commuter suburb of Madrid, which is located 115 miles (185 km) to the north of Ciudad Real.

Extremadura is an autonomous community of the western Iberian Peninsula whose capital city is Mérida, recognised by the Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura. It is made up of the two largest provinces of Spain: Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by the provinces of Salamanca and Ávila to the north; by provinces of Toledo and Ciudad Real to the east, and by the provinces of Huelva, Seville, and Córdoba (Andalusia) to the south; and by Portugal to the west. Its official language is Spanish.

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).

Defence of Madrid

On 15 November the Second Mixed Brigade set out by railway towards Madrid. It arrived at Huerta in two separate groups and continued on foot until reaching the area between Ocaña and Noblejas onward to the first line of fire. On 17 November it was sent by General Miaja as a reserve unit at the front of the Ciudad Universitaria where it had to face the feared Regulares African troops.^[3] Made up of a machine-gun company and three infantry companies, the 2 mixed brigade covered repeatedly the vanguard of the sector between the southern wall of the Casa de Campo and the Puerta del Ángel. In the Ciudad Universitaria battle the 2nd mixed brigade suffered so many losses that it had to be withdrawn in March 1937 in order to be regrouped.

Huerta de la Obispalía is a municipality in Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 152.

Ocaña, a town and municipality of central Spain, in the province of Toledo. It is located on the extreme north of the tableland known as the Mesa de Ocaña, and has a station on the railway from Aranjuez to Cuenca.

Noblejas is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 3332 inhabitants.

After the regrouping it became part of the 10th Division of the I Army Corps. From 9 to 14 April the brigade was sent to an attack against the Cerro Garabitas that did not achieve any positive result but caused multiple casualties, among them the death of its commander Jesús Martínez de Aragón. He was replaced by Militia Major José Gallego Pérez, formerly of the Military Engineering Corps, who led one of the battalions. Owing to the many losses the brigade had to be reassembled again.^[1]

The 2nd Mixed Brigade took part in the Battle of Brunete, where on 7 July it secured Villanueva del Pardillo, maneuvering between the Aulencia and Guadarrama Rivers. The following day it took part in the storming of the Villafranca Castle, after which it went to relieve troops of the 31st Division in the Villanueva de la Cañada sector. Following the scant success of the unit at the Battle of Brunete Commander José Gallego was replaced by Militia Major Ignacio Esnaola Iraola and the 2nd Brigade returned to the frontline of the Defence of Madrid in the Monte Panarra sector where it remained, almost without interruption until spring 1938.

The Battle of Brunete, fought 24 kilometres (15 mi) west of Madrid, was a Republican attempt to alleviate the pressure exerted by the Nationalists on the capital and on the north during the Spanish Civil War. Although initially successful, the Republicans were forced to retreat from Brunete and suffered devastating casualties from the battle.

Villanueva del Pardillo is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain.

Villanueva de la Cañada is a municipality in the west of the Comunidad de Madrid (España), north-west of the city of Madrid. It borders Valdemorillo and Villanueva del Pardillo to the North, Majadahonda, Boadilla del Monte and Villaviciosa de Odón to the East, Brunete to the South and borders Quijorna to the West.

Eastern Front

The Francoist Aragon Offensive had devastating effects on the Spanish Republican military for the rebel armies eastward thrust reached the coastal town of Vinaròs and broke the Spanish Republican territory in two. Following these events the 2nd Mixed Brigade was sent to the Eastern Front (Frente de Levante).

Its aim was to cut across the Maestrazgo ranges in order to try to hinder the progress of General Aranda's troops. By 22 April it covered the sector Vilafranca-Cantavieja-La Iglesuela del Cid, where its troops were decimated by the rebels. Following the heavy loss of lives the 2nd Mixed Brigade had suffered in the harsh mountain area, it was unfit for battle action and was sent to a defensive position in the Eastern Front until the end of the year in order to be rebuilt.^[1]

Extremaduran Front and end of the brigade

In the first half of January 1939 the somewhat rebuilt brigade was integrated in the 64th Division of the XVII Army Corps and was sent west to the Sierra Morena in the Hinojosa del Duque-Valsequillo sector of the Extremaduran front line. The unit's renewed command structure consisted of Militia Major Carlos Cornejo as commander, Infantry Captain Joaquín Segado Sánchez as Chief of Staff and Antonio Jiménez Soler, a member of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) as commissar. Its mission was to obstruct the enemy encirclement of the loyalist troops who were trapped in the Valsequillo pocket.

Once in the combat area the 2nd Mixed Brigade attacked the rebel armies in Sierra Trapera and in Mocitas-Mataborrachas in the border area between Extremadura and NW Andalusia.^[4] In the height of the battle it was sent towards the inner area of the pocket in order to cover the withdrawal of the trapped Republican units. In these combat actions the Second Mixed Brigade had to bear so many losses that its size had to be reduced to two battalions for the second time in its history. Subsequently the brigade was gathered in Santa Eufemia, Andalusia, in order to recover and eventually to be re-established, but by then it was the last month of the war and its final fate is unknown, although it seems that it returned to the Eastern Front.^[1]^[2]

Commanders

Commanders in Chief
Commissars
- Felipe Gómez Hernando
- Antonio Jiménez Soler

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References

1 2 3 4 5 SBHAC - Brigadas Mixtas del Ejército Popular, 2ª Brigada Mixta
1 2 3 Carlos Engel, Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del E. P. de la República, 1999
↑ Jules Stewart, Madrid: The History, I. B. Tauris, 2013, ISBN 9781780762814
↑ Mataborrachas, España - Nombres Geográficos

External links

Ministerio de Defensa Nacional; Diario Oficial, 8 Feb. 1938

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[SBHAC-1] 1 2 3 4 5 SBHAC - Brigadas Mixtas del Ejército Popular, 2ª Brigada Mixta

[CE-2] 1 2 3 Carlos Engel, Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del E. P. de la República, 1999

[JS-3] Jules Stewart, Madrid: The History, I. B. Tauris, 2013, ISBN 9781780762814

[4] Mataborrachas, España - Nombres Geográficos