Battle of Menorca | |||||||
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Part of the Spanish Civil War | |||||||
Balearic islands. Menorca in blue | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Spanish Republic | Nationalist Spain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Adm. Luis González de Ubieta Marcelino Rodríguez † | Cpt. Fernando Sartorius y Díaz de Mendoza Col. Alfonso Useleti Maj. Pedro Pons Lt. Juan Thomas (WIA) [1] | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1 brigade | 3 battalions [2] |
The Battle of Menorca was a battle that took place in Menorca during the Spanish Civil War between 7 and 9 February 1939. It was one of the last battles of the war and the last confrontation in the Balearic Islands.
By 1939, the island of Menorca was the only Balearic island held by the Republicans, who were losing the war. After the Catalonia Offensive, a naval blockade by the Nationalists isolated the island from other Republican-held territory. Francisco Franco informed the British government that Italian troops would abandon the Balearic Islands after the war, and Britain agreed to arrange the surrender of the Republican garrison. [3]
On 8 January 1939, Admiral Luis González de Ubieta was transferred to Menorca to take the command of the Spanish Republican Navy base at Puerto Mahon. He also was given the authority to command all the Republican military forces on the island. [4]
On 7 February, the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Devonshire arrived in Mahón harbour with a Nationalist emissary, Fernando Sartorius, on board. Sartorius said to Ubieta that the Nationalist forces would occupy Menorca the next day, but Republican officers and supporters could abandon the island beforehand. The same day, three battalions of the Republican garrison led by officer Juan Thomas, a member of a Nationalist fifth column, occupied the Ciutadella after killing the Republican commander Marcelino Rodríguez. One brigade of Republican troops arrived from Mahon, defeating the rebel troops after a brief engagement and surrounding Ciutadella. Nevertheless, the Republican officers, convinced that any resistance under those circumstances was pointless, asked for safe passage to the mainland. The British eventually arranged the surrender of Menorca to the Nationalists onboard Devonshire. On 8 February, Italian and Nationalist bombers attacked Mahón. On the same day, Devonshire sailed to Marseille with 452 Republican refugees on board. [5] On 9 February, the 105th division of the Nationalist Army disembarked at Ciutadella and the remaining Republican troops surrendered. [6]
After the surrender of Menorca, many Republican officers in the central zone believed that they would negotiate a deal with the Nationalists, and then started to plan a coup against the Republican government of Juan Negrín. [7]
Menorca or Minorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Mahón, situated on the island's eastern end, although Menorca is not a province and forms a political union with the other islands in the archipelago. Ciutadella and Mahón are the main ports and largest towns. The port of Mahón is the second biggest natural port in the world.
Cabrera is an island in the Balearic Islands, Spain located in the Mediterranean Sea off the southern coast of Mallorca. A National Park, its highest point is Na Picamosques. Uninhabited, it’s administratively part of the city of Palma in Mallorca.
Mahón, officially Maó, and also written as Mahon or Port Mahon in English, is the capital and second largest city of Menorca. The city is located on the eastern coast of the island, which is part of the archipelago and autonomous community of the Balearic Islands.
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The final offensive of the Spanish Civil War took place between 26 March and 1 April 1939, towards the end of the Spanish Civil War. On 5 March 1939, the Republican Army, led by Colonel Segismundo Casado and the politician Julián Besteiro, rose against the socialist prime minister Juan Negrín, and formed a military junta, the National Defence Council to negotiate a peace deal. Negrín fled to France but the communist troops around Madrid rose against the junta, starting a civil war within the civil war. Casado defeated them and started peace negotiations with the Nationalists. Francisco Franco, however, was willing to accept only an unconditional surrender. On 26 March, the Nationalists started a general offensive and by 31 March, they controlled all of Spanish territory. Hundreds of thousands of Republicans were arrested and interned in concentration camps.
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