Riotinto Mining Column | |
---|---|
Columna minera de Riotinto | |
Active | 18 July–19 July 1936 |
Country | Spanish Republic |
Allegiance | Republicans |
Type | Militia |
Role | Demolition |
Size | 250 [1] |
Garrison/HQ | Riotinto |
Engagements | Spanish Civil War: Military uprising in Seville |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Luis Cordero Bel, Juan Gutiérrez Prieto, Rafael Jurado Chacon |
The Riotinto Mining Column was a grouping of volunteer fighters formed on 18 July 1936 from the Riotinto mining basins of Huelva to transport dynamite to Seville. The plan was for the miners to join a group of republican civil guards and assault guards in La Palma del Condado, so that they could enter Seville together. However, the commander of these guards betrayed his command, joined the nationalists, and on the morning of 19 July, ambushed the mining column in La Pañoleta, on the outskirts of Seville. The guards machine-gunned the miners, blowing up the dynamite, and killing and catching many of them. A military officer broadcast on the radio that they were coming to "blow up the Giralda and the cathedral".[ citation needed ]
When the July 1936 military uprising in Seville took place on 18 July, fighting broke out between rebellious soldiers and those loyal to the Government. Sebastián Pozas ordered that miners with explosives, assault guards, civil guards and carabineros be sent to Seville to help put down the coup attempt. [3]
I recommend that you mobilize the entire mining population and use explosives to annihilate these terrorist gangs, trusting the arrival of the military column that is advancing on Cordoba and Seville, in a triumphant race that in a short time will annihilate those remains of factional traitors who indulge in the crudest and most cruel vandalism in their last gasps of life
The column was formed in the Huelva municipalities of Riotinto, Nerva and Calañas that same afternoon. It was made up of several hundred left-wing party and union activists, mainly miners, led by Luis Cordero Bel. [5] Juan Gutiérrez Prieto and Rafael Jurado Chacon. [6] Along the way they were joined by volunteers from the Huelva municipalities of Valverde del Camino and San Juan del Puerto. [7]
Their main armament was a shipment of 250 kg of dynamite. [7] They also had some rifles. Their means of transport was 14 trucks seized from the Rio Tinto Company, including two artisan armored vehicles, [7] as well as some passenger cars and motorcycles. [5] [8]
The column undertook a route to Seville bypassing Valverde del Camino and La Palma del Condado because the plan was to join some 120 civil guards and assault guards sent from Huelva by the civil governor. But these guards had previously reached La Palma, and followed the nationalists to Seville and joining them there. [5]
Very early on 19 July the column continued on its way to Seville. In Castilleja del Campo they seized some shotguns; then in Castilleja de la Cuesta they stopped for breakfast. [5]
In Castilleja de la Cuesta a car passed by the column without being disturbed. In it were two Falangists, who went to the center of Seville and joined the rebels. [5] At 10:00, the commander-in-chief of the nationalist forces in Andalusia ordered the civil guards, who had arrived from Huelva the night before, to intercept the column. [9]
The guards drove their vehicles to Castilleja, bypassing La Algaba to avoid the barricades erected in Triana by the popular militias. Passing through Camas they stopped to liquidate the leftist resistance and put the city council into right-wing hands. [5]
At twelve o'clock on 19 July, when arriving at the "Cuesta del Caracol" in the neighborhood of La Pañoleta, the column fell into an ambush set up by the civil guards. A confused verbal exchange ensued, after which the guards machine-gunned the miners. One or more of the trucks loaded with dynamite exploded. [5] 25 miners died and 71 were taken prisoner. Some trucks were able to turn around and flee while the rest of the column broke up on foot. [10]
The captured miners were tried by the nationalists in a council of war. Three died in Seville prisons. Of the remaining 68, all but one, a minor, were sentenced to death on 29 August and shot. [11] [10] The Nationalist faction used the mining column episode in its propaganda, accusing the miners of having intended to "blow up Seville" [12] or more specifically the Giralda. [13]
In 2007 the town hall of Camas erected a monolith in memory of the Huelva mining column. In 2014 the remains of nine of the miners were found, buried in the old Camas cemetery. [14]
Huelva is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the province of Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits between the estuaries of the Odiel and Tinto rivers on the Atlantic coast of the Gulf of Cádiz. According to the 2010 census, the city had a population of 149,410.
Castilleja de la Cuesta is a town and municipality in the province of Seville, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.
Evaristo Márquez Contreras was a Spanish sculptor.
The Diocese of Huelva is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church located in south-western Spain, and its borders coincide with those of the civil province of Huelva, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. The diocese forms part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Seville, and is thus suffragan to the Archdiocese of Seville.
Condado de Huelva is a Spanish Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) for wines located in the south-east of the province of Huelva. The wines, known as the Wines of the Discovery of America, are produced there.
Rociana del Condado is a town located in the province of Huelva, Andalusia, Spain.
The Spanish coup of July 1936 was a military uprising that was intended to overthrow the Spanish Second Republic but precipitated the Spanish Civil War; Nationalists fought against Republicans for control of Spain. The coup was organized for 18 July 1936, although it started the previous day in Spanish Morocco. Instead of resulting in a prompt transfer of power, the coup split control of the Spanish military and territory roughly in half. The resulting civil war ultimately led to the establishment of a nationalist regime under Francisco Franco, who became ruler of Spain as caudillo.
The July 1936 military uprising in Seville was part of a nationwide coup d'état in Spain, launched by part of the Spanish army. It was supposed to topple local Republican administrations in Seville and western Andalusia. The uprising commenced on 18 July 1936, led by general Gonzalo Queipo de Llano. The rebels overpowered regional military command and some key units without a shot being fired, but were offered resistance by Guardia de Asalto, subordinated to the civil governor José María Varela; it was overcome later in the day. The days of 19–22 July were mostly about seizing the districts of Triana, Macarena and San Julián; they were controlled by revolutionary trade unions and radical left-wing militias. On 23 July Queipo was fully in control. The successful coup in Seville proved of vital importance for the rebels nationwide; the insurgent pocket in south-western Andalusia enabled the shift of the Army of Africa to the peninsula, and then its rapid advance towards Madrid.
The Battle of Guadarrama, also known as the Battle of Somosierra, was a battle that occurred in the Sierra de Guadarrama during the Spanish Civil War from 22 July to 15 September 1936.
The Córdoba offensive was a failed Republican offensive against the Nationalist held city of Cordoba. It took place from 19 to 22 August 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.
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Gonzalo Queipo de Llano y Sierra was a Spanish Army general. He distinguished himself quickly in his career, fighting in Cuba and Morocco, later becoming outspoken about military and political figures which led to his imprisonment, removal from posts and involvement in plots against Spanish governments. He was a Nationalist military leader during the Spanish Civil War under Francisco Franco, gaining the soubriquet "El general de la radio" for his threats and explicitness on air. Under his control of southern Spain, tens of thousands of Spaniards perished as part of the Nationalists' White Terror. In his post-war roles he was effectively sidelined by Franco.
The Asturian Miners Column was a popular militia that fought for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War in the Province of León. On the night of 18 July 1936, a special train full of miners left Asturias for Madrid, in order to defend the constitutional order. The train, after passing through León, returned to Asturias from Benavente on 21 July. A part of the mining column participated in the defense of Ponferrada.
José Fernández de Villa-Abrille y Calivara was a Spanish general in charge of the Seville garrison who capitulated to rebel forces at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
Manuel Díaz Criado was a Spanish infantry officer. With a reputation as a brutal sadist, he was during the Spanish Civil War responsible for the arrest, sexual abuse, torture and execution of thousands of people in the regions of Andalucia and Extremadura who opposed the Nationalist military uprising. The crimes frequently extended to the relatives and the associates of those targeted.
José Cuesta Monereo was a senior Spanish army officer, regarded as the planner of the Spanish coup of July 1936 in Seville at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, and thereafter other areas, initially under the command of general Gonzalo Queipo de Llano. The plans resulted in the abuse, torture and murder of thousands of local people.
The Rio Tinto Company Limited (RTC) was one of the founding companies of the Rio Tinto Group conglomerate, which was responsible of the exploitation of the Riotinto-Nerva mining basin in Minas de Riotinto between 1873 and 1954.
The Riotinto-Nerva mining basin is a Spanish mining area located in the northeast of the province of Huelva (Andalusia), which has its main population centers in the municipalities of El Campillo, Minas de Riotinto and Nerva, in the region of the Cuenca Minera. It is also part of the Iberian Pyrite Belt.
The Andalusia Campaign refers to the set of military operations that took place in Andalusia between the nationalist and republican forces, during the first months of the Spanish Civil War.
The Chemical Park of Promotion and Development of Huelva, also known simply as the Chemical Park of Huelva or Chemical Pole of Huelva, is the name given to the group of facilities and infrastructures belonging to the petrochemical industry sector located in the province of Huelva (Spain), south of the provincial capital's urban center. The industrial complex was started up during the second half of the 20th century, covering various branches of production.