Battle of Ciudad Universitaria

Battle of Ciudad Universitaria
Part of the Siege of Madrid, Spanish Civil War
Date 15–23 November 1936 Location Madrid, Spain Result Strategic Republican victory
Belligerents
Spanish Republic International Brigades Durruti Column	Nationalist Spain
Commanders and leaders
José Miaja Menant Vicente Rojo Carlos Romero Giménez José Gallego Pérez Emilio Kléber Paul Lukács José B. Durruti †	Francisco Franco Asensio Cabanillas Francisco Delgado Mohamed Meziane
Strength
Central Army • 11,000 International Brigades • 1,800 Columna Durruti • 1,400 militiamen	Army of Africa • 3,000 regulares • 18 tanks
Casualties and losses
high	high

The Battle of Ciudad Universitaria took place around the campus of the Complutense University of Madrid between 15 and 23 November 1936, during the Spanish Civil War.

History

The battle took place in the first months of the Civil War in the University City of Madrid, the new campus of Madrid's Complutense University. It lasted for about a week, between 15 and 23 November 1936, following which the front stabilized until the end of the war. The aim of the Republican militias was the defence of the capital at any price, to achieve which they needed to stop the progress of the columns at the command of General José Varela and avoid the fall of Madrid into rebel hands.[1]

The aim of the attacking armies of the military rebellion on the other hand was to "take the city" within the shortest possible period of time. This battle signalled the beginning of a new phase in the Spanish Civil war, for until then the Francoist troops had been advancing relatively unopposed across Spain, conquering large swathes of territory in a few months. But here, at the Ciudad Universitaria, for the first time, they encountered fierce and relentless opposition.[2]

References

1. Vicente Rojo Lluch, Así fue la defensa de Madrid: aportación a la historia de la Guerra de España, 1936–1939 (1st edition). México (1967). Ediciones Era. p. 55.
2. Jorge Martínez Reverte (2004). La Batalla de Madrid (1st edition). Barcelona: Crítica.