Siege of Alcazar

Toledo Alcazar is an ancient stone fortress in Toledo . For a long time it was the residence of the Spanish monarchs, and from the XVIII century the military academy was located there. After the fire of 1866, Alcazar was partially rebuilt with the use of steel and concrete.

Rebellion

Toledo was important, as there was a cartridge factory. Immediately after the start of the coup, the military commandant of Toledo Moscardo supported the rebellion of the nationalists on July 18, however, the government of Jose Jiral formed on July 19 immediately began distributing weapons to the Popular Front supporters, as a result of which the Republican police got the edge over the nationalist supporters. The rebels in Toledo were forced to retreat to Alcazar, while taking hostages from fifty to five hundred women and children accidentally captured on the streets of Toledo (the data vary, since the Francois today claim retroactively that there were no hostages in Alcazar, and all civilians went there exclusively voluntarily). It was the threat of their execution that restrained the majority of the besiegers of Alcazar from decisive action. According to another version, which appears everywhere in the description of the memorial to Colonel Moscardo (Despacho del Coronel Moscardo), among the approximately 700 civilians who were in Alcazar, there were mainly family members of the defenders.

Siege

The government of Chiral in a few days turned into an organ of only nominal power. The republic had neither a ministry of war nor a general staff; the nominal Minister of War of Sarabia did not have an effective connection with the front and the military industry. As a result, by August 10, the Republican attack on the strongholds of the rebellion was repelled; they were stopped by small, but well-trained and disciplined rebels.

Nevertheless, the leaders of the republican militia stubbornly wished to take possession of all the points held by the rebels at once, as a result of dispersing half of the Republic's armed forces throughout the country to participate in sieges, but without gaining a decisive advantage anywhere. Since July, the Alcazar has been surrounded by barricades, and the Republicans tried to take possession of the fortress either by artillery fire, then by attack, or by negotiation. However, more than half of the shells due to careless storage in warehouses (on the question of what military commander Moscardo was) deteriorated and did not explode, and the assaults were unsuccessful due to the threat of Moscardo to shoot hostages , as well as inconsistencies in the actions of the attackers (most of whom were anarchists, and therefore did not recognize any discipline, and were simply too lazy to climb a steep hill in front of the fortress). Negotiations on the surrender and even the release of the hostages from the fortress also failed: Moscardo knew perfectly well what awaited him for such a heinous act (taking hostages at all times was considered a war crime) , and most of his forces were representatives of the civil guard (which the population openly hated for their former arts - the courtless executions of striking workers and farm laborers) , who preferred death to surrender.

About 1,000 people defended the Alcazar of civilian guardsmen, cadets, military and nationalists (mainly phalangists ) - ten times less than the besiegers. However, the besieged in Alcazar knew that in the event of defeat for mercy (for taking hostages) would not, and fought for their lives, while many Republicans (from the anarchists) went to Toledo not to win, but have fun - "shoot at the rebels." But the high and strong walls of Alcazar did not make it possible to simply crush the defenders with numbers, and the presence of hostages - women and children in the fortress and the absence of besieging military specialists led to the fact that the most fantastic and clumsy mastery projects were put forward fortress, which invariably ended in failure. Dynamite failed to dig and blast the walls of Alcazar because of the rocky ground, which was difficult to break through, and the inexperience of demolitionists. Anarchist enthusiasts suggested pouring gas on the stone walls and setting them on fire, smoking the besieged, but achieved nothing but numerous burns and injuries to its participants.

Meanwhile, the besieged, listening to the radio, learned that the uprising was continuing, that the army from Spanish Morocco had landed in the south and was going to Madrid, and this inspired them. In mid-September, rebel aircraft appeared over the Alcazar. The leaflets they dropped contained promises of speedy revenue for the city’s defenders.

Siege Removal

On the 20th of September Franco , contrary to the demands of his comrades-in-arms and the insistence of foreign officers, stopped his advance towards Madrid and turned part of his forces south: the rebels really needed the Toledo cartridge factory, one of the largest in the country (the rebels were sorely lacking ammunition at that time) . In addition, on the eve of the struggle for Madrid, it was unreasonable to leave a large republican group on its flank. And most importantly, the capture of Toledo put forward Franco (whom many rebels frankly did not trust then) in the first roles in the rebel camp.

On September 27, rebels under the command of Varela went to the outskirts of Toledo and opened artillery fire on the city, train station and Madrid Highway. The anarchists, who constituted more than half of the besiegers, killed the commanders who tried to establish defense, hurriedly plunged into buses and fled the battlefield. There were no prisoners during the capture of Toledo by the rebels: the wounded Republicans abandoned in the Toledo hospital were brutally cut by Moroccans. The only disciplined column of Emil Kleber and Enrique Lister (ironically consisting solely of communists and socialist youth, and not of anarchists) left the city with battle and entrenched east of it.

When Varela with the troops approached Alcazar, a bearded Moscardo with officers came out to meet him and reported:

Everything is calm in Alcazar, my general.

After lifting the siege, Moscardo was promoted to general and sent on vacation. The hostages were soon after this mostly shot.

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  Storming Alcazar on September 21

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  S / c Barcelo, Republican commander during the siege

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  Roman Carmen shoots newsreel of the siege of Alcazar

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  Toledo women: Mouth Front !

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  Lister column commander (right) after lifting the siege

In 1940, in Italy, director Augusto Jenina made the film The Siege of Alcazar , which won the Mussolini Cup prize at the 8th 1940 Venice Film Festival .

• S. Yu. Danilov. “The Civil War in Spain” - Moscow: Veche, 2004. ISBN 5-9533-0225-8
• E. Lister "Our War"