Battle of Jarama - Republican Counterattack

Republican Counterattack

On February 14, the Republicans counter-attacked Barrón's men with 50 T-26 tanks, supported by infantry, artillery and air cover. Although it did not re-take any lost ground, the counter-attack again bloodied the Nationalists and halted their advance. The shaken Nationalists went as far as to call the 14th "el día triste del Jarama" ("the sad day," a throwback to Hernán Cortés' Noche Triste).

On February 17, General José Miaja took overall command of the Republican front. Command had previously been split between him and General Pozas, hampering the co-ordination of Republican strategy. Miaja mounted a major counter-offensive to clear the eastern back of the Jarama. Forces under Líster made a frontal assault on the heights at Pingarrón, only to be driven back with up to 50% casualties. On the tactical execution of these counterattacks, one Nationalist soldier reflected:

We only just held on to the position after two days of fighting. It was partly the courage of the Requetés that saved us, partly the arrival at a critical moment of a squadron of our tanks, but chiefly the inept and suicidal tactics of the enemy. They put in a frontal assault in broad daylight across a plain dominated by our positions and almost devoid of cover. ...They were Spanish troops and I greatly admired their bravery, but I wondered what kind of military cretin had ordered such an attack.

Another futile and costly attack was made by troops under Juan Modesto from the direction of the Manzanares river to the north on the Nationalist hill-top position at Marronosa. Here again, the Republicans failed, at a heavy cost, to achieve their objectives. In the northern sector however, the Nationalists were forced back, away from Vaciamadrid and the Madrid—Valencia road.

Further Republican counter-attacks followed between February 23 and February 27. General Gal ordered another attempt to storm the Nationalist strongpoint at Pingarrón. The Republican forces involved included 450 Americans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade under Robert Merriman. The inexperienced troops, advancing without artillery support, marched bravely into the teeth of the Nationalist lines and were cut to pieces. Poet Charles Donnelly (part of an Irish contingent known as the Connolly Column) was heard to remark, "even the olives are bleeding", before being gunned down by a burst of machine gun fire and killed. The Americans lost 120 dead and 175 wounded, or 66% casualties. After the failure of this attack, the Jarama valley settled again into silence. Both sides dug in and the front stabilised.