Battle of El Mazuco - The Battle

The Battle

The attack on El Mazuco began with an assault by the Nationalist Navarrese I brigade on 6 September. This was repulsed, and at the same time the southern advance of the pincer movement was also stopped. In response to these setbacks, the German Condor Legion was called in and for the first time carpet-bombed a military target, the Republican forces defending the approach to El Mazuco.

On 7 September further attacks were halted and the fronts stabilized; a noted Republican commander, Higinio Carrocera, arrived, with three battalions and 24 heavy machine guns. Carpet-bombing with explosive and incendiary bombs continued all day.

The next day in dense fog, fierce hand-to-hand fighting inflicted severe losses on both sides. The Nationalists gained some 2 km on the southern front, which the Republicans were unable to recapture.

The Nationalists used the following day to shell the positions defending El Mazuco, and two Republican battalions were forced to retreat, although the Nationalists were unable to take advantage of the withdrawal. For the rest of that day and the next, waves of bombings and artillery bombardment were each followed by a Nationalist infantry attack, each in turn cut down and turned back by the Republican machine-guns.

The fog having returned on 10 September, an all-out attack by the I Brigade took the hill of Biforco (below the pass of El Mazuco), but this was still dominated by the heights of Llabres, from where the Republicans hammered the area with machine guns and rolled down carbide drums filled with explosive. For the first time since the start of the battle, hot food reached the Republican front lines.

During the next two days, on the southern front, the Nationalists could not make progress along the valley, so had no option but to advance up the ridge of the Sierra towards Pico Turbina. This peak, at 1,315m, is a formidable obstacle with slopes of 40° and an almost moon-like karst terrain. There were no tracks, even for mules, so supplies and ordnance were largely carried by hand. The weather was bad, too, so aircraft could not operate – but the fog also hid the attacking forces.

By 13 September the Republican front to the north-west of El Mazuco began to weaken under the relentless artillery bombardment, and the Republicans were forced to yield Sierra Llabres, whose height commands both the village of El Mazuco and the western approaches on 14 September. The village of El Mazuco itself was then indefensible. To the south, Pico Turbina was almost taken, but the attack was driven back with hand-grenades, in confused fighting in dense fog.

El Mazuco and its surrounds were occupied on 15 September, and the Republicans in that sector fell back to Meré. To the south, the Republicans still held the heights of Pico Turbina and Peñas Blancas (the summits of Peña Blanca). Pico Turbina was taken, and Peña Blanca was almost encircled as Arangas and Arenas fell to the Nationalists the next day.

The three summits of Peñas Blancas now formed the only salient from the Republican line along the Bedón river. Initial Nationalist assaults failed, and so sixteen battalions were brought up to reduce the positions. Air support was minimal due to the weather, and on the ground, rain turned to snow on the heights.

The better weather on 18 September at noon brought three waves of airborne strafing from 'strings' of Junkers and Fiat fighters, and possibly Heinkel 51s based on the Cue Aerodrome. After each attack, the inevitable infantry assault was beaten off by machine guns and hand grenades. For four full days, the pattern was repeated: aircraft and mortars pounded the remaining defenders, the Navarrese infantry attacked, and were repulsed. Until the 22 September "the red flag waved on the highest peak". On that day, the Peñas Blancas were finally overrun.