Battle of The Ebro - Battle

Battle

The Battle of the Ebro opened on July 25, 1938. Republican forces under Colonel Juan Modesto launched attacks across the Ebro river. The surprise was total and Republican forces were initially successful. Nevertheless, the Republican forces were only lightly armed and had no means to transport their artillery and armor across the river. The key to the battle was Nationalist air superiority, provided by Italian and German squadrons that flew under the Aviación Nacional markings. Some 550 first class planes were available on the Nationalist side against only some 35 modern fighters and some 40 second class aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force. The Nationalist air force was thus able to quickly identify the areas of Republican penetration and attack the Republican troops that were crossing the river.

The key target for the Republicans was the town of Gandesa, some 25 km west of the Ebro, a cross-roads to Catalonia and the north/south roads running parallel to the Ebro. The terrain around the town was extremely hilly with the Serra de Cavalls, Serra de Pàndols and Serra de la Fatarella mountain ranges whose hard and bold limestone rocks and scant forest cover provided little shelter against Francoist fire. Eventually the Republican attacks bogged down and became stalled, and within a week Franco sent heavy artillery and some 500,000 troops into the battle that annihilated most of the Republican strong points. Within a month Negrín understood that the effort had failed, but in his desperation was unable to consider any withdrawal. The difficulty of the terrain, however, delayed Franco considerably and the battle lasted for another 2 months, until November 16, 1938.

The Republicans were unable to accomplish any of their strategic objectives and, according to Beevor, were unwilling to apply the theory of the deep operation to their attacks — meaning their forces spent a long time clearing Nationalist secondary defensive positions, allowing the highly mechanised Nationalist forces to quickly deploy in strong defensive positions.

The battle was fought by both sides as a World War I Western Front battle, with each side launching bloody frontal assaults on enemy positions in what became a war of attrition. The Nationalist superiority in numbers and armaments meant they were better able to withstand the losses and exhaust the Republicans. The Ebro saw the Republican army destroyed as an effective force while the Republican air force was no longer capable of offering further resistance.

The battle was also the last action of the International Brigades, who were ordered to withdraw by the Non-Intervention Committee midway through it.