The Battle
Between July 18 and July 23, these defenses, held by two Republican corps led by Colonels Ernesto Güemes and Carlos Romero, were successful in halting the Nationalist advance. The Nationalists tried to break the republican defenses with waves of infantry and intense bombing raids, but the Republican defenders through the use of well planned trenches and protected lines of communication were able to inflict heavy casualties on the Nationalists (about 20,000 casualties), suffering relatively few themselves (only 5,000 casualties). On July 23, the offensive was halting and the Republican offensive in the north on July 24, the Battle of the Ebro, prevented any further assaults on the line by drawing away eight Nationalist divisions and their heavy artillery. The Nationalist offensive ended less than forty kilometres from Valencia.
Read more about this topic: XYZ Line
Famous quotes containing the word battle:
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—Ann Landers (b. 1918)
“The mother’s battle for her child—with sickness, with poverty, with war, with all the forces of exploitation and callousness that cheapen human life—needs to become a common human battle, waged in love and in the passion for survival.”
—Adrienne Rich (20th century)