In July 1936, after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he escaped to Gijón. He took command of an anarchist battalion composed mainly of Galicians, known as the Galicia battalion. In August 1937, he received the command of the 183rd Mixed Brigade, fighting during the Asturias Offensive. After the fall of the Northern Front, he returned to the central Republican area, where he held command of the 39th Mixed Brigade and of the 5th Division, with which he intervened in the Levante Offensive.