After the breakout of the 1936 civil war in Spain, the Catalan government looked to create its own army, independent of the organic structures of the Republican army which operated in the rest of the Republican territory. On 6 December 1936, the Catalan Ministry of Defence declared the creation of the People's Army of Catalonia. However, this army existed far more on paper than it did in reality, as the anarchist militias continued to have a great degree of autonomy, and in many cases did not become part of the new army. After the May Days battles in Barcelona, the Republican government recovered its competencies in the area of defence, and General Sebastián Pozas assumed command of military forces in Catalonia. The army of Catalonia was dissolved, and its units were integrated into the main Republican army. These units formed the newly-created Ejército del Este, which went on to man the Aragon front. The previous militias were forcefully conscripted into the Republican army.