At the time of the Spanish coup of July 1936 that marked the onset of the Spanish Civil War most of the members of the preceding equivalent corps, the Guardia de Asalto had stayed loyal to the Republican government and many of their units fought valiantly in the battlefronts against the Francoist armies and their allies. This display of loyalty towards the Spanish Republic brought about the disbandment of the corps by General Franco at the end of the Civil War. The members of the "Guardia de Asalto" who had survived the war and the ensuing Francoist purges were made part of the Policía Armada, the corps that replaced it.