Levante Offensive

TheLevante Offensive, launched near the end of March 1938, was an attempt by Nationalist forces underFrancisco Francoto capture the Republican held city ofValenciaduring theSpanish Civil War. The Nationalists occupied theprovince of Castellón, but the offensive failed due to bad weather and the dogged resistance of the Republican troops at theXYZ defensive line.
Following the success of theAragon Offensiveresulting in theNationalistarmies reaching theMediterranean Sea, the Republic was split in two; theSpanish Republican Armywas in disarray and the road toBarcelonawas open for conquest by the Nationalists.Even GeneralVicente Rojosaid that Barcelona could have been taken with "less force and in less time" than inJanuary 1939. The Nationalist generals andFrancisco Franco'sGermanandItalianallies expected a swift attack against Barcelona. Nevertheless, Franco decided to turn south against the capital of the Spanish Republic at Valencia,because he fearedFrenchintervention inCatalonia, following theAnschluss.Furthermore, he didn't want a swift end to the war, as he wanted a war of annihilation against the Republic in order to crush all opposition.Dionisio Ridruejosaid that: "A long war meant total victory. Franco chose the crueller option which, from his point of view, was also more effective."
The Nationalist offensive started on 25 April, with GeneralJosé Enrique Varela's Army Corps of Castille,Antonio Aranda's Galician corps, andGarcia Valiño's formation,but the advance was halted on 27 April. On 1 May, the Nationalists continued their offensive, advancing on three fronts fromTeruel(Varela), the Mediterranean sea coast (Aranda), and a central column moving between them through the mountains (Garcia Valiño). The Nationalists found it slow going due to rainy weather in March and April that slowed the offensive,thedifficult terrainthat aided the defense of Republican forces being driven back before them, and the dogged determination of the Republican troops,reinforced with new weapons brought in from France: SovietSupermosca(I-16Type 10) fighters with four machine-guns, 40Grumman FFfighters, and anti-aircraft guns. On June 13,Castellónfell to Garcia Valiño's corps after several days of fighting but they were halted short ofSaguntowhere the mountains of theSierra de Espadáncame close to the sea. With the fall of Castellón, the Nationalists had a Mediterranean harbor into which munitions and food could be brought to the Nationalists troops in this front.
The Nationalists were surprised by the resistance of the Republican forces, and GeneralAlfredo Kindelántried to persuade Franco to abandon the operation. TheCondor Legionwas exhaustedand was eventually withdrawn from the front.Nevertheless, Franco ordered the attack to be continued and Valencia be captured by July 25.By the beginning of July, the Nationalists reinforced the front with three divisions of theCorpo Truppe Volontarie(CTV), led by GeneralMario Berti,and four divisions of GeneralJosé Solchaga's Turia Corps.Furthermore, the Nationalists had nine hundred cannon and four hundred aircraft in this front,and had just received about 50 Italian medium bombers (BR.20,SM.79,SM.81).Opposing the Nationalists, the Republicans had the sixarmy corps(Palacio's XVI Corps, Garcia Vallejo's XVII, Vidal's XIX, Duran's XX and Ibarrola's XXII, as well as Güemes's Group A and Romero's Group B) of GeneralLeopoldo Menéndez'sArmyof the Levante.
On 5 July, Garcia Valiño attacked from Castellón, but he was stopped by the Republican forces led by Colonel Gustavo Duran and General Menendez at the Sierra de Espadan.The final push of the Nationalist offensive began on 13 July. To the west, Solchaga's corps moved south from Teruel with Varela's corps and the Italian CTV on their flank to the east, and the Garcia Valiño formation tried to advance down the coast.After some determined resistance atMora de RubielosandSarrion, the Republican line in theSierra del Torocrumbled.  The Nationalists then advanced 60 miles along a front of twenty miles wide until they were stopped by the XYZ Line fortifications running east and west fromViverinto the Sierra de Espadan.
Between 18 and 23 July 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 communicationwere able to inflict heavy casualties on the Nationalists (about 20,000 casualties),suffering relatively few themselves (only 5,000 casualties).On 23 July the offensive was haltingand the Republican offensive in the north on 24 July, theBattle 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.
According to Beevor, the defense of theXYZ Linewas a far greater victory for the Republic than theGuadalajara.The Nationalists occupied the province ofCastellon, but failed to occupy Valenciaand suffered heavy casualties. The Republican Army had time to reorganize, and to plan the assault across the River Ebro.Furthermore, the Republican forces in Catalonia had time to rearm with the weapons received across the French frontier, which reopened in March.