page_title: Spanish coup of July 1936 in the Albacete province
section_title: July 24, Friday
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish coup of July 1936 in the Albacete province / The coup / July 24, Friday
context_page_description: The 1936 coup in the Albacete province was part of a nationwide military-civilian revolt. On July 19–20 the rebels easily gained control of the entire province, but it remained an isolated island of insurgency surrounded by areas controlled by the loyalists. On July 21 loyalist troops advancing from the Levantine coast made first incursions into the province and with little combat they advanced West during the next few days. Following a few hours of urban fighting, on July 25 the rebels surrendered in Albacete and soon the entire province fell back under the government control.
  The battle for the province was fought by relatively minor forces. The rebels amounted to slightly more than 1,000 men. Though they were mostly civil volunteers, their core was formed by some 350 Guardia Civil troops; the overall command was with the provincial Benemérita head, comandante Angel Molina Galano. The loyalists were some 4,000 men. Most of them were members of workers’ militias, but their strength relied on 6 companies detached from the army, navy and Carabineros units; they were led by comandante José Balibrea Vera.
context_section_description: Having consolidated their positions the government units resumed offensive towards the West. One column headed by Gillis proceeded from Almansa, another one headed by Balibrea proceeded from Hellín. Both columns converged near Chinchillas, where they were joined by the local military unit which stayed loyal to the government and for 4 days remained encircled. Two aircraft tried to bomb Guardia Civil positions in Albacete, but inaccurate pounding produced death of 4 civilians, including 2 women and 1 child. The rebel commanders were contemplating withdrawal, but as there were not enough vehicles available, Molina decided that no one would be left behind and all the rebels would accept the battle. He deployed his men at the Eastern outskirts of the city, bridges were blown up, railway tracks were torn and roadblocks were set.
  In course of the day the insurgents in the provincial capital were joined by reinforcements called from locations not seized by the loyalists yet, e.g. a large detachment of Guardia Civil arrived from Villarrobledo. Villarrobledo was left defended only by the local Falangists, yet in the afternoon of that day the militiamen arriving from the Toledo province already entered the city and the urban combat ensued.
caption: loyalist militiamen (sample)
exif: {}