Battle of Badajoz ( 1936 ) The Battle of Badajoz was one of the first major Nationalist victories in the Spanish Civil War . A series of costly assaults won the Nationalists the fortified border city of Badajoz on August 14 , 1936 , cutting off the Spanish Republic from neighbouring Portugal and linking the northern and southern zones of Nationalist control ( although actual contact with General Emilio Mola ' s northern troops was not established until September 8 ) . Strategic situation . In the summer of 1936 , German and Italian airlifts , and later the Nationalist fleet , transported almost 10 , 000 regular troops of the Spanish Army of Africa to southern Spain across the Straits of Gibraltar . The Nationalists , led by Francisco Franco , assembled at Seville and on August 1 , General Franco ordered a sweep north to link up with General Mola ' s distant forces . Led in the field by Colonel Carlos Asensio and Major Antonio Castejón , the Nationalist Army dashed north in motorized detachments , pausing to bombard and capture walled frontier towns . By August 10 , when Lieutenant Colonel Juan Yagüe arrived to take command near Mérida , the Nationalists had secured 300 km of the Portuguese frontier . Mérida fell after a stiff fight on the banks of the Guadiana River , leaving the neighbouring city of Badajoz , now the last remaining Republican outpost on the Portuguese border , isolated from the Republic . Franco personally supervised the operation against Mérida and on the evening of August 10 , received Yagüe in his headquarters to discuss the capture of Badajoz and the next objectives . He wanted to knock out the city to unify the two sections of the rebel zone and leave the left flank of the advancing columns covered by the Portuguese border . It was a strategic error , contributing to the delay which allowed the government to organize its defenses . Yagüe marched against Badajoz with 2 , 250 soldiers of the Spanish Foreign Legion , 750 Moroccan " regulares " , and five field batteries , leaving Major Heli Tella behind to hold Mérida . Inside the ancient fortress - city , large sections of whose walls had been demolished some years before the war , Colonel Ildefonso Puigdendolas commanded about 6 , 000 Republican militia ( other sources claim between 2 , 000 - 4 , 000 men ) . On August 6 , when the Nationalist army approached , a body of " Guardia Civil " attempted to defect to the rebels . Puigdendolas crushed the revolt , but it sapped his forces of men and morale . The battle . Before the attack , Badajoz was continuously bombarded by Nationalist artillery and bombers for a period of three days . The city had been flooded with refugees and the atmosphere in the city was one of doom - laden anticipation . The rebels launched their attack on the morning of August 14 , after shelling the town for most of the day . A unit of the Spanish Foreign Legion , the " IV Bandera " , stormed the " Puerta de la Trinidad " ( Trinity Gate ) . The defenders ' most reliable force , the " Carabineros " , had been placed there in anticipation of the action . Determined resistance by Republican machine gunners and riflemen checked the assault , shredding several waves of Nationalist troops . Ignoring their losses , the Legionnaires pressed on . A charge led by armoured cars won the gate , and the Nationalists overtook the defenders , pouring through the breach and killing them in hand to hand combat . But , the cost was appalling : the attacking 16th Company had lost 76 out of 90 officers and men ( other sources cite 20 dead , 22 wounded and 2 missing ) . All of the unit ' s officers fell in the attack excepting the captain and one corporal ( other sources : two officials dead out of five ) . Meanwhile , Asensio ' s men had entered in the city by a breach in the city walls ; the storming of the " Puerta de la Trinidad " was later seen as useless . On the south side of the city , Nationalist units stormed the walls with less difficulty . The Moroccan Tetuán " regulares " pushed through the " Puerta de Los Carros " ( Car Gate ) , and the Legionnaires and Moroccans swept the Republicans from the barracks . Meanwhile , many soldiers inside the city defected to the rebels , easily allowing the entrance of the attackers into the city . Once inside the ramparts they drove the Republican militia before them , knifing and bayoneting their way toward the city centre , including killing those who had thrown down their weapons and had their hands up . Street fighting raged past nightfall . The Legionnaires later captured 43 wounded " milicianos " in the military hospital , and afterward , killed them . Colonel Puigdendolas , along with the Mayor and other members of the defence committee , had slipped out of the city at about 9 : 00 am and fled to Portugal . Aftermath . The fall of Badajoz tore from the Republic the large region of Extremadura , north of Huelva , which was later subdued and swallowed up by the emerging Nationalist state . After the battle , Yagüe turned northeastward toward Madrid and the Tagus River . During his trek , he engaged Republican forces in pitched battles in the weeks that followed . The Battle of Badajoz followed patterns that continued throughout much of the summer : Republican militia seized the medieval fortresses dotting Castile , yet could not halt nor even slow down the advance of Franco ' s professional troops . The Spanish regular army would prove able to sweep prepared defences held by superior enemy forces , but often suffered staggering losses of its best troops . By year ' s end , much of the Spanish Foreign Legion lay dead , scattered along a trail of walled towns stretching from Seville to the outskirts of Madrid . Massacre of civilians . It has been widely reported that the Nationalists sacked Badajoz and killed thousands of prisoners and civilians , culminating in an infamous round of executions in the town ' s bull ring , where machine - guns were set up on the barriers around the ring . The screams of the dying could be heard many streets away . Murder and mass rape flared unchecked for several days , and Yagüe ' s failure to call a halt to the killings earned him the nickname , " The Butcher of Badajoz " . Foreign correspondents , depending on their political sympathies , reported between an estimated 1 , 800 and 4 , 000 civilian deaths . There are various eyewitness accounts and other reports of the massacre of Badajoz , including some from foreign correspondents , such as Jay Allen ( American ) , Mário Neves ( Portuguese ) , and Marcel Dany and René Bru ( French ) ; there are also photographs that survive of the massacre . Today , most historians recognize that Yagüe killed thousands of militiamen and civilians after the fall of the city and burned the corpses because he didn ' t want to leave enemies , either soldiers or civilians , to the rear of his army . In fact , Yagüe was quoted to have said the following to one Jay T . Whitaker : " " Of course we shot them - he said to me - what do you expect ? Was I supposed to take 4 , 000 reds with me as my column advanced , racing against time ? Was I expected to turn them loose in my rear and let them make Badajoz red again ? " " The massacre at Badajoz was not a unique case in the march of Yagüe ' s column from Seville to Badajoz . In every city conquered by Yagüe ' s men , many civilians were killed . In fact , over six thousand people were killed in the province of Badajoz alone ( including the city of Badajoz itself ) . Most of the victims were journeymen and farmers , and the wholesale massacre of the populace later became known to the world as Franco ' s White Terror .