Catalonia Offensive The Catalonia Offensive was part of the Spanish Civil War . The Nationalist Army started the offensive on December 23 , 1938 , and rapidly conquered Republican - held Catalonia with Barcelona ( the Republic ' s ] ] from October 1937 ) . Barcelona was captured on January 26 , 1939 . The Republican government headed for the French border . Thousands of people fleeing the Nationalists also crossed the frontier in the following month , to be placed in internment camp s . Franco closed the border with France by February 10 , 1939 . Background . After its defeat at the Battle of the Ebro the Republican Army was broken and would never recover . The Republicans had lost most of their armament and experienced units . Furthermore , on October 1938 the Republican government agreed to withdraw the volunteers of the International Brigades . On the other hand , the Nationalists received new supplies of ammunition , weapons and aircraft from Germany . Furthermore , after the Munich Agreement , the hope of an intervention of the Western democracies in order to aid the Republic against Germany and Italy vanished . France had closed the frontier again in mid - June 1938 and froze Republican financial assets in French Banks . Opposing forces . Nationalists . At the beginning of December , the Nationalists concentrated an Army Group , the Army of the North , of 300 , 000 – 340 , 000 men led by the general Fidel Dávila in order to conquer Catalonia . The Nationalists assembled their best divisions all along the front from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean . Along the Segre the Nationalists deployed the Muñoz Grandes ' s Army of Urgel , the Garcia Valiño ' s Army of Maestrazgo and the Moscardo ' s Aragon Army ; in the confluence of the Segre with the Ebro the Gambara ' s Italian " Cuerpo Legionario Italiano " of four divisions ( 55 , 000 men ) and Solchaga ' s Army Corps of Navarra ; and in the Ebro the Yagüe ' s Moroccan Corps . The Nationalists also had , according to Beevor , 300 tanks , more than 500 aircraft ( among them the Me - 109e and Heinkel 112 fighters ) and 1 , 400 cannon . Republicans . Opposing the Nationalists the Republicans had the Colonel Perea ' s East Army and the Colonel Modesto ' s Ebro Army under the command of the General Hernandez Saravia , commander of the Oriental ' s Region Army Group , with 220 , 000 – 300 , 000 men , many unarmed ( Hernandez Saravia said that the Republican army had only 17 , 000 rifles for all Catalonia ) , 106 airplanes ( most of them " Chatos " ) , 250 cannons and 40 tanks ( many of them unserviceable due to shortage of spare parts ) . The Soviet government agreed to send to Catalonia a shipment of 250 aircraft , 250 tanks and 650 cannons , but the shipment did not reach Bordeaux until January 15 and only a small part of it crossed the border . Furthermore , because of the international isolation of the Republic and the lack of food ( according to Beevor , in Barcelona the ration per day was down to 100 grams of lentils ) the morale of the government troops and civil population in the Republican zone was very low . The people only wished the end of the war : " . . . just let it be over , it doesn ’ t matter how it ends , but let it end now . " Battle . Nationalist Offensive . The Nationalist offensive was planned for the December 10 , but was postponed to December 23 . On December 23 , the Italians and the Navarreses crossed the Segre at Mequinenza , broke the Republican lines and advanced sixteen kilometres , but they were stopped by the V and XV Republican corps led by Lister on December 25 . On the left flank , Muñoz Grandes and Garcia Valiño advanced towards Cervera and Artesa , but they were blocked by the 26th Republican Division . On the south , Yagüe ' s troops were held back by the Ebro ' s floodwater . The Republicans had stopped the first Nationalist attack , nevertheless , they had lost 40 aircraft in the first ten days of the battle . On January 3 , Solchaga attacked Borjas Blancas , Muñoz Grandes and Garcia Valiño occupied Artesa , and Yagüe crossed the Ebro . Moscardo attacked from Lerida and the Italians occupied Borjas Blancas on January 5 . The same day , the Republican army started a surprise attack in Extremadura towards Peñarroya in order to divert Nationalist forces , but the offensive was halted after a few days and the Nationalist offensive in Catalonia continued . On January 9 , the Moscardo ' s Aragon Army Corps joined Gambara at Mollerusa and broke the northern part of the front . The V and XV Republican Corps collapsed and retreated in disorder . On January 15 , the Aragon and Maestrazgo Corps conquered Cervera and the Moroccan Corps after a one day march of 50 km occupied Tarragona . By this day , the Nationalists had conquered a third of the Catalonia , had taken 23 , 000 prisoners and killed 5 , 000 Republican soldiers . Fall of Barcelona . The Republican government then tried to organize the defense of Barcelona , ordered the general mobilization of all men to forty - five and militarized all the industry . Nevertheless , the successive defensive lines ( L1 , L2 , L3 ) fell , the Republican forces were outnumbered six to one and the Nationalist air force bombed Barcelona every day ( 40 times between January 21 and 25 ) . It became clear that the defense of the city was impossible . On January 22 , Solchaga and Yagüe reached the Llobregat only a few miles west of Barcelona , Muñoz Grandes and Garcia Valiño attacked Sabadell and Terrassa , and Gambara advanced to Badalona . The chief of staff of the Republican Army , Rojo told the Republican prime minister Negrín that the front had ceased to exist so the government abandoned Barcelona after releasing most of its prisoners . A large part of the Barcelona population fled from the city as well . On January 24 , Garcia Valiño occupied Manresa , and on January 25 the Nationalist vanguard occupied the Tibidabo in the outskirts of Barcelona . The Nationalists finally occupied Barcelona on January 26 , and there were five days of looting by the Yagüe ' s " Regulares " and extrajudicial killings ( " paseos " ) . Retreat . After the occupation of Barcelona , the Nationalist troops , tired from the long marches , slowed their advance but soon resumed their offensive , pursuing the retreating columns of Republican soldiers and civilians . On February 1 , Negrin proposed , in the last meeting of the Cortes in the Figueres Castle , capitulation with the sole condition of respecting the lives of the vanquished and the holding of a plebiscite so the Spanish people could decide the form of government , but Franco did not accept . On February 2 , the Nationalists entered Gerona , arrived within 50 kilometers of the frontier on February 3 , occupied Figueras on February 8 and Rojo ordered the Republican troops to withdraw to the French frontier . Hundreds of thousands of Republican soldiers , women , children and old men marched to the French frontier on foot and on carts , buses and trucks through bitterly cold sleet and snow . Their retreat was covered by units of the Republican Army , which carried out hit and run attacks and ambushes . The Nationalist air force and the Condor Legion bombed and strafed the roads leading to France . On January 28 , the French government announced that civilians could cross the frontier and , on 5 February , the Republican soldiers as well . Between 400 , 000 and 500 , 000 , Republican refugees crossed the frontier , among them the president of the Republic ( Manuel Azaña ) , the prime minister ( Juan Negrín ) and the chief of staff of the Republican Army ( Vicente Rojo ) . Negrin returned to Spain on February 9 , but Azaña and Rojo refused to return . By February 9 , the Nationalists reached the frontier , on February 10 the last units of Modesto ' s Army of the Ebro crossed into France and the Nationalists sealed the frontier . Aftermath . Military and political consequences . With the fall of Catalonia , the Republic lost the second largest city of the country , the Catalan war industry and a large part of its army ( more than 200 , 000 soldiers ) . On February 27 , Azaña resigned and the same day France and the United Kingdom recognized the Francoist government . Further military resistance became impossible and the war was lost for the Republic , despite the fact that 30 % of Spain was still under Republican control after the offensive and Prime Minister Juan Negrin insisted that the Republic could continue to resist . The Catalonia autonomy was abolished . The Catalan language , the " Sardana " and Catalan Christian names were forbidden . All Catalan newspapers were requisitioned and the forbidden books retired and burned . Even the inscriptions on tombs in the Montjuïc Cemetery commemorating Durruti , Ascaso and Ferrer i Guardia were removed . Fate of the Republican refugees . The Republican exiles were interned in fifteen improvised camps ( mostly barbed - wire enclosures on the sand , without basic shelter , sanitary or cooking facilities ) by the French government in places such as Argelès , Gurs , Rivesaltes and Vernet . The living conditions in the camps were very harsh . In the first six months , 14 , 672 refugees died from malnutrition or dysentery . The French government encouraged the refugees to return and by the end of 1939 between 70 , 000 and 180 , 000 refugees returned to Spain , but 300 , 000 never returned . Many fled to the Soviet Union ( between 3 , 000 and 5 , 000 ) , USA and Canada ( about 1 , 000 ) , and Great Britain , Belgium and other European countries ( between 3 , 000 and 5 , 000 ) . Many others managed to reach Latin America ( 30 , 000 to Mexico , 10 , 000 to Argentina , 5 , 000 to Venezuela , 5 , 000 to Dominican Republic , 3 , 500 to Chile , etc . ) seeking asylum . Nevertheless , at least 140 , 000 refugees remained in France and 19 , 000 in the French colonies of the North Africa . After the fall of France 10 , 000 – 15 , 000 refugees were detained by the Nazis and deported to concentration camps . Another 10 , 000 joined the French Resistance and more than 2 , 000 joined to the Free French Forces .