Battle of Seseña The Battle of Seseña was an ill - fated Republican assault on the Nationalist stronghold of Seseña , near Toledo , 30 km south of Madrid in October 1936 during the Spanish Civil War . After the fall of Talavera de la Reina and Toledo in September 1936 , the Nationalist troops pushed towards Madrid and in October they were 30 km from Madrid . Then the Republican government which had received new Russian weapons decided to launch a counteroffensive in order to stop the Nationalist offensive at Seseña . The attack failed and the Nationalists resumed their advance towards Madrid . The battle is notable for being the first time that tank warfare was seen in the Spanish war and for the use by Nationalist troops of Molotov cocktail s against Soviet T - 26 tank s . Background . The professional troops of the Spanish Army of Africa had started their drive to Madrid in August 1936 . Equipped with modern weapons they had received from Germany and Italy ( Ju - 52 and Savoia SM - 81 planes , and Italian tankettes ) , the Nationalist troops , had defeated the government militias in the battles of Mérida , Badajoz , Sierra de Guadalupe and Talavera de la Reina , and had occupied Toledo on September 27 , 1936 . In late October 1936 the Nationalists took several towns near Madrid ( Torrejon de Velasco , Seseña , Torrejón de la Calzada and Griñon ) , breaking the first defensive line of Madrid . Meanwhile , the Republican government had requested aid and weapons from France in order to defeat the Nationalist forces and the president of the French Republic , Léon Blum initially decided to send help because a Nationalist victory could damage the international position of France . Nevertheless , on July 25 , 1936 Blum decided not to send weapons to the Republic , because the opposition of the British government and the French right . , and on August 8 , 1936 decided to close the frontier , Then , the Spanish government decided to buy weapons from the Soviet Union . The first Soviet ship with weapons reached Cartagena on October 15 , 1936 . On 28 October 1936 , the Republican prime minister Largo Caballero decided to launch a counter - offensive with the Soviet weapons in order to detain the Nationalists advance towards Madrid . The Battle . On October 29 , 1936 , the Spanish Republican Army launched an attack against the Nationalist - held town of Seseña . The Republicans attacked with a force of 15 T - 26 tanks , armed with a 45mm cannon , led by a Lithuanian tank specialist , Captain Paul Arman , and driven by Russians with Spanish gunners , and the 1th mixed brigade led by Enrique Líster . Opposing them , the Nationalists had a force of cavalry led by the colonel Monasterio , Moroccan " regulares " and some Italian tankettes . The Russian tanks were mased together for a shock attack and entered in Seseña . The Russian tanks decimated the Nationalist cavalry and destroyed some Italian tankettes armed solely with machine - guns , ( Arman claimed that his tanks destroyed two infantry battalions , two cavalry squadrons , ten 75 mm guns , 2 tankettes and 20 - 30 trucks ) . The Russian tanks crossed Seseña and reached Esquivias , nevertheless , the Mixed Brigade of Lister never entered into the town and the tank force had to retreat . Mikhail Koltsov , a Russian journalist at Seseña said : " Lister . . . explained , a grimace upon his face , that his units , had been moving well at first , but after 1 , 500 metres , they had felt tired and sat down . . . " . Furthermore , the Nationalists managed to knock out three Russian tanks with Molotov cocktails . The same day , the Republican army , led by the colonel Ildefonso Puigdendolas , launched another attack against the near town of Illescas , but the attack failed and Puigdendolas died . Aftermath . The attack failed , because the Spanish infantry had no training to operate with tanks , but the Russian tanks were shown to be effective . According to Thomas , one Russian tank destroyed 11 Italian tankettes . The same day a squadron of Russian " Katiuska " bombers bombed Seville . Because the arrival of the Russian weapons the Nazi Germany decided to increase their aid to the Nationalists and to organize the " Legion Condor " . The Nationalists resumed their offensive , Getafe ( 13 km south of Madrid ) fell on November 4 and on November 8 the Nationalists started their frontal assault on Madrid . Nevertheless , Mola decided to retire a part of their troops from the assault on Madrid , in order to reinforce the flanks , because the fear of another tank attack .