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The battle of Jarama
Interview with General Mola A nationalist General
Today I will be interviewing General Mola about the battle of Jarama
That was fought in the Spanish civil war
Greetings, General Mola
Greetings, to you
So General Mola, Tell me something about battle of Jarama, what was the real intention for it?
Well, the battle of jarama as you know was actually an attempt by General Frannco of the Nationalists to dislodge the republican lines along the river Jarama, east of Madrid.
Yes, and is there any other forces that helped you in this battle?
There is actually, they are the Elite Spanish Legionaires and Moroccan Regulares from the Army of Africa. We were able to force the Republican of Army of the Centre and the International brigades.
But that was the furthest that we got. After days of fighting we failed to break through, the republicans counterattacked and resulted in losing the ground that we captured.
I see. Well now let's expand this battle of Jarma.
Where do you want to start?
How about the preliminaries?
Well, the original plan was to take Madrid by storm by winter in 1937 but we failed so we resolved
to cut off the city by crossing the Jarama to the south east and then severe the Madrid's communication.
Alright, and you were the overall command in this offensive attack?
Yes I was.
And how about the plan and the other generals?
well the plan was to have an offensive attack across Jarama, 11km south of the capital. General Ogaz was the command of the front with General Varela exercising command in the field.
We intended the attack to coincide with an offensive by Franco's Italian allies under General Mario Roatta at Guadalajara, but they were not ready in time so I decided to press ahead without them.
And how about your infantry and batteries?
The Nationalist at that time had roughly 25,000 infantry, mostly regulares and Spanish Foreign Legionnares. I also had ten squadrons of cavalry at my disposal.
They were supported by German troops from the Condor Legion, including two heavy machine gun battalions, a tank corps under Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma and batteries of 155mm and 88mm guns.
And what were your Initial Objectives in this?
Well, we the Nationalists, our objective were to take the western bank of the river Jarama and to capture the heights that overlooked it. Next, we would break through the republican positions
on the high ground east of the river and take the towns of Vaciamadrid and Arganda in order to sever the Madrid-Valencia road and cut off the capital to the south and east.
And the procedure? Or how did the plan go? Can you tell us in details?
Yes of course. Well we began the offensive on February 5 with assaults on the Republican position on the west bank of the Jarama.
The opening attacks took the republicans by surprise. The Nationalists then advanced in mobile columns and overwhelmed the unprepared Republicans.
And the generals that were currently in command in these flanks?
There were three flanks so we needed three generals for the attack. General Garcia Escamez commanded their right flank (to the south), General Rada commanded the left while General Asensio commanded the center.
And how did their attack went?
Well, first. Escamez attacked on February 6 at Ciempozuelos and overran the republican forces which lost 1,800 men and then Rada's men took La Maranosa hill which was 700 meters high
and it overlooked both banks of Jarama and from there, our troops could dominate the river crossing with artillery and machine gun fire.
And the enemies?
La Maranosa vainly stuck to their cliff-top defences and died there to the last. By Febraury 8, the west bank of the Jarama was in Nationalists hands and then the reinforcements appeared in the east bank of the Jarama
The Republic's Army reorganized its defenses, forestalling any enemy crossing. In addition, heavy rain flooded the river so it held up fighting for two days.
And what happened next after those two days without fight? What were the tactics that came in next?
The tactics that we used on February 11 was that we had a small group of Moroccan regulates and asked them to cross the river.
They did eventually without being detected and crept up on the positions of the Republican XIV International Brigade near the Pindoque railway bridge at Vaciamadrid.
What they did was that they slipped inside the enemy perimeters and silently cut the throats of the sentries and then the Nationalist cavalry followed immediately to attack?
The nationalist cavalry? Who led the nationalist cavalry at this time and what happened?
It was led by Barron and they charged across the Arganda bridge, the republicans used their forces as much as they can, they even blew up the bridge but fortunately for us it held intact.
There were different offensive plans at this time like from the further south, an army attacked the village of San Marin De la Vega.
What happened to the Nationalist army then?
They went under heavy fire and so they crossed the river Varela in force but the Republicans remained firmly and instead fired with artillery fire.
There were counter attacks that happened like Republicans sending in T26 Soviet tanks but they were blown up by the Nationalist Batteries.
How about the air superiority?
At first the Republicans had the upper hand. They were composed of Soviet machines and pilots until February 13.
This is the arrival of more Italian and Spanish national aircraft and in the end neither side had a decisive advantage in the air.
How about the Republicans? What was left of them?
The republicans then resorted into a full attack with 50 T26 tanks, supported by infantry, artillery and air cover. Although it did not re-take any lost ground,
the counter attack again bloodied the Nationalist and it halted our advance. We then called the 14th "el dia triste del Jarama" (the sad day)
Clearly the republicans are losing in this battle but what else happened?
The republicans failed numerous counter attacks like the counter attack under Juan Modesto from the direction of the Manzanares River,
the counter attacks on 23rd of February and 27th of February. They received a lot of casualties which settled both sides on silence.
And the aftermath of this battle?
The aftermath of this battle was that both sides has lost too much resources and infantry, they were also exhausted, low in ammunition and food.
Although we succeeded in crossing the river, the Madrid-Valencia remained out of our reach and firmly in Republican hands and this ended General Franco's hopes of cutting of Madrid.