Rosal Column

The Rosal Column was a republican militia column created during the Spanish Civil War, it was made up of anarchists from the National Confederation of Labor (CNT). They fought in the central zone.

Rosal Column
Columna Rosal
Country	Spanish Republic
Branch	Confederal militias
Type	Militia
Role	Home defense
Size	2,300
Commanders
Notable commanders	Francisco del Rosal Rico, Cipriano Mera, Eusebio Sanz

History

On 27 July the first CNT militias left for Somosierra and Paredes de Buitrago. The Rosal column was named after Francisco del Rosal Rico, who led the column alongside Cipriano Mera and Eusebio Sanz. Teodoro Mora acted as delegate for the confederal militias. They fought until the beginning of August, when the front stabilized. In this part of the front were the swamps that provided water to Madrid, making them strategic.

In mid-August, before the onslaught of the Army of Africa, the column was sent to reinforce the defense of the Tagus Valley, joining confederal battalions such as "Mora", led by Teodoro Mora and organized by the "Puente de Toledo Athenaeum", "Orobón Fernández", commanded by Miguel Arcas and organized by the Ateneo Libertario de Tetuán de las Victorias, and the Ferrer battalion, commanded by Cayuela.

The Rosal column reached Navamorcuende and fought in the Tiétar Valley. On 20 August it stayed on this front until it sank with the taking of Talavera de la Reina on 6 September. The column suffered numerous casualties, of the thousand fighters that departed from Madrid, only 250 returned. Among the dead was Teodoro Mora, who was replaced as confederal delegate by Cipriano Mera. Reinforcements were sent to them from Madrid. With the reinforcements that the column received, mostly improvised and poorly organized, they organized the following battalions: Francisco Ferrer, Orobón Fernández, Manuel Pau, Noi del Sucre, Mikhail Bakunin and Rafael Casado. Manuel Pau and Rafael Casado were the first two battalions to die at Paredes de Buitrago. Several centuries of the Land and Freedom Column, which came from Catalonia to reinforce the defense of Madrid, were also sent to them. The Rosal column was finally removed from the front on 15 September, with numerous casualties.

In October it was assigned to the Teruel Front. It was made up of 8 centuries (800 men) from the Land and Freedom Column, the Mora battalion with 650 men, the Libertarian Youth battalion with another 650, the Orobón Fernández Battalionwith 600, and the' Ferrer Battalion 'with many others, totaling 2,300 fighters. It was commanded by Francisco del Rosal Rico, with Cipriano Mera as a militia delegate, and Antonio Verardini as the chief of staff. The column participated in actions in the Sierra de Albarracín, although without being able to take Teruel. They spent the entire month of October on this front. A part of the column (1,000 men) returned to Madrid when the city was surrounded by nationalist troops in November 1936.

On 8 November these militias arrived in Madrid, led by Cipriano Mera. 250 volunteers were presented from each of the 4 battalions of the column, which completed a column of 1,000 men. Miguel Palacios Martínez took over command and divided it into two battalions commanded by Manuel Arenas and Manuel Domínguez. On the Madrid front, it became known as the Palacios Column, though it was still known as the Rosal Column in Teruel. They were located between Manzanares, and Puerta de Hierro and entered combat on 9 November, recovering some ground. However, they received 350 casualties in a single day. On 10 November the column attacked again. On 11 November they pushed the regulares and legionaries back four kilometers, causing 200 casualties and capturing war material. But by the 13th, of the 1,000 that were in the column, there were only 400 left. Both battalion leaders had fallen. They received the reinforcement of two companies of police and another 600 volunteers from the CNT.

Militarization

With the formation of the Spanish Republican Army, the column was dissolved and turned into a military unit. It then became the 10th Mixed Brigade. Later, in December, it was renamed the 39th Mixed Brigade under the command of Miguel Palacios, part of the 14th Division commanded by Cipriano Mera. Del Rosal suffered a major setback within the Central Army that led to his ostracism and Cipriano Mera had managed to ascend through the ranks of the army. He came to command the IV Army Corps.

Other sections were the basis for the creation of the 60th and 61st mixed brigades, which were integrated into the 42nd Division.

Bibliography

• Octavio Ruiz Manjón-Cabeza, The Second Republic and the war.
• Víctor de la Vega Almagro, Artistic treasure and civil war: the case of Cuenca.
• Cipriano Mera, War, exile and prison of an anarcho-syndicalist. Iberian Roll, 1976.
• Eduardo de Guzmán, Red and Black Madrid. Oberon, 2004.