South Ebro Column
The South Ebro Column was a column that fought in the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish coup of July 1936 produced a general mobilization of the National Confederation of Labor (CNT), in which Antonio Ortiz Ramírez played a prominent role in the suffocation of the coup d'etat in Barcelona. On July 24, 1936, he left Barcelona at the head of some 800 men in the direction of Caspe, in whose vicinity was the front line.
| South Ebro Column | |
|---|---|
| Columna Sur-Ebro | |
| Active | 1936-1937 |
| Disbanded | 1937 |
| Country | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Spanish Republic |
| Allegiance |  CNT |
| Branch | Confederal militias |
| Type | Militia |
| Role | Home defense |
| Size | 5,000 |
| Colors | Red and Black |
| Engagements | Spanish Civil War: Aragon front, Battle of Belchite, Battle of Teruel |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | • Antonio Ortiz Ramírez • Miguel García Vivancos |
This expedition was known by the name of "Second Column", "South Ebro Column", "Ortiz Column" or "Red and Black Column" (until another column with the same name was created), and it grew as it absorbed many spontaneous and disorganized groups. Ortiz was not very in favor of the column being known by his name. On the occasion of the death of one of his most appreciated commanders, Luis Jubert Salieti, in January 1937 the column was renamed the "Luis Jubert Division", although in some writings it continued to appear as the "2nd Column", "South-Ebro Column" and as "División Sur-Ebro" until the end of April. [1]
History
The "Sur-Ebro" column, commanded by the cabinetmaker Antonio Ortiz Ramírez, left Barcelona on July 24, 1936 by train. It had Fernando Salavera as a military adviser. From the beginning, the column would be made up of quite a few soldiers of the 34th Regiment. They also had three artillery batteries.
Its first objective was Caspe, which was then dominated by a company of the Civil Guard and some 200 Aragonese Falangists. This operation was initiated by an independent group of anarchists from Lleida led by the Subirats brothers, later receiving support from the Durruti Column and Ortiz Column.
After overcoming the resistance of the enemy, the militiamen, who lost about 250 people in the operation, occupied the town. They continued towards Alcañiz, which was taken after brief fighting. The column was then subdivided: one part of it was located on the Híjar-Escatrón line and the other went towards Belchite, whose population was entrenched after occupying Sástago, La Zaida and Azaila.
The Generalitat de Catalunya announced the occupation of Caspe with this statement: "The forces of the 18th Infantry Regiment and militiamen from Lérida and the artillery of Barcelona have, after a small bombardment, occupied the city of Caspe, shouting "Long live freedom". The people have received the column of liberty acclaiming Sister Catalonia." [2]
On its way, the column absorbed a small column of the military commanded by Luis Jubert Salieti. The Sur Ebro column established its command post in Híjar, with an emergency command in Lécera, occupying the front lines from the south of the Ebro. It was joined by the Durruti Column, also a confederal militia, and the Catalanist Macià-Companys column.
The Columns that operated south of the Ebro, having evicted the nationalists from Zaida, Sástago, Azaila, Almonacid de la Cuba, Vinaceite, Híjar, Puebla de Híjar, Lécera, Lagata, Letux, Azuara and Fuentetodos, face the populations of Quinto and Belchite, which close access to Zaragoza, points in which there are constant and bloody battles. After the conquest of Alcañiz, the militias that make up the left wing, occupy Calanda, Alcoriza, Ollete, Muniesa, Blesa, Cortes de Aragón, Montalban, Martín del Río and Vivel del Río.
At the beginning of September, the small Carod-Ferrer column was added to the South Ebro unit. It was commanded by Saturnino Carod Lerín, a prominent Aragonese anarcho-syndicalist leader, who during the military uprising in Zaragoza had been tasked with organizing anarchist resistance in the region of Matarraña. For a few days they remained in the neighboring towns of Tarragona. When they took Valderrobres and the rest of the region, they went on to Fuendetodos. Some 140 militiamen took the town by surprise, where they faced a group of Falangists and civil guards. The nationalists sent some 700 men from Zaragoza to retake the town. After resisting for two days, the Carod-Ferrer column received reinforcements from the Ortiz column. [3]
Along with this group was also another from Lérida, the Hilario-Zamora column, led by the Anarchist from Lleida, Hilario Esteban, with Sebastián Zamora and Santiago López Oliver acting as military advisers. A group of milicianas including Concha Pérez Collado, Rosario Sánchez Mora and Casilda Hernáez, who participated in the attempted capture of Belchite, were assigned to this group. They also joined the South Ebro Column, shortly after their arrival in Tarragona. They also received some reinforcements from some Valencian militias, made up of about 450 soldiers, a company of 146 civilian guards, 50 police and some militiamen. They went to Bajo Aragón and joined the Carod-Ferrer Column, where they fought a small detachment of civil guards in Calaceite, arriving in Alcañiz without further setbacks. There they both joined the Ortíz column.
The column also absorbed the "Insa Arenal Column" of Tarragona, some 250 soldiers and another 100 militiamen under the command of Amadeo Insa Arenal, who fell in combat in Sastago on August 4. The Figueres Column, made up of CNT militants from Figueres added even more men to the Ortiz column. With all the successive reinforcements of small columns from other areas, the South-Ebro Column would become a large military unit, with some 5,000 militiamen, located on the south bank of the river.
At first the column was organized into three centuries (named after Louise Michel, Mikhail Bakunin and Errico Malatesta), but over time the new columns were extensively restructured. Until its militarization it was organized in 4 sectors, which they called "brigades": Carod-Ferrer in Azuara, Hilario-Zamora in Sástago, Valeriano Gordo and Manuel Martínez in Lécera and Miranda and Señer in Azaila. Among its units was an "information brigade", which became known as the so-called "Death Brigade", led by Pascual Fresquet.
After militarization, the 25th Division was formed from the remains of the South Ebro Column. General Pozas, head of the Army of the East, decided to withdraw command of the 25th division from Ortiz, replacing him with García Vivancos, after the battles of Belchite and Fuentes de Ebro.
Bibliography
- The "Aragon Offensive" (1936-1939)
- Revista Anthropos nº36
- José Manuel Márquez Rodríguez and Juan José Gallardo Romero (1999). Ortiz, general with no god nor master. Santa Coloma de Gramenet: José Berruezo History Group.