226th Mixed Brigade (Spain)

226th Mixed Brigade 226.ª Brigada Mixta
Flag of the 42nd Division, Spanish Popular Army
Active	1937–1939
Country	Spain
Branch	Spanish Republican Army
Type	Mixed Brigade
Role	Home Defence
Size	Four battalions: The 901, 902, 903 and 904
Part of	42nd Division (1938 - 1939)
Garrison/HQ	La Pobla de Massaluca
Engagements	Spanish Civil War
Commanders
Notable commanders	Antonio Ortiz Roldán José de la Fuente Álvarez

The 226th Mixed Brigade (Spanish: 226.ª Brigada Mixta), was a mixed brigade of the Spanish Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. Part of its forces had belonged to the former Bautista Garcet Battalion, which had distinguished itself in the combats of the Córdoba offensive at the beginning of the Civil War. Its formation began in August 1937 in Catalonia, but it was delayed for a long time, the brigade not becoming fully operational until 1938. It had four battalions, the 901, 902, 903 and 904.

Following a long delay, the 226th Mixed Brigade was finally established on 22 April 1938 and placed under the 42nd Division of the XV Army Corps, at the time part of the Agrupación Autónoma del Ebro (A.A.E.). The command of the unit was assigned to Militia Major Antonio Ortiz Roldán. The political commissar was José Carmona Requena.

At the onset of the Battle of the Ebro on 25 July 1938 two of the brigade's battalions crossed the Ebro River 2 km to the east of Mequinensa —being one of the first units to cross the river, following which the remainder of the brigade joined them arriving finally to the area of Gilabert after heavy combats. The brigade continued battling the rebel faction between Fayón and Mequinensa, especially at the Fayón-Mequinensa-Fabara road junction, finally being able to occupy the Auts, a semi-arid hilly area east of a bend on the Ebro River. Located at the northern end in the pocket formed on the right bank of the Ebro between Mequinensa and Amposta, the occupation of the Auts was hailed as a strategic success. However, while at the Auts the unit suffered intense aerial bombardment on 29 July and it came under heavy artillery fire between the 4 and 5 August, being prevented from advancing eastwards to capture the towns of Fayón and Mequinensa. Finally the trapped and much battered brigade withdrew from the Auts and crossed back the Ebro river on 6 August, after having suffered a great number of casualties. Two of the battalions of the 226th Mixed Brigade distinguished themselves in the bloody combats of the Auts Hills, the First Battalion (901), under Major Jaramillo, and the Fourth Battalion (904) under a Major nicknamed "Dinamita" (Dynamite).