26th Division (Spain)

26th Division 26ª División
Flag of the 26th Division of the People's Republican Army
Active	1937–1939
Country	Spain
Branch	Spanish Republican Army
Type	Infantry division
Role	Home Defence
Size	Three mixed brigades: 119th, 120th and 121st
Part of	11th Army Corps
Garrison/HQ	Bujaraloz (1937 - 1938)
Engagements	Spanish Civil War
Commanders
Notable commanders	Ricardo Sanz García

The 26th Division (Spanish: 26ª División) was a division of the Spanish Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. It was formed in April 1937 in Aragon from the militarized Columna Durruti during the reorganization of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces.

The 26th Division included the 119th, 120th and 121st mixed brigades throughout the Civil War. It fought in the Huesca Offensive, the Battle of Belchite, the Aragon Offensive and the Battle of the Segre. Finally it was disbanded in February 1939 after the withdrawal and rush to the border that followed the rebel Catalonia Offensive.

The 26th Division was established on 28 April 1937 in Bujaraloz with former anarchist militiamen and corresponded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd regiments of the Durruti Division, the successor of the Durruti Column after the column's militarization in January 1937. It was placed under the 11th Army Corps (XI Cuerpo de Ejército). The command of the unit was entrusted to Ricardo Sanz García who had been the commander of the Durruti Column after Buenaventura Durruti's death and who would be the division's only leader.

The violent events of the 1937 May Days overwhelmed Barcelona when the division had been barely constituted. The 26th Division was then gathered in Barbastro in order to march over the city and restore order on behalf of the government. However, when the troops listened to the radio reports of the events by anarchist leader and Justice Minister García Oliver, they refused to intervene and decided to remain in Barbastro. Later in September the unit saw combat action in the Battle of Belchite, where its battle behaviour was clumsy, disorganized and inefficient at best. "General Kléber" commented about the 119th Mixed Brigade of the division that: 'It is totally useless' ("No sirve para nada...")