Battle of Málaga (1937)

Battle of Málaga
Part of the Spanish Civil War
Date February 3 – February 8, 1937 Location Málaga, Spain Result Decisive Italian/Nationalist victory
Belligerents
Spanish Republic	Nationalist Spain Corpo Truppe Volontarie
Commanders and leaders
José Villalba Lacorte	Queipo de Llano Duke of Seville Antonio Muñoz Jiménez Agustín Muñoz Grandes Mario Roatta
Strength
12,000 Republican militia 16 pieces of artillery	10,000 Moroccan colonial troops 5,000 Requetes 5,000-10,000 Italian troops some tanks 100 aircraft 4 cruisers
Casualties and losses
3,000 to 5,000 dead 3,600 executed	Spanish: Unknown Italian: 130 killed, 424 wounded

10,000 Moroccan colonial troops
5,000 Requetes
5,000-10,000 Italian troops
some tanks

The Battle of Málaga was the culmination of an offensive in early 1937 by the combined Nationalist and Italian forces to eliminate Republican control of the province of Málaga during the Spanish Civil War. The participation of Moroccan regulars and Italian tanks from the recently arrived Corpo Truppe Volontarie resulted in a complete rout of the Spanish Republican Army and the capitulation of Málaga in less than a week.

After the failure to capture Madrid and the Republican counter attack at the Battle of the Corunna Road, the Nationalists sought to regain the initiative. A 25 mile wide strip of land in southern Spain along the Mediterranean Sea centering on Málaga, a base of the Spanish Republican Navy, was held by the Republicans and the arrival of Italian troops at the nearby port of Cádiz made an attack on Málaga logical.

On January 17, the campaign to conquer Málaga began when the newly constituted Army of the South under Queipo de Llano advanced from the west and soldiers led by Colonel Antonio Muñoz Jiménez attacked from the northeast. Both attacks encountered little resistance and made advances of up to 15 miles in a week. The Republicans failed to realize that the Nationalists were concentrating for an attack on Málaga and thus they remained unreinforced and unprepared for the main attack on February 3.

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Wikipedia