Gustavo Durán
| Gustavo Durán Martínez | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Gustavo Durán Martínez |
| Born | 1906 |
| Died | 1969 |
| Allegiance |
 Spanish Republic
|
| Service/branch | Army |
| Years of service | 1936–1939 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Commands held | Mixed brigade (1936), chief of the SIM in the Central zone (1937), Division (1936-1938) |
| Battles/wars | |
Gustavo Durán Martínez (1906–1969) was a Spanish composer, Lieutenant Colonel in the Spanish military, diplomat and United Nations official.
Born in Barcelona, Spain in 1906, he moved with his family to Madrid at the age of four, and studied music. During his piano studies he befriended Federico García Lorca,Salvador Dalí, Buñuel, Rafael Alberti (some of whose poems he set to music) and other Residencia de Estudiantes guests. In 1927 he composed a ballet, Fandango del Candil, for Spanish dancer Antonia Mercé, La Argentina, and accompanied her on a European tour. In 1929 he moved to Paris where he studied under Paul Le Flem of the Schola Cantorum and served, until 1934, as manager and secretary to the Spanish painter Nestor. In 1933 he became an employee of the Spanish section of Paramount Pictures, and continued in that role, after returning to Madrid, at Fono-Espana, Inc., where he dubbed and scored films for the Latin American market. Before the war, he was a leading figure in the Motorizada, the motorized section of the socialist youth movement associated with Prieto.
He served in the Army of the Spanish Republic from July 18, 1936 until the end of war. In 1936 he was the chief of staff of Kleber. Later, he joined the PCE. After that, he was the republican commander of one Mixed Brigade in the Second Battle of the Corunna Road in November 1936 and in the Segovia Offensive and the Battle of Brunete he led the 69th division. He covered the retreat of the republican forces in the Maestrazgo during the Aragon Offensive and was one of the Republican commanders in the defense of the XYZ Line in 1938. He also served briefly in SIM, the (Servicio de Investigación Militar), as chief of the department for the Army of the Centre. In March 1939, when Franco's troops had reached Valencia, Durán escaped from Gandia, Spain, aboard a British destroyer, landing at Marseille and, eventually, London.
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