Levante Offensive

Levante Offensive
Part of the Spanish Civil War
Moroccan troops in Rubielos de Mora, 1938.
Date Levante Offensive: March 25–July 24, 1938 Location East Central Spain Result Republican victory
Belligerents
Spanish Republic	Nationalist Spain  Italy  Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders
Leopoldo Menendez Lopez Carlos Romero Ernesto Güemes Gustavo Duran	José Solchaga José Enrique Varela Rafael Garcia Valiño Mario Berti
Strength
125,000	125,000 900–1,000 artillery 400 aircraft
Casualties and losses
5,000	20,000

The Levante Offensive, launched near the end of March 1938, was an attempt by Nationalist forces under Francisco Franco to capture the Republican held city of Valencia during the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalists occupied the province of Castellón, but the offensive failed due to bad weather and the dogged resistance of the Republican troops at the XYZ defensive line.

Following the success of the Aragon Offensive resulting in the Nationalist armies reaching the Mediterranean Sea, the Republic was split in two; the Spanish Republican Army was in disarray and the road to Barcelona was open for conquest by the Nationalists. Even General Vicente Rojo said that Barcelona could have been taken with "less force and in less time" than in January 1939. The Nationalist generals and Francisco Franco's German and Italian allies expected a swift attack against Barcelona. Nevertheless, Franco decided to turn south against the capital of the Spanish Republic at Valencia, because he feared French intervention in Catalonia, following the Anschluss. Furthermore, he didn't want a swift end to the war, as he wanted a war of annihilation against the Republic in order to crush all opposition. Dionisio Ridruejo said that: "A long war meant total victory. Franco chose the crueller option which, from his point of view, was also more effective."

The Nationalist offensive started on 25 April, with General José Enrique Varela's Army Corps of Castille, Antonio Aranda's Galician corps, and Garcia Valiño's formation, but the advance was halted on 27 April. On 1 May, the Nationalists continued their offensive, advancing on three fronts from Teruel (Varela), the Mediterranean sea coast (Aranda), and a central column moving between them through the mountains (Garcia Valiño). The Nationalists found it slow going due to rainy weather in March and April that slowed the offensive, the difficult terrain that aided the defense of Republican forces being driven back before them, and the dogged determination of the Republican troops, reinforced with new weapons brought in from France: Soviet Supermosca (I-16 Type 10) fighters with four machine-guns, 40 Grumman FF fighters and anti-aircraft guns. On June 13, Castellón fell to Garcia Valiño's corps after several days of fighting but they were halted short of Sagunto where the mountains of the Sierra de Espadán came close to the sea. With the fall of Castellón, the Nationalists had a Mediterranean harbor into which munitions and food could be brought to the Nationalists troops in this front.

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