Second Battle of the Corunna Road

Part of the Spanish Civil War

Date	13 December 1936 – 15 January 1937
Location	Near Madrid, Spain
Result	Indecisive

Belligerents

Spanish Republic

Nationalist Spain

Commanders and leaders

El Campesino

Fernando Barrón Ortiz

Francisco García Escámez

Strength

20,000 infantry, plus reinforcements
T-26 light tanks

17,000 infantry and cavalry (13 Dec)
8 artillery batteries of 105 and 155 mm
Panzer I light tanks

Casualties and losses

15,000 dead or wounded

The Second Battle of the Corunna Road (Spanish: Batalla de la Carretera de Coruña) was a battle of the Spanish Civil War that took place from 13 December 1936 to 15 January 1937, northwest of Madrid. In December 1936, the Nationalists launched an offensive in order to cut the Corunna Road and isolate Madrid, but a Republican counter-offensive stopped the Nationalist advance. The Nationalists cut the Corunna road but failed to encircle Madrid.

The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 had been fought to a standstill, with the Nationalists under Franco failing to take the city. They then started to besiege it, aiming to cut its links to the rest of Spain. Franco decided to attack the city from the north-west in order to cut off water and electricity supplies from the Sierra de Guadarrama and encircle the city. After a failed offensive in November, the Nationalists summoned a force of 17,000 men, led by General Orgaz, with four mobile brigades (led by García Escámez [Francisco García Escámez], Barron, Saenz de Buruaga and Monasterio), backed by heavy artillery and Ju-52 bombers. The Republican army had a few battalions led by Luis Barceló.

The Nationalists' offensive started with a heavy artillery bombardment on the 14 December and Franco's troops occupied the town of Boadilla del Monte. As a counter-measure, the Republicans sent a detachment of Russian tanks led by General Pavlov and two International Brigades (XII and XIV) at Boadilla and re-occupied it. Yet they finally became cut-off in the town by Nationalist counter-attacks, and took a defensive stance. After a stalemate, Orgaz decided to halt the offensive on 19 December after gaining a few kilometres.

Towards the end of December, Orgaz received reinforcements and decided to relaunch the offensive on 3 January. This offensive became known as the Battle of the Fog. The Republican high command redeployed their units in the Pozuelo-Brunete sector. The Republicans had an army corps led by Miaja with five divisions (led by Nino Nanetti, Modesto, Colonels Perea, Adolfo Prada and Galan) but had little ammunition or supplies.

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