Siege of Cuartel de Loyola

Hotel Maria Cristina, one of the buildings held by the rebel troops

Date	July 19–July 27, 1936
Location	Guipuzcoa, Spain
Result	Republican victory

Belligerents

Spanish Republic

Nationalist Spain

Commanders and leaders

Colonel Augusto Pérez Garmendia

Colonel Carrasco

Colonel Villaespin

Strength

Casualties and losses

The Siege of Cuartel de Loyola was a siege and uprising in San Sebastián, Spain, on 21 July 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War. A group of soldiers attempted to form a coup against the Second Spanish Republic.

In the Basque province of Álava, the city of Vitoria was easily seized by the rebels led by the general Angel García Benitez and the Colonel Camilo Alonso Vega, but the rising failed in the Biscay and Guipuzcoa provinces. The Basque nationalists supported the government, established Juntas de defensa in all the cities and towns, arrested right-wing personalities and requisitioned their motor-cars. In Bilbao, there was no military rising, but in San Sebastián there was a failed rising.

On July 19, the military governor of San Sebastian, Colonel Carrasco, was arrested, but the commander of the Loyola's Barracks, Colonel Villaespin, encouraged by Emilio Mola, decided to start the rising against the government. Villaespin pointed his cannons at the civil government, and the staff inside fled. Carrasco escaped from his captors and declared a state of war. Carrasco established himself with right-wing supporters in the Maria Cristina Hotel, and the Civil Guard in the city supported the rising and seized the Gran Casino. Nevertheless, on July 20 a column from Eibar, led by Colonel Pérez Garmendia, came to the city and surrounded the buildings held by the rebels. On July 23, the Republican forces occupied the Maria Cristina Hotel, and on July 27 the rebels in the Loyola's Barrack surrendered to the besieging forces.

Anarchists seized the weapons inside the barracks and shot some right-wing prisoners, worsening their relations with the Basque nationalists. The Nationalists occupied San Sebastián on September 14.

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