71st Division (Spain)

The 71st Division was one of the divisions of the People's Army of the Republic that were organized during the Spanish Civil War on the basis of the Mixed Brigades. It came to operate on the Andalusian and Extremadura fronts.

71st Division
71.ª División
ActiveSeptember 1937–March 1939
Country Spain
AllegianceSecond Spanish Republic Republican faction
Branch Spanish Republican Army
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
Garrison/HQAlbuñol
EngagementsSpanish Civil War

History

The unit was created in September 1937,[1] on the Andalusian coastline. Its headquarters were in Albuñol.[1] Some time after its creation the division was integrated into the XXIII Army Corps.[2] Later it became a reserve of the Andalusian Army.[3] In May 1938 members of the division led the liberation of more than three hundred republican prisoners from Carchuna, in the nationalist rear.[4] In mid-August 1938 the Republican command sent it as reinforcement to the Extremadura front, to the sector defended by the 29th Division.[5]

Command
Commanders
  • Bartolomé Muntané Cirici;[6]
  • Luis Bárzana Bárzana;[7]
  • José Torralba Ordóñez;
  • Carlos Cuerda Gutiérrez;[3]
Commissars
  • José Piñeiro Zambrano, of the CNT;[8]
Chiefs of Staff
  • Frumencio Sanmartín López;

Organization
DateAttached Army CorpsIntegrated Mixed BrigadesBattle front
December 1937XXIII Army Corps55th, 221stAndalusia
April 30, 1938XXIII Army Corps54th, 55th, 221stAndalusia
August 16, 1938VI Army Corps73rd, 198th, 199thEstremadura

References
  1. Engel 1999, p. 231.
  2. Martínez Bande 1981, p. 129.
  3. Martínez Bande 1981, p. 256.
  4. Cancio 2011, pp. 128–134.
  5. Martínez Bande 1981, pp. 256, 276.
  6. Alpert 1989, p. 350.
  7. Cancio 2011, pp. 129–130.
  8. Álvarez 1989, pp. 181, 189.

Bibliography
  • Alpert, Michael (1989). El Ejército Republicano en la Guerra Civil (in Spanish). Madrid: Siglo XXI de España. ISBN 9788432306822.
  • Álvarez, Santiago (1989). Los comisarios políticos en el Ejército Popular de la República (in Spanish). Ediciós do Castro.
  • Cancio, Raúl C. (2011). Fuerzas especiales en la Guerra Civil Española (in Spanish). Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa.
  • Engel, Carlos (1999). Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del Ejército Popular de la República (in Spanish). Madrid: Almena. ISBN 84-922644-7-0.
  • Martínez Bande, José Manuel (1981). La batalla de Pozoblanco y el cierre de la bolsa de Mérida (in Spanish). Madrid: Editorial San Martín.
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