Antonio Ortega (soldier)

Antonio Ortega Gutiérrez (17 January 1888 – 15 July 1939) was a Spanish Republican military officer and acting president of Madrid Football Club between 1937 and 1938 during the Spanish Civil War; directly involved in the defense of Madrid.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Ortega and the second or maternal family name is Gutiérrez.
Antonio Ortega
Antonio Ortega en 1937
Birth nameAntonio Ortega Gutierrez
Born(1888-01-17)17 January 1888
Rabé de las Calzadas, Burgos, Spain
Died15 July 1939(1939-07-15) (aged 51)
Alicante, Spain
AllegianceSecond Spanish Republic Spanish Republic
Service/branchArmy
RankColonel
Commands heldCivil Governor of Guipuzcoa (1936)
Secretary of Security (1937)
III Army Corps of the Army of the Centre (1939)
Battles/wars

Spanish Civil War

A professional officer of the Spanish Army, he supported the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War. Before the war he was a lieutenant of Carabineros of the Second Spanish Republic stationed in Irun. On 6 August 1936, following the Coup, he was appointed civil governor of Gipuzkoa.[1] He took command of the Republican forces during the later part of the Campaign of Guipúzcoa after the capture of Augusto Pérez Garmendia at Oiartzun. In 1937 he was appointed secretary of security and joined the Communist Party of Spain.[2] He was also, among other things, responsible for the arrest of Andreu Nin[3] and because of this, was dismissed by the minister of the interior, Julian Zugazagoitia;[4] eventually being transferred to field command. In March 1939, he was the commander in charge of the III Army Corps of the Army of the Centre and supported Luis Barceló against the National Defence Council (Consejo Nacional de Defensa) during what later became the Final offensive of the Spanish Civil War.[5] At the end of the war, he was captured by the Nationalists, sentenced to death by a military tribunal and subsequently executed by firing squad in Alicante, Spain on 15 July 1939.[6]

President of Real Madrid

As President of Madrid Football Club, as Real Madrid were called during the Second Spanish Republic, he acted on behalf of Rafael Sánchez Guerra, a prominent Republican, who was unable to take an active role in managing the club due to the war. Ortega took over as acting president from another Republican, Juan Jose Vallejo. Together with Gonzalo Aguirre and Valero Rivera, Madrid Vice President and Treasurer, respectively, he was among several Real Madrid board members, captured and executed by Franco's Nationalists, following the city of Madrid's fall.[7][8]

References
  1. Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. London. pp.651-652
  2. Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. London. p.682
  3. Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. London. p.883
  4. Preston, Paul. (2006). The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. Harper Perennial. London. p.262
  5. Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. London. p.882
  6. Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. London. p.899
  7. Burns, Jimmy. (2012). La Roja: How Soccer Conquered Spain and How Spanish Soccer Conquered the World. Nation Books.
  8. Kassimeris, Christos. (2007). European Football in Black and White: Tackling Racism in Football. Lexington Books. p.22

Sources
  • Romero, Eladi, Itinerarios de la Guerra Civil española : guía del viajero curioso, Barcelona : Laertes, 2001, 600 p.
  • Barruso, Pedro, Verano y revolución. La guerra civil en Gipuzkoa' (julio-septiembre de 1936), Edita: Haramburu Editor. San Sebastián, 1996.
  • Pedro Barruso, GIPUZKOA 1936: VERANO Y REVOLUCIÓN, LA GUERRA CIVIL EN GIPUZKOA (Spanish)
  • Hugh Thomas (2001). The Spanish Civil War. Modern Library. ISBN 0-375-75515-2.
  • Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football (2003), Phil Ball.
  • List of missing persons https://web.archive.org/web/20141219110248/http://www.jusap.ejgv.euskadi.net/r47-contmh2/es/contenidos/informacion/listado_personas_desaparecidas/es_memoria/o_listado_personas_desaparecidas.html
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