Trapdoor in the Sun: Part One

The Republican government now decided to make an example of these two tiny Nationalist enclaves in their territory. The militias were slowly being incorporated into the fledgling Popular Army and the newly formed XXth Division under the command of Martinez Carton was sent to La Santuario to hasten its fall. The brave men of the Civil Guard faced nearly 12,000 better trained and equipped opponents.

Well planned assaults were instigated against Lugar Nuevo on the 27 and 31st of January, but despite ferocious attempts by the besiegers, getting close enough for hand to hand combat, still the 'Civiles' held on tenaciously. Two and a half more months or shelling, aerial bombardment and infantry assaults failed to dislodge them. The situation at Lugar Nuevo was getting desperate. Supplies were dwindling rapidly and a heliograph message was passed to the defenders of La Santuario that Beltran was abandoning Lugar Nuevo.

On the night of April 12, in torrential rain, Beltran, with his remaining 40 men and all their families, with little choice, began what has come to be known as 'The March of Madness' through the Republican lines, up the steep slopes to La Santuario de la Virgen de la Cabeza. By some miracle they actually made it safely without any losses, no small feat in itself.

On the 26th of April the Internationa1 Red Cross stepped in, sending two representatives up to the retreat to arrange safe passage of all the women and children, as the Republicans gathered for the final assault. Not one person agreed to be evacuated and the defenders settled down to await their fate.

Finally, on May 1st, oddly enough, May Day, at 0430 hrs a huge artillery barrage began, lasting 12 hours, followed bv a tank attack by 12 T-26Bs which was repulsed. At 1100 hrs a massed infantry and tank assault was pressed home and at last, at 1230 hours, the La Santuario was overwhelmed. Captain Cortes, severely wounded bv grerade shrapnel, was taken down into the cellars, while above, the last Civil Guards, 32 of them, were cornered on the esplanade. Surrounded and disarmed by the jubilant Republicans, they were asked where the others were. "En el cemeterio." was the reply.

Slowly the small garrison began to emerge from the catacombes, pale and thin, blinking in the sunlight, many in tears. After 8 and 1/2 months, with 150 dead and 227 wounded, finally their suffering was over. Orders from Madrid forebade any reprisals or summary executions and all the besieged were to be treated humanely, quite surprising considering the penchant for both sides to execute prisoners.

Virgin Effigy

Captain Cortes was found in the cellars below, and along with his fellow Civil Guards and their families, was taken to Andujar. There he clung onto life for a week, before succumbing to his wounds on the 8th of May. He took with him to his grave the hiding place of the effigy of La Virgen de la Cabeza he had secreted before the Santaurio was overrun.

After the end of the Civil War, as a mark of respect, both the bodies of Captain Cortes and the pilot Haya, who died later on in the conflict, were exhumed and reinterred in the grounds of the retreat and buried with full military honours. Despite being overshadowed by the exploits of the defenders of the Alcazar, men, women and children of La Santuario were awarded the Cruz Laureada de San Fernando collectively.

Selected Bibliography

La Actualidad Espana. Issue 34, El Asedio al Santuario de la Cabeza.
Cronica de la Guerre Espanola. Issues 50 and 59.