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Battle of Bilbao
Part of the Spanish Civil War
Frente del Norte - Spanish Civil War (March-Sept 1937).svg
The Northern Front. Bilbao is on the right of the red area.
Date 12–19 June 1937
Location
Biscay, Northern Spain
Result Nationalist victory
Territorial
changes
Nationalists capture Biscay from Republicans
Belligerents
 Spanish Republic
Basque Army
 Nationalist Spain
Fascist Italy CTV
Condor Legion
Commanders and leaders
Second Spanish Republic Mariano Gámir Ulíbarri
Second Spanish Republic Juan Cueto Ibáñez Surrendered
Second Spanish Republic Pablo Belderráin
Second Spanish Republic Joseph Putz
Second Spanish Republic Nino Nanetti 
José Antonio Aguirre Alberto Montaud
Francoist Spain Fidel Dávila Arrondo
Francoist Spain José Solchaga Zala
Francoist Spain Rafael García Valiño
Francoist Spain Juan Bautista Sánchez
Nazi Germany Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen
Strength
50,000 troops and militia 60,000 Nationalist troops
15,000 Italian troops
Casualties and losses
Unknown Nationalist Spain: Unknown
Italy: 105 dead
427 wounded
three missing

The Battle of Bilbao, part of the War in the North in the Spanish Civil War, saw the Nationalist Army capture Bilbao and the rest of the Basque Country that was still being held by the Republic.

Background

Bilbao w trakcie hiszpańskiej wojny domowej (1-E-6825-2)
Triumphant nationalist forces parade through Bilbao; a Panzer I light tank passes several armoured vehicles.

Bilbao was the capital of the autonomous Basque area established by the Republic after the war began to reward Basque nationalist support of the Republic. The Basque people in Spain generally inhabit four provinces: Navarre, Álava, Gipuzkoa and Biscay. The Basque nationalists were dominant in the last two provinces. Navarre and Álava had rallied to the rising against the Republic.

The Spanish Nationalist troops gained Gipuzkoa early in the war with the fall of Irún in August and San Sebastián on 13 September 1936, isolating the Basque Country and the zone held by the Northern Republicans from the French border. On 31 March, the Nationalists, led by the General Emilio Mola, launched an offensive against Biscay Province. The Basque troops had to retire, and by June, the Nationalists had reached the outskirts of Bilbao.

Battle

By 11 June 1937 the Basque forces had fallen back to the city of Bilbao, which was defended by a series of rushed fortifications called the "Bilbao's Iron Ring". It was poorly designed for defence. It was quite an antiquated concept, akin to First World War fortifications, and so was vulnerable to modern warfare and weapons, such as aircraft and artillery, and only 30,000 troops were defending it (it was conceived to be defended by 70,000). Therefore the Iron Ring was rather easily overcome by Nationalist forces.

The ring was breached by an infantry assault supported by heavy air and artillery bombardment (150 guns and 70 bombers). On 12 June, the Spanish Republican Army launched a diversionary attack against Huesca to stop the Nationalist offensive, but the Nationalist troops continued their advance. On the night of 13 June, the defenders evacuated most of the civilian population from the city. On 18 June, General Ulibarri withdrew his remaining troops from Bilbao, and the Nationalists occupied the city on the following day. The city's bridges had been destroyed to hinder the attackers, but the city remained mostly intact.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Batalla de Bilbao para niños

  • List of Spanish Nationalist military equipment of the Spanish Civil War
  • List of weapons of the Corpo Truppe Volontarie
  • List of Spanish Republican military equipment of the Spanish Civil War
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