The
Mechanised Division No. 1 Brunete
whose name recalled the
Battle of Brunete
during the
Spanish Civil War
, was a
military formation
of the
Spanish Army
, created in 1943 under the name of
Armored Division No. 1
and later as
Armored Division Brunete
. It was disbanded after an Army reorganisation in 2006.
It was considered the best-armed and most powerful division in Spain, made up of an armoured brigade, two mechanised brigades, a cavalry regiment, a field artillery regiment, an anti-aircraft artillery regiment, an engineer group, as well as a logistics group and a grouping of the General Staff, with its units distributed in
Castilla y Leon
, Madrid,
Castilla-La Mancha
, Extremadura,
La Rioja
and
Andalusia
. With the military reform of 2006 it was deactivated, and ceased to exist, although its brigades continued in service.
In the late 1980s it included the XI Mechanised Infantry Brigade (including the 6th Mechanised Infantry Regiment), the XII Armoured Brigade (built around the
31st Mechanised Infantry Regiment "Asturias"
) and supporting formations and units.
Franco regime
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The division was established on August 20, 1943, in accordance with General Reserve Instruction No. 2 of the Central
General Staff
of the
Spanish Army
, on the basis of the previous
13th Motorized Division (Francoist)
,
[1]
part of the I Army Corps of Military Region I. It traces its name to the
Battle of Brunete
during the
Spanish Civil War
, which was the largest
tank battle
in the
military history of Spain
. Its origins can be found in the military restructuring after the civil war, in which five regiments of battle tanks were established that took advantage of the captured vehicles.
[1]
In its beginnings it included an infantry regiment, two motorized infantry and one tank regiment.
Its most modern vehicles were 20
Panzer IV
F, bought from
Nazi Germany
during the
Second World War
, and the former Soviet
T-26s
captured in the civil war from the
Republican People's Army
. The Panzer IVs received in late 1943 were organized into two companies, distributed among two battalions in the division's armored regiment.
[2]
Its first major general in command was
Ricardo Rada Peral
, and the division was established at the
El Goloso
Camp, in the Sierra de
Madrid
.
With the normalization of diplomatic and military relations with the United States in the mid-1950s,
M24 Chaffee
and
M47 Patton
battle tanks,
self-propelled artillery
units, and a "heavy weapons" company joined the division. Between 1953 and 1968, the Spanish Army received a total of 446 medium battle tanks (M47s and M48s), 123 light tanks (
M24s
and M41s), as well as 30
M74 Armoured Recovery Vehicles
. In 1970, the United States agreed to extend the military aid program by another five years, giving Spain another 66 M48A2 tanks and 17 M41A3s.
[3]
The vehicles received led to a divisional reorganization in 1965. This included the General Staff, based at
El Pardo
, and the
Nucleo de Tropas Divisionario
(Divisionary Troop Nucleus). The latter was formed by the
Villaviciosa
Light Armored Cavalry Regiment, the Campaign Artillery Regiment, the 1st Anti-Air Artillery Group, Engineering Regiment No. 1 and the Divisional Logistics Group. There were two fighting brigades: Mechanized Infantry Brigade XI, which included the
6th
Saboya
Motorized Infantry Regiment
, the 55th
Uad Ras
Mechanized Infantry Regiment, the XI Self-Propelled Artillery Group, the XI Engineering Battalion and Logistics Group XI. The other was Armored Brigade XII, which was made up of the 61st
Alcazar de Toledo
Armored Infantry Regiment, the
31st
Asturias
Mechanized Infantry Regiment
, the XII Self-Propelled Artillery Group, the XII Engineering Battalion and Logistics Group XII.
[4]
The majority of the division's armor was located in the
Alcazar de Toledo
Armored Infantry Regiment, which contained two regiments of 48 M48s and 54 M47s, respectively.
[5]
1981 attempted coup
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The Brunete Division had an important role in the conspirators' plans for the
1981 Spanish coup d'etat attempt
(the so-called "23-F"), which occurred on February 23, 1981. At that time, it was made up of 13,000 troops with abundant vehicles and war material, and its commanding general was
Major General
Jose Juste Fernandez
. Prior to this, there was the General of Division
Luis Torres Rojas
(at that time, military governor of La Coruna, in the
VIII Military Region
) and previously before then Captain General of the
III Military Region
,
Jaime Milans del Bosch
. Both were military officers heavily involved in the conspiracy and with a long conspiratorial past.
[6]
Important officers of the division, such as
Jose Ignacio San Martin
(chief of the division's
General Staff
) and
Ricardo Pardo Zancada
were fully in favor of the coup d'etat and were active conspirators.
[7]
During an official reception on November 18, 1980, Colonel
Jose Ignacio San Martin
had commented to the king
Juan Carlos I
that "in the division they were" pissed off, very pissed off "with the situation in the country."
[6]
By the afternoon of February 23, the Brunete commanders had received orders to place troops in
Madrid
"at the service of Spain and in the name of the King."
[6]
They had been assigned the following positions: the
Carrera de San Jeronimo
, the
Retiro Park
, the
Isabel II canal
, the
Campo del Moro
(adjacent to the
Palacio de Oriente
) and the main media, especially
Radio Television Espanola
.
[6]
Torres Rojas
rushed back from
La Coruna
to try to take command of the division and get it involved in the coup, but did not succeed.
[6]
And the Brunete troops did not reach those places thanks to the orders of the
Captain General of Madrid
, Lieutenant General
Quintana Lacaci
, who contained the commanders of the units that were already leaving.
[6]
Much later, the divisional commander, Major General Juste, realizing that the King had not ordered any movement of troops (contrary to what the conspirators had announced), also ordered any action to be stopped.
[8]
However, the hesitant attitude of General Juste in the first few moments earned him dismissal a few months later.
[8]
Post Cold War
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The division was reorganised and reduced after the
end of the Cold War
, under the NORTE plan.
It was dissolved in 2006.
Notes
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]
- ^
a
b
"BREVE HISTORIAL DE FUERZAS PESADAS [Brief History of the Heavy Forces]"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on November 13, 2013.
- ^
Manrique,
La Brunete
, pp. 26?27
- ^
Manrique,
La Brunete
, p. 69
- ^
Manrique,
La Brunete
, pp. 39?42
- ^
Manrique,
La Brunete
, p. 43
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
El Pais
.
"My general: with you, no"
. Retrieved
January 18,
2012
.
- ^
The protagonists of 23-F
, El Mundo, February 22, 2001, accessed February 20, 2011. and
Jose Ignacio San Martin, colonel sentenced by 23-F
,
El Pais
, June 8, 2004, consult on February 24, 2011.
- ^
a
b
"General Jose Juste, chief of the Armored Brunete, dies during the 23-F"
.
El Mundo
. January 16, 2010
. Retrieved
January 20,
2010
.
References
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External links
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