Word: teruel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Teruel is the nail on a narrow finger of Rightist territory pointed at Leftist Valencia and only 75 miles from the Mediterranean, though those 75 miles include territory as difficult as any that a modern army could be asked to cross. Leftist General Rojo's capture of all but a few buildings in the centre of Teruel (TIME, Jan. 3 et ante), and the driving of his lines some six miles beyond the city, meant no more than the nipping of that fingernail. In another sense, it was a major victory of the war, for it took the initiative...
...object of the drive on Teruel was to pull down the full force of Franco's armies on Leftist heads, it succeeded last week beyond measure. With his toughest general, Miguel (siege of Oviedo) Aranda, and his ablest General, Jose Fidel (capture of Bilbao) Davila, leading the counterattack, El Caudillo himself reportedly took charge of the campaign from field headquarters 75 miles northwest at Calatayud...
...Leftist high command did not hold back either. Playing the psychological angle for all it was worth in the early days of the battle, Barcelona boasted that the fanatical defenders of Teruel's seminary, bank and cathedral would be given every opportunity to surrender with honor in contrast to General Franco's notorious mass executions in territory he has conquered...
...Caudillo's war machine rolled closer. To make as short work as possible of the Rightist defense within the city, miners blew the remains of the Bank of Spain branch sky high, burying an unknown number of men, women and children in the debris. Soon the Battle of Teruel became a battle of all nations as the U. S. Abraham Lincoln Battalion and other foreign battalions moved into the Leftist lines. New Year's Eve saw Spaniards, Italians, U. S. citizens, Moors, Germans, Czechs and Frenchmen all fighting for a town on a river bank about the size...
Four important highways join at Teruel (see map). Down the one from Sagunto and Valencia through Puebla de Valverde the Leftist offensive drove to capture Mansueto Hill, most important height above the city. Upon the tough rock of the city itself, the Leftists converged, one wing sweeping round Villastar and Campillo to half way between Concud and Caudete, another wing reaching Sierra Palomera at the height of its drive, off TIME'S map and 18 miles away...