To commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Civil War, José Ángel Mañas re-creates in Zenda, day by day in this section, what happened in 1936, perhaps the most consequential year in all of modern Spanish history.
Monday, September 21, 1936: The Alcázar of Toledo
The fascists have captured Maqueda.
The news arrived at dawn and unsettled the leaders of the Quinto Regimiento. Maqueda lay only forty-two kilometers from Madrid. This was bound to nerves the militiamen and boost the morale of those under siege. Hence, the directive was that the Alcázar must fall at once. It did not seem possible, thought Koltsov, surveying the jumble of ruins that made up the fortress atop Toledo, with three of its towers and the western façade completely wrecked, to keep holding out.
The day began amid the roar of cannons. The echo rolled through the narrow streets, making them tremble. All of Toledo seemed ready to sink. The gorge of the Tagus sent back the reverberation like a resonant drum. In the barricades of the Zocodover Square, the Communist reserve gathered, now forced to move up to the front line, at the foot of the fortress.
—Come on. They’re waiting for us.
The regiment ran, amid the bullets, toward the Santa Cruz Hospital. Inside waited two thousand men, among factory workers from the Armaments Factory and anarchist militiamen. They had installed a new 155-millimeter cannon. From the gate one could see the Alcázar: the entire south wall of the hospital was under fire from the rebels. The shots came from the nearby Civil Government Building, ruined, in whose interior there were still a couple of machine guns and a covering force. The rest of the rebels had withdrawn upward, to the loft above the northern esplanade, near the entrance to the Academy. At that moment the hospital door stood wide open, but fire from Moscardó’s men prevented them from leaving.
—Leave me. I will cover you, comrades — said a noncommissioned artilleryman. Shielded by the shield, he dragged a seventy-five-millimeter cannon forward and fired through the arch that still stood, into the dimness from which the fascist fire arose, atop the esplanade.
—With each shot —another officer said—, let ten men step out ten by ten. They should assemble at the foot of the esplanade, where the fascist fire cannot reach, understood? As soon as we have enough, we will climb straight to the Academy.
—Let me go with the first wave —said Koltsov.
—I’ll go with you —said Gorev.
The officer regarded them.
—If today the Alcázar does not fall, it will never fall. Forward, comrades! Long live Russia! Long live the Popular Front! Long live the Republic!
—Long live! —replied everyone, fists raised high.
Todas las entradas de 1936 día a día
Entrevista con José Ángel Mañas sobre 1936 día a día