El final de la matança / Endgame in the Ebro
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
Foto presa amb una Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 531, fabricada el 1938 i venuda a Budapest; Carl Zeiss Tessar f3.5 / 75mm; Kodak Ektar 100, revelat amb procés C41 modificat a "bleach bypass", amb el kit de Tetenal. La càmera fou fabricada el mateix any que es lluità al Ebre, potser mentre aquestes trinxeres eren excavades i disputades.
Fotografies de la zona de combats de la Batalla del Ebre (1938).
Fotografies de la zona de combats de la Batalla del Ebre (1938).
Un sector de les trinxeres que defensaven la posició Raimats. Quan es varen excavar arqueològicament fa uns 10 anys, s'hi va trobar un cadaver republicà mort en combat.
Els darrers i dramatics combats de la batalla es produiren en una posició vital per protegir la retirada del exèrcit republicà: Los Raimats, al nord de La Fatarella. Intuint la cabdal importancia d'aquesta posició, els republicans la fortificaren a consciencia, amb moltes trinxeres conectant vuit bunquers de formigó, la majoria per ametralladores però com a mínim un per un canó antitanc. L'assalt final començà el 14 de novembre: les tropes feixistes ocuparen La Fatarella i continuaren cap a Raimats amb molts tancs. El comandant alemany Gustav Trippe va morir allà. Els defensors de la XV Brigada perderen algunes posicións (Cota 554), però aguantaren, mentre la resta del exercit creuava l'Ebre per Flix i Riba-roja.
El 15 de novembre s'incrementà l'atac, amb molta artilleria i aviació. Els tancs T26 dispararen directament contra les troneres dels bunquers per matar els defensors. Això va permetre que la infanteria assaltés les darreres defenses de la Cota 562, morint casi tots els defensors. Riba-roja i Flix varen caure el dia 16, però l'exercit del Ebre no havia estat aniquilat.
La batalla de l'Ebre (25 juliol - 16 novembre de 1938) fou la més important i mortifera de la guerra civil espanyola. Hi ha que també la consideren també la més decisiva, però crec que per desgracia la guerra ja estava decidida de molt abans, com a minim des del trencament del front d'Aragó el 9 de març del mateix any.
Tot i que l'exèrcit republicà creuà l'Ebre el 25 de juliol del 1938 per molts punts entre Mequinensa i Amposta, la major part dels combats de la batalla es donaren a la Terra Alta, a la zona entre Vilalba dels Arcs, La Fatarella, Camposines i Gandesa, a més de la Serra de Pandols.
www.ccma.cat/324/troben-a-la-fatarella-lultim-soldat-repu...
lafinestralectora.cat/ebre-1938/
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalla_de_l%27Ebre
============================================
Photo taken with a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 531, made in 1938 and sold in Budapest; Carl Zeiss Tessar f3.5 / 75mm; Kodak Ektar 100, developed with C41 process modified to "bleach bypass", with the Tetenal kit. So the camera and the battlefield date to the same year. Maybe even the camera was made while combats were rising in those trenches.
This is part of the Ebro battlefield (1938), in Southern Catalonia.
Part of the restored trenchline of the Raimats fortified line, in the Hill 562. It's a beautiful rural landscape, but in 1938 it was Hell. When archeologists restored this trench a decade ago, they found the skeleton of a Republican soldier, killed in combat.
The last and dramatic combats of the battle took place in a vital position to protect the retreat of the Republican Army: "Los Raimats", north of La Fatarella. Sensing the paramount importance of this position, the Republicans conscientiously fortified it, with many trenches connecting eight concrete bunkers, most armed with machine guns but at least one with an anti-tank gun. The final assault began on November 14: the fascist troops occupied La Fatarella and continued towards Raimats with many tanks. German Commander Gustav Trippe died in the first assault. The defenders of the XV Brigade lost some positions (hill 554, were this bunker stands), but held on, while the rest of the Republican Army crossed the Ebro by Flix and Riba-roja.
On 15th November the attack increased, with much artillery and aviation bombing. T26 tanks fired directly at the bunkers' embrasures, killing the defenders. This allowed the infantry to assault the last defenses of Hill 562, killing almost all the defenders. Riba-roja and Flix fell on the 16th, but the Ebro army had not been annihilated.
The Battle of the Ebro (July 25 - November 16, 1938) was the most important and deadlier of the Spanish Civil War. There are those who also consider it the most decisive, but I think that unfortunately the war was already decided long before, at least since the breaking of the front of Aragon on March 9 of the same year.
The battle began with the greatest offensive made by the Republican forces, when they crossed the river Ebro between Mequinensa and Amposta (especially between Riba-roja and Miravet), and advanced to the line La Pobla de Massaluca -Vilalba dels Arcs -Gandesa - Serra de Pandols . But in just 48 hours, the dazzling advance was stopped short. Then Franco decided to crush the republican forces hill by hill (with massive artillery and bomber barrages), in a battle of attrition identical to the First World War for which the Republicans had no resources or alternative, especially with the river behind them. The main assaults, which lasted from August 10 to October 29, were concentrated in a very small and devastated area: the triangle Vertex Gaeta - Corbera - Camposines.
Finally, a final offensive on October 30 occupied the ridge of the Serra de Cavalls, making the entire Republican bridgehead unsustainable, which managed, however, to withdraw in an orderly manner until November 16. But the damage was already done, and there were no forces left for a proper defense of Catalonia, which fell three months later. Then, fascist darkness.
lafinestralectora.cat/ebre-1938/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxQZ_gKCHtk
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ebro
El final de la matança / Endgame in the Ebro
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
Foto presa amb una Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 531, fabricada el 1938 i venuda a Budapest; Carl Zeiss Tessar f3.5 / 75mm; Kodak Ektar 100, revelat amb procés C41 modificat a "bleach bypass", amb el kit de Tetenal. La càmera fou fabricada el mateix any que es lluità al Ebre, potser mentre aquestes trinxeres eren excavades i disputades.
Fotografies de la zona de combats de la Batalla del Ebre (1938).
Fotografies de la zona de combats de la Batalla del Ebre (1938).
Un sector de les trinxeres que defensaven la posició Raimats. Quan es varen excavar arqueològicament fa uns 10 anys, s'hi va trobar un cadaver republicà mort en combat.
Els darrers i dramatics combats de la batalla es produiren en una posició vital per protegir la retirada del exèrcit republicà: Los Raimats, al nord de La Fatarella. Intuint la cabdal importancia d'aquesta posició, els republicans la fortificaren a consciencia, amb moltes trinxeres conectant vuit bunquers de formigó, la majoria per ametralladores però com a mínim un per un canó antitanc. L'assalt final començà el 14 de novembre: les tropes feixistes ocuparen La Fatarella i continuaren cap a Raimats amb molts tancs. El comandant alemany Gustav Trippe va morir allà. Els defensors de la XV Brigada perderen algunes posicións (Cota 554), però aguantaren, mentre la resta del exercit creuava l'Ebre per Flix i Riba-roja.
El 15 de novembre s'incrementà l'atac, amb molta artilleria i aviació. Els tancs T26 dispararen directament contra les troneres dels bunquers per matar els defensors. Això va permetre que la infanteria assaltés les darreres defenses de la Cota 562, morint casi tots els defensors. Riba-roja i Flix varen caure el dia 16, però l'exercit del Ebre no havia estat aniquilat.
La batalla de l'Ebre (25 juliol - 16 novembre de 1938) fou la més important i mortifera de la guerra civil espanyola. Hi ha que també la consideren també la més decisiva, però crec que per desgracia la guerra ja estava decidida de molt abans, com a minim des del trencament del front d'Aragó el 9 de març del mateix any.
Tot i que l'exèrcit republicà creuà l'Ebre el 25 de juliol del 1938 per molts punts entre Mequinensa i Amposta, la major part dels combats de la batalla es donaren a la Terra Alta, a la zona entre Vilalba dels Arcs, La Fatarella, Camposines i Gandesa, a més de la Serra de Pandols.
www.ccma.cat/324/troben-a-la-fatarella-lultim-soldat-repu...
lafinestralectora.cat/ebre-1938/
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalla_de_l%27Ebre
============================================
Photo taken with a Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 531, made in 1938 and sold in Budapest; Carl Zeiss Tessar f3.5 / 75mm; Kodak Ektar 100, developed with C41 process modified to "bleach bypass", with the Tetenal kit. So the camera and the battlefield date to the same year. Maybe even the camera was made while combats were rising in those trenches.
This is part of the Ebro battlefield (1938), in Southern Catalonia.
Part of the restored trenchline of the Raimats fortified line, in the Hill 562. It's a beautiful rural landscape, but in 1938 it was Hell. When archeologists restored this trench a decade ago, they found the skeleton of a Republican soldier, killed in combat.
The last and dramatic combats of the battle took place in a vital position to protect the retreat of the Republican Army: "Los Raimats", north of La Fatarella. Sensing the paramount importance of this position, the Republicans conscientiously fortified it, with many trenches connecting eight concrete bunkers, most armed with machine guns but at least one with an anti-tank gun. The final assault began on November 14: the fascist troops occupied La Fatarella and continued towards Raimats with many tanks. German Commander Gustav Trippe died in the first assault. The defenders of the XV Brigade lost some positions (hill 554, were this bunker stands), but held on, while the rest of the Republican Army crossed the Ebro by Flix and Riba-roja.
On 15th November the attack increased, with much artillery and aviation bombing. T26 tanks fired directly at the bunkers' embrasures, killing the defenders. This allowed the infantry to assault the last defenses of Hill 562, killing almost all the defenders. Riba-roja and Flix fell on the 16th, but the Ebro army had not been annihilated.
The Battle of the Ebro (July 25 - November 16, 1938) was the most important and deadlier of the Spanish Civil War. There are those who also consider it the most decisive, but I think that unfortunately the war was already decided long before, at least since the breaking of the front of Aragon on March 9 of the same year.
The battle began with the greatest offensive made by the Republican forces, when they crossed the river Ebro between Mequinensa and Amposta (especially between Riba-roja and Miravet), and advanced to the line La Pobla de Massaluca -Vilalba dels Arcs -Gandesa - Serra de Pandols . But in just 48 hours, the dazzling advance was stopped short. Then Franco decided to crush the republican forces hill by hill (with massive artillery and bomber barrages), in a battle of attrition identical to the First World War for which the Republicans had no resources or alternative, especially with the river behind them. The main assaults, which lasted from August 10 to October 29, were concentrated in a very small and devastated area: the triangle Vertex Gaeta - Corbera - Camposines.
Finally, a final offensive on October 30 occupied the ridge of the Serra de Cavalls, making the entire Republican bridgehead unsustainable, which managed, however, to withdraw in an orderly manner until November 16. But the damage was already done, and there were no forces left for a proper defense of Catalonia, which fell three months later. Then, fascist darkness.
lafinestralectora.cat/ebre-1938/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxQZ_gKCHtk
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ebro