Catalonia Offensive | |||||||
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Part of the Spanish Civil War | |||||||
Map of Spain in November 1938, after the end of the Battle of the Ebro and immediately before the start of the Catalonia Offensive. Republican territory is in red, and Nationalist territory is blue. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
Thomas: 300,000[1] Beevor: 220,000[2] Jackson: 90,000[3] Thomas: 360 artillery pieces[4] Beevor: 250 artillery pieces[2] Thomas: 200 tanks and armoured cars[4] Beevor: 40 tanks and armoured cars[2] Thomas: 80 aircraft[4] Beevor: 106 aircraft[5] |
Jackson: 350,000[3] Beevor: 340,000[6] Thomas: 300,000[1] Beevor: 1,400 artillery pieces[6] Thomas: 565 artillery pieces[1] 300 tanks[6] 500 aircraft[7] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
? dead 10,000 wounded 60,000 captured[8] 220,000 disarmed in France[9] |
? dead ? wounded ? captured |
The Catalonia Offensive (Catalan: Ofensiva de Catalunya, Spanish: Ofensiva de Cataluña) was part of the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalist Army started the offensive on 23 December 1938 and rapidly conquered Republican-held Catalonia with Barcelona (the Republic's capital city from October 1937).[10] Barcelona was captured on 26 January 1939. The Republican government headed for the French border. Thousands of people fleeing the Nationalists also crossed the frontier in the following month, to be placed in internment camps. Franco closed the border with France by 10 February 1939.