Having advanced their positions, the nationalists began, in late October 1936, to gather forces with a view to attacking the Spanish capital, Madrid. The moment was in every way suitable for the attack.
The Nationalist Army of Africa had swept the militia units of the republic from Seville to the outskirts of the capital, the fall of which would secure for Franco, if not the end of the war, at least a major psychological success and perhaps the recognition of his regime from the foreign powers.
Madrid indeed at that time looked like a ripe fruit, ready to fall into the hands of the nationalists, almost without a fight. The city's garrison consisted almost exclusively of militia, tragically armed, staffed and trained.
No fortifications had been built around and in the city, there were no anti-aircraft guns, and there were few old French aircraft to support the garrison from the air.
Rightly, overoptimism prevailed in the nationalist camp. Even the ever frugal Franco was now certain of success. He had even ordered truckloads of cars to be assembled behind his troops, loaded with food for the population of Madrid.
The opinion of the nationalists was shared by all the foreign journalists who were in the city, as well as by the democratic government itself.
Prime Minister Largo Caballero was still distrustful of the rest of the political formations, especially the communists and anarchists. Apart from that, however, he did not do much to strengthen Madrid's defense.
The path to battle
The only measure taken by the government at the time concerned the formation of "mixed" brigades – each to have one regular battalion and three militia battalions. Despite this, the government was not determined to fight.
Fearing the actions of the "5th Phalanx", Caballero decided to withdraw the government from Madrid. This decision was followed by panic. Ministers, officials and various supporters began to leave slowly. It was decided to leave with them 8,000 nationalist prisoners, but they were all massacred on the way.
Only the communists decided not to leave the city, where the first Soviet weapons and the first military advisers had arrived. On October 29, Russian tanks made their official appearance on the battlefield.
Led by the Soviet colonel at the time, Pavlov and with Soviet crews, the tanks launched a counterattack against the nationalist forces attempting to block Madrid from the south. The Soviets engaged in a battle with Moroccan cavalry units of the nationalist army, which they did not manage to neutralize.
The Moroccans retreated into a populated area where the tanks could not operate. It was assumed that the tank attack would be supported by units of the communist "5th Regiment" infantry (communist militia formation). However, due to poor coordination, the tanks and infantry did not manage to cooperate and thus the attack failed.
However, there was a positive in the whole story. The Nationalists believed that Madrid's defenses were stronger than they actually were and concentrated their efforts on the western sector of the city. Within the city, after the departure of the government for Valencia, the nominal directorate of defense was assumed by generals Miaja and Pothas.
Essentially, however, everything came under the control of the Soviets. They and the Spanish communists and anarchists managed to mobilize the city's population. All the men, even the women, were drafted.
Barricades and makeshift fortifications began to be built. What was happening was unprecedented. At least 300,000 people, most of them unarmed, were ready to fight for Madrid.
On the other hand, Franco would launch the flower of his army against Madrid. About 20,000 Moroccans and Spanish Foreign Legionnaires were to attack. On November 8, the battle began. Nationalist artillery began to fire and the first Nationalist bombers appeared on the horizon. But this time they would have rivals. More than 70 Soviet fighters were defending the city.
Soviet Tanks, 5th Phalanx and International Brigades
The nationalists launched four assault phalanxes against the city. When the foreign journalists asked the head of the operation, General Mola, which phalanx would occupy the city, he replied "the 5th", implying the nationalists who were trapped inside the city and thus creating the term 5th phalanx.
From the beginning, however, the nationalist attack was met with courage and determination. Fortified within the building complexes, the democrats put up a fierce resistance. On the other hand, the tanks of the nationalists could do little within a populated area.
Fatefully, the conflict took the form of fierce, ferocious and merciless street fighting, in which the nationalists had no chance of prevailing, because there were simply too few of them. At the same time the democrats started to strengthen.
On the second day of the battle, the first XI International Brigade, 1,900 strong, under the Hungarian Kleber (Lazarus Stand) appeared in Madrid. The brigade had three battalions, the German "Edgar Andre" Battalion, the French "Paris Commune" and the Polish "Dabrowski". It also had a British machine gun company.
On the morning of November 9 the brigade went into battle near the campus of Madrid, at the most sensitive point on the front. The German brigadier-generals in particular fought with fanaticism, as did their Moroccan opponents. Fierce street battles were fought throughout the day, but without any substantial result. In this way, the battle continued until November 12, when new democratic forces arrived in Madrid.
It was the XII International Brigade, also three battalions strong – the German "Telman" battalion, the French "Andre Marty" battalion and the Italian "Garibaldi" battalion - under the also Hungarian Lukacs (Mata Zalka). Winston Churchill's nephew also served in this brigade.
Duruti, the anarchists and the "heroic" death
But a brigade of anarchist militia, under the anarchist leader Bonaventura Durruti, with a strength of 3,000 men, also arrived in the city. The anarchists marched on campus with orders to attack the next day, but at the critical moment they refused to leave their trenches.
When they did not accept the attack, 800 Moroccans and Legionnaires fled. For the first time the nationalists had succeeded in creating a breach in the opposing defense. But there were no reserves to take advantage of it. Miaha dropped the XII International Brigade there and the continuity of the front was restored.
On November 20, Durruti was killed, by a communist bullet the anarchists said, by an anarchist bullet the communists claimed, by nationalist fire, they both later agreed. In fact it appears that Durruti was killed by an accidental discharge of a companion's gun while they were both getting into a car.
The gun got caught in the door handle, he fired, and the bullet hit Durruti in the chest. Eventually propaganda forced the spread of the story of his "heroic" death by a nationalist sniper.
Permanent pause…
Gradually the battle of Madrid died down, despite the Royalist reinforcements that Franco threw into the fray. Throughout the remainder of the war the nationalists would not venture a new attack against Madrid.
They were limited to just besieging and shelling it. After all, Franco had declared that he would rather destroy Madrid than leave it in the hands of the communists.
The Battle of Madrid was over and had cost both sides dearly. For the democrats it was a great victory and the symbol of resistance against "fascism". For Franco, on the contrary, it was the confirmation of his fears that the civil war was going to last a long time.
After Madrid, Franco completely changed his strategy and decided to move with very slow and careful steps, depriving the democrats even the psychological foundations of even a false success.