Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
Blockhaus 13, Colmenar del Arroyo
Trenches & fortifications
The story
After the Battle of Brunete the western front of Madrid settled along the Perales valley. In late 1938 the Nationalist 71st Division began a line of large concrete blockhouses here; Blockhaus 13, built by the 2nd Company of the 7th Sapper Battalion, was the only one completed. Designed to withstand heavy artillery and aerial bombs, it has four domed machine-gun nests linked by a central corridor, an inner courtyard and a cistern. Unusually well preserved, it was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural in 2019.
What you can see today
A near-intact reinforced-concrete blockhouse with four circular firing nests.
Plan your visit
Signposted near the M-510 between Navalagamella and Colmenar del Arroyo; short walk from the road; free.
Sources
- rutasconhistoria.es/loc/bunker-colmenar-de-arroyo
- rutasconhistoria.es/loc/bunker-colmenar-de-arroyo
- viajaporlibre.com/espana/madrid/restos-de-la-guerra-civil-en-la-comunidad-de-madrid
Nearby sites
- Fresnedillas de la Oliva bunkers · 9 km
- Quijorna · 11 km
- Brunete · 16 km
- Villanueva de la Cañada & Mosquito Ridge · 17 km
- Valle de Cuelgamuros (former Valle de los Caídos) · 23 km
- Alto del León (south side), Guadarrama · 31 km
All 158 sites in Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 →
The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The battlefields, trenches, ruined villages, shelters, museums and memorials of the Spanish Civil War across the whole of Spain, told fairly from both sides.
Open the guide