DZ CHARLIE

Spanish Civil War 1936–1939

Brihuega & Palacio de Ibarra

Battlefield

GuideSpanish Civil War 1936–1939
AreaMadrid & the Centre
TypeBattlefield
When8–23 Mar 1937
Time to allow1 h 30 min
LocationGeneral area only
GPS40.76056, -2.86917
Open the free field guideDirections (Google Maps)

The story

In March 1937 Mussolini's Corpo Truppe Volontarie under General Roatta drove down the Zaragoza road towards Guadalajara to encircle Madrid from the north-east. Rain grounded its aircraft on muddy airfields while Republican planes flew from paved runways. At the Palacio de Ibarra, a country house south of Brihuega, the Italian anti-fascist Garibaldi Battalion of the XII International Brigade fought Italian Blackshirts on 13–14 March: Italians against Italians. On 18 March Republican divisions under Líster, Mera and others counter-attacked and retook Brihuega, routing the CTV. It was the Republic's most celebrated victory and a humiliation for Fascist Italy.

What you can see today

Brihuega's walled old town above the Tajuña; the ruins of the Palacio de Ibarra stand in fields a few km south-east (private land).

Plan your visit

View the Palacio de Ibarra from the track only. Trijueque and Torija, on the N-II, were also battle sites and lie 15–20 minutes away.

Private land: view it from the road or public path only.
Where sources disagree: Italian losses are variously given as 600–3,000 dead and 2,000–4,000 wounded; the Republic's propaganda magnified the victory.

Sources

Nearby sites

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.

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