Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
Porto Cristo – Bayo's landing on Mallorca
Porto Cristo (Manacor) · Battlefield
The story
Mallorca sided with the coup in July 1936. On 16 August Captain Alberto Bayo, with Catalan and Valencian militia and naval support, landed on the east coast at Porto Cristo and Punta Amer (Sa Coma), renaming the port 'Porto Rojo'. The attackers were poorly coordinated, and the defenders were reinforced by Italian aircraft and the Fascist Arconovaldo Bonaccorsi ('Conde Rossi'). The counter-attack from 27 August drove the Republicans back, and they re-embarked by 4 September, leaving equipment behind. Captured militiamen and local leftists were executed; in 2020 excavations at Son Coletes cemetery in Manacor found remains of milicianos and two nurses.
What you can see today
The harbour and beaches of Porto Cristo and Sa Coma, where the landing and fighting took place. There is no major monument on the shore; Son Coletes cemetery in Manacor has the excavated grave site.
Plan your visit
Walk the harbour and the Passeig de la Sirena, then drive 12 km to Manacor for Son Coletes cemetery. Pairs with a visit to the Drach caves.
Sources
- mapcarta.com/Porto_Cristo
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Majorca
- es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto_Cristo
- manuelaguilerapovedano.wordpress.com/2020/08/29/los-milicianos-de-son-coletes/
- ultimahora.es/noticias/part-forana/2020/08/07/1186953/hallan-son-coletes-restos-milicianos-del-desambarco-republicano-mallorca-1936.html
Nearby sites
- Es Campament penal colony, La Savina (Formentera) · 188 km
- Fossar de la Pedrera, Montjuïc · 225 km
- Castell de Montjuïc · 225 km
- Refugi 307, Poble-sec (MUHBA) · 226 km
- Barcelona Cathedral – the religious persecution of 1936 · 227 km
- Plaça de Sant Felip Neri (bombing of 30 January 1938) · 227 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.
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