Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
Suicide Hill (Colina del Suicidio), Jarama
Morata de Tajuña · Battlefield
The story
On 12 February 1937, in the Nationalist offensive to cut the Madrid–Valencia road, the British Battalion of the XV International Brigade was thrown onto this knoll above the Jarama valley. For about seven hours it held against Moroccan Regulares and Legionaries supported by artillery and machine guns. Of roughly 600 men who went into action, only a fraction were still standing at nightfall; the writer Christopher Caudwell was among the dead. Neighbouring Dimitrov and Franco-Belgian battalions suffered similarly. The line bent but held, and the Jarama front froze here until 1939.
What you can see today
An open, olive-and-scrub hilltop with an informal stone cairn and plaques; traces of trenches and scattered shrapnel remain in the fields around.
Plan your visit
Morata de Tajuña publishes nine waymarked battle routes; route 7 starts here. Park carefully on the M-302 tracks; no facilities, bring water in summer.
Sources
- morataturismo.es/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/9-Rutas-Restos-Batalla-Jarama.pdf
- morataturismo.es/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/9-Rutas-Restos-Batalla-Jarama.pdf
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jarama
- brigadasinternacionales.org/2017/02/10/colina-del-suicidio/
Nearby sites
- International Brigades memorials, Jarama · 2 km
- Pingarrón hill, Jarama · 2 km
- Museo de la Batalla del Jarama, Morata · 5 km
- Jarama bridges: Pindoque & Arganda · 12 km
- Los Yesares positions, Pinto · 16 km
- Cerro de los Ángeles · 19 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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