Spanish Civil War Campaign Phase 1: The Melilla Uprising

DATE: 11/06/2023

TIME (GMT): 18:00

ERA: WW2

MAP(S): Altis

TYPE: COOP

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Jarvis for Brothers in Arms

SLOTS: 83 / 86

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RATING: (31)

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Throughout the early 1930s, Spanish politics had been plagued by attempts at social, economic and political reform being met by hostility from the conservative sectors of Spanish society. Several coup attempts had taken place during this period, most notably the 1932 ‘Sanjurjada’ coup undertaken by Spanish nationalists.

When the Popular Front, a coalition of left wing parties, won the 1936 general election by a narrow margin, leaders within the Spanish military and right wing parties led by Emilio Mola began planning an audacious coup aimed at toppling the new government. After months of planning, it had been concluded by the conspirators that the Army of Africa, a formation of soldiers brought up from the Spanish colonies, would begin the coup days before the mainland rising, where the Army of Africa would then be transported to Spain by the Navy.

The first days of the coup were complete chaos. Rebel soldiers fought soldiers still loyal to the Republic, and elements of the Civil Guard fought the Assault Guard on the streets of Spanish cities. However, it had quickly been realised that the coup had failed with none of the major cities on mainland Spain being secured by the rebels. This had set in motion the events of the next three years of brutal war, characterised by terrible casualties and crimes against humanity; by 1939, the Nationalists had defeated the last remnants of the Second Spanish Republic and declared victory.

The plan set out by Mola called for the Army of Africa to begin the coup in Morocco at 05:00 on the 18th of July, however, the conspiracy was discovered the day before by military officers loyal to the Republic. The commander of the military garrison in the Moroccan city of Melilla, Lieutenant Colonel Juan Seguí Almuzara, decided to begin the rising on the 17th instead, before arresting the Commanding Officer of the Spanish Army in Morocco, General Manuel Romerales, and proclaimed news of the coup on radio, establishing martial law and appealing to the Army of Africa to join the rising.