The siege of Gandesa, or second battle of Gandesa, was part of an attempt by the
Spanish Republican Army to recapture lost territory following the
Battle of the Ebro, when six fully equipped republican divisions were able to successfully cross the
Ebro River. The republican move initially caught the rebel faction by surprise, but the latter displayed greater logistic superiority and quickly brought in a convoy of troops from
Lleida, including
Regulares shock troops, the
Spanish Legion and
Falangists as reinforcements. Other divisions involved as the siege progressed were the 3d, 11th, 43d, 45th and 46th. After its initial success, the ambitious republican offensive failed and the front stabilized in a line from
Serra de Pàndols in the west through Gandesa and neighbouring
Vilalba dels Arcs, as far east as the
Serra de Cavalls range and north to
Serra de la Fatarella. Defended by the Nationalist 50th Division, the republican troops launched repeated attacks against Gandesa town, the wall of the local graveyard bearing the brunt of much of the combat action. Disregarding the advice of fellow generals García Valiño and Yagüe and Aranda who preferred to hold the front as it was and initiate an offensive in the North towards Barcelona, Franco wanted to regain the lost territory at any price. His plan was to keep ramming against the republican lines with repeated frontal counterattacks despite the heavy number of casualties on his own side.
General Aranda compared the lack of progress at Gandesa to a fruitless fight of two rams, but Franco concentrated on the fact that he had the best of the Republican Army caught up in a 35 km long line and if he annihilated it, there would be not enough manpower on the side of the Spanish Republic to continue the war. After months of confrontation, on 2 November the nationalists dominated all the high points of the Pàndols and Cavalls ranges and by 10 November all republican positions south of the Ebro were abandoned in a hasty retreat. There were a very high number of casualties on both sides; the Nationalist armies could bear them, but the Republican military would not recover from the heavy losses inflicted. ==See also==