Battle of Talavera de la Reina
1936 CE.
Shown on the map at 39.958°, -4.833°.
The Battle of Talavera de la Reina was fought on 3 September 1936 in the Spanish Civil War. The Republicans, attempting to bar the road to Madrid at Talavera de la Reina, were defeated by the professional army of the Nationalists, with heavy casualties on both sides. In the first days of September, after a fitful retreat along the Tagus, the government militias established themselves in a strong position on the heights above Talavera. Rather than risk the Republic's army defending open country in earlier battles, General Riquelme had yielded ground constantly, allowing him to conserve his forces and muster over 10,000 men at Talavera. A strong complement of artillery and an armoured train were placed at his disposal. The weary and shot-torn Nationalists, meanwhile, had advanced several hundred miles with hardly a moment's pause. At dawn on 3 September General Yagüe raced Colonel Asensio and Major Castejón up the flanks of the defenders. The two columns soon seized the city's train station and aerodrome. Once again the Republican militias lost their nerve, knowing their fate should they be surrounded and captured.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Talavera de la Reina (1936), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.