Juan Yague

Juan Yagüe Blanco (San Leonardo, November 9, 1891 - Burgos, October 21, 1952) was a Spanish soldier, known for belonging to the group of the so-called Africanists. . He was part of the Legion corps during the Rif War and during the Asturias uprising in 1934 he had command of the African troops that were sent to repress the rebellious workers. A convinced militant of the Spanish Falange and friend of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, he played an important role during the coup d'état of July 1936 and later during the Spanish civil war, first in command of the column that occupied Extremadura and also as commander of the Moroccan Army Corps during the Battle of the Ebro. It has also been considered responsible for the Badajoz massacre, perpetrated after the taking of the city by the troops under its command, for which it received the popular nickname ofthe Butcher of Badajoz .

After the war he was appointed Air Minister by Franco and later captain general of the VI Military Region, in Burgos. During the years of World War II he came to maintain contact and affinity with Hermann Göring, leader of Nazi Germany.

Biography

Training and military career

Born in the Soria town of San Leonardo on November 9, 1891. He was the son of Juan Yagüe Rodrigo, a doctor from Ucero (Soria), and Maximiana Blanco Salas, a native of the Burgos town of Salas de los Infantes..

In August 1907 he entered the Toledo Infantry Academy while Colonel Juan San Pedro y Cea was its director. He was in the same class as generals Francisco Franco and Emilio Esteban Infantes. In 1912 he was promoted to first lieutenant after four years in Burgos, and until March 1914 he began to serve in the Savoy Infantry Regiment. No. 6, garrisoned in Tetouan.

Some time later Yagüe went to Africa, where he fought in the Rif War within the forces of the Legion. It was there where he gained fame as an "Africanist" officer, like other commanders such as Varela, Millán-Astray, Sanjurjo, Goded or Franco.

He joined the Spanish Falange after the proclamation of the Second Republic. In fact, he never showed much sympathy for the new regime, considering that the Republic had frustrated his military career. In October 1934 he was sent to Asturias in command of the African troops with the mission of repressing the Asturian workers and miners who They had rebelled. In principle, this position was held by Lieutenant Colonel López Bravo, but the Chief of the General Staff, Francisco Franco, replaced him when he expressed some doubt about the troops going to shoot at the civilian population. Once deployed in Asturias, Yagüe stood out for the use of extraordinary violence in the repression of the insurgent workers. When General Eduardo López Ochoa reached an agreement with the workers, Yagüe was outraged and had a heated discussion with López Ochoa, even accusing him of being an accomplice of the rebels.

Yagüe, a friend of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, was a member of the Falange and his political actions always fluctuated between said ideology and loyalty to Franco. In delicate moments such as the unification of the Falange with the Carlists in 1937, which generated some conflicts, he always opted for the latter.

Military conspiracy

After the elections of February 1936, Yagüe became part of the military conspiracy to overthrow the Popular Front Government. At that time he was the commander of one of the Legion's flags, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel and stationed in Ceuta.

In mid-July, during some military maneuvers of the Army of Africa in Llano Amarillo, during the banquet after the parade Yagüe held a meeting with other officers involved in the coup plot. During the meeting he repeatedly heard times "COFFEE!", which actually meant "Comrades, Up Spanish Falange!" Yagüe was in charge of the military uprising in Ceuta. At 11:00 p.m. on July 17, after the uprising had started in Melilla unexpectedly, he took control of Ceuta quickly and easily, without even having fired a single shot. Once the rebellion had triumphed throughout Spanish Morocco, the beheading of the commanders of the Legion left Juan Yagüe as commander in chief of the unit. It was the beginning of the Spanish civil war.

Spanish civil war

Extremadura Campaign

At the beginning of August 1936 he had already crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and was on the Peninsula. In Seville the rebels organized a Column, at the head of which Yagüe was placed, formed mainly with troops from the Army of Africa. They immediately set off, advancing north with the aim of reaching Madrid. The violence of the legionaries and Yagüe's Moroccan troops soon created terror in Extremadura, causing thousands of refugees to flee. In Almendralejo, for example, around a thousand civilians died. On August 10, Yagüe reached Mérida, after having advanced about three hundred kilometers in less than seven days. This constituted a great victory, since it meant the union of the rebel forces in the south with the forces of Emilio Mola in the north. But the city of Badajoz had been isolated in the rear of the rebels and continued to resist.

Yagüe and three thousand soldiers from his column headed to the capital of Badajoz, where another three thousand Republican troops were resisting, many of them militiamen. The battle of Badajoz was one of the bloodiest of the campaign. On August 14, 1936, the Legion's assault against the city walls took place, which was initially rejected by Republican machine guns, causing many casualties among the attacking forces; A second assault managed to enter the city. The battle dragged on until nightfall, after which African Army forces unleashed a bloody crackdown. Some sources speak of two thousand and four thousand civilians executed. The magnitude of the massacre is revealed, in greater proportions, in the response that Yagüe gave to journalist John T. Whitaker, of the New York Herald Tribune, when he questioned him about what happened:

Of course we killed them. What did you expect? That I was going to take four thousand red prisoners with me, having my column to advance against watch? Or were you going to let Badajoz go red again?

The Portuguese Mário Neves was another of the few journalists who spoke with the soldier, who recognized the shootings that were taking place. Historian Hugh Thomas points out that Yagüe did nothing to prevent the executions. The later called Massacre of Badajoz caused an international scandal and meant that Yagüe ended up being known as the Butcher of Badajoz i>.

The march towards Madrid

Promoted to colonel, Yagüe continued the advance towards Madrid, along the Tagus River. On September 2, his forces reached the outskirts of Talavera de la Reina and the next day they took the city by storm, achieving an important victory. Once again, his forces perpetrated another massacre on the civilian population. The advance towards the capital continued, but was greatly slowed compared to the previous weeks due to the significant increase in Republican resistance. Casualties also increased. On September 21, the Army of Africa conquered the town of Maqueda, where the road divided into two: one continued towards Madrid and the other detoured towards Toledo, where a group of rebellious forces under the command of Colonel Moscardó resisted. At that moment Franco intervened in command of the operations and decided to divert to Toledo, much to the indignation of some of the rebel high command. Yagüe and other officers maintained a completely opposite position and warned him about the error that this change represented.

“... They discussed the operations. For example, Yagüe said that the Alcázar de Toledo had to pass and enter Madrid. That in the capital it was necessary to enter for what is today Plaza de Castilla and not for the university and predicted that they would attack him in the Ebro, as it happened, something that did not believe Franco. In fact, it was he who resisted the attack until he received the reinforcements... »

Yagüe, Franco's phalangist general.

Yagüe was replaced by General Varela, who would be the one to continue the advance towards Madrid.

Political position

In April 1937 Franco published the Unification Decree, by which he ordered the unification of the Falange with the Carlist Traditionalist Communion into a single political party, the Traditionalist Spanish Falange and the National-Syndicalist Offensive Boards (FET and of the JONS). This decision was opposed by a sector of the Falange led by Manuel Hedilla, temporary substitute for Primo de Rivera. In the midst of the conflict, Yagüe sent a telegram to Hedilla in which he told him: "Today more than ever I am at his command." Although the telegram was intercepted by his superior officers, Franco ignored this incident and took no action. In fact, in December 1937 Franco appointed him a member of the National Council of FET and JONS, which met in the Monasterio de de Burgos in Burgos. the Strikes.

In April 1937, during a speech in Burgos, Yagüe interceded on behalf of Hedilla and his detained followers, for which a new disciplinary sanction was imposed. In that same speech he commented:

"To give the unification of human heat, so that it may be felt and blessed in all places, we must forgive. Forgive, especially. In the prisons there are, comrades, thousands and thousands of men suffering from prison. And why? For belonging to a party or a trade union. Among these men there are many honest and workers, whom with little effort, with a little affection, would be incorporated into the Movement. You have to be generous, comrades. You have to have the big soul and know how to forgive. We are strong and we can afford that luxury. I ask the authorities to review files and review penalties. That they read backgrounds and that they will release those men to return to their homes the well-being and tranquility, so that we can begin to banish hatred, so that when we come to preach these great things of our creed we will not see before the public smiles of skepticism and perhaps look of hatred, because be aware that in the home where there is a prisoner without any crime there must be hatred."

During the same speech he also praised the combat capacity of the Republicans and, on the other hand, described the German and Italian allies as "prey criminals." The words did not please Franco or other officers. #34;national" and, as a result, his command would be temporarily removed. According to Hugh Thomas, around this time the socialist politician Indalecio Prieto tried, without success, to contact Yagüe with the aim of reaching a peace compromise between both sides.

In the middle of the Spanish civil war, "Día del Caudillo" was celebrated on October 1, 1937, the first anniversary of Franco's exaltation to the Head of State. That day Colonel Juan Yagüe, dressed in the blue Falangist shirt, gave a speech in San Leonardo acclaimed by his countrymen in which after stating that all the labor leaders had to be "exterminated" he said the following:

And the one who resists, you know what you have to do: to jail or to the wall, the same gives. We have proposed to redeem you and redeem you, want or do not want. We need you, we don't need you at all; elections, there will never be, why do we want your votes? First we will redeem those on the other side; we will impose our civilization on them, as they do not want for the good, for the bad, selling them in the same way that we beat the Moors, when they resisted accepting our roads, our doctors and our vaccines, our civilization, in a word.

Back in command

In November 1937 he was placed in command of the new Moroccan Army Corps.

In the month of December the republican forces unexpectedly attacked and conquered the city of Teruel. Yagüe's Moroccan forces were quickly sent to the area to stop the Republican offensive; although they were unable to prevent the fall of the city at the beginning of 1938. The Moroccan Army Corps did manage to inflict a significant defeat on the Popular Army in the Battle of Alfambra, which weakened the republican defenses. The fighting continued until, in February 1938, the Francoists once again took control of the capital of Teruel.

A few weeks later, on March 7, 1938, Franco's forces began a new offensive on the Aragon Front, breaking the front line at several points along several hundred kilometers. The Moroccan Army Corps launched its offensive in the area located south of the Ebro River, sweeping away all resistance from the Republican Army. The Republican retreat soon turned into a rout. The rapid advances of the rebels were supported from the air by the Condor Legion. On March 16, Yagüe's divisions had surrounded the town of Caspe and the next day they managed to conquer it after a tough battle against the International Brigades. In just over a week the Moroccan Army Corps had advanced one hundred and ten kilometers. After a short rest to reorganize its forces, Yagüe resumed the advance and on March 25 they entered Catalonia. Then the advance of the Moroccans of Yagüe headed towards the city of Lérida. But this time they ran into the fierce resistance of the 46th Republican Division of 'El Campesino', the fighting lasting a week before having conquered the entire urban area. On April 15, the Republican zone It was divided in two with the "national" conquest of Vinaroz and the arrival at the sea. After the fighting in Aragon, the poor condition of the Republican units would have allowed the Francoist armies to conquer Catalonia without much effort. But Franco decided to stop along the Segre and Ebro rivers, and continue the advance towards Valencia through the Maestrazgo, against the advice of his generals. Yagüe privately criticized this decision, which earned him a temporary suspension from command.

The Moroccan Army Corps was located along the southern bank of the Ebro River, garrisoning its bank. For several months the situation remained calm; but at a quarter past midnight on July 25, the Republicans began to cross the river in large numbers, attacking a front that went from Mequinenza to Amposta. The attack caught a good part of the defenders by surprise, which allowed the Republican forces to make a great penetration. Yagüe was informed around two thirty, when all its defensive posts were under enemy attack. After the initial shock, the units of the Moroccan Army Corps began to fortify themselves and organize the defense around two fortified points: Gandesa and Villalba de los Arcos. Yagüe's skills as an organizer then became evident. Meanwhile, Franco began to send reinforcements to the Ebro front. Yagüe's forces managed to contain the Republican attack; But for weeks they are not able to expel the Ebro Army units and they only advance a few kilometers at the price of a large number of casualties. Between August and October, several general counteroffensives were launched against the Republican positions, achieving little progress. However, at the beginning of November the Republican defense began to collapse and Yagüe launched his forces into the assault. On November 3, the Moroccans reached the Ebro River and precipitated the retreat of the Republicans. On November 16, the last troops of the Popular Army crossed the river, putting an end to the Battle of the Ebro.

After the beginning of the Catalonia offensive, on January 3, 1939, the Moroccan Army Corps crossed the Ebro River and began to advance towards Tarragona, which fell on January 14. Yagüe continued advancing along the coast and on the morning of January 26 he entered Barcelona, having encountered hardly any resistance in his advance. At noon the occupation of the urban center began, finding a warm reception from Franco's sympathizers in Barcelona..

Franco dictatorship

Air Minister

After the end of the war he was promoted to major general, and in May 1939 he made a trip to Nazi Germany accompanying the Condor Legion on its return. During the time he was in Germany, Yagüe studied the institutions and Nazi organizations, finding himself attracted to them. While there he was deeply attracted to Nazi social policy, the Army and especially the Luftwaffe. This led him to maintain contact with Marshal Hermann Wilhelm Göring, who in turn was commander of the Luftwaffe. Yagüe became an active Germanophile. On August 9, Franco appointed him Minister of the Air..

From his position as minister, Yagüe tried to create a new Air Force with the help of Nazi Germany and Italy, and with the clear intention that it would participate in the future world war in favor of the Axis. Yagüe had already He sent several officers to training centers in Germany and Italy, and his plan contemplated the acquisition of 5,000 aircraft for the Air Force, following the model of the German Luftwaffe. The Spanish Air Force at that time It had 14 regiments and three air groups, composed in turn of 172 fighters and 164 bombing planes of different types, along with 82 cooperation planes and another 75 aircraft captured from the Republicans. The reports issued by the General Staff, however,, made evident the poor condition of the planes, the lack of spare parts and fuel. Finally the attempt was not successful given the terrible situation in which the country found itself and the impossibility of carrying out such a project in such conditions. conditions. As minister, he also sponsored the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Luis Navarro Garnica as president of Atlético de Aviación.

On June 27, 1940, he was removed from office by Franco and confined to his hometown, San Leonardo, in Soria. The official pretext was to have told the United States ambassador that the United Kingdom was defeated and that he deserved it. The reality was that Yagüe had become more explicit in his criticism of Franco and opposed Franco's revanchist policy, was rehabilitating Republican aviation officers, and had even become involved in a plot to overthrow Franco, which was discovered by the secret service. He was replaced in his ministerial position by General Juan Vigón.

In 1941, Yagüe began directing the San Leonardo Penitentiary Colony, a prisoner concentration complex created in order to rebuild his hometown and improve its infrastructure. However, due to his organizational incompetence, the General Directorate of Security ended up putting a prison officer in charge to solve the existing problems. This official, after visiting the town, sent a report to his superiors in which he denounced that the general had spoken "in a tone of censure" about Franco and Serrano Suñer, and ended with this assessment of Yagüe: "He gives the impression of being disturbed."

New controls

Two years later, on November 12, 1942, he was rehabilitated by Francisco Franco, who appointed him military commander of Melilla and delegate of the Government in that square. This appointment occurred a few days after the Allies had landed in the French colonies in North Africa. Yagüe was promoted to lieutenant general in July 1943 and on October 10 he took charge of the general captaincy of the VI Military Region, based in Burgos, and the leadership of the Army Corps of Navarra. As Captain General of Burgos developed important social work in the city, with the construction of the Civic-Military Sports City, the "Juan Yagüe" and also the so-called "General Yagüe Sanitary Residence". The hospital was finally inaugurated in 1960 and remained active until 2012, when it was replaced by the new University Hospital of Burgos.

Despite his new appointment, he remained active in several conspiracies against Franco. During this stage he maintained a secret correspondence with Juan de Borbón, in which Yagüe expressed his discomfort with Franco and supported a monarchical restoration, for which on the way to replacing Franco with a Royal Council chaired by Agustín Muñoz Grandes:

The first phase of this plan can be: to get a good starting point; to choose the intelligent and prestigious man who organizes the movement and the propaganda, and to provide V.M. men to constitute a Royal Council, in which all sectors that should be taken into account are represented; and to contact Hitler.

However, Nazi Germany's fortunes changed after its catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad and Hitler began to lose the war. In October 1944, as captain general of the VI Military Region, he played a relevant role in the rejection of the invasion of the Aran Valley by Spanish republicans who had fought in the French Resistance during World War II.

Juan Yagüe Blanco died in Burgos in 1952 as a result of lung cancer. He was posthumously promoted to captain general of the Army, in the same way that had happened with General Varela, who died the previous year. In 1953 he was granted the marquisate of San Leonardo de Yagüe posthumously.

Charged with crimes against humanity and illegal detention

He was one of the thirty-five senior officials of the Franco regime accused by the National Court in the summary carried out by Baltasar Garzón, for the crimes of illegal detention and crimes against humanity committed during the Spanish Civil War and in the first years of the regime, and that they were not prosecuted when their death was confirmed.

Private life

On May 8, 1926, he married María Eugenia Martínez del Campo, with whom he had six children. His wife was the daughter of Eduardo Martínez del Campo y Acosta, lawyer and politician, who became Minister of Grace and Justice and President of the Supreme Court.

Decorations

• Military Merit Cross (red distinction) 6 times (1915, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1925, 1927)
• Medal of Sufferings for the Homeland (1923)
• Gran Cruz, Placa and Cruz de la Real y Militar Orden de San Hermenegildo (1942, 1935, 1929)
• 2nd Class of Military Merit (1931)
• Individual Military Medal (1936)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit (1943)
• Grand Cross of the Aeronautical Merit (white distinction) (1947)
• Grand Cross of Naval Merit (1949)
• Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Yugo and the Arrows (1950)
• Palma de Plata de la Falange (in posthumous title)
• Gold Medal to Merit at Work (distinction withdrawn posthumously)

Recognitions

• Adoptive Son of Ceuta (8 December 1936)
• Adoptive Son of Villanueva del Fresno (August 22, 1937)
• Adoptive Son Predilecto de Soria (30 January 1939)