Enrique Jurado Barrio

Enrique Jurado Barrio (September 15, 1882 - March 30, 1965 ) was a Spanish military colonel who fought in the Spanish Civil War for the Second Spanish Republic. Originally from a military relative, he had participated in the war in Morocco, and on war merits he was promoted despite his opposition to this type of promotion.
During the war he commanded several military units, reaching an important performance in the Front of the center during the Battles of Guadalajara and Brunete. In the last days of the conflict, he was in command of the General Directorate of Special Defense against Aircraft (DECA) and the Eastern Army Group, which he will lead in its last moments during the Withdrawal from Catalonia. Once he passed to France, he refused to return to the central zone and continued in the Gallic country until he left for South America. He ended up in Uruguay during his final days.
Biography.
Military career.
Juarado was a descendant of a family with a long military tradition, however Enrique Jurado is a figure on whom data have always been lacking due to the lack of his military file today. He entered the Army in 1909, studying at the Segovia Artillery Academy between 1911 and 1913 . 1 He was assigned to Africa and went to fight in the Rif War, and he was promoted from Captain to Commander due to war merits, despite his opposition to this type of promotion. With the arrival of the Second Republic, these promotions were canceled, and Jurado was demoted to the job of captain at his own request.
Spanish Civil War.
In July of 1936, he was an artillery commander bound for Ceuta, although the uprising surprised him in Madrid. He sets off to the Getafe artillery regiment, where he was held hostage by the rebels from the base for a few hours. Discouragement spread among the rebels, and Barrio managed to escape the place and took command of the regiment. He then organized an artillery group with which he participated in the surrender of the camp barracks. He was captured by Alcalá de Henares (July 20) and in the defense of the Somosierra sector. On August 13, 1936, he was appointed head of a militia column that from Oropesait must act against the Army of Africa. On August 25 it advances and occupies some towns south of Oropesa. On the 28th his column confronts the Army of Africa and is defeated, having to withdraw from the area. On September 3, 1936, he was appointed head of the Somosierra sector, replacing General Carlos Bernal. On October 25, 1936, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. On December 31, when the Army of the center was reorganized, the troops under his command became the 1st Division, being Jurado as chief and placing his command post in Lozoyuela.
On March 13, 1937, before the attack of the Fascist Italians of the CTV towards Guadalajara, Jurado was appointed head of the newly created IV Army Corps. It included the Republican forces that defended the front in the province of Guadalajara. which would then participate in the republican counterattack that defeated the Italians. On April 10, 1937, he ceased in this position due to illness, being replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Arce. At the end of April, he was appointed head of Operation Extramadura , a plan consisting of cutting off the rebellious territory at the height of Mérida until reaching the Portuguese border, of which Largo Caballero approved. However the plan was delayed, both by Miaja's opposition to giving up forces and by Soviet advisers, who refuse to give up aviation to carry out the plan. The fall of the Largo Caballero government and the arrival of Negrín at the head of the Government will cause the operation to be totally scrapped. On June 28, he took command of the XVIII Army Corps, with which he participated in the Battle of Brunete. On July 11, the Republican advance had already reached the limit of his possibilities and due to his illnesses, he was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Casado.
His next post would be between 1937 and 1939 with the head of the General Directorate of Special Defense against Aircraft (DECA), command where he will be promoted to colonel (April 22, 1938) and general (August 16, 1938). Under his command, DECA was more organized throughout the war, as it is the moment where the greatest number of anti-aircraft pieces manages to gather and whose organization reached a higher level. 4 On January 27, 1939, in the midst of the Republican defeat in Catalonia, and with Barcelona already occupied by the rebels, he replaced General Juan Hernández Saravia at the head of the Eastern Region Army Group (GERO). But under these conditions, it will not be able to organize any type of defense with the retreating Republican army, so it limits itself to evacuating the Republican troops in the most orderly manner. With the fall of all of Catalonia, he fled France in February 1939, where he would remain for the remainder of the war and refusing to return to the central zone, considering the war irretrievably lost.
Exile.
Once the war is over, he would be exiled from various countries, moving to France in 1939, to Argentina in 1940 and finally Uruguay, where he arrived in December 1943. There he soon found work as Head of the Cadastral and Cartography Service of Montevideo, directing government cadastral teams. In the last years of his life, he was organizing his memoirs. On March 30, 1965, he died in Montevideo. Later on, his remains were transferred to Madrid.