ue army followed the instructions and forced the asturians and cantabrians militia battalions that were there to withdrew also to Vizcaya.
They defence was settled around Bilbao, a big industrial city. In theory a ring of bunkers were going to make really hard for the fascist to take the city. Or at least it was going to cost them a lot of effort and lifes. But again, without any serious fight in the city or around it the Basque government decided to withdrew and give the city to the fascist without resistance. Actually most of the willing of resistance came from some the asturian and cantabrian militias. The basque police removed them from the city and stay in it waiting for the arrival of the fascist troops to avoid any disturbance. Most of the Basque government flee to Santander, and the rests of the Basque Army follow them. Then thousands of basque refugees head Cantabria also where they were received friendly by the people. In few days Vizcaya in Gipuzkoa were in the fascist hands. Now the front line was in our borders, in the east and south of Cantabria.
Surprisingly some orders came from Madrid. It was to reorganize the Structures of the Governments and of the Armies. To united them in one body for all the North (Asturias, Cantabria… and Euskadi). This was in order to make space in them and give direct power for the Basque Government and Basque army even that they had already loose their territory. This reorganization happened in the worst moments with the enemy at the gates of our country. But unfortunately, many in the high level of the Cantabrian council were Spanish nationalist and many others still very mentally dependant of Madrid orders. The real independence was in the ground, in the daily life, in the mind of the People, in the militias, not in the army, police officials, generals or in the old politicians.
The main attack started the 14 of August in both south and east directions. The enemy had concentrate tons of ammunition, all the Italian Expeditionary Corps, Moors troops, Spanish divisions, planes, tanks and hundreds of trucks.
The fights were heavy in the South. The defenders make many casualties in the Italians troops. They resist three days, but without planes our tanks was very difficult. In fast movements the fascist were available to surrounded dozens of battalions of the Cantabrian Army and to took Reinosa, a small and industrial city and the most important of the south of Cantabria. But in the east front something shocking was going to happen. This was the front where the vast majority of Basque battalions where located.
At one point this battalions started to withdrew (without a shoot against the fascist troops) from the front line. They started to march to Santoña, a fishing village in the East Coast of Cantabria. The Basque police organize all the arrival of the Basque army.
The took control of it, they freed more than 1.000 fascist prisoners and drove them into the fascist lines, and they keep a dozens of the high profile fascist prisoners with themselves to protected them against Cantabrian militias and soldiers. The fascist took quickly all the territory that they left behind.
The only resistance was by lonely Cantabrian battalions and militias, all shocked by the withdrew of the Basque army
This happened because since many, many months before they were negotiations between the Basque Governments and the Fascist side. The contacts were with the Basque representatives and the Church and the Italians, that after contact the Spanish Fascist leadership. The withdrew was the result of all this, but not the only one. As part of the new Government after the reorganization they were between the people that organized the defence of Cantabria before the fascist attack. And also they give more military information of the fronts to the enemy. Thanks to this the fascist advanced quickly (in few days) into Cantabrian territory, from South to East heading the Capital, Santander.
Even this they found resistance and fascists paid with lives and blood the metres they advance, but the chaos produced by al