Battle of Valsequillo
The Battle of Valsequillo, also known as Battle of Peñarroya, was a diversionary Republican offensive which took place in the Sierra Morena area in southern Extremadura and the north of Andalusia between 5 January and 4 February 1939 during the Spanish Civil War. The main goal of the offensive was to distract forces from the Nationalist offensive against Catalonia, but after having occupied 500 square kilometers the Republican advance was stopped and all the territorial gains were lost to a Nationalist counteroffensive. Background After the defeat of the Battle of Ebro, the Republican Army was broken and would never recover. The Republicans had lost most of their armament and experienced units. At the beginning of December, the Nationalists concentrated an army of 300,000-340,000 men led by General Davila in order to conquer Catalonia. Then, Vicente Rojo, Commander in chief of the Republican army, decided to launch a diversionary offensive in the central zone in order to divert Nationalists forces from the Nationalist offensive against Catalonia. Plan P In 1937 Vicente Rojo had planned an offensive through Extremadura towards the Portuguese frontier in order to cut in a half the Nationalist held zone; the plan for this offense was code named