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63rd Division (Spain)

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63rd Division
63.ª División
Active1937–1939
Country Spain
AllegianceSecond Spanish Republic Republican faction
Branch Spanish Republican Army
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
Part of VIII Army Corps
Garrison/HQVillanueva de Córdoba
EngagementsSpanish Civil War

The 63rd Division was one of the divisions of the People's Army of the Republic that were organized during the Spanish Civil War on the basis of the Mixed Brigades. Throughout the war it was deployed on the Cordoba front.

History

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The unit was created at the end of the summer of 1937. It was made up of the 25th, 86th, and 114th brigades, with their command post in Villanueva de Córdoba.[1] Command of the division fell to Aldo Morandi, with Fritz Schiller as Chief of Staff.[1] At the end of the year it was incorporated into the VIII Army Corps.[2]

In February 1938, Morandi took command of the Extremadura Division,[3] being replaced by José Frías González-Mouvelles. Except for a few sporadic actions, for most of the war the 63rd Division did not take part in significant military operations. In March 1939, after the Casado coup, Ildefonso Castro Ruiz assumed command of the unit.[4] The unit was still on the Córdoba front when it found out about the end of the war.

Command

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Commanders
Commissars
Chiefs of Staff
  • Fritz Schiller;[1]
  • Enrique Trigo Bru;[5]

Organization

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Date Attached Army Corps Integrated Mixed Brigades Battle front
December 1937 VIII Army Corps 25th, 86th, 114th Córdoba
July 1938 VIII Army Corps 86th, 114th, 210th [9] Córdoba
August-Sept 1938 VIII Army Corps 61st, 86th, 114th Córdoba

References

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Bibliography

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  • Álvarez, Santiago (1989). Los comisarios políticos en el Ejército Popular de la República (in Spanish). Ediciós do Castro.
  • Engel, Carlos (1999). Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del Ejército Popular de la República (in Spanish). Madrid, Almena. ISBN 84-922644-7-0.
  • Martínez Bande, José Manuel (1975). La llegada al mar (in Spanish). Madrid: Editorial San Martín.
  • Martínez Bande, José Manuel (1981). La batalla de Pozoblanco y el cierre de la bolsa de Mérida (in Spanish). Madrid: San Martín.
  • Moreno Gómez, Francisco (1985). La Guerra civil en Córdoba (1936-1939) (in Spanish). Córdoba: Alpuerto.