The battle of River Ebro, Spanish Civil War (XX0107)

The Ebro, 1938: The Last Republican Offensive

On the night of 24 July 1938 the Republican Army of the Ebro crossed the river in boats and on pontoon bridges along a front of some 90 kilometres, achieving complete surprise. It was the largest operation the Spanish Republic ever mounted and the longest battle of the war: 115 days of fighting that ended with the Republic exhausted and Catalonia open to Nationalist advance.

Why the Offensive Was Launched

By mid-1938 the Nationalist advance to the Mediterranean had cut Republican territory in two. The Ebro offensive was intended to restore the connection, relieve pressure on Valencia and — explicitly — to demonstrate that the Republic was still capable of offensive action, at a moment when its government hoped that a general European war would bring France and Britain to its side.

The Battle

The initial crossing succeeded and Republican units advanced up to 40 kilometres. Then the ground favoured the defenders: Nationalist air superiority made the pontoon bridges the decisive point, and they were bombed repeatedly, cutting the assault force from its supplies. The offensive stalled at Gandesa. From August the Nationalists counterattacked methodically with heavy artillery and aircraft, retaking ground hill by hill. The last Republican troops recrossed the river on 16 November.

The Cost and the Consequence

Casualties on both sides are usually estimated at some 60,000 to 70,000 combined. The Republic lost the equipment and the trained men it could not replace; the International Brigades were withdrawn in September 1938 as a diplomatic gesture that changed nothing. Barcelona fell in January 1939 and the war ended in April.

Giuseppe Rava’s Original Work

Giuseppe Rava reconstructs the combatants from the photographic record of the campaign: the mixed equipment of the Republican army — Soviet-supplied weapons alongside older Spanish material — the Nationalist units opposite, and the terrain of the Ebro bend that shaped the whole battle.

This is a limited edition fine art print, hand-signed by the artist, produced in SRA3 format on fine art paper. Ships worldwide.