Juan
Yagüe, the son of a doctor, was
born in Spain in 1891. He entered the Infantry
Academy of Toledo where he met Francisco
Franco.
The two men were commissioned at the same time and served together
in Africa.
In 1932 Yagüe was
promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of a infantry battalion
in Spain. Two years later he joined Franco in the suppression of the
left-wing uprising in Asturias. At this time he became very closely
associated with the Falange Española.
The Popular
Front came to power in February 1936. The new government immediately
upset the conservatives by releasing all left-wing political prisoners.
The government also introduced agrarian reforms that penalized the
landed aristocracy. Other measures included transferring right-wing
military leaders such as Francisco
Franco to posts
outside Spain, outlawing the Falange Española
and granting Catalonia political and administrative autonomy.
As a result of these measures
the wealthy took vast sums of capital out of the country. This created
an economic crisis and the value of the peseta declined which damaged
trade and tourism. With prices rising workers demanded higher wages.
This led to a series of strikes in Spain.
On the 10th May 1936 the
conservative Niceto
Alcala Zamora was
ousted as president and replaced by the left-wing Manuel
Azaña.
Soon afterwards Spanish Army officers, including Yagüe, Emilio
Mola,
Francisco
Franco, Gonzalo
Queipo de Llano and
José
Sanjurjo,
began plotting to overthrow the Popular Front
government. This resulted in the outbreak of the Spanish
Civil War on 17th July, 1936.
Yagüe and his troops
seized Merida. On 14th August 1936 Yagüe and 3,000 troops attacked
Badajoz.
Bitter street fighting took place when the Nationalist
Army entered
the city. Losses were heavy on both sides and when the Nationalists
took control of Badajoz it was claimed they massacred around 1,800
people. He also encouraged his troops to rape supporters of the Popular
Front government. As a result Yagüe became known as "The
Butcher of Badajoz".
Yagüe then turned
his forces towards Madrid, capturing Trujillo,
Navalmoral de la Mata and Talavera. In November 1936 he was given
command of African forces but was unable to capture the capital. He
now took part in the Aragón offensive
and took control of Belchite, Caspe and Lérida. He also played
a leading role in the victory at Ebro River.
After the defeat of the
Republican
Army,
General Francisco
Franco appointed
Yagüe as Minister of Air. Juan
Yagüe died
on 29th October, 1952.
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