The siege of Oviedo was a siege in the Spanish Civil War that lasted from 19 July until 16 October 1936. The town garrison, under the command of Colonel Antonio Aranda Mata, took sides for the Nationalist uprising and held out until relieved by a Nationalist force from Galicia.
The uprising
The Nationalists did not consider Oviedo, capital of the province of Asturias, as a likely place for a successful revolt, and initially, it was considered a lost cause for the uprising. The town was the center of the Asturian October Revolution of 1934, and became an ongoing hive of revolutionary activity since the election of the Popular Front government earlier in the year.
Aranda was reputed to be a freemason and a Republican, and got along well with the local Republican officials; in addition, the Falange distrusted him. Aranda declared that he would be loyal to the Republic when the rebellion started on 17 July, and he convinced the civil governor and the union leaders that all was calm. So satisfied were the authorities that 4,000 miners left by train for other parts of Asturias and Spain to fight in the growing conflict. Aranda secretly called in Civil Guard and Assault Guard personnel from all Asturias to concentrate at Oviedo. He had gained a reputation in Africa of being a top strategist, and after the miners left, he declared for the rebellion on 19 July. The Falange, Civil Guard, and Assault Guard immediately rallied to his side. Aranda easily took over Oviedo as the republicans panicked, and the rest of Asturias became hostile toward him. Between the two large zones, east and west of Oviedo, Aranda was landlocked and surrounded in the town.
Aranda's plan
Aranda realised from the beginning that he would have to hold the town and had made intelligent and extensive preparations in the process. He had carefully studied the defense of the place, and having at first much equipment from the barracks in Oviedo, he sited over 100 Hotchkiss machine guns in five strategic locations in about a nine-mile perimeter around the town. The town was not that easy to defend as it was surrounded on all sides by heights, but Aranda took that into consideration and secured the heights in preparation of laying down curtains of fire against the invaders. Aranda's tactics were novel for the time as they considered that a town as vulnerable as Oviedo could be held by firepower alone. Aranda's plan did have one serious flaw as he only had about 3,000 defenders, counting regular forces, guards, and volunteers. That meant he could not occupy all of the heights, and this gave the attackers their one main advantage. The Republican government in Madrid had reinforced the garrison at Oviedo after the 1934 revolution and had sent large numbers of guns and amounts of ammunition for storage there. In addition to the large number of machine guns, Aranda had over a million rounds of ammunition at his disposal. During a relatively quiet time in August, Aranda improved his position by constant offensive thrusts and feints that kept the besiegers in doubt.
The siege begins
Since the siege had no regular Republican ground forces, their "army" consisted almost solely of militia from the Popular Front parties and the allied Anarchists, and they began besieging Oviedo on 20 July but at the same time had to conduct the Siege of Gijón, also in Asturias. The Nationalists at Gijón's Simancas Barracks held out until 16 August. Thereafter, the Popular Front forces could start to concentrate on Oviedo. The final Nationalist resistance ended in Gijón on 21 August, and the Republican Gijón militia could now join the siege of Oviedo. The fact was, however, that about two hundred defenders had tied down the entire militia of that area for a month. Valuable time had been gained by the Nationalists and lost by the Republicans.
After the end of the conflict in Gijón, the Popular Front forces were able to tight the siege to Oviedo. Most of the attacking militia were miners from the many Asturian mines. The besieging force, though, had several problems; it lacked professionalism with few, if any, trained military men as almost all such troops, including a majority of the Assault Guards, had rallied to the uprising. In addition, a Nationalist relief force was on the way from Galicia, and the siege in Gijón had drained away forces needed to oppose that advance. The relief force had made substantial progress towards Oviedo, and the Popular Front forces had little proper equipment to conduct a siege with the exception of dynamite. Last, but not least, was the terrain. With the seizure of the heights around Oviedo, Aranda was confident that the town was well prepared for defense.