[10] German and Italian planes, painted as Spanish, airlifted most of them, and ensured that the Republican Navy did not cross the way of the Nationalist fleet transporting the remaining and the heaviest gear.

Led in the field by Colonel Carlos Asensio and Major Antonio Castejón, the Nationalist Army dashed north in motorized detachments, pausing to bombard and capture walled frontier towns.

Mérida fell after a stiff fight on the banks of the Guadiana River, leaving the neighbouring city of Badajoz, now the last remaining Republican outpost on the Portuguese border, isolated from the Republic.

He wanted to knock out the city to unify the two sections of the rebel zone and leave the left flank of the advancing columns covered by the Portuguese border.

[11] Yagüe marched against Badajoz with 2,250 soldiers of the Spanish Foreign Legion, 750 Moroccan regulares, and five field batteries (total 30 guns), leaving Major Heli Tella behind to hold Mérida.

[14] Colonel Ildefonso Puigdendolas, the leader in charge of the Republican force of about 2,000 - 4,000 or 6,000 militia (depending on the sources), had crushed the revolt, but it had taken its toll of men and morale.

Determined resistance by Republican machine gunners and riflemen checked the assault, shredding several waves of IV Bandera of the Spanish Foreign Legion.

The Battle of Badajoz followed patterns that continued throughout much of the summer: Republican militia seized the medieval fortresses dotting Castile, yet could not halt nor even slow down the advance of Franco's professional and better equipped troops.

The Spanish regular army would prove able to sweep prepared defences held by superior enemy forces, but often suffered heavy losses of its best troops.

By year's end, many of the Spanish Foreign Legion lay dead, scattered along a trail of walled towns stretching from Seville to the outskirts of Madrid.

Murder and mass rape flared unchecked for several days, and Yagüe's failure to call a halt to the killings earned him the nickname, "The Butcher of Badajoz".