Most of them were members of workers’ militias, but their strength relied on 6 companies detached from the army, navy and Carabineros units; they were led by comandante José Balibrea Vera.

The key armed formation of the province was Guardia Civil; out of its 350 servicemen some 150 were stationed in Albacete, 50 in Almansa, Hellín and Villarrobledo each, plus minor units in few other locations, especially Alcaraz.

In both cases farmers occupied parts of large landholdings, and in both interventions of Guardia Civil led to violent clashes and fatalities; the Yeste incident produced 18 deaths and caused a minor governmental crisis.

As the province was mostly rural the urban workers’ organization were not a major force and unlike in many other provincial capitals, after the death of Calvo Sotelo there were no militia patrols on the streets.

Some sources claim that its head was teniente coronel Fernando Chápuli Ausó,[7] though others maintain that the “alma de alzamiento” was rather the provincial commander of the Benemerita, Ángel Molina Galano.

[10] The plan was a typical one: it envisioned taking control of key buildings in Albacete and major provincial cities, detaining civil governor and left-wing alcaldes and declaring the state of war.

On July 20. the rebels took control of other major provincial cities, Villarrobledo and Hellín, while Almansa remained in stalemate due to indecision of the local insurgent commander.

The climax of rebel power fell on the early hours of July 21, when the insurgents controlled almost all towns of the province and the key railway line from Madrid to the Levantine coast.

Molina ordered the civilian conspirators to head for military barracks, while Cirujeda departed for Madrid to get in touch with the conspiracy command and gather more information; he would be later detained in the capital.

[12] The civil governor Pomares Monleón and the mayor of Albacete Virgilio Martínez Gutíerrez remained in touch with Madrid but during telephone conversations they reported nothing suspicious.

[14] During the night Chápuli conferred by phone with conspirators in neighboring provinces of Jaén, Ciudad Real and Murcia; some authors claim he realised that Albacete was likely to be isolated, yet decided to proceed.

[15] In the early hours of July 19 the Guardia Civil units picked up extra munitions and equipment from the Albacete warehouses; shortly before mid-day Martínez Moreno declared the state of war in the province.

Guardia Civil took control of key buildings, including the main post office, the railway station, radio broadcasting site and CAMPSA headquarters;[17] they occupied also Casa del Pueblo and detained a number of left-wing activists.

Right-wing militias took action also in some minor locations like Alborea, where the Falangists detained the day before returned to the city released from the Albacete arrest and together with the civiles started to patrol the streets.

In the former Guardia Civil and right-wing militiamen deposed the mayor and declared the state of war with no major difficulty;[26] in the latter the Benemerita, which since the day before remained in the barracks and was increasingly challenged by the gathering crowd, took to the streets.

The local Izquierda Republicana deputy Vicente Sol managed to convince the rebel commander Martínez Herreros to gather all his men in the barracks; once he did, telephone lines were cut and the premises were surrounded by the workers’ militia.

[29] Apart from the gridlocked Almansa another exception was Chinchilla, where the small army detachment remained loyal to the government; because the town was an important communication junction, its loyalist garrison posed a logistics problem for the rebels.

An attempt to send reinforcements to Almansa, headed by teniente Edelmiro Vergés Gilabert, did not find a convenient way around Chinchilla, engaged in skirmishes with the group and had to withdraw to Albacete.

An aircraft from La Torrecica flew over Albacete and dropped leaflets which declared successful insurgency; small detachments were being sent from the provincial capital to other locations, though the one to Almansa, led by Molina, again got stuck in skirmishes near Pozo Cañada.

However, as the government retained and stabilized power in the neighboring areas, it was increasingly clear that the province of Alicante remains an isolated bastion of insurgency, from all sides surrounded by the loyalist garrisons.

In the early afternoon loyalist units were already assembled in Alicante, Elda, Murcia and Valencia; supported by volunteers from workers’ militias, some of them were already loaded onto trains or trucks and headed towards the Eastern comarcas of the Albacete province.

Shortly before mid-day new troops from Alicante, commanded by comandante Enrique Gillis Mercer,[31] reached Almansa and terminated a shaky and unclear situation in the city.

Serena agreed to lead his Guardia Civil units out of the city towards Murcia and early at night departed Hellín in a convoy of buses, heading South-East.

[34] In the night hours the rebel Guardia Civil convoy from Hellín, commanded by Serena and agreed to report in loyalist headquarters in Murcia, changed direction.

In course of the day the loyalists consolidated their positions in eastern comarcas of the province, especially as new troops from Murcia and Cartagena, led by comandante José Balibrea Vera,[35] were arriving at Hellín.

Since assuming control the Albacete rebels kept airing radio messages; initially they declared adhesion to the patriotic movement started in Morocco, later they highlighted their isolated position and asked for assistance.

In course of the day the insurgents in the provincial capital were joined by reinforcements called from locations not seized by the loyalists yet, e.g. a large detachment of Guardia Civil arrived from Villarrobledo.

Villarrobledo was left defended only by the local Falangists, yet in the afternoon of that day the militiamen arriving from the Toledo province already entered the city and the urban combat ensued.

The remaining small provincial pockets of rebellion were seized by the loyalists; they included Pozo Cañada,[43] Alborea, Yeste, Balazote, La Gineta and Mahora.

General Miaja arrived in Albacete from Madrid on July 28; during his brief stay he tried to organize heterogeneous uniformed units in the province into a shock column capable of assaulting Córdoba.