July to November, 1936. Madrid in hands of extremists and armed proletariat, who massacred Nationalist officers and men, with The town given over to mob rule and disorder, in which thousands of innocent people were murdered and churches and convents destroyed.
November 4, 1936. Formation of Largo Caballeros Popular Front Government, which did little or nothing to stop the revolutionary massacres and shootings.
November 7, 1936. Nationalist
forces entered Madrid; members of The Government were flying to Valencia, and the imminent fall of the capital was expected. Arrival of the International Brigade, whose resistance stopped the Nationalist advance.
Long period of bitter house-tohouse fighting and trench warfare. Stalemate, but Madrid virtually besieged.
February 9, 1937. Attack on Madrid resumed; last sectors communicating with rest of Spain threatened.
February 24, 1937. Republican counter-attack.
Stalemate enduring until after the surrender of Barcelona in 1939, when differences between sections of Reds, with subsequent fighting, made further effective manning of the strong defences of the capital a useless waste of life.