Antonio Aranda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antonio Aranda Mata was an military officer who fought for the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. He was born in 1888 and died in 1979.
An engineer and geographer, he had an outstanding record in the Morocco wars. He participated in the suppression of the Austrias Revolt of 1934 and rose to the rank of colonel. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, in 1936, he was in command of the Oviedo garrison, raised it in revolt against the Republic and won the Siege of Oviedo. For this effort he was granted the Cross of San Fernando and promoted to General. He participated in several engagements of the war including the Battle of Teruel and Battle of the Ebro. At the end of the war, in 1939, his troops occupied Valencia where he was made Captain General.
After the war he was made head of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1941 he participated in monarchist intrigues irritating the government of Francisco Franco. The Spanish government remembered that Aranda was a freemason before the war, and Franco promulgated a special law forcing Aranda to retire into the reserves before his time.
In 1976, King Juan Carlos I promoted him to Lieutenant General.[1]
