The anarchist IV Army Corps commander who saved Casado's Madrid coup from Communist counter-attack
'I was aghast at donning a military uniform, but I could see no other option. From here on my conduct will bear witness to my integrity.'
A Madrid bricklayer who led the CNT construction union and was jailed on the eve of the war, he was freed when the rising began and organized a column that crushed the revolt in Guadalajara and Cuenca. Rising to command the 14th Division and then the IV Army Corps, he routed the Italian CTV at the Battle of Guadalajara and became one of the Republic's most prominent anarchist commanders. In March 1939 he backed Casado's coup against the Negrín government's Communist dependence, and when Communist forces were closing in on Madrid, Mera's IV Corps reserves entered the city and crushed the resistance in three days, sealing the path by which the war would end.
Career Timeline
- 1931Secretary of the Madrid CNT construction union
- 1936.07Organized a militia column, retook Guadalajara and Cuenca
- 1936.11–1937Commander of the 14th Division
- 1937–1939Commander of the IV Army Corps
- 1939.03Backed Casado's coup, crushed Communist resistance in Madrid
- 1939–1942Exile in Oran and Casablanca, extradited to Spain by Vichy regime
- 1946–1975Freed, re-exiled to France, worked as a bricklayer in Paris