The suicidal feat of General Picasso who saved hundreds of Spaniards: “He galloped out between the bullets”

“My great-grandfather was a very hard-working and meticulous man, but extremely private. And not only in public matters, but also in private ones”, admits Adalberto Picasso to ABC. His father and grandfather experienced it firsthand, since they never heard the general in charge of the famous ‘Picasso File’ boast of his exploits or tell absolutely nothing about that investigation he carried out, in 1922, to purge the responsibilities of Annual and his closest associates. of ten thousand Spaniards killed by the negligence of the Government and the Army. Suffice it to remember that Primo de Rivera’s coup d’état, in 1923, took place to a large extent to stop the work of the two investigative commissions that were formed after said file was made public, since the dictator and the majority of the military They considered the political system of the Restoration responsible for the tragedy. Many historians also believe that his work had an impact on the most important events of the Second Republic, the Civil War and even Francoism, despite which, General Juan Picasso González never liked to talk about it before he died in 1935. Proof of this are the dozens of letters that ABC published exclusively two weeks ago, in which anonymous Spaniards thanked the general for his investigation, and which had been stored in a trunk in the family home for a century. That is why he did not take heart from the feat carried out in 1893 that we are going to tell you about below, in which the then captain Picasso risked his life to save his companions. It earned him the promotion to commander for war merits and the Laureate Cross of San Fernando, the most precious military decoration in Spain. Related News standard Yes Unpublished letters of support for the general who pointed out those guilty of Annual: “This unfortunate Spain needs you” Israel Viana A century after the disaster in the Rif in 1921, ABC has exclusive access to the letters sent by anonymous Spaniards to the soldier who wrote the famous ‘Picasso File’ to thank him for his exhaustive investigation. Let’s get into the background. Three years earlier, Picasso had been chosen as part of the commission to reconsider the limits of Melilla. There he made a plan for which he received the first class Cross for Military Merit with a white badge, thanks to which a series of fortifications were built to prevent and defend against possible attacks by the Riffian cabals. The first confrontation took place in 1859 and gave the starting signal to the War in Africa. The Margallo War After delaying it on several occasions due to a series of protests by the natives, the Spanish Government finally decided to start building the Sidi-Guariach fortification – today known as the Purísima Concepción Fort and considered an Asset of Cultural Interest – in September 1893. These facilities were designed to defend the Melilla border, although its Moroccan neighbors did not like it at all, since it overlooked both the mosque and its cemetery. «What was built during the day, the Moors destroyed it at night. This situation continued until October 2 when, at the beginning of the work, the Cabileños opened merciless fire against the workers, who were sentenced to prison, and the small garrison that guarded and defended them. Despite the attempts to go to the aid of the besieged, the truth is that finally General Juan García Margallo, General Commander of Melilla, had to order the withdrawal and abandoned the most advanced positions”, Adalberto Picasso recounted in the article ‘General Picasso : biography and family memory ‘, published in the magazine ‘Trápana’. That day 19 Spaniards died and thirty were injured. Despite the damage received, the Spanish Government did not respond at the height of the attack, as the historian Agustín Ramón Rodríguez explained in ‘The war of Melilla in 1893’ (Almena, 2008): «The Spanish troops could not go on to counterattack to recapture lost territory, since they were denied the right to respond to enemy firefights. They could only open fire in the event of a full-fledged attack by the Riffians. General Picasso, in 1915 Cabrerizas Fort In the following days only minor skirmishes took place, while new troops arrived in Melilla from the peninsula. With them, on October 27, the advance began to reconquer the territory occupied by the Moroccans. Everything got complicated when there was a fortuitous encounter with a group of Cabileños who were stopped by the Spanish Army. These, furious, began to utter insults and throw stones, which caused a Spanish soldier to fire a shot into the air to disperse the mob. Called by the noise, many other Riffians began to arrive. The increase in tension caused that initially small incident to lead to an armed confrontation in which the Spanish soldiers entrenched in the Cabrerizas Altas Fort were completely surrounded, with hardly any food or ammunition. Although the exact number is unknown, it must have been very high, because between this and the other two nearby forts, Spain had more than five hundred men. The two generals in command of this plaza –Margallo, at the head of the troops, and Ortega, who had come to his aid from Rostrogordo– had little room for manoeuvre. The telephone cable, invented shortly before, had been cut by the cabileños. The situation was desperate. One of the survivors recounted his experience to the magazine ‘La Hormiga de Oro’ in this way: «I don’t even know how we got trapped in the fort. We went with the troops to see how they were evicting the Moors who were in the trenches, and the truth is that I never imagined that they were so barbarous and brave. Getting into the fort and being completely surrounded was all one. It seemed that they emerged from the center of the earth like the dead wrapped in their shrouds, as if resurrected when the trumpets of the Last Judgment sounded. «At full gallop» Faced with this situation, the generals in command had to resort to suicidal action, which Adalberto Picasso recalls as follows: «Margallo thought of using Rostrogordo’s telephone, but an emissary had to be sent on a very risky mission, since that the fort was still completely surrounded. He gathered his officers in the courtyard and, immediately, Captain Picasso appeared to execute the order ». Her sister Isabel admits to ABC that this was the episode that she liked to tell her father the most: “His grandfather felt tremendous adoration, even though he was little when he died. When telling us about his feat, he repeated that he was a very upright and honest person who had shown great courage by volunteering ». The correspondent for ‘El Siglo Futuro’, Ramón García Rodrigo Nocedal, highlighted that same moment in his book ‘The Melilla campaign’, published in 1894: «The generals went out into the courtyard, gave the order, and immediately stood out from among the group of officers who received it, the captain of the General Staff, Mr. Picazo (sic). Without speaking a word, he saluted, mounted his horse and, followed by two cavalry beaters, rode through the gate and galloped off.” The beginning of that adventure took place in the middle of the fire of the Riffians, who were surprised by the bravery of the young rider. “He must have been a very good rider, judging by the relationship he always had with horses and the way he crossed the enemy lines, in the midst of bullets, to save the lives of his companions,” adds Isabel from her great-grandfather. , which came to Fatface. From the terrace of Cabrerizas Altas, they saw him enter the next fort and burst into shouts of joy. Article from ‘The Golden Ant’, published in 1893 BNE Picasso’s arrival Upon arrival, however, Picasso was unable to send the request for reinforcements from there either because the lines had also been cut. What happened next was also recounted by Rodrigo Nocedal: «Suddenly, our soldiers saw the brave officer’s horse pass through the shipyards, like lightning in the direction of the plaza, through a cloud of bullets that crossed in front and behind. on top of it. At first it was thought that the horse was going alone and a misfortune was feared, but when you fixed your attention you could distinguish the figure of the rider, forming a horizontal and parallel line with the noble animal, in a vertiginous race he traced in space. According to Adalberto Picasso, who traveled to the area in 2014 with his family, the route from Cabrerizas Altas to Rostrogordo is approximately one kilometer, while from this point to the Plaza de Melilla, 3.1: «If the first route was risky , venturing into the second can be described as recklessness. The entire gallop was accompanied by shouts of encouragement from the soldiers who cheered on the captain from all the occupied positions. When the two generals found themselves trapped in Cabrerizas Altas, the highest command in the Plaza de Melilla was Colonel Alfredo Casellas, who had begun to prepare the dispatch of reinforcements. However, the arrival of Picasso with direct orders and a much more detailed description of the anguishing situation of his companions was decisive in speeding up the rescue and the success of the operation. «He saved the lives of many people, of many soldiers who were besieged in the fort. That was what made him deserve the Laureate Cross of San Fernando, “says Isabel. For decades, the great-grandchildren of General Picasso kept a copy of ‘Le Monde Illustré’ in which the action of his great-grandfather, who was 36 years old at the time, was highlighted. “It means a lot to us,” says Adalberto. The famous French magazine included a high-quality, double-page, color drawing by its war correspondent, M. Romberg. The same, in addition to illustrating this report, has been framed all his life in his house, as an excuse for his father to tell them about the feat since they were children.