Juan Hernández Saravia

Who was Juan Hernández Saravia?

Juan Hernández Saravia was a high-ranking Spanish military officer of the Republican government forces during the Spanish Civil War.

He was born into a bourgeois family, and continued a family tradition by enrolling at the artillery school in 1897. He opposed the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. He was the chief of Azaña's military staff and worked as general co-ordinator to the minister of war. In August 1936 he was appointed minister of war, but was dismised following the fall of Talavera in September.

In 1937 he was appointed the commander of the Army of Levante and he was Republican commander at the Battle of Teruel. In December 1937 he was promoted to general. He later commanded the government forces at the Battle of the Ebro and led the Republican Army during the Catalonia campaign, but was dismissed at the very end of the war for "defeatism".

After the fall of the government, he lived in exile in France and later in Mexico, until his death.