The Battle of the Northern Enclave

After the failure of the attack on Madrid, the decision was made to shift nationalist resources to another area of the front. One option chosen was an attack against the Republican Northern Enclave. This area had remained under Republican control on the northern coast of Spain and was about 300 kilometers across but only 35 kilometers deep. They contained most of the modern Spanish provinces of Visquaya, Cantabria and the eastern half of Asturias. Within the reasonably small space there were 1.5 million people and about a third of Spanish industrial capacity.