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Plump General Miaja's loyalty and honesty have never been questioned, but he is no genius. With him he had far more able Sebastian Pozas, one of the very few generals of Spain's regular army to support the Leftists instead of joining Franco* and as chief of staff he had Vicente Rojo Luich, whose open Left sympathies had kept him from a General's sash in the army of King Alfonso XIII but whose ability as a staff officer was widely recognized. The presence of these three men, plus the discovery of a copy of Franco's plan of attack in the pocket of a captured Rightist officer, plus the arrival of 2,000 foreign volunteers of the First International Brigade under General Emil Kleber turned the trick. Madrid was saved and, though the world credited the International volunteers, organized and dispatched to Spain by persons who concealed their identities, Spain credited the Fifth Regiment, which at that time totaled about 50,000 men. Soon afterward the Fifth Regiment disbanded itself to become the Army of the Centre with its three most important generals the three com manders at Madrid: Miaja, Pozas and Rojo.
Prieto. Best friend of the new Army is the Leftist Government's present Minister of Defense, bland, moon-faced Indalecio Prieto, onetime Basque newsboy, longtime Socialist politician. He could do little as long as his old political rival, vacillating Largo Caballero, remained Premier, heartily backed by Anarchists and Syndicalists whose chief interest is promoting in Spain the social revolution now going on amid the civil war. In May 1937, shrewd Indalecio Prieto, assisted by the Communists who are intent on winning the war first and letting the Revolution take care of itself, jockeyed and maneuvered Largo Cabailero into resigning. Serious, middle-of-the-roader Dr. Juan Negrin became Premier and frontman for Socialist Prieto, who received the key Ministry of National Defense.
Things instantly looked up for the new "People's Army," as it is called in Leftist Spain. The service of supplies and muni tions was overhauled ; the remnants of the unreliable old "alphabet militia" were taken out of the line and reorganized ; conscription was enforced throughout Leftist territory, bringing the Army up to nearly 800,000 men; and General Sebastian Pozas was sent to Barcelona with orders to get Catalonia into the war, soon earned the title of commander in chief on the Aragón front.
Pozas-The People's Army is still too new, and personal jealousies are still too tender, for it to accept an official Commander in Chief, but that in effect was what Sebastian Pozas became and is today. By early summer of 1937 it became evident that Madrid was impregnable to what forces El Caudillo Franco could then send against it, evident that his best chance to win the war would be a drive to the sea, separating Leftist industrial Barcelona from Valencia. Kindly, honest José Miaja was left in technical command at Madrid, but to the most crucial front went the People's Army's best general, Sebastian Pozas, with brilliant young Vicente Rojo as chief of staff.