José Asensio Torrado

José Asensio Torrado was a Spanish general.

Life

Before the Spanish Civil War, he was a major in the [Spanish Second Spanish Republic|Republican Army|Republican Army] and a member of the Republican Antifascist Military Union. He was one of the few Africanistas officers who remained loyal to the Republican government, and he led a militia column on the Somosierra front. He led the Republican troops on the Tagus front and reorganised the Republican troops but was unable to stop the Nationalist offensive.
On 24 October, he was appointed subsecretary of war by Prime Minister Francisco Largo Caballero and in November 1936 was appointed commander of the Central Army. He reorganised the Republican Army and aided in the forming of the mixed brigades, which merged the militia troops with the remains of the prewar army, the first troops of the republican army capable of open-field fighting.
Nevertheless, he was rejected by the communists and the anarchists because he wanted to impose discipline on the Republican Army, and Soviet Ambassador Marcel Rosenberg, wanted him to be dismissed. On 21 February 1937, he was dismissed after the fall of Málaga.