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The death of General Mola

Alcocero de Mola, La Bureba, Burgos

1 Villages · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

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The death of General Mola

Historical milestone · Alcocero de Mola, La Bureba, Burgos

Image of Alcocero de Mola, not of the place itself.

The plane in which General Emilio Mola, one of the leaders of the rebel side, was travelling crashed in June 1937 on the slope of a hill on the outskirts of Alcocero; there were no survivors. His death, like that of General Sanjurjo shortly before, was never investigated by the Franco government, which fuelled controversy over what had happened. In 1939 a monument was erected on the hill, using the forced labour of local residents and Republican prisoners, with a twenty-metre tower topped by Mola's name in bronze; the place, although accessed from Alcocero, belongs administratively to the neighbouring Valle de Oca. That same year, 1937, the municipality had added the general's surname to its name, and in February 2026 the town council approved restoring the old name of Alcocero.

1937

Photo: WikiBurgos (CC BY 3.0)

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