6th May 1938
SCW - Melilla
Spanish Civil War. Commercial cover sent from an opticians in Melilla to glasses manufacturer 'Marwitz & Hauser' (Marwitz & Hauser GmbH was founded in 1919 in the town of Aalen, near Stuttgart, and although ownership passed to Carl Zeiss in the 1960s, the founder continued to work for the company. In the 1940s the 'Comfort' collection was very popular, with a thin metal frame, much in demand at the time and then back in vogue. Production in the 1960s and 1970s was also very successful with metal spectacles, often laminated in gold or silver, with celluloid inserts. In the 1970s, the 'Conquistador Marwitz Berlin' was founded, which is still in operation). The cover features postage stamps Mi.772 (25 c.) and Mi.778 (1 Pta.), together with a censor hand-stamp and propaganda cachet. Ref: 06.05.1938 - 16/54
Melilla
Melilla is an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of 12.3 km2 (4.7 sq mi). It was part of the Province of Málaga until 14th March 1995, when the Statute of Autonomy of Melilla was passed.
The July 1936 military uprising in Melilla occurred at the start of the Spanish Civil War. The rebels seized the main garrisons of the Spanish Army in Africa and by 18th July had crushed the resistance of the army officers loyal to the Republican government. The supporters of the Second Spanish Republic were detained or shot.
The leader of the plot, Emilio Mola, had ordered the Army of Africa to revolt at 5Â a.m. on 18th July, but the plan was discovered by Republican officers of Melilla on 17th July, and the leader of the plot in the city, Colonel Segui, decided to start the rising on Melilla and arrested General Romerales. The rebels seized the radio station and proclaimed the estado de guerra. The Legionnaires, the Regulares, and the Assault Guards in Melilla joined the uprising. Seizing key buildings, they crushed the resistance in the working class quarters. General Romerales, the major of Melilla, the government delegate, the aerodrome commander, Virgilio Leret Ruiz, and all those who resisted the rebellion were shot. When General Morato discovered the rising, he took an airplane to Melilla, but he was arrested by the rebels as soon as he landed.
By 18th July, the Spanish Army of Africa had seized all of Spanish Morocco and crushed the resistance. The same day, Francisco Franco started the rising in the Canary Islands. Then he took a De Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft, paid for by Luis BolÃn, and flew to Casablanca in French Morocco.
On 19th July, Franco continued on to Tetuan and appointed himself chief of the Spanish Army in Morocco.
Most of the Republican Navy remained loyal to the government. The loyal ships patrolled the Strait of Gibraltar and Spanish Morocco was isolated from the rebel-held cities in Andalusia; Seville, Cadiz, Cordoba and Granada. Nevertheless, with the aid of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, the Nationalists managed to transport the Army of Africa's troops to the mainland and start their advance towards Madrid.
Source: Wikipedia
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