Ricardo Rada Peral (5February 18858June 1956) was a Spanish officer, who rose to the rank of lieutenant general. In the 1910s and 1920s he spent 12 years in Morocco, both on combat missions and garrison service; during the Spanish Civil War he sided with the Nationalists and commanded units up to a corps. In the 1940s he was the first commander of the first Spanish armored division. His highest army assignment was command of the II. Military Region (Seville) in 1946-1952. He is best known as instructor and de facto leader of paramilitary militias of the Falangists (Primera Línea) in 1933-1934 and the Carlists (Requeté) in 1935-1936. Until the 1930s he did not engage in politics; later following a brief period in Falange Española he joined Comunión Tradicionalista and entered the top Carlist wartime executive. In the late 1930s he fully identified with the Francoist regime and abandoned other party activity.
Family and youth
Rada descended from an Andalusian family of military traditions. His paternal grandfather, Ricardo Rada Martínez from GranadaRicardo de Rada Martínez, [in:] Geneanet service, available here (died 1900)for a brief obituary note see Cronica Meridional 27.04.00, available here served in Guardia Civil. He fought during the Hispano-Moroccan war and during the Third Carlist War in the Alfonsist ranks; he received military honors for his contribution to defense of Bilbao and other campaigns.see his decorations, listed in Crónica Meridional 27.04.00, available here Since the late 1870s he held numerous high Guardia Civil positions in Andalusiae.g. for Cadiz see La Epoca 28.02.77m available here and retired as a highly decorated coronel subinspector of the Benemérita.Crónica Meridional 27.04.00, available here At unspecified time he married Nicolasa Cortines Espinosa de los Monteros;Ricardo de Rada Martínez, [in:] Geneanet service, available here, also (her segundo apellido spelled as "Cortinez") in Crónica Meridional 27.04.00, available here. In the press note from either 1900 or 1901, however, already as a widow, she is referred to as "Nicolasa Cortinas Castello", El Regional [no date, after September 1900], available here they had 5 children.or at least 5 are listed in the death notice, Crónica Meridional 27.04.00, available here One of them was the father of Ricardo,he was born in Chiclana de la Frontera, probably during the Guardia Civil assignement to the town of his father, Ricardo de Rada Martinez, [in:] Geneanet service, available here most likely the oldest of the siblings, Ricardo Rada Cortines (1858Ricardo de Rada Martinez, [in:] Geneanet service, available here-1923La Independencia 12.12.23, available here). He also joined Guardia Civil,in 1884 he was noted as capitan, Cronica Meridional 01.01.84, available here but later moved to infantry; in 1888 he served as teniente,El Correo Militar 28.06.88, available here in 1903 he was comandante,El Regional 07.11.02, available here in 1911 he rose to teniente coronel,El Popular 06.01.11, available here and he retired as general de brigada. He married Natalia Peral ObispoEl Ferro-carril 16.09.99, available here (1861Natalia Peral Obispo, [in:] Geneanet service, available here-1946ABC 12.06.46, available here), daughter to a landholder family from Guadix;she was daughter to Manuel Peral Cuevas and María Manuela Obispo Morales, Natalia Peral Obispo, [in:] Geneanet service, available here. Her father owned also a vinegar manufacture, Annuario del comercio, de la industria, de la magistratura y de la administracion 1894, p. 778, available here she later inherited real estate in FiñanaLa Informacion 17.08.11, available here. The estate, known as "Haza del Riego", later became the property of Rada, Francisco Manuel López López, El episodio de la Guardia Civil de Abla y Fiñana en Julio de 1936, [in:] Monica Fernández Amador Ied.), La Guerra Civil española 80 años después. Las investigaciones en la provincia de Almería, Almeria 2016, available also here and Abla.Cronica Meridinal 05.09.15, available here
The couple had 9 children, Ricardo born as the second oldest and the first son.an unnamed daughter was born in last days of 1883,Cronica Meridional 01.01.84, available here There is close to nothing known about his childhood, probably spent in the maternal estates; in the late 1890s he was already a boarder at the Instituto Provincional in Almeria.Cronica Meridional 08.06.90, available here Relatively late at the age of 21typical age for entering the cadet corps in Toledo was late teens; Rada's whereabouts in the 1900-1905 are not clear. In 1905 he was mentioned as a student in Academia de Bellas Artes in Almeria, El Radical 03.10.05, available here. It is not clear whether a penchant for arts was related to journeys to Paris, reported for Rada Cortines "and his sons" in late 1905 and early 1906, see e.g. Cronica Meridional 20.10.05, available here he commenced the military career; in 1906 Rada entered the infantry academy in Toledo.José Martín Brocos Fernández, In memoriam Teniente General Ricardo de Rada y Peral. Primer General Jefe de la Acorazada Brunete, [in:] Arbil 116 (2008) He progressed in line with the standard curriculum and graduated in 1909; he was nominated to the lowest officer rank, segundo teniente. His first assignment was to Badajoz, where in 1909 he commenced regular garrison duties.Brocos Fernández 2008. However, contemporary press claimed that as segundo teniente in 1910 Rada was posted to detachment of the Cordoba regiment, stationed in Granada, Cronica Meridional 27.01.10, available here
In 1911 Rada married Presentación Martínez Martínez;Cronica Meridional 08.01.11, available here her father Juan Manuel Martínez Alcalde was the landowner from Huéneja.her parents were Juan Manuel Martínez Alcalde and María Martínez Cardenas, La Independencia 01.03.21, available here. For his property see Cronica Meridional 03.03.13, available here Ricardo and Presentación had 5 children, born between the early 1910s and the early 1920s.Ricardo de Rada y Peral, [in:] Geneanet service, available here RicardoRicardo de Rada Martinez, [in:] Geneanet service, available here and Francisco Rada Martínez joined the army and served in Nationalist troops during the civil war;Ricardo was initially detained by the Republicans; he managed to escape, made it to the Nationalist zone, served in Requete and then commanded other units the former later specialized as engineer and in the early 1970s he was subdirector general de Montes de España,Diario de Burgos 20.10.71, available here the latter became a military and then a civilian doctor.Francisco de Rada Martinez, [in:] Geneanet service, available here Juan was a lawyerJuan de Rada Martinez, [in:] Geneanet service, available here and ManuelManuel Victor de Rada Martinez, [in:] Geneanet service, available here an official. María died in 1921 at 3 years of age.La Independencia 01.03.21, available here Among other Rada’s relatives, his brothers José and Rafael became officers; the former died in 1920,La Independencia 27.03.20, available here the latter in 1924 in Morocco.La Libertad 13.11.26, available here Two of his sisters also passed away prematurely, Rosario in 1899El Ferro-carril 16.09.99, available here and Dolores in 1920.La Independencia 29.12.21, available here The other four, Francisco, Eduardo, Ramón and Juana, did not become public figures.Francisco and Eduardo are mentioned in La Independencia 22.07.22, available here. However, none of them is listed in a later obituary note; instead, there is a Ramón mentioned, along a sister named Africa, La Independencia 12.12.23, available here Some authors claim that Ricardo “was descendant” to a well-known Navarrese Carlist military Teodoro Rada Delgado (1822-1874),see e.g. José Sanz y Díaz, Generales carlistas, vol. I, Madrid 1954, pp. 3, 24, or Luis Rubio Hernansáez, Contrarrevoluciones católicas: de los chuanes a los cristeros (1792-1942), Madrid 2018, ISBN 9786078472680, p. 120. Some authors even claim that he was “son of a Carlist general”, Francisco J. Romero Salvadó, Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, Plymouth 2007, ISBN 9780810880092, p. 273 but data hardly match;his grandfather Ricardo Rada Martinez (year of birth unknown) became a father no later than in 1858, so he must have been born in 1840 latest; this makes him an unlikely son of Teodoro Rada, born in 1822. Besides, Teodoro was a Navarrese while Rada Martinez was an Andalusian. Last but not least, in the Third Carlist War Teodoro Rada joined the Carlists, while Rada Martinez served in the Alfonsist ranks. As both fought during the siege of Bilbao (when Teodoro Rada was killed in action), theoretically they might have actually met it appears to be an ex-post attempt to enhance Rada’s links to Carlism.the first identified instance of the claim that Rada Peral was descendant to Teodoro Rada is in the 1954 book by a Carlist writer, José Sanz y Díaz
Junior officer
Rada served in Badajóz for some 2 years before in 1911 he was promoted to primer teniente de infantería.Cronica Meridional 08.01.11, available here He apparently considered joining Guardia Civil, but in 1912 for unclear reasons he was removed from the list of candidates and posted to 10. Regimiento de Infantería de Córdoba.La Mañana 14.12.12, available here Following 1 more year of garrison service in 1913 he was posted to Morocco. His first spell lasted slightly over a year, between the summer of 1913 and the autumn of 1914; it fell on the war period known as Campaña de Yebala.Brocos Fernández 2008 Rada’s exact unit is not known. Initially shortly after arrival and due to illness he was hospitalized in Ceuta. He returned to line in early 1914, commencing a very intense spell of combat missions, first at Rincón de Medik at the outskirts of Tetuan and then during few other engagements in the hinterland, known as skirmishes at Malalien, Río Martín and Loma Amarilla.Brocos Fernández 2008 In September 1914 he was assigned to 5. Infantry Regiment del Infante in Zaragoza.Anuario Militar de España 1915, available here In 1915 he received the first military honor, Cruz del Mérito Militar 1st class.Brocos Fernández 2008 In early 1916 Rada was promoted to capitán de infantería, though “por antigüedad” and not “por méritos de guerra”.Brocos Fernández 2008 The 1916 military annual lists him among officers of 2. Regiment da la Reina in Larache, but it is not clear whether he indeed returned to Africa.Anuario Militar de España 1916, available here The same year he assumed duties in the 18. Regiment in Almería,Anuario Militar de España 1917, available here where in 1917 he was decorated with Medalla Militar de Marruecos.Brocos Fernández 2008