The mass graves of Pernafeites and Republican medical care

The Pernafeites District is at the foot of the Cavalls Mountain range, the scene the Battle of the Ebro, of one of the bloodiest clashes of the Spanish Civil War. The Republican Army set up a field hospital at Pernafeites treat wounded soldiers. Those who did not survive were buried in mass graves in the fields around the hospital.

Archaeological excavations carried out within the framework of the Pla de Fosses project managed by the Catalan government recorded 52 mass graves containing the remains of 111 soldiers. The intervention also yielded compelling data not only about military medicine but the role of Pernafeites within the networkof field hospitals and evacuation routes organised by the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.

Keywords: Battle of the Ebro, mass graves, soldiers, war medicine.