a local military, comandante Valerio Camino Peral, was nominated the new civil governor. Guardia Civil took control of key buildings, including the main post office, the railway station, radio broadcasting site and CAMPSA headquarters; they occupied also Casa del Pueblo and detained a number of left-wing activists. The mayor was initially also detained, but after having declared support for the rebels he was soon set free; however, a local physician Aurelio Romero was appointed a new mayor. Head of the provincial diputación, Eleazar Huerta, was not detained; he was replaced with a local lawyer, Juan Poveda Garví. Around 700 civilians, mostly members of Falange, were armed and deployed on patrol duties. In the second and third largest city of the province, Hellín and Villarrobledo respectively, there was no unrest recorded except for some workers militia patrols taking to the streets. In the fourth largest city, Almansa, the head of Guardia Civil Isaac Martínez Herreros occupied the town hall building and deposed the mayor; however, he then withdrew most of his troops back to the barracks and did not deploy detachments at key points of the city. In the fifth largest provincial city La Roda there were some minor incidents before the insurgents took control. The rebellious Guardia Civil units and some civilians seized the La Torrecica airfield. Right-wing militias took action also in some minor locations like Alborea, where the Falangists detained the day before returned to the city released from the Albacete arrest and together with the civiles started to patrol the streets. July 20, Monday In the early hours of the day Pozas called Albacete and demanded explanations regarding the state of war declared; as he was offered only vague explanations the government realized the provincial capital was in the rebel control. The workers declared general strike but there were no violent encounters recorded. As the rebels seemed firmly in control of Albacete, they were in position to despatch troops to seize minor locations, especially along the Madrid-Cartagena railway line. Perhaps the most important one was an expedition of a few truckloads of Guardia Civil to Minaya, which seized by the rebels served later as a shield protecting the province from minor milita attacks originating in the province of Toledo, mostly in Quintaner de la Orden. By the end of the day the right-wing militias at times assisted by Guardia Civil took control of Abengibre, Alborea, Balazote, Cenizate,