near Pozo Cañada. However, as the government retained and stabilized power in the neighboring areas, it was increasingly clear that the province of Alicante remains an isolated bastion of insurgency, from all sides surrounded by the loyalist garrisons. The nearest provincial capital controlled by the rebels was Teruel, some 150 km away. In the early afternoon loyalist units were already assembled in Alicante, Elda, Murcia and Valencia; supported by volunteers from workers’ militias, some of them were already loaded onto trains or trucks and headed towards the Eastern comarcas of the Albacete province. In the evening the first troops reached Almansa. They were detached from the 10. Infantry Regiment in Valencia, a unit which itself remained ambiguous; also the detachment which arrived at Almansa, led by comandante Sintes Pellicer, behaved somewhat enigmatically. Vicente Sol managed to convince Sintes to stay loyal to the government, though Sintes refused to march on towards Albacete. Elsewhere the rebels prepared for combat; East of Hellín they blew up a railway bridge to stop an anticipated train with government troops approaching from Murcia. Another aircraft, this time from the loyalist air base, flew over Alicante and dropped leaflets calling for surrender. July 22, Wednesday The Guardia Civil headquarters in Albacete was bombed by 2 loyalist aircraft, a raid which inflicted little damage but demonstrated that the government forces were in advance. There were no new developments in the provincial capital; despite the strike declared, in remained firmly under the rebel control. Shortly before mid-day new troops from Alicante, commanded by comandante Enrique Gillis Mercer, reached Almansa and terminated a shaky and unclear situation in the city. No shot was fired; the rebels surrendered and were soon transported by train to Alicante. Hellín was reached by first loyalist units arriving from Murcia. They included artillery detachments but their leading officer, comandante Verdonces, was actually inclined to join the rebels. As new governmental troops under commander Rufino Bañón Galindo reached Hellín he and the rebel commander Serena engaged in lengthy negotiations. Their outcome was very vague. Serena agreed to lead his Guardia Civil units out of the city towards Murcia and early at night departed Hellín in a convoy of buses, heading South-East. Situation was made even more chaotic as the column of Molina, back from an unsuccessful raid at Almansa, arrived near Hellín. Molina initially assumed the troops in Hellín adhered to the coup; having found