Following the Fall of Barcelona on 27 January , Juan Hernández Saravia was relieved of his duties as leader of the Eastern Region Army Group , allegedly for his " defeatism " '' ( derrotismo ) '' , but the real motives went far deeper . General Hernández Saravia had fallen from grace because his views had often conflicted with those of the Chief of the General Staff of the Central Region , Vicente Rojo , and the President of the Council of Ministers , Juan Negrín . Hernández Saravia had tried to replace Juan Modesto , the head of the Ebro Army , whom he saw as self-important and not up to the mark and hand over the command to Juan Perea , the more competent commander of the Eastern Army , but Modesto was protected by the highest leaders of the doomed Spanish Republic . In an eleventh-hour decision the command of the Eastern Region Army Group was transferred to Enrique Jurado Barrio , but he was not able to organize a line of defence while the whole Northeastern section of the Republican Army was unfit for battle and in the middle of a hasty retreat . Cold , ill-equipped and hungry both the troops and the average citizens were exhausted and had stopped listening to the official propaganda telling that a victory against Fascism was at hand ; fear was the pervading mood and what most hoped was not to be treated too badly by the advancing Francoists during the purge of the conquered territory . Since Barcelona was already in rebel hands the most that Jurado Barrio could do was to try to limit the chaos of the desperate withdrawal of the long civilian and military columns towards the border and to evacuate the demoralized Republican troops in a manner as orderly as possible
purge of the conquered territory
White Terror (Spain)
Eastern Region Army Group