Grave of the wounded of El Cañizar hospital in Pajaroncillo

El Cañizar hospital

El Cañizar military hospital stood within Pajaroncillo, receiving wounded soldiers from the Teruel front. Between 1938 and 1939 48 Republican soldiers died there and were buried together in the village cemetery. La Gavilla Verde has published their list, with each man’s origin, age, military posting and marital status; names are not repeated here.

The search

In 2017 families asked La Gavilla Verde to find them. Archive work and Ministry of the Presidency grants followed, with Paleolab conducting fieldwork. It was difficult: the cemetery had changed and witnesses’ and relatives’ memories were insufficient. Two people over ninety indicated the place, and ground-penetrating radar and test trenches found remains in trench 6.

The first public grant arrived in December 2020: 14,000 euros from the Ministry of the Presidency to try to locate the grave. Radio reports then mentioned 47 soldiers, one fewer than the association’s list, and almost fifty families, around twenty seeking recovery of remains.

Later graves lay above. Even if dismantled, skeletons could be disturbed, and excavating between graves in yielding sandy ground endangered the team without guaranteeing anything. The association and families decided to erect a memorial stone with the 48 names.

The memorial stone

It was inaugurated on 25 May 2024, with families, the Town Council, Provincial Council, regional government, University of Castilla-La Mancha and national Government.

Plan your visit

Before you travel

This is a place of mourning: visit quietly, respecting those who come to remember.

Combine with

The village of Pajaroncillo and its burial-mound field. War in these mountains is described in The guerrilla in the Serranía.