The Republican Army of the East, together with the XI and XV International Brigades, started its offensive with eighty thousand men, three aviation squadrons with Polikarpov I-16 (moscas), Polikarpov I-15 (chatos) (ninety airplanes in total) and one hundred and five T-26 tanks in three main and five secondary directions on a one hundred-kilometre stretch between Zuera and Belchite. On the first two fronts (north and centre), the Republicans managed to take only vacant territories. On the southern portion of the front, the Republican Army took the village of Mediana immediately and Quinto was taken on the fourth day of the offensive. In the village of Codo, there were three Requeté companies that tied down two Republican brigades. The fiercest resistance was encountered in Belchite, where s