High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rafael García Valiño (1898 1975) was a Spanish Army Officer who participated in the Spanish Civil War. He was born in Toledo, Spain, and enrolled in the Infantry Academy at age fifteen. In 1916 he earned his commission as a lieutenant, volunteering to fight in the Spanish Army of Africa. In Morocco he was wounded several times and was promoted to major due to his field performance. In 1935 he studied in the Superior Military School. The outbreak of the Civil War surprised him, as he was spending the summer on the Basque coast. He crossed enemy lines to reach Pamplona to join up with the Nationalist Army of the North, led by Emilio Mola. He commanded several Carlist units, and with the First Navarrese Brigade participated in the campaign of the North. After he was promoted to colonel, he sent the First Division of Navarre, with which he fought in the campaign of Aragon, along with those of Aranda, to the Mediterranean, thus cutting the Republican zone in two. He also participated in the offensive of Catalonia.