Ricardo Rada Peral | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 February 1885 |
| Died | 8 June 1956 (aged 81) Madrid, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Occupation | professional officer |
| Known for | military |
| Political party | Falange, Carlism |
Ricardo Rada Peral (5 February 1885 - 8 June 1956) was a Spanish officer, who rose to the rank of lieutenant general. In the 1910s and 1920s he spent 12 years in Morocco, both on combat missions and garrison service; during the Spanish Civil War he sided with the Nationalists and commanded units up to a corps. In the 1940s he was the first commander of the first Spanish armored division. His highest army assignment was command of the II. Military Region (Seville) in 1946-1952. He is best known as instructor and de facto leader of paramilitary militias of the Falangists (Primera Línea) in 1933-1934 and the Carlists (Requeté) in 1935-1936. Until the 1930s he did not engage in politics; later following a brief period in Falange Española he joined Comunión Tradicionalista and entered the top Carlist wartime executive. In the late 1930s he fully identified with the Francoist regime and abandoned other party activity.
- ^ none of the sources consulted provides information on location of his birth, especially that none of his parents was related to Málaga. Most likely in the mid-1880s his father served in an infantry unit in Málaga