One of the first women to join the Republican ranks to defend Madrid against Franco's fascist forces, Rosario Sánchez Mora, passed away at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid yesterday just four days short of her 89th birthday. Born in Villarejo de Salvanés (Madrid) on April 21st, 1919, she was just 17 years old when she enlisted.

Rosario, who lost her right hand in an accidental dynamite explosion in the trenches during the Battle for Madrid, was immortalised in the war poem 'Rosario la Dinamerita' by Miguel Hernández.

At the end of the war, she was sentenced to death by the Franco regime, though this was commuted to a thirty-year jail term, of which she eventually served three.

Following a frustrated post-release attempt to flee Spain, Rosario sold matches in the Plaza de Cibeles and later opened a tobacco shop in the capital.

Her last public appearance was last September at a tribute organised by the Spanish Communist Party to all women who fought on the Republican side.

At a summer course at the Complutense University in Madrid the previous month, Rosario said that she was not afraid of dying during the Battle for Madrid, "but that the enemy would wipe out my entire platoon as a result of me making a mistake during my guard duty."