High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Battle of Badajoz was one of the first major Nationalist victories in the Spanish Civil War. A series of costly assaults won the Nationalists the fortified border city of Badajoz on August 14, 1936, cutting off the Spanish Republic from neighbouring Portugal and linking the northern and southern zones of Nationalist control (although actual contact with General Emilio Mola`s northern troops was not established until September 8).