The Last Days of the Spanish Republic. Paul Preston

had agreed that, if Negrín returned to the central zone, they would create a Consejo Nacional de Defensa and remove him as Prime Minister. Similarly, on 7 or 8 February, three of the four, Casado, Miaja and Matallana, had taken part in the meeting at the Los Llanos airbase in Albacete. It was convened by the commissar general Jesús Hernández to discuss the further conduct of the war. In addition to Miaja and Matallana, those present included acting Rear Admiral Miguel Buiza, commander of the fleet, and Colonel Antonio Camacho, head of the air force in the centre-south zone. Following so soon after his lunch in Valencia with Miaja, Matallana and Menéndez, it is likely that Casado used the opportunity to sound out further support for his plans. With the exception of Hernández, who argued vehemently in favour of further resistance, the others were uniformly pessimistic in their interventions, aggressively so in the case of Buiza.20