in august 1936, 250 civil guards from jaén, most of their families, 100 falangists and about 1,000 members of the bourgeoisie of andújar (beevor: around 1,200 civil guards and falangists), retreated to the nuestra señora de la cabeza's shrine, near andújar. during the first months of the war, there had been no attack launched against this enclave, because the republican committee of andújar did not know that the civil guards of the shrine were rebels. after gathering a good supply of food, the civil guards decided to send a declaration of war to the committee in september 1936. their commander, major nofuentes, who wanted to surrender, was deposed by captain santiago cortés and the republicans started the siege. nationalist aircraft from córdoba and seville dropped supplies into the encampment (160,000 pounds of food from seville and 140,000 pounds from córdoba). medical supplies and delicate goods were attached to live turkeys. furthermore, pigeons sent news and messages to the nationalists in seville.