 Most of them were militiamen, for example in the city of Badajoz there were 500 soldiers and 2,000 militiamen.The members of the Republican militias had no military training and were poorly armed, there only was one rifle per three men, and one machine-gun per 150–200 men.The militiamen refused to dig trenches, had no idea of how to prepare a defensive position and the aircraft bombings caused maximum terror to peasants (a group of militiamen abandoned their positions after being bombed with melons).