On August 14, the Republicans changed tactics after they felt the defenses on the northern side of the Alcázar had been sufficiently reduced. Over the next five weeks, the Republicans attacked the House of the Military Government on eleven occasions, but were turned back each time by the Nationalists. After the war, Franco posthumously awarded Guillermo Juárez de María y Esperanza, with the Orden del Mérito Militar for his bravery in the breach. Had the Republicans captured the House of the Military Government, it would have enabled them to mass a large number of troops only away from the Alcázar.