The Nationalist Army now paused before the Ebro and Guadalupe Rivers to reorganize. But on March 22, the attack started again, this time in the area east of Zaragoza and Huesca. This part of the front that the Republic had held since August 1936, was lost in one day. The villages in eastern Aragon that had experienced social revolution, either by their own actions or from the anarchist columns from Catalonia, were all taken by the Nationalists, with many of the inhabitants becoming refugees. In this part of the offensive, Barbastro, Bujaraloz and Sariñena succumbed to the Nationalists. On March 25, Yagüe took Fraga and entered Catalonia. He attacked the next town, Lleida, but El Campesino held him off for a week, giving the Republicans a chance to withdraw with valuable equipment. The retreat of the Republican forces was covered by Colonel Durán's Mountain Group in the Maestrazgo, the rugged mountainous area of southern Aragon.