Oriol was engaged in Carlist anti-republican conspiracy of the spring of 1936. He was assigned to join the coup in Álava; on July 18 he hid in Palacio Verástegui in Vitoria.details of the coup in Vitoria, including the role of Antonio Oriol himself, in Javier Ugarte Tellería, La nueva Covadonga insurgente: orígenes sociales y culturales de la sublevación de 1936 en Navarra y el País Vasco, Madrid 1998, , pp. 191-199. The author ridicules Oriol and the commanding group, who mounted the insurgency, but "estaba oculta en lugares seguros", p. 198 He planned to join the military, supposed to rise the following day.Ballestero 2014, p. 47 Indeed, the Vitoria-based sub-units of the 5. Mountain Regiment “Flandes” did rise and the city was swiftly seized by the rebels. Early Oriol's military assignment is not clear; it is known that in mid-September he served in requeté troops which took San Sebastián.Pensamiento Alaves 14.09.36, available here Since later this month he was seconded to the 2. Requeté Company, incorporated into the 3. Battalion of the Flandes regiment; it was deployed North to Vitoria, in the mountain range which separated Alava from Western parts of Gipuzkoa, controlled by the loyalists. In October 1936 the unit took part in heavy fightings on the Isusquiza hill. Antonio was hit and taken to the rear;F. Góngora, Isuskutza: la colina de sangre, [in:] El Correo 07.10.13, available here few days later on the same section his brother Fernando was mortally wounded.Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil española, 1936-1939, Madrid 2013, , p. 444
