Spanish Maquis

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Spanish Maquis
Part of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and World War II
Principal areas of Maquis activity within Spain (orange), 1939–1965.
Date 1 April 1939 – 10 March 1965 Location Spain, Pyrenees Result Francoist victory Decline and eventual extinction of Maquis activity
Belligerents
Fascist Italy (1939–1943)  United States (after 1953)	Italian Resistance (1943–1945) Soviet Union (until 1956)
Commanders and leaders
Valentín G. Morante Camilo Alonso Vega José Enrique Varela Carlos A. Cabanillas Fidel Dávila Arrondo Agustín M. Grandes	Antonio Téllez Solà Vicente López Tovar Josep Lluís i Facerias † Eduard Pons Prades among others…
Casualties and losses
~1,000+ killed	5,548 total 2,166 killed 3,382 captured or arrested[1]

The Maquis (

The Maquis activity in Spain had its heyday towards 1946, after which the resistance fighters were heavily repressed during the Trienio del Terror (1947–1949), with instances of White Terror such as paseos, and applications of the Ley de fugas (extralegal executions based on the simulation of the escape of detainees) taking a heavy toll among the combatants and their supporters.^[5] Following its decline, it fully disappeared in the 1960s.

Overview

Referring to the contribution of the Spanish Maquis to the French resistance movement, Martha Gellhorn wrote in The Undefeated (1945):

During the German occupation of France, the Spanish Maquis engineered more than four hundred railway sabotages, destroyed fifty-eight locomotives, dynamited thirty-five railway bridges, cut one hundred and fifty telephone lines, attacked twenty factories, destroying some factories totally, and sabotaged fifteen coal mines. They took several thousand German prisoners and - most miraculous considering their arms - they captured three tanks. In the south-west part of France where no Allied armies have ever fought, they liberated more than seventeen towns.

Also during World War II, Spaniards were involved in the assassination of Julius Ritter, an

The term maquis comes from the French term maquis, which in turn comes from the Corsican term macchia, the maquis shrubland, a type of biome found in the Mediterranean basin, mostly associated with Corsica.^{[citation needed]}

In France, the term was first used to refer to a group of guerrillas of the French resistance against the German occupation of France during World War II. The resistance fighters in these encampments were referred to as maquisards.^{[citation needed]}

History

The so-called huidos first originated already in 1936, when many people fled from the Rebel faction to the mountains after becoming isolated in places such León, Galicia, Extremadura, and the province of Huelva. Those in Extremadura and Huelva were rapidly annihilated by Rebels, with only those in the North of the country managing to survive past the war.^[7]

The outbreak of World War II so soon after the civil war surprised a large part of the Spanish Republican exiles in France; many of them joined the French Resistance. By 1944, with the German forces in retreat, many of the guerrillas refocused their fight towards Spain. Despite the failure of the invasion of the Val d'Arán that year, some columns continued to progress into the Spanish interior and to connect with the groups that had remained in the mountains since 1939.^[8]

The apogee of guerrilla action was between 1945 and 1947. After this, the repression from the Franco government intensified, and one by one the groups were destroyed. Many of their members died or were incarcerated. Others escaped to France or Morocco. In 1952, the last important contingents evacuated from Spain. After that, those who resisted in the forested and mountainous regions refusing to choose either exile or surrender, fought only for their own survival.^{[citation needed]}

Beginnings

The origins of the maquis in Spain lie with those who fled the advancing forces of Franco's Nationalists. The insecurity engendered by the repressive tactics of the Nationalist insurgency turned their political opponents—even many who were not politically active but simply known to sympathize with the republic—into fugitives. At first many hid in relatives' homes, but some sought refuge in the mountains. Their numbers were enhanced by deserters and by escapees from prisons and concentration camps. These constituted the nucleus of those who decided to keep fighting from the forests and mountains.

The political character of the guerrillas was as varied as that of the

XIV Cuerpo de Ejército

During the war, the idea of the possibility of a guerrilla war at the rearguard of Franco's Nationalists was proposed. The idea came to fruition at the initiative of

In May 1944 the XIV Corps re-formed as the Agrupación de Guerrilleros Españoles (AGE, roughly Spanish Guerrilla Group),[9] because they consisted for the most part of Spanish combatants on French soil. This conveyed the group's distancing from the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP), the armed branch of the French Communist Party, with whom they had previously worked closely. By this time, the Spanish resistors had participated in numerous armed actions against the German army, even liberating various populations in the south of France.

The numbers of Spanish combatants in the ranks of the Resistance vary quite a bit amongst sources, but in general they accept a number around 10,000.^[10] After the German army was driven from France, Spanish maquis returned their focus to Spain.

Invasion of Val d'Aran

The most notable operation of the Spanish maquis was the invasion of Spain by between 4,000^[11][12] and 7,000^[10] guerrillas through Val d'Aran and other parts of the Pyrenees, well equipped and with heavy weapons, on October 19, 1944, after the German Army had been driven from the south of France. The invasion was named "Operation Reconquest of Spain".

Operation Reconquest of Spain was planned by the AGE staff. To carry out the invasion they created the 204th Division, made up of 12 brigades. The division was commanded by Vicente López Tovar.^[13]

The objective of the offensive was to retake the sector of Spanish territory comprising the land between the Cinca and Segre Rivers and the French border. Later, the zone was declared conquered by the Spanish Republican government in exile, with the intention of provoking a general uprising against Franco throughout Spain. It was hoped that it would force the Allies to "liberate" Spain the same way it was "liberating" the rest of Europe.

The main attack in the valley was accompanied by operations in other valleys of the Pyrenees during the previous weeks, with the objective of distracting Franco's forces.^[13] These other attacks were intended also to evaluate the situation in the interior of Spain, and make contact with other groups of exiles. The most important points of penetration in the long chain of mountains were Roncesvalles, Roncal, Hecho, Canfranc, Val d'Aran, Andorra, and Cerdanya, though there were also operations at smaller points.

The offensives were repelled by a great force that was moved into the area by Franco, made up of the Civil Guard, Armed Police Corps, battalions of the Spanish Army, and 40,000 Moroccan (Army of Africa) troops.^[14]

The guerrilla army conquered various towns and villages, raising the Spanish Republican flag, carrying out anti-Franco meetings in the plazas, as well as controlling part of the French border for several days, through which they were able to bring in trucks, material and reinforcements from France. However, the invasion failed to take Vielha e Mijaran, its principal objective. Finally, overwhelmed by the Nationalists' numerical and material advantage, the guerrillas pulled back. The retreat ended October 28,^[14] when the last guerrillas re-crossed the border back into France, without the hoped-for uprising.

The failure of the invasion was used by the Stalinist members of the PCE's Central Committee, recently arrived from the Soviet Union to France, to purge the heads of the party who had remained in France fighting the Germans. Most were either kidnapped and assassinated or summarily judged and shot.^[15]

"Agrupaciones Guerrilleras"

In spite of the setback of Arán in 1944, the expectations of the exiled Spanish Communist Party (

All these groups were extremely sectarian in their aims and organization, following invariably the strategies dictated by the Central Committee (controlled by Moscow). The will to keep fighting was maintained by strict discipline imposed by the PCE kommisars. People in these groups who wanted to leave and rejoin a normal civilian life were most of the time treated as deserters and shot,[15] even at the rearguard guerrilla camps in France.

In 1948 the PCE changed its strategy, and at the behest of Stalin,^[17] renounced the guerrilla fight, preferring to try to change the state-sanctioned Spanish Syndical Organization from within. This began the decline of the agrupaciones, already quite beaten by government repression. The Agrupaciones Guerrilleras renamed themselves Comités de Resistencia. The new orientation, however, was not effective, and ultimately a general evacuation was decreed in 1952.

End of the maquis

There were several factors in the decline and disappearance of the Spanish maquis. On one side, the commencement of the Cold War made it evident that the Allies would not intervene in the maquis' fight against the Spanish State. This led the PCE to change strategy, ending its support for the guerrilla groups in the 1950s.

The government had a policy of total silence on the actions of the maquis. For this reason, outside of the areas of maquis activity, the population had practically no knowledge of the maquis. On the rare occasion that an item appeared in the press, the maquis were always referred to as "bandoleros" (bandits), in order to strip the actions of all political context.

Steadily, Francoist forces isolated the guerrillas. Most of their members were middle-aged or older by 1950, with the consequent detriment of their physical capacities accelerated by years of living exposed to the elements and the lack of proper medical and food supplies. In these last years, many attempted to escape to France. Of those who stayed in Spain, some were sentenced only to jail (some spent up to 20 years in prison), some were judged summarily and shot, and others died at the hands of the Guardia Civil through application of the Ley de Fugas ("law of fugitives").^[18]

Although the period of major guerrilla activity ranged from 1938

The generally rural and isolated character of the areas of guerrilla activity constituted an obstacle to the maquis' objectives. In effect, given the silence of the press and government on the situation, very few and scattered inhabitants of areas of maqui activity were actually aware of the conflict. The greater part of the Spanish population was ignorant of a guerrilla war going on in their mountains.

Enlaces

Sustaining guerrilla activity was dependent on sectors of the population known as "enlaces" ([enˈlaθes], literally, "links" or "relationships"). There were others called "passive militias", and "guerrilleros del llano" ("guerrillas of the plains"), who supplied aid, from food to armaments when necessary, as well as information. They would also deliver mail or correspondence for the groups.

The enlaces were much more exposed to the repressive actions of the government. However, they made up a source of combatants, since in the event of being discovered, their only chance to avoid being jailed was to flee to the mountains. Because of this, in the early 1950s when guerrilla activity was in its death throes, groups were still incorporating new men and women.

The number of enlaces was much higher than that of actual combatants. During the years of guerrilla activity, 20,000 people were arrested for collaborating with the maquis.^[21]

Notable maquis

• Corunna Province
  . He was arrested March 9, 1952 and tortured during the following days, finally being executed in the prison of Corunna on August 7, 1952.
• Felipe Matarranz González, also known as "El Lobo", Manuel Zapico, also known as "El asturiano", Ángela Luzdivina García Fernández, Cristino García Granda, Asturian maquis.
• Joaquín Arasanz Raso, also known as "Villacampa" and "el maqui", active in
  Aragón
  .
• In
  Barcelona Province
  .
• Josep Lluís i Facerias, also known as "Face", and his group concentrated on robbing banks to financially support the families of people incarcerated by the Franco government.
• Casimiro Fernández Arias led a group of former Republican soldiers caught behind enemy lines who held out for nine years in the
  Cantabrian mountains, in the area surrounding La Vecilla, in the province of León. Their whispered history inspired the 1986 novel Wolf Moon by Julio Llamazares.^[22]
• Manuel Girón Bazán, also known as "Girón", maqui from
  Bierzo
  .
• Pablo Pérez Hidalgo, also known as "Manolo el Rubio", who headed up various groups operating in the mountains near Ronda in Málaga province and the Sierra Bermeja, near Cádiz, in the 1940s. He was finally captured by the Civil Guard in 1976.
• Antonio Téllez, fought in the invasion of the Val d'Aran, and later wrote biographies of Sabaté, Facerias, and Salvador Puig Antich
  .
• Abel Paz, was jailed twice by the Franco government, has written several books on the Spanish Civil War.
• Eduard Pons Prades, in 1942, formed part of an anti-fascist group in France, was in the group Solidaridad Española, initiating acts of sabotage, and worked with the group Ponzán.
• Maestrat area until the early 1960s.^[23]
• Xosé Castro Veiga (1915–1965), the last guerrillero.

In popular culture

• Behold a Pale Horse, film loosely based on the life of Sabaté.
• Pan's Labyrinth, a 2006 film in which the insurgency of the Maquis plays a central role.
• Maquis (Star Trek)
• Wolves' Moon, a 1987 film about a group of Maquis members surviving in the mountains
• Caracremada, film about Ramon Vila i Capdevila

See also

• Armed resistance in Chile (1973–90)
• Japanese holdout
• Maquis (World War II)
• Opposition to Francoism
• Republican insurgency in Afghanistan
• Spanish National Liberation Front (FELN)
• Spanish transition to democracy (1975–82)
• Spain in World War II

References