Spanish Maquis
Encyclopedia
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
guerrillas exiled in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
after the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
who continued to fight against the Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
regime until the early 1960s, carrying out sabotage, robberies (to help fund guerrilla activity), occupations of the Spanish Embassy in France and assassinations of Francoists, as well as contributing to the fight against Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and the Vichy regime
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Overview
Referring to the contribution of the Spanish Maquis to the French resistance movementMaquis (World War II)
The Maquis were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labour for Germany...
, Martha Gellhorn
Martha Gellhorn
Martha Gellhorn was an American novelist, travel writer and journalist, considered by The London Daily Telegraph amongst others to be one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century. She reported on virtually every major world conflict that took place during her 60-year career...
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 assassinated the German generals von Schaumberg (commandant of the region around Paris) and von Ritter (a recruiter of forced labor). In October 1944 a group of 6,000 maquis including Antonio Téllez Solà
Antonio Téllez
Antonio Téllez Solá was a Spanish anarchist, journalist and historian.He fought on the Republican side against Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. At the war's end in 1939, he went into exile in France...
invaded Spain via the Aran Valley but were driven back after ten days. Few details of the maquis' actions in Spain have been made public because of the secrecy of the Franco government, but fighters, including Francisco Sabaté Llopart
Francisco Sabaté Llopart
Francesc Sabaté Llopart , also known as "El Quico", was a Catalan anarchist involved in the resistance against the Nationalist regime of Francisco Franco.-Biography:At the age of 10 Sabaté escaped his clerical school and by the age of 17, he had joined the anarchist...
, Jose Castro Veiga, and Ramon Vila Capdevila
Ramon Vila Capdevila
-Sources:...
were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Guardia Civil (Civil Guard) officers, and uncountable acts of industrial sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
. Between 1943 and 1952, 2,166 maquis were reported arrested by the Civil Guard, nearly wiping out the movement.
Etymology
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
term "maquis" ("a small mountain, covered with weeds"), which comes in turn from the Corsican
Corsican language
Corsican is a Italo-Dalmatian Romance language spoken and written on the islands of Corsica and northern Sardinia . Corsican is the traditional native language of the Corsican people, and was long the vernacular language alongside the Italian, official language in Corsica until 1859, which was...
term "macchia", meaning "dense, deep forest" or "thick vegetation". It was the expression used for privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s when, fleeing from the authorities, they would seek refuge in the mountains of Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
.
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".
The term became synonymous with the anti-Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
guerrillas in Spain. Many of the Spanish maquis also participated in the French resistance movement.
History
The anti-Franco guerrilla resistance in Spain began before the 1939 end of the Spanish Civil War. The outbreak of World War II so soon after the civil war surprised a large part of the Spanish RepublicanSecond Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
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.
The apogee of guerrilla action was between 1945 and 1947. After this, the repression from the Franco government intensified, and little by little the groups were destroyed. Many of their members died or were incarcerated. Others escaped to France or Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. In 1952, the last important contingents evacuated from Spain. After that, those who resisted in the mountainous regions refusing to choose either exile or surrender, fought only for their own survival.
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 mountains.The political character of the guerrillas was as varied as that of the Popular Front
Popular Front (Spain)
The Popular Front in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election....
, containing communists, socialists, and anarchists
Anarchism in Spain
Anarchism has historically gained more support and influence in Spain than anywhere else, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939....
. Despite the diverse ideologies, due to the organizational persistence of the Communist Party of Spain until 1948, the Communists dominated the other currents.
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 Juan NegrínJuan Negrín
Juan Negrín y López was a Spanish politician and physician.-Early years:Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Negrín came from a religious middle-class family...
, at the time head of the Republican government and of the Ministry of Defense. He created the XIV Cuerpo de Ejército Guerrillero (Guerrilla Army Corps) in October 1937. This name was used for the Basque
Basque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....
section of the Republican army until the collapse of the front
Front (military)
A military front or battlefront is a contested armed frontier between opposing forces. This can be a local or tactical front, or it can range to a theater...
in the north.
The short-term objectives of this Corps were the interruption of the communications and supply lines to the Nationalist troops, and the carrying out of special operations. In the long term, they were to continue the war against Franco in the case of defeat on the conventional fronts.
At the end of the war, such activities had been set in motion on the fronts of Teruel
Teruel
Teruel is a town in Aragon, eastern Spain, and the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 34,240 in 2006 making it one of the least populated provincial capitals in the country...
, Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
and Toledo
Toledo (province)
Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila....
. The action with the greatest significance was the liberation, on May 23, 1938, of 300 Asturian
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
political prisoners in Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
. Throughout 1938 and 1939 the Corps brought together many of the exiles of Andalucía and Extremedura; however, the Republican defeat brought the dissolution of the Corps.
The retreat: the French camps
Hundreds of thousands of Republican soldiers and civilians crossed the French border ahead of the advancing Nationalist troops in CataloniaCatalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
. Once on the other side, they were put in concentration camps by the authorities. There were 22 camps in total: Barcarès, Agde
Agde
Agde is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi.-Location:Agde is located on the river Hérault, 4 km from the Mediterranean Sea, and 750 km from Paris...
, Saint-Cyprien
Saint-Cyprien, Pyrénées-Orientales
Saint-Cyprien is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.-References:*...
, Argelès-sur-Mer
Argelès-sur-Mer
Argelès-sur-Mer is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It lies near Perpignan.-Geography:...
, Berck-Plage, Montpellier Chapallete, Fort Mahon Plage, Tour de Carol, Septfonds
Septfonds
Septfonds is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France.-References:*...
, Baste-les-Foages, Bram
Bram, Aude
Bram is a commune in the Aude department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Bram is part of the old province of Lauragais, and is 790 km from Paris.-History:...
, Haros, Gurs
Gurs
Gurs is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.Gurs was the site of the Camp Gurs concentration camp. Nothing remains of the camp; after World War II, a forest was planted on the site where it stood.-Geography:...
, Vernet d'Ariège, Rivesaltes
Rivesaltes
Rivesaltes is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.-People:Rivesaltes was the birthplace of Joseph Joffre , general who became prominent in the battles of World War I.-The Rivesaltes memorial museum:...
, Fort Colliure, and Rieucros
Rieucros
Rieucros is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.-Population:Inhabitants are called Rieucrosains....
in Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France is the part of France located in Europe. It can also be described as mainland France or as the French mainland and the island of Corsica...
and, in French North Africa, Camp Morand
Morand
Morand is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
, Meridja
Méridja
-Sports:The town is home to Association football club JS Saoura which currently plays in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 2.-References:...
, Djelfa
Djelfa
Djelfa is the capital city of Djelfa province, Algeria. It has a population of 154,265 . The city lies at the junction of the N1 and the N46....
, Hadjerat-OM'Guil, and Ain-el-Curak. In these camps, exiles began to reorganize themselves into guerrilla groups.
In the camp of Argelès-sur-Mer a series of meetings were held. Members of the PCE and the Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas (Unified Socialist Youth) participated. In October 1940, the decision was made to organize anti-fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
actions in France, together with the French resistance, against the Vichy government
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
. This was the beginning of the Spanish involvement on a grand scale in the fight against the occupation of France.
The resistance
On October 11, 1940 the Vichy regime started the Companies of Foreign Workers (Compagnies de Travailleurs Etrangers, CTE), which permitted prisoners to leave the concentration camps, if they would go to work in factories. This increased the possibilities of escape. Shortly after the Vichy regime established the Obligatory Work Service (Service du Travail Obligatoire, STO) for French citizens, with similar objectives: to provide manual labor to armament factories and the construction of the Atlantic WallAtlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.-History:On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40...
.
Those French who were released through the STO began to escape to the mountains, where they came together with Spanish who escaped from the CTE. The French escapees were mainly civilians, rather than a remnant of the defeated French army. From this time, the French term "maquis" began to be used to refer to the camps, and "maquisards" for those that occupied them.
The formation of the AGE
Some of the Spanish refugees joined French resistance groups, while others formed autonomous groups. In April 1942 a meeting of several Spanish combat groups decided to take the name of the XIV Cuerpo del Ejército de Guerrilleros Españoles, considering themselves the Corps' successors.In May 1944 the XIV Corps re-formed as the Agrupación de Guerrilleros Españoles (AGE, roughly Group of Spanish Guerrillas), because they consisted for the most part of Spanish combatants on French soil. This conveyed the group's distancing from the Franc Tireurs Partisans (FTP), the armed branch of the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
, 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. After the German army was driven from France, Spanish maquis returned their focus to Spain.
The invasion of the Aran Valley
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
, well equipped and with heavy armaments, on October 19, 1944, after the German army
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
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.
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 Republican government in exile
Spanish Republican government in Exile
The Spanish Republican government in exile was a continuation of the government of the Second Spanish Republic, which was established in exile after the victory of Francisco Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War in April 1939...
, with the intention of provoking a general uprising against Franco throughout Spain. It was hoped that it would force the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
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. 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
Roncesvalles
Roncesvalles is a small village and municipality in Navarre, northern Spain. It is situated on the small river Urrobi at an altitude of some 900 metres in the Pyrenees, about 8 kilometres from the French frontier....
, Roncal, Hecho, Canfranc
Canfranc
Canfranc is a municipality in the Aragon Valley of north-eastern Spain consisting of two towns.- Political information :* comarca of Jacetania * province of Huesca* autonomous community of Aragón- Canfranc :...
, the Aran Valley, Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
, and Cerdanya
Cerdanya
Cerdanya is a natural comarca and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain. Historically it has been one of the counties of Catalonia....
, 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 Guardia Civil, armed police, battalions of the Spanish Army, and 40,000 Moroccan troops.
The guerrilla army conquered various towns and villages, raising the 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, its principal objective. Finally, overwhelmed by the Nationalists' numeric and material advantage, the guerrillas pulled back. The retreat ended October 28, 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 pro-Stalin 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.
The Agrupaciones Guerrilleras
In spite of the setback of Arán in 1944, the expectations of the exiled Spanish Communist Party (PCE) remained high, given that all seemed still possible in an international context of general collapse of fascism. All throughout Spain, the level of guerrilla activity went up, precipitated by the incorporation of new contingents forced to cross the border from France and the reorganization of the groups with structures of a more military character.The exiled PCE promoted the creation of the Agrupaciones Guerrilleras (Guerrilla Groups) in several geographic zones, coordinating the actions between them. It was modelled after the Federación de Guerrillas de León
León (province)
León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....
-Galicia, the first guerrilla organization of the post-war era. The most active group from the AG was the Agrupación Guerrillera de Levante
Levante, Spain
The Levante is a name used to refer to the eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It roughly corresponds to the former Xarq Al-Andalus, but has no modern geopolitical definition...
y Aragón
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
(AGLA), which was active in the area between the southern part of Teruel
Teruel
Teruel is a town in Aragon, eastern Spain, and the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 34,240 in 2006 making it one of the least populated provincial capitals in the country...
, the interior of Castellón
Castellón (province)
Castellón or Castelló is a province in the northern part of the Valencian Community, Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Valencia to the south, Teruel to the west, Tarragona to the north, and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The western side of the province is in the mountainous...
and the north of Cuenca
Cuenca (province)
Cuenca is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha.-Guide to the area:Located in a natural setting of beauty, the Old Town of Cuenca occupies a superb site between two river gorges. Famous are its 15th Century "hanging houses" , that appear...
.
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, even at the rearguard guerrilla camps in France.
In 1948 the PCE changed its strategy, and at the behest of Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, renounced the guerrilla fight, preferring to try to change the state-sanctioned Spanish Trade Union Organisation
Spanish Trade Union Organisation
The Spanish Trade Union Organisation , commonly known as Vertical Syndicate , was the only legal trade union organisation in Francoist Spain , and a main component of the Movimiento Nacional Francoist apparatus...
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.
The end of the maquis
There were several factors in the decline and disappearance of the Spanish maquis. On one side, the transformation of the international context toward the footing of the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
made it evident that the maquis could not count on the intervention of the Allies in the fight against what they considered the "fascist" government of Spain. This context produced the change of strategy of the PCE, which abandoned the guerrilla method, suspending the support of the guerrilla groups in the 1950s.
On the other side, the actions of the Spanish police were wearing down on the population in the areas populated by the guerrillas. The different repressive tactics ranged from searches to the utilization of contras to uncover relationships to the scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
policy that was utilized in Maestrazgo
Maestrazgo
The Maestrazgo or Maestrat is a natural and historic mountainous region, located at the eastern end of the Iberian System mountain range, in Spain. It encompasses the north of the Autonomous Community of Valencia, in Castellón province, and parts of the east of the Aragonese province of Teruel...
. The Guardia Civil cleared the population from many mountain zones where support for the guerrillas had continued, intending to deprive the guerrillas of this support. Torture was a common practice in interrogations.
The government had a policy of total silence on the actions of the maquis. For this reason, outside of the areas of maqui 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.
Little by little, the guerrillas became isolated. In these last years, many attempted to escape to France. Although most were shown leniency when captured and were sentenced only to jail time (some spent up to 20 years in prison), some guerrillas and their collaborators were judged summarily
Summary execution
A summary execution is a variety of execution in which a person is killed on the spot without trial or after a show trial. Summary executions have been practiced by the police, military, and paramilitary organizations and are associated with guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, terrorism, and...
and shot, or imprisoned. Others died at the hands of the Guardia Civil through application of the Ley de Fugas ("law of fugitives").
Although the period of major guerrilla activity ranged from 1938 through to the early 1950s, some groups continued to fight. The end was marked by the shooting deaths of Francisco Sabate Llopart
Francisco Sabaté Llopart
Francesc Sabaté Llopart , also known as "El Quico", was a Catalan anarchist involved in the resistance against the Nationalist regime of Francisco Franco.-Biography:At the age of 10 Sabaté escaped his clerical school and by the age of 17, he had joined the anarchist...
(El Quico) in 1960, and Ramon Vila "Caracremada" in 1963, both in Catalonia, and José Castro Veiga in Galicia in March 1965.
Areas of activity
In areas of harsher weather, like in the mountains of León, the maquis would relatively often pass periods of time more or less "undercover", in small groups, in support houses in villages, especially during the winter months.
Among the areas of major maquis activity were the Cornisa Cantábrica
Green Spain
Green Spain is the name given to the Spanish northern maritime façade exposed to the Atlantic Ocean in Galicia which also runs along the coastal strip lying north of the Cantabrian and Basque mountains, along the Bay of Biscay...
, from Galicia to Cantabria, especially the mountains of Asturias and the area north of León; the Levant
Levante, Spain
The Levante is a name used to refer to the eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It roughly corresponds to the former Xarq Al-Andalus, but has no modern geopolitical definition...
, specifically the area between the provinces of Teruel, Castellón, Valencia, and Cuenca; Centro, which consists of Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
, the north of Cordova
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
, Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real is a city in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, with a population of c. 74,000. It is the capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It has a stop on the AVE high-speed rail line and has begun to grow as a long-distance commuter suburb of Madrid, located 115 miles to the north. A high capacity...
, Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
and the mountains of the Sistema Central
Sistema Central
The Sistema Central is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula.-Description:The Sistema Central is a primary feature of the Meseta Central, the inner Iberian plateau, splitting the meseta into two parts...
; and two independent areas in the south of Andalusia: Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
on one hand and Granada
Granada (province)
Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Albacete, Murcia, Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga, and the Mediterranean Sea . Its capital city is also called Granada.The province covers an area of 12,635 km²...
-Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
on the other. There was also activity in other areas, such as La Mancha
La Mancha
La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...
and High Aragon
High Aragon
Alto Aragon refers to the northern-most territories of Aragon, flanking the Pyrenees...
.
Armed resistance groups were also active in cities, although only prominently in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. In Madrid, the maquis' character was predominantly communist, supported by the PCE. Their activities did not, however, last long. On the other hand, the maquis acting in Barcelona, were mainly anarchists. This city was the last urban place to see activity of maquis. Attempts to extend the fight to other capitals like Valencia and Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
were unsuccessful.
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 the war going on in their mountains.
The enlaces
Sustaining guerrilla activity was dependent on sectors of the population known as "enlaces" (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..
Notable maquis
- Benigno Andrade, also known as "Foucellas", a Galician maqui. He carried out actions against the Guardia Civil, mostly in 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 GarcíaCristino GarciaCristino García Granda was a fighter with the French Resistance in France during World War II. He was born in Asturias, Spain and also died in Spain....
Granda, AsturianAsturiasThe Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
maquis. - Joaquín Arasanz Raso, also known as "Villacampa" and "el maqui", active in AragónAragonAragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
. - In CataloniaCataloniaCatalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, the group of Francesc Sabaté LlopartFrancisco Sabaté LlopartFrancesc Sabaté Llopart , also known as "El Quico", was a Catalan anarchist involved in the resistance against the Nationalist regime of Francisco Franco.-Biography:At the age of 10 Sabaté escaped his clerical school and by the age of 17, he had joined the anarchist...
, "El Quico", acted in cities like BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. The group of Marcel·lí Massana i Balcells, together with Ramon Vila CapdevilaRamon Vila Capdevila-Sources:...
(also known as "Caraquemada") acted principally in the Catalan counties of BerguedàBerguedàBerguedà is a comarca in the interior of Catalonia, Spain, lying partly in the Pyrenees and partly in Catalonia's Depressió Central.-Geography:...
, OsonaOsona (comarca)Osona is a comarca situated in central Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is Vic. Its population is 129,543. Osona covers roughly the same area as the historic Catalan county of Osona. The name Osona comes from Ausetans, a group of Iberian people that had their capital in Ausa ; the Romans called the...
and BagesBagesBages is a comarca in the center of Catalonia, Spain. It includes two subcomarques, el Moianès and el Lluçanès.Industries include the mining of potash at Súria and Sallent, and the manufacture of textiles along the rivers Llobregat and Cardener...
, and the Barcelona Province. - Josep Lluís i FaceriasJosep Lluís i FaceriasJosep Lluís Facerias was born in Barcelona, Spain, on January 6, 1920. He was nicknamed 'Face'. When the military revolt took place in July 1936, Facerias was already affiliated to the National Confederation of Labour and to the Libertarian Youth. He fought on the Aragon front throughout the...
, also known as "Face", and his group concentrated on robbing banks to financially support the families of people incarcerated by the Franco government. - Manuel Girón Bazán, also known as "Girón", maqui from LeónLeón (province)León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....
, carried out acts principally in Bierzo. - Antonio TéllezAntonio TéllezAntonio Téllez Solá was a Spanish anarchist, journalist and historian.He fought on the Republican side against Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. At the war's end in 1939, he went into exile in France...
, fought in the invasion of the valle de Aran, and later wrote biographies of Sabaté, Facerias, and Salvador Puig AntichSalvador Puig AntichSalvador Puig Antich was a Spanish anarchist, born in Barcelona, and active during the 1960s. A member of the Movimiento Ibérico de Liberación , he was executed by the Francoist regime after being tried by a military tribunal and found guilty of the death of a Guardia Civil policeman...
. - Abel PazAbel PazAbel Paz was a Spanish anarchist, former combatant and historian.Abel Paz was the pen name of Diego Camacho. He was born in Almería in 1921, and moved with his family to Barcelona in 1929...
, was jailed twice by the Franco government, has written several books on the Spanish Civil War. - Eduard Pons PradesEduard Pons PradesEduard Pons Prades , also known as Floreado Barsino, was a Spanish writer and historian, specializing in the 20th-century history of Spain...
, 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. - La Pastora, nickname of Florencio Pla Meseguer, also known as Teresa (1917-2004), a Spanish Maquis born in VallibonaVallibonaVallibona is a small town and municipality located in the Ports comarca, province of Castelló, part of the autonomous community of Valencia, Spain. According to the 2009 census, it has a total population of 90 inhabitants...
who used to disguise as a female and operated in the Maestrat area until the early 1960s. - José Castro Veiga (1915–1965), the last guerrillero.
In popular culture
- Behold a Pale HorseBehold a Pale Horse (film)Behold a Pale Horse is a 1964 film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif and Anthony Quinn. The film is based on the novel Killing a Mouse on Sunday by Emeric Pressburger, which loosely details the life of the Spanish anarchist guerrilla, Francisco Sabaté Llopart. The...
, film loosely based on the life of Sabaté. - Pan's LabyrinthPan's LabyrinthPan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish Spanish-language dark fantasy film, written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by the Mexican film company Esperanto Films...
- Maquis (Star Trek)Maquis (Star Trek)In the American Star Trek science-fiction franchise, the Maquis are a 24th Century paramilitary organization or terrorist group first introduced in the 1994 episode "The Maquis" of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, who subsequently also appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation and...
- Luna de lobos, based on four post-war resistance fighters in Cantabria
See also
- Spain in World War IISpain in World War IIThe Spanish State under General Franco was officially non-belligerent during World War II. This status, although not recognised by international law, was intended to express the regime's sympathy and material support for the Axis Powers, to which Spain offered considerable material, economic, and...
- Maquis (World War II)Maquis (World War II)The Maquis were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labour for Germany...
- Japanese holdoutJapanese holdoutJapanese holdouts or stragglers were Japanese soldiers in the Pacific Theatre who, after the August 1945 surrender of Japan that marked the end of World War II, either adamantly doubted the veracity of the formal surrender due to strong dogmatic or militaristic principles, or were not aware of it...
- Romanian anti-communist resistance movementRomanian anti-communist resistance movementAn armed resistance movement against the communist regime in Romania was active from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, with isolated individual fighters remaining at large until the early 1960s. Armed resistance was the first and most structured form of resistance against the communist regime...
, Romanian guerrilla of an opposite political orientation but with similar tactics. - Ukrainian Insurgent Army
- Cursed soldiersCursed soldiersThe cursed soldiers is a name applied to a variety of Polish resistance movements formed in the later stages of World War II and afterwards. Created by some members of the Polish Secret State, these clandestine organizations continued their armed struggle against the Stalinist government of Poland...
- Forest BrothersForest BrothersThe Forest Brothers were Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian partisans who waged a guerrilla war against Soviet rule during the Soviet invasion and occupation of the three Baltic states during, and after, World War II...