The Invasion of The Aran Valley
The most spectacular operation of the Spanish maquis was the invasion of Spain by between 4,000 and 7,000 guerrillas through the Aran Valley and other parts of the Pyrenees, well equipped and with heavy armaments, 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.
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, 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. 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, the Aran Valley, 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 Guardia Civil, armed police, battalions of the Spanish Army, and 40,000 Moroccan troops.
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, 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.
Read more about this topic: Spanish Maquis, History
Famous quotes containing the words invasion and/or valley:
“We should have an army so organized and so officered as to be capable in time of emergency, in cooperation with the National Militia, and under the provision of a proper national volunteer law, rapidly to expand into a force sufficient to resist all probable invasion from abroad and to furnish a respectable expeditionary force if necessary in the maintenance of our traditional American policy which bears the name of President Monroe.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Down in the valley,
Valley so low,
Hang your head over,
Hear the train blow.”
—Unknown. Down in the Valley (l. 1–4)