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Spanish Maquis

Spanish Maquis
Part of Aftermath off the Spanish Civil War
Mapa maquis3.PNG
Principal areas of Maquis activity, within Spain, in orange.
Date 1939-1965
Location Spain, Pyrenees
Result Francoist Victory, decline and eventual extinction of Maquis activity
Belligerents
Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Francoist Spain
Supported by
 Nazi Germany
Flag of Spain (1931 - 1939).svg Anti-Fascist Partisans
Supported by
France French Resistance
 Free French Forces
Commanders and leaders
Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Francisco Franco
Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Ramón Serrano Suñer
Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Valentín Galarza Morante
Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Camilo Alonso Vega
Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg José Enrique Varela
Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Carlos Asensio Cabanillas
Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Fidel Dávila Arrondo
Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Agustín Muñoz Grandes
Flag of Spain (1931 - 1939).svg Antonio Téllez Solà
Flag of Spain (1931 - 1939).svgVicente López Tovar
Flag of Spain (1931 - 1939).svg Josep Lluís i Facerias
Flag of Spain (1931 - 1939).svg Eduard Pons Prades
Among many others...
Casualties and losses
1,000+ dead 5,548 dead
2,166 arrested

The Spanish Maquis were Spanish guerrillas exiled in France after the Spanish Civil War who continued to fight against the Franco 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 and the Vichy regime in France during World War II.

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.

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 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, Jose Castro Veiga, and Ramon Vila Capdevila were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Guardia Civil (Civil Guard) officers, and uncountable acts of industrial sabotage. Between 1943 and 1952, 2,166 maquis were reported arrested by the Civil Guard, nearly wiping out the movement.


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Wikipedia

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