XYZ Line

XYZ Line
Part of the Spanish Civil War
Moroccan troops in Rubielos de Mora, 1938.
Date July 18–24, 1938 Location East Central Spain Result Republican victory
Belligerents
Spanish Republic	Nationalist Spain  Italy  Germany
Commanders and leaders
General Leopoldo Menendez Lopez Colonel Carlos Romero Colonel Ernesto Güemes Colonel Gustavo Duran	José Solchaga José Enrique Varela Rafael Garcia Valiño Mario Berti
Strength
125,000	125,000 900-1,000 cannons 400 aircraft
Casualties and losses
5,000	20,000

The XYZ Line, or Matallana Line, was a system of fortifications built during the Spanish Civil War in order to defend the capital of the Second Spanish Republic in Valencia, Spain. Unlike the Maginot Line, or the Iron Belt ("Cinturón de Hierro") of Bilbao, which were expensive systems of fortifications and bunkers made of reinforced concrete, the XYZ Line was a simpler system of defenses in depth consisting of trenches and bunkers that took advantage of some of the most difficult terrain in Spain in the Iberian System ranges to the north and northeast of Valencia. The defenses were built to withstand bombardment by either heavy artillery or 1,000-pound aerial bombs.

Following the success of the Aragon Offensive resulting in the Nationalist armies reaching the Mediterranean Sea, the Republic was split in two; the Spanish Republican Army was in disarray and the road to Barcelona was open for conquest by the Nationalists. Even General Vicente Rojo Lluch said that Barcelona could have been taken with "less force and in less time" than in January 1939. The Nationalist generals and Francisco Franco's German and Italian allies expected a swift attack against Barcelona. Nevertheless, Franco decided to turn south against the capital of the Spanish Republic at Valencia for fear of French intervention in Catalonia, following the Anschluss. Furthermore, he did not want a swift end to the war but a war of annihilation against the Republic to crush all opposition. Dionisio Ridruejo said, "A long war meant total victory. Franco chose the crueller option which, from his point of view, was also more effective."

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