Invasion of Val d'Aran
The Invasion of Val d'Aran, known under the code name Operación Reconquista de España ("Operation Reconquest of Spain"), was a military operation launched on October 1944 by the Unión Nacional Española (antifrancoist) (UNE). According to historian Geneviève Dreyfus-Armand, the UNE was a "structure of a large alliance, (which) united not only Communists, but also Spaniards of different political alignments – Socialists, Republicans or Anarchists – who the dispersion of their organizations and the silence of their leaders pushed into joining the only fighting structure organised against Nazism".[2] This operation aimed to establish a provisional Republican government in the Val d'Aran, a Pyrenean valley of Catalonia, situated on the border between France and Spain, to act as a launching point for an attack of antifranquist guerrilas that participated in World War II within the French resistance and veterans of the Spanish Civil War in the territory. It was a total failure.
Aftermath of the Spanish Civil War | |||||||
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Grave of the soldiers of the Franquist army killed during the invasion, cemetery of Vielha. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
José Moscardó Rafael García Valiño Juan Yagüe | Vicente López Tovar | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
50,000 men | 4,000 to 7,000 men | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
248 dead[1] | 588 dead[1] |
Popular culture
- "The (Silent) War" (2019, original title: Sordo), Spanish movie by Alfonso Cortés-Cavanillas
References
- (Juliá 2005: 373)
- Dreyfus-Armand, Geneviève (1999). Exil des Républicains espagnols en France. Albin-Michel.
Bibliography
- Juliá, Santos (coord.) (2005). Víctimas de la Guerra Civil. Barcelona: Planeta de Agostini. ISBN 84-8460-333-4.