Spanish partisans against Franco

9
The defeat of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War did not mean the cessation of armed resistance against the established dictatorship of Franco. In Spain, as is well known, revolutionary traditions were very strong and socialist teachings were widely popular among the working class and the peasantry. Therefore, a significant part of the country's population has not come to terms with the coming to power of the right-wing regime of Franco. Moreover, the anti-fascist movement in Spain was actively supported and stimulated by the Soviet Union. Spanish anti-fascists had close ties with like-minded people in France and, like the French partisans, were called "maki".

Spanish partisans against Franco


Spanish "poppies": from France to Spain

The guerrilla war against the Franco regime began immediately after the Spanish Republic fell in 1939. Despite the fact that the republican movement suffered huge human losses, a large number of Communist Party activists, anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists, many of whom had combat experience of the Civil War and were determined to continue to fight, remained at large. weapons in hand. In March, 1939 was established the secretariat of the Spanish Communist Party to organize the underground struggle, which was headed by J. Larraniaga. The Secretariat was subordinate to the leadership of the French Communist Party, since the leaders of the Communist Party of Spain Dolores Ibarruri, José Diaz and Francisco Anton were in exile. However, Larranyaga soon died. The tasks of the underground secretariat of the Spanish Communists included, above all, the prevention of the entry of Franco Spain into the war on the side of Germany and Italy. After all, joining such a large country as Spain to the Hitler bloc could seriously complicate the tasks of the anti-Hitler coalition to defeat the Axis countries. Therefore, with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, hundreds of immigrants with military experience returned to Spain illegally — the military who fought on the Republican side during the Civil War. However, many of them immediately after returning fell into the hands of the special services of the Franco regime and were killed. Meanwhile, a significant part of the Spanish Republicans, who once served in the 14-nd partisan corps of the republican army, was in France. A Spanish military organization headed by former corps commander Antonio Buitrago was created here.

The total number of Spanish partisans who find themselves in France is estimated at tens of thousands of people. In June, 1942 was created the first Spanish squad as part of the French Resistance. He acted in the department of Haute Savoie. By 1943, the Spanish partisans formed 27 subversive brigades in France and retained the name of the 14 corps. The corps commander was H. Rios, who during the Spanish Civil War served in the headquarters of the 14 corps of the republican army. In May, 1944 guerrilla units operating in France united into the French internal forces, after which the Spanish Guerrilla Association was formed, led by General Evaristo Luis Fernandez. Spanish troops operated on a large area of ​​French territory and took part in the liberation of the French capital and a number of large cities in the country. In addition to the Spaniards, soldiers - internationalists, former soldiers and officers of the international brigades of the republican army, who also retreated after the end of the Civil War in France, took part in the French Resistance. L. Ilic, a Yugoslav communist who served as the chief of staff of the 14 Republican Corps during the Spanish Civil War, became head of the operations department of the headquarters of the French internal forces in France. After the war, it was Ilic, who was responsible for the activities of the Spanish partisans, occupying the post of military attache of Yugoslavia in France, but in fact, jointly with the French Communists, preparing an anti-Frankish uprising in neighboring Spain. However, after the start of the retreat of the German troops in 1944, the anti-fascist partisans began to gradually return to the territory of Spain. In October, 1944 was created by the Spanish National Union, which included the Spanish Communist Party and the United Socialist Party of Catalonia. The Spanish National Union operated under the effective leadership of the French Communist Party. Then, in the fall of 1944, the Spanish Communists conceived a large-scale partisan operation in Catalonia.

Catalonia has always been Franco's “headache.” It was here that the republican movement enjoyed the greatest support among the workers and peasants, because the national motives were also mixed with the national motives - the Catalans are a separate people, with their own language and cultural traditions that are very painfully discriminated by Spaniards - Castilians. When Franco came to power, he banned the use of the Catalan language, closed schools that taught in Catalan, thereby further aggravating the existing separatist sentiments. The Catalans gladly supported the partisan formations, hoping that if Franco was overthrown, the “Catalan lands” would acquire a long-awaited national autonomy.

In the fall of 1944, was scheduled to cross the French-Spanish border in Catalonia. The guerrilla formation of 15 numbering thousands of people was to capture one of the major cities of Catalonia and create a government there that would be recognized by the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. After that, according to the scenario of the conspirators, an uprising would take place throughout Spain, which would ultimately lead to the overthrow of the Franco regime. The direct implementation of this operation was entrusted to the 14th partisan corps, whose command was in French Toulouse. On the night of October 3, 1944, the eight-thousand-strong union of partisans armed with small arms began crossing the border of France and Spain in the Ronsval and Ronqual valleys. The fact of crossing the state border was immediately reported to the command of the Spanish armed forces, after which a huge army of 150 thousand soldiers and officers was thrown against the partisans, armed with artillery and aviation. The command of the Francoist forces was carried out by General Moscardo. For ten days, the partisans held the Aran Valley, and then retreated to France on October 30.

Communists and partisan movement

An important role in the deployment of the partisan movement in the territory of Spain was played by the Soviet leadership. Most of the leaders of the Spanish Communist Party and the leading activists who survived the Civil War were in exile in the Soviet Union. According to Stalin, the leaders of the Spanish Communists were to leave the Union for France, from where they would directly supervise the guerrilla units operating in Spain. 23 February 1945 Stalin, Beria and Malenkov met with Ibarruri and Ignacio Gallego, assuring them of the full support of the Soviet state. However, as early as March 1945, the government of liberated France demanded that Spanish partisan forces surrender their weapons. But most of the armed detachments controlled by the Communist Party of Spain did not fulfill the orders of the French authorities. Moreover, in this matter, they enlisted the support of the French Communists, who promised to support the Spanish like-minded people and, in the event of the resumption of the anti-Franco war in Spain, arm up to one hundred thousand activists and send them to the aid of the Communist Party of Spain. The French government under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle did not create special obstacles to the activities of Spanish political organizations in France, because they were in bad relations with the Franco regime - after all, Spain during the Second World War claimed French Morocco and Algeria, which Paris did not forget. the end of the second world war. Therefore, in the areas of France bordering on Spain, Spanish political organizations of an anti-Franco orientation were able to operate freely - they published propaganda literature, carried out broadcasting to the territory of Spain, trained partisans and saboteurs at a special school in Toulouse.

The most active partisan movement against the Franco regime was launched in Cantabria, Galicia, Asturias and Leon, as well as in North Valencia. Partisan detachments operated in rural and isolated areas, primarily in the mountains. The Francoist government sought by all possible means to hush up the fact of partisan warfare in the mountainous regions, so a significant part of the population of Spain, especially the city, did not suspect that in the remote mountainous areas guerrilla units, staffed and inspired by the Communists, were fighting against Franco. Meanwhile, during 1945-1947. activity of partisan formations increased significantly. In the south of France, 5 guerrilla bases were established, on which guerrilla groups for 10-15 fighters each were formed and shipped to Spain. Under the leadership of the Communist General Enrique Lister (on the photo), the "Union of the Armed Forces of the Spanish Republic" was created, which included six partisan units. The largest was the Guerrilla compound of Levante and Aragon, which was responsible for activities in Valencia, Guadalajara, Zaragoza, Barcelona, ​​Lleida and Teruel. The unit was led by the communist captain of the republican army, the communist Vincente Galarza, better known in revolutionary circles under the nickname “Captain Andres”. The number of partisans of the compound reached 500 people, there was a diversionary school under the leadership of Francisco Corredor (“Pepito”). The fighters of the compound in February 1946 were executed the alcalde of the village, the administration of the Spanish phalanx in Barcelona was blown up. In June, 1946, the guerrillas blew up the stage of the Norte railway station in the province of Barcelona, ​​and in August, 1946 attacked a convoy carrying a stage of political prisoners. All political prisoners were released. In September, 1946, the guerrillas attacked military vehicles and blew up a meeting of senior civil guard officers (a Spanish equivalent of gendarmerie and internal troops) in Barcelona. In September, 1947 in the village of Gudar was blown up with grenades by the barracks of the civil guard. For 1947 alone, 132 civilian servicemen were killed by the guerrillas of Levante and Aragon.

The partisan unit of Galicia and Leon acted under the leadership of the socialists and the communists. During the four most active years of the partisan war, his fighters carried out 984 combat operations, destroying power lines, communications, railways, barracks and buildings of phalangist organizations. In Asturias and Santandeo, a third guerrilla unit led by the communists operated, which conducted 737 combat operations. In January, 1946 fighters of the compound captured the Carranza station in Basque Country, and in February 1946 killed the Phalangian leader Garcia Dias. 24 April 1946, in the village of Pote, partisans captured and burned the Phalangist headquarters. In Badajoz, Cáceres and Córdoba, the partisan unit of Extremadura operated under the command of the communist Dionisio Teljado Basquez (“Caesar”). The subordinates of “General Caesar” carried out 625 combat sorties, seized estates that belonged to the Phalangists, blew up railway infrastructure facilities. In the Malaga, Grenada, Jaén, suburbs of Seville and Cadiz, the Guerrilla Unity of Andalusia operated under the leadership of the communist Ramón Via, and then the communist Juan José Romero (Roberto). The fighters of the compound numbering about 200 partisans conducted a 1071 combat operation, including attacks on barracks and civil guard posts, seizing weapons, and killing activists of the Spanish phalanx. Finally, in Madrid and the surrounding area, the Guerrilla Unit “Center” operated under the leadership of the communists Cristino Garcia and Vitini Flores. After the first commanders of the formation were captured by the French secret services, the anarcho-syndicalist Veneno took control of the partisan movement in the vicinity of Madrid and the Spanish capital itself. After his death, he was replaced by communist Cecilio Martin, known by the nickname “Timoshenko” - in honor of the famous Soviet marshal. The central partisan unit conducted 723 operations, including the seizure of the Madrid suburban station Imperial and the expropriation of money in it, the expropriation of the central bank in Madrid, the attack on the headquarters of the Spanish phalanx in the center of Madrid, numerous attacks on patrols and civil guard convoys. In the central partisan unit, 200 fighters fought, including 50 of them operating in the territory of Madrid itself. Gradually, partisan resistance spread to the cities of Spain, in which underground groups appeared. The urban partisans were most active in Barcelona and a number of other cities in Catalonia. In Barcelona, ​​unlike in other parts of Spain, the urban partisan movement was controlled primarily by the Federation of Anarchists of Iberia and the National Confederation of Labor - anarchist organizations. In Madrid, Leon, Valencia and Bilbao, the urban partisan groups remained under the control of the Spanish Communist Party.


- soldiers of the Spanish Civil Guard - an analogue of gendarmerie

The decline of the partisan movement

Guerrilla activity in Spain in 1945-1948 occurred against the backdrop of the deteriorating international situation of the country. Even at the Potsdam Conference held in July 1945, Stalin described the Spanish regime of Franco as imposed by the fascists of Germany and Italy and spoke in favor of creating conditions that would lead to the overthrow of the Franco government. The USSR, the United States and Britain opposed Spain’s entry into the UN. 12 December UN 1946 characterized the Francisco Franco regime as fascist. All countries that were part of the UN recalled their ambassadors from Spain. In Madrid, remained only the embassies of Argentina and Portugal. The international isolation of the Franco regime led to a sharp deterioration in the country's socio-economic situation. Franco was forced to introduce a card system, but the discontent of the population grew and this could not disturb the dictator. In the end, he was forced to make certain concessions, knowing that otherwise he would not only lose power over Spain, but would also be on the dock among the war criminals. Therefore, Spanish troops were withdrawn from Tangier, while Pierre Laval, former French Prime Minister and collaborator, was transferred to France. Nevertheless, inside the country, Franco still cultivated an atmosphere of political intolerance, carried out repressions against dissidents. Not only the police and civil guards, but also the army were thrown against the partisan detachments in the territory of the Spanish provinces. Franco applied the most actively against the partisans Moroccan military units and the Spanish Foreign Legion. By order of the commanders, brutal terror was carried out against the peasant population who helped the anti-fascist partisans. Thus, entire forest tracts and villages were burned, all members of the partisan families and sympathizers with the partisans were destroyed. On the Spanish-French border, Franco concentrated a huge military grouping of thousands of soldiers and officers in 450. In addition, special teams were created from among the soldiers and officers of the civil guard who, under the guise of partisans, committed crimes against the civilian population — killed, raped, and robbed civilians in order to discredit the partisan detachments in the eyes of the peasants. In this situation of terror, the Francoists managed to significantly reduce the activity of the partisans, pushing a large part of the anti-fascists into French territory.

In 1948, with the aggravation of the American-Soviet confrontation, Spain’s position in the international arena improved. The United States and Great Britain, which needed an increase in the number of allies in a possible war with the USSR, decided to close their eyes to the excesses of the fascist regime of General Franco. The United States lifted the blockade from Spain and even began to provide financial assistance to the Franco regime. The US government has made the repeal of the resolution adopted on Spain by UN 12 December 1946. Against the background of the exacerbation of Soviet-American relations, the Soviet Union also took a course to curtail the partisan movement in Spain. 5 August 1948 The leadership of the Spanish Communist Party, represented by Santiago Carrillo, Francisco Anton and Dolores Ibarruri, was called to Moscow. The Soviet leaders spoke in favor of curtailing the armed struggle in Spain and the transition of the Spanish communists to legal forms of political activity. In October, 1948 in France, at Château-Bayeux, held a meeting of the Political Bureau and the Executive Committee of the Spanish Communist Party, at which it was decided to cease hostilities, dissolve guerrilla groups and evacuate their personnel to France. In Spain itself, only a few detachments remained, whose tasks included the personal protection of the leaders of the Spanish Communist Party who were in an illegal situation. Thus, as in Greece, the armed partisan resistance was curtailed at the initiative of Moscow - because of Stalin’s fears that in their desire to prevent communist regimes from coming to power in the Mediterranean countries, the United States and Great Britain could go on armed intervention in Greece and Spain, against which the USSR, weakened by the Great Patriotic War and engaged in the restoration of its own forces, will not be able to oppose anything. However, the wishes of Stalin could only act on those guerrilla groups that were under the complete control of the communists and were subordinate to the secretariat of the Communist Party of Spain.

Anarchists continue to partisan

Meanwhile, not all partisan movement in Spain was formed by the Communists. As you know, the socialists, anarchists and radical left nationalists of Catalonia and the Basque Country also had strong positions in the anti-Franco movement. In 1949-1950 Anarcho-syndicalist guerrilla groups conducted a large number of armed attacks against the Franco regime, but police repression led to the fact that in 1953 and the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists decide on the need to curtail partisan struggle to avoid further escalation of police violence against opposition and civilians. . However, it was precisely by anarchist groups that the relay of the anti-Franco guerrilla movement was carried over from the end of the 1940s. until the middle of 1960's In 1950, the beginning of 1960, on the territory of Spain, guerrilla groups of José Luis Faserias, Ramón Vila Capdevila, Francisco Sabate Lioparta, controlled by anarchists.

José Luis Facerias participated in the Spanish Civil War and fought as part of the Askasso column on the Aragon front, and Ramon Vila Capdevila fought as part of the Iron Column of Buenaventura Durruti, operating near Teruel. In 1945, the Francisco Sabat group, better known as Kiko, began its operations. Despite his anarchist convictions, Francisco Sabat was in favor of deploying a broad interparty front of resistance to the Franco dictatorship, which, in the opinion of the partisan commander, should have included the Iberian Federation of Anarchists, the National Confederation of Labor, the Marxist Unity Labor Party and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party. However, Sabat did not intend to cooperate with the Communists and the Catalan socialists close to him, because he considered the pro-Soviet Communist Party guilty of defeating the republican forces during the Civil War in the country and in the subsequent "sinking down" of the revolutionary movement in Spain. The partisan detachments of Sabat, Faserias and Kapdevila functioned practically until the 1960s. 30 August 1957 in a shootout with the cops ended the life of José Luis Facerias, and on January 5 1960, also in a clash with the police, Francisco Sabat was killed. Ramon Vila Capdevila died on August 7 1963 of the year, and on March 10 of 1965, the last guerrilla commander, Communist José Castro, was killed. Thus, in fact, the guerrilla movement in Spain existed until 1965 of the year - only twenty years after the end of World War II, the Franco secret services managed to suppress the last centers of resistance, which originated in the middle of the 1940s. However, the relay of anti-Franco resistance was adopted by the young generation of Spanish anti-fascists and Republicans.

As early as 1961, at the congress of the anarchist organization Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth, it was decided to create an armed structure, the Inner Defense, which was entrusted with the task of resisting the Franco regime by armed means. In June, several explosions sounded in Madrid 1961, and later acts of terrorism were committed in Valencia and Barcelona. Explosive devices were activated in the vicinity of the summer residence of Generalissimo Franco. After that, mass arrests of activists of Spanish anarchist organizations began. However, at the end of May 1962, at the next meeting of the “Internal Defense”, it was decided to conduct more armed attacks against government forces and police even more actively. 11 August 1964. Scottish anarchist Stuart Christie was arrested on charges of complicity in the preparation of the attempted assassination of Francisco Franco in Madrid. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Another anarchist, Carballo Blanco, received 30 years in prison. However, since Stuart Christie was a foreign citizen, his collection of signatures began in his defense in many European countries. Among those who demanded the release of the Scottish anarchist were celebrities such as Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre. In the end, 21 September 1967, just three years after the verdict, Stuart Christie was released. But by this time, the “Internal Defense” had virtually ceased to exist due to the intensification of political repression and the lack of adequate support from the majority of the Spanish anarchist movement — anarcho-syndicalists, oriented toward mass work among the working people. The resumption of active armed struggle against the Franco regime in the second half of the 1960-s. was associated with a general revolutionary upsurge in Europe. The “roaring sixties” were marked by mass student demonstrations and strikes in the USA, the FRG, the famous “Red May” 1968 of the year in France, the emergence of “urban partisans” groups of Maoist and anarchist orientations in almost all countries of Western Europe, the USA, Japan, and Turkey. In Spain, the interest of young people to radical left ideas also increased, and the revolutionary groups that appeared, unlike their predecessors of the 1940s, were more oriented towards political activities in the cities.



Basques and Catalans

A major role in the anti-Franco resistance of the 1960-x - 1970-x. began to play the national liberation organizations of the Catalan and Basque separatists. Both the Basque Country and Catalonia during the Civil War in Spain were more supportive of the Republicans than deserved strong hostility from Francisco Franco. Caudillo, after coming to power, banned the Basque and Catalan languages, introduced school education, office work, television and broadcasting in Spanish only. Of course, all national political organizations and political symbols of the national movements of the Basques and Catalans were banned. Naturally, both national minorities were not going to reconcile with their position. The most tense situation remained in the Basque Country. In 1959, a group of young activists from the Basque Nationalist Party created the organization Basque Country and Freedom, or Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, abbreviated ETA. In 1962, a congress was held, at which the organization was finalized and its ultimate goal was declared - the struggle for the creation of an independent Basque state - Euskadi. At the beginning of the 1960's ETA militants launched an armed struggle against the Franco regime. First of all, they carried out armed attacks and bombings of police stations, civil guard barracks, and railways. Since 1964, ETA’s actions have become systematic, becoming a serious threat to the internal stability and order of the Spanish state. In 1973, the ETA militants assassinated Spanish Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco. This murder was the largest armed action ETA, has received worldwide fame. As a result of 20’s December 1973 explosion, Blanco’s car was thrown back onto the monastery’s balcony — an explosive device built into a tunnel dug under a Madrid street that drove the country's prime minister’s car was so powerful. The murder of Carrero Blanco led to serious repression against all left-wing and nationalist opposition organizations in Spain, but it also demonstrated the futility of the repressive measures taken by the Franco regime against their opponents.

The scale of the armed resistance in Catalonia was much less significant than in the Basque Country. At least, not a single Catalan armed political organization gained notoriety comparable to that of ETA. In 1969, the Catalan Liberation Front was created, which included activists from the National Council of Catalonia and the Working Youth of Catalonia. In the same 1969, the Catalan Liberation Front began an armed struggle against the Franco regime. However, already in 1973, the police managed to inflict a serious defeat on the Catalan separatists, as a result of which a part of the organization’s activists were arrested, while the more successful fled to Andorra and France. Ideologically, the Catalan Liberation Front, after its leadership moved to Brussels, was guided by Marxism-Leninism and advocated the creation of a separate Communist Party of Catalonia. In 1975, some of the activists of the Catalan Liberation Front created the Catalan revolutionary movement, but by 1977 both organizations had ceased to exist.

Iberian Liberation Movement and the Execution of Salvador Puig Antica

In 1971, in Barcelona and Toulouse, another Catalan revolutionary organization was created - the Iberian Liberation Movement (MIL). At its origins stood Oreol Sole - a Spanish radical, a participant in the events of May 1968 in France, who after returning to his homeland became an activist of the radical labor movement and participated in the work of the Barcelona Workers' Commissions. Then Sole moved to Toulouse, France, where he came into contact with local revolutionary anarchists and anti-fascists. During Sole’s stay in Toulouse, Jean-Claude Torres and Jean-Marc Roulyan joined him. In Toulouse, several types of proclamations were printed that the young radicals decided to bring to Barcelona. When Sole's comrades appeared in Barcelona, ​​Salvador Puig Antik (1948-1974), a man who was destined to become the most famous member of the Iberian Liberation Movement and was tragically finished his life, arrived here as well and was sentenced to death . El Salvador Puig Antique was a hereditary revolutionary - his father Joaquin Puig was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side, then participated in the partisan movement in France, was interned in Spain.

The Iberian liberation movement was a “hodgepodge” of supporters of various anarchist and left-communist movements - “communist councils”, situationalists, and anarcho-communists. Santi Sole had a great influence on the organization’s ideology, in the opinion of which the revolutionaries should concentrate their efforts not on the physical destruction of government officials and policemen, but on expropriations in order to extract funds for the deployment of the workers strike movement. The purpose of the Iberian Liberation Movement proclaimed the conduct of armed struggle against the Franco regime through the commission of expropriations to support the labor movement. In the spring of 1972, Jean-Marc Roulian, Jean-Claude Torres, Jordi Sole and Salvador Puig Antik moved again to Toulouse, where they began to create their own printing house and training on the possession of firearms. The first armed actions of the organization also followed in Toulouse - it was a raid on a printing company, from which printing equipment was stolen, as well as several raids on banks. While outside Spain, a document was created “On Armed Agitation”, in which the Iberian Liberation Movement followed the concept of Francisco Sabat, who engaged in mass expropriations during the Spanish Civil War in order to finance the anti-Franco movement. In the same 1972, the Iberian liberation movement again transferred its activities to the territory of Spain, since in Spain the security of banks was worse organized. In Barcelona, ​​a network of safe houses and an underground printing house was created. At the same time, the militants of the Iberian liberation movement opposed the shedding of blood and preferred to act without opening fire on the guards, and especially on random witnesses. However, the wave of expropriations that followed in Barcelona and its environs has aroused the Spanish authorities in earnest. A special police group was formed, headed by Inspector Santiago Bosigas, who was tasked with tracking down and apprehending activists of the Iberian Liberation Movement by all means.

Meanwhile, 15 September 1973 in the city of Bellver, militants of the movement attacked the Pension Bank. Having expropriated money, they were going to hide in the mountains, but were stopped by a civil guard patrol. During the shootout, Halo Sole was wounded, Josep Louis Ponce was arrested, and only Georgie Sole managed to escape to the mountains and cross the French border. Police monitored Santi Sole, the only activist in the Iberian Liberation Movement who was not in an illegal situation. With the help of shadowing Santi Sole, they managed to reach other members of the group. September 25 exchanged fire with El Salvador Puig Antic, as a result of which a police officer was killed. The fact is that when Puig Antica was detained by police officers, he was able to escape and open indiscriminate fire on the police officers who had detained him. During a shootout, 23, a junior inspector, Francisco Angouas, died. According to the defenders of Puig Antica, the last was fired by police inspector Timoteo Fernandez, who was standing behind Anguas and possibly the junior inspector was killed by the bullets of his colleague. But, despite the arguments of the defense, the Spanish court sentenced Puig Antica to death. In fact, the organization ceased to exist in Spain. Nevertheless, part of the militants of the Iberian Liberation Movement was able to reach the French Toulouse, where the Revolutionary International Action Group was created, continuing the armed struggle and propaganda activities against the Franco regime. As for Salvador Puig Antica, captured by the Francoists, in 1974, he was executed with a garrote. This penalty was the last in stories political repressions of the Franco regime against their opponents from among the representatives of the radical left opposition.

After the assassination of Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco in 1973, his successor as head of the Spanish government, Carlos Arias Navarro, recognized the need to turn the country towards the democratization of the political system and the futility of continuing to maintain a tough repressive policy. Nevertheless, the full democratization of political life in Spain became possible only after the death of the long-term dictator of the country, Generalissimo Francisco Baamonde Franco. He passed away on November 20 1975, at the age of 82. After the death of Franco, the remaining king of Spain, who was vacant from 1931, was taken by Juan Carlos I. But the death of Franco and the restoration of the monarchy did not lead to the stabilization of the political situation in the country. In the decades following the death of Franco, in the 1970s - 1990s. - The country also continued the armed struggle against the central government, only carried out no longer by republicans and pro-Soviet communists, but by left-wing radical and separatist groups, primarily by Basques and Maoists. We will tell about it another time.
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  1. +3
    22 July 2015 05: 25
    People with a capital letter ... an example for everyone how to fight evil ...
  2. +2
    22 July 2015 08: 08
    ..When there is no agreement in the comrades, their business will not go smoothly ... Thank you Ilya, for the article ..
  3. +2
    22 July 2015 10: 10
    Thank you so much for the article. For me, an unknown layer of historical information and knowledge. I didn't think the Resistance had been fighting the regime for so long. What did you know? The fact that the country would be left by the German and Italian fascist legions, according to the agreement had to leave Spain and the international brigades. Well, Fraco won. The topic is, of course, interesting. For a long time, while there was no Internet, I was looking for information about our "volunteers". Famous surnames were well known. Voronov, Kuznetsov, Batov, Lyashchenko, Rychagov ... But there was no information about ordinary participants in the public literature. Now you can find and found. But I did not know about the continuation of the Resistance, besides, they fought against the Nazis on French territory ... Very interesting. I'll have to read de Gaulle.
  4. +1
    22 July 2015 16: 47
    The fantastic film "Pan's Labyrinth" just shows the anti-Francoist partisans with whom the main reptile is fighting
  5. +2
    22 July 2015 20: 53
    It is a pity that there are so few responses to this excellent article, which opens for many an "unknown" page in world history of the 30s. There is a wonderful trilogy by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro based on the works of Arthur Machen, especially its second part "Pan's Labyrinth" - just touching on the partisan war in Spain. I advise everyone to see this masterpiece. Oh ... what music is there!
  6. +1
    23 July 2015 09: 50
    In Spain, the civil war of the 30s dragged on for decades.
    The cruelty of the Francoists and the cruelty of the Communists completely equalized each other
    friend. As in any civil war - they cut their own even more zealously than strangers.
    Frankists shot peasants. The communists, having occupied the town, gathered
    to the central square the whole bourgeoisie: owners of shops, cafes and small factories,
    priests, bank employees, post office, etc. - and "in one gulp - fire." And - back to the mountains.
  7. +16
    25 December 2020 02: 06
    14th Partisan Corps of the Republican Army

    Here is what he wrote about this glorious corps in his memoirs, which he called: "Fourteenth Special", Vasily Avramovich Troyan, a former adviser to the invisible front, later a colonel, organizer and leader of the partisan movement in Belarus and the Leningrad region, in Yugoslavia and Greece: "The corps consisted of four divisions, each of them consisted of three or four brigades, or rather detachments, numbering from 150 to 200 people each. There was one division on the Catalan front. Three divisions were in the central zone: in Andalusia, Extremadura and in the Central front. Most of our advisers were also there. "
  8. +14
    25 December 2020 02: 06
    Catalonia has always been Franco's "headache".

    Not only Franco. Catalonia is still sometimes shaken
  9. +14
    25 December 2020 02: 07
    a huge army of 150 thousand soldiers and officers, armed with artillery and aviation, was thrown against the partisans.

    For eight thousand partisans without heavy weapons, 150 thousand army wassat
    By October 20, the partisans had such settlements as Vilamos, Porsingles, Les, Betlan, Era-Bordeta, Benos, Aubert, Montkorbau in their hands.

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