Spanish Maquis

Spanish Maquis
Part of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War

Principal areas of Maquis activity within Spain (orange), 1939–1965.
Date1 April 1939 – 10 March 1965
Location
Result

Francoist victory

  • Decline and eventual extinction of Maquis activity
Belligerents
Francoist Spain
Supported by:
 Nazi Germany
(1939–1945)
Fascist Italy
(1939–1943)
 United States
(after 1953)
Republican Partisans
Supported by:
French Resistance (1940–1944)
Italian Resistance (1943–1945)
Soviet Union (until 1956)
Commanders and leaders
Spain Francisco Franco
Spain Ramón S. Suñer
Spain Valentín G. Morante
Spain Camilo Alonso Vega
Spain José Enrique Varela
Spain Carlos A. Cabanillas
Spain Fidel Dávila Arrondo
Spain Agustín M. Grandes
Spain Antonio Téllez Solà
Spain Vicente López Tovar
Spain Josep Lluís i Facerias 
Spain Eduard Pons Prades
among others…
Casualties and losses
~1,000+ killed 5,548 total
2,166 killed
3,382 captured or arrested[1]

The Maquis ([ˈmaki(s)]; Basque: Maki; also spelled maqui)[2][3] were Spanish guerrillas who waged an irregular warfare against the Francoist dictatorship within Spain following the Republican defeat in the Spanish Civil War until the early 1960s, carrying out sabotage, robberies (to help fund guerrilla activity) and assassinations of alleged Francoists as well as contributing to the fight against Nazi Germany and the Vichy regime in France during World War II.[4] They also took part in occupations of the Spanish embassy in France.

The Maquis activity in Spain had its heyday towards 1946, after which the resistance fighters were heavily repressed during the Trienio del Terror (1947–1949), with instances of White Terror such as paseos, and applications of the Ley de fugas (extralegal executions based on the simulation of the escape of detainees) taking a heavy toll among the combatants and their supporters.[5] Following its decline, it fully disappeared in the 1960s.

  1. ^ "Armed resistance to Franco, 1939-1965 - Antonio Téllez". Libcom.org. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  2. ^ López, Enrique Ávila (December 7, 2015). Modern Spain. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781610696012 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Goodkind, Molly; Mitchell, Marcella Hayes and Amanda (October 26, 2015). Spanish Civil War and Its Memory, The. Edicions Universitat Barcelona. ISBN 9788447539277 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Marco, Jorge: Guerrilleros and Neighbours in Arms: Identities and Cultures of the Anti-fascist Resistance in Spain. Brighton, Sussex Academic Press, 2016
  5. ^ Moreno Gómez, Francisco (2001). "Huidos, maquis y guerrilla: una década de rebeldía contra la dictadura" (PDF). Ayer (43): 131. ISSN 1134-2277.