Vicente López Tovar

On 19 October 1944, López Tovar led a force of exiled anti-Franco guerrilla fighters from the Unión Nacional Española (UNE), a military organization formed by the Communist Party of Spain but that included monarchists and other political denominations, across the Pyrenees mountains into the Aran Valley. The force consisted of 4,000 or 5,000 fighters, depending on the source.[5] The objective was to establish a foothold in Spain from which to launch a full-scale invasion to overthrow Franco. The political leadership of the anti-Franco movement intended to make the city of Vielha a provisional capital that would give the movement legitimacy and thereby attract the financial and military backing of the Allied Powers for a larger operation.[2] In his memoir, López Tovar writes that he was against the operation because of the lack of equipment and preparation.[5]

The invasion was a failure. Franco was aware of the impending arrival of the troops and pursued a scorched earth strategy that left the UNE with little to capture in the valley outside of the city of Vielha.[5] The guerrillas captured some villages defended by the Guardia Civil, but Franco sent reinforcements of 50,000 regular army troops over the Port de la Bonaigua and through the Vielha tunnel to defend the city. López Tovar was forced to hastily retreat back into France across the Pont de Rei.[2]

• Santiago Carrillo