Areas of Activity
Maquis were active mostly in mountainous areas throughout the peninsula, preferring forests or areas of dense vegetation that would provide shelter and cover. Another important factor in the location of maqui groups and their survival was the social situation. They had to choose areas in which they could count on the collaboration of at least part of the population, given that without support they could hardly sustain a guerrilla group.
In areas of harsher weather, like in the mountains of León, the maquis would relatively often pass periods of time more or less "undercover", in small groups, in support houses in villages, especially during the winter months.
Among the areas of major maquis activity were the Cornisa Cantábrica, from Galicia to Cantabria, especially the mountains of Asturias and the area north of León; the Iberian System, specifically the area between the provinces of Teruel, Castellón, Valencia, and Cuenca; Centro, which consists of Extremadura, the north of Cordova, Ciudad Real, Toledo and the mountains of the Sistema Central; and two independent areas in the south of Andalusia: Cádiz on one hand and Granada-Málaga on the other. There was also activity in other areas, such as La Mancha and High Aragon.
Armed resistance groups were also active in cities, although only prominently in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Granada. In Madrid, the maquis' character was predominantly communist, supported by the PCE. Their activities did not, however, last long. On the other hand, the maquis acting in Barcelona, were mainly anarchists. This city was the last urban place to see activity of maquis. Attempts to extend the fight to other capitals like Valencia and Bilbao were unsuccessful.
The generally rural and isolated character of the areas of guerrilla activity constituted an obstacle to the maquis' objectives. In effect, given the silence of the press and government on the situation, very few and scattered inhabitants of areas of maqui activity were actually aware of the conflict. The greater part of the Spanish population was ignorant of the war going on in their mountains.
Read more about this topic: Spanish Maquis
Famous quotes containing the words areas of, areas and/or activity:
“The point is, that the function of the novel seems to be changing; it has become an outpost of journalism; we read novels for information about areas of life we don’t know—Nigeria, South Africa, the American army, a coal-mining village, coteries in Chelsea, etc. We read to find out what is going on. One novel in five hundred or a thousand has the quality a novel should have to make it a novel—the quality of philosophy.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“... two great areas of deafness existed in the South: White Southerners had no ears to hear that which threatened their Dream. And colored Southerners had none to hear that which could reduce their anger.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 16 (1962)
“Criticism is infested with the cant of materialism, which assumes that manual skill and activity is the first merit of all men, and disparages such as say and do not, overlooking the fact, that some men, namely, poets, are natural sayers, sent into the world to the end of expression, and confounds them with those whose province is action, but who quit to imitate the sayers.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)