The Línea P (P line), officially the Pyrenees Defense Organisation (), was a fortified line of defense built in the Pyrenees between 1944 and 1948 to prevent an invasion into Spanish territory.
After the end of the Spanish Civil War, the government of General Franco decided to build a defensive line in the Pyrenees, that would go from the Mediterranean to the Cantabrian Sea, approximately of fortified defensive points, stretching up to a depth of from the border. Some 8,000 – 10,000 bunkers were planned, of which approximately half were completed. Their garrison would have theoretically consisted of about 75,000 men. There is no evidence that the line was ever fully armed and operational.
The defensive points of the Línea P and its access roads were built by war prisoners and jailed political opponents of the Francoist regime grouped in (Workers’ Battalions) immediately after the Spanish Civil War and from 1940 to December 1942, in (Disciplinary Battalions of Workers-Soldiers)
In a broader sense, Línea P also refers to the successive Pyrenean fortifications built after the Spanish Civil War that would previous fortifications (1939–1940), the counter-tank defense (1950–1954) and other fortifications, such as those at Cape Higuer in Fuenterrabía, Guipúzcoa finished in 1957.
The Línea P was definitively abandoned after the Spanish army performed its last inspection in the 1980s.
Origin of the name
Military historians often refer to this line of defensive fortifications along the French border as the "P Line" or the Pyrenees Line, in analogy with the French Maginot Line or the German Siegfried Line. However, at no time does "Línea P" appear in the official Spanish military archives.
The Línea P was also known pejoratively as "Pérez Line" and, in Catalonia, as the "Gutiérrez Line". However, the origin of such denominations have not been convincingly explained so far. It was also known in Catalonia as the "García Line", named after General Rafael García Valiño who participated in the fighting against the Valle de Aran's invasion by the Spanish Maquis.
History
After the end of the Spanish Civil War, hundreds of thousands of Republican soldiers and civilians crossed the French border ahead of the advancing Nationalist troops. Many Republican soldiers settled in the mountains of the Pyrenees and the Spanish Republican government in exile was formed in France. They continued to fight against Francoist Spain until the early 1960s, carrying out sabotage, robberies to help fund guerrilla activity, occupations of Spanish embassies in France and assassinations of Francoists, as well as contributing to the fight against Nazi Germany and the Vichy regime in France during World War II.
Following the Allied landing in French North Africa, Nazi Germany carried out "Operation Anton" on 11 November 1942, invading the southern zone of France for fear of a landing on the French Mediterranean coast. Beginning 1943, Nazi Germany started to build a line of fortifications in the Pyrenees, called , from Cerbere to Hendaye, along Le Perthus, Maurellàs, Las Illas, Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste and the French Cerdagne and built coastal batteries in Le Barcarès, Torreilles, Sainte-Marie-la-Mer, Collioure et Port-Vendres which became part of the Südwall.
In August 1944, the liberation of France entered a decisive phase with the liberation of Toulouse and the south of France, giving the Spanish border a special significance. Neither General Franco nor Nazi Germany could ever manage to close the border effectively, as alternative routes to the usual ones were sought to cross it.
The exiled Republicans had high hopes that at the end of World War II in Europe, Franco would be removed from power by the victorious Allies and that they would be able to return to Spain. The (J.E.L.) in Mexico was first formed in November 1943, in an attempt to build a national committee inspired by the French Committee of National Liberation, and in Toulouse in August 1944.
