Following the Spanish Civil War, many supporters of the former Republican government decided to start a movement to overthrow Franco; these members were called the Spanish Maquis. Several guerrilla raids occurred during the timeline of World War II, with most of them happening in 1944. One major confrontation happened in the Vale de Arán valley where a large group of rebels attacked and briefly occupied the north-western border of the Pyrenees. The government of France along with the Soviet Union organised, trained and armed a large group of Spaniards earlier liberated from the concentration camps where Spanish republicans had been held by the Front Populaire since they crossed the Spanish-French border at the end of the Spanish civil war in 1939. The battle lasted four days. The better trained and motivated Spanish Army under the command of the experienced General Moscardó immediately maneuvered to control the main strategic points of the valley and engaged the invaders, pushing them back across the border. The communists had underestimated popular support for the Francoist Regime, and no revolution began as they supposed
