The story of this place
On the night of 25 July 1938 the Republican army made a surprise crossing of the Ebro River in Catalonia, launching the largest battle of the Spanish Civil War in a desperate bid to reverse the war's course. For nearly four months, through the burning summer of the Sierra de Pandols and Sierra de Cavalls, soldiers fought over bare hilltops under relentless bombing. The International Brigades made their last stand here before being withdrawn from Spain. By November the exhausted Republicans retreated, having lost tens of thousands; the defeat opened Catalonia to Franco and effectively doomed the Republic. Trenches, bunkers and memorials still scar the terraced hills near Corbera d'Ebre.