World War II in the Basque Country

World War II in the Basque Country refers to the period extending from 1940 to 1944. It affected the French Basque Country, but also bordering areas across the Pyrenees on account of the instability following the end of the Spanish Civil War, and the friendship ties held by Germany, Vichy France, and the triumphant Spanish military dictatorship.

In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded France. The French army soon succumbed to the Blitzkrieg strategy. The Armistice of 22 June 1940 established a German military occupation of the French Atlantic, including the French Basque Country up to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. A 20-km-wide zone interdite along the coast behind the Atlantic wall was restricted to non-resident civilians.[1]

The occupied zone ran on the German timezone.[2] The rest of the French Basque Country up to Bearn (Soule and Wastern Lower Navarre) was part of Vichy France until 1942, when the "free zone" was occupied by Germany.

The Basque passes of the Pyrennees became the destination for those persecuted by the occupiers, such as Jews and downed Allied pilots. Basque Resistance members and smugglers organized in the Comet line helped them to cross into neutral Spain.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Jackson, J. (2003), pp. 246-247
  2. ↑ Jackson, J. (2003), p. 247

References