An Invisible Front

During the Spanish Civil War, the Republicans undertook large-scale guerrilla activities behind enemy lines. Although there are historical continuities with the partisan resistance against the Francoist dictatorship that followed during the 1940s and 1950s, the tactics and objectives of some guerillas in fact had more in common with the special operations that were later seen elsewhere during and since World War II. Through several case studies, we propose an archaeological narrative based on the evanescent materiality that these guerrilla fighters left behind, which we argue allows us to comprehend unknown aspects of their military activities and their lives.