Spanish Civil Guards disguised as 'episcopal guards' occupy Hotel Valira, Nov 1944

On 19 November 1944 a contingent described in contemporary photographs as a group of travellers unloading luggage at the Hotel Valira in Escaldes was in fact a detachment of Spanish Civil Guards under Commander Rodríguez Cueto. They had been presented as "episcopal guards" after changing their insignia to an Andorran shield and the mitre’s chalice; the detachment established its headquarters on the banks of the Valira and remained there until 10 April 1945. French forces kept a presence in the area until the following summer.

The arrival came amid a tense episode in which French gendarmes, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Richard and acting on orders linked to the Allied advance, had entered the so-called Neutral Valleys the day before. Historians describe that movement as the third French occupation of the valleys, following interventions in 1933 and 1936. Bishop Joaquim Iglesias, acting in his capacity as one of Andorra’s co-princes, had ordered Spanish forces to show a stronger presence after the French deployment.

The broader backdrop was the infiltration, in September–October 1944, of about a thousand Spanish guerrilleros (maquis) from the Tercera Brigada through Andorran territory to take part in the operation known as the Reconquista, an attempt to enter the Aran Valley and provoke an uprising against Franco. Local authorities were alarmed: the sindic Francesc Cairat mobilised local militias to expel potential intruders and enforce a curfew, unwilling to risk conflict with the Franco regime.

When the Civil Guard detachment first approached the border they met a human barrier of French gendarmes on the Runer bridge. Tensions were high and a confrontation briefly seemed possible; Richard persuaded his men not to resist, though Cueto warned he would return. Two days later Cueto came back reinforced by two companies of Francoist army troops, and Richard allowed them to pass. The Spanish contingent then settled at the Valira.

Research by David Mas, in Les Valls d’Andorra i el maquis antifranquista, and forthcoming work by Pau Chica on Andorra during World War II place these events in the context of cross-border guerrilla activity and the competing interventions of neighbouring powers. Mas’s research indicates the maquis generally respected Andorra’s status quo and did not establish permanent camps there; at most they cached weapons in a remote borda in the Madriu valley — reportedly around 300 submachine guns, 400 pistols and a quantity of plastic explosive.

The episode remains notable both for the striking photographic record and for what it reveals about Andorra’s precarious position between warring neighbours and exile groups in the closing months of the Second World War.