Plans announced to officially remember 'La Desbandá' along N-340 Malaga to Almeria road

Spain's government has published in the BOE (official state bulletin) a plan to declare 10 points along the N340 coastal road from Malaga to Almería as 'places of memory' to remember those who were killed as they tried to flee Malaga in February 1937 during Spain's Civil War in an episode known as 'La Desbandá'.

There are differences of opinion among researchers, but the number of people who fled is believed to be around 300,000 and were mainly women, children and the elderly.

Associations and political parties have long campaigned to have points along the N340 officially recognised as 'places of memory'. The resolution was signed by Zoraida Hijosa, director general for victim support and promotion of democratic memory, in accordance with Law 20/2022 on Democratic Memory.

The 10 sites to be recognised are: Peñon del Cuervo-Paseo de los Canadienses, in honour of Canadian doctor Norman Bethune; El Cantal tunnels in La Cala del Moral, Rincón de la Victoria, where there are still remains of cannon fire; Torre del Mar lighthouse for the heroism of lighthouse keeper Anselmo Vilar García who kept the light switched off on the nights of 6 and 7 February, saving thousands of refugees from being bombed. He was shot two days later; Parque de la Memoria in Vélez-Málaga, with a work by the artist Rogelio Pérez Cuenca, which pays tribute to the victims; Puente Viejo (old bridge) Maro, where many civilians were shot at from boats; Guadalfeo where a bridge was destroyed and many drowned as they attempted to swim across the river; Fuerte de Carchuna, where 308 Asturian miners were freed in May 1938; Castel de Ferro-Gualchos, where Norman Bethune and Hazen Sise helped the refugees; Adra, where photographs of the refugees were taken before a bombing on 10 February and Parque Nicolás Salmerón in Almería city, which was the end of the journey for those who survived the ordeal.