El “Muro Mediterráneo” en el territorio de la Marina Alta: búnkeres y baterías de la Guerra de España (1936-1939)

Abstract

In 1936-1939 the War of Spain took place, turning its territory into the testing ground of Europe in anticipation of the Second World War; here new weapons were tested: mass media, propaganda and aviation. The national side used Mallorca as “aircraft carrier” from which it launched airstrikes on the Mediterranean coast: a rearguard that required fortification. To defend the cities, the Republican government ordered, in 1937, to build a coastal defensive system (“Mediterranean Wall”). On the Valencian coast there were ten basic enclaves: from the lighthouse of Castellón to the end of Santa Pola. This network of defenses had two built lines. The first was constituted by elements located at zero level, by the sea and on the beaches, which maintained regular distances from each other; these were reinforced concrete bunkers that sought to camouflage themselves. A second was formed by coastal and antiaircraft, concrete and masonry batteries that merged with the land, located in the hills to have a wider horizon and be closer to its objectives. Bunkers and batteries that followed geometric patterns in constant evolution. This communication studies the defensive settlements built by the Republican army in the cities of Xàbia and Dénia (Marina Alta), which had a port, airfield and armament factories, which made them the target of enemy aviation. In these territories many of these architectures have disappeared under real estate pressure, but there are still several bunkers, batteries and ammunition deposits that are intended to be inventoried and documented (especially the 7th of the Montgó and the 8th of the Portixol batteries) to insert into of the tradition of historical military forts (typological genealogies) and their understanding as a networked defensive system that maintains parallels with the system of coastal towers of the system of coastal towers of the Modern Age.