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Francoist propaganda illustration of the Iron Ring.

In the midst of the Civil War, in early October 1936, after the fall of Gipuzkoa into the hands of the rebel troops and the consolidation of the Basque resistance, the Bizkaia Defence Board acknowledged the need to provide Bilbao and its immediate surroundings with defensive works as protection in the event a new attack by Franco’s army managed to break the established front line. Days later the recently-formed Basque Government presented the draft. José Antonio Agirre, then defence counsellor, along with the head of the Basque Government, commissioned Engineering Commander Alberto Montaud to undertake the construction of what was called Bilbao’s Defensive Ring: a vast fortification consisting of a ring of trenches, machine-gun positions, strongpoints and secret bunkers. The Ring was divided into five sectors running along the route Zierbena – Sodupe – Miraballes – Usansolo – Larrabetzu – Barrika, the city of Bilbao, the Lamiako and Sondika aerodromes, the harbour with battery emplacements at Punta Galea and Punta Lucero, the Zollo reservoir, and the power station at Burtzeña lying within its borders. It covered overall a perimeter of 80 km over the mountains around Bilbao, defended by 45 000 gudaris and militia members of the Army of the Basque Country. (more…)