XYZ Line

XYZ Line
	Part of the Spanish Civil War
	; Nationalist Moroccan troops in Rubielos de Mora, 1938.
Date	18–24 July 1938
Location	East Central Spain
Result	Republican victory Battle of the Ebro;
Belligerents
Spanish Republic	Nationalist Spain; Italy; Germany
Commanders and leaders
General Leopoldo Menéndez Lopez; Colonel Carlos Romero; Colonel Ernesto Güemes ; Colonel Gustavo Duran	José Solchaga; José Enrique Varela; Rafael Garcia Valiño ; Mario Berti
Strength
125,000	125,000; 900-1,000 cannons; 400 aircraft
Casualties and losses
5,000	20,000

The XYZ Line (Spanish: Línea XYZ), also known as the Matallana Line, was a system of fortifications built in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War to defend Valencia, the capital of the Second Spanish Republic. The XYZ Line was a simple system of trenches and bunkers, built to withstand heavy artillery or 450-kilogram (992 lb) aerial bombs, and took advantage of some of the most difficult terrain in Spain in the Iberian System ranges to the north and northeast of Valencia. The XYZ Line was successful at halting the Nationalist advance on Valencia, being one of the last Republican victories of the war, and allowed the Republicans to start the Battle of the Ebro.