Trenches of Tossal Roig

     Machine gun nest or observation point with evacuation trenches that were part of the first defensive line built by the Republican army, as of April 1938, on the left bank of the river Segre to prevent the advance of Franco's forces positioned on the other side of the river. The course of the Urgell canal, in front of this position, constituted yet another defensive element in the Republican fortified line.

     Tossal Roig is a significant example of the type of war constructions erected in the area of Vilanova de la Barca by the sappers of the 37th Work and Fortifications Battalion.

     At the end of December 1938, Franco's army, from the Montsec mountain chain and the Seròs bridgehead, initiated its assault on Catalonia, and took Artesa de Segre and Borges Blanques at the beginning of January. On January 7, the Republican units of the 27th Division located in Tossal Roig, fearing that they might be surrounded by Franco's armies, retreated. On this same day, units of the 54th Division of Franco's army, positioned at the bridgehead of Balaguer, began to advance east and southwards, taking Vilanova de la Barca and a large part of the Segrià and Pla d'Urgell.