1943 Report Confirms Andorran Smuggler's WWII Escape Route to Barcelona

Claude Benet has uncovered a 1943 intelligence report in the Pyrénées-Orientales departmental archives that corroborates the escape route used by Andorran smuggler Quimet Baldrich to guide fugitives from the Principality to Barcelona during World War II.

The document, dated December 30, 1943, details the journey of a young French evader from Perpignan toward Gibraltar and ultimately the Algerian town of Arzew. It matches accounts Baldrich gave two decades ago, when he described helping around 300 fugitives cross the Pyrenees—a clandestine operation he and others called "passing" them through to safety.

Fugitives were picked up by car in Llorts, Andorra, by a Polish-linked organization. They reached Ordino, where officers and specialists rested briefly before heading to Aixirivall, the gateway into Spain. From there, guides led groups on foot through the Sierra del Cadí to La Vansa and on to Manresa, a trek that could take three days. In Manresa, evaders changed clothes to avoid suspicion, split into pairs, and boarded the first worker's train of the day at 5 a.m., under strict orders not to speak.

Upon arriving at Barcelona's França station, they walked in spaced-out pairs to the British consulate—first at Plaça Universitat, later Plaça Urquinaona—accompanied by guides and bribed guards. There, identification papers were surrendered, with a promise of return in Gibraltar. Baldrich's role ended at the consulate, where he received 3,000 pesetas per person.

The report notes earlier precautions: avoiding Saurat and Tarascon due to pro-German locals, and steering clear of the heavily watched Auzat valley before entering Andorra. A Resistance agent in Foix, using the alias Abbé Blanchebarbe, connected evaders to the Andorran network.

After a month in Barcelona, fugitives traveled by car to Madrid, then train to La Línea near Gibraltar. They stayed two days before taking a regular hydroplane to Arzew.

Baldrich, who evaded capture, had long described this route without prior documentation. Benet's find provides official confirmation from British espionage sources of the network's precision and risks.