a meeting of several Spanish combat groups decided to take the name of the XIV Cuerpo del Ejército de Guerrilleros Españoles, considering themselves the Corps' successors. In May 1944 the XIV Corps re-formed as the Agrupación de Guerrilleros Españoles (AGE, roughly Spanish Guerrilla Group), because they consisted for the most part of Spanish combatants on French soil. This conveyed the group's distancing from the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP), the armed branch of the French Communist Party, with whom they had previously worked closely. By this time, the Spanish resistors had participated in numerous armed actions against the German army, even liberating various populations in the south of France. The numbers of Spanish combatants in the ranks of the Resistance vary quite a bit amongst sources, but in general they accept a number around 10,000. After the German army was driven from France, Spanish maquis returned their focus to Spain. Invasion of Val d'Aran The most notable operation of the Spanish maquis was the invasion of Spain by between 4,000<ref>Alfonso Domingo: El canto del búho. La vida en el monte de los guerrilleros antifranquistas. OberonMemoria, Grupo ANAYA, Madrid 2002. . "En total, de los 13.000 españoles que estaban en el maquis francés, unos 4000 se alistaron,", that is "In total, of the 13,000 Spanish that were with the French maquis, some 4000 were listed.</ref> and 7,000 guerrillas through Val d'Aran and other parts of the Pyrenees, well equipped and with heavy weapons, on October 19, 1944, after the German Army had been driven from the south of France. The invasion was named "Operation Reconquest of Spain". Operation Reconquest of Spain was planned by the AGE staff. To carry out the invasion they created the 204th Division, made up of 12 brigades. The division was commanded by Vicente López Tovar. The objective of the offensive was to retake the sector of Spanish territory comprising the land between the Cinca and Segre Rivers and the French border. Later, the zone was declared conquered by the Spanish Republican government in exile, with the intention of provoking a general uprising against Franco throughout Spain. It was hoped that it would force the Allies to "liberate" Spain the same way it was "liberating" the rest of Europe. The main attack in the valley was accompanied by operations in other valleys of the Pyrenees during the previous weeks, with the objective of distracting Franco's forces. These other