In July 1938, the republican government launched the most ambitious offensive of the entire war, the Battle of the Ebre. The people's army attempted to block the rebels' pressure on Valencia. The initial successes of the republican forces were soon overturned by a massive counter-offensive by Franco's army. The republicans, trapped between the river and the enemy, dug in and held out during a long battle of attrition. The fighting was bloody on the Pàndols and Cavalls mountain ranges, where thousands of young men who had recently been mobilised died. The republican withdrawal in November put an end to the battle.