History

• Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

  FeaturesRupublicans against Nationalists

  
  

  -Republicans backed bygovernment+ soviet union.120,000 soldiers,poorly trained. Driven butpoorly organised.

  
  

  -Naionalists backed byItalian + German governments.34,000 soldiers.well trained+ 50,000 from Italy + 19,000 from Germany.

  
  

  Spanish Civil War:

  -testing groundnew war tactics. Soviets tanks never tried to prove/disprove theories Blitzkrieg, deep battle, or trench warfare since units involvedtoo smallto carry out such army level or front level operations.
• Tanks:


  -T-26 Soviet tankpoorly made+ wasnot ideal for infantry support. Waslightly armoured+vulnerable to new anti-tank guns. Could drive maximum150 hoursuntil intermediate overhaul/600 hoursuntil full factory overhaul.

  -Poor co-operationbetween tanks + infantry.No training with tanks and infantry. Infantry slow, tanks fast trying to avoid anti-tank guns.
• Brunete offensive


  Brunete offensive:

  -Republican plan to relieve Madrid with attack surrounding defenders.Poor planning + execution.No coordinationbetween military forces. Even after committing reserve tanks,Republicans failed+ reduced to only 38 tanks from original 331.
• Summary of Spanish Civil War

  Tacticslike WW1. Officers on both sides heavily influenced by French military tactics. Overall, It wasa mess devoid of tactics or strategy.

  
  

  -German volunteers learnt thatcooperation between infantry, tanks and planes crucial.

  -Logistics and repairingwere learnt

  -Russian tanks were capturedwhich they could use to study

  -Soviet union provided Republicans with 1000 aircraft + pilots butSoviet knowledge not as advancedas that of Germany.

  -Republicans also employeddeceptive tacticswith help from USSR. Several years later, Soviets made use ofgeurilla tacticsdeveloped during Spanish Civil War in their defence of the USSR against the Nazis
• Use of aircraft in the Spanish Civil war

  Nationalists (Luftwaffe volunteers of Condor Legion + Italian air force) bombed Republican cities. Bombing of Guernica consideredworld's first terror bombings. Terror bombing is an emotive term used for aerial attacks planned to weaken/break enemy morale.
• July - September 1936:

  -First significantairliftconducted by Nazi Legion Condor.

  -16,000 troopsbrought from Spanish Morocco to mainland spain
• March 1937: Battle of Guadalajara


  -Republican air units (mainly Soviet)struck Italian forces, causing them to retreat.
• 1937: Guernica


  -German Luftwaffe's bombing of civiliansnew to war+ markednew level violencedemonstrated by destruction of city of Guernica in 1937.

  -City hadno direct involvementin war and was 30km from battlefront

  -There was anarms factoryin the city

  -The day of the bombing took place onmarket day

  -There weremilitary battalionsoutside the city.

  
  

  City + bridgestargets for both cutting off army on frontier + essential point to capture if nationalists wanted to take capital.

  
  

  Attack controversial.Military air force bombed civilians. Offence began withincendiary bombs, as people fled, weremachine-gunnedby fighter pilots.1,700 people killed + 900 injuredin 3 hour attack. Difficult to say if Germans made attack for strategic terror, or for military advantage. Experts expected that direct attacks on enemy's cities would lead to quick collapse civilian morale so people would put political pressure on government to sue for peace leading to general collapse.
• March 1938: Barcelona


  Italians conducted series bombings on Barcelona, causing around2000 casualtiesbut did not cause civilians to quit or resistance to collapse. It actuallyhardened civiliansand unified them against nationalists.
• Use of aircraft in the 1934/35 - 1936 Italo-Abyssinian War.

  (The second Italo-Ethiopian war)

  
  

  BackgroundThis was a conflict between Italy and Ethiopia.

  
  

  Ethiopia + Liberia only two countriesnot colonisedby European powers. Italy in 1930s under Mussolini wanted toexpand borders and Empire. Considered Ethiopia territory worth gaining.
• The conflict


  Even though Ethiopians lacked industry, they could fight back as various nations gave themsubstantial supplies, including Nazis -3 planes, 16,000 rifles, 600 machine guns + 10 million rounds of ammunition. Italians hadfar more equipment,aeroplanes, tanks, artillery + machine guns. They attacked from the East and from the South. Ethiopians managed some victories but Mussolini wasimpatientwith progress of his army.See table p.23
• Use of gas


  OnDecember 26th 1935, Mussolini ordered usechemical weapons + destruction villagesdue to slow progress, Christmas Day victory by Ethiopians + claims torture and execution of Italian prisoners of war.

  
  

  Gas delivered byaeroplanes + artillery. Did not understand + appreciate use of gas against them. First use of gas took8000 Ethiopian lives. Aircraft equipped with special sprays, turning chemicals into rain like substance. With enough aircraft being used, turned into afog, killing everything- soldiers, women, children, animals and ruined land and rivers. This caused Ethiopians to switch toguerrilla tacticsbut byMay 1936Italians defeated last Ethiopian armies. Southern and eastern Italian armies had met.