Italy

Corpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV)

The Corps of Volunteer Troops was an expeditionary force from the Fascist Italy, sent to Spain on 1936 in order to support the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War.

At the beginning of the war, most of the Nationalist forces were isolated in Morocco and the Canary Islands, with the Spanish Army and its airforce supporting the republican government. With this situation, Franco had to ask for help in Germany and Italy, sending Hitler and Mussolini transport aircraft and crews to airlift the Nationalists from Morocco to Spain.

L3/35, also named as Carro Veloce CV-35 (light tank)

The Corpo Truppe Volontarie was divided into 4 divisions:

-4^th Infantry Division “Littorio” (Lictor): was a fully motorized Infantry division of the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito).

-1^st Blackshirt (Camicie Nere, or CCNN) Infantry Division “Dio lo Vuole” (“God wants it”).

-2^nd Blackshirt Infantry Division “Fiamme Nere” (“Black Flame”).

-3^rd Blackshirts Infantry Division “Penne Nere” (“Black Feathers”).

With the final Nationalist victory, the Italians had a friendly regime in the western Mediterranean, but at a high cost. Of the 78,500 men sent to Spain, between 3,000 and 4,000 aproximately were killed, and around 12,000 of them were wounded. Also, they had a big lost of war material, and the intervention of Italy in this war supposed a great finantial cost (between 6 and 8,5 billion lire). In conclussion, the Mussolini's intervention in the Spainish Civil War handicapped Italy in the period leading up to World War II.

Batalla de Málaga (entre el 3 y el 8 de febrero de 1937)

Esta batalla supuso una victoria decisiva del bando nacionalista, con la colaboración del Corpo Truppe Volontarie y de los regulares marroquíes, para acabar con el control del bando republicano sobre la provincia de Málaga. El bando republicano contaba únicamente con 12,000 soldados (8,000 de ellos armados), con escaso entrenamiento, poca munición y poca disciplina; aún así, contaban con el apoyo de los campesinos de la zona. El bando nacionalista contaba con 15,000 regulares abundantemente armados; 10,000 soldados pertenecientes a los camisas negras, divididos en 9 batallones mecanizados, equipados con abundante artillería, tanques ligeros CV-35 y carros blindados; además, contaban con 100 aviones de la Aviación Legionaria y 4 cruceros de la Armada Nacional.

3 batallones nacionalistas, dirigidos por Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre (Duque de Sevilla), iniciaron el asalto de Málaga por el oeste en Ronda el 3 de febrero. A esto le siguió la ofensiva mecanizada de los camisas negras por el norte de la ciudad de Málaga en la noche del 4 de febrero, logrando un gran avance gracias a que los republicanos no estaban preparados para una guerra acorazada. Los nacionalistas siguieron con su firme avance hacia Málaga hasta llegar a la ciudad el día 6; con ello, los republicanos ordenaron la evacuación de la ciudad. Los civiles y milicianos que huían por la carretera de Almería fueron atacados por aviones italianos, provocando una gran masacre.

Huida de civiles por la carretera de Málaga

Tras la caída de Málaga, los republicanos que no lograron huir fueron encarcelados o ejecutados (ejecutándose hasta a 4,000 republicanos), y muchos de los que huyeron por la costa murieron.

Esta victoria supuso un gran triunfo para los italianos, aunque sus graves carencias quedaron al descubierto en la Batalla de Guadalajara, al sufrir una rotunda derrota ante el experimentado Ejército Popular republicano.

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Aviazione Legionaria (Italian Legionary Air Force)

The Aviazione Legionaria was an expeditionary corp from the Fascist Italy, which helped to the pro-Fascist band during the Spanish Civil War. It was the Italian equivalent of the German Condor Legion. It served since 1936 to 1939, with its base in Majorca, Balearic Islands.

Instead Francisco Franco tried to convince Benito Mussolini to send him aircraft support, Mussolini denied it, but the pressure of Galeazzo Ciano changed his mind and he sent him thirty fighter planes.

Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 Sparviero (bomber, transport)

Fiat G.50 Freccia Arrow (fighter)

Fiat BR.20 Cicogna (bomber)

Breda Ba.65 (attacker)

Later, Italy sent 12 Sparvieros with some experimented crew. This would be the first unit, known as Aviación del tercio. The crews were provided with civilian clothes and fake documents, and the aircraft symbols were blotted because they wanted to prevent an international incident with the pro-Republican European governments.

Not all these airplanes came to their destiny; two of them, because of some bad cicumstances, crashed or did an emergency landing before arrived at the Nationalist Spainish territories in Morocco.

Bombing of Barcelona on March 1938

This was one of the most important operations of this corp during the Spanish Civil War.

On 15 March 1938, the French government decided to reopen its frontier with Spain, so the Soviet supplies begun to pass to Barcelona; this supposed the decission of Mussolini to carry out a massive bombing against this city. There were 17 raids by the Italian Sparvieros bombers at three hours intervals between 16 and 18 March. The only opossition to these raids was a little anti-aircraft artillery, with no fighter cover until the morning of 17 March. This attack supposed the throw of 44 tons of bombs by the Aviazione Legionaria and the death of more than 1000 civilians, between other damages.