With hindsight, it is clear... «Spain and the Great Powers in the Twentieth Century»
telans25 сентября 2013With hindsight, it is clear that German aircraft made a crucial impact on the course of the Spanish Civil War. It is revealing that, of the few comments Göring made at the Nuremberg Trials about the Spanish Civil War, he emphasized the need to test 'his' Luftwaffe as a motive for Germanys intervention. Although neither this comment nor his claim that he urged Hitler to intervene in Spain can be substantiated from the available evidence, a kernel of truth emerges from Görings boastful statement. Luftwaffe planes and pilots were undoubtedly trained in Spain. Bombing raids on Spanish cities such as Madrid and Barcelona were often undertaken without any military targets in mind, but simply to frighten the Republican population into submission. Such raids were the first examples of the suffering that many European cities were to experience after 1 September 1939. The major Republican cities, however, are not usually remembered alongside Warsaw, Rotterdam or Coventry. This sad fate was reserved for a small Basque market town previously known only to Basque nationalists. Guernica, of which barely anything was left after the annihilation raid of 26 April 1937, became a foretaste of things to come.
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