International response to the Spanish Civil War

Bronze plaque honoring the British soldiers of the International Brigades who died defending the Spanish Republic at the monument on Hill 705, Serra de Pàndols.

The Spanish Civil War had large numbers of non-Spanish citizens participating in combat and advisory positions. Foreign governments contributed varying amounts of financial assistance and military aid to Nationalist forces led by Generalísimo Francisco Franco and those fighting on behalf of the Second Spanish Republic, even though all the European powers had signed a Non-Intervention Agreement in 1936.

Arms embargo and the Non-Intervention Committee

See also: List of foreign ships wrecked or lost in the Spanish Civil War

The main policy instrument of European governments towards the Spanish Civil War was the creation of the Non-Intervention Committee, which was designed to prevent personnel and matériel reaching the warring parties. At a time of great diplomatic stress and fear of a general outbreak of war across Europe, it was hoped that a general agreement not to participate in the conflict or sell arms to the Republic or to the Nationalists would prevent a proxy war, with Italy and Germany potentially supporting Franco's Nationalist Coalition on one side and the Soviet Union supporting the Republican Popular Front, escalating into a major pan-European conflict. It was proposed in early August 1936 in a joint diplomatic initiative by the governments of Léon Blum in France and Neville Chamberlain in Great Britain. The Non-Intervention Agreement was signed by Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, although with varying intentions as to how they would interpret their agreement.

British and French non-intervention

The British government proclaimed itself neutral; however, the British establishment were strongly anti-communist and tended to prefer a Nationalist victory. The ambassador to Spain, Sir Henry Chilton, believed that a victory for Francisco Franco was in the establishment's best interests and worked to support the Nationalists. British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden publicly maintained the official policy of non-intervention but privately expressed a preference for a Nationalist victory. Eden also testified that his Government "preferred a Rebel victory to a Republican victory." Admiral Lord Chatfield, British First Sea Lord at the time of the conflict, was an admirer of Franco and, with government support, the British Royal Navy favoured the Nationalists during the conflict. As well as permitting Franco to set up a signals base in Gibraltar, a British colony, the Germans were allowed to overfly Gibraltar during the airlift of the Army of Africa to Seville. The Royal Navy also provided information on Republican shipping to the Nationalists, and HMS Queen Elizabeth was used to prevent the Republican navy shelling the port of Algeciras. The German chargé d'affaires reported that the British were supplying ammunition to the Republicans, as well as passing on information about Russian arms shipments to the Germans. During the fighting for Bilbao the Royal Navy supported the Nationalist line that the River Nervión was mined, telling British shipping to keep clear of the area - and were badly discredited when a British vessel ignored the advice and sailed into the city, finding the river unmined as the Republicans had claimed. Despite this, the British government discouraged activity by its ordinary citizens supporting either side.

The Anglo-French arms embargo meant that the Republicans' only foreign source of matériel was the USSR while the Nationalists received weapons from Italy and Germany and logistical support from Portugal. The last Republican prime minister, Juan Negrín, hoped that a general outbreak of war in Europe would compel the European powers, mainly Britain and France, to finally help the Republic, but World War II would not commence until months after the Spanish conflict had ended. Ultimately neither Britain nor France intervened to any significant extent. Britain supplied food and medicine to the Republic, but actively discouraged the French government of Léon Blum from supplying weapons. The American Ambassador to Spain was to later condemn the League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee, saying that each of their moves had been made to serve the cause of the rebellion, and that 'This committee was the most cynical and lamentably dishonest group that history has known.' Winston Churchill, initially an enthusiastic supporter of non-intervention, was later to describe the workings of this committee as 'an elaborate system of official humbug.'

The Chamberlain government's diplomatic efforts had the effect, whether intended or not, of successfully restricting access to arms and armies by the Republic, which greatly assisted the fascist powers in its destruction. Chamberlain's policy of seeking agreement with the fascists on any terms had aligned Britain with the Axis powers, and against the victims of fascist aggression in Spain. His policy had also aligned Britain against France and the Soviet Union, who had sought a Grand Alliance against the Axis. Chamberlain's policy helped to split France from its alliance with the Soviet Union, thus isolating France in the face of Nazi attack. This in turn separated Britain from its allies, endangering Britain's survival. Like many anti-communists of the time, the conservative elements in Britain and France supported fascist groups looking to end radical left-wing government in Spain, but at the same time they encouraged the warmongers in stronger fascist governments in Italy and Germany, which eventually defeated France and threatened Britain.

German and Italian intervention

Both Fascist Italy, under dictator Benito Mussolini, and Nazi Germany, under dictator Adolf Hitler, violated the embargo and sent troops, aircraft, weapons and military advisers to support Franco and his troops. The Italians provided the "Corps of Volunteer Troops" and Germany sent the "Condor Legion". The use of these troops supported political goals of the German and Italian fascist leaderships, tested new tactics and provided blooding for so they would be ready for battle in any future war.

Nazi Germany also helped the propaganda war with a gift of a Telefunken transmitter for the newly created national radio service.

The Italian contribution amounted to over 60,000 troops at the height of the war. The involvement helped to increase Mussolini's popularity among Italian Catholics, who had remained critical of their ex-Socialist fascist Duce. Italian military help to Nationalists against the anti-clerical and anti-Catholic atrocities committed by the Republican side worked well in Italian propaganda targeting Catholics. On July 27, 1936 the first squadron of Italian airplanes sent by Benito Mussolini arrived in Spain.

It has been speculated that Hitler used the Spanish Civil War issue to distract Mussolini from Hitler's own designs on and plans for union (Anschluss) with Austria. The authoritarian Catholic, anti-Nazi Vaterländische Front government of autonomous Austria had been in alliance with Mussolini, and in 1934 the assassination of Austria's authoritarian president Engelbert Dollfuss had already successfully invoked Italian military assistance in case of a Nazi German invasion.

In April 1937 the Basque town of Guernica was bombed by the German Luftwaffe "Condor Legion" air forces resulting in 200 to 300 dead (the republicans claiming 1,654 dead and 889 wounded). This was a case of directly targeting enemy civilian population centres for bombing, the first time in Europe this tactic of total war had been used to demoralise an enemy.

Barcelona was bombed for three days beginning on March 16, 1938, by Italian aircraft stationed on Mallorca. More than one thousand people died, including many children and the number injured is estimated to be in the thousands.

German arms from Rheinmetall-Borsig were supplied to the Republicans by Goering, see below.

Nationalist foreign volunteers

Volunteer troops from other countries fought with the Nationalists but only a few as national units. Among the latter were Eoin O'Duffy's 700 strong Irish Brigade and the 500 strong French Jeanne D'Arc company of the Spanish Foreign Legion, formed mostly from members of the far-right Croix de Feu. Approximately 8,000 Portuguese, known as Viriatos, fought for Franco although never as a national unit. Another 1,000 volunteers from countries as diverse as Spanish Guinea, Brazil, Norway, Belgium, Great Britain, and Australia fought in the Nationalist ranks. In 1937 General Franco turned down separate offers of national legions from Belgium, Greece, and exiled White Russians made by foreign sympathisers.

Ion I Moţa, Romanian deputy-leader of the Legion of the Archangel Michael (or Iron Guard), led a group of seven Legionaries who visited Spain in December 1936 to ally their movement to the Nationalists with the presentation of a ceremonial sword to survivors of the Alcazar siege. While in Spain the Legionaires decided, against the orders given to them in Bucharest, to join the Spanish Foreign Legion. Within days of joining Mota and Vasile Marin (another prominent Legionary) were killed on the Madrid Front at Majadahonda.

After the ostentatious funerals of Ion Moţa and Vasile Marin, they became a prominent part of Legionary mythology.

Irish volunteers

Main articles: Ireland and the Spanish Civil War, Irish Brigade (Spanish Civil War), and Irish Socialist Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War

Flag of the Irish Blueshirts, an Irish fascist movement which joined Franco's nationalists.

Despite the declaration by the Irish government that participation in the war was illegal, around 250 Irishmen went to fight for the Republicans and around 700 of Eoin O'Duffy's followers ("The Blueshirts") went to Spain to fight on Franco's side.

On arrival, however, O'Duffy's Irish contingent refused to fight the Basques for Franco, seeing parallels between their recent struggle and Basque aspirations of independence. They saw their primary role in Spain as fighting communism, and defending Catholicism. Eoin O'Duffy's men saw little fighting in Spain and were sent home by Franco after being accidentally fired on by Spanish Nationalist troops.

Approximately one third of Irishmen who fought for Republicans died, a group composed primarily of socialists, trade unionists, and former IRA members. The "Connolly Column" of the International Brigades was named after the Irish socialist leader executed after 1916 Easter Rising, James Connolly.

Soviet aid

Due to the Franco-British arms embargo, the Government of the Republic could receive material aid and could purchase arms only from the Soviet Union. To pay for these armaments the Republicans used US$500 million in gold reserves. At the start of the war the Bank of Spain had the world's fourth largest reserve of gold, about US$750 million, although some assets were frozen by the French and British governments. The Soviet Union also sent more than 2,000 personnel, mainly tank crews and pilots, who actively participated in combat, on the Republican side. Mexico also aided the Republicans by providing rifles and food. Other countries (see below) aided the Republican side through sale of weapons and through volunteer military units. Throughout the war, the efforts of the elected government of the Republic to resist the Nazi and Fascist armies and the rebel army were hampered by Franco-British 'non-intervention', long supply lines and intermittent availability of weapons of widely variable quality. The British and French naval embargo allowed Germany and Italy to reinforce their armies in Spain; the embargo hampered only the Soviet efforts to arm the legitimate Republican government.

Mexican aid

The Mexican Republic supported fully and publicly the claim of the Madrid government and the Republicans. Mexico refused to follow the French-British non-intervention proposals. President Lázaro Cárdenas saw the war as similar to Mexico's own revolution although a large part of Mexican society wanted a Nationalist victory. Mexico's attitude gave immense moral comfort to the Republic, especially since the major Latin American governments—those of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru—sympathized more or less openly with the Nationalists. But Mexican aid could mean relatively little in practical terms if the French border were closed and if the dictators remained free to supply the Nationalists with a quality and quantity of weapons far beyond the power of Mexico.

Mexico furnished $2,000,000 in aid and provided some material assistance, which included a small amount of American-made aircraft such as the Bellanca CH-300 and Spartan Zeus that served in the Mexican Air Force.

International and intellectual support for the nationalists and republicans

Volunteers from many countries fought in Spain, most of them on the Republican side. About 32,000 men and women fought in the International Brigades including the American Lincoln Battalion and Canadian Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion, organized in close conjunction with the Comintern to aid the Spanish Republicans. Perhaps another 3,000 fought as members of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) militias. Those fighting with POUM most famously included George Orwell and the small ILP Contingent.

'Spain' became the cause célèbre for the left-leaning intelligentsia across the Western world, and many prominent artists and writers entered the Republic's service. As well, it attracted a large number of foreign left-wing working class men, for whom the war offered not only idealistic adventure but also an escape from post-Depression unemployment. Among the more famous foreigners participating on the Republic's side was George Orwell, who went on to write about his experiences in Homage to Catalonia. Orwell's novel Animal Farm was loosely inspired by his experiences and those of other members of POUM at the hands of Stalinists when the Popular Front began to fight within itself, as were the torture scenes in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls was inspired by his experiences in Spain. George Seldes reported on the war for the New York Post. The third part of Laurie Lee's autobiographical trilogy, A Moment of War, is also based on his Civil War experiences. Norman Bethune used the opportunity to develop the special skills of battlefield medicine. As a casual visitor, Errol Flynn used a fake report of his death at the battlefront to promote his movies. Despite the predominantly leftist attitude of the artistic community, a number of prominent writers such as Ezra Pound, Roy Campbell, Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dalí and Evelyn Waugh supported Franco. Nobel Laureate Jacinto Benavente and future Laureate Camilo José Cela also sided with Franco's forces.

United States and the Spanish Civil War

American veterans displaying the brigade's banner in 2002

The U.S. saw Soviet involvement in the 1931 ouster of the Spanish monarchy, though there is little evidence of significant involvement. In 1931, Herbert Hoover was President of the United States. The U.S. was thus hostile to the new Republican government. Tensions escalated when the Manuel Azaña government expropriated the pro-fascist ITT Corporation. When the Civil War erupted after the failed right-wing coup, Secretary of State Cordell Hull moved quickly to ban arms sales to the Spanish government, forcing the Popular Front to turn to the Soviet Union for support. From the outset the Nationalists received important support from some elements of American business. The American-owned Vacuum Oil Company in Tangier, for example, refused to sell to Republican ships and at the outbreak of the war, the Texas Oil Company rerouted oil tankers headed for the republic to the Nationalist controlled port of Tenerife, and supplied gasoline on credit to Franco until the war's end.

At the same time, the automakers Ford, Studebaker, and General Motors provided a total of 12,000 trucks to the Nationalists. After the war was over, José Maria Doussinague, who was at the time undersecretary at the Spanish Foreign Ministry said, "without American petroleum and American trucks, and American credit, we could never have won the Civil War."

While not supported officially, many American volunteers such as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade fought for the Republicans.

Use of the Spanish Civil War as weapons testing ground

The Third Reich used the war as a testing ground for faster tanks and aircraft that were just being developed at the time as part of the German re-armament; aircraft like the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and the Junkers Ju 52 transport/bomber, among others, were tested in the Spanish Civil War. In a similar manner, the USSR provided Polikarpov I-15 and Polikarpov I-16 fighters and Tupolev SB-2 bombers to the Spanish Republican Air Force in excahnge for the Spanish Republic's gold reserves.

The Spanish Civil War was also an example of total war. The indiscriminate killing of civilians by artillery and aircraft bombing (for example, the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by the Legión Cóndor, immortalised by Pablo Picasso's painting, "Guernica") foreshadowed the terror bombings on Poland, the Netherlands and United Kingdom by Nazi Germany, and the Bombing of Dresden in World War II and other major German cities by the Allies. The extent of foreign involvement in the conflict has led some commentators, most notably Paul Preston, to view it as part of a wider integrated European Civil War.

The total amount of foreign military and financial aid is difficult to calculate exactly, as much of it was provided secretly, and because both sides purchased as much matériel as they could privately. This article uses an exchange rate of five United States dollars for a British pound which was the going rate in 1936–39.

Nationalists: foreign personnel and material

Germany

German military personnel with a Condor Legion aircraft in 1939.

The government of Nazi Germany participated covertly in the conflict via a body of volunteers from the ranks of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and Army (Wehrmacht Heer) known as the Condor Legion (Legion Kondor). These men went as volunteers after resigning their rank from the German services. Members of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) also participated. Probably a total of 16,000 German citizens fought mostly as pilots, ground crew, artillery men, in tanks, and as military advisors and instructors. About 10,000 Germans were the maximum at any one time. Perhaps 300 were killed.

Thus, the German battleship Deutschland stood guard over Ceuta to prevent interference from Loyalist ships while Franco transported Foreign Legion and Riff troops to the Spanish mainland. Both the Manchester Guardian and the London Daily Herald reported in August 1936 that General Sanjurjo's visit to Berlin earlier that year had secured German bombing planes, the first of which were loaded at Hamburg in July, and H. R. Knickerbocker, Hearst's correspondent with General Mola's forces in the north of Spain referred to the German origin of most of the military equipment: planes, machine guns, bombs, rifles, bullets and helmets. On 11 August, Frank L. Kluckhohn, The New York Times' correspondent with Franco's forces, reported on the unloading of German planes from German ships: "Twenty heavy junker bombing planes and five German pursuit planes, manned by German military pilots arrived at rebel headquarters in Seville to-day. The aeroplanes had been landed from a ship at the rebel port of Cádiz and were then flown here." Jay Allen, reporting for the Chicago Tribune, cabled that 56 carloads (i.e. train wagons) of war materials had been unloaded from the German steamer Kamerun in Portugal and were on their way towards Badajoz in Spain.

Italy

The government of Fascist Italy participated in the conflict via a body of volunteers from the ranks of the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito), Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica), and Royal Navy (Regia Marina) formed into an expeditionary force known as the Corps of Volunteer Troops (Corpo Truppe Volontarie, CTV). The maximum number of Italians in Spain, at one time, fighting for the Nationalists, was 50,000 in 1937. Probably a total of 75,000 Italians fought in Spain for the Nationalists. Italians also served in the Spanish-Italian Flechas Brigades and Divisions. The airborne component of Aeronautica pilots and ground crew were known as "Aviation Legion" (Aviazione Legionaria) and the contingent of submariners as Submarine Legion (Sottomarini Legionari). 6,000 Italians are estimated to have died in the conflict. The New York Times correspondent in Seville, Frank L. Kluckhohn, reported on 18 August that "... the presence of the Italian destroyer Antonio da Noli here means that an ally has come to help the insurgents."

Other nationals

See: Nationalist Foreign Volunteers

• The Portuguese furnished about 8,000 troops for the Nationalist Side, known as Viriatos after the abortive Viriatos Legion(Legião Viriato).
• About 700 anti-Communist Irishmen served in the Irish Brigade under General Eoin O'Duffy.
• Approximately 500 Frenchmen fought for the Nationalists, most in the Jeanne d'Arc company of the Spanish Foreign Legion.
• Over 1,000 volunteers from other nations served in the Nationalist forces, including Britons, Finns, Norwegians, White Russians, Americans, Belgians, and Turks.
• Probably 75,000 Moroccan Regulares fought in the Nationalist ranks. Spanish Morocco was an independent protectorate at the time so the Moroccans were not Spanish citizens.
• Despite its name, the Spanish Foreign Legion, fighting on the Nationalist side, was mostly Spaniards.
• A Legion of Romanian fascists of the Iron Guard with leader Ion Mota.

German and Italian material

German aid to the Nationalists amounted to approximately £43,000,000 ($215,000,000) in 1939 prices. This was broken down in expenditure to:

• 15.5% used for salaries and expenses,
• 21.9% used for direct delivery of supplies to Spain, and
• 62.6% expended on the Condor Legion. (No detailed list of German supplies furnished to Spain has been found).

The Italian Government sent large amounts of material aid to the Nationalists. This aid included:

• one cruiser
• four destroyers
• two submarines
• 763 aircraft,
• Italian Aircraft Breakdown:
• Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bombers: 64;
• Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers: 90+;
• Br.20 bombers: 13;
• Ca.310 bombers: 16;
• Various assault planes: 44;
• Seaplanes: 20+;
• Fiat CR.32 fighters: 300+;
• Romeo 37 fighters: 70+;
• Romeo 41 fighters: 28;
• Other fighter planes: 10;
• Reconnaissance planes: 68.
• 1,801 artillery pieces,
• 1,426 heavy and medium motars,
• 6,791 trucks,
• 157 tanks,
• 320,000,000 small arms ammunition,
• 7,514,537 artillery rounds,
• 1,414 aircraft motors,
• 1,672 tons of aircraft bombs and,
• 240,747 rifles.

91 Italian warships and submarines also participated in and after the war, and sank about 72,800 tons of shipping, and lost 38 sailors killed in action. Italy presented a bill for £80,000,000 ($400,000,000) in 1939 prices to the Francoists.

Italian pilots flew 135,265 hours during the war, partook in 5,318 air raids, hit 224 Republican and other ships, engaged in 266 aerial combats, and reported to have shot down 903 Republican and allied planes, and lost around 180 pilots and aircrew killed in action.

Republicans: foreign personnel and material

Soviet personnel

The Soviets claim to have 537 "Volunteers" who served in Spain. The maximum number of Soviets in Spain at any one time is believed to have been 700, and the total during the war is thought to have between 2,000 — 3,000. Estimates for Soviet pilots who took part in the conflict are given at 1,000.

International Brigades

Polish volunteers.

Probably 32,000 foreigners fought in the International Brigades (which probably never exceeded 20,000 at any one time). An estimated 3,000 volunteers fought in other Republican forces during the conflict. Additionally, about 10,000 foreigners participated in medical, nursing, and engineering capacities.

The International Brigades included 9,000 Frenchmen, of whom 1,000 were killed; 5,000 Germans and Austrians of whom 2,000 died, and also about 3,000 from Poland at the time. The next highest number was from Italy with 3,350 men. Then came the United States (2,800 men with 900 killed) and Britain (2,000 with 500 killed). There were also 1,500 Czechs; 1,500 Yugoslavs; 1,500 Canadians; 1,000 Hungarians and 1,000 Scandinavians, about half of whom were Swedes. The rest came from a "claimed" 53 countries. Seventy-six Swiss were killed and 90 Mexicans fought. Perhaps 3,000 of the volunteers were Jewish. About 200 volunteers were from Palestine (of Jewish and Arab origin).

Sources of material

The Republic sent its gold reserve to the Soviet Union to pay for arms and supplies. That reserve was worth £63,000,000 ($315,000,000) in 1939 prices. In 1956, the Soviet Union announced that Spain still owed it $50,000,000. Other estimates of Soviet and Comintern aid totaled £81,000,000 ($405,000,000) in 1939 value. The German military attached estimated that Soviet and Comintern aid amounted to:

• 242 Aircraft,
• 703 pieces of artillery,
• 731 tanks,
• 1,386 trucks,
• 300 armored cars
• 15,000 heavy machine guns,
• 500,000 rifles,
• 30,000 sub-machine guns,
• 4,000,000 artillery shells,
• 1,000,000,000 machine gun cartridges,
• over 69,000 tons of war material, and
• over 29,000 tons of ammunition.

Much of this material was purchased in France, Czechoslovakia, the United States, Britain and Mexico. Mexico furnished $2,000,000 in aid, and another $2,000,000 came from the United States for humanitarian purposes. President Lázaro Cárdenas saw the war as similar to Mexico's own revolution although a large part of Mexican society wanted a Nationalist victory. The rest of Latin America sympathized with the Nationalists or was neutral. The Republic was continuously swindled and short-changed in its purchases.

Modern research conducted after the collapse of the Iron Curtain shows that Poland was second after the USSR in selling arms to the Republic. In the autumn of 1936, indeed, Poland was the only nation to offer arms to the Republic in any quantity. At that time the Republic was in great need as the Nationalists were at Madrid.

The Republic also made poor buys for ammunition. The arms trade has a standard that with every rifle, 1,000 rounds of ammunition are included; with every machine gun, 10,000 rounds are included; and with every artillery piece, 2,400 shells should be included. Otherwise the hardware quickly becomes useless for lack of ammunition. A great bulk of the purchases fell far short of this standard.

German material

Göring (who controlled Rheinmetall-Borsig) supplied arms to the Republicans; shipped to Greece supposedly for their use, the arms were transferred by Bodosakis to ships supposedly sailing to Mexico. He was also supplying the Nationalists, who got the best and latest weapons while the Republicans got the oldest and least serviceable. This supply peaked in 1937-38. Nationalists identified 18 vessels to Republican ports from 3 January 1937 and 11 May 1938, and estimated that Goering received the equivalent of one pound sterling per rifle. An earlier shipment from Hamburg to Alicante on 1 October 1936 by the Welsh ship Bramhill had 19,000 rifles, 101 machine guns and more than 20 million cartridges for the CNT militia in Barcelona.

Foreign correspondents

Main article: List of foreign correspondents in the Spanish Civil War

Foreign press coverage of the Spanish Civil War was extensive, with around a thousand foreign newspaper correspondents working from Spain.

Sources

• Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, 1961 (1st Ed)
• Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War, 1986 (3rd Ed) ISBN 9780060142780
• Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War, 2001 (4th Ed) ISBN 9780375755156
• Beevor, Antony, The Spanish Civil War, 2001 (Reissued) ISBN 9780141001487
• Beevor, Antony, The Battle for Spain, Penguin Books, 2006. ISBN 9780143037651
• Howson, Gerald Arms for Spain, The Untold Story of the Spanish Civil War, 1998 ISBN 9780719555565
• Ascherson, Neal How Moscow robbed Spain of its gold in the Civil War, Guardian Media Group, 1998: review of Gerald Howson, Arms For Spain. Accessed 12 October 2006.
• Spartacus Schoolnet: Soviet Union Series on the Spanish Civil War. Accessed 12 October 2006.
• Compass: The Soviet Union and the Spanish Civil War, April 1996, No. 123 (published by Communist League, UK). Accessed 12 October 2006.
• Othen, Christopher. Franco's International Brigades: Foreign Volunteers and Fascist Dictators in the Spanish Civil War (Reportage Press, 2008)
• Preston, Paul A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War, (London, 1986), p. 107 ISBN 9780006863731
• Podmore, Will Britain, Italy, Germany and the Spanish Civil War ISBN 9780773484917

See also

• SS Cantabria

Military forces and aid

• Corpo Truppe Volontarie - Italian expeditionary forces
  • Regio Esercito Italiano - Royal Italian Army
• Aviazione Legionaria (Aviation Legion) - Italian expeditionary air force
  • Regia Aeronautica Italiana - Royal Italian Air Force
• Sottomarini Legionari (Submariners Legion)
  • La Regia Marina Italiana - Royal Italian Navy

• Legion Kondor - German expeditionary forces
  • Luftwaffe - German Air force
  • Heer - German Army
• Kriegsmarine - German Navy Submarine units

• Fuerza Aérea Nacionales (Arma de Aviación) - Nationalist Air forces
• Aviación de El Tercio - Spanish Foreign Legion Air forces
• Fuerza Aérea de la República Española (FARE) - Second Republic and Soviet Air forces

• Polish Brigade in Spain - Dąbrowszczacy

Military operations

• Operation Ursula - Uboat
• Operation Rügen - Legion Kondor
• Operation Bodden - Abwehr

Economic aid and dealings

• Sociedad Hispano-Marroqui de Transportes (HISMA)
• Rohstoff-Waren-Kompensation Handelsgesellschaft (ROWAK)
• Rio Tinto Mining Concern
• Moscow gold