Spanish Civil WAr: The German Kondor Legion A Firepower Force Package in Combat

FA Journal, July, 2001 by Prisco R. Hernandez

Despite the heavy use of airpower and tanks, the battle of Brunete was not a clean technological fight. At the sharp end, it was characterized by terrible disorder, incredibly cruel fighting, and often hand-to-hand combat in the suffocating heat of the Spanish summer. [36]

The Nationalist counterattack began on 24 July. Again, the Kondor Legion provided decisive firepower at the critical points. The German effort included artillery support from the 88-mm FLAK batteries against ground targets and at least three distinct waves of bombers to prepare the ground counterattack. Perhaps the most telling testimony to the legion's effectiveness came from the reports of enemy commanders, all of whom agreed that the legion's air power was the single most influential factor in the defeat of their offensive effort. [37]

Another decisive use of the entire legion occurred in the Aragon offensive of 1938. This time, Nationalist forces were pushing against the final remnants of Republican strength in eastern Spain. The 88-mm FLAK batteries, in both their primary air defense role and as DS artillery, and legion bombers helped capture the strategically significant town of Belchite. In a memorable incident, the commander of a 88-mm FLAK battery brought two of his guns forward and destroyed a Republican Field Artillery battery that was holding the Nationalist infantry's advance. [38]

The most famous (or infamous) action involving the Kondor Legion was the bombing of the town of Guernica. Guernica was a center of Republican and Basque resistance. It lay next to a road junction and a bridge. This bridge presumably was the target of the German air raid, although it was not hit even once. Much ink has been spilled condemning the raid as an incident of Fascist brutality, and some have even accused the Anarchists of deliberately setting the town on fire to score a propaganda victory. [39]

In hindsight, it seems that the razing of Guernica occurred due to a mixture of error coupled with a stated disregard for civilian casualties. [40] In any case, it was a textbook illustration of air power used as a terror weapon against the civilian population. It put into small-scale practice the theories of the proponents of air power, such as Douhet and Mitchell. [41]

No amount of valor and tactical expertise will serve its purpose without a good program for sustaining operations. Conditions in Spain proved to be a major challenge for legion logisticians. The geography of the country, with its rugged mountains and extremes of temperature, as well as road and rail systems that were primitive by European standards, posed major transportation difficulties. The scarcity of fuel, especially for the aircraft, and the requisition and transportation of spare parts proved to be major challenges.

Success in maintenance and supply was largely due to the professionalism and hard work of the Schwarzemensch, the legion's mechanics and logisticians. [42] An interesting field-expedient innovation was the Wohnzug, a 12-car train that served as a moving headquarters and sleeping quarters. [43] Trucks, too, proved invaluable, especially as prime movers for the 88-mm FLAK. Without them, the legion's tactical and operational mobility would have been seriously impaired.