Just when you've seen it all - part 4

[JDK]

Glad it was of interest. Some refs here:
http://www.battleofbritainbeacon.org/hi ... aliano.cfm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpo_Aereo_Italiano

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/s ... hp?t=74274

I wrote and illustrated an article many years ago on the topic, and my memory may well be off in a few details! (Like they also had Fiat G.50 fighters.)

Regards,

[JDK]

Of course what inspired that diversion was Mark posting a shot from the Battle of Britain film of Fascist Spanish aircraft in the 1960s - a neat trick!

A neater trick was Franco's manoeuvring, in contrast to Mussolini's poor calls. After getting power tanks to great degree from his German and Italian Fascist brethren's air power, Franco then managed to avoid getting pulled into W.W.II despite his debt and sympathy for their causes.

(Interestingly the Spanish Civil War was started when a privately charted British airliner brought him from North Africa back to Spain. That Olly Air Services DH Dragon Rapide was later presented to Franco, and is on show in the Spanish Air Force Museum, genuinely the 'aircraft that started a civil war'.)

Two interesting posters I recently found, thanks to WIX member Ricardo Reis, illustrating Franco's alliances - Here's a poster of Franco as a key member of the European Fascist 'gang' in 1939:


Long Live Spain!
Authorship: unknown; Country: Spain; Date: 1939; Dimensions aprox.: 33x69cm; Photography; Illustration
Code: P5147

Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

And here's another, from the middle of the war, 1942, showing (quite correctly, but venally) that he was keeping Spain out of W.W.II.


Franco keeps peace in Spain
Authorship: unknown; Country: Spain; Date: 1942; Dimensions aprox.: 100x70cm; Illustration
Code: P4450

Both from here: http://webposters.adm.ntu.edu.sg/site/page/home

Having navigated all that, and getting supplies from Germany until very late in their collapse, he then managed to switch alliance again and this time obtain support from the US - essentially for his anti-communist stance, but while he continued to lock down Spain.

A truly nasty but smart little thug, he managed to die of natural causes and old age. Sometimes there's no justice!

Regards,

[The Inspector]

Odd that today, the 26th of April is the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica-

[Mark Allen M]

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Last edited by Mark Allen M on Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Dave Homewood]

So the Spanish word for Germany is Alemania? Must be because of the beer fests I guess?

[JDK]

The critical thing to note about the bombing of Guernica was that everybody lied.

Even today we can't be sure about a number of factors in the event, critically the actual casualty numbers, and that all observations and comments were partisan and driven by propaganda, more than any interest in establishing the reality.

It is often represented as an exclusively German raid, and essentially terror bombing of the civilians in the town with no military objective - sometimes, as in the quote above, as a bombing 'experiment'. Like most real history it was more complex than that.

For a start, there was a small, initial, Italian bomber component, aimed at the town's bridge. However there was also a bigger Italian fighter escort to the German bombers, and it is pretty certain they strafed fleeing civilians on the roads outside the town.

How much it was an experiment is difficult to say - though the bombing was savage, militarily unnecessary, even the local German commander didn't seem that interested in assessing its effect.

The report by Steer exaggerated the raid's effect enormously and wrote the event - not the worst bombing in Spain - into the history books. Conversely the Italians managed to get written out of the story for the most part, while the Germans looked on it as a success without analysis. The worst lie was Franco's, which claimed - utterly preposterously - that the Reds had blown up the town themselves to blame his forces. Unbelievable though that was, it remained the officially recorded version of the even in Spain until Franco's death in 1975. Thankfully Picasso's painting was so politically powerful and enduring it was impossible for that giant lie to remain after Franco.

The other odd thing about Guernica is that in part the raid may have been against a sacred tree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gernikako_Arbola

An interesting firsthand account here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/eur ... 23,00.html

Regards,

[Obergrafeter]

So the Spanish word for Germany is Alemania? Must be because of the beer fests I guess?

Aleman means Eagle in Spanish I believe, in Texican anyway.

[JDK]

Doesn't sound like you think, Dave. Portuguese: Alemanha, French: l'Allemagne. Romance languages.