Part III
Iberian Intermezzo
Great nations built from the bones of the dead,
With mud and straw, blood and sweat,
You know your worth when your enemies
Praise your architecture of destruction!
- Megadeath, Architecture of Destruction.
I’m a product
Of my enviroment
So don’t blame me, I just work here.
- The Offspring, Americana.
In the summer of 1936, the Spanish military, the Guardia Civil and the Falange Movement rose in revolt against the Republican Government in Spanish North Africa and in Spain itself. The Nationalists, as the revolters called themselves, succeeded in seizing power in Morocco, Navarre, Galicia, Castile and Seville, but failed in several of the larger cities such as Barcelona and Madrid.
On Hitler’s explicit order the Lufwaffe sent the Nationalists some 20 fighter aircraft and later German Junkers 52’s were used to ferry over 15,000 Nationalist troops from the Spanish posessions in North Africa to mainland Spain.
Hitler soon decided that indirect and material aid alone would not be sufficient to help Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s Nationalists defeat the apparently more popular Republicans, so in September, 1936, Oberstleutnant – Lt. Colonel – Walther Warlimont was sent to Spain to have a look at the situation and act as military adviser to the Generalissimo. The following month Warlimont suggested that a German expeditionary force be sent to Spain and thus the idea of the Hermann Göring Legion was born.
Most of the senior officers in OKL in Berlin saw the possibilities in getting some valuable first hand experience of modern day air warfare, but they had to consider the flip side too, added costs and most likely deaths among the pilots and air crews. Hitler, however, soon solved their dilemma by ordering the formation of the Hermann Göring Legion as the Soviet Union began to supply the Republicans with aircrafts and tanks in the winter of ´36. Hitler was further annoyed by the appeareance of the International Brigades or Red Mercenaris as he called the Republican volunteer units.
The Hermann Göring Legion, under the command of Air Generals Ernst Udet, the C-in-C and Wolfram von Richthofen, the Chief of Staff, was soon deployed to Spain. The HG Legion was placed directly under Generalissimo Franco’s command and was in the early days of the conflict used as a crack formation where the fighting was hardest and most desperate.
The Legion initially consisted of a Bomber Group of three squadrons of Ju-52 bombers, a Fighter Group with three squadrons of He-51 fighters, a Reconnaissance Group with two squadrons of He-99 and He-70 reconnaissance bombers and finally a Seaplane Squadron of He-59 and He-60 floatplanes. As the Luftwaffe began to recieve their newer planes, such as the Me-109’s, He-111’s and Ju-87’s, the Legion was heavily reinforced and became an extremely capable and dangerous warmachine.
The OKL did its outmost to insure that as many air crews and other personel as possible were rotated into and out of the conflict in Spain and furthermore made sure to shift experienced pilots through the ever expanding training organisation, so the Luftwaffe front units always had rested and veteran pilots available and the trainees got the advanatge of instructors who actually knew what they were talking about! A side-effect of this was an increase in idiosyncratic and chivalrous behavior as trainees and new pilots took their cue from people like Udet, Galland, von Richthofen, Rudel and Mölders. As Reichsluftminister Milch once noted after having visted Adolf Galland’s fighter squadron, JG-26, after its retur from Spain; “It was not a disciplined combat unit, it was a flying circus with American cartoons painted on every aircraft and pilots wearing clothing more suited for stage actors!†Nonetheless, when the War broke out for real in 1939, most Luftwaffe air crews were not only very well trained and led, but also to a large extend veterans.
The HG Legion participated in all the major engagements in the Spanish Civil War, including of course Guernica. At Guernica the Legion showed the world how truly devastating and inhumane modern air warfare could be. In many capitals around the world the near annihilation of the sleepy Spanish town gave the various air force experts a somewhat inflated idea of airpower. The officers at OKL, however, drew a slightly different conclusion; bombers were more vulnerable than first expected and the original decision to concentrate on gaining air superiority first and foremost was the right one.
In April 1939, an official of the German Economic Policy Department, trying to reckon what Germany had spent on help to Generalissimo Franco up to that date, gave a round figure of five hundred million Reichsmarks, not a large sum by comparison with the amounts spent on re-armament in geneal. The advantages Germany secured in return were disproportionate as valuable raw materials flowed from the Spanish mines to the Third Reich’s ever hungry industries and the Wehrmacht got both training and the opportunity to test new equipment, tactics and doctrines under battle conditions.
A total of 20,000 soldiers from Luftwaffe served in the Iberian Intermezzo as, the Spanish Civil War would be known as among the Legionaires, of which some 300 lost their lives. The Legion lost 72 aircraft to enemy action and lost 160 in various accidents. The HG Legion's aircrafts dropped nearly 9 tonnes of bombs and expended in excess of 4 million rounds af small caliber ammunition during the conflict.
Iberian Intermezzo
Great nations built from the bones of the dead,
With mud and straw, blood and sweat,
You know your worth when your enemies
Praise your architecture of destruction!
- Megadeath, Architecture of Destruction.
I’m a product
Of my enviroment
So don’t blame me, I just work here.
- The Offspring, Americana.
In the summer of 1936, the Spanish military, the Guardia Civil and the Falange Movement rose in revolt against the Republican Government in Spanish North Africa and in Spain itself. The Nationalists, as the revolters called themselves, succeeded in seizing power in Morocco, Navarre, Galicia, Castile and Seville, but failed in several of the larger cities such as Barcelona and Madrid.
On Hitler’s explicit order the Lufwaffe sent the Nationalists some 20 fighter aircraft and later German Junkers 52’s were used to ferry over 15,000 Nationalist troops from the Spanish posessions in North Africa to mainland Spain.
Hitler soon decided that indirect and material aid alone would not be sufficient to help Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s Nationalists defeat the apparently more popular Republicans, so in September, 1936, Oberstleutnant – Lt. Colonel – Walther Warlimont was sent to Spain to have a look at the situation and act as military adviser to the Generalissimo. The following month Warlimont suggested that a German expeditionary force be sent to Spain and thus the idea of the Hermann Göring Legion was born.
Most of the senior officers in OKL in Berlin saw the possibilities in getting some valuable first hand experience of modern day air warfare, but they had to consider the flip side too, added costs and most likely deaths among the pilots and air crews. Hitler, however, soon solved their dilemma by ordering the formation of the Hermann Göring Legion as the Soviet Union began to supply the Republicans with aircrafts and tanks in the winter of ´36. Hitler was further annoyed by the appeareance of the International Brigades or Red Mercenaris as he called the Republican volunteer units.
The Hermann Göring Legion, under the command of Air Generals Ernst Udet, the C-in-C and Wolfram von Richthofen, the Chief of Staff, was soon deployed to Spain. The HG Legion was placed directly under Generalissimo Franco’s command and was in the early days of the conflict used as a crack formation where the fighting was hardest and most desperate.
The Legion initially consisted of a Bomber Group of three squadrons of Ju-52 bombers, a Fighter Group with three squadrons of He-51 fighters, a Reconnaissance Group with two squadrons of He-99 and He-70 reconnaissance bombers and finally a Seaplane Squadron of He-59 and He-60 floatplanes. As the Luftwaffe began to recieve their newer planes, such as the Me-109’s, He-111’s and Ju-87’s, the Legion was heavily reinforced and became an extremely capable and dangerous warmachine.
The OKL did its outmost to insure that as many air crews and other personel as possible were rotated into and out of the conflict in Spain and furthermore made sure to shift experienced pilots through the ever expanding training organisation, so the Luftwaffe front units always had rested and veteran pilots available and the trainees got the advanatge of instructors who actually knew what they were talking about! A side-effect of this was an increase in idiosyncratic and chivalrous behavior as trainees and new pilots took their cue from people like Udet, Galland, von Richthofen, Rudel and Mölders. As Reichsluftminister Milch once noted after having visted Adolf Galland’s fighter squadron, JG-26, after its retur from Spain; “It was not a disciplined combat unit, it was a flying circus with American cartoons painted on every aircraft and pilots wearing clothing more suited for stage actors!†Nonetheless, when the War broke out for real in 1939, most Luftwaffe air crews were not only very well trained and led, but also to a large extend veterans.
The HG Legion participated in all the major engagements in the Spanish Civil War, including of course Guernica. At Guernica the Legion showed the world how truly devastating and inhumane modern air warfare could be. In many capitals around the world the near annihilation of the sleepy Spanish town gave the various air force experts a somewhat inflated idea of airpower. The officers at OKL, however, drew a slightly different conclusion; bombers were more vulnerable than first expected and the original decision to concentrate on gaining air superiority first and foremost was the right one.
In April 1939, an official of the German Economic Policy Department, trying to reckon what Germany had spent on help to Generalissimo Franco up to that date, gave a round figure of five hundred million Reichsmarks, not a large sum by comparison with the amounts spent on re-armament in geneal. The advantages Germany secured in return were disproportionate as valuable raw materials flowed from the Spanish mines to the Third Reich’s ever hungry industries and the Wehrmacht got both training and the opportunity to test new equipment, tactics and doctrines under battle conditions.
A total of 20,000 soldiers from Luftwaffe served in the Iberian Intermezzo as, the Spanish Civil War would be known as among the Legionaires, of which some 300 lost their lives. The Legion lost 72 aircraft to enemy action and lost 160 in various accidents. The HG Legion's aircrafts dropped nearly 9 tonnes of bombs and expended in excess of 4 million rounds af small caliber ammunition during the conflict.
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