How vital was the foreign units to both sides in the war? What was the nature of the commitment of the Italian and German forces? If I'm not mistaken, the German commitment was mostly in the air, with some logistical support troops and a panzer unit on the ground. The German naval commitment was sparse, I believe with some deployment of the pocket battleship Deutschland and maybe landing parties of sailors.
Was the Italian commitment largely of ground troops in direct combat? How effective of soldiers were the foreign volunteer brigades in the Republican Army?
Cordially,
Berichter
Foreign contingents in both sides
According to some accounts that Gabriele Ranzato put into a book, the International Brigades were about 60,000 strong, 7 brigades with around 3-4 battalions each.
Since they were set up by the Communist International, they were set up much like the Red Army with a Commander and a Political Officer. Not sure how that worked out.
They participated in all the most important battles of the war: Battle of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Teruel and the Great Ebro Offensive. They about 10,000 casualties in the end (deaths).
Since they were set up by the Communist International, they were set up much like the Red Army with a Commander and a Political Officer. Not sure how that worked out.
They participated in all the most important battles of the war: Battle of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Teruel and the Great Ebro Offensive. They about 10,000 casualties in the end (deaths).
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Apart from the well known German and Italian forces fighting with the nationalists, there were also foreign volunteers fighting with them.
I've just bought a book on the topic "Fighting for Franco: International Volunteers in Nationalist Spain During the Spanish Civil War" by Judith Keene.
/Marcus
The Italian CTV (Corpo Truppe Volontarie = Volunteer Troops Corps) was composed in the vast majority of members of the Army and of the MVSN (Blackshirts). They were organized in Italian divisions or within Spanish divisions with specialist and advisor duties.
These were the forces used in the War of Spain by Italy:
- 75,000 men (3,819 KIA and 11,000 wounded)
- 7,000 airmen
- 764 airplanes
- 157 L.3 tankettes
- 1,800 guns
- thousands of vehicles
The total cost was 6,000,000,000 Lire, equivalent to 1,873,000,000 Reichsmarks. For comparison Germany, with a much richer economy, spent about 500,000,000 RM (and 100 millions were paid by Spain before WW2) for 15,000 men (about 6,500 of the airforce), 593 airplanes, 100 light tanks, 600 guns, hundreds of vehicles.
No naval units of Italy or Germany "officially" fought in the SCW, the few attacks made by those countries were reprisals for Republican attacks. Both the countries (like France and UK) were members of the international naval control of the embargo of military shipments, but Italian and German submarines were employed in the waters around Spain, sometimes attacking the cargoes for the Republic (usually coming from USSR).
Italy employed 58 submarines and Germany 9 U-Boote between 1936 and 1939. Moreover in October 1937 Italy gave to Franco 4 destroyers, 2 submarines (renamed General Mola and General Sanjuro) and 3 MAS (fast torpedo-motorboats).
These were the forces used in the War of Spain by Italy:
- 75,000 men (3,819 KIA and 11,000 wounded)
- 7,000 airmen
- 764 airplanes
- 157 L.3 tankettes
- 1,800 guns
- thousands of vehicles
The total cost was 6,000,000,000 Lire, equivalent to 1,873,000,000 Reichsmarks. For comparison Germany, with a much richer economy, spent about 500,000,000 RM (and 100 millions were paid by Spain before WW2) for 15,000 men (about 6,500 of the airforce), 593 airplanes, 100 light tanks, 600 guns, hundreds of vehicles.
No naval units of Italy or Germany "officially" fought in the SCW, the few attacks made by those countries were reprisals for Republican attacks. Both the countries (like France and UK) were members of the international naval control of the embargo of military shipments, but Italian and German submarines were employed in the waters around Spain, sometimes attacking the cargoes for the Republic (usually coming from USSR).
Italy employed 58 submarines and Germany 9 U-Boote between 1936 and 1939. Moreover in October 1937 Italy gave to Franco 4 destroyers, 2 submarines (renamed General Mola and General Sanjuro) and 3 MAS (fast torpedo-motorboats).
Station: there were about 36000 Communist International organized volunteers fought in Spain(but not at the same time), they were considered elite troops at Goverment side, they indeed suffered heavy casualites, for example among those 2000 British volunteers, 500 were killed and 1200 were wounded,900 of the 2600 American volunteers died in Spain. The regular army of the Span was collap at the beginning of the civil war,the new army was consist of the militia from all political organization in the Spanish left, not just communis-controll unit such as International Brigades, those socialist or anarchist control units also were let by a commander and a political officerStation wrote:According to some accounts that Gabriele Ranzato put into a book, the International Brigades were about 60,000 strong, 7 brigades with around 3-4 battalions each.
Since they were set up by the Communist International, they were set up much like the Red Army with a Commander and a Political Officer. Not sure how that worked out.
They participated in all the most important battles of the war: Battle of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Teruel and the Great Ebro Offensive. They about 10,000 casualties in the end (deaths).
I know not all Battalions and brigades were under Communist influence, just in general I stated that. I probably should have quoted the book directly instead of saying it myself.mars wrote:Station: there were about 36000 Communist International organized volunteers fought in Spain(but not at the same time), they were considered elite troops at Goverment side, they indeed suffered heavy casualites, for example among those 2000 British volunteers, 500 were killed and 1200 were wounded,900 of the 2600 American volunteers died in Spain. The regular army of the Span was collap at the beginning of the civil war,the new army was consist of the militia from all political organization in the Spanish left, not just communis-controll unit such as International Brigades, those socialist or anarchist control units also were let by a commander and a political officerStation wrote:According to some accounts that Gabriele Ranzato put into a book, the International Brigades were about 60,000 strong, 7 brigades with around 3-4 battalions each.
Since they were set up by the Communist International, they were set up much like the Red Army with a Commander and a Political Officer. Not sure how that worked out.
They participated in all the most important battles of the war: Battle of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Teruel and the Great Ebro Offensive. They about 10,000 casualties in the end (deaths).