75 years since the ride over Guernica during the Spanish Civil War

[Aerojoe]

There were volunteers (including the German Condor Legion) fighting on both sides -- British, American, Irish, French -- you name it, and they were there, taking part as their politics dictated.

I presume they had their reasons all of them. Anyway and for the record, there were no communists backing the Basque Country or army. The Basque Country was ruled by the Basque national party that was a right wing party. Quite conservative and catholic. A lot of basque soldiers used to go to the services at the very same front. Here you have a picture;



That flag is the Basque ensign, it is similar to the Union Jack.

When the battle was lost, the other band, the national army, find themselves executing catholic priests that had been captured alongside basque soldiers and even the head of the church in Spain protested, threating General Franco with excommunication.

[MisterCairo]

Yes, what it is really quite offensive is having a 250kg bomb falling over your head

The Guernica attack was one of those strategic bombings that sadly became common during wwII. Guernica was an strategic point during those ages but there were only civilians in the town then, women and kids. The Basque army was at the front.

Condor Legion planes caused a lot of damage. Dresden suffered 7 - 10 casualties per ton of bombs dropped while Guernica had 41 victims per ton;

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

Yesterday, some survivors, just kids then, told that they recognized the sound of the Ju52s engines because they were so loaded, that their noise was not uniform, like if the engines were choking and the pilot had to give gas constantly to keep altitude.

So well yes; God bless the RAF and the USAF

And the RCAF which was fighting Germany long before the USAF (which technically at the time was the USAAF)!

Per ardua ad astra!

[MisterCairo]

The totally missed point is that Germany didn't bomb Guernica, Guernica was bombed by Spanish Royalist forces, who were engaged in a civil war against the largely communist backed "Republican" forces. There were volunteers (including the German Condor Legion) fighting on both sides -- British, American, Irish, French -- you name it, and they were there, taking part as their politics dictated.

Der Spiegel

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...479675,00.html


Wikipedia:

At about 16:30 on Monday, 26 April 1937, warplanes of the German Condor Legion, commanded by Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, bombed Guernica for about two hours. Germany, at this time led by Hitler, had lent material support to the Nationalists and were using the war as an opportunity to test out new weapons and tactics. Later, intense aerial bombardment became a crucial preliminary step in the Blitzkrieg tactic.^[5][8]
In his journal for 30 April 1937, von Richthofen wrote:
When the first Junker squadron arrived, there was smoke already everywhere (from the VB [VB/88] which had attacked with 3 aircraft); nobody would identify the targets of roads, bridge, and suburb, and so they just dropped everything right into the center. The 250s toppled a number of houses and destroyed the water mains.


It would appear to be the case that some others would disagree with your thesis that "Germany" was not involved.

[Aerojoe]

And the RCAF which was fighting Germany long before the USAF (which technically at the time was the USAAF)!

Oh, yes, Canadian fellows never to be forgotten, besides New Zealanders and Ossie friends that took part in the action

It would appear to be the case that some others would disagree with your thesis that "Germany" was not involved.

I totally agree. You know, in Bilbao, capital of Biscay, there was an aeroclub since almost the beginning of the aviation history. Some guys dared to fly their private bi-planes and face the Luftwaffe aircrafts, successfully shooting down some of them. In 1937, a bi-plane fighting a Me109 was like a F4u Corsair trying to shoot down an UFO. Hope some of these pilots could make it to the RAF after the Spanish war.

There are some pictures of these German pilots/crews that were shut down in Biscay. All of them dressed in their 3rd Reich Luftwaffe uniforms with 3rd Reich documentation on them. Some of them appear in pictures crying because they probably thought they were going to be executed right there. Well, hell no, good guys don't that. They were exchanged for Basque prisoners and repatriated to Germany.

Denying Legion Condor and 3rd Reich involvement in the Spanish Civil War or Guernica raid, it is something that has no sense at all.