Anti-Tank Rifles in Spain

Revisited

by Nowfel Leulliot
Information supplied by Michele Armellini


While this has nothing to do with the Garibaldi Btn or Guadalajara (although the dates are about right), I found another reference to anti-tank rifles in Spain : Abel Paz reproduces in his appendix to "La Colonne de Fer" [Paris : Libertad-cnt-rp, 1997. ISBN 2-9504948-3-8, first published in Catalonia in 1984] the following list of weapons purchased in France in late 1936 or Jan-Feb 1937 at the latest :

Gandia Zone Committee (comarcal) 31 March 1937

CNT-AIT-FAI

List of war material delivered by the zone committee to the confederal column :

500 Lafite bombs, 6000 detonators, 50 periscopes, 3 field range finders (telemetres de campagne), 5 land line telephones (telephones de campagne) 40 field telegraphs (telegraphes de campagne), 40 lanterns 20 batteries for field telegraphs, 2000 bullets of various calibres 1 75mm mortar, 20 rifles of various types, 150 rifles of the "usual" type (fusils courants) 3 machine-guns, 3 light machine-guns (fusil-mitrailleurs), 2 antitank rifles (fusils antichars) 2000 rifle cartridges, 300 grenades

For the zone committee, Bernardo Merino

Of course, I've no idea what ATRs these could be.

Some time ago, a discussion was started with regard to an Anti tank rifle gun present at Guadalajara on with the assault platoon of the Garibaldi btn. Olao Conforti, in his book "Guadalajara: la prima sconfitta del fascismo" identified it as a Solothurn ATR; which seemed a bit strange and left the SCW fans puzzled. Now I'm reading a book by Giovanni Pesce (a Garibaldi btn vet) "Un Garibaldino in Spagna". In the description of the same engagement, on March 10th, 1937, he says: "...the only small anti-tank gun we had is hit [by artillery fire] and destroyed; the commander, Cesare Ravera, is wounded". Cesare Ravera was the commander of the assault platoon . Conforti does not list the book by Pesce among his sources. So, at the very least, the presence of one small AT gun seems confirmed by another independent source; even if its identification as a Solothurn is still unconfirmed.


Back to Abanderado Vol. 4 No. 3 Table of Contents
Back to Abanderado List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1999 by Rolfe Hedges
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com