The next battlefield we visited was Guadalajara where Mussolini's attempt to practice 'guerra celere' with a largely motorised attack led by 180 armoured vehicle came to grief. Here, some 50 miles NE of Madrid the Italians, insisting on fighting as an independent unit, tried to increase their national prestigeby charging towards Guadalajara in an attempt to link up from the NE with the Nationalist Jarama offensive SE of Madrid. The Italians failure can be attributed to a combination of bad weather, logistic incompetence, stubborn resistance by the Republicans, including the Italian Garibaldi Battalion of the International Brigade and, most of all, devastating Russian led fighter ground attack sorties. These left in their wake a scene on the Highway to France (the Italian's main axis of advance) similar to the sceneon the Basra road after the Allied air strikes in the Gulf War of 1991.

Two viewpoints were used to bring out the lessons of Guadalajara, the first giving a long and uninterrupted view up and down the Highway to France along the table flat, treeless, 3000' plateau and the second overlooking the little village of Brihuega. It was here that the Republicans effectively used infantry, artillery and aircraft in their first effective Combined Arms attack to drive the Italians out of the village.

A Battlefield Tour of the Madrid Front

Introduction
Siege of Alcazar
Battle for Madrid
Battle of Jarama 1937
Battle of Guadalajara 1937
Battle of Brunete 1937
Other Places of Interest