The Fuhrer was in Bayreuth, watching the Wagner Festival, when the letter arrived on 27 July 1936, but Adolf Hitler refused to read it until he had finished watching The Valkyrie. When he emerged from the opera, he read the note from Gen. Francisco Franco. Rebellion had broken out in Spain. Franco, in the Spanish Moroccan town of Tetuan, was asking Germany to provide 10 troop transport planes with maximum seating capacity to move battalions of Moorish Spanish Foreign Legionnaires across the Straits of Gibraltar to lead the march on Madrid.

Hitler summoned Field Marshal Blomberg, the Army commander-in-chief, Field Marshal Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe, and other aides. Hitler saw the opportunity to take an active part in what he saw as the death struggle with Communism, by intervening in Spain. Goering said the Spaniards could pay for the planes in valuable ores. Hitler agreed. He ordered Goering to dispatch tri-motored Ju 52 transport planes by air and sea to Tetuan, and six He 51 biplane fighters to protect them from the Spanish government's air force.

Goering delegated the details to his deputy, Gen. Erhard Milch, who in turn summoned Gen. Wiberg, who was put in charge of Operation Magic FIRE in the "Office of General Wiberg." Next day, Wiberg and his officers ticked off a list of supplies to go to Franco: 20 min AA guns, signals equipment, small arms, gas masks, and 20 Ju 52s. Nine would fly from Stuttgart to Tetuan, the rest would be shipped from Hamburg, in crates labeled "furniture removals." To fly these machines, pilots and mechanics were summoned from Dortmund and Doberitz air bases.

BORDER="0" ALT="condorlegion2.jpg - 38032 Bytes"> Thus was born the Condor Legion, a force that would bring modem warfare to Spanish Civil War, train the Luftwaffe for the conquest of Europe, and dispense destruction upon an unknown Spanish town. making Guernica a byword for horror.

Spanish politics in the 1930s were incredibly complex, made worse by the Great Depression and the overthrow of the monarchy in 1931. The Republican government was unpopular. Between 1931 and 1936, there had been two general elections and 28 different governments, a recipe for disunity. Left-wing Anarchists and Communists were angry with the government deporting 100 radicals to Spanish Guinea without trial. Monarchists demanded the restoration of King Alfonso XIII.

In 1936, the left-wing coalition garnered 4.75 million out of 9.25 million votes, and claimed victory. Despite a national membership of 3,000, the Communists gained 16 seats in the Cortes, Spain's parliament.

Violence followed the election. Right and Left denounced each other in the Cortes. The fiery rhetoric was echoed by murders, bombings, and the breakdown of law and order. The pro-Fascist Falange attacked other rightwing parties, destroying their furniture, disrupting their rallies. They were harsher with left-wingers. Judges and journalists who condemned the Falange were murdered. Left-wing murder squads were active, too, and the streets of Madrid were full of cars full of armed men, driving their way across the city, guns blazing.

In four months, Spain saw 269 political murders, 1,287 serious assaults, 69 political centers wrecked, 169 churches burned, 10 newspapers sacked, and 113 general strikes. Royalist (Requete), Falange, Anarchist, and separatist militias were drilling all over the country. The fuse was burning.

Mutual fear of France had made Germany and Spain longtime friends and trading partners. In World War I, Germany offered Gibraltar to Spain if they allied with Germany. Spain turned the offer down. But relations remained close. By 1936, some 14,000 Germans were living in Spain. The Nazis had established 50 branches of Robert Ley's "Nazi Labor Front" as a blind to support the Falange to the tune of 3 million pesetas a year, along with revolvers, rifles, and ammunition. German propagandists planted pro-Nazi articles in Spanish newspapers - often by bribing editors - that acclaimed Germany as the base of Spanish culture. One even said, "The palaces and churches of Spain are all of German artistic creation."

As tensions heightened, the Spanish government feared its own army officer corps, an increasingly reactionary group. They tried to send these officers out of the country. One prominent exile was former chief of staff Franco, dispatched to the Canary Islands. The right-wing generals plotted with Falangists and Carlists to launch a coup. Finally they agreed to launch it on Friday, 17 July 1936, at 5 p.m., the precise hour bullfights traditionally start in Spain.

Key to the revolt was the Army of Africa, whose 24,471 men were some of Spain's toughest fighters. 5,500 of its officers and NCOs were ready to revolt, along with a third of the enlisted men.

Franco flew to Tetuan in a private Dragon Rapide to rally the Army of Africa. While he flew, the putschists' secret leaked out, and the government took measures, jailing 5,000 Spaniards.

But on 17 July, the mutineers struck. They marched into local army headquarters in Melilla, and demanded the CO's immediate resignation. He wrote it out and was shot a few hours later. Insurgents took over Tetuan, Larache, and Ceuta.

6,000 Royalists seized Pamplona. Queipo de Llano, a halfmad general, grabbed Seville. In Madrid, Falangist troops found themselves surrounded by angry pro-Government militiamen armed with rifles and pickaxes. Barcelona also backed the government, and a coup d'etat had become the bloodiest war in Spain's history.

Franco flew into this mess at Tetuan on 19 July to find the Spanish Foreign Legion and Moorish troops of the Army of Africa ready to march on Madrid. But these hardy fighters couldn't swim across the Mediterranean. The Spanish Navy's ships couldn't move them either. The sailors had thwarted their officers' attempts to join the rebellion and taken control of the ships themselves. On the battleship Jaime I, the ship's officers formed a Committee of the Ship's Company, which defeated the pro-Franco officers, and murdered the lot. Once the officers were dead, the enlisted men asked Madrid what to do with the bodies. "Lower them over the side with respectful solemnity," was the answer.

The only way to move the Army of Africa was by air, and one of the men waiting in the sticky Tetuan heat for Franco was Johannes Bernhardt, a German businessman, importer, and Nazi. Bernhardt had set up the local branch of the Nazi Party and was the North African Gauleiter. He was in contact with Heinrich Rodatz, the Lufthansa manager in Madrid. Bernhardt claimed contacts in Germany could supply arms and other war material to the right people. Bernhardt displayed letters of introduction from Goering. Franco was impressed. The Falangists asked if Lufthansa could provide transport planes for the Army of Africa.

Franco sent for Bernhardt, and asked him to take a personal letter to Hitler and Goering. He flew off in a commandeered Lufthansa Ju 52. Franco also sent a telegram through Luftwaffe Col. Beigbeider, who was in Tetuan, requesting the Nazis "to send 10 troop-transport planes with maximum seating capacity through private German firms Transfer by air with German crews to any airfield in Spanish Morocco. The contract will be signed afterwards, Very urgent! On the word of General Franco and Spain." The telegram was sent and ignored.

Meanwhile, the Ju 52 battled mechanical trouble, and finally left Seville on 25 July, flying to Marseilles, Stuttgart, to Berlin, and finally Bayreuth.

With the Fuhrer's backing, the Luftwaffe moved into high gear to support the Spanish adventure. Two private companies were set up to buy raw materials and finished goods in Germany, while another enjoyed the monopoly of marketing German goods in Spain. A third was set up to funnel Spanish raw materials to Germany All were profitable.

At a Luftwaffe base outside Berlin, Lt. Max Hoyos returned from leave and was ordered to report to the commanding officer. Hoyos dashed over, and was told bluntly, "The Fuhrer has decided that we are to help General Franco destroy Communism in Spain. Ten combat crews are required to fly troops from Morocco to Spain. I take it you wish to volunteer, Leutenant Hoyos?"

Hoyos did. He was told to buy civilian clothes - a reimbursable expense and report to Col. Wolfram von Richtofen at Doberitz. Hoyos also had to sign a secrecy agreement.

Hoyos and his buddies were all sent as a tourist group of photographers, engineers, and salesmen under the "Strength Through Joy" program for a cruise to Spain. Officially, they were on "special assignment" for the Luftwaffe and could get and receive mail at "Max Winkler, Berlin SW 68." This office took Condor Legion letters from Spain, opened them, and put them in new envelopes with German stamps and postmarks.

31 July, and all volunteers were paraded at Doberitz before Milch and Wiberg. After a pep talk, they were put on the train to Hamburg and went to sea on the 22,000-ton Woermann Line freighter Usaramo. Also aboard were six He 51 fighters and spares, 11 JU 52 and spares, and 20mm AA guns. The Germans, despite their civilian clothes, kept snapping to attention and saluting their superiors. That convinced the crew the "tourists" were actually commandos on a secret mission to regain Germany's lost colonies.

While the Legion sailed, the Spanish Civil War raged on. In the air, both sides were using the same type of plane, the Spanish Air Force's fighter mainstay, the Nieuport-Delage 52, which led to bizarre dogfights. Major powers took up sides. France's Socialist Popular Front offered aid to the Republican Government immediately.

In Italy, Mussolini was lukewarm and King Vittorio Emmanuel utterly opposed to supporting Franco. But Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano favored Franco, and convinced Mussolini to send 12 SM-81 bomber/transports to Spanish Morocco.

With these planes, some navy ships, and fishing boats, Franco began moving his troops across the Mediterranean - the first major airlift in history. The Nationalists grabbed Cadiz 29 July, and 20 Ju 52s arrived from Stuttgart. The Luftwaffe pilots were told by their flight leader, "I don't have any maps, but I've worked out the flight times to Tetuan. So follow me and fly tight!" Flight Captain Henke touched down, and Franco took him to breakfast. Henke had flown nonstop in 10 hours and 20 minutes, with extra fuel tanks.

In the next two weeks, Italian and German planes carried 2,500 troops across the straits, along with artillery and ammunition. Hundreds of Moorish troops were squashed into transports that normally accommodated 10 passengers. Italian fighters covered the sea movement of 2,500 more. Had these forces not crossed the, Mediterranean, the Insurgents attacking Madrid would have run out of troops and ammunition.

Around the world, groups and individuals started raising funds and forces for various sides in the Spanish Civil War. France's Andre Malraux organized an International Air Brigade for the Republic, hiring pilots from as far away as New York and Mexico City.

The world's chief Communist, Josef Stalin, decided that a long war in Spain would drain the resources of Hitler and Mussolini, as well as Britain and France. He initially sent food and raw materials, then fighters, bombers, and pilots, after Spain sent all its gold reserves to Moscow.

Meanwhile, the Usaramao sailed on to Spain. All aboard expected a pleasure cruise, but instead were yanked out of their bunks at 6 a.m. every day and sent to physical training, brass polishing, and KP. The Germans arrived on 6 August, took the train to Seville, and opened for business.

The Legion was organized into five groups. The Transportgruppe of I I Ju 52s, under Lt. Rudolf von Moreau; the Bombengruppe, nine Ju 52s under Henke; the Jagdgruppe, of He 51 biplanes under Capt. Von Houwald; the Flakausbildungsgruppe, of Spanish AA officers and men; and the Bodengruppe und die Horstkompanie, to protect the airfields.

The Condor Legion took over Seville's snappy Hotel Cristina for officers and civilians. Non-fliers went to German boarding houses in Seville, while mechanics and infantry went into barracks on the airfield. All Germans were seconded to the Nationalist air force with promotions and German uniforms.

At the hotel, German troops stood guard at each entrance, and German fliers enjoyed 10-course dinners. As more Germans flowed into Seville, the Germans took over the two best brothels, which stood near an enormous statue of Hercules. German troops would put their names down for a "visit to Hercules," and march down in formation to visit the girls. At the brothels, soldiers would line up single file and wait for the order to advance one by one.

The 100-peseta price for 15 minutes with a girl - they worked 12-hour days - included two towels, soap, and an aluminum box containing two contraceptives. The sight of German troops making love by the numbers amused the Spaniards.

The Spanish were more impressed by the efficiency of Lufthansa mechanics who assembled the He 51 fighters and maintained the fighters. Ju 52s shuttled from Morocco to Cadiz, hauling Moorish troops and ammunition. The Moors were fed before embarking, so they could go straight to the fighting. They calmly sat in the all-metal Junkers, singing war songs. In the week of 10 August, 2,853 men and nine tons of supplies were hauled across the straits. By 30 August, in 20 days of ferrying, the Ju 52s had moved 4,824 troops and more than 60 tons of war supplies (54,942 kgs). Soon the stocks of supplies in Morocco were used up and Franco was short. He bought fuel from the French airbase at Tangier, but was down to one day's supply when the German tanker Kamerun docked at Cadiz.

While the Condor Legion unpacked its biplanes, the Nationalists fought the war, using captured Fokker bombers and Breguets. A lone DC-2 was rigged up as a bomber, with a cowbell for pilot-to-crew communications.

The first major Condor Legion bomber group, three Ju 52s, went into action in August 1936. The planes had no bomb racks, so a trapdoor was cut in the floor of the aircraft and the bombs were piled beside the hole. The bombardier sat on the floor with legs dangling out, hurling 22-lb. to 110-lb. bombs through the hole.

The first target for this bizarre bombing group was the Republican battleship Jaime I, on 12 August. Lt. Hoyos and Lt. Von Moreau joined Capt. Henke in the raid, and ground crews worked all night to rig up bomb racks for six 440-lb. bombs.

At 4: 10 a.m., the bombers took off, and found the battleship in Malaga Bay. The bombers were supposed to attack at 2,500 feet - that's all their bomb release mechanism could handle - but cloud cover was at 850 feet. The Germans tried anyway, making three bomb runs. The disorganized ship's crew couldn't get their AA guns working, and the Germans scored two hits, one on the bridge and one on the foredeck. Jaime I was towed to Cartagena, out of the game.

So far the war had an amateurish tone to it, with colorful uniforms, prostitutes, international volunteers, and great writers like Ernest Hemingway, Arthur Koestler, and George Orwell covering it. It became more bizarre in September. 26 European and major powers signed the Nonintervention Agreement, that banned all parties from shipping arms to either side. Nobody took the agreement seriously, least of all Adolf Hitler, whose diplomats signed the paper, but went on shipping rifles and aircraft from Hamburg's Petersen Quay. Despite the Gestapo, Hamburg dockers (many labor union activists) kept their Communist brothers in Madrid informed.

German ships headed for Spain loaded with arms and ammunition were escorted in Spanish waters by German warships and submarines. Other nations were equally hypocritical - the Soviets raised money to help the Republicans buy arms. Italy poured war material into Spain. France allowed the Malraux squadron to be raised and sent to Spain and ignored other shipments going across the Pyrenees. Portugal's Dr. Antonio Salazar allows shiploads of arms to be unloaded in Lisbon and transhipped to Franco. British anti-Fascists recruited volunteers, but the Conservative government approved the British Embassy in Madrid sheltering Nationalists.

In America, Communist groups recruited Americans to fight against Franco. Catholic and anti-Communist news editors rewrote reports from the front to favor the Nationalists.

Back at Corunna, German ships unloaded 8,000 KAR 98K rifles and 8 million rounds of ammunition, while taking on 2,150 tons of copper ore for the Reich. The freighter Kamerun unloaded Mark I Panzer tanks at Lisbon, and took home olive oil, oranges, and copper ore. Despite a $10 million loan from the Spanish Royal Family, Franco's government ended the war owing $1.2 billion US to Italy and $485 million US to Germany.

On 23 August, Franco's air force bombed the main Republican Air Force base at Getafe, 10 miles south of Madrid. Four days later, Madrid became the first city in the world to suffer modem bombing. Contrary to predictions, people didn't flee the city in terror, but organized themselves a defense against the bombs, finding new determination to resist.

Franco's forces were advancing on Madrid in four columns. Franco's propagandists told the press there was a "fifth column" in the capital of spies, which gave the world a new term for traitors. Franco's Army of Africa advanced 275 miles in a month against disorganized Republican opposition. The Republicans besieged Toledo, and Franco had to turn to relieve the fortress. Condor Legion He 51s slugged it out with Dewoitine 510s in dogfights over the fortress. One German was captured when he bailed out and was given to the local women, who cut pieces out of him with razors.

Toledo was relieved on 28 August and the Republican People's Army fell back on Madrid, under fire from machinegunning German planes. Three days later, Franco proclaimed himself Head of State and announced Madrid would fall on 12 October, the 444th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America.

The Nationalists advanced, backed by Condor Legion bombers, against poorly-trained Republican militia. The Republican air force lost 57 out of 65 aircraft to the Condor Legion's He 51 fighters. Governments were ready to recognize Franco's regime. Republican leaders bickered with their Anarchist and Communist rivals. Madrilenos endured curfews, rationed milk, food, even water, and midnight arrests by Republican secret policemen and political extremists seeking to settle old grudges.

But on 10 September some 33 Russian technicians arrived in Madrid and prepared airfields for the first 18 Polikarpov I-15 "Chato" biplane fighters from Russia. Three days later another dozen arrived. The Spanish Civil War was now a RussoGerman conflict.

The Condor Legion immediately ran into trouble. The I-15s were superior to the He 51. The Soviets sent in new Tupolev SB-2 high-speed bombers, which were faster than the He 51s.

The Nazis sent in more squadrons of Ju 52s, while the Italians shipped in heavy tanks. The Germans made Franco an offer: if all German air units were put under direct German command, the Luftwaffe would send in more aircraft. Outwardly, Franco would appear to be in command, but real power would be German. Franco agreed.

On 6 November, 6,500 German troops landed at Cadiz, under the hulking Gen. Hugo von Sperrle, known to his pals as "Ugly" for his rough facial features. His chief of staff was Col. Wolfram von Richtofen, cousin of World War I's "Red Baron," Manfred von Richtofen.

The two aviators did not get along. Sperrie disliked Richtofen's snooty Prussian manner. Richtofen disliked Sperrle's coarseness and poor table manners. Richtofen, who had flown with Goering and the Red Baron in World War I, also hated the "Iron Man," seeing Goering as a drunk and a bungler.

Nonetheless, Richtofen was the real power in the Condor Legion now. A fighter ace and engineer, he impressed Legion mechanics by reciting the exact sequence needed to strip down an engine. He was a hard driver, who believed in Giulio Douhet's theories that mass bombing of cities could break morale.

The infusion of troops and talent also included equipment more He 5 Is and Ju 52s, and something new in war, the deadly Krupp 88mm AA gun to defend the Condor Legion's airfields. Also sent in were new uniforms for the Legion, olive-brown outfits with shiny boots, and new goldbraided rank badges. The Spanish were greatly amused that Legion warrant officers wore a six-point Jewish star on their forage caps.

German troops took over the best hotel in Burgos to accommodate the troops, posted guards, and flew swastika banners over the roof The Burgos radio station closed its nightly broadcasts with the German and Italian national anthems. The imposing boot of German arrogance was not lost on the Spanish.

The Legion's Kampfgruppe 88 went straight to work, hammering Spanish Mediterranean ports used by Russian supply ships. Two weeks later, Franco launched another attack on Madrid, and his Moorish infantry and Italian tankettes ran into heavy Russian armor. Franco tried again on I November, and Condor Legion's He 51s flew in as fighter-bombers, strafing Republican positions. The Nationalist drive was relentless, and roads became choked with refugees. Getafe airfield fell on 4 November. Condor Legion bombers hammered Madrid round the clock. The defenders got neither food nor sleep for 48 hours. Exhausted defenders abandoned their positions without a fight.

The government got the point, and fled to Valencia in private cars. The Soviets dispatched their newest fighter, the Polikarpov I-16 Rata, a lowwing monoplane with retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpit, the world's first modem fighter. It had a narrow, uncomfortable cockpit, no fuel gauge or radio, and a chaotically organized dashboard. But it could do 283 mph at 10,000 feet, and cut through the Italian and German biplanes. Two American pilots, Albert G. Baumler and Frank G. Tinker, ran up 10 victories each for the Republicans.

On 5 November, the Ju 52s returned to Madrid, and were met by I-16s for the first time. The Germans were baffled, and identified the Russian planes as American P-26s. Ju 52s fell from the sky. It was a major check to Franco's offensive and a major disaster for German prestige. The Nazis gave up on sending "volunteers" to Spain. Luftwaffe pilots and mechanics were now rotated in and out, veterans coming home to serve as instructors.

The battle of Madrid roared on. The Nationalists hurled the Condor Legion's airpower and tanks against the defending International Brigades, made of Britons, Americans, and antiFascist Germans and Italians. The defending general told the trade union leaders to send their best 50,000 men to the barricades, where they came under massive Nationalist bombardment.

The Condor Legion bombing technique was to send a first wave of bombers with 2,000-lb. bombs to hit the tallest buildings. The second wave would carry 220-lb. and 550-lb. bombs to break the wrecked buildings into better kindling. The next two waves dropped incendiaries. The last wave would drop Bulb. anti-personnel bombs to kill firefighters and rescue workers. This technique, tested in Spain, became the standard for both German and Allied bombing of cities in World War II.

By November it was clear that Madrid was not going to fall, despite an Anarchist force refusing to attack one day. Franco decided to cut off Madrid's water and power to the north. He sent 6,500 troops to attack Pozuelo, a small town seven miles from Madrid. His He 51 fighters ran smack into Russian I-15s, and were stopped. The Legion's 40 Panzer Mark Is attacked, but their machine guns were no match for Russian artillery. When the Russians counterattacked, the Condor Legion turned their 88 mm guns into anti-tank weapons, and turned the Russian tanks into metal coffins.

Franco tried again in December, and 12,000 Nationalists shattered 5,000 defenders at Boadille del Monte. But the International Brigades added to their legend with a successful counterattack. Franco needed more help.

In came four Italian divisions, which joined in an attack on Malaga. The Republicans fled overwhelming Italian force. The Italians were sent to Madrid.

Battles raged in the Jarama valley, punctuated by vicious air dogfights. Joaquin Garcia Morato shot down 40 Republican fighters in 144 dogfights. After the war, he was ordered to Grinon, to take part in a film about the Condor Legion. During the filming of a mock dogfight, he stalled at the top of a steep climb, and crashed. The crash was fatal.

The top Gennaii scorer was a devout Catholic with a serious face, Werner Molders, who downed 14 Republican aircraft. Adolf Galland flew 300 sorties in Spain, while Walter Oesau and Herbert lhlefeld each shot down eight. All became great aces in World War II.

The first mass modem air battles in history were bloody affairs. The Condor Legion sent in up to 60 Ju 52s escorted by as many He 51s. But they were inferior to the I-16s and SB-2s, and soon the International Brigades and Russian tanks gained the upper hand. Casualties were high a British battalion lost 375 men out of 600 in its first battle. Republican losses were 25,000, Nationalist 20,000.

After 10 days, the Nationalists had pushed their line south of Madrid, but had not cut the highway to Valencia. Franco tried to attack Madrid from the north with 30,000 Italian infantrymen, 20,000 Spaniards, 250 tanks, and the Condor Legion. The Italians broke through, but the Republicans retired in order. Rain and fog grounded aircraft. After three days, Russian bombers took to the skies to find Mussolini's troops stretched along 25 miles of mud.

The Battle of Guadalajara was on, and I-16s strafed Italian infantry trapped in the mud. The Condor Legion hit back with something new in war, the He 111 bomber, a 250 mph all-metal twin-engined converted transport design. It was faster than the Russian I16s, and carried a 3,300-lb. bomb load. The He 111 was inefficient by 1945 standards, but in 1937, it was decisive, blasting the Italian and German Communist Brigades. But Madrid still refused to fall.

Franco now decided to conquer everything but Madrid, seizing Spain town by town. 50,000 Moorish, Spanish, and Italian troops charged into the Basque country on 31 March 1937, led by the Condor Legion's He 111s.

The Germans were determined to break Basque morale, and their next target would set off a controversy that would define the Spanish Civil War.

The small town of Guernica was the ancient capital of the Basques, and beneath a massive oak tree on a hill there, the Basques had declared their independence. On 26 April, Wolfram von Richtofen sent his bombers to attack the town on market day.

Their ostensible objective was the Renteria Bridge, over which the Republicans could move their troops, but the Legion's bombers never came near the target. Their bombers aimed high explosive and incendiary bombs at the center of the town, and destroyed it. "For more than an hour, these 18 planes, never more than a few hundred meters in altitude, dropped bomb after bomb on Guernica a Basque priest wrote later.

The He 51 was the mainstay of the Condor Legion is its early days although it; had trouble contending with the more advanced Soviet supplied fighters. "The aeroplanes left around seven o'clock, and then there came another wave of them, this time flying at an immense altitude. They were dropping incendiary bombs on our martyred city. The new bombardment lasted 35 minutes, sufficient to transform the town into an enormous furnace." There were 2,500 casualties, two-thirds of them dead. Incredibly, the historic oak tree survived.

The destruction of the little town stunned the world, in the age before massed air raids and atomic weapons. Journalists flooded the town, offering contradictory accounts of what happened. Franco issued a press release saying the Basques had destroyed their own town to discredit the Nationalists. The Italians pointed out that none of their bombers had taken part. The Germans, denied responsibility and ordered Franco to accuse Anarchists of dynamiting buildings, and refused to allow international investigation of the tragedy.

But the world didn't believe this "big lie" and major American periodicals like Time and Newsweek changed their editorial bias from backing Franco as a good anti-Communist to opposing him as a bloody murderer. In Paris, a stunned Pablo Picasso began painting the masterpiece "Guernica" that would become a major artistic anti-war statement and his best-known work.

While Goering later chortled over the raid - he later said, "Spain gave me an opportunity to try out my new air force," his professional officers were more critical of the attack. They pointed out that the Luftwaffe still hadn't mastered bombing techniques. Most bomb-aimers at Guernica simply aimed at the large dust clouds and smoke rising from the dust clouds in the city center. The bridge had gone unscathed. And a German navy staff officer noted that Basque morale had not collapsed after the bombing, but instead been strengthened by hatred of Germany. This lesson was lost on most of the world's air generals.

Not lost was the impact of the new Condor Legion fighter, the deadly Me 109B, which appeared right after the Guernica raid. The early 109Bs sent to Spain were fitted with a 20mm cannon in the propeller shaft, which became overheated and dangerous. The Me 109B-1 had a third machine gun in the propeller shaft, and began to cut through the I-16s.

With the He 5 Is out of a job, JG88's third Staffel installed racks on the biplanes for small fragmentation bombs, to use on hard-to-reach Republican positions. The He 5 Is swooped in on defenders at 500 feet, released their bombs all at once, shattering the defense. It was the first use of close air support.

The He 51s were turned over to Spanish pilots, who delighted in close support work. Meanwhile, German Me 109s and I-16s shot it out over Madrid, where the Republicans were launching a counteroffensive with 50,000 men and 200 aircraft.

The Republicans punched a hole in the Nationalist lines, but created a massive traffic jam. The Condor Legion sent in Spanish-flown He 5 Is to attack, and despite heavy machine gun fire, derailed the attackers. Overhead, German pilots were learning that the World War I tactics of close formation flying and massed gunnery were not flexible enough for an age of high-speed, high-maneuverability aircraft armed with cannon. Galland and Molders broke up their tight V-formations into loose groups of four. The Republicans lost 90 aircraft in the Battle of Brunete, while the Nationalists lost 23. The Republican offensive failed, losing 25,000 men to the Nationalist 10,000.

As 1937 dragged on, the Germans brought in two new aircraft, the Do 17 "Flying Pencil" bomber and reconnaissance plane and the Ju 87 dive bomber, which became known as the Stuka. Richtofen combined his Stukas with artillery and tanks to produce a massive punch at the point of battle. He also created a separate tactical air force, on call from ground units, something else new in war.

Despite this, the Republicans tried to attack again, in Aragon, at the town of Teruel. The Republicans scraped up 150 aircraft and 80,000 infantry, and attacked. The new Me 109s shot down 30 I-15s and I-16s in one day. The Republicans hit back with the new Russian R-Z "Natasha" bomber. These were slower than the Me 109s, but still blasted 15 Nationalist aircraft on the ground in a single raid. The Republican Aragon offensive was another inconclusive bloodbath, and the Nationalists counterattacked, grabbing Bilbao and Santander. The Republicans could no longer win, but they could put up a massive fight.

By now the Condor Legion had evolved a new form of warfare, which got away from the original concepts of bombers employed strategically and fighters to defend home air space. Bombers were used tactically to destroy fortified positions and break up enemy ground formations. They would also try to break civilian morale with heavy raids on towns and factories. The path to the air war of World War II was clear.

The Republicans launched yet another offensive against the westernmost point of the Nationalist front, Teruel. On 15 December, 100,000 Republican troops attacked in a snowstorm without artillery or air support, gambling on surprise. It worked - Teruel was soon invested. The small Nationalist force held out for 23 days before surrendering. When Franco counterattacked, his forces were stopped on New Year's Eve by blizzards that froze up engines. The temperature sank to minus 4 Fahrenheit (Minus 20 Celsius).

The Condor Legion - now nicknamed "Franco's Firemen" flew to the rescue, moving their headquarters into a 12-coach train which included sleeping quarters, dining rooms, bathroom, lounges, workshops, briefing rooms, and office, all protected by 88 mm guns. "No more war without our train," Legionnaires joked.

Italian and Spanish fliers had trouble in their CR 32 and HE 51 biplanes due to open cockpits and extreme cold, but the Germans, in their closed cockpits, rained high explosives on the enemy, smashing through the north, and retaking Teruel. The Nationalists inherited a town full of great quantities of equipment and 10,000 corpses.

Franco wasted no time. The Nationalists drove the enemy back 60 miles in eight days, rested five days, then drove across to the Mediterranean, cutting Barcelona's Catalonia from Valencia's Levant.

By now the Condor Legion was a weary force, short of supplies and men. Hitler's resources were turned to the Anschluss of Austria, and there was little to spare for Spain. The Condor Legion's 20 88 mm guns' barrels were worn smooth, and only 16 Me 109s could fly. The He 51s were in worse shape - they kept crashing all the time.

Gen. Helmuth Volkmann, who had replaced Sperrle as head of the Legion, flew to Berlin in June and told his master they had two choices: restore the Legion to its effectiveness with men and supplies or withdraw. Berlin suggested turning the gear over to the Spanish, but Volkmann said the guns and planes would wear out faster. On 16 June, Hitler ordered the Condor Legion strengthened, warning Franco that the Spanish general owed him.

The Republicans weren't finished yet. Their July 1938 drive was to unite the two halves of Republican Spain. 100,000 men were combed out. Stalin continued to supply the Republicans, though he did not want them to win. He merely hoped to drain the resources of both the Nazis and the West.

Franco sent in his entire air force to stop the Republican drive across the Ebro River, attacking pontoon bridges. The Republicans ringed the bridges with AA guns, but the new Ju 87s turned out to be extremely effective at pinpoint bombing, something Hitler's officers noted.

The Ebro Offensive was the last major air battle of the war. Franco's forces sent in 200 planes at a time and dropped 10,000 bombs a day. The Republicans lost 200 aircraft in 115 days. Their air force was finished. So were about 75,000 Republican fighters, 2,000 machine guns, and 25,000 rifles.

Franco hurled the Condor Legion on Republican ports to cut off their supplies. Italian SM 79s blasted Barcelona, while Condor Legion Stukas hammered the docks and piers.

Franco begged Hitler for another 50,000 rifles, 2,000 machine guns and 100 field guns, and more planes for the Condor Legion. The Nazis pointed out they had spent 187 million Reichmarks on the Legion, and still no victory to show for it.

This time Wolfram von Richtofen flew to Berlin, to tell Goering that the Legion needed to be tripled. Hitler turned that down flat, but sent large quantities of ammunition. The Italians reorganized their divisions into mixed Spanish/Italian forces, and Franco was ready for the last offensive, two days before Christmas 1938. 300,000 Nationalists swung along the coast. Five weeks later, on 26 January 1939, German and Italian tanks rolled into Barcelona. German and Italian soldiers were impressed by the ruined docks and damage caused by the Stukas.

Incredibly, the Republicans still held Madrid, whose defenders were starving but defiant. But the end was near. Half a million Spaniards fled to France. The Republican Navy sailed to French North Africa and internment to escape the Stukas.

The siege of Madrid ended in fighting between Communists and an attempted coup against the Republican government. Many prominent Republican leaders fled Spain, while less prominent ones faced firing squads after Franco entered the capital on 28 March. Three days later, the Spanish Civil War was over.

On 21 May, 1939, the Condor Legion had a farewell parade at Leon. Nine days later 6,000 returning Condor Legionnaires were greeted in Hamburg by Goering. On 6 June, Hitler reviewed 14,000 Legionnaires in Berlin. All barely had time to swap their Condor Legion uniforms for Luftwaffe blue before the invasion of Poland.

The Germans had learned a lot. Their fighters now flew in loose groups of four instead of tight formations Air commands were capable of moving quickly to support a fast-moving advancing army. Engineers were capable of slapping together temporary airstrips in a hurry.

More importantly, the Germans learned the importance of close support aircraft, using dive bombers as mobile artillery, and to coordinate air and ground forces. Richtofen developed a system of liaison officers with radio cars and portable radios who stayed with frontline troops, who could call in air power on demand. Most importantly, the biplane was finished as a frontline weapon. The Legion began with He 51s - it finished up with Me 109s.

The Soviets gained, too. Impressed by the Me 109, they turned to producing MiG and Yak fighters that could tackle the maneuverable fighter. The Soviets also began work on their own version of the Stuka, the IL-2 Sturmovik.

The British didn't seem to get the point, though. Army Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha wrote the RAF about the value of close air support. His minute was ignored. Using aircraft to support armies on the battlefield, the RAF said, was "not only very costly in casualties but is normally uneconomical and ineffective."

There were other failures, too. The Luftwaffe found out its most experienced bomber crews could not find targets in bad weather or night. The He 111s and Do 17s had done very well, and Goering saw no need for long-range bombers. The Legion's success had been in short-range battles, so the need for a longrange fighter escort was also ignored. The Luftwaffe would go to war pretty much with the weapons it tested in Spain, and only develop one more major propeller-type during World War II, the FW 190. Adolf Galland put it best in 1970: "The trial of the Luftwaffe in Spain did not produce any strategic experience or valid conception, however useful the knowledge gained in technical, tactical, and army cooperation fields proved."

Another major loser was Spain. Men had gone to war on both sides in a high state of idealism, joined by hordes of foreigners, all seeking to battle Communism or Fascism. The idealism died quickly as both sides committed bloody atrocities on enemies and innocents. People were slaughtered for who they were, not what they had done. Starving men seeking bread for their families were shot as Red agitators. Workers who owned books were killed as Communists. Republican forces shot farmers for working their patches of land, as "capitalists," and shot priests and servants of priests. The veterans of the International Brigade returned home to Britain and America disillusioned and defeated. Many suffered the additional indignities of being jailed at World War II's outbreak as "Communists," an irony amid a war against Fascism.

Spain spent $9,375 million on its Civil War, and 150 churches were completely destroyed. 4,850 were damaged. 250,000 houses were left uninhabitable. Spain lost a third of her livestock, 42 percent of her railway engines, and the Infantado Palace in Guadalajara, a major artistic treasure.

She also lost 25,000 people on both sides to malnutrition and disease, 130,000 to murders and executions behind the lines, and a grand total of 500,000 people.

The Spanish Civil War is sometimes mentioned as the place where the Luftwaffe homed its dive bombing techniques using Stukas, but only three JU 87As were used in Spain. The A models as shown here, are easy to spot by their larger spats on their fixed undercarriage.