Italian submarines began to sink Spanish, Soviet and other nations' ships that were transporting materials through the Mediterranean to Republican harbours. The Italians also used Nationalist-held and Portuguese harbours as staging points for sending supplies to the Nationalist forces and for landing Spanish troops to support the rebellion. The colonial troops from Morocco allowed the Nationalist forces to take the initiative on mainland Spain. They sent transport aircraft and crews to Morocco to airlift Nationalist forces from there to Spain. The German dictator, Adolf Hitler, and the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, immediately responded in a positive manner. General Francisco Franco and the other Nationalist leaders sent emissaries to Berlin and to Rome to ask for help. If the Nationalist forces fighting in Spain did not receive reinforcements, the rebellion could soon fail. Making the situation more difficult for the Nationalists was the fact that the Spanish Republican Air Force and Navy generally remained loyal to the government. Meanwhile, in Spain, smaller formations of Nationalists and Guardia Civil forces were locked in combat with pro-government militias, Assault Guards and those army units which remained loyal to the leftist Popular Front government. In July 1936, at the beginning of Spanish Civil War, most of the elite Nationalist forces were isolated in Spanish Morocco or on the Canary Islands. The Corps of Volunteer Troops ( Italian: Corpo Truppe Volontarie, CTV) was a Fascist Italian expeditionary force of military volunteers, which was sent to Spain to support the Nationalist forces under General Francisco Franco against the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War, 1936–39.
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