What happened to the Spanish Army after the outbreak of the Civil War ?

Started by Glorfindel, 04 October 2020, 08:06:03 PM

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Glorfindel

I'm just starting to read up about the Spanish Civil War following the release of 'Libertad' and wondered if anyone knows what happened to the substantial regular army
(ie. the old Spanish Regular Army) ?   Were the pre-war Regiments broken up and disbanded or did they continue in some format ?

Thank you for any info or pointers to good sources.



Phil


Big Insect

At the start of the Civil War the situation was very complex - a large majority of the regular army (in Spain) was pretty poor in its quality of troops (think almost along Napoleonic lines - with units being often made up of debtors prisons, conscription, the chronically poor. The army looked large but it was very poorly led (officers buying commissions) and it suffered from dead-pay and under equipment and generally low moral. The political persuasions of the officers or the local senior commanders very often determined which side of the conflict a particular regiment would end up fighting on. However, many units appear to have just disintegrated - heading back to their home territories with their personal arms.
The very few heavy weapons (mostly artillery) ended up in their garrisons - and again depending upon the allegiance of the garrison commander - they ended up on one side or another. Which is why early on in the conflict you end up with militias (particularly) Republican militias of all complexations attacking garrisons and arsenals. 

The more professional and experienced units were fighting in North Africa and the almost overwhelmingly supported Franco and his fellow officers on the Nationalist side..

Other para-military units - such as the Guarda - ended up split very much along local regional lines - although there were many cases of local Guarda making (for them) the wrong decision in which side they backed, as it differed from the majority of the local population.

Carlists and Basques were already pretty much organised as paramilitaries anyway - and they were looing very much to their own ends out of the war.

Was there a specific reason for your question?

Cheers
Mark
'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.' Xenophon, The Anabasis

This communication has been written by a dyslexic person. If you have any trouble with the meaning of any of the sentences or words, please do not be afraid to ask for clarification. Remember that dyslexics are often high-level conceptualisers who provide "out of the box" thinking.

Steve J

I just started watching the Granada tv series on the SCW and they mentioned that the army had one officer for every nine soldiers!

Big Insect

Yes Steve - the bureaucracy and corruption in the mainland army was notorious - for most of the officers it was a lifestyle choice - and there are reports of officers spending more time with their tailors or at parties than with their juniors.

Particularly towards the start of the war the quality of the lower ranks was very poor - Spain was going through a massive social upheaval in the late 20's and early 30's - large-scale industrialisation, the enclose of the big farming estates, migrations from the country to the cities and mass unemployment meant that very often the army offered the only way way for an ill educated, landless peasant to put food in his belly, all be it at a cost of brutal discipline and pretty back-breaking work.

The overseas formations were dramatically better - reflecting the fact that they had been recently involved in some pretty viscous actions in North Africa.
In fact it would be interesting to play some scenarios in North Africa just before the start of the SCW, as the Spanish didn't have the campaigns all their own way.
'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.' Xenophon, The Anabasis

This communication has been written by a dyslexic person. If you have any trouble with the meaning of any of the sentences or words, please do not be afraid to ask for clarification. Remember that dyslexics are often high-level conceptualisers who provide "out of the box" thinking.

nigel drury

Bob Cordery's 'La Ultima Cruzada' has a good description of the pre-war Spanish forces and the subsequent evolution of the forces of the two sides.

Glorfindel

Hi Nigel.

I've recently been bought Bob Cordery's book as a present - excellent stuff and just the sort of information that wargamers need.   I would very much recommend this for anyone who has an interest in wargaming the SCW (particularly as it covers the air and naval aspects as well as the land war).


Phil

holdfast

Ref the statistic of one officer to 9 soldiers, most modern joined up armies have one officer for about every 10 men. Obviously that statistic doesn't apply to individual battalions, where its about one in 20. The others are needed for HQ staffs, Defence Ministry and so on.
So was the source referring to an overall Army wide figure, where its about right, or to individual battalions, where it is indeed way out of the norm?

hammurabi70


Last Hussar

Quotethere are reports of officers spending more time with their tailors or at parties than with their juniors.

Sorry, and your point is? Where else would a gentleman be?  :-\
I have neither the time or the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry