Tank Combat in Spain (book review)

Tank Combat in Spain

By Anthony J. Candil

Casemate publishers

ISBN 078-1-61200-970-4

Hardback, 240 pages

Now I bought this book with an open mind, looking to learn something new about this aspect of the Spanish Civil War. I knew from my earlier reading about the general lack of tanks during the war and also that tank use by both sides was really quite limited.

 For all the much vaulted propaganda Germany actually only supplied 122 Panzer Is and Italy provided 155 of their L3 CV-33/35 tankettes during the whole conflict. The Soviets provided the Republic with 281 of the far superior T-26B and 50 more BT-5s. These numbers alone mean that tanks could not have played any significant role during the war.

 The author agrees with my thoughts on this but then gets bogged down with technical theory about how the Republic failed to utilize their advantage (having better equipment), by using the T-26s in ways which had not at the time been tested or proven. And even though he talks about armoured cars and their use in passing, I think if he had broadened his view point to cover all aspects of armoured warfare during the conflict, this would have made the book more interesting.

 Whilst freely quoting Fuller and Liddell Hart on their writing about mechanization and combined tactics; the author only in passing grudgingly admits few if anyone of the time was taking these views seriously, so why would the Spanish?

 Col. von Thoma of the Condor Legion, tried to convince Franco to use tanks en-masse, but this was generally ignored as local priorities took precedence. The Italian CTV did for the most part keep their armour together, but until the final pursuit phase of the war, the L3 proved far too vulnerable and no match for the Republic`s Soviet tanks. Effectively both sides used tanks as infantry support weapons, with little or no cooperation between infantry and tanks.

 The author goes into fair detail over shipments and numbers for both sides, how they organised training and supply, even going as far as naming key officers. This is only useful if you are deeply interested in such periphery detail.

 The author does explain how the Soviets limited those who Spaniards put forward to operate their tanks to committed Communists thereby limiting the pool of applicants. He also explains how a distinct lack of training led to poor performance and lack of maintenance which of course led to breakdowns and losses.  

 The Rebels (I refuse to call them Nationalists) quickly found their tanks, both the Panzer Is and L3s were no match for the Soviet T-26 which could engage them with its 45mm gun well outside the effective range of their machine guns. However the Republican tanks often became isolated from their infantry and advanced into villages or built up areas without support where they could be attacked by enemy infantry using petrol bombs and hand grenades! The Rebels also quickly adapted to the threat by having anti-tank guns close to the action to combat enemy tanks.

At the end of the day the author correctly points of weaknesses in the Republic`s military strategy as the cause of its downfall; the small number of tanks made little significant difference to the end result. I have always maintained the oil provided on credit to the Rebels by American companies and the huge quantity of trucks supplied by Ford, GM, etc had a much greater effect towards Franco`s victory than the direct aid provided by both Germany and Italy.

If you know the general history of the SCW and are a wargamer interesting in recreating battles on a tabletop, I`m not sure this book will be for you. Not enough combat details – there weren`t many actual tank Vs tank actions and the author quickly becomes rather preachy with his hindsight viewpoint. I should also add, I`ve read a few of these “dissertation” type articles which are then expanded into a book, so should have known better. This covers a very small part of the SCW and eventually the author is just trying to pad it out, he repeats himself or repeats quotes he`s already made – just does get a bit irritating towards the end.