Spanish Civil War Tanks by Steven Zaloga

Author:Steven Zaloga
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spanish Civil War Tanks: The Proving Ground for Blitzkrieg
ISBN: 9781780962122
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Published: 2011-11-24T16:00:00+00:00

An interesting photo of a PzKpfw I of the 3a Compañía of the Nationalist1st Batallón de Carros de Combate with its distinctive emblem, a skull and crossbones, probably inspired by widespread use of this symbol by the German Panzergruppe Drohne. (John Prigent Collection)

A PzKpfw I Ausf A of the 1st Batallón de Carros de Combate prior to its attachment to the Tercio in 1938. This shows the early markings style of this unit, with the Nationalist tricolor flag insignia extending along the whole front plate; later it was reduced in size to a smaller rectangle. Some of these tanks had a St Andrew’s Cross painted on the hull side on a white rectangle, but this was overpainted on this tank. (John Prigent Collection)

Brunete attracted far more attention by Western military analysts than most other tank engagements in Spain during the war due to extensive press coverage. The inability of the tanks to advance in the face of enemy antitank guns was cited by many as evidence of the failure of the tank to restore mobility to warfare. Even noted British theorist B. H. Liddell Hart began to have his doubts in view of the Spanish experience. Yet, to other observers, the tanks had been poorly employed, and there was skepticism whether many lessons could be learned from the Spanish experience. British armor advocate Major-General J. F. C. Fuller remarked: “Battles are not won by clichés or Liddell-Hartisms,” and he dismissed most of the press remarks about armor, attributing the tanks’ poor performance to the abysmal tactics employed in Spain. Russian assessments of the lessons of the Brunete campaign paid little attention to the tank operations and focused instead on the poor quality of the Republican infantry, its continued inability to cooperate effectively with either tanks or artillery, and the inflexibility of the artillery in assisting in offensive operations. It was also pointed out that the main attack sectors had an unusually high density of antitank guns and artillery, 26.6 guns per kilometer compared to an average of 13.8 guns per kilometer on the front as a whole.

Republican T-26 Tank Casualties in Spain October 1936–August 1937

Campaign Date Tanks participating Destroyed tanks Disabled tanks Total casualties

Madrid Oct 26–28, 1936

Nov 28, 1936 87 16 (18.3%) 36 (41.4%) 52 (59.7%)

Jarama Feb 5–27, 1937 47 14 (29.8%) 20 (42.6%) 34 (72.4%)

Guadalajara Mar 9–22, 1937 72 7 (9.7%) 21 (29.2%) 28 (38.9%)

Casa del Campo May 5–12, 1937 84 10 (11.9%) 13 (15.5%) 23 (27.3%)

Brunete Jul 6–28, 1937 132 21 (15.9%) 26 (19.7%) 47 (35.5%)

Total 422 68 (16.1%) 116 (27.4%) 184 (43.6%)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.