"Rome and Berlin, of course, supplied Generalissimo Francisco Franco and his Nationalists with aircraft, pilots, tanks, military advisors and much more, while L

"Rome and Berlin, of course, supplied Generalissimo Francisco Franco and his Nationalists with aircraft, pilots, tanks, military advisors and much more, while London, Paris, and Washington refused to help the democratically-elected government of the Republic in any way." That leaves out the twisty-turny story of tanks in the Spanish Civil War. By my count the story has five surprise twists. ONE The germans were forbidden to have tanks by the Treaty of Versailles. So they had no tanks to give. TWO With some creative rules lawyering the Germans came up with the Panzer I, a tracked armoured car with two machine guns instead of a cannon. THREE The proper tanks of the period mostly had a small caliber, high velocity cannon. They could take out an enemy tank with solid shot. On the other hand a small caliber shell doesn't have much room for high explosive, and makes a poor anti-personnel weapon. In the circumstances of the Civil War, with Franco hoping to mow down Republican infantry with machines guns, the Panzer I is a splendid little tank, and I'm wrong to disparage it as a tracked armoured car. FOUR Those weren't the actual circumstances. The Russians supply the Republicans with 281 of their T-26's. Nice little tanks, with a 45mm cannon, just the ticket for making mincemeat out of the crews of Panzer I's FIVE So the Nationalists capture 178 of them from the Republicans and put around 50 of them back in service, killing Republicans. Not only were the Republicans well supplied with tanks from Moscow, Franco also got his best tanks from Moscow!