Italian military intervention in Spain

[1] Italy supplied machine guns, artillery, aircraft, tankettes, the Aviazione Legionaria, and the Corpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV) to the Nationalist cause.The Italians were initially more welcomed by the Nationalists than the Germans due to greater cultural and religious similarity, while Mussolini's regime was seen as a more viable model for Spain than Germany's heavily race-based Nazi dictatorship.[3] However the Italian fascists were critical of what they regarded as the Nationalists more reactionary and clerical character, in contrast to their own ideology which they viewed as modernist and progressive.[4] Italian planes carried out most of the large-scale bombing operations, striking the cities of Barcelona, Alicante, Granollers, and Valencia, as well as the railway stations of Sant Vicenç de Calders and Xàtiva.[5] By the end of the conflict the Aviazione Legionaria had logged a total of 135,265 hours' flying time on 5,318 operations, dropping 11,524 tons of bombs and destroying 943 enemy air units and 224 ships.
Spanish Civil WarNationalist forcesAviazione LegionariaCorpo Truppe VolontarieItalian Royal NavySecond Spanish RepublicFrancisco FrancoSecond Italo-Ethiopian WarMediterraneantankettesRoyal Italian NavyItalianblockadeBarcelonaAlicanteGranollersValenciaSant Vicenç de CaldersXàtivaMálagaSantanderbreaking through and stabilizing the Aragon frontthe occupation of Barcelona and Gironaconcluding the Levantine campaignItalian Naval MissionGerman involvement in the Spanish Civil WarWar in HistoryBackgroundconspiracy1938–1939List of battlesRepublicanPopular FrontNationalistFalangistsCarlistsAlfonsistsForeign involvementCominternInternational BrigadesNon-interventionNyon ConferenceGermanyCondor LegionViriatosIrelandArmy of AfricaConcentration campsEvacuation of childrenGuernicaGovernment during the warMoscow goldSpanish RevolutionRed TerrorWhite Terrormilitary of Italy