Lasting Impact of the Legion
It is now known that 38 people died in 1938 because the Nazis wanted to test whether their dive bombers would be able to transport and drop bombs weighing 500 kilos – double the normal amount, which prevented them from filling up their gas tanks completely. And so they chose four small and unarmed Spanish villages, close to their air base, to destroy.
There are numerous reason's given for the Luftwaffe's participation in this civil war, however, the main reason constituted it was ideal training for troops who will be employed later in the Second World War. This point of view is supported by the testimony of Hermann Goering, who will become Reichsmarchall of the Luftwaffe, at the trial at the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal. When asked about the decision to use the Luftwaffe, he stipulated:
" When the civil war broke out in Spain, Franco sent a call for help to Germany and asked for support, especially air. We must not forget that Franco's troops were stationed in North Africa and that he could not get his troops across, because the fleet was in the hands of the Communists or, as they called themselves, time, the "legitimate revolutionary government in Spain". The main factor was to transport his troops to Spain. The Führer thought about it. I advised him to support (Franco) in all circumstances, first, to prevent the spread of communism in this region and, secondly, by this opportunity to test my young Luftwaffe. "
