Author and veteran Anthony Candil provides expert insight into the five most important lessons learnt during the Spanish Civil War.
Featuring exclusive photos from his new book, Tank Combat in Spain, scroll down to find out exactly how pivotal this war really was for tank combat.
Lesson 1
Numbers, crew training, tactical understanding.
The Spanish Civil War demonstrated that tanks should not be split into small factions and used in small numbers by non-trained crews, and that senior commanders needed a better tactical understanding of the tank’s capabilities.
Lesson 2
Exercise caution in drawing on the lessons learned.
The aftermath of the war, in 1939, made clear that “The lack of detailed information precluded any comprehensive analysis.” Spain has certainly not been a “proving ground for blitzkrieg.”
Lesson 3
Armoured warfare would be expensive. To start with, the Spanish Civil War showed that tank vs. tank combat would be the main mission for main battle tanks from then on. But it showed too that armoured warfare would not be cheap, as better power packs and better armaments – combined with better and improved armour – would escalate at high speed both purchase prices and operating costs for a substantial tank fleet.
Lesson 4
Employ proper tank-infantry tactics. Bad employment of tanks applied to both warring parties. Adequate infantry cooperation is always needed.
Lesson 5
Tanks were vulnerable to antitank guns. Accompanying the infantry and laying broadside to provide fire support made them more vulnerable to antitank guns.
Tank Combat in Spain
By Anthony Candil
The use of tanks in the Spanish Civil War wedded traditional war to modern technology. Although Spain for many years was on the periphery of great affairs in Europe, a couple of months into the civil war, three of the four major European powers – Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union – decided to intervene. This book covers the theories of the three main contributors that provided armour to the warring parties in the civil war, how those contributions shaped combat, and how the lessons learnt were then applied to tank combat in World War II. Today, there is still much to be learnt from this war; not always from what was done or accomplished, but more often from what went wrong.
Author
As a senior Armor officer in the Spanish Army, Anthony J. Candil had direct experience of the struggle of the tank concept in Spain, not then to replace the horse anymore, but to establish the armour as the primary combat arm in mobile warfare, and to create an armoured corps within the Spanish ground forces.
9781612009704 | Hardback | Casemate | £25.00 | July 2021
SPECIAL OFFER: £20.00 | Available to order through Casemate UK
Follow