What was the bombing of Guernica, and how is it defined?

Alsina González
Specialist journalist and researcher

Carried out by order of Wolfram von Richthofen (cousin of the famous ace World War I German nicknamed “the Red Baron”), consisted of raid of different waves each, which began at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Monday, April 26, 1936, with a lone German bomber Dornier Sun 17 which dropped about 600 kg of bombs. Their objective, as in the second wave that occurred a little later, was the existing bridge to the east of Gernika, together with the road that went up to the north. The second wave was made up of three Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s bombers. Guernica would be taken three days later by the rebel forces. The bridge, the theoretical target of the attack, was intact.

After the first attack, there were three more waves, led by German Heinkel He 111 bombers escorted by Fiat CR.32 fighters, which began to inflict more damage on the population than its predecessors, more focused on the bridge.

The second attack occurred from 18:30, and was the largest and most destructive. Between a dozen and fifteen Ju 52 bombers escorted by Fiat CR.32 fighters, Messerschmidt Bf 109B, and Heinkel He 51, attacked the town from north to south, dropping incendiary bombs on it.

During the fifteen minutes after the bombers passed, the German fighters indiscriminately strafed the streets leading out of the town and its surroundings, thereby increasing the number of civilian victims of the stroke.

75% of the buildings belonging to Guernika were completely destroyed, and it is more than likely that none remained completely intact, as a result of the bombs or shrapnel, although curiously, the military objectives consisting of the three arms factories that the town had at the time, were not destroyed.

While the act of bombing itself is fairly well documented and made quite clear historically to the extent in which all these issues remain, with differences between historians in aspects such as the mortality produced, its motivation it is obscured by the mists of history, and its consequences also divide the community.

Theories about the reason for the action

The brutality of the bombing and the cruelty with the population civil by the aviators of the Condor Legion (German expeditionary force in the Civil war Spanish) has given rise to several theories and lines of investigation, although it is likely that the real reasons for the bombing will never be clear.

The action on Guernica was attributed by the propaganda of the rebel side to the government side as a false flag action, something that even at the time nobody believed.

Another theory, supported by supporters of the rebellion, points to authorship on behalf of and risk of the Condor Legion as a experiment of the terror tactics that would later be carried out during World War II.

The existing discrepancies between the Spanish high command and the German commanders, who had their own interests marked out from Berlin, contribute to this theory. And the Spanish commanders on the rebel side would not have protested when they found out they needed German help.

Finally, some historians opt to upload the entire responsibility in Franco and the Rebel General Staff, who with the brutal action would have sought to "teach a lesson" to the Republicans.

The truth is that the disagreements between the Germans and the Spanish, together with the interests of Berlin in testing new weapons and tactics, and the propaganda purpose of this action, could have raised the intensity of the attack to limits that are difficult to understand, but it is true that the rebel side did not make any protest or public mention of the fact, since the effects of the attack benefited the offensive on the Country Basque.