The Corps of Volunteer Troops ( it, Corpo Truppe Volontarie, CTV) was a Fascist Italian expeditionary force of military volunteers, which was sent to Spain to support the Nationalist forces under General

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

against the Spanish Republic during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, 1936–39.

Background

In July 1936, at the beginning of

, most of the elite Nationalist forces were isolated in

Spanish Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

or on the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

. Meanwhile, in Spain, smaller formations of Nationalists and

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard ( es, Guardia Civil, link=no; ) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the au ...

forces were locked in combat with pro-government militias, Assault Guards and those army units which remained loyal to the leftist

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

government. Making the situation more difficult for the Nationalists was the fact that the

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics ('' Aeronáutica ...

and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

generally remained loyal to the government. If the Nationalist forces fighting in Spain did not receive reinforcements, the rebellion could soon fail. General

and the other Nationalist leaders sent emissaries to Berlin and to Rome to ask for help. The German dictator,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

, and the Italian dictator,

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

, immediately responded in a positive manner. They sent transport aircraft and crews to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

to airlift Nationalist forces from there to Spain. The colonial troops from Morocco allowed the Nationalist forces to take the initiative on mainland Spain. The Italians also used Nationalist-held and Portuguese harbours as staging points for sending supplies to the Nationalist forces and for landing Spanish troops to support the rebellion. Italian submarines began to sink Spanish, Soviet and other nations' ships that were transporting materials through the Mediterranean to Republican harbours. However, action by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

resulted in the

Nyon Agreement The Nyon Conference was a diplomatic conference held in Nyon, Switzerland, in September 1937 to address attacks on international shipping in the Mediterranean Sea during the Spanish Civil War. The conference was convened in part because Italy ...

of September 1937, which classed these operations as acts of piracy and was enforced by the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

and the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

Commanders

Here are the commanders of the Corps of Volunteer Troops and significant battles fought with CTV participation while they were in command: *General

Mario Roatta Mario Roatta (2 February 1887 – 7 January 1968) was an Italian general. After serving in World War I he rose to command the Corpo Truppe Volontarie which assisted Francisco Franco's force during the Spanish Civil War. He was the Deputy Chief o ...

– Commander-in-Chief of the CTV, from 1936 to 1937 ** Battle of Málaga – Nationalist victory **

Battle of Guadalajara The Battle of Guadalajara (March 8–23, 1937) saw the victory of the People's Republican Army (''Ejército Popular Republicano'', or EPR) and of the International Brigades over the Italian and Nationalist forces attempting to encircle Madrid d ...

– Republican victory *General

Ettore Bastico Ettore Bastico (9 April 1876 – 2 December 1972) was an Italian military officer before and during World War II. In addition to being a general of the Royal Italian Army, he was also a senator and governor. He held high commands during the Se ...

– Commander-in-Chief of the CTV, 1937 **

Battle of Santander The Battle of Santander was a battle fought in the War in the North campaign of the Spanish Civil War during the summer of 1937. Santander's fall on 26 August assured the Nationalist conquest of the province of Santander, now Cantabria. The ba ...

– Nationalist victory *General

Mario Berti Mario Berti (3 February 1881 – 1964) was an Italian officer during World War I and a general in the Spanish Civil War and World War II.Macksey, p. 35 Personal life Mario Berti was born in La Spezia, which is located in modern-day Liguria. ...

– Commander-in-Chief of the CTV, from 1937 to 1938 **

Aragon Offensive The Aragon Offensive was an important military campaign during the Spanish Civil War, which began after the Battle of Teruel. The offensive, which ran from March 7, 1938, to April 19, 1938, smashed the Republican forces, overran Aragon, and conqu ...

– Nationalist victory *General

Gastone Gambara Gastone Gambara (10 November 1890 – 27 February 1962) was an Italian General who participated in World War I and World War II. He excelled during the Italian intervention in favor of the nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. During World War ...

– Commander-in-Chief of the CTV, from 1938 to 1939 ** Catalonia Offensive – Nationalist victory

Timeline

1936

3 September : Republican forces from

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

, under the command of Captain Alberto Bayo, made a landing on

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bale ...

. His formations were the target of the Italian Air Force, which attacked on 24 October. On the same date, Italian bombers and fighters launched their first air raid on

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. That was intended to demonstrate to the Republican forces the power of Franco's allies. In the following days, they began a series of bombing raids on the Spanish capital. 2 November : Italian and German bombers and their fighter escorts were attacked by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

aircraft, nicknamed " Chatos" by the Spanish, which resulted in some losses for the Italians. 12 December : After the failure of Franco's offensive on Madrid, Mussolini decided to send regular army forces to Spain. Mussolini made that decision after he had consulted

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Italy. The office was one of the positions which Italy inherited from the Kingdom of Sardinia where it was the most ancient ministry of the government: t ...

Galeazzo Ciano Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 1 ...

and General

, who were then two of the most influential men in Italy. Roatta was made the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian "expeditionary force". General

Luigi Frusci Luigi Frusci (16 January 1879 – 1949) was an officer in the Italian Royal Army (''Regio Esercito'') during the Italian conquest of Ethiopia and World War II. He was the last Italian Governor of Eritrea and Amhara. Biography Ordine militare ...

became his Deputy Commander. 23 December : The first formation of 3,000 troops landed in Cadiz and was called the "Italian Army Mission".

1937

January: By then, approximately 44,000 regular Italian army soldiers and members of the Fascist paramilitary (''

Blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...

'') were in Spain. In late February, the "expeditionary force" was renamed the "Corps of Volunteer Troops" (''Corpo Truppe Volontarie'', or CTV). The CTV was organised into four divisions: * 4th "Littorio" Infantry Division (''

Lictor A lictor (possibly from la, ligare, "to bind") was a Roman civil servant who was an attendant and bodyguard to a magistrate who held ''imperium''. Lictors are documented since the Roman Kingdom, and may have originated with the Etruscans. Origi ...

'') - A fully motorized infantry division of the Italian Royal Army ('' Regio Esercito''). * 1st "Dio lo Vuole" Blackshirt Infantry Division ("God wills it") * 2nd "Fiamme Nere" Blackshirt Infantry Division ("Black Flames") * 3rd "Penne Nere" Blackshirt Infantry Division ("Black Feathers") The Blackshirt (''Camicie Nere'', CCNN) Divisions contained regular soldiers and volunteer militia from the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

. The CCNN divisions were semi-motorised. There, it also had the independent XXIII de Marzo Group of CCNN infantry. The Italian CTV also had a Tank and Armoured Cars Group, Corps Artillery of ten regiments (Groups) of field artillery and four batteries of anti-aircraft artillery. 3 to 8 February: The 1st CCNN Division "Dio lo Vuole", in support of the Nationalists, launched an offensive against

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most po ...

. On 8 February, the Italians and Nationalists captured the city. The Battle of Málaga was a decisive victory for the Nationalists. About 74 Italian soldiers were killed, 221 wounded, and two missing in that battle. March: The Corps of Volunteer Troops now numbered over 50,000 troops. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-P0214-516, Spanien, Schlacht um Guadalajara

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-P0214-516, Spanien, Schlacht um Guadalajara

8 to 23 March: Mussolini decided that Fascist Italian forces should lead a fourth offensive on Madrid. The Italian offensive resulted in the

, which ended as a decisive victory for the Republican forces. In contrast, the Italian forces suffered heavy losses. The Italian armour, consisting for the most part of L3/35 tankettes, proved to be no match for the tanks that were provided to the Republicans by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. The Italian offensive was repulsed by a strong Republican counter-offensive led by the 11th Division. Of the four Italian divisions engaged, only the Littorio Division did not suffer heavy losses. The three CCNN divisions had such heavy losses that they had to be reorganised into two divisions and a special weapons (armour and artillery) group. The 3rd CCNN Division was disbanded and consolidated with the 2nd CCNN Division in April 1937. April to August: Following the reduction of the CCNN Divisions, Italians began to serve in mixed Italo-Spanish ''Flechas'' ("Arrows") units, with the Italians providing the officers and technical personnel and the Spanish served in the rank and file. The first were the Flechas Azules (“Blue Arrows”) Mixed Brigade and the Flechas Negras (“Black Arrows”) Mixed Brigade, which served respectively in Extremadura and Viscaya from April to August 1937. Also in Viscaya were the CTV's XXIII de Marzo Group and 11 Artillery Groups. August to September: Roatta's replacement, General

, commanded the CTV forces including the Division XXIII di Marzo, formed from the XXIII de Marzo Group. The CTV broke the Republicans' lines near Soncillo; captured a key pass, the Puerto del Escudo; and penetrated deep into the Republican rear during the

, which resulted in a decisive victory for the Nationalists. They were then transferred to the

Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises th ...

front. Some CTV forces may have been involved in the

Battle of El Mazuco The Battle of El Mazuco was fought between 6 and 22 September 1937, between the Republican and Nationalist armies during the Spanish Civil War as a part of the War in the North campaign. The Republican defence of El Mazuco and the surroundi ...

, but details are unconfirmed. October: After the northern campaigns, the 1st CCNN Division and 2nd CCNN Division were consolidated with the Division XXIII di Marzo and renamed the ''XXIII de Marzo - Llamas Negras'' Division.

1938

March : The Flechas Negras Brigade was expanded into the

Flechas Division Flechas Division (Flechas = Arrows, in Spanish) was created from the Flechas Negras Brigade expanded into a Division sized unit. It served in the Aragon Offensive and the March to the Sea, in 1938, during the Spanish Civil War. Italians from the Co ...

"Arrows" and served in the

and the March to the Sea, with the CTV now under

. 18 March:

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

was the target of 13 Italian large-scale air raids. Mussolini ordered the bombings without consulting Franco. The Italian aircraft were armed with incendiary and gas bombs, which resulted in the death of around 2,500 civilians. November : The Flechas Division was strengthened renamed "Flechas Negras", and the Flechas Azules Brigade was expanded into two other Flechas Divisions, which took part in the Catalonia Offensive the final offensive of the war, along with the rest of the CTV under

: *

Flechas Negras Division Flechas Negras Division was a division of the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. The name means "Black Arrows" in Spanish. It was a Blackshirts division created when the Flechas Division was further strengthened with support units ...

"Black Arrows" *

Flechas Azules Division Flechas Azules Division was a division of the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. The name means "Blue Arrows" in Spanish. It was created when the Flechas Azules Mixed Brigade was expanded into two division-sized units; the Flechas ...

"Blue Arrows" *

Flechas Verdes Division The Flechas Verdes Division was a division of the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. The name means "Green Arrows" in Spanish. It was created when the Flechas Azules Mixed Brigade was expanded into two division-sized units: the Fle ...

"Green Arrows"

1939

February: After the victory of Franco and the Nationalists over the Republicans, General Bastico and the Italian volunteers left Spain.

Aftermath

On 1 April 1939, the success of the Nationalists meant that the Italians now had a friendly regime in the western

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

. Of the approximately 78,500 men sent to Spain, 2,989 to 3,819 had been killed and about 12,000 (10,629) wounded. Most of the casualties were caused during the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

and the Aragonese Offensives, with about 44% of the deaths and 43% of the wounded, and the rest during the

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

, Santander and Levante offensives. The Italian military left behind roughly 3,400 machine guns, 1,400 mortars, 1,800 artillery pieces, 6,800 vehicles, 160 tanks, and 760 aircraft. However, while the military equipment represented a loss to Italy's war inventory, most of the equipment was outdated. The financial cost of the war was larger. The cost of the CTV to Italy amounted to between 6 and 8.5 billion lire. At 14 to 20 percent of annual expenditure, that represented an immense drain on the Italian economy. The high cost of the Spanish expedition further limited Italy's economic output in the period before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

.Walker, p. 17

Footnotes

Sources

* *de Mesa, José Luis, ''El regreso de las legiones: (la ayuda militar italiana a la España nacional, 1936-1939)'', García Hispán, Granada:España, 1994 *Leon Wyszczelski "Madryt 1936-1937" Historical Battles published by Ministry of National Defence, Warsaw 1988. *Some details from the Republican perspective on the Italian military in Spain appears in the works of

Luigi Longo Luigi Longo (15 March 1900 – 16 October 1980), also known as Gallo, was an Italian communist politician and secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1964 to 1972. He was also the first foreigner to be awarded an Order of Lenin. Early ...

, a former organizer of the International Brigades. *Information on Italian army activities appearing in this article was taken fro
lacucaracha.info "La Cucaracha": Civil War in Spain 1936-1939 Official website

External links

{{Authority control Expatriate military units and formations Francoist Spain Military units and formations of Italy in the Spanish Civil War Expeditionary units and formations Military units and formations established in 1936 Military units and formations disestablished in 1939 Foreign volunteers in the Spanish Civil War