Bombing of Guernica - overview of participating Luftwaffe aircraft

[Dan History]

Dear members,

I am working on an article about the Luftwaffe bomber force during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz and would like to include some information on the bombing of Guernica to trace the evolution of the German bombers from 1937 to 1941. I have discovered that the specifics of aircraft and munitions used to attack Guernica are not easily found. I understand that 3 or so Heinkel 111s and Dornier 17s, as well as 3 Italian SM79s and around two dozen Ju 52s, participated in the bombing and around 30 tonnes of bombes were dropped. Is more specific information available?

Regards,

Dan

[Boomerang]

Hello Dan:

This source states that two He 111s, one Do 17, 18 Ju 52s and 3 SM 79s carried out the Guernica attack:

https://books.google.com.au/books?id...u%2052&f=false

See page 105. Condor Legion documents are cited as the source.

In terms of the munitions, 'Wolfram von Richthofen Master of the German Air War' by James Corum states that 250 kg bombs and EC B 1 fuses were used (presumably the 250 kg bombs made up part of the ordnance used). See page 136. Richthofen's diary entry for 30 April 1937 is cited for this information.

The first source mentioned above includes some interesting discussion of Guernica, which may provide further leads.

Cheers

Don W

[Orwell1984]

Originally Posted by Boomerang

Hello Dan:

This source states that two He 111s, one Do 17, 18 Ju 52s and 3 SM 79s carried out the Guernica attack:

https://books.google.com.au/books?id...u%2052&f=false

See page 105. Condor Legion documents are cited as the source.

In terms of the munitions, 'Wolfram von Richthofen Master of the German Air War' by James Corum states that 250 kg bombs and EC B 1 fuses were used (presumably the 250 kg bombs made up part of the ordnance used). See page 136. Richthofen's diary entry for 30 April 1937 is cited for this information.

The first source mentioned above includes some interesting discussion of Guernica, which may provide further leads.

Cheers

Don W

For those interested , the book referenced above is available for a free download from the Open Source Library:
https://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=610288

[Dan History]

Originally Posted by Boomerang

Hello Dan:

This source states that two He 111s, one Do 17, 18 Ju 52s and 3 SM 79s carried out the Guernica attack:

https://books.google.com.au/books?id...u%2052&f=false

See page 105. Condor Legion documents are cited as the source.

Hello Don,

Thank you very much for this link. For my forthcoming article, I was able to find similar information on the website of Basque television. A very interesting and detailed review of the attack on Guernica, see http://www.eitb.eus/multimedia/infog.../index_en.html

"EC B 1" should actually read B 1 E, the 1 kilogram German incendiary bomb which was first employed on a large scale in this specific raid, as I understand it.

Regards,

Dan

[Dan History]

Originally Posted by Orwell1984

For those interested , the book referenced above is available for a free download from the Open Source Library:
https://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=610288

Hello Orwell1984,

Thank you, we now have the source of this information, from the book's endnotes. It is an article by Hans-Henning Abendroth entitled „Guernica: Ein fragwürdiges Symbol“, in Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen, published in 1987. It is available at https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/mgz...7.41.1.111.xml

I am grateful for your help in finding this

Kind regards,

Dan

[Frank Olynyk]

Dan,
Another source I would recommend is the book Guernica, by Jesús Salas Larrazábal. Originally published in the 1980s, it was reprinted in 2012, which may include updates. It is in Spanish, and I am unaware of any English translation.

Guernica El Bombardeo: La Historia Frente al Mito. Galland Books. 346 pages. 978-84-15043-26-3

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Dan History]

Originally Posted by Frank Olynyk

Dan,
Another source I would recommend is the book Guernica, by Jesús Salas Larrazábal. Originally published in the 1980s, it was reprinted in 2012, which may include updates. It is in Spanish, and I am unaware of any English translation.

Guernica El Bombardeo: La Historia Frente al Mito. Galland Books. 346 pages. 978-84-15043-26-3

Frank,

Thank you very much for this reference. It is cited multiple times in the Abendroth article, so must be a good source. Purchasing it is not on my horizon at present, but I will certainly put it on my wish list

Kind regards,

Dan

[Fanair]

Jesus Salas Larrazabal is probably the best historian of the air operations during the Spanish civil war but except Air War over Spain published a long time ago by Ian Allan his books are not translated in English.