Pleased with this development, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco rejects neutrality and announces a tacitly pro-German policy of nonbelligerence, modeled after that of Italy before its entrance into the war just two days earlier. On October 23, he signs an agreement committing Spain to join the Tripartite Pact—which Germany, Italy, and Japan concluded the previous month—at a time to be agreed upon by the four powers. Its terms assure Spain of badly needed military and economic assistance from Germany and Italy, and the restoration of Gibraltar, which Britain had seized from Spain in It also promises an expansion of Spanish territory in Morocco at the expense of Vichy France.
Spain does join the pact. Then, on January 10, , it declares war on Great Britain, a step timed to coincide with the start of Operation Felix, the Nazi plan to capture the British fortress at Gibraltar. Sixty-five thousand German troops cross from occupied France into Spain, and by February Felix gets seriously under way.
Spanish troops occupy the expanded territory without firing a shot. The tiny Gibraltar peninsula—less than three square miles in size—comes under intense pressure from German infantry and armor, as well as relentless bombardment from heavy artillery and near-continual air raids.
Within a month, the British garrison of 30, capitulates. Franco had urged Hitler to preempt this with an offensive to seize the canal, but Hitler, unwilling to adopt a Mediterranean-oriented strategy, declines to do so.
The United States, its foreign policy increasingly tilted toward Britain, ends trade relations with Spain, thereby forcing the diversion of substantial Axis economic resources to that country. Spain has planned to invade Portugal, but is incapable of doing so on its own.
Hitler is uninterested in helping. Focused on Eastern Europe, he does not want to invest troops in a theater peripheral to German interests. On June 22, , Hitler invades the Soviet Union. The Falange, an organization of staunchly anti-Communist Spanish fascists, recruits a division of volunteers for service on the Eastern Front. As many as 45, Spaniards serve in the Blue Division, which suffers 13, casualties during its two years of service.
The above scenario closely fits the historical record. If Franco "Did a Mussolini" in June he like his good Italian friend would in a few months would have come to realise that he had made a catastrophic mistake. Spain in the war from June won't produce an Axis victory unless it leads to Britain being forced to make peace by the end of , which I think is very unlikely.
Spain in the war will provide the Fws with bases further west so they can fly further into the Atlantic. It would be harder for the British to blockade U-boats operating from Ferrol and Cadiz than it did for them to blockade the U-boats operating from French Atlantic ports because they're further away from British bases.
OTOH the Spanish bases were probably less well equipped than the French bases that they inherited and it might be harder to supply them due to their greater distance from Germany and the Spanish transportation infrastructure roads, railways and coastal shipping.
One thing that I find particularly intriguing is the German heavy units being able to operate from Spanish bases rather than French ones. However, in common with the U-boats the Spanish bases might not be as well equipped as the French ones. But once the 9. Taking out Gibraltar also makes it easier to get U-boats into the Mediterranean. IIRC Hitler ordered Donitz to send 30 of the 90 operational in late to the Mediterranean, but only a two thirds got through. The other 10 were sunk or forced to turn back.
Spain in the war turns the Western Mediterranean into an Axis lake until the end of if Operation Torch still happens at that time and in the same form. However, apart from preventing the British from sending supplies to Malta via Gibraltar so it falls in the second half of I don't know what good that does the Axis. However, I think none of that is enough to produce an Axis victory. Having written that it could be different if Spain as well as Italy entering the war in June started a band wagon rolling.
Plus Egypt and Turkey declaring war on Britain in instead of remaining neutral. I was going to say it would have been more interesting if the coup of had been a success so that Spain in ITTL hadn't been wrecked and bankrupted by 3 years of civil war and directed you to this thread.
This is the " tiny" Spanish Navy in June from Conway's However, as the Spanish Civil War had only been over for 15 months many of these ships might still be under repair of the war damage they received. Submarines There were 12 submarines at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
That is 6 B class boats launched and 6 C class launched However, only one B class boat and 2 C class survived the Civil War. The others were sunk or scuttled. D1 and D2 were laid down in and , but they weren't launched until and not completed until and respectively. D3 wasn't laid down until , launched until and completed until On the other hand two new Italian submarines that had been launched were transferred to the Nationalists in But one of them was wrecked in and the other 2 were sunk in the Spanish Civil War.
There were 6 cruisers 1 Reina Victoria Eugenia class completed - practically identical to the British improved Birmingham class. There were 20 destroyers 3 Alsendo class completed - similar to the British M class 13 Churruca class completed - similar to the British Scott class flotilla leaders - a sister ship was sunk in the Spanish Civil War.
Another pair of Churruca class was ordered in , suspended for the duration of the Civil war and restarted in However, they weren't laid down until and completed There were 5 sloops plus 2 fitting out 1 Calvo Sotelo ordered by the Mexican Navy and launched in - but taken over by the Spanish Government in when she was almost complete. Talking of Italian transfers the Italians sold 4 destroyers 2 Sella class completed and 2 Spica class completed in March They also sold aircraft 75 Fiat C.
This post from Sloreck in the last thread says what I was trying to say in Post 8 better. A number of the minor axis powers were waiting until it looked like the war was won before they jumped in. Italy, Hungary, others did this. Franco was playing this same game - had Malta fallen or it looked like Suez was going to be captured he probably would have jumped in at that point.
Because of the terrible shape Spain was in in , and the dependency on imported food and petroleum to simply keep the population fed, let alone rebuild Spain, Franco's balancing act was more delicate.
If he piled on too soon, he could face further devastation and famine in Spain even if Germany eventually won and of course if Germany lost Spain was really screwed. If he waiting too long to pile on, all of the goodies would already be spoken for.
Franco, correctly, made the call that it was better to err on the side of too late and get few if any goodies, than pile on too soon and destroy Spain. Spain joins the axis and Portugal then go full allied with their historic friend UK. Canary islands invaded by Brittish marines. Carl Schwamberger. With comparatively few Germans still in Spain—most have redeployed to the Russian front—the western Allies have little difficulty gaining a foothold, and recover Gibraltar in January Last edited: Mar 3, I was going to say it would have been more interesting if the coup of had been a success so that Spain in ITTL hadn't been wrecked and bankrupted by 3 years of civil war.
After refitting it would have been easier to get her back into the North Atlantic if so desired. She would have docked at Cadiz instead of Brest after her second Atlantic sortie and in March have proceeded to Cartagena or an Italian dockyard for to refit instead of the longer and riskier voyage back to Germany.
They might have refuelled there if the British hadn't taken them yet. Once again I think they'd have made for Ferrol instead of Brest and then gone to Cartagena to refit. ITTL Bismarck would probably be making for Ferrol instead of Brest with the intention of proceeding on to Italy who had a dry dock capable of taking the Littorios so it should have been big enough for Bismarck.
I doubt that The Twins and Hipper would have been ready to come out and meet her, but there is the possibility of the Spanish Navy sending a force of cruisers and destroyers to escort her back in.
I think the Germans would have made Cartagena the main maintenance base for their ships operating from Spain because they can't be attacked by British aircraft carriers, RAF bombers operating from Britain would have to fly over hundreds of miles of Spanish territory which would give the defenders more warning and it was closer to Germany than Cadiz and Ferrol which would be forward operating bases easing the logistical difficulties.
I though they could use the railways and inland waterways in German and France to get the supplies as far as Marseilles and then send them by coastal shipping to Cartagena. Then at the beginning of June the Kriegsmarine has Bismarck, The Twins, Admiral Scheer, Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen in the western Mediterranean where they can either reinforce the Italians in the central and eastern Mediterranean or make sorties into the Atlantic. Whether the Germans actually have the fuel to do either is another matter.
However, one battleship, two battlecruisers, one panzerschiffe and two heavy cruisers at Cartagena are a bigger fleet in being than The Twins and Prinz Eugen at Brest and a lot less vulnerable to air attack.
It's not going to win the war for the Axis, but it's interesting. Africa the Italian navy and merchant marine not suffering as badly, as soon.
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