This week, seventy years ago, the men of the victorious Legion Condor marched down the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin, before cheering throngs of their German countrymen.  At the Lustgarten, the troops were addressed by der Führer and the dead were honored. A formal state banquet was held in the Reich Chancellery for the most highly decorated of the Legion. Among those in attendance were Spanish Generals Don Antonio Aranda and Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, German Generals Hugo Sperrle and Baron von Richthofen, and of course, Field Marshal Göring, Hitler and other military and party  dignitaries.
    Only a few weeks before, they, having provided invaluable assistance to the Nationalists’ victory in the Spanish Civil War, had marched triumphantly down La Grand Vía, in Madrid, before El Caudillo, while in the skies above, the Legion’s pilots had joined with those of the Italian Aviazione Legionaria and the Spanish Fuerza Aérea Nacional to form the words “VIVA FRANCO” above the marching troops.  Several days later the German ships Wilhelm Gustloff, Robert Ley, Deutsche, Stuttgart, Sierra Cordova and the Oceana arrived in the Spanish port of Vigo. Six years later, the Wilhelm Gustloff achieved immortality, when after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, it sank in the frigid Baltic with a loss of more than 9,000 lives, constituting the worst maritime disaster in history. On May 26, 1939, the members of the Legion Condor boarded those ships and embarked for the Fatherland.  
    On May 30, 1939, the ships arrived off Hamburg and were escorted into the Port by the pocket battleships, Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer. There, they were greeted by Luftwaffe Chief, Field Marshal Hermann Göring, who saluted them from the State Yacht Hamburg, and later, after they marched in review, told them that der Führer had created a special medal to honor their service. Portraits of der Führer were distributed, with the inscription on the reverse, “Homecoming of the German volunteers from Spain, May 31, 1939,” even though it was May 30.  From Hamburg, the Legion went to Berlin, for another homecoming, parade and a salute from der Führer on June 6, 1939. To commemorate the Legion’s return, a postal stamp was created.
    The Legion Condor had been Germany’s contribution to the Nationalists’ victory in the Spanish Civil War. The contribution initially began with the world’s first airlift. The Nationalist rebellion had begun, but the bulk of its fighting force, and its leader, Francisco Franco, were in Spanish Morocco, with no way to get to the Spanish mainland - that is, until planes supplied by the German Luftwaffe were sent to the rescue. The German planes transported General Franco, and his army, from Spanish Morocco, across the Straits of Gibraltar, to the Spanish mainland, in the world’s first military airlift.
    The German contribution morphed into fighters and bombers and later still, a Panzer unit. The first commander of the Legion Condor was General Hugo Sperrle, who would receive the Field Marshal’s baton in 1940. He was succeeded by his Chief-of-Staff, Baron Dr. Wolfram von Richthofen, who became the youngest German to ever receive the Field Marshal’s baton in 1943. The Panzer unit, called Imker (“Beekeeper”), was commanded by Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma. His participation in World War II ended when he was captured at the Battle of El Alamein, in October 1942.
    For the Germans, the advantages gained, and lessons learned, during their service in Spain were incalculable. They were able to field test, under combat conditions, their arms, men and equipment. As a result, improvements were made to the famed Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter plane, which would make it the most successful of the war. More of these planes were built than any other in history. The Germans also discovered the value of the 88-millimeter anti-aircraft gun in other uses, and made improvements to it.
    Tactics were also perfected. For instance, it was in Spain that Baron von Richthofen perfected the close support of the air arm with the ground troops. The Panzers also refined their tactics and the use of armor as one unit, rather than dispersed throughout the army. Carpet bombing was also developed in Spain. Thousands of future Luftwaffe pilots gained invaluable experience for the coming struggle. And officers gained experience leading men in combat. The Germans also developed the first air ambulance to evacuate the wounded.
    Future ace, general and commander of fighters, Adolf Galland, made significant contributions. During the Asturias campaign, he developed carpet bombing. He created an incendiary bomb, by filling a tank with used engine oil and gasoline and lashing a 22-pound bomb to each side. He also organized a train especially to transport his squadron.
    Galland was replaced, in spring, 1938 by Werner Mölders, who would become the first fighter pilot in history to achieve 100 victories. He was the leading German ace in Spain, with 14. Mölders was instrumental in changing the German aerial fighter formation from the three-plane Vee, known, in German, as a Kette, to a two-plane Rotte. In the Rotte, the two planes flew about 600 feet apart, with the better fighter pilot taking the lead and other covering his rear. Two Rotten constituted a Schwarm. This was found to be far more effective, than the Kette, and the Germans used this throughout World War II. In fact, it is still used by the R.A.F and the U.S.A.F.
    The most famous operation of Legion Condor was Operation Rügen - the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica, immortalized by Pablo Picasso with his painting of the same name.
    In exchange for this contribution, the Reich was able to monopolize Spanish resources, such as iron ore, tungsten, iron sulfide and cinnabarite. In addition, the Reich gained an ally - Italy. There was even some military coordination, especially between the Legion Condor and the Aviazone Legionaria. Indeed, although the Legion Condor received all of the blame for the bombing of Guernica, the Aviazone Legionaria also participated.
    The contribution, of the Legion Condor, to the Nationalist’ cause had also been invaluable, for it allowed Franco’s forces to control the air. During the Spanish Civil War, the three squadrons of the Legion Condor’s Junkers Ju 52 bombers dropped 16,953,700 kilos of bombs on the Spanish countryside.
    Legion Condor veterans received the Spanienkreuz (Spanish Cross) from a grateful Reich, in appreciation of their service. There were three classes - gold, silver and bronze - depending upon the extent of one’s participation. Each of these classes was further divided - bronze and silver with swords and gold with diamonds. There was also a “Next of Kin” cross. The veterans who continued to serve the Fatherland, in the Luftwaffe, were authorized to wear, on the right sleeve of their uniform, a cuff band with the words “Legion Condor” in Gothic script on a dark blue base. Those who served in the army were also authorized to wear a cuff band which was red with metallic gold lettering which read “1936 Spanien 1939.”  Those who had been wounded also received a “Wound Badge,” which was authorized on May 22, 1939, “...as a recognition badge to German Volunteers who had received wounds on action in the fight against Bolshevism during the 1936-1939 Spanish War of Liberation.” The German soldiers and airmen also received a medal from the Franco government, designed by the Generalísimo himself.
    
    Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own.