Diacronie. Studi di Storia Contemporanea (Jul 2011)
Barcellona, 17 e 18 marzo 1938
Abstract
On 17 and 18 March 1938 Barcelona was heavily bombed by the planes of the Legionary Air Force which took off from Palma de Mallorca. Ciano told the English ambassador that the order to bomb had come directly from Franco, but actually it was given by Mussolini to General Valle accidentally met at the Chamber where the Italian duce had gone to deliver a long-awaited speech on the Anschluss. Why was this order given? It has often been asserted that the reasons are to be searched in the will to wear down the civilians, according to the best teachings of Douhet’s air instructions, or in the reaction to the reopening of the French border to allow the aid for the republican faction. These reasons, though well-grounded, have been focused exclusively on the Spanish Civil War. In my article, according to a broader viewpoint considering the approach of the Second World War, I will try to analyze a further reason starting exactly from the annexation of Austria carried out by the Germans and from Mussolini’s explicit desire to increase his reputation in Hitler’s opinion in the hope of a future military alliance. The bombing of Barcelona on 17 and 18 March 1938, from this viewpoint, acquires a communicative dimension of constancy, unscrupulousness and military power that the duce, at least outwardly, catching the euphoric current wave set off by the Anschluss, wanted to transmit to the possible ally.
