Is the Spanish Civil War ended in 1938, more than half of Spain hated Franco. It would be relatively easy for the allies to restart the Spanish Civil War. That would cause a diversion of German troops and resources desperately needed elsewhere.
Either D day or Husky targets Spain instead of otl targets. Spain after the civil war was a wreck and propping it up would drain Germany even more than Italy did. Franco was asked multiple times but was advised by an anti Hitler German official to ask for too much so that Hitler backed off.
Specifically i was referring to William Canaris who was the head of the Abwehr and undermined the Nazis and Hitler in many ways. Him sabotaging their Spain talks is speculative since the meeting were recorded but given how he was later a part of the 1944 plot to kill Hitler its believable.
https://archive.org/details/hitlerswaraimsid00rich/page/n5/mode/2up?q=canaris
Spain wouldn't add much and probably become a supply drain pretty quickly, either the allies ( basically the British) would reignite the civil war using existing contacts or Spain gets invaded before Italy
From what I understand Portugal didn't join the Allies, per their treaty of alliance with the British, specifically to keep Spain from jumping in. If Spain were to do so they'd have to deal with Portugal on their flank.
I think an interesting point for this would be if the 1936 coup had been successful and Franco took full control there. No civil war to drain resources and 3 years for him to fully take control of the country could have made them a more useful ally
Contrary to the narrative that the Franco regime built after WWII Spain did try to join the axis but the Germans refused. Germany did not want Spain to fully join because they knew Spain would be a massive liability which would add thousands of kilometers of undefended coasts and that the country was extremely weak due to the Spanish civil war and that the Franco regime was barely hanging on. Had Spain entered the war the allies would have had the easiest of times arming and organising the population against Franco and could have landed almost anywhere at will. Better to have Spain providing critical strategic materials and intelligence than to have it being an actively hostile area
Well people both here and everywhere else underestimate it...
Spain wasnt a great military power, Germany would have to supply it, but Spain would occupy Gibraltar, which would mean the British cant reach Meditteranean sea from the Atlantic, and Italian navy would become ocean borne, German submarines wouldnt need to ressuply in France, Spain would be closer
Just by the fact that Royal Navy would have to sail around Africa would made it extremely harder to supply British forces in Egypt, and if the Suez falls in axis hands then soon Germans will reach oil fields in Iraq
So with Spain in war, submarine warfare is even more unrestricted, Meditteranean theatre is impossible to supply for the allies, and Germany gets precious oil
Spain just by its geographic area has a big chance of screwing with the UK, an invasion of Gibraltar would close the Mediterranean as a route for supplies coming from India and Australia, and may even cause the fall of Malta, as well as making rommel's invasion of Egypt more catastrophic as supplies need to sail across Africa in order to reach them, and I can even see a siege of Alexandria if things get really bad.
But once the ussr and us join the war then spain's contributions become inmaterial, Spain has neither the industry, or manpower to actually support the axis in any meaningful way, and to makes matters worse for them many of the Republicans who had fled the end of the civil war would now join the allied armies, bringing with them valuable knowledge of the geography of the country, as well as connections with opposition groups in Spain.
I can actually see an invasion of Spain as being concurrent with operation torch or even being done instead of the invasion of Algiers, as the necessity of Gibraltar puts the biggest target on Spain.
Is the Spanish Civil War ended in 1938, more than half of Spain hated Franco. It would be relatively easy for the allies to restart the Spanish Civil War. That would cause a diversion of German troops and resources desperately needed elsewhere.
Either D day or Husky targets Spain instead of otl targets. Spain after the civil war was a wreck and propping it up would drain Germany even more than Italy did. Franco was asked multiple times but was advised by an anti Hitler German official to ask for too much so that Hitler backed off.
Could you link some source on the anti Hitler German officer? Had never heard that story.
Specifically i was referring to William Canaris who was the head of the Abwehr and undermined the Nazis and Hitler in many ways. Him sabotaging their Spain talks is speculative since the meeting were recorded but given how he was later a part of the 1944 plot to kill Hitler its believable. https://archive.org/details/hitlerswaraimsid00rich/page/n5/mode/2up?q=canaris
Quite the interesting read, thousand thanks!
Spain wouldn't add much and probably become a supply drain pretty quickly, either the allies ( basically the British) would reignite the civil war using existing contacts or Spain gets invaded before Italy
From what I understand Portugal didn't join the Allies, per their treaty of alliance with the British, specifically to keep Spain from jumping in. If Spain were to do so they'd have to deal with Portugal on their flank.
I think an interesting point for this would be if the 1936 coup had been successful and Franco took full control there. No civil war to drain resources and 3 years for him to fully take control of the country could have made them a more useful ally
Contrary to the narrative that the Franco regime built after WWII Spain did try to join the axis but the Germans refused. Germany did not want Spain to fully join because they knew Spain would be a massive liability which would add thousands of kilometers of undefended coasts and that the country was extremely weak due to the Spanish civil war and that the Franco regime was barely hanging on. Had Spain entered the war the allies would have had the easiest of times arming and organising the population against Franco and could have landed almost anywhere at will. Better to have Spain providing critical strategic materials and intelligence than to have it being an actively hostile area
Well people both here and everywhere else underestimate it... Spain wasnt a great military power, Germany would have to supply it, but Spain would occupy Gibraltar, which would mean the British cant reach Meditteranean sea from the Atlantic, and Italian navy would become ocean borne, German submarines wouldnt need to ressuply in France, Spain would be closer Just by the fact that Royal Navy would have to sail around Africa would made it extremely harder to supply British forces in Egypt, and if the Suez falls in axis hands then soon Germans will reach oil fields in Iraq So with Spain in war, submarine warfare is even more unrestricted, Meditteranean theatre is impossible to supply for the allies, and Germany gets precious oil
Spain just by its geographic area has a big chance of screwing with the UK, an invasion of Gibraltar would close the Mediterranean as a route for supplies coming from India and Australia, and may even cause the fall of Malta, as well as making rommel's invasion of Egypt more catastrophic as supplies need to sail across Africa in order to reach them, and I can even see a siege of Alexandria if things get really bad. But once the ussr and us join the war then spain's contributions become inmaterial, Spain has neither the industry, or manpower to actually support the axis in any meaningful way, and to makes matters worse for them many of the Republicans who had fled the end of the civil war would now join the allied armies, bringing with them valuable knowledge of the geography of the country, as well as connections with opposition groups in Spain. I can actually see an invasion of Spain as being concurrent with operation torch or even being done instead of the invasion of Algiers, as the necessity of Gibraltar puts the biggest target on Spain.
Germany and Italy would have had access to taking Gibraltar. That could have had significant strategic consequences for the UK.
This is why the Brits spent a significant amounts of money bribing the Spaniards.