On 27 July 1936, Adolf Hitler sent the Nationalists 26 German fighter aircraft. He also sent 30 Junkers 52s from Berlin and Stuttgart to Morocco. Over the next couple of weeks the aircraft transported over 15,000 troops to Spain. In September 1936, Lieutenant Colonel Walther Warlimont of the German General Staff arrived as the German commander and military adviser to General Francisco Franco. The following month Warlimont suggested that a German Condor Legion should be formed to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Hitler gave permission and the initial force consisted a Bomber Group of three squadrons of Ju52 bombers; a Fighter Group with three squadrons of He51 fighters; a Reconnaissance Group with two squadrons of He99 and He70 reconnaissance bombers; and a Seaplane Squadron of He59 and He60 floatplanes. After World War 1, Germany was forbidden by the treaty of Versailles to possess or produce tanks. However, during the 1920s a variety of weapons, including AFVs, were developed in secret and, with the connivance of the Soviet Union, were tested at Kazan in Russia. After the rise of Hitler, rearmament was accelerated and plans were laid for the development of purpose-built battle tanks that eventually emerged as the Panzers III and IV. As an interim measure, a vehicle was required for the training of the nascent armored forces and, in 1933, prototypes of a simple, cheap and easy to manufacture tank were invited from a number of firms. A design by Krupp, based on the Carden-Lloyd tankette, was selected and production began in 1934 under the code-name Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper or ‘agricultural tractor’. Later designated Panzerkampfwagen I it was 13ft long and weighed 5.4 tons, with a crew of two. Armament was two 7.92mm machine guns and 3,125 rounds of ammunition were carried. In 1935 a further stopgap machine, the Pzkpfw II, was produced, weighing 10 tons and armed with a 20mm Kwk 30 gun with a co-axial 7.92mm machine gun. Blooded in the Spanish Civil War, these erstwhile training machines were numerically the most important tanks during the early campaigns of World War 2 and their contribution to the success of Blitzkrieg warfare was considerable.
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