852.00/4955
The Spanish Ambassador (De los Rios) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary: In the name of the Spanish Government which I have the honor to represent, it becomes my duty to hand to Your Excellency, for the information of the United States Government, a detailed memorandum regarding the composition of the Italian [Page 252] army corps which, without previous declaration of war, has invaded Spain, is fighting against the lawful Government thereof, and is cooperating with a considerable number of officers who have broken their oath and their word, in the work of material and moral destruction of my country.
My Government calls Your Excellency’s attention to the extremely grave character of Italy’s action: the breakdown of the plainest legal standards of international life and the moral collapse of that institution which more than fifty peoples established for common safety, an institution stricken with dumbness, it is now added, because of the action alluded to; the most barefaced violation of the agreements recently adopted by twenty-seven peoples. The Spanish Government appeals to the conscience of all rulers and all nations which, being really convinced of the necessity for a minimum of justice, may like to place a check on the unruliness of some governments which have made outrage and violence the standard of their international policy. These Governments, in adopting such a motto, have acquired the historic character of public enemies of the peace of the world.
This, Mr. Secretary, is the composition of the Italian army corps that is fighting against my country on the front north of Madrid:
“The statements of Italian officers and privates taken prisoners recently in the Guadalajara sector irrefutably confirm the presence of regular military units of the Italian army that are fighting on Spanish soil. From the said statements it appears that during the month of February the Italian ship Sicilia, as well as several others, landed at Cadiz with numerous Italian regular troops, armed and equipped. They were concentrated at the port of Santa Maria and then taken to the Guadalajara front. The offensive is being conducted by four regular divisions of the Italian army, and also by two special brigades, one German and the other a mixed one of Germans and Italians, and four motorized companies of carabinieri. Each division has two regiments of three battalions, and each battalion has three rifle and automatic rifle companies, besides a machine gun company. Each regiment [has] a mortar platoon and a battery of seventy-fives. Each division, moreover, is composed of a regiment of artillery, with nine batteries of four pieces, with trucks and tractors and an antiaircraft battery. Furthermore, one battalion of fifty tanks with machine guns and cannon and a gas and flame throwing company, Pontoniers, sappers, radio operators, medical corps men, etc., etc. All the divisions are motorized, and each battalion has sixty trucks. Each division has a park of reserves. The numbers of some battalions are known. The air force is composed of three German and four Italian squadrons of twelve craft each, pursuit and bombing planes, the makes of the Italian planes being Fiat, Savoya and Romeo. This special corps is commanded by General Mangini at Algora, General Bergonzoli at Briguega [sic], and General Nuvolini at Almadrones. Furthermore two other Italian divisions are expected. The Command purposes to take Madrid and, simultaneously, the Italian and German fleets will attack Barcelona and Valencia under pretext of vigilance.
[Page 253]“Such acts, besides constituting aggression against the territorial integrity and independence of Spain, presuppose recourse to a new form of war without prior declaration, already denounced by Spain’s representative in the League of Nations. The Government of the Spanish Republic has also brought the facts above cited to the knowledge of the League of Nations and the Governments of France and England.”48
I avail myself [etc.]
- In notes dated March 13, 1937.↩