Hello all,
I am trying to do a little research into the military equipment used by the Spanish armed forces in the years from the Spanish Civil War through the Second World War Period.
Most of the information I have found relates primrilly to the equipmkent used by foreign volunteers, rather than the domestic designs or imported items used by the Franco-era military.
Most information I have then picks up in the post-War period with Spain's use of American M47/M48 and M60 tanks.
What small arms, vehicles, and artillery did Spain utilise or have access to during the above referenced time period?
Many thanks in advance!
I assume by your phrasing that you're looking for information on the official arms of Spain in the period then, yes?
In that case, when it comes to small arms, with Spain we are looking at a variety of Mauser bolt-action rifles, which Spain had been arming itself with since the late 19th century.
The first major Mauser contract was the M1893 Mauser, which is generally notable for revolutionary aspects of its design, making the "Spanish" Mauser one of the most important steps in bolt-action development. The main feature here was that the five round magazine was flush to the bottom of the stock, and more importantly, it could be loaded with a charger (clip). This was a massive improvement on pretty much everything else out there, and although the Spanish military as a whole performed incredibly poorly against the United States in 1898, the rifle made an admirable showing compared to American Krags, resulting in the M1903 Springfield being developed soon after.
I digress though, the point is, Spain was a 'Mauser military', with the M1893, and M1895 Carbine (little different from the M1893 except in length) being its principal arm in the early century. This was later supplemented, but not entirely supplanted, by the M1916 Mauser, which followed the trend of that point in reducing barrel length from the 29" of the M1893 to a more manageable 21.75". It too would have a carbine form, the M1916 Carbine. At the outbreak of Civil War, these would be the main arms of the Spanish military, would would be supplemented by a wide array of foreign imports, most notably for the Republic about 80,000 or so Mosin rifles from the Soviet Union, but weapons of just about any national origin you can think of ended up there in some number of other - many of them from stores in Russia that had been sitting around since their own Civil War period, and now with a welcome excuse to unload junk to.
The Nationalists, of course, also got their hands on Mausers, of the German variety, and after the war, the M1943 Mauser design they began to adapt chambered the German 8mm (7.92x57mm) ammunition instead of the 7x57mm of earlier Spanish rifles. The M1943 was basically a K98k clone, and stocks of earlier Spanish Mausers were often rechambered for the new German round.
Sources:
Bolt Action Military Rifles of the World by Stuart C. Mowbray and Joe Puleo
Mauser Military Rifles of the World by Robert W.D. Ball
This is a tough question to answer.
Sometimes I think it would be easier to answer "What arms did they NOT use?"
The arms used can be divided into several categories.
Pre-civil war arms of the Spanish army and the Spanish colonial forces.
Arms taken out of museums and reserve depots by both sides (but mostly the Republicans) during the Civil War.
Arms delivered by the Italians and Germans to the Nationalists during the Civil War.
Arms delivered by the Germans to the Republicans (!) during the Civil War.
Arms delivered by the Soviets to the Republicans during the Civil War.
Arms delivered by various European (mostly Poland and Czechoslovakia) and South American countries to the Republicans during the Civil War.
German deliveries to Spain after the Civil War in attempts to regulate the huge trade deficit from buying Spanish tungsten.
I will make a set of posts after this to speak a bit of what each category included.
This may be a good resource for you if you can read Spanish, it's supposed to have a good bit about domestic Spanish arms manufacture
https://www.blackrecon.com/pistolas-y-subfusiles-de-la-republica-produccion-de-guerra.html