Ibiza is probably associated only with the goal of holiday travels. However, the sunny island was almost inscribed in history textbooks as the site of the incident that provoked the Third Reich to declare the republican war on Spain. And thus - probably - until the beginning of World War II already in 1937.
It all started quite innocently. On May 29, 1937, the Spanish government fleet left its bases with the task of escorting a Soviet ship carrying weapons and supplies for the authorities in Madrid. However, in order to distract the enemy from the real objective of the operation, it was decided to carry out a diversionary raid on the port of the island of Ibiza mentioned at the outset.
Additionally, the air attack was combined with the fire from the cannons of four destroyers. And here a "little" problem appeared ... It turned out that three German vessels were moored in the port :pocket battleship "Deutschland", torpedo boat "Leopard" and supply ship s / s "Neptun".
The civil war in Spain was still unresolved and the country divided. The situation in the country in 1936 (photo Addicted04, license CC BY-SA 3.0).
Like a thunderbolt from the blue
The German crews expected nothing bad, certainly not a sudden raid by the government air force. After all, the Germans did not officially take part in any war, although they quietly supported the other side, that is, the army of General Franco. As they write in their book Legion Condor. Hitler's Spanish War ”Tomasz Nowakowski and Mariusz Skotnicki:
On board a battleship [Deutschland] there was a relaxed mood, because the commander of the ship, Commander Fanger, announced an afternoon off duty [it was Saturday - ed. author of the article]. The ship's band was playing, the sailors were sunbathing or doing errands in the canteen . Only an observation watch was on duty.
Soviet SB-2 bomber. With two such planes, Europe was on the brink of war…
In a word, it was completely relaxed, but all the charm was broken when the Republican destroyers were noticed at around 7.00 p.m. The commander immediately announced readiness 10 minutes but no one had thought of filling anti-aircraft artillery positions.
It was supposed to be painfully avenged twelve minutes later, when two SB-2 light bombers, at the controls of which Soviet pilots were at the controls, arrived. Of course, the anti-aircraft alarm was immediately raised. Nevertheless:
it was too late, bombs were falling on the ship - two series of 4 bombs were dropped from the planes. One of them pierced the deck, detonating frames on the interdeck at a height of 116, and a detonation wave broke into the naval mess between frames 94 and 145.
A second bomb exploded after penetrating the ceiling of a 105mm medium artillery turret. As a result of the explosion in the flames, the boatswain's magazine was opened, located near the frame 121, in which flammable liquids such as paints and solvents were stored .
Ibiza port. If Hitler hadn't tame his anger, World War II would have broken out here ... (photo:Sunface13; license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
As if that was not enough, almost at the same time missiles from Republican destroyers began to fall on the port, with the second volley almost hitting the German units. Fortunately for the sailors of the Kriegsmarine, the Spaniards realized in time that their target was ships flying the flag of the Third Reich. Understandably, they stopped firing immediately and headed back to their home bases.
Meanwhile, a dangerous fire raged on the pocket battleship. The fight with him took the crew of "Deutschland" - assisted by their colleagues from "Leopard" - for several dozen more minutes. The list of losses was simply terrifying. 22 people were killed on the spot, a further 83 were injured. More than a dozen sailors suffered extensive burns, so eventually the death toll on that fateful day rose to 31 dead .
With the consent of the governor of Gibraltar, they were buried with honors in the local cemetery. It is worth noting that almost four times more German soldiers died on board the "Deutschland" than the losses of the Panzergruppe "Drohne" during the entire civil war in Spain.
This dubious "success" was recorded by the crew led by G.K. Livinsky (sometimes the name of N.A. Ostriakov is incorrectly mentioned). Soviet pilots later explained that they bombed a German ship by mistake taking it for the nationalist-flagged cruiser Canarias. As justification, they added that their attack was only a response to fire from the on-board anti-aircraft artillery, which was an obvious lie.
Hitler is furious
At the news of what happened in the Balearic Islands, Hitler became furious. The very next day (May 30), as soon as the republican side confirmed that the planes belonged to it, the leader of the Third Reich called an extraordinary meeting of the government in Berlin. It was also attended by representatives of the armed forces, which could not bode well for anything good.
At first, Hitler was to propose a declaration of war to the Republic, later he started to think about destroying all of Valencia . If the leader of the Third Reich were really openly and officially involved in the conflict on the Iberian Peninsula, it would probably have led to the consequences that all of Europe had feared for several years:the escalation of the conflict and giving it at least a continental, if not global, dimension.
In other words, World War II would have broken out two years earlier , and its participants would be, first of all, Germany and the Soviet Union. Who knows, maybe our Poland would only benefit from such a development of events ...
The pocket battleship "Deutschland", with the coffins of sailors killed during the raid on Ibiza, placed on the stern deck, entered Wilhelmshaven on June 15, 1937. The photo was taken two days later during the official funeral ceremony (photo and description from the book:Tomasz Nowakowski, Mariusz Skotnicki, "Legion Condor. Hitler's Spanish War", Erica 2011).
Ultimately, however, after many hours of deliberation, it was decided to take a symbolic retaliation:German ships were to bomb one of the port cities of the Republic . Additionally, it was announced that German ships would withdraw from maritime control off the coast of Spain until the Committee for Non-Intervention would ensure full safety for the units involved in this operation.
Carrying out the decisions made on the Spree, a German squadron consisting of the pocket battleship "Admiral Scheer" and four torpedo boats shelled Almeria on 31 May. Although the main target was the port itself, the first, poorly aimed volleys fell on residential quarters, killing 24 people (nationalists claimed 19 were killed) and wounding another 100. The action also resulted in a mass exodus of residents fearing for their lives city.
The epilogue of the entire "Deutschland" incident was the question of the exhumation of German sailors resting in Gibraltar, who - according to Hitler's will - were to be buried in the cemetery in Wilhelmshaven.
Here, however, another problem arose. Well, local regulations allowed for exhumation only one year after the body was placed in the grave. Therefore, the entire undertaking - after obtaining the governor's approval - was carried out by the forces of the "Deutschland" crew secretly on the night of June 11/12 . In turn, the ceremonial state funeral took place five days later and was attended by all the most important leaders of the Third Reich, headed by Hitler.
Sources:
Basic:
- Tomasz Nowakowski, Mariusz Skotnicki, Legion Condor. Hitler's Spanish War , Erica 2011.
Additional:
- Michael Alpert, La guerra civil española en el mar , Editorial Critica 1987.
- Antony Beevor, Fighting for Spain 1936-1939. The first clash of totalitarianisms , Mark 2009.
- David Porter, Kriegsmarine. The Essential Facts and Figures for the German Navy , Amber Books 2010.
- Robert H. Whealey, Hitler and Spain. The Nazi Role in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 , The University Press of Kentucky 2005.