Ten Facts About The Bombing Of Guernica (1937)

4. Bombing Of Guernica was Terror Bombing Strategy

Many believe that the Luftwaffe deliberately targeted civilians. It was a strategy known as terror bombing, this strategy sought to break the will of the enemy to fight by ensuring that a fearful civilian population put pressure on their military and political representatives to stop the war and surrender. This doctrine was formulated in the 1930s and it was based on the assumption that such was the power of aerial warfare that it could force an enemy to surrender. The Luftwaffe officially rejected this doctrine but it proved to be very influential and it influenced the planners of the attack on Guernica. The German planners with the agreement of the Spanish Nationalists deliberately targeted Guernica on a busy market day in order to force the Basques to sue for a separate peace and abandon their allegiance to the left-wing government in Madrid. If this was the case then it was a failure, as the Basques did not renounce their allegiance to the Republican government. Indeed, the Basques continued to fight Franco and his forces until they were overcome by superior Nationalist forces. Indeed Basque nationalists continued the struggle with Franco even after the end of the Spanish Civil War. The terror bombings of Guernica proved counter-productive and only fortified the will of the Basques to continue fighting.