The Meridonali were accompanied by two outstanding seaplanes. The Z.501 manufactured by CANT (Cantieri Riuniti dell’Adriatico) twice won the distance record for aircraft of its type, first in October 1934, when the company’s chief, Mario Stoppani, flew from his base at Monfalcone, in Trieste, to Massawa, Eritrea, a distance of 4,120 kilometers. His record was marginally surpassed by French aviators soon after, but he regained it during July the following year in the same aircraft by flying 5,000 kilometers to Berbera, in British Somaliland. When a squadron was assigned to the 2nd Escuadrilla, Gruppo 62 of the Agrupacion Espanola – the Nationalist Air Force–the type was known as the Gabbiano, or ‘Seagull’, and became famous for the anomalous turret with 7.7mm machine-gun stationed incongruously atop the center of its parasol wing.

Joining the Gabbiano was another CANT record-holder, the Z.506. After achieving a load-to-height precedent of 10,155 meters carrying a 1,000-kg. payload, the Airone, or ‘Heron’, covered 7,022 kilometers non-stop from Cadiz to Carevalas, in November 1937. A variant, the Z.508, went on to break a number of speed records. The technical advantages of these outstanding aircraft were constantly needed to off-set the numerical superiority possessed by the Republicans until the last year of the war.

Although the slaughter of Italian troops at Guadalajara had forestalled the conquest of Madrid, Franco still had something of a stranglehold on the capital. Accordingly, a major effort to relieve this pressure by attacking the Nationalists in overwhelming numbers near the town of Brunette was undertaken in July. Squadrons of aircraft and pilots from Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, France, Britain, Ireland, America, Portugal, Holland and Mexico participated in the largest air battle of the Spanish Civil War. The Republicans threw in 150 bombers and fighters. All but 50 were destroyed between the Italian Aviazione Legionaria and German Kondor Legion. Nationalist losses totaled just twenty-three aircraft. Despite this crushing defeat, the Republicans still outnumbered their opponents by 122 warplanes.

Following up on his success at Brunette, Franco captured the strategic city of Bilboa in June, when Italian units redeemed the defeat at Guadalajara through their contribution to this important victory. They were aided by the arrival of the first Fiat BR.20, a fast medium-bomber with an extraordinary range of 3,000 kilometers. Graceful handling characteristics earned it the nickname Cicogna, and the ‘Stork’ became a common sight in the skies over the Teruel front, where they frequently attacked enemy concentrations of troops and vehicles with bomb-loads of up to 1,600 kg. At 430 km/hr, it could out-run all Republican interceptors, save the over-powered Rata.

Assigned to escort the Cicognas was the new Breda Ba.65, an aeroplano di combattimento, intended to perform multi-purpose roles as interceptor, light-bomber, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. In reality, it could fulfill none of these requirements, and eighteen specimens equipping the 65th Squadriglia were used only to go after lightly defended ground targets at Santander. As many Super Chatas and Ratas in defense of the city exacted a fearful toll on the slower Ba.65s. It was here, however, that the Italians achieved the decisive victory of the Spanish Cili War.

Republican strength was most importantly concentrated in the Army of the North, with heavily-fortified Bilbao and Santander as military and political lynchpins. The Reds continuously reinforced defences here to not only render them impregnable, but to make the north a staging region for a major offensive aimed at overwhelming Iberia in a single operation, as soon as enough materiel had been received from the Soviet Union.

Italy’s Ettore Bastico was placed in charge of dealing with this threat. During early spring 1937, he began husbanding troops and supplies for an offensive of his own. Its objective was not the conquest and consolidation of territory, but defeat and annihilation of enemy forces, even though they would outnumber his by at least two-to-one odds. A dozen Basque brigades were bolstered by another twelve of the Republican Army and twenty-seven Asturian brigades. These were covered by more Republican aircraft than operated over any other front, and munitions piling up for the intended Red offensive provided more than adequate defence.

Undeterred by these challenges, General Bastico subjected his men to a period of intense preparations and instruction, emphasizing tight interdependence between Spanish and Italian troops, together with close coordination of arillery and air power. Everything was to be swept forward in an irrepressible movement. “There are to be no hold-ups,” he admonished his commanders. “We die or advance, but stop for nothing but victory.”⁹