Spad 7.C 1 (French, WWI). Singleseat fighter. Prototype flew April 1916; production deliveries to French escadrilles from August
1916. Also bought for rfc (later produced in Britain), but all deliveries initially slow. Sturdy and manoeuvrable; improved with more powerful engine. Used by Belgian, Italian, Russian and American units; some production Russia. Remained operational to war’s end. Production, about 3,800. One 150/180hp Hispano-Suiza engine; max. speed 132mph (211kph); one rifle-calibre machine gun, 501b (22.5kg) bombs.
Spad 13.C 1 (French, WWI). Singleseat fighter. Prototype flew April 4 1917; slow production (17 in French service by August 1 1917; deliveries to March 31 1918, 764). Developed from and more heavily armed than Spad 7; handicapped by engine troubles. Used by at least 74 French escadrilles, and by RFC, Belgian, Italian and US services. Production about 7,300. One 200/220hp Hispano-Suiza engine; max. speed 138mph (222kph); two 7.65mm/0.303in machine guns, 501b (22.5kg) bombs.
Spandau. Nazi leaders convicted at Nuremberg were held in Spandau Prison, West Berlin; demolished in 1987 following the death of its last inmate, Hess.
Streetfighting in Toledo, Spain
Spanish Civil War (July 18 1936-March 31 1939). Of all civil wars, this “world war by proxy” was the most international. Its origins however, were entirely domestic. Long-standing rifts, authoritarian versus libertarian, centralist versus regionalist and right versus left, exploded with the attempted army coup of July 1936 which followed the Popular Front electoral victory in January.
Hitler and Mussolini helped Gen
Franco from the beginning, first with aircraft, arms and advisers, then with combat formations like the Condor Legion. The Republicans’ defence of Madrid accelerated the internationalization of the struggle, a development which Britain tried to curtail with the Non-Intervention Agreement. This soon became a monument to diplomatic hypocrisy as Axis aid to Franco went unchecked while the Republic was refused arms. It had no choice but to turn to the Soviet Union.
Soviet aid, purchased with the Spanish gold reserves, enabled the Republic to survive but not to win. Stalin, in the midst of purging the Red Army, was afraid of provoking Hitler. And Russian military advisers, influenced no doubt by the execution of Marshal Tuk-hachevsky, were numbingly unadventurous. Even aggressive young Spanish communist commanders showed no initiative. In one set-piece offensive after the other, Brunete, Teruel and the Ebro, they repeated the same mistakes. Propaganda considerations prevented retreat and their forces were left exposed to the enemy’s superiority in artillery and air-power. With the Nationalist blockade, the loss of equipment was disastrous. At the Battle of the Ebro, the Republic’s last hope of survival was destroyed just a year before the outbreak of World War II. Nationalist commanders in the field, on the other hand, made up for their early inferiority in numbers with daring and great initiative. The older generals like Franco and Mola were less impressive. Franco’s obstinate refusal to allow the Reds to retake any territory led to as many unnecessary casualties. The greatest irony of his anti-communist crusade was that in the final stage, the communists, having aroused intense hatred in the Republican camp, were crushed by their former socialist, liberal and anarchist allies. AB.
Special Air Service Regiment (SAS). Formed as an elite force in 1942 for operations behind enemy lines in North Africa under the command of Capt (later Col) David Stirling, it had expanded to brigade strength by 1945, when it was disbanded. It was re-formed in Malaya in 1950 for special jungle operations as the Malayan Scouts, later renamed 22 sas Regiment. The. SA. s has since been on active service in Borneo, South Arabia, Oman, the South Atlantic and Northern Ireland, and has been used worldwide in a number of specialist anti-terrorist activities. The. SAS consists of one regular regiment (battalion) based at Hereford and two Territorial Army units. All ranks are volunteers and are selected only after arduous tests, based on mental as much as physical attributes. MH.
Special Boat Section. Offshoot of SAS, operated in the Aegean in
1942- 44 and in the Adriatic in
1943- 45, from caiques and other small craft, commanded by the second Lord Jellicoe (the admiral’s son); numerous raiding coups.
Special Forces (ARVN). The Special Forces {Luc luong dac biet) of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (arvn) were trained by US Army Special Forces to carry out unconventional warfare operations behind enemy lines. Training began in 1957, with the creation of a 57-man nucleus of instructors and cadre. By early 1961, arvn Special Forces were conducting long-range reconnaissance operations, commanding ethnic and sectarian irregulars, and gathering intelligence on the Laos and Cambodian borders. Reorganization in 1962 gave them their own command as a major subordinate element of the arvn and assigned one detachment to each of the four arvn corps tactical zones. Beginning in 1964, they contributed troops to Project Delta, a joint US/arvn programme of long-range reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, arvn Special Forces also had formal responsibility for the Civilian Irregular Defence Group programme, which in practice they abdicated to the Americans, until the “conversion” of ciDG troops to Rangers in 1970. WST.
World History
