Bombing of Guernica

Operation Rügen
Part of the Spanish Civil War
Ruins of Guernica (1937) Guernica Location of Guernica within the Basque Country.
Type	Aerial bombing
Location	Guernica, Basque Country, Spain
Planned by	National Defense Junta
Objective
Date	26 April 1937 16:30 – 19:30 (CET)
Executed by	Nationalist Spain Condor Legion Legionary Air Force
Casualties	~150–1,650 (estimates vary) killed

The bombing of Guernica (26 April 1937) was an aerial bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. It was carried out at the behest of the Spanish nationalist government by its allies, the Nazi German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name Operation Rügen. The town was being used as a communications center behind the frontline.

The attack gained infamy because it involved the deliberate targeting of civilians by a military air force. The number of victims is still disputed; the Basque government reported 1,654 people killed at the time, while Spanish figures claim around 126 (later revised by the authors of the study to 153). An English source used by the Air War College claims 400 civilians died. Russian archives reveal 800 deaths on 1 May 1937, but this number may not include victims who later died of their injuries in hospitals or whose bodies were discovered buried in the rubble.

The bombing is the subject of a famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso. It was also depicted in a woodcut by the German artist Heinz Kiwitz, who was later killed fighting in the International Brigades. The bombing shocked and inspired many other artists, including a sculpture by René Iché, one of the first electroacoustic music pieces by Patrick Ascione, a musical composition by René-Louis Baron and poems by Paul Eluard (Victory of Guernica), and Uys Krige (Nag van die Fascistiese Bomwerpers) (English translation from the Afrikaans: Night of the Fascist Bombers). There is also a short film from 1950 by Alain Resnais entitled Guernica.