ABSTRACT
Mussolini sent substantial numbers of troops, as well as weaponry, in support of the rebellion, and at any one time, the Corpo Truppe Voluntarie (or, in Spanish, the Cuerpo Italiano de Tropas Voluntarias or CTV) was up to 50,000 strong (Thomas 1977: 978). This included a medical presence, and a Nationalist nurse mentioned in her diary the sighting of a “huge Italian hospital ship” in Cadiz harbour in December 1937, probably undertaking repatriation of Italian wounded and dead (Scott-Ellis 1936–1939). Another, or possibly the same, Italian hospital ship was moored off Malaga during the battle for that city in which the CTV played a major role (Bescós Torres 1987). The Italians also had field hospitals (such as that of the Black Arrow Brigade), often with considerable proportions of Spanish staff, and sometimes deployed surgical teams in Spanish field hospitals, where they would reserve a number of beds (see also chap. 3). Mention has been made (chap. 7) of the capture of one Italian hospital in its entirety at the battle of Guadalajara. Reference has also been made to the publication in an Italian medical journal of a small-scale service for the transfusion of stored blood near to the front (Ravenna 1938). During the Aragon offensive, Italian surgical teams were deployed in four of the field hospitals, including that at Catalayud, alongside the Spanish staff (Bescós Torres 1987).
