ABSTRACT

Volunteers may be engaged in an armed conflict to promote the cause of a victim of aggression or of colonialism and to support the right of self-determination against foreign occupation. For instance, the Italian and German so-cal1ed "volunteers" who joined the insurgents during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) should be regarded as illegitimate while the volunteers on the side of the Republicans may be judged as rightful and justifiable. Not only the insurgent generals, led by Francisco Franco who revolted in MelilJa in Spanish Morocco, had at their disposal large Moorish contingents, but also the Italian Government came out more and more openly in support of Franco and ultimately had about 50-75,000 troops in Spain; in addition, the Germans had some 10,000 men serving there. While Britain and France continued their ban on supplies to the democratical1y elected government and only a group of bona fide volunteers such as the Lincoln Brigade aided the government forces, German and Italian "volunteers" aided Franco in transporting troops from Morocco and played a major role in later engagements.