Moorish soldiers of General Franco's Spanish Nationalist army board a German-made Junkers Ju 52 =52 transport in Spanish Nationalist livery, ready to be carried from  Spanish North Africa to metropolitan Spain.  The three-engined Ju 52 was developed as a civilian airliner - although the military transport version appeared rather promptly afterwards.  Like several other German weapons, it was, so to speak, "piloted" in the Spanish Civil War.  An important tactic developed there was to use the Ju 52 to ferry troop reinforcements and supplies to forward airfields - or any suitable forward landing places - captured by the ground forces - to support the advance.  The Spanish war - controlled on the Nationalist side by cautious, conservative generals who favoured deliberate, plodding campaigns, may not have been the ideal testing ground for this (or any other advanced) German tactic.  However, the "transport forward" method tested out in Spain proved very effective both in the Western campaign of 1940, and in the early stages of the Russian campaign.  Best regards, JR.

Unsung workhorse of the Luftwaffe.

Striking 1930's 'photo of Sir Oswald Mosley, anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi leader of the British Union of Fascists.  Whether Mosley was actually a Fascist in his own mind is an interesting question.  He started as an elected politician, and passed through the Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties in rapid order, before donning the Black Shirt.  One is tempted to conclude that he was a complete egomaniac and narcissist, who lacked the patience to function within a democratic framework.  In the event, he ended up as the leader of a Fascist movement that incorporated thicko Oxford/Cambridge toffs and London East End street brawlers.  Not surprising, in England, that this did not work.  He ended up, when war came, interned, and subsequently in exile.  Some comment In Here regarding &quot;current issues&quot;.  As a trained historian, I am very cautious about drawing unhistorical parallels between past and present.  However, Fascist, racist tendencies are still significant in many countries, not excluding Britain and the US.  When Mosley died, the British &quot;Not the Nine-O-Clock News&quot; television satirists aired a &quot;tribute&quot; to Mosley, reflecting as much on the respectful response to his demise as on the man himself - &quot;They didn't understand 'im/ some people called 'im mad/but any friend of 'Itler's/ can't have been all bad.&quot;.  That was in the early 1970's.  Looking at the current British political scene, it clearly remains relevant today.  Best regards, JR.