Model 26 light machine gun

One of the key issues for both sides in the Spanish Civil War was the supply of military equipment. While the Francoists were directly supported by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, the Republican government could not fully rely on supplies from the Soviet Union and sought weapons wherever it could.

However, as part of the policy of Non-Intervention, an international embargo was imposed on supplies to Spain. The Republican government was therefore unable to order weapons of its choice, but had to buy whatever it could get hold of, regardless of quality or price, and in order to circumvent the embargo, transactions were carried out through fictitious buyers (including some European, Latin American, and Asian countries). Many countries took advantage of this opportunity to dispose of obsolete, non-standardized, and unnecessary equipment at a very favourable price.

Czechoslovakia was among those hidden sellers as well. Despite officially supporting Non-Intervention, a great amount of military materiel was sent to Spain through various channels. This included ammunition, discarded helmet models, and even fifty aircraft that had been decommissioned from the Czechoslovak Air Force and fictionally sold to Estonia.

However, the most important Czechoslovak contribution was the delivery of state-of-the-art rifles and machine guns, carried out in agreement with the Soviet Union and through a network of transporters. Fifty thousand Model 24 rifles and two thousand world-famous Model 26 light machine guns (among other equipment) arrived in March and April 1938, just in time to rearm the International Brigades units preparing to launch the Battle of the Ebro. At that time, these were the most modern and highest quality small arms on the entire Spanish front. Members of the International Brigades were enthusiastic about them, especially the Model 26 machine gun.

The machine gun was of such exceptional quality that Franco's army introduced it into its arsenal after the Civil War. It was then manufactured in Spanish arms factories and remained in service until the 1960s.

This arms shipment was perhaps the most significant concrete aid provided by Czechoslovakia to the Spanish Republic. However, the post-war communist regime deliberately concealed the significance of Czechoslovak weapon supplies, as it wanted to hide the fact that the "bourgeois" Czechoslovak government had willingly and effectively supported the Republicans in Spain. 

ZM