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The
Deutschland
incident of 1937
occurred in May of that year, during the
Spanish Civil War
.
On 29 May 1937, a pair of
Tupolev SB
Soviet bombers attached to the
Spanish Republican Air Force
raided
Nationalist
air bases and the port of
Ibiza
, in the
Mediterranean Sea
. The aircraft departed from the airbase of
Los Alcazares
, near
Cartagena
.
[1]
The German heavy cruiser
Deutschland
, which was part of the International
Non-Intervention Committee
patrol, was anchored off Ibiza and was allegedly misidentified by the bombers' crew as the Nationalist heavy cruiser
Canarias
. Two Soviet pilots, Captain Anton Progrorin and Lieutenant Vassily Schmidt, dropped their bombs on
Deutschland
, causing large fires on the ship and killing 31 sailors and wounding 74.
The following day German naval forces shelled the Republican held city of
Almeria
in retaliation for the Republican air attacks on
Deutschland
. Because of the
Deutschland
incident, Germany and Italy left the meetings of the Non-Intervention Committee. The heavy cruiser
Admiral Scheer
shelled the port and the city of Almeria
with 200 rounds, resulting in 19 deaths, 55 wounded, and the destruction of 35 buildings.
[2]
German and Italian warships were concentrated in the Mediterranean Sea next to Spain, and were starting to take a more active role in the supporting of Nationalist forces.
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