Editing Luftwaffe (section)

===Spanish Civil War===
{{Main|Operational history of the Luftwaffe (1939–1945)|l1 = Operational history of the Luftwaffe (1939–1945)}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H25224, Guernica, Ruinen.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Bombing of Guernica|Ruins of Guernica]], 1937]]
The Luftwaffe's Condor Legion experimented with new doctrine and aircraft during the Spanish Civil War. It helped the ''[[FET y de las JONS|Falange]]'' under [[Francisco Franco]] to defeat the Republican forces. Over 20,000 German airmen gained combat experience that would give the Luftwaffe an important advantage going into the Second World War. One infamous operation was the bombing of [[Guernica]] in the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque country]]. It is commonly assumed this attack was the result of a "terror doctrine" in Luftwaffe doctrine. The raids on Guernica and [[Madrid]] caused many civilian casualties and a wave of protests from abroad. It has been suggested that the bombing of Guernica was carried out for military tactical reasons, in support of ground operations, but the town was not directly involved in any fighting at that point in time. It was not until 1942 that the Germans started to develop a bombing policy in which civilians were the primary targets, although [[the Blitz]] on London and many other British cities involved indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas,<ref name="Corum 1997, p. 7"/> 'nuisance raids' which could even involve the machine-gunning of civilians and livestock.<ref>{{harvnb|Neitzel|Weltzer|2012|pp=57–58}}</ref>