Quote:
Originally Posted by Olefin
They fought too hard to get into NATO to sit out the war and do nothing.
|
They very nearly left four years after joining. One of the main reasons they remained is because of their restrictions on deployment and maintaining their own separate command structure. Even when operating with other Nato countries, they still operate under their own officers who have no requirement to follow, let alone listen to another nations Generals - Spain is free to do their own thing which is basically protect their borders, the Canary and Balearic Islands, while providing logistic support to Nato. With the land corridor cut by France, the Mediterranean effectively a no go zone due to Italy and Greece, and the English Channel a risky proposition, Spain is essentially sidelined from making any real contribution and should really be considered more of a neutral country (as far as the impact they could have on the overall conflict).
With France blocking the land route, and Spain not having the necessary strength in either ships or ground troops to open a separate, unsupported front in Italy the only way Spanish troops are getting into the fight is the long way around the UK and into Germany.
With their national restrictions along with unavailability of additional transports (look at how long it took the US to deploy their units who've clearly got priority) it seems very unlikely more than just a few liaison officers and support staff would be in greater Europe. Just can't see how combat troops could be involved against Italy or the Pact.
Also keep in mind that IRL the Socialists were in control of the government right up until 1996 (they regained power in 2003). Pretty sure there would have been no political will to go against their own self imposed restrictions and go to war with politically like minded countries such as those of the Pact. Italy can arguably be included in that list.