<P> The Army of Africa was a field army garrisoned in Spanish Morocco - a legacy of the Rif War - under the command of General Francisco Franco . It consisted of the Spanish Foreign Legion and the Regulares, infantry and cavalry units recruited from the population of Spanish Morocco and with Spanish officers as commanders . </P> <P> The Regulares operated as the shock troops of the National forces in exchange for a substantial pay . More than 13,000 Moroccan troops were airlifted on 20 Junkers Ju 52 planes supplied by Hitler between the beginning of the conflict in July and October 1936 . Their proverbial cruelty and reckless behaviour were not random, but were part of a calculated plan of the Francoist military leaders in order to instill terror in the Republican defence lines . </P> <P> Italy under the Fascist leadership of Benito Mussolini supported the overthrow of the republic and the establishment of a regime that would serve as a client state to Italy . Italy distrusted the Spanish Republic due to its pro-French leanings and prior to the war had made contact with Spanish right - wing groups . Italy justified its intervention as an action intended to prevent the rise of Bolshevism in Spain . Italy's Fascist regime considered the threat of Bolshevism a real risk with the arrival of volunteers from the Soviet Union who were fighting for the Republicans . Mussolini provided financial support as well as training to the Alfonsists, Carlists, and Falange . Mussolini met Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1933 but did not have much enthusiasm in the establishment of fascism in Spain at that time . </P> <P> By January 1937, an expeditionary force of 35,000 Italians, the Corpo Truppe Volontarie, were in Spain under the command of General Mario Roatta . The contingent was made up of four divisions: Littorio, Dio lo Vuole ("God Wills it"), Fiamme Nere ("Black Flames") and Penne Nere ("Black Feathers"). The first of these divisions was made up of soldiers; the other three of Blackshirt volunteers . Italy provided the National forces with fighter and bomber aircraft which played a significant part in the war . In March 1937, Italy intervened in the political affairs of the Nationals by sending Roberto Farinacci to Spain to urge Franco to unite the National political movements into one fascist "Spanish National Party". </P>

Who fought on the side of the republicans in the spanish civil war brainly