<Li> Despite its name, the Spanish Foreign Legion, fighting on the Nationalist side, was mostly Spaniards . </Li> <P> Due to the Franco - British arms embargo, the Government of the Republic could receive material aid and could purchase arms only from the Soviet Union . To pay for these armaments the Republicans used US $500 million in gold reserves . At the start of the war the Bank of Spain had the world's fourth largest reserve of gold, about US $750 million, although some assets were frozen by the French and British governments . The Soviet Union also sent more than 2,000 personnel, mainly tank crews and pilots, who actively participated in combat, on the Republican side . Other countries (see below) aided the Republican side through sale of weapons and through volunteer military units . Throughout the war, the efforts of the elected government of the Republic to resist the Nazi and Fascist armies and the rebel army were hampered by Franco - British' non-intervention', long supply lines and intermittent availability of weapons of widely variable quality . The British and French naval embargo allowed Germany and Italy to reinforce their armies in Spain; the embargo hampered only the Soviet efforts to arm the Republican government . </P> <P> According to official Soviet source, more than 2000 citizens of USSR served in Spain, many of them were awarded the orders, decorations, and medals of the Soviet Union and 59 were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union . The maximum number of Soviets in Spain at any one time is believed to have been 700, and the total during the war is thought to have between 2,000--3,000 . Estimates for Spanish Republican Air Force Soviet pilots who took part in the conflict are given at 1,000 . </P> <P> The Republic sent its gold reserve to the Soviet Union to pay for arms and supplies . That reserve was worth $500,000,000 in 1939 prices . In 1956, the Soviet Union announced that Spain still owed it $50,000,000 . Other estimates of Soviet and Comintern aid totaled £ 81,000,000 ($405,000,000) in 1939 value . The German military attache estimated that Soviet and Comintern aid amounted to: </P>

Who did america support in the spanish civil war