Spanish Engineers Question

[Tom W.]

I can't find any information on the organization of the Spanish army during 1914-1918. It appears that sappers (zapadores) were organized into regiments, but can anyone tell me if and how they were attached to infantry formations?

In fact, can anybody give me a brief rundown on the organization of the Spanish army, in terms of how many infantry and sapper regiments there were?

Here's a Spanish sapper of 1918.

[Tom W.]

Another Spanish sapper from 1918, along with closeups of the castle-tower collar insignia and belt buckle, which has a castle tower in front of crossed axes.

[sotonmate]

Tom

Not sure how that fits into the Great War Forum. As far as I know Spain was neutral, and seemingly a poorly-equipped military power at that time,despite the wishes of some of it's leaders to joining the Allied ranks at around the same time as the USA did,and set against a conflict with the Royal household having distinct Austrian connections.

However,I still didn't find anything on the net regarding their Army structure to assist your quest !

If you are keen for a read on their situation of the time:

"Spain 1914-1918:Between War and Revolution" by Francisco Jose Romero SALVADO (in English).

Sotonmate

[Tom W.]

Not sure how that fits into the Great War Forum.

The Spanish army was openly pro-German, while the civilian government was pro-Ally. Spanish officers formed what they called Councils of Defense in the various branches of the army, which advocated that Spain join the Central Powers. When the government ordered the commandant of the armed forces to dissolve the Council of Defense of the Infantry, the council refused. Madrid then had the heads of the council arrested. At that point officers of the entire army mutinied and threatened to free the arrested officers by force. The heads of the council were all released without charge, which proved that the government had lost control of the army. As a result the Alhucemas government collapsed.

The Councils of Defense then published articles decrying the state of the Spanish armed forces, claiming that the government had run them completely into the ground. Spain was ripe for help from Germany, which could have opened up a two-front war against France.

The Spanish army sent observers to German and Austrian shock-troop training camps and determined that assault engineers modeled on those of Sturmbataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr) were the most important type of foot soldier. The army adopted a Spanish model of flamethrower in 1918 and opened a school for combat sappers that included instruction in the use of flamethrowers and assault tactics.

This is why I'm interested, and this is why the question is relevant to this forum.