The Legion Condor is commonly associated ONLY with Luftwaffe volunteers and aircraft, such as Werner Molders and Adolf Galland, (who flew both He-51 biplanes, and Bf-109 s in Spain), as well as with the Stuka, Ju-52, and He-111 squadrons which assisted Franco s Nationalist forces. There was however, also a lesser known German army ground contingent which fell beneath the overall aegis of the Legion Condor known as Gruppe IMKER commanded by panzer-offizier Oberstleutnant Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma. The group of so-called panzer instructors were raised from experienced men of Pz.Rgt.6, and were equipped with the less than formidable Pz.Ib. The equivalent of three tank companies and their crews and support elements were shipped from Stettin in late 1936 and were setup and used to train Spanish Nationalist tank crews. Both Spanish trainees and their German instructors took part in a number of decisive battles thereafter, including the Battle of Madrid in November 1936. German army advisors were also despatched to train Spanish Nationalist troops in infantry, artillery, signals, and anti-tank methods, and these advisors participated in combat against Republican forces as well. So it is without doubt that German army officers and enlisted men participated in the Spanish Civil war alongside members of the Luftwaffe.

As for the inscription bearing the legend Generalstab des Heeres 10. Abteilung… and its relation to the German forces in Spain during the Civil War, I can only speculate. In the pre-war period, (pre-1939), the OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres High Command of the Army) was apportioned into a number of complex and labyrinthine-like sub-offices, each of which outwardly controlled a generalized area of command and control, but in reality, may have also overseen sub-areas of command competence not generally associated with its putative designation. As far as I can discern, during the period in question, (1936-1939), the office of the 10.Abt. came in the OKH hierarchy under the First Senior General Staff Officer, designated as, Oberquartiermeister I , or O.Qu.I. Beneath him came ten branches, or abteilungen which dealt by numerical succession, with operations, transport, supply, etc. Branch 10, or 10.Abteilung was responsible for Manoeuvres and Operational planning. How this integrates with the Legion Condor or any of its activities during the Spanish Civil War is, at first glance, difficult to discern. More satisfactory information might be gleaned by tracking the activities of (then) Oberstlt.Walther Warlimont, who acted as direct plenipotentiary for the Chief of the German General Staff (Blomberg), to El Caudillo Franco. Warlimont was an OKH insider whose progressive ideas concerning the internal power allotment of the Army high command in relation to the various branches of service were instrumental in creating an overall or integrated OKW or Armed Forces High Command structure in 1938. Any and all mention of an OKH, 10.Abt. disappears shortly after the start of the war in 1939, when such duties as Manoeuvres and Operational planning were relegated to the OKW s Wehrmacht Fuhrungstab, (Wfstb).