Would you both any historical information on a small town or village in the hills of the Basque country that suffered an enemy air attack with machine guns and bombs by enemy aircraft in the 2nd World War.It was in the San Sebastion/Pamplona area.While on a weelky rest,and parked up athe “Autogrill” before the French border,i tried in vain to locate the town,while mountain biking.Where is the town,how many were killed,who carried out the bombing?It is not widely spoken about by the locals.Thanks.
I beleive the town you are looking for is called Guernica.
“The bombing of Guernica (April 26, 1937) was an aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica, causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths during the Spanish Civil War. The raid by planes of the German Luftwaffe “Condor Legion” and the Italian Fascist Aviazione Legionaria.”
More info here: Bombing of Guernica - Wikipedia
To locate Guernica, go to Google Maps Google Maps and just type in the towns name in the search box.
That is correct it was Guernica, it was blasted on the orders of Franco by the German Luftwaffe who were only too pleased to have a practice run for the shortly to follow war. The aircraft took off from the old military airbase just outside Vitoria which no longer exists
For the art afficiomados amongst us, there is a painting by Pablo Picasso called “Guernica” which commemorates the appalling loss of life.
The painting is on public display in the Reina Sofia gallery in Madrid. It’s a quite amazing thing to see. I also stopped off at the town in the basque country once just to have a look around, not a lot to see to be honest.
About the only bit left over from the bombing is the traditional Basque tree where all the presidents of the Basque regions have to be sworn in, apparently been there for centuries until the bombing now all that remains since then is a part of the trunk which they keep protected.
only just got home so everybody said Guernica before me 
give us another question while i’m home give me a chance 
Yep, also spelt Gernika in Basque, well worth a visit,really good museum in town,spent half a day in the museum a couple of years ago, very sad story when heard told from the survivors who narrate some of the stuff there.
Durango not too far away was also flattened by a similiar but less well known attack