 At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936, Francisco Franco, the leader of the rebel armies in Spanish North Africa, had about 30,000 troops and Moroccan nationals under his command, along with some artillery units.In order to transfer his troops and equipment to mainland Spain, on 24 July 1936, Franco turned to the Italian consul in Tangiers and then directly to Major Luccardi, the military attache at the Italian consulate.Through them, Franco tried to convince Benito Mussolini to send twelve transport aircraft, twelve reconnaissance planes, ten fighter aircraft, 3000 aerial bombs, antiaircraft machine guns, and at least forty five transport ships.