 On April 1, 1937, six German Ju 52 bombers of the Nationalist Air Force, escorted by six Heinkel He 51 and three CR 32 fighters, bombed the city of Jaen,  which had no legitimate military targets or anti-aircraft defenses.Current estimates indicated there were 159 deaths among the civilian population and several hundred injured, comparable with the Bombing of Guernica, which occurred four weeks later.As a reprisal, the local republican authorities executed 128 Nationalist prisoners.