 The bombing of Guernica on the afternoon of 26 April 1937 – a mission used as a testing ground for the German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion – was probably the most infamous event of the war and inspired Picasso's painting.The Battle of the Ebro in July–November 1938 was the final desperate attempt by the Republicans to turn the tide.When this failed and Barcelona fell to the Nationalists in early 1939, it was clear the war was over.