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Spain Army
The army (Ejercito de Tierra) has existed continuously
since
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. The oldest and
largest of
the three services, its mission was the defense of
peninsular
Spain, the Balearic Islands (Spanish, Islas Baleares), the
Canary
Islands (Spanish, Canarias), Melilla, Ceuta, and the
smaller
islands and rocks off the northern coast of Africa. The
army was,
as of 1988, completing a major reorganization that had
been
initiated in 1982. It had previously been organized into
nine
regional operational commands. These were reduced to six
commands
in conjunction with a revised deployment of forces:
Central
Command, Southern Command, Levante Command, Eastern
Pyrenees
Command, Northwestern Command, and Western Pyrenees
Command. In
addition there were the two military zones of the Canary
Islands
and the Balearic Islands. Ceuta and Melilla fell within
the
Southern Command
(see
fig. 15). At the head of each
regional and
zonal command was an officer of two-star rank. Although
his
authority had been reduced, the regional commander, who
held the
title of captain general, was still among the most senior
officers of the army.
Under its earlier organization, the army was grouped
into two
basic categories: the Immediate Intervention Forces and
the
Territorial Operational Defense Forces. In theory, the
former,
consisting of three divisions and ten brigades, had the
missions
of defending the Pyrenean and the Gibraltar frontiers and
of
fulfilling Spain's security commitments abroad. The latter
force,
consisting of two mountain divisions and fourteen
brigades, had
the missions of maintaining security in the regional
commands and
of reinforcing the Civil Guard and the police against
subversion
and terrorism. In reality, most of the Immediate
Intervention
Forces were not positioned to carry out their ostensible
mission
of protecting the nation's borders. Many units were
stationed
near major cities--as a matter of convenience for officers
who
held part-time jobs--from which they also could be called
upon to
curb disturbances or unrest.
In a gradual process that had not been fully completed
as of
mid-1988, the division of the army into the Immediate
Intervention Forces and the Territorial Operational
Defense
Forces was being abolished. The brigade had become the
fundamental tactical unit. The total number of brigades
had been
reduced from twenty-four to fifteen by the dismantling of
nine
territorial defense brigades. Eleven of the brigades had
been
organized within the existing five divisions; three
brigades were
to be independent, and one was to be in general reserve.
The best equipped of the five was the first Division,
the
Brunete Armored Division, with its armored brigade in the
Madrid
area and its mechanized brigade farther to the southwest
near
Badajoz. The motorized Second Division, Guzman el Bueno
Division,
which had acquired a third brigade as a result of the
reorganization, was the major defensive force in the
south, with
full capability for rapid maneuver. The mechanized Third
Division, the Maestrazgo Division, under the Levante
Command,
consisted of two brigades considered to have a medium
degree of
mobility. The two mountain divisions, the Fourth
Division--or
Urgel Division and the Fifth Division--or Navarra
Division, each
consisting of two mountain brigades, remained in the
Pyrenean
border area of the north. Two of the four independent
brigades
were armored cavalry, one was an airborne brigade, and one
was a
paratroop brigade (in general reserve).
Numerous other changes were introduced as well,
including the
reorganization of artillery forces not included in the
major
combat units. This involved the creation of a field
artillery
command that consisted of a restructured and consolidated
former
artillery brigade, the creation of a single straits
coastal
artillery command that replaced two former coastal
artillery
regiments, and the introduction of an antiaircraft
artillery
command that was expected to benefit from significant
modernizing
of its weapons inventory.
The personnel strength of the army, which previously
had been
maintained at about 280,000, including 170,000 conscripts,
had
been trimmed to 240,000 by 1987. This was achieved through
lower
intakes of conscripts and volunteers and through cuts in
the
table of organization for officers and NCOs. The
government's
goal was a smaller but more capable army of 195,000
effectives by
1991. Outside peninsular Spain, about 19,000 troops were
stationed in Ceuta and Melilla. These included, in
addition to
the Spanish Legion and other specialized units, four
Regulares
regiments of North Africans. An additional 5,800 troops
were
assigned to the Balearic Islands, and 10,000 were in the
Canary
Islands.
Data as of December 1988
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