On 26 April 1937 there were many people in the streets of the small city of Guernica, which had a population of seven thousand inhabitants. At 4:30 p.m. the church bells started to ring, five minutes later the first airplane appeared and dropped six 1,000lb bombs, followed by a series of grenades.  A few minutes later, a second aircraft appeared. The hell lasted for three hours. In total, 42 aircraft had bombed and machine-gunned the city, its inhabitants as well as the surrounding area where they had taken refuge.  The whole town was burnt.  The fire lasted over an extended period of time. In all, 70% of the buildings were burned and there were an undetermined number of deaths, numbering from 800 to 1600. Seventy years later, historians still disagree on the number of victims of that Monday night, which transformed Guernica into a symbolic martyred city that has definitely become part of our collective memory. The aircraft belonged to the German “Condor  Legion” and the Italian Legionary Air Force'. The air raid was named:  Operation Rügen. Two men significantly contributed to turning Guernica into the symbol that it remains to this day:  George Steer and Pablo Picasso.

The aftermath involvement of Brechfa is told in "The Guernica Children" video on the Brechfa Video Page.