A decisive aspect of this as far as Spain goes will play out in a few days so I won’t give it up.
I will do a bit of foreshadowing though. I mentioned a few days ago that Mussolini had been disturbed by Hitlers moves into Rumania since he had been told by Hitler to keep the Balkans quiet. As a result he has made the decision to invade Greece in a fall campaign. Two days ago on the 23rd, Greece got wind of an impending invasion when the Greek ambassador in Rome warned his government to expect an Italian invasion today or tomorrow (25th or 26th). Since that warning went out, the Greek army has been mobilizing (I’m surprised that this detail didn’t make the Times but no matter). By now the Greek forces on the northern frontier is about the same size as the Italian forces in Albania, but there is one significant difference. The Greek artillery are better equipped and trained.
When this invasion does go off finally it will make an impression on Franco as well. That aspect I will discuss later.
I’m not surprised the Times missed it. They have to be spread very thin in Europe right now. They can’t cover everything.