Battle of Majorca a seaborne attack on the Balearic Islands seem to have surfaced independently in various Republican militia groups in the days following the joining of Ibiza, Formentera, and Majorca to Franco's Nationalist military rebellion. Already, on July 23, bomber squadrons struck Palma and Cabrera, and on August 1, a Republican expeditionary force from Menorca landed at Cabrera and resisted all efforts to dislodge it. These actions, however, and in particular the Majorca landings, were never approved by the Madrid government and had from the very beginning an air of confusion and improvisation. On August 2, Bayo assembled a column of Barcelona
Italian occupation of Majorca in the harbour of Palma. However some historians -like Gilbeto Oneto and Rosaria Quartararo- expressed a criticism about this supposed Italian plan to annex Majorca. Prior to all-out intervention by Italy, Benito Mussolini authorized "volunteers" to go to Spain, resulting in the seizure of the largest Balearic island of Majorca by a force under Fascist Blackshirt leader Arconovaldo Bonaccorsi (also known as "Count Rossi"). Sent to Majorca to act as Italian proconsul in the Balearics, Bonaccorsi proclaimed that Italy would occupy the island in perpetuity and initiated a brutal reign of terror (as a vengeance for the previous killing by