Blue Division

[Thomas McCall]

Can anyone please give me information of the Blue Division which was a group of Spanish Volunteers fighting for the German Army on the Eastern Front, they were sent there in April 1942.

Can anybody give me information on the numbers of volunteers and their units history on the Eastern Front.

Thanks

[Kiwiwriter]

The 250th Infantry Divisino "La Division Azul," gained its name frmo the blue shirts of he Falange which the men wore under their uniforms. It was raised by Franco after the German invasion of Russia as a return gesture for Germany's support int he Spanish Civil War. It trained in Germany in July 1941 and marched 700 miles through Poland, Lithuania, and Russia until it reached Vitebsk. There it entrained and rolled to the Volkhov area on the west shore of Lake Ilmen, south of Leningrad, and fought there until 1943, when Anglo-American pressure led to its withdrawal. Some of those who didn't go back to Spain formed up a brigade group. Spain later sent a medical unit to serve alongside the Americans in the Vietnam War, which is a good trivia question.

[laufer]

See the web pages: http://www.fundaciondivisionazul.org/index2.html (in spanish)
http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=1818
and a book: Gerald L. Kleinfeld & Lewis A. Tambs - Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia

I know that there were some other units of Spaniards:
The Blue Squadron (five squadrons in fact)
The Blue Legion (soldiers of the 250th Infantry Div. who didn't left Russia in Dec. '43)
Waffen-SS 'Unit Ezquerra' (volunteers and remains of Blue Legion who decided to fight despite the Franco's order of withdrawal).
Small groups of Spaniards fought in different German units (121st Inf. Div, 28th Waffen SS Div. and Brandenburg Regiment).
Many Spanish volunteers fouhgt for the Allies (republicans and Basques).

[DirtyDick]

I recall reading that they suffered very heavy casualties (consistent with other non-German forces). However, I believe they were quite celebrated by their people rather than forgotten after the War. I think the site 'wehrmachtawards.com' has some info. on them.

Kiwiwriter - I never realised the Spanish sent a unit to Vietnam. I assume this was a political gesture rather than help per se, which makes it more interesting? Was it in lieu of US financial/military aid help and to keep Franco 'in' with the Americans?

Richard

[Thomas McCall]

Thanks for the links Laufer very interesting it states that the Blue Division suffered 4,500 dead and 22,000 wounded out of a total of 47,000 men sent from Spain to the Eastern Front.

[Kiwiwriter]

Originally posted by DirtyDick@Nov 3 2004, 02:55 PM


Kiwiwriter - I never realised the Spanish sent a unit to Vietnam. I assume this was a political gesture rather than help per se, which makes it more interesting? Was it in lieu of US financial/military aid help and to keep Franco 'in' with the Americans?

Richard

Quoted post

Yes, it was basically political support for the "crusade against Communism" for what it was worth, and to keep Franco in LBJ's good books. Remember that the Franco regime was not popular with a lot of countries.

[Friedrich H]

Major general Agustín Muñoz Grandes (1896-1970).

http://www.angelfire.com/nj/ww2/spanishvolunteers.html

http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/1939/b...chronology.htm

http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/1939/spanish_in_ww2.htm

http://www.feldgrau.com/250i.html

http://www.la-falange.com/nacional/seccion...vision-azul.htm (why do the fascist sites always have the best pictures?)

[Owen]

Excellent colour photo here.
http://www.battlefront.co.nz/Images/...na-Azul-01.jpg



EDIT ah, link u/s. Here it is again.