Germany's main allies in the attack on the USSR were Romania and Finland. They were later joined by Bulgaria, Hungary, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Albania, Slovakia and Croatia. There was another country that was not occupied by Germany and was not at war with the Soviet Union, but provided volunteers to serve on the German side. This was Spain.
The history of Spain is marked by the fact that only once, during the Great Patriotic War, its fighters opposed the Russians, although even then Franco avoided open participation in the war, maintaining neutrality. Other cases where these two countries participated in battles on opposite sides, did not have. We will tell you more about these events during the Great Patriotic War in this article.
Touching on this topic, it should be noted that only one division fought against the USSR. This was the Spanish "Blue Division", or 250th, which consisted of Spanish volunteers. They were the ones who fought on the side of Germany during World War II. Considered to be nominally staffed by fighters of the "Spanish Phalanx", this division was in fact a mixture of regular troops, members of the Falangist militia and veterans. The "Blue Division" was composed according to Spanish canons. It included one artillery regiment and four infantry. Because of the blue shirts, the division received the name "Blue Division". was a phalanx form.
Spain's position in the war
Not wanting to openly drag Spain into the war on the side of the Germans and trying to simultaneously ensure the security of the country and the phalanx regime, Francisco Franco adhered to armed neutrality at that time, while providing a division of volunteers on the eastern front of Germany who wanted to fight against Soviet Union on the side of the Germans. De jure, Spain decided to remain neutral, was not one of Germany’s allies and did not declare war on the USSR.
Volunteer motivation
The history of Spain was connected with the fate of the USSR in pre-war years. Suner, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in 1941, on June 24, announced the formation of this division, saying that the USSR was responsible for the Spanish Civil War, which began in 1936, when nationalist fighters led by Franco raised the blame for the Soviet Union This war dragged on and involved extrajudicial reprisals and mass executions. The oath was changed in agreement with the Germans. The soldiers swore allegiance to the fight against communism, not to the Fuhrer.
The motivations of the volunteers who made up the 250th division were different: from the desire to avenge loved ones who died in the civil war, to the desire to hide (among former republicans, who made up the bulk of those who decided to go over to the side of the Soviet army). There were fighters who sincerely wanted to atone for their recent republican past. Many also acted for selfish reasons. Military personnel received a decent salary at that time, plus there was also a German salary (7.3 pesetas from the Spanish government and 8.48 from Germany per day).
Division composition
The division, numbering 18,693 soldiers (15,780 lower ranks, 2,272 non-commissioned officers, 641 officers) departed in 1941, on July 13, from Madrid and was transferred to Germany for training military training lasting five weeks in the city of Grafenwoehr at the training site. Augustin Muñoz Grandes, a Civil War veteran, was the first commander of this division. The soldiers advanced, starting from Poland, on foot to the front. After this, the Blue Division was transferred to the Wehrmacht as the 250th Infantry. Over the entire period of its existence, more than 40 thousand people passed through its composition (more than 50 thousand - according to other sources).
Fighting with the Russians during the defense of Leningrad
The "Blue Division" near Leningrad held the defense and was considered the weak link Soviet command. Therefore, during Operation Polar Star, aimed at liberating Leningrad region and carried out over an area almost 60 km long (near Krasny Bor), insignificant forces were allocated, which, in conditions of bad weather and difficult terrain, were unable to ensure a complete breakthrough of the front, although they were wedged in at a noticeable distance.
In this area the fighting was fierce on both sides. The forward detachments of the Red Army, which managed to break through, were cut off by flank counterattacks from their reserves and rear areas and were ultimately placed in a difficult position. The remnants of the assault units, left without ammunition and food, had to escape from the encirclement precisely through the positions of the Blue Division.
When leaving the encirclement, clashes with the Spaniards were merciless and sudden. Researchers, in particular, cite an episode when a group of Russians, who had virtually no grenades or ammunition, sneaked at night to a dugout where soldiers of the Blue Division were carelessly resting. Having burst into the dugout, the soldiers destroyed the enemy with cold steel.
The Spaniards have a special attitude towards discipline
Special treatment Spanish fighters' sense of discipline was evident back in Poland. Several soldiers in civilian clothes went AWOL. They were detained by the Gestapo because they looked Jewish due to their dark appearance. After the shootout, the comrades freed their own. Morozov, burgomaster of Novgorod, died at the hands of a fighter from the Blue Division.
The authorities organized the distribution of milk to pregnant women. There was a line every morning. Slowly, soldiers from this division began to join it. They stood peacefully among the pregnant women, not demanding anything extra for themselves - they only received general norm and left. However, Morozov was outraged by the lack of milk. When he arrived at the council, he pulled one of the Spaniards down the stairs. He jumped up and shot him with a pistol.
A combination of sloppiness and high combat effectiveness
This combination of sloppiness and high combat effectiveness was noted by General Halder after the battle in Krasny Bor. He warned his men that if they suddenly saw an unshaven, drunken soldier with an unbuttoned tunic, there was no need to rush to arrest him, since he was probably a Spanish hero.
There were frequent cases among the division's military personnel of going over to the Russian side, largely due to the meager food and rudeness of their officers.
Disbandment of the formation, its further fate
In 1943, on October 20, due to foreign policy pressure, he decided to withdraw the Blue Division from the front and disband the formation. However, many Spaniards remained voluntarily in the units until the end of the war. Not wanting to lose their potential soldiers, the Germans opened propaganda for volunteers to join the German command"German foreign Legion"They were, as a rule, in the SS troops (Wehrmacht infantry division), who fought until the very end. Before the surrender, about 7 thousand Spaniards fought in surrounded Berlin.
In post-war Spain, many former soldiers of this division subsequently made successful military career.
The attitude of the division fighters to the church and religion
Religion and the church enjoyed enormous authority in Francoist Spain. During the shelling, for example, several shells hit the central dome of the Hagia Sophia Church in Veliky Novgorod. As a result, the cross began to fall to the ground. Spanish sappers rescued it, restored it during the war, and sent it to their home country.
Even during Franco’s lifetime, in the 70s, this cross stood in Engineering Academy. The inscription underneath said that it was in storage in Spain and would return to Russia when the Bolshevik regime disappeared. After the war, the Soviet regime accused the Spaniards of robbery, who turned out to be the scourge of Novgorod antiquities. They turned the Church of the Entrance into Jerusalem into a forge, and turned the archbishop's palace into a morgue. The "Blue Division" launched on the eastern front most surviving iconostases for firewood. They completely burned down the Znamensky Cathedral “through negligence.”
It should be noted that on the doors of ancient temples there were prohibitory inscriptions in Spanish and German languages, however, the Spaniards had no response to this and continued to rob Russian churches. Almost all the churches of Novgorod suffered from the Spaniards. It turned out that in search of souvenirs, sappers took a cross from the St. Sophia Cathedral to Spain, supposedly as a souvenir. It was returned in 2004.
German attitude towards Spanish soldiers
All historians assert that there were great differences between the Spanish and German character. The Germans accused the Spaniards of licentiousness, indiscipline, familiarity with local population, in particular with the female gender. An attempt to feed volunteers with the standard diet that fed the Wehrmacht infantry division turned into quite a scandal. This food lowered the morale of the soldiers who made up the Blue Division on the eastern front. It all ended with the fact that after negotiations at the highest level, trains with Turkish lentils and peas rushed to the eastern front.
However, over time, the Germans became convinced that the lack of discipline to commit heroic deeds It doesn't bother the Spaniards. Soon after the victory, German prisoners began to be repatriated, but the Spaniards were able to “sit out” and the subsequent amnesty. Negotiations were held about their fate, but to no avail. After all, Franco again had to play a diplomatic game in the conditions of the now “cold” war.
"Blue Division" (Borzya)
In Russia there is also a division with the same name. Since 1972, since March, the 150th Motorized Rifle Division, also called "Blue", was stationed in Borza. This is a city located in the Trans-Baikal Territory, 378 kilometers from Chita. Its population is 29,405 people. Borzya-3 ("Blue Division") is in no way connected with the Spanish troops.
Spain Spain
250th Division of Spanish Volunteers(German) 250. Einheit spanischer Freiwilliger), traditionally known in Russian-language sources as Blue Division, but due to the lack of part European languages names of shades of blue color possible reading and how Blue Division(Spanish) Division Azul, German Blaue Division) - a division of Spanish volunteers who fought on the side of Germany during the Second World War. Nominally thought to be composed of members of the Spanish Phalanx, the Blue Division was actually a mixture of regular soldiers, Civil War veterans, and members of the Falangist militia. It was composed according to Spanish canons: four infantry regiments and one artillery regiment.
Encyclopedic YouTube
1 / 4
✪ Blue Division. Spanish fascists in the USSR. Interview with B. Kovalev. Egor Yakovlev. Digital history.
✪ Blue Division. History of the Spanish Volunteers WWII .avi
✪ CHVI#1. Mikhail Polikarpov, Russian volunteer in the war in Yugoslavia
✪ Leningrad under siege (old photographs)
Subtitles
Occurrence and characteristics of the connection
Not wanting to openly drag Spain into World War II on the side of Hitler and at the same time trying to strengthen the Phalanx regime and ensure the security of the country, Francisco Franco took a position of armed neutrality, giving Germany Eastern Front a division of volunteers who wanted to fight on the side of the Germans against the Soviet Union. De jure, Spain remained neutral, was not an ally of Germany and did not declare war on the USSR. The division got its name from the blue shirts - the Phalanx uniform.
The volunteers had different motivations: from the desire to avenge those killed in Civil War loved ones to the point of wanting to hide (among former Republicans - they, as a rule, subsequently made up the bulk of defectors to the side of the Soviet army). There were people who sincerely wanted to atone for their republican past. Many were guided by selfish considerations - the division's military personnel received a decent salary for those times in Spain, plus a German salary (respectively 7.3 pesetas from the Spanish government and 8.48 pesetas from the German command per day).
Former Chairman brotherhood of the division, a former fighter, spoke about his path into its ranks only in the same way as other Nazis did:
I didn’t have any ideology. I was living quietly near Teruel, a Soviet-made plane arrived and dropped Soviet bomb. And, most likely, the pilot was Soviet. My whole family died. I repeat: I was 14 years old at that moment. By the time the war with the Soviet Union began, I was 17 years old. Of course I wanted revenge. And I went to Russia to return a courtesy visit.
Even in Poland, the Spaniards showed a special attitude towards discipline. Several soldiers went AWOL in civilian clothes and were detained by the Gestapo - because of their appearance they were mistaken for Jews. The comrades freed their comrades after a shootout. The following fact speaks about discipline in the division:
Among the division's military personnel there were frequent cases of defection to the side of the Red Army, not in last resort due to the rudeness of their own officers and meager food.
The finale of the battle path
Due to strong foreign policy pressure, Francisco Franco decided on October 20 to withdraw the Blue Division from the front and disband the formation. Some of the Spaniards remained in the detachments until the end of the war German army voluntarily - the volunteer “Blue Legion” was created (English) Russian", whose number was 2-3 thousand people. The Germans, not wanting to lose potential soldiers, launched widespread propaganda regarding the entry of volunteers into the German Foreign Legion, which, unlike the Blue Division, was exclusively under German command. As a rule, they were all in the SS troops, who fought until the very end. In surrounded Berlin, 7,000 Spaniards fought before the capitulation.
Losses
- 4957 killed
- 8,766 wounded
- 326 missing
- 372 captured (most returned to Spain in 1954).
General Emilio Esteban Infantes, who commanded the Blue Division, in his book The Blue Division. Volunteers on the Eastern Front" gives the following figures for the division's losses: 14 thousand on the Volkhov Front and 32 thousand on the Leningrad Front (winter - spring 1943). IN documentary film Carl Hofker's Blue Division Azul. History of Spanish Volunteers" provides the following data on the total losses of Spanish volunteers on the Eastern Front from "47,000 people, total losses were 3,600 dead, in addition 8,500 wounded, 7,800 sick various diseases, also 1,600 people received frostbite and 321 people were captured." At the same time, the losses of the “Blue Division” killed in Volkhov Front Karl Hofker estimates 1,400 people.
In Francoist Spain, the church and religion enjoyed enormous authority. For example, during Soviet shelling, several shells hit the central dome of the Church of St. Sophia in Veliky Novgorod, and the cross of the main dome began to fall to the ground. Spanish sappers saved the cross, restored it during the war and it was sent to Spain. In the seventies, during Franco’s lifetime, the cross stood at the Engineering Academy. Under it there was an inscription that this cross was in storage in Spain and would return to Russia when the “godless Bolshevik regime” disappeared (after the war Soviet authority accused the Spaniards of robbery). The cross was returned in 2004, 1958. (German)
Gerald R. Kleinfeld and Lewis A. Tambs. Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia. Southern Illinois University Press (1979), 434 pages, ISBN 0-8093-0865-7. (English) Xavier Moreno Julia. La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia, 1941-1945. Barcelona: Critica (2005). (Spanish) Wayne H. Bowen. Spaniards and Nazi Germany: Collaboration in the New Order. University of Missouri Press (2005), 250 pages, ISBN 0-8262-1300-6. (English) Antonio de Andrés y Andrés - Artillería en la División Azul Eduardo Barrachina Juan - La Batalla del Lago Ilmen: División Azul Carlos Caballero & Rafael Ibañez - Escritores en las trincheras: La División Azul en sus libros, publicaciones periódicas y filmografía (1941-1988) Fernando J. Carrera Buil & Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto - Batallón Román: Historia fotográfica del II/269 Regimiento de la División Azul Juan Chicharro Lamamié - Diario de un antitanquista en la División Azul Jesús Dolado Esteban (etc) - Revista de comisario: el cuerpo de Intervención Militar de la División Azul 1941-1944 Arturo Espinosa Poveda - Artillero 2º en la gloriosa División Azul Arturo Espinosa Poveda - ¡Teníamos razón! Cuando luchamos contra el communismo Soviético Emilio Esteban-Infantes Martín - Blaue Division: Spaniens freiwillige an der Ostfront Miguel Ezquerra - Berlin a vida o muerte Ramiro García de Ledesma - Encrucijada en la nieve: Un servicio de inteligencia desde la División Azul José García Hispán - La Guardia Civil en la División Azul Cesar Ibáñez Cagna - Banderas españolas contra el comunismo Gerald R. Kleinfeld & Lewis A. Tambs - Hitler’s Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia Vicente Linares - Más que unas memorias: Hasta Leningrado con la División Azul Torcuato Luca de Tena - Embajador en el infierno: Memorias del Capitán de la División Azul Teodoro Palacios Xavier Moreno Julia - La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia 1941-45 Juan José Negreira - Voluntarios baleares en la División Azul y Legión Azul (1941-1944) Ricardo Recio - El servicio de intendencia de la División Azul José Mª Sánchez Diana - Cabeza de Puente: Diario de un soldado de Hitler John Scurr & Richard Hook - Germany’s Spanish Volunteers 1941-45 Luis E. Togores - Muñoz Grandes: Hero of Marruecos, general de la División Azul Manuel Vázquez Enciso - Historia postal de la División Azul Enrique de la Vega - Arde la Nieve: Un relato histórico sobre la División Azul Enrique de la Vega Viguera - Russia no es culpable: Historia de la División Azul José Viladot Fargas - El espíritu de la División Azul: Possad Díaz de Villegas - La División Azul en línea.
In World War II, Spain took a position of neutrality. But, nevertheless, Franco sent a division of volunteers to help Hitler, which became known as the “Blue Division” because of the blue shirts of the Phalanx.
On the Eastern Front they took part in the siege of Leningrad. For the combination of high combat effectiveness and sloppiness, it was noted after the battle in Krasny Bor by the statement of General Halder: “If you see a German soldier unshaven, with an unbuttoned tunic and drunk, do not rush to arrest him - most likely, this is a Spanish hero.”
February 1943. Russia.
Russia 1942. Division commander Augustin Muñoz Grandes.
Wounded Spaniard, decorated iron cross. 1942-43
Dynamo village. Guard of honor near the headquarters of the 250th division. Photo 1943.
Pavlovsk Park, a group of soldiers of the Spanish division. 1943 - 44
Spanish soldiers on the march. 1942-44
Wartime entertainment. Blue Division. Bullfight 1943.
Funeral of division soldiers. First Lieutenant Soriano. 1942 -43 Eastern front.
Summer 1942. On the left is Pedro Tous, the grave of Juan Martinez.
2nd division commander, General Emilio Esteban Infantes. 1943
1943 Krasny Bor.
Volunteer in Germany. 1942
Village Dynamo (Headquarters of the 250th Spanish Division). 1943
Spanish volunteers read a newspaper. 1942-43 Eastern front.
Eastern Front, soldier of the Blue Division. 1942 - 43
Spring 1943. Logistics service, food delivery.
1943 German general rewards Spanish soldiers.
Construction. 1943
Somewhere in Russia, together junior ranks Blue Infantry Division and Blue Squadron. 1942-43
Artillery crew in position. Blue Division. Catherine Park. Photo July 29, 1943. Detskoe Selo.
Prayer of Spanish soldiers, somewhere in the current Pushkinsky district. 1943
Eastern Front, 1942-43. Funeral after winter.
Junior rank of the 263rd battalion, located in the Aleksandrovka area. 1943
From the beginning of December 1942, the division commander was General Esteban Infantes.
1942 Training camp in Germany. Before sending to Russia.
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blue division strength, blue division Dzerzhinsky
June 24, 1941 - October 10, 1943
Third Reich
Spain
infantry division
3 regiments, 8 battalions, 1 division
Spanish Tercios Heroicos
Eastern front:
- Leningrad blockade:
- Tikhvin defensive operation
- Tikhvin strategic offensive operation
- Operation North Star
- Krasnoborsk operation
Agustin Muñoz Grandes,
Emilio Esteban-Infantes
250th Division of Spanish Volunteers(German 250. Einheit spanischer Freiwilliger, Spanish División Azul), traditionally known in Russian-language sources as, but due to the lack of names for shades of blue in some European languages, it can also be read as Blue Division(German: Blaue Division) - a division of Spanish volunteers who fought on the side of Germany during the Second World War. Nominally thought to be composed of members of the Spanish Phalanx, the Blue Division was actually a mixture of regular soldiers, Civil War veterans, and members of the Falangist militia. It was composed according to Spanish canons: four infantry regiments and one artillery regiment.
- 1 Occurrence and characteristics of the connection
- 2 Combat
- 3 Final battle path
- 3.1 Losses
- 3.2 Further fate
- 4 Notes
- 5 Literature
- 6 Links
Occurrence and characteristics of the connection
Not wanting to openly drag Spain into the Second world war On the side of Hitler and at the same time trying to strengthen the Phalanx regime and ensure the security of the country, Francisco Franco took a position of armed neutrality, providing Germany on the Eastern Front with a division of volunteers who wished to fight on the side of the Germans against the Soviet Union. De jure, Spain remained neutral, was not an ally of Germany and did not declare war on the USSR. The division got its name from the blue shirts - the Phalanx uniform.
Foreign Minister Sunier, announcing the formation of the Blue Division on June 24, 1941, said that the USSR was to blame for the Spanish Civil War, for the fact that this war dragged on, for the fact that there were mass executions, that there were extrajudicial killings. By agreement with the Germans, the oath was changed - they swore allegiance not to the Fuhrer, but to the fight against communism.
The motivations of the volunteers were different: from the desire to avenge loved ones who died in the Civil War to the desire to hide (among former Republicans, they, as a rule, subsequently made up the bulk of defectors to the side Soviet army). There were people who sincerely wanted to atone for their republican past. Many were guided by selfish considerations - the division's military personnel received a decent salary for those times in Spain, plus a German salary (respectively 7.3 pesetas from the Spanish government and 8.48 pesetas from the German command per day).
The former chairman of the division’s brotherhood, a former fighter, spoke about his path to its ranks:
I didn’t have any ideology. I was living quietly near Teruel, a Soviet-made plane arrived and dropped a Soviet bomb. And, most likely, the pilot was Soviet. My whole family died. I repeat: I was 14 years old at that moment. By the time the war with the Soviet Union began, I was 17 years old. Of course I wanted revenge. And I went to Russia to return a courtesy visit.
- "Blue Division" and other Spaniards
Banner of the 2nd Battalion
On July 13, 1941, the division, numbering 18,693 people (641 officers, 2,272 non-commissioned officers, 15,780 lower ranks), departed Madrid and was transferred to Germany for five weeks of military training at the training ground in the city of Grafenwoehr. The division's first commander was civil war veteran Agustin Muñoz Grandes. Starting from Poland, the division advanced to the front on foot. After this, it was transferred to the Wehrmacht as the 250th Infantry Division. Over the entire existence of the division, more than 40 thousand people passed through its composition (according to other sources and estimates - more than 50 thousand).
Fighting
The Blue Division held the defense near Leningrad and was considered a weak link by the Soviet command. However, during Operation Polar Star to liberate the Leningrad region, which was carried out on a front section near Krasny Bor almost 60 kilometers long, four Soviet divisions(approximately 44 thousand people) and 2 tank regiment could not break through the defense of the Spaniards (about four and a half thousand people). Soviet troops suffered heavy losses in this area.
Even in Poland, the Spaniards showed a special attitude towards discipline. Several soldiers went AWOL in civilian clothes and were detained by the Gestapo - due to their appearance they looked like Jews. The comrades freed their comrades after a shootout. The following fact speaks about discipline in the division:
...burgomaster (of Novgorod) Morozov died at the hands of a Spanish soldier from the Blue Division. The authorities organized the distribution of milk to pregnant women. Every morning a line formed, into which the Blue Division soldiers slowly began to join. They stood peacefully among the pregnant women, not demanding anything extra. They received the general quota and departed decorously. But Burgomaster Morozov, outraged by the fact that there was a catastrophic shortage of milk, somehow came to the council in a state of moderate alcoholic intoxication and kicked one of the Spaniards down the stairs with a kick in the ass. Having counted all the steps with his nose, the Spaniard jumped up and emptied the magazine of his pistol at the city head...
This combination of high combat effectiveness and sloppiness was noted after the battle in Krasny Bor by the statement of General Halder:
This phrase still hangs in the Blue Division Veterans Club in Madrid.
Among the division's military personnel, there were frequent cases of defection to the side of the Red Army, not least because of the rudeness of their own officers and meager food.
A view of the division from the civilian population is illustrated in the diary of Lydia Osipova:
25.08.1942.<...>The Spaniards destroyed all our ideas about them as a proud, beautiful, noble people, etc. No operas. Small, fidgety, like monkeys, dirty and thieving, like gypsies. But they are very good-natured. All the German krales immediately spread from the Germans to the Spaniards. And the Spaniards also show great tenderness and affection for Russian girls. There is hatred between them and the Germans, which is now fueled by rivalry among women.
The Spaniards receive two rations. One from the German army, the other from their government and distribute the surplus to the population. The population immediately appreciated all the Spanish good nature and immediately became attached to the Spaniards in a way that they could never become attached to the Germans. Especially the kids. If a German is driving a cart, you will never see children on it. If a Spaniard is driving, then he is not visible behind the children. And all these Jose and Pepe walk the streets, covered with children...
05.10.1942.<...>It is interesting to draw a parallel between the Germans and the Spaniards as we see them. 1. Germans are quiet and calm. Spaniards are noisy and restless like young puppies. 2. The Germans unquestioningly obey every order, whatever it may be. The Spaniards always strive not to carry out orders, no matter what they are. The Germans “Verbothen” to offend the Spaniards as guests. And they outwardly treat them kindly, although they hate them passionately. The Spaniards massacre the Germans every Saturday night after they have drunk their weekly ration of wine. Sometimes even during the day, when sober, they beat the Germans to the death. The Germans are only defending themselves. 3. The Germans are extremely thrifty with uniforms and food. The underwear is worn patched and patched. They carefully mend their own socks and so on. Not a single crumb of their food goes to waste. The Spaniards, having received brand new silk underwear, take scissors and turn the long johns into panties. The remains are thrown away to the delight of my laundresses... The Spaniards travel 35 kilometers from Pavlovsk to buy food every week. And everyone knows what they got for this week. If these are lemons, then the exhaust pipe of the truck is plugged with a lemon and lemons are sticking out in all possible and impossible places. If there are apples, the same thing happens with apples and everything else...
4... The Germans are brave insofar as they are ordered by the Fuhrer to be brave. The Spaniards have absolutely no sense of self-preservation. They knock out over 50% of the composition of any unit from them, the remaining 50% continue to go into battle singing. We saw this with our own eyes. The Germans, according to the order, at the first shell, climb into the bunker and sit in it until the end of the shooting. The Spaniards from our unit killed 14 people because they not only did not hide from the shelling, but certainly rushed to where the shells were landing to see where and how they hit. Usually the second or third shell covered them.
Osipova L. Diary of a collaborator.
The finale of the battle path
Banner of the 3rd Battalion (Bandera) of the Spanish Legion of the WehrmachtDue to strong foreign policy pressure, Francisco Franco on October 20, 1943 decided to withdraw the Blue Division from the front and disband the unit. Some Spaniards remained in the German army voluntarily until the end of the war. The Germans, not wanting to lose potential soldiers, launched widespread propaganda regarding the entry of volunteers into the German Foreign Legion, which, unlike the Blue Division, was exclusively under German command. As a rule, they were all in the SS troops, who fought until the very end. 7,000 Spaniards fought in surrounded Berlin before capitulation.
Losses
Monument fallen soldiers Blue Division at Almudena Cemetery.During the battles with the Red Army, the Blue Division suffered the following losses:
- 4957 killed
- 8,766 wounded
- 326 missing
- 372 captured (most returned to Spain in 1954).
General Emilio Esteban-Infantes, commander of the Blue Division, in his book “Blue Division. Volunteers on the Eastern Front" gives the following figures for the division's losses: 14 thousand on the Volkhov Front and 32 thousand on the Leningrad Front (winter - spring 1943). Other figures are given by Miguel Bas: the division destroyed about 17 thousand Soviet soldiers. Documentary film by Karl Hofker “Blue Division Azul. History of the Spanish Volunteers" provides the following data on the total losses of Spanish volunteers on the Eastern Front from "47,000 people, the total losses were 3,600 dead, in addition 8,500 wounded, 7,800 sick with various diseases, 1,600 people received frostbite and 321 people were captured." At the same time, Karl Hofker estimates the losses of the “Blue Division” killed on the Volkhov Front at 1,400 people.
In Francoist Spain, the church and religion enjoyed enormous authority. For example, during Soviet artillery shelling, several shells hit the central dome of the Hagia Sophia Church in Veliky Novgorod, and the cross of the main dome began to fall to the ground. Spanish sappers rescued the cross, restored it during the war, and it was sent to Spain. In the seventies, during Franco’s lifetime, the cross stood at the Engineering Academy. Under it was an inscription that this cross was in storage in Spain and would return to Russia when the “godless Bolshevik regime” disappeared (after the war, the Soviet government accused the Spaniards of robbery). The cross was returned in 2004.
Further fate
Many former Blue Division soldiers went on to successful military careers in post-war Spain.
Notes
- MILITARY LITERATURE -- Crusade to Russia
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/victory/703276-echo/ Miguel Fernandez Bas - bureau chief of the Spanish news agency "EFE" in Moscow about the "Blue Division"
- Drobzyako S. I., Romanko O. V., Semenov K. K. Foreign formations Third Reich. - M.:AST; Astrel, 2009. - ISBN-978-5-271-23888-8
- Kovalev B. M. Nazi occupation and collaboration in Russia. 1941-1944. - M.: AST, Transitbook, 2004. - P. 41. - 544 p. - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-17-020865-0.
- RGASPI. F. 17, Op. 125, D. 97. L. 55-56. See also: RGVA. F. 1372k, Op. 3, D. 1435-1452.
- Spanish "Blue Division" Soviet-German front(1941–1943).
- For the translation of the film, see the website: http://www.theunknownwar.ru/golubaya_diviziya_azul_istoriya_ispanskix_dobrovolczev_wwii.html
Literature
- “Crusade against Russia”: Collection of articles. - M.: Yauza, 2005. ISBN 5-87849-171-0
- Elpatievsky A.V., “Blue Division, prisoners of war and interned Spaniards in the USSR” - Aletheia, 2015. ISBN: 978-5-9905926-5-0
- Esteban-Infantes, E. “Blaue Division. Spaniens Freiwillige an der Ostfront. Aus dem Spanischen von Werner Haupt.” Hamburg, 1958. (German)
- Gerald R. Kleinfeld and Lewis A. Tambs. Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia. Southern Illinois University Press (1979), 434 pages, ISBN 0-8093-0865-7. (English)
- Xavier Moreno Julia. La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia, 1941-1945. Barcelona: Critica (2005). (Spanish)
- Wayne H. Bowen. Spaniards and Nazi Germany: Collaboration in the New Order. University of Missouri Press (2005), 250 pages, ISBN 0-8262-1300-6. (English)
- Antonio de Andrés y Andrés - Artillería en la División Azul
- Eduardo Barrachina Juan - La Batalla del Lago Ilmen: División Azul
- Carlos Caballero & Rafael Ibañez - Escritores en las trincheras: La División Azul en sus libros, publicaciones periódicas y filmografía (1941-1988)
- Fernando J. Carrera Buil & Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto - Batallón Román: Historia fotográfica del II/269 Regimiento de la División Azul
- Juan Chicharro Lamamié - Diario de un antitanquista en la División Azul
- Jesús Dolado Esteban (etc) - Revista de comisario: el cuerpo de Intervención Militar de la División Azul 1941-1944
- Arturo Espinosa Poveda - Artillero 2º en la gloriosa División Azul
- Arturo Espinosa Poveda - ¡Teníamos razón! Cuando luchamos contra el communismo Soviético
- Emilio Esteban-Infantes Martín - Blaue Division: Spaniens freiwillige an der Ostfront
- Miguel Ezquerra - Berlin a vida o muerte
- Ramiro García de Ledesma - Encrucijada en la nieve: Un servicio de inteligencia desde la División Azul
- José García Hispán - La Guardia Civil en la División Azul
- Cesar Ibáñez Cagna - Banderas españolas contra el comunismo
- Gerald R. Kleinfeld & Lewis A. Tambs - Hitler’s Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia
- Vicente Linares - Más que unas memorias: Hasta Leningrado con la División Azul
- Torcuato Luca de Tena - Embajador en el infierno: Memorias del Capitán de la División Azul Teodoro Palacios
- Xavier Moreno Julia - La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia 1941-45
- Juan José Negreira - Voluntarios baleares en la División Azul y Legión Azul (1941-1944)
- Ricardo Recio - El servicio de intendencia de la División Azul
- José Mª Sánchez Diana - Cabeza de Puente: Diario de un soldado de Hitler
- John Scurr & Richard Hook - Germany’s Spanish Volunteers 1941-45
- Luis E. Togores - Muñoz Grandes: Hero of Marruecos, general de la División Azul
- Manuel Vázquez Enciso - Historia postal de la División Azul
- Enrique de la Vega - Arde la Nieve: Un relato histórico sobre la División Azul
- Enrique de la Vega Viguera - Russia no es culpable: Historia de la División Azul
- José Viladot Fargas - El espíritu de la División Azul: Possad
- Díaz de Villegas - La División Azul en línea.
Links
- The 250. Infanterie-Division by Jason Pipes
- The 250. Infanterie-Division on the Axis History Factbook
- S. P. Pozharskaya. Spanish "Blue Division" on the Soviet-German front (1941-1943)
- Anthem of the Blue Division
- Blue Division poster
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blue division Galicia, blue division Dzerzhinsky, blue division strength, blue division edelweiss
Blue Division Information About
A friend of Carlos's grandfather died - Abuelo Rafa, grandfather Rafael. He died well, eleven days before his 90th birthday, went to bed and did not wake up. Old man before last day He was smart, cheerful, without signs of weakness, loved to travel, see the world, last year he even flew to China and, upon returning, was as happy as a child. He was once a Francoist, and still is, he often grumbled that under the Generalissimo, although life was poorer, there was more order and love, he hated gays and electric candles in churches, and loved to talk about life.
In particular, about how he fought in Russia, as part of Division Azule, that he saw how he was wounded somewhere near Leningrad, which is why he survived, and his beloved sidekick Pablo remained there, in Russia. Oddly enough, he loved Russia very much, but he stupidly hated the Germans and always swore when he encountered them in a cafe, where he liked to drink light beer and watch football. One day, about a year and a half ago, when they started talking about the war, he took out of his chest a large, as they call it here, “traveling” navaja, almost a dagger, only folding, and showed me four notches on the handle, explaining “Este es la guerra , esto son alemanos. Solo alemanos!" - “This is war, these are Germans. Only Germans.” And then he explained that they often exchanged fire with the Russians, but from afar, so he still doesn’t know whether their blood is on him, but he cut four Germans, and even one to death, thank God that the guys covered him.
And when I asked why that was, he explained: they were goats (in Spain, “goat” too bad people they call themselves), considered themselves superior to the Spaniards, and even insulted Russian girls.
And he managed to tell a lot more that makes you look at some things a little differently than you are used to. And now, they sent a link to interesting material. Tomorrow I’ll ask Carlos, maybe in one of the photos there’s Rafa’s young grandfather. And there’s no one to ask about Pablo’s sidekick...
History of the Blue Division
It’s strange that no one has yet thought of making a film about “División Azul” - the 250th division of Spanish volunteers, which fought against the Soviet Union on the side of the Nazis and got its name from the color of the Falangists’ shirts.
The history of this Spanish unit is worthy of film adaptation because of the atypical behavior of its soldiers, which markedly distinguished them from the Germans and German allies. As an illustration, I will cite some formal facts, testimonies of defectors and the testimony of a Russian resident of occupied Pavlovsk.
A brief chronology is as follows. In 1941-42, the Blue Division opposed the Volkhov Front and fought near Novgorod, in 1943 - on Leningrad Front. Over the entire period of its existence until October 1943, according to some sources, 40 thousand people passed through its ranks, according to others, about 55 thousand. The personnel were constantly renewed, maintaining the strength of the formation at approximately 20 thousand people.
The loss assessment deserves a special mention. German sources talk about 14.5 thousand total losses divisions. However, its commander - General Emilio Esteban-Infantes - in the book “The Blue Division. Volunteers on the Eastern Front” gives the following loss figures: 14 thousand on the Volkhov Front and 32 thousand on the Leningrad Front. These data correspond to the information reflected in the documents collected in Soviet archives: 27 marching battalions, 1200–1300 people each, arrived to replenish the division’s units throughout the war. This means that a total of 33–35 thousand soldiers and officers were sent from Spain to replenish the division. During initial formation there were 19,148 people in the unit. After the division was removed from the front, 8 thousand soldiers and officers returned to Spain, leaving 2,500 people in the legion. Based on this information, the division's losses should have been about 42 thousand people. Some discrepancy with the information of General Esteban Infantes can be explained by the fact that some of the wounded returned to duty.
Formally, Spain remained neutral and did not declare war on the USSR.
The personnel included only part of the military personnel; a significant part consisted of civil war veterans or members of the Falangist militia. The division had Spanish structure and an entirely Spanish command.
The division did not take the German oath of allegiance to the Fuhrer, but its modified version - of allegiance to the fight against communism.
Among personnel Nazis and fanatics did not prevail, the motivation of volunteers was very varied: from those who wanted to take revenge for Soviet participation in the Civil War (1936-39) to the beggars and unemployed who went to the front in the hope of providing for the lives of their relatives.
After the first acquaintance of the Germans with the newly formed Spanish units, they had doubts about the political “reliability” of the personnel and a suspicion arose that in the ranks of the division there were many Republicans hiding from persecution by the Francoists. So in September 1941, the headquarters of the 250th division received the order: “Our secret Service information claims that in the division there are people who in the past had the most extreme political views and were on trial. Some signed up for the division for the purpose of sabotage, others joined the division to avoid trial and punishment for their crimes committed in our last campaign.”
Subsequent events showed that the Germans’ suspicions were correct: almost immediately after arriving at the front voluntary surrender became a prisoner business as usual. One of the commissioners Northwestern Front in November 1941, he notes that the Spanish defectors “are very unhappy that they are considered ordinary prisoners of war and kept with the Germans.”
By railway the Spaniards only reached Germany, where they underwent a month's training. Further east, unlike the Germans, they walked on foot - in marching battalions. Already in Poland, the Spaniards showed a special attitude towards discipline. Several soldiers went AWOL in civilian clothes and were detained by the Gestapo - their dark appearance made them look like Jews. The comrades freed their comrades after a shootout. “One of the defectors reported: the 17th marching battalion became famous for the fact that half of the soldiers who arrived in its composition fled: many fled to the rear, some to the Russians. On the way from Germany, 160 people deserted from the 19th battalion.”
Despite their peculiar attitude to discipline, the Spaniards showed themselves to be brave and desperate soldiers in the battles on the outskirts of Leningrad - during the attempt of Soviet troops to break through the encirclement in the first months of 1943 (the second after the defeat of the 1st Shock Army in the winter of 1941-42 .). Then the forces of the Red Army, supported by massive artillery and aviation raids, broke through German defense; The stability of the front was under threat. First, one battalion of the 269th regiment was sent to the Mgi area, and in February the entire “Blue Division” was sent.
“According to the defector, the blow inflicted by Soviet troops (55th Army) on February 10 in the Krasny Bor region made a depressing impression on the Spaniards. A prisoner of war captured on March 3 said that “the last battles were the greatest test for the Spaniards, they suffered colossal losses, entire battalions were destroyed." These battles, according to the prisoner, had a severe impact on the mood of even the Phalangist soldiers, who had previously fanatically believed in the strength of Germany. As a result of the fighting on the Kolpinsky sector of the front, the 262nd Regiment, which suffered particularly heavy losses, was removed from front line and assigned to manning.”
However, the Spaniards completed the task and stopped it at the cost of huge losses. Soviet troops. If not for the brutal resistance of the Blue Division, the blockade of Leningrad would have been lifted exactly a year earlier.
- “Prisoners of War of the 269th infantry regiment, taken at the Lovkovo site on December 27, 1941, showed that there were 50–60 people left in the companies instead of 150, and there were frostbite. Prisoners of the same 269th Infantry Regiment, taken at the Krasny Udarnik site, showed that there were only 30–50 people in the companies. In the 3rd battalion of the 263rd regiment, 60–80 people remained in the companies, in the 2nd battalion of the 262nd regiment - up to 80 people. And only in a few units of the 250th division, according to the testimony of prisoners of war, 100 people remained - in the 9th, 10th and 14th companies of the 2nd battalion of the 269th regiment, in the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 263rd regiment . Almost always in the testimony of prisoners it was about frostbite.”
On the part of the Germans, the attitude towards the Spaniards was contemptuous. According to the Germans, in the Blue Division, each soldier fought with a guitar in one hand and a rifle in the other: the guitar interfered with shooting, and the rifle interfered with playing. At one of the feasts, Hitler remarked: “To the soldiers, the Spaniards appear to be a gang of slackers. They view the rifle as a tool that should not be cleaned under any circumstances. Their sentries exist only in principle. They don’t go to posts, and if they do appear there, it’s only to sleep.”
Many defectors and prisoners of war claimed that anti-German sentiment was very strong in the division. Thus, a soldier of the 269th regiment said that “he and several of his comrades at the end of December 1942 witnessed how a German captain, nachkhoz, severely beat the Spaniard Falangist Bermudos because he entered the locker room when he arrived at the bathhouse , but didn’t want to wait outside: the Germans were washing in the bathhouse at that time.” According to another defector, when meeting German soldiers a fight breaks out with the Spanish, sometimes even without any reason.
The book testifies to the gradual evolution of views even among those who were considered the “support” of the Francoist regime former member National Junta of the Phalanx Dionisio Ridruejo “Letters to Spain”: “For me, 1940–1941 were the most controversial, heartbreaking and critical years in my life... To my happiness, my eyes were opened - I volunteered to fight in Russia. I left Spain as a die-hard interventionist, burdened with every possible nationalist prejudice. I was convinced that fascism was destined to become the most appropriate model for Europe, that the Soviet revolution was the “archenemy” that must be destroyed or at least forced to capitulate. The Russian campaign played a role in my life positive role. I not only had no hatred left, but I experienced a growing sense of affection for the people and the Russian land. Many of my comrades experienced the same feelings as me.” As subsequent memoirs of Spanish veterans showed, most of them repented for their participation in the war against the Soviet Union.
During Soviet artillery shelling, several shells hit the central dome of the Church of Hagia Sophia in Veliky Novgorod, and the cross began to fall to the ground. Spanish sappers rescued the cross, restored it during the war, and it was sent to Spain. In the seventies, during Franco’s lifetime, the cross stood at the Engineering Academy.
Having learned about another beaten Russian girl, the Spaniards began to beat all the Germans they came across along the way.
The Germans unquestioningly obey every order, whatever it may be. The Spaniards always strive not to carry out orders, no matter what they are. The Germans “Verbothen” to offend the Spaniards. And they outwardly treat them kindly, although they hate them passionately. The Spaniards massacre the Germans every Saturday night after they have drunk their weekly ration of wine. Sometimes even during the day, when sober, they beat the Germans to the death. The Germans are only defending themselves.
The Spaniards were burying a girl killed by a shell. The coffin was carried in their arms and everyone was sobbing. They robbed the entire greenhouse, which the Germans had set up. There was some scuffle.
If a German is driving a cart, you will never see children on it. If a Spaniard is driving, then he is not visible behind the children. And all these Jose and Pepe walk the streets, covered with children.
The Spaniards travel 35 kilometers from Pavlovsk to buy groceries every week. And everyone knows what they got for this week. If these are lemons, then the exhaust pipe of the truck is plugged with a lemon and lemons are sticking out in all possible and impossible places. If there are apples, the same thing happens with apples and everything else.
The Germans are brave insofar as they are ordered by the Fuhrer to be brave. The Spaniards have absolutely no sense of self-preservation. They knock out over 50% of the composition of any unit from them, the remaining 50% continue to go into battle singing. We saw this with our own eyes.
Pozharskaya S.P., Spanish “Blue Division” on the Soviet-German front // Crusade against Russia. - M.: Yauza, 2005. (link)
Unknown blockade. In 2 volumes. - St. Petersburg: Neva, 2002 (link)
Therefore, it is surprising that the story of the Blue Division has not yet been filmed. There is nothing in it that Spain could be ashamed of - its soldiers behaved like people and are quite worthy of memory and sympathy, unlike the scum from German troops and their Romanian, Finnish, Hungarian, Latvian, Norwegian and other allies from all over Europe. In addition, the Spaniards, unlike the others, more than paid for their guilt with tens of thousands of lives - only every fifth returned home.
But this will not happen as long as Europe is dominated by a blind hushing up of the Nazi past in half with an equalization of guilt among all participants in the massacre, as evidenced by the public reaction to the recent statements of Lars von Trier. It's a pity. The story of the Spanish soldiers could become a dramatic confession of the participation of this people in the war, the analogue of which 10 years ago was the impressive film Language of Butterflies, dedicated to the Civil War.