Blue Division
The 250th Infantry Division (German: 250. Infanterie-Division), better known as the Blue Division (Spanish: División Azul, German: Blaue Division), was a unit of volunteers from Francoist Spain operating from 1941 to 1944 within the German Army (Wehrmacht) on the Eastern Front during World War II. It was officially designated the Spanish Volunteer Division (Spanish: División Española de Voluntarios) by the Spanish Army.
For other uses, see Blue Division (disambiguation).250th Infantry Division ("Blue Division")
24 June 1941 – 10 October 1944
18,000 personnel (1941)
45,000 personnel (total, 1941–44)[1]
Blue Division
Francisco Franco had secured power in Spain after the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), during which the Nationalists received support from Nazi Germany. Franco's authoritarian regime remained officially non-belligerent in World War II but sympathised with the Axis powers. After lobbying by the Spanish Foreign Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer and by senior figures within the Spanish Army following the 22 June 1941 launch of Operation Barbarossa, Franco agreed that Spanish people would be permitted to enlist privately in the German Army and undertook to provide tacit support. An infantry division was raised from Falangist and Spanish Army cadres and was sent for training in Germany. The unit fought on the Eastern Front and notably participated in the 1941–1944 siege of Leningrad, but was withdrawn from the Front after Allied pressure in October 1944 and returned to Spain soon afterwards. Several thousand non-returners were incorporated into the 121st Infantry Division, the short-lived Blue Legion, and eventually into the Waffen-SS.
Background[edit]
Francisco Franco took power at the head of a coalition of fascist, monarchist, and conservative political factions in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) against the left-leaning Spanish government supported by communist and anarchist factions. More than 300,000 people were killed, and lasting damage was done to the country's economy.[2]
Franco had been supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during the Civil War and Franco sympathised with many aspects of Nazi ideology, especially its anti-communism.
On the other side, the Republican army had been supported by Soviet aid.
Franco ensured that Spain was neutral at the start of World War II but seriously contemplated joining the conflict as a German ally in the aftermath of the Fall of France in 1940.[2] He met Adolf Hitler on 23–24 October 1940 at Hendaye but was unable to gain promises that Spain would gain colonial territories from France in North Africa. Hitler feared delegitimizing the new Vichy regime in France.[3] Ultimately, Spain remained neutral.
After the war[edit]
Hundreds of Blue Division prisoners of war were held by the Soviet authorities. While most prisoners from other nations would be repatriated after the war, Francoist Spain and the Soviet Union did not have diplomatic relations. Soviet camps held together staunch anti-Communist prisoners, those who collaborated with the Soviets either by their previous hidden ideology or after captivity and even those Republican sailors whose Spanish ships had been requisitioned after the fall of the Republic. In 1954, after the death of Stalin, the French Red Cross arranged the ship Semiramis to bring those prisoners who desired repatriation to Barcelona.
Portuguese volunteers[edit]
Like Spain, Portugal under the Salazar regime remained neutral during World War II in agreement with the United Kingdom in accordance to the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373, but openly sympathized with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. There was some popular anti-communist sentiment, and 150 Portuguese volunteers served unofficially in the Blue Division. However, most had roots in Spain or had already fought on the Francoist side in the Viriatos division during the Spanish Civil War. The Portuguese served in Spanish units and had no separate national presence.[17]
War cemetery[edit]
1,900 soldiers of the Blue Division are buried in the war cemetery in Veliky Novgorod.[18]