View source for Blue Division

{{Other uses}}
{{Short description|Unit of Spanish volunteers in the German Wehrmacht during World War II}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name = 250th Infantry Division ("Blue Division")
| native_name = {{langx|es|250.ª División de Infantería ("División Azul")|label=none}}<br>{{langx|de|250. Infanterie-Division ("Blue Division")|label=none}}
| image = Fotografía de la bandera española presidiendo un acto de la División Azul.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Volunteers from the Blue Division.
| dates = {{Start date|1941|6|24|df=y}} {{en dash}} {{end date|1943|10|10|df=y}}
| country = {{flagcountry|Francoist Spain|1938}}
| allegiance = {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}
| nickname = Blue Division
| type = [[Infantry]]
| branch = {{army|Nazi Germany}}
| size = 18,000 troops (1941)<br />45,000 troops (total, 1941–44){{sfn|Moreno Juliá|2018|p=193}}
| battles = {{tree list}}
* [[World War II]]
** [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]
*** [[Siege of Leningrad]]
**** [[Battle of the Volkhov]]
**** [[Demyansk Pocket#Northwestern Front offensives|Lake Ilmen Engagement]]
****  [[Battle of Krasny Bor]]
{{tree list/end}}
| notable_commanders = [[Agustín Muñoz Grandes]] <br /> [[Emilio Esteban Infantes]]
| identification_symbol = [[File:Unofficial badget of the Blue Division (clean version).svg|70px]] [[File:Arms of the 250th Division of the Wehrmacht.svg|70px]] [[File:Blue division.svg|70px]]
| identification_symbol_label = Sleeve insignias
}}

The '''250th Infantry Division''' ({{langx|de|'''250. Infanterie-Division'''}}), better known as the '''Blue Division''' ({{langx|es|División Azul}}, {{lang|de|Blaue Division}}), was a unit of volunteers from [[Francoist Spain]] operating from 1941 to 1943 within the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German Army]] ({{lang | de | Heer}}) on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] during [[World War II]]. It was officially designated the '''Spanish Volunteer Division''' ({{langx|es|División Española de Voluntarios|label=none}}) by the [[Francoist Army|Spanish Army]].

[[Francisco Franco]] had secured power in Spain after the  [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|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  [[FET y de las JONS|Falangist]] and Spanish Army cadres and was sent for training in Germany. The unit fought on the Eastern Front, in the 1941–1944 [[siege of Leningrad]], notably in the [[Battle of Krasny Bor]]. They eventually withdrew from the front after [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] political pressure on Spain in October 1943 and returned to Spain shortly afterwards. Several thousand non-returners were incorporated into the 121st Infantry Division, the short-lived [[Blue Legion]], and eventually into the [[Waffen-SS]].

==Background==
[[Francisco Franco]] took power at the head of a coalition of [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|fascist, monarchist, and conservative political factions]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936–1939) against the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|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.{{sfn|Moreno Juliá|2018|p=195}}

While Spain formally remained neutral, it did not hide its ideological support for the Axis powers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Seixas |first1=Xosé M. Núñez |last2=Beyda |first2=Oleg |date=August 2024 |title='Defeat, Victory, Repeat': Russian Émigrés between the Spanish Civil War and Operation Barbarossa, 1936–1944 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/contemporary-european-history/article/defeat-victory-repeat-russian-emigres-between-the-spanish-civil-war-and-operation-barbarossa-19361944/03934CBB661853E8ED1BF1F039A95719 |journal=Contemporary European History |language=en |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=1078–1093 |doi=10.1017/S0960777323000085 |issn=0960-7773|hdl=10347/30957 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Franco had been supported [[German involvement in the Spanish Civil War|by Nazi Germany]] and [[Italian military intervention in Spain|Fascist Italy]] during the Civil War and Franco sympathised with many aspects of fascist ideology, especially its [[anti-communism]].
On the other side, the republican army had been supported by [[International response to the Spanish Civil War#Soviet Union|Soviet aid]].
Franco ensured that Spain was [[political neutrality|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.{{sfn|Moreno Juliá|2018|p=195}} He [[Meeting at Hendaye|met Adolf Hitler on 23–24 October 1940]] at [[Hendaye]] but was unable to gain promises that Spain would gain [[French North Africa|colonial territories from France in North Africa]]. Hitler feared delegitimizing the new [[Vichy regime]] in France.{{sfn|Moreno Juliá|2018|p=196}}

==Formation==
[[File:Spanish soldiers learning to handle a machine gun.jpg|thumb|Blue Division soldiers manning a gun during training in 1941]]
The [[German invasion of the Soviet Union]] led to renewed interest in participating in what Spanish officials saw as an "anti-communist crusade". Within hours of the invasion on 22 June 1941, Foreign Minister [[Ramón Serrano Suñer]] first proposed to Franco the idea of a Spanish contribution,{{sfn|Moreno Juliá|2018|pp=197–198}} publicly declaring [[Rusia es culpable|the Soviet Union guilty of the Spanish Civil War]]. Senior officers of the [[Spanish Army]] supported the proposal. Franco soon agreed to the proposal, directing that the Spanish Army should unofficially co-ordinate the formation of the unit. Although disappointed that Spain had not [[declared war]] on the Soviet Union, the German regime accepted the Spanish offer on 24 June 1941.{{sfn|Moreno Juliá|2018|pp=198–199}} Franco struggled to balance the demands of the Spanish Army and [[FET y de las JONS|Falangist factions]], both of which attempted to influence the new unit, himself siding with the former.

Recruitment began on 27 June 1941 and 18,373 men had volunteered by 2 July 1941 from within the Spanish Army and Falangist movement.{{sfn|Moreno Juliá|2018|pp=201–202}} Fifty per cent of officers and [[NCOs]] were professional soldiers given leave from the Spanish Army, including many veterans of the Spanish Civil War.{{cn|date=May 2020}} The division was made up mainly of Falangist volunteers and almost a fifth of early volunteers were students.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beevor|first=Antony|title=The Second World War|year=2014|isbn=978-1-78022-564-7|location=London|pages=489|oclc=884744421}}</ref> Additionally, the division was compromised of a small amount of [[White émigré]]s from Spain.<ref name=":0" /> General [[Agustín Muñoz Grandes]] was assigned to lead the volunteers. Because the soldiers could not use official Spanish Army uniforms, they adopted a symbolic uniform comprising the red [[beret]]s of the [[Carlists]], the [[khaki]] trousers of the [[Spanish Legion]], and the blue shirts of the Falangists—hence the nickname "Blue Division." This uniform was used only while on leave in Spain; in the field, soldiers wore the German Army [[Feldgrau|field grey uniform]] ({{lang|de-DE|Feldgrau}}) with a shield on the upper right sleeve bearing the word "{{lang|es-ES|España}}" and the [[flag of Spain|Nationalist Spanish national colours]].

==Operational history==
===Organization and training===
[[File:División Azul. Primer Viaje Tren. Verano 1941.png|thumb|The train trip from Madrid to Grafenwöhr]]
On 13 July 1941 the first train left [[Madrid]] for [[Grafenwöhr]], [[Bavaria]] for a further five weeks of training. There they became the German Army's 250th Infantry Division and were initially divided into four [[infantry]] [[regiment]]s, as in a standard Spanish [[Division (military)|division]]. To aid their integration into the German supply system, they soon adopted the standard German model of three regiments. One of the original regiments was dispersed amongst the others, which were then named after three of the Spanish cities that volunteers largely originated from—Madrid, [[Valencia]] and [[Seville]]. Each regiment had three [[battalion]]s (of four  [[Company (military unit)|companies]] each) and two [[weapon]]s companies, supported by an [[artillery]] regiment of four battalions (of three [[Artillery battery|batteries]] each). There were enough men left over to create an assault battalion, mainly armed with [[submachine gun]]s. Later, due to casualties, this unit was disbanded. Aviator volunteers formed a [[Blue Squadron]] (''Escuadrillas Azules'') which, using [[Messerschmitt Bf 109]]s and [[Focke-Wulf Fw 190]]s, claimed to have shot down 156 Soviet aircraft.

===Eastern Front===
[[File:FOTOGRAFÍA DEL EJERCICIO TÁCTICO EN EL FRENTE DE LENINGRADO.jpg|thumb|Division's soldiers at the [[siege of Leningrad]] in 1943]]
[[File:Soldiers of the Spanish Blue Division.jpg|thumb|right|Soldiers of the Blue Division in skis in 1942 near the [[Volkhov (river)|Volkhov]]]]
On 31 July, after taking the [[Hitler Oath]],<ref>[[Arnold Krammer]]. Spanish Volunteers against Bolshevism: The Blue Division. ''Russian Review'', Vol. 32, No. 4 (Oct., 1973), pp. 388–402</ref> the Blue Division was formally incorporated into the German Wehrmacht as the 250th Division.<ref>David Wingeate Pike. Franco and the Axis Stigma. ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Vol. 17, No. 3 (Jul., 1982), pp. 369–407</ref> It was initially assigned to [[Army Group Center]], the force advancing towards [[Moscow]]. The division was transported by train to [[Suwałki]], [[Poland]] (August 28), from where it had to continue by foot on a {{convert|900|km|mi|adj=on}} march. It was scheduled to travel through [[Grodno]], and [[Lida]] in Belarus, [[Vilnius]] ([[Lithuania]]), and [[Maladzyechna]], [[Minsk]], and [[Orsha]] in Belarus to [[Smolensk]], and from there to the Moscow front. While marching towards the Smolensk front on September 26, the Spanish volunteers were rerouted from [[Vitebsk]] and reassigned to [[Army Group North]] (the force closing on [[Leningrad]]), becoming part of the German [[16th Army (Wehrmacht)|16th Army]]. The Blue Division was first deployed on the [[Volkhov (river)|Volkhov]] River front, with its headquarters in [[Grigorovo, Novgorod Oblast|Grigorovo]], on the outskirts of [[Novgorod]]. It was in charge of a {{convert|50|km|mi|adj=on}} section of the front north and south of Novgorod, along the banks of the Volkhov River and [[Lake Ilmen]].

The division's soldiers used the [[iconostasis]] of the Church of Saint Theodore Stratelates on the Brook for firewood. The iconostases of the [[Cathedral of St. Sophia, Novgorod|Cathedral of St. Sophia]], Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Kozhevniki, and the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the [[Antoniev Monastery]] were taken to Germany at the end of 1943.<ref>11th – 19th Century Russian Icons in the Collection of the National Museum Complex in Veliky Novgorod (p. 9), Exhibition Guidebook, Veliky Novgorod – 2018, Saint Petersburg: Lubavich, 216 pages, illustrated, {{ISBN|978-5-86983-862-9}} </ref> According to the museum curator in the [[Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyina Street]], the division used the high cupola as a machine-gun nest. As a result, much of the building was seriously damaged, including many of the medieval icons by [[Theophanes the Greek]]. Vladimir Kovalevskii, one of the division's White Russian emigre interpreters, left a particularly acerbic memoir account describing the low discipline and the crimes committed by the Spanish volunteers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kovalevskii |first=Vladimir |title=An Anti-Communist on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of a Russian Officer in the Spanish Blue Division 1941–1942 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-3990-6208-4 |editor=Núñez Seixas |editor2=Xosé M. |editor3=Beyda, Oleg}}</ref>

In August 1942, the Blue Division was transferred north to the southeastern flank of the [[siege of Leningrad]], just south of the [[Neva]] River near [[Pushkin, Saint Petersburg|Pushkin]], [[Kolpino]] and [[Krasny Bor, Tosnensky District, Leningrad Oblast|Krasny Bor]] in the [[Izhora]] River area. After the collapse of the German southern front following the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], more German troops were deployed southwards. By this time, General [[Emilio Esteban Infantes]] had taken command. The Blue Division faced a major Soviet attempt to break the siege of Leningrad in February 1943, when the Soviet [[55th Army (Soviet Union)|55th Army]], reinvigorated after the victory at Stalingrad, attacked the Spanish positions at the [[Battle of Krasny Bor]], near the main Moscow-Leningrad road. Despite very heavy casualties, the Spaniards were able to hold their ground against a Soviet force seven times larger and supported by tanks. The assault was contained and the siege of Leningrad was maintained for a further year. The division remained on the Leningrad front where it continued to suffer heavy casualties due to weather and to enemy action.<ref>Gavrilov, B.I., Tragedy and Feat of the 2nd Shock Army, defunct site paper</ref>

The Blue Division was the only component of the German Army to be awarded [[Blue Division Medal (Germany)|a medal of its own]], commissioned by Hitler in January 1944 after the Division had demonstrated its effectiveness in impeding the advance of the [[Red Army]].<ref>{{cite book|title= España y la Segunda Guerra Mundial|author= Stanley G. Payne|author2= Delia Contreras|page= 85|year= 1996|publisher= Editorial Complutense S.A.|isbn= 978-84-89365-89-6}}</ref> Hitler referred to the division as "equal to the best German ones". During his [[Hitler's Table Talk|table talks]], he said: "...the Spaniards have never yielded an inch of ground. One can't imagine more fearless fellows. They scarcely take cover. They flout death. I know, in any case, that our men are always glad to have Spaniards as neighbours in their  sector".<ref>Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens (translators). ''Hitler's Table Talk 1941–1944: His Private Conversations''. Enigma Books. New York, 2000. p. 179.</ref>

===Disbandment and the Blue Legion===
[[File:Cementerio de la Almudena 04jul07 09.JPG|thumb|upright|Vault of the Blue Division, in La Almudena cemetery, Madrid]]
Eventually, the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] and many Spaniards began to press Franco to withdraw troops from the [[quasi alliance]] with Germany. Franco initiated negotiations in the spring of 1943 and gave an order to withdraw on October 10 but some Spanish volunteers refused to return. On 3 November 1943 the Spanish government ordered all troops to return to Spain. In the end, the total of "non-returners" was close to 3,000 men, mostly Falangists. Spaniards also joined other German units, and fresh volunteers slipped across the Spanish border near [[Lourdes]] in [[occupied France]]. The new pro-German Spanish units were collectively called the ''Legión Azul'' ("[[Blue Legion]]").

Spaniards initially remained part of the 121st Infantry Division, but even this meagre force was ordered to return home in March 1944, and was transported back to Spain on March 21. The rest of the volunteers were absorbed into German units. [[Platoon]]s of Spaniards served in the [[3rd Mountain Division]] and the 357th Infantry Division. One unit was sent to [[Latvia]]. Two companies joined the [[Brandenburger Regiment]] and the [[121st Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|121st Division]] in [[Nazi security warfare]] in [[Yugoslavia]]. The 101st Company (''Spanische-Freiwilligen Kompanie der SS 101'', "Spanish Volunteer Company of the SS Number 101") of 140 men, made up of four rifle platoons and one staff platoon, was attached to [[28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien]].

Through rotation, as many as 45,000 Spanish soldiers served on the Eastern Front.<ref name=Clodfelter/> The casualties of the Blue Division and its successors included 4,954 men killed and 8,700 wounded. Another 372 members of the Blue Division, the Blue Legion, or volunteers of the ''Spanische-Freiwilligen Kompanie der SS 101'' were taken prisoner by the Red Army; 286 of these men remained in captivity until 2 April 1954, when they returned to Spain aboard the ship ''Semiramis'', supplied by the [[International Red Cross]].<ref name="WAIS">{{cite web|url=http://waisworld.org/go.jsp?id=02a&objectType=post&o=76958&objectTypeId=67608&topicId=39|title=Post: Division Azul Histories and Memoirs|last=Candil|first=Anthony J.|publisher=WAIS – [[World Association for International Studies]]|access-date=3 June 2014}}</ref> In action against the Red Army, the Blue Division suffered 22,700 casualties, while inflicting 49,300 casualties.<ref name=Clodfelter>
{{cite book
| last1= Clodfelter
| first1= Micheal
| title= Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015
| edition = 4th
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8urEDgAAQBAJ
| date= 2017
| publisher= McFarland|isbn= 978-0-7864-7470-7
| page= 456
}}</ref>

==After the war==
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 [[Russia–Spain relations#Soviet period|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 [[Final offensive of the Spanish Civil War|fall of the Republic]]. In 1954, after the [[death of Stalin]], the [[French Red Cross]] arranged the ship {{Interlanguage link|Semiramis (ship)|es|Semiramis|lt=''Semiramis''}} to bring those prisoners who desired repatriation to Barcelona.

== Portuguese volunteers ==
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]] and more openly sympathized with the [[Allies (World War II)|Western Allies]]. 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|Viriatos Division]] during the Spanish Civil War. The Portuguese served in Spanish units and had no separate national presence.{{sfn|Caballero Jurado|2019}}

==War cemetery==
1,900 soldiers of the Blue Division are buried in the war cemetery in [[Veliky Novgorod]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kriegsgraeberstaetten.volksbund.de/friedhof/nowgorod|title=Kriegsgräberstätte: Nowgorod – Bau, Pflege und Instandsetzung &#124; Volksbund.de|website=kriegsgraeberstaetten.volksbund.de}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Spain in World War II]]
* [[List of Girls und Panzer characters#Blue Division High School]], a school in GuP named after the Blue Division

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book |last1=Caballero Jurado |first1=Carlos |title=La División Azul: Historia completa de los voluntarios españoles de Hitler. De 1941 a la actualidad |date=2019 |publisher=La Esfera de los Libros |location=Spain |isbn=978-84-9164-606-8|language=es}}
* {{cite book|last1=Moreno Juliá|first1=Xavier|editor1-last=Stahel|editor1-first=David|title=Joining Hitler's Crusade: European Nations and the Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941|date=2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1-316-51034-6|pages=193–212|chapter=Spain}}

==Further reading==
* Bowen, Wayne H. (2005) ''Spaniards and Nazi Germany: Collaboration in the New Order''.  University of Missouri Press, 250 pages, {{ISBN|0-8262-1300-6}}.
* Kleinfeld, Gerald R. and Lewis A. Tambs  (1974) ''Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia''.  Southern Illinois University Press, 434 pages, {{ISBN|0-8093-0865-7}}.
* Morales, Gustavo and Luis Togores "La División Azul: las fotografías de una historia". La Esfera de los Libros, Madrid, second edition.
* Moreno Juliá, Xavier (2005).  ''La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia, 1941–1945''.  Barcelona: Crític.
* [[Núñez Seixas, Xosé M.]] "Russia and the Russians in the Eyes of the Spanish Blue Division soldiers, 1941–4." ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 52.2 (2017): 352–374. [https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/53136/1/0022009416647118.pdf online]
* [https://archive.org/details/RusiaNoEsCuestinDeUnDia Rusia no es cuestión de un día...]. Juan Eugenio Blanco. Publicaciones Españolas. Madrid, 1954
{{commonscat}}

<!--not part of the Spanish military perhaps, but certainly military and certainly of Spain. It should be in the Spanish category.-->
{{Operation Barbarossa foreign volunteer units}}
{{Numbered infantry divisions of the Wehrmacht}}
{{Collaboration with Axis Powers}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Anti-communism in Spain]]
[[Category:Foreign volunteer units of the Wehrmacht]]
[[Category:Infantry divisions of Germany during World War II]]
[[Category:Military of Francoist Spain]]
[[Category:Divisions of Spain]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the Soviet–German War]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1941]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1944]]
[[Category:Spain in World War II]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–Spain relations]]
[[Category:Spanish collaborators with Nazi Germany]]