THE GHOST BATTALION: SPANIARDS IN THE WAFFEN-SS, 1944-1945.

In April 1939, after three years of fighting, Generalismo Francisco Franco and his right-wing forces finally defeated Spain's Popular Front army to win the Spanish civil war. Franco had received much support from Adolf Hitler in his revolt against the democratically elected leftist government, which in turn left him indebted to Germany at the war's end. Though Spain officially remained neutral throughout World War II, in 1941, Franco on his own initiative provided a unit of soldiers, known as the Blue Division for the shirts worn by its Falangist enlistees, and an air squadron to…