Blue Division

Blue Division, volunteer Spanish force which fought in the German–Soviet war on Germany's side.

Formed in 1941, and so called because of the colour of the Falangist Party uniforms its members initially wore, it was commanded first by Maj-General Augustín Muñoz Grandes, from December 1942 by Maj-General Esteban Infantes, and initially numbered 17,692 officers and men. When the division reached Germany in July 1941 it was officially numbered 250 and reorganized along German Army lines so that it comprised the 262nd, 263rd, and 269th Regiments, and 250th Artillery Regiment, plus a reserve battalion and other support units. Its members were given German uniforms and equipment though some continued to wear their blue shirts. All swore allegiance to Hitler, though the wording was modified to specify that this applied only to ‘the battle against Bolshevism’. The division first saw action in October 1941 when, under the German 38th Corps of Sixteenth Army, it took over the defence of a 48 km. (30 mi.) front, from Lubkovo on the west bank of the River Volkhov southwards to Kurisko on Lake Ilmen. The following August it was assigned to the German 54th Corps of the Eighteenth Army and was put in the line close to Leningrad. There the division fought off a Soviet advance at the battle of Krasny Bor in February 1943 and suffered 2,253 casualties.

Allied pressure and a shift in Spanish policy brought about the division's return to Spain—the last volunteers had returned home by the end of 1943—but the much smaller Spanish Legion, made up of volunteers from the Blue Division, remained until spring 1944.

It has been estimated that of the 47,000 Spaniards who served at different times in the division, 22,000 became casualties, 4,500 were killed or died, and fewer than 300 prisoners-of-war were repatriated from the USSR in 1954. Many received German and Spanish awards for bravery (see decorations).

The Spaniards also provided the Germans with sufficient pilots for five squadrons of fighters. Known as the Blue Squadrons these served consecutively on the Eastern Front with Army Group Centre providing fighter support for German bombers. They shot down 156 aircraft and lost only 22 men missing or killed before returning home with the Spanish Legion.

Spaniards also fought on the Allied side. About 70 belonged to that part of Layforce which failed to be evacuated after the battle for Crete, and there were many Spaniards active in the French resistance in southern France, and thousands fought in the Zouave regiments of France's Armée d'Afrique.

Bibliography

Kleinfeld, G., and and Tambs, L. , Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia (Carbondale, Ill., 1979).