The Blue Division. 250th Division of Spanish Volunteers

Germany’s main allies in the attack on the USSRmade by 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 side of Germany. It was Spain.

The history of Spain is marked by the fact that only once,during World War II, its fighters came out against the Russians, although even then Franco avoided open participation in the war, while maintaining neutrality. There were no other cases when these two countries participated in battles on opposite sides. In more detail about these events of times of the Great Patriotic War we will tell in this article.

Touching on this topic, it should be noted that onlyone division fought against the USSR. It was the Spanish Blue Division, or the 250th, which consisted of Spanish volunteers. They fought during the Second World War on the side of Germany. Considered nominally manned by the fighters of the Spanish Phalanx, this division was in fact a mixture of soldiers of regular troops, members of the phalangist militia and veterans of the civil war. "Blue Division" was compiled by the Spanish canons. It consisted of one artillery regiment and four infantry. Because of the blue shirts, the division was called the Blue Division. Blue was the shape of the phalanx.

Spain's position in the war

Unwilling to openly open Spain to the war onOn the German side, while striving to ensure the security of the country and the phalanx regime, Francisco Franco adhered to armed neutrality at the time, while providing a division of volunteers on the German eastern front who wanted to fight against the Soviet Union on the German side. De jure Spain decided to maintain neutrality, was not part of the allies of Germany and did not declare war on the USSR.

Volunteer motivation

The history of Spain was associated with the fate of the USSR inpre-war years. Suner, the foreign minister, in 1941, on June 24, announced the formation of this division, saying that the USSR was guilty of the Spanish Civil War, which began in 1936, when nationalist-led militants led by Franco raised an armed insurrection. The Soviet Union was blamed for the fact that this war was prolonged and took place with non-judicial reprisals and mass executions. The oath was changed in agreement with the Germans. The soldiers swore in the fight against communism, not the Führer.

Different were the motivations of the volunteers, fromwhich consisted of 250 division: from the desire to avenge loved ones who died in the civil war, to the desire to escape (from the 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 genuinely wanted to redeem their recent Republican past. Many also acted because of selfish considerations. A decent salary at that time was received by military personnel, plus there was also a German salary (7.3 peseta from the government of Spain and 8.48 from Germany per day).

The composition of the division

The 18693 fighting division (15780 lower)ranks, 2272 non-commissioned officer, 641 officers) departed in 1941, July 13, from Madrid and was transferred to Germany for military training lasting five weeks in the city of Grafenwehr on the training ground. Augustin Munoz Grandes, a veteran of the civil war, was the first commander of this division. The fighters advanced from Poland, on foot, to the front. After that, the "Blue Division" was transferred to the Wehrmacht as the 250th Infantry. More than 40 thousand people have passed through its structure for the entire time of its existence (more than 50 thousand people - according to other sources).

Fights with Russians during the defense of Leningrad

"Blue Division" near Leningrad kept defenseand was considered the weak link of the Soviet command. Therefore, during the operation called the Polar Star, aimed at the liberation of the Leningrad Region and carried out on an area almost 60 km long (under the Red Forest), insignificant forces were identified that could not provide a complete breakthrough in bad weather and difficult terrain conditions the front, though wedged in at a sizeable distance.

On this site the fights were fierce from bothparties. 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 ended up in a difficult position. The remnants of the assault units left without ammunition and food had to leave the encirclement precisely through the position of the Blue Division.

When leaving the encirclement of the Spaniardsdiffered ruthlessness and suddenness. The researchers, in particular, cite an episode when a group of Russians, who had practically no grenades and ammunition, crept in at night to the dugout, where the Blue Division soldiers blithely rested. Having broken into the dugout, the soldiers destroyed the enemy’s cold weapons.

The special attitude of the Spaniards to the discipline

The special attitude of the Spanish fighters to disciplinemanifested itself in Poland. Several soldiers in civilian clothes went AWOL. They were detained by the Gestapo, because they looked like Jews because of their swarthy appearance. After the shootout, comrades released their own. Morozov, the mayor of Novgorod, died at the hands of a fighter from the "Blue Division".

The authorities have organized delivery of pregnant womenwomen milk. The queue lined up every morning. Slowly, soldiers of this division began to get attached to it. They stood peacefully interspersed with pregnant women, without demanding too much for themselves - they received only a general norm and were removed. However, Morozov was outraged by the lack of milk. When he came to the government, he lowered one of the Spaniards down the stairs. He jumped up and fired a pistol at him.

The combination of sloppiness and high combat capability

This combination of sloppiness and highcombat effectiveness was noted by General Halder after the battle in Red Bor. He warned his people that if they suddenly saw an unshaven, drunk soldier with an unbuttoned tunic, there is no need to rush to arrest him, as this is probably a Spanish hero.

Often there were cases of transition to the Russian side among the servicemen of the division, largely due to the poor nutrition and rudeness of their officers.

Disbanding the compound, its further fate

In 1943, October 20, Francisco Franco dueForeign pressure decided to withdraw from the front "Blue Division" and disband the compound. However, many Spaniards remained voluntarily in the detachments of the German army until the end of the war. Not wanting to lose their potential soldiers, the Germans opened propaganda for joining volunteers in the German Foreign Legion, which was under German command. They were, as a rule, in the army of the SS (Wehrmacht Infantry Division), who fought to the very end. Before the surrender, about 7 thousand Spaniards fought in surrounded Berlin.

In post-war Spain, many former soldiers of this division made a successful military career afterwards.

The ratio of division soldiers to the church and religion

Huge authority in Franco Spainenjoyed religion and church. During the shelling, for example, several shells hit the central dome of the Hagia Sophia temple located in Veliky Novgorod. As a result, a cross began to fall on the ground. Spanish sappers saved him, restored him during the war, and he was sent to their home country.

During the life of Franco, in the 70s, this crossstood at the Academy of Engineering. The inscription made under it, said that he was in Spain in custody and will return to Russia when the Bolshevik regime disappears. After the war, the Soviet regime blamed the robbery of the Spaniards, who turned out to be the scourge of Novgorod antiquities. They turned the Church of the Entry into Jerusalem into a blacksmith shop, and the Archbishop's palace was made a morgue. The "Blue Division" on the eastern front allowed most of the surviving iconostasis for firewood. They completely burned Znamensky Cathedral "through carelessness."

It should be noted that on the doors of ancient templesthere were prohibition signs in Spanish and German, but the Spaniards did not pay any attention to this and continued to rob Russian churches. Almost all the temples of Novgorod suffered from the Spaniards. It turned out that in search of souvenirs, the sappers had taken a cross from the St. Sophia Cathedral to Spain, supposedly as a souvenir. He was returned in 2004.

The attitude of the Germans to the Spanish soldiers

All historians argue that between Spanish andGerman character were big differences. The Germans were Spaniards accused of licentiousness, indiscipline, familiarity with the local population, in particular with the female sex. An attempt to feed the volunteers with a standard ration, which the Wehrmacht Infantry Division was feeding on, turned into a considerable scandal. From this food fell morale of the soldiers, of which consisted of the "Blue Division" on the eastern front. All ended with the fact that after the summit talks, trains with Turkish lentils and peas rushed to the eastern front.

However, over time, the Germans were convinced thatlack of discipline to commit heroic deeds Spaniards does not interfere. Shortly after the victory, they began to repatriate German prisoners, while the Spaniards were able to “sit out” Stalin’s death, as well as the subsequent amnesty. Negotiations were conducted on 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.title. Since 1972, since March, the 150th Motorized Rifle Division, which is also called the "Blue", has been stationed in Borzya. This is a city located in the Trans-Baikal Territory, 378 kilometers from Chita. Its population is 29405 people. Borzya-3 ("Blue Division") has nothing to do with the Spanish troops.