General Agustín Muñoz Grandes was assigned to lead the volunteers. The division was made up mainly of Falangist volunteers and almost a fifth of early volunteers were students.
#Division daily 2 professional
Fifty per cent of officers and NCOs were professional soldiers given leave from the Spanish Army, including many veterans of the Spanish Civil War. Recruitment began on 27 June 1941 and 18,373 men had volunteered by 2 July 1941 from within the Spanish Army and Falangist movement.
Franco struggled to balance the demands of Spanish Army and Falangist factions, both of which attempted to influence the new unit, himself siding with the former. Although disappointed that Spain had not declared war on the Soviet Union, the German regime accepted the Spanish offer on 24 June 1941. Franco soon agreed to the proposal, directing that the Spanish Army should unofficially co-ordinate the formation of the unit.
Senior officers of the Spanish Army supported the proposal. Within hours of the invasion on 22 June 1941, Foreign Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer first proposed to Franco the idea of a Spanish contribution, publicly declaring the Soviet Union guilty of the Spanish Civil War. The German invasion of the Soviet Union led to renewed interest in participating in what Spanish officials saw as an "anti-communist crusade". Ultimately, Spain remained neutral.ĭeparture of Blue Division recruits at San Sebastián, 1942 Hitler feared delegitimizing the new Vichy regime in France. 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. On the other side, the Republican army had been supported by Soviet aid.įranco 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. įranco 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. More than 300,000 people were killed, and lasting damage was done to the country's economy. Several thousand non-returners were incorporated into the 121st Infantry Division, the short-lived Blue Legion, and eventually into the Waffen-SS.įrancisco 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. The unit fought on the Eastern Front and notably participated in the siege of Leningrad, but was withdrawn from the Front after Allied pressure in October 1943 and was returned to Spain soon afterwards. An infantry division was raised from Falangist and Army cadres and was sent for training in Germany. After lobbying by the Foreign Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer and senior figures within the Spanish Army, Franco agreed that Spanish people would be permitted to enlist privately in the German Army and agreed to provide tacit support.
Franco chose to remain neutral in World War II but sympathised with the Axis powers. Spain was ruled by an authoritarian regime under Francisco Franco, who had secured power after the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), during which they received support from Nazi Germany. It was officially designated the Spanish Volunteer Division ( División Española de Voluntarios) by the Spanish Army and 250th Infantry Division ( 250. The Blue Division ( Spanish: División Azul, German: Blaue Division) was a unit of volunteers from Francoist Spain within the German Army ( Wehrmacht) on the Eastern Front during World War II.
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