250th Spanish Blue Division. The dissolution of the connection, its further fate

In World War II, Spain took a position of neutrality. At the same time, loyal and helping the Reich, Franco sent a division of volunteers to help Hitler, which acquired the name "Blue Division". The hallmark of the Falangists were blue shirts. This is where the name "Blue Division" comes from (in Spanish, "blue" and "light blue" are the same word).

On the Eastern Front, they took part in the blockade of Leningrad. For the combination of high combat capability and slovenliness, they were noted after the battle in Krasny Bor with the statement of General Halder: “If you see a German soldier unshaven, with an unbuttoned tunic and drunk, do not rush to arrest him - most likely, this is a Spanish hero.”

February 1943. Russia.

The initiator of sending Spanish soldiers to the war with the Soviet Union as part of the army of Nazi Germany was the Falangists. The Spanish Falange is a fascist organization founded in Spain in 1933. During the Spanish Civil War, it acted as the main force of resistance to the Republicans ("red", communists). It was the unification of the combat units of the Falange with the rebel troops that allowed General Franco to organize a putsch, bring the fascist junta to power in Spain and subsequently defeat the Republicans in the civil war. Under the caudillo (leader) Franco, the phalanx becomes the backbone of the regime and the only legal party.

“All over Spain the cry of struggle was thrown against those who were our sworn enemy a few months ago [the Soviet Union], and the fighting mood of the nationalist fighters of the Crusade resonated in their souls. The Franco government considered its decision to prepare a division of Spanish volunteers - the Blue Division - for the fight against the Red Army, to be more than a political issue, ”writes the commander of the Blue Division, General Emilio Esteban-Infantes, in his book Blue Division: Spanish Volunteers on Eastern Front".

The battle cry of the Foreign Legion gained ominous fame, which later became the Falangist election slogan: “Viva la muerte!” (“Long live death!”). It was adopted by the SS during World War II, and in the second half of the 20th century it was adopted by radical anarchism and suicidal terrorism, who proclaimed: "You love life, and we love death, so we will win."

Russia 1942. Division Commander Augustin Muñoz Grandes.

Despite the declared position of a "non-combatant", the Spanish junta was convinced of the need to participate in the war against the Soviet Union. This necessity was confirmed by the theory professed by Franco “ Three wars”, which postulated the simultaneous presence of three large-scale armed conflicts at once, which were supposed to determine the fate of the world:

1) The war between the USA and Japan for dominance over the Pacific Ocean.
2) The war for North Africa between Germany and Italy on the one hand and France and Great Britain on the other.
3) War against communism.

The theory of the "Three Wars" asserted the need, in the name of the triumph of fascism on a global scale, to win the main of these wars - the war of "Christian civilization against barbarian and Asian communist Russia."

Wounded Spaniard, awarded the Iron Cross. 1942-43

The Blue Division became an exclusively voluntary undertaking. The American historian J. Hills, many years after the end of the Second World War, conducted a survey among former soldiers of the Blue Division. “I did not meet a single person during my survey who would not admit that he was a volunteer in the beginning,” concludes Hills.

The backbone of the "Blue Division" was made up of the Falangists and regular soldiers of the Francoist army, who went through the civil war in Spain. These were ideological fascists with experience in warfare and specific training - they participated in punitive operations against the "Reds" in their homeland. They went to Russia to destroy communism and Russians: to kill the enemies of fascism, side by side with other fascists - volunteers from all over Europe who joined the ranks of the Wehrmacht - in the name of the triumph of fascism on a global scale.

In October 1941 they arrived in Novgorod, where they received Active participation in an offensive operation.
In addition to conducting hostilities, the Spanish volunteers distinguished themselves in atrocities against the local population and in torture of prisoners. For example, during the liberation from the invaders of the village of Dubrovka, Novgorod Region, the Red Army soldiers discovered the corpses of Russian soldiers brutally tortured by the Spanish “Blue Division”: “Both corpses were scalped<…>the facial bones of one of the corpses were crushed, the fingernails were torn off, the hands were smoked and had burn marks. Each corpse had one eye gouged out and ears cut off. All these atrocities were carried out by the thugs of the Spanish Blue Division,” the Izvestia newspaper reported from the front.

Dynamo village. Guard of honor near the headquarters of the 250th division. Photo 1943.

Spanish soldiers plundered the Novgorod Church of Theodore Stratilates on the Ruche and burned the iconostasis, using it instead of firewood, and also stole and took to Spain as a trophy the cross of the main dome of Hagia Sophia, the largest spiritual center Northern Russia over the centuries. Novgorod Sofia was built in the middle of the 11th century. Being the first stone temple of the entire Russian North, it is a relic of Russian Orthodoxy. The cross stolen by the Nazis was returned to Veliky Novgorod only in 2007.

Pavlovsk Park, a group of soldiers of the Spanish division. 1943-44

As part of the German army, the Blue Division was named the 250th Wehrmacht Infantry Division, but even in official documents it retained its original name. At the same time, about 20 thousand soldiers and officers fought in the division. And throughout the war, more than 50 thousand people took part in the hostilities on the Soviet-German front as part of the Blue Division (according to some reports, up to 70 thousand). Which in fact greatly exceeds the size of a typical division of that time and approaches the size of an army. But Spanish historiography insists on the "division", diligently downplaying its numbers.
In August 1942, the division was withdrawn from the front near Novgorod and transferred to Leningrad, where it took its place in the blockade ring of the city.

Spanish soldiers on the march. 1942-44

In January 1943, the Red Army launched a decisive offensive and, as a result of fierce battles, managed to take Shlisselburg on January 18 and completely clear the entire southern shore of Lake Ladoga from the Nazis. A narrow corridor, only a few kilometers wide, restored Leningrad's connection with the country. As part of this operation, the Red Army attempted to push the Germans away from the city in the southern direction and lift the blockade, which, however, did not bring much success. The blockade of Leningrad continued until January 27, 1944, thus amounting to 872 days. However, it was within the framework of this operation that on February 10, 1943, near Krasny Bor, Soviet troops defeated the Spanish Blue Division.

Wartime entertainment. Blue division. Corrida 1943.

The funeral of the soldiers of the division. First Lieutenant Soriano. 1942-43 Eastern front.

According to one of the prisoners of war, the Spaniards near Krasny Bor "suffered colossal losses, entire battalions were destroyed." According to the commander of the Blue Division, Esteban-Infantes, 80% of all Spanish prisoners of war were captured near Krasny Bor during the entire time the division was on the Eastern Front.

In 1943, after the defeat of the Blue Division by the Red Army and the recall of its remnants to their homeland, the Wehrmacht included those of them who decided to remain in the German army in the German foreign Legion. Two Spanish SS volunteer companies were created in its composition: the 101st and 102nd. The Spanish volunteers continued to fight in the ranks of the Wehrmacht until the last day: about 7 thousand Spaniards fought in the encircled Berlin before the surrender.

Summer 1942. On the left is Pedro Tous, the grave of Juan Martinez.

2nd division commander General Emilio Esteban-Infantes. 1943

1943 Krasny Bor.

Volunteer in Germany. 1942

Dynamo village (Headquarters of the 250th Spanish division). 1943

Spanish volunteers read the newspaper. 1942-43 Eastern front.

Eastern Front, soldier of the Blue Division. 1942-43

Spring 1943. Rear service, delivery of provisions.

1943 german general awards Spanish soldiers.

Construction. 1943

Somewhere in Russia, junior members of the Blue Infantry Division and the Blue Squadron together. 1942-43

Artillery crew in position. Blue Division. Catherine Park. Photo July 29, 1943. Children's Village.

Prayer of the Spanish soldiers, somewhere in the current Pushkin region. 1943

Eastern Front, 1942-43 Funeral after winter.

Junior rank of the 263rd battalion, located in the Aleksandrovka area. 1943

Since the beginning of December 1942, the division commander, General Esteban-Infantes.

1942 Training camp in Germany. before shipping to Russia.

Most historians and authors writing on historical topics, talking about the blockade of Leningrad, blame the deaths of hundreds of thousands of defenders of the city and its civilians exclusively on the German side. For some reason, they do not take into account that the Germans surrounded Leningrad only from the south, and Finnish troops occupied positions from the north. Without belittling the crimes of Germany, one should not forget that in addition to the citizens of the Third Reich, numerous volunteers from European countries who went to the East as "new crusaders" also took part in holding the city in the suffocating iron ring of the blockade.

La "Division azul"

"Spain intends to send one legion of 15,000 men to Russia." Franz Halder, War diary, June 29, 1941, Sunday, 8th day of the war.

After the end of the bloody Civil War on April 1, 1939, with the victory of General Franco, a semi-fascist dictatorship was established in Spain. Spanish nationalists considered all local left-wing agents of the USSR, and the military assistance provided by the Soviet Union to the republican government aroused burning hatred in their hearts.

The news that Germany had started a war against Soviet Russia caused an unprecedented stir in Spain among local nationalists. The cautious caudillo was afraid to speak directly on the side of the Axis countries. Internal position Spain in the early 40s was unstable. At least half of the country's population did not like the dictator, in June 1941 there were up to 2 million political prisoners in prisons - ideological enemies mode. In addition, problems could begin with the Western allies, especially with England and the countries of Latin America. Finally, the government of the Third Reich, having weighed all the pros and cons, also preferred to see Spain as an officially neutral country.
On June 22, 1941, Spanish Foreign Minister Serrano Suner informed the German ambassador in Madrid, Ebehard von Storer, that Spain welcomed the attack on the USSR and was ready to provide volunteer assistance. On June 24, 1941, Adolf Hitler accepted this offer. Dozens of recruiting centers were opened throughout Spain, attracting thousands of volunteers. The number of people wishing to fight the hated Bolsheviks exceeded the expected 40 times, which is why on July 2, 1941, recruiting centers were forced to curtail their activities. Most of the volunteers were Civil War veterans, members of the HONS (Falange Espanola de las Juntas de Ofensiva National Sindicalista) movement, who arrived at the recruiting stations in their traditional uniform - blue shirts and red berets. From the color of their shirts came the unofficial name of the Spanish Volunteer Division - "Blue Division" ( German title"Blau", Spanish - "Azul").

Rice. Seeing the Spanish volunteers to the war with Russia

On July 13, 1941, the first echelon with volunteers went to Germany, a day later the commander of the freshly formed formation, General Muñoz Grandes (Agustín Muñoz Grandes) and his headquarters flew there. By July 20, all Spanish volunteers were assembled in Bavaria at the Grafenwöhr training camp. There, the Spaniards underwent the necessary medical examination, they were given the standard field uniform of the Wehrmacht (feldgrau). From ordinary infantry divisions, the Spaniards were now distinguished only by a special sign on the sleeve above the elbow. Connoisseurs of fascist heraldry depicted a shield on the division badge, the middle of the shield was cut by a horizontal yellow stripe on a red background. It depicted a four-pointed black cross and five crossed arrows pointing up - the symbol of the phalanx. From above, all this intricate structure was crowned with the inscription "Spain".

On July 25, the division received a German nomenclature number and became the 250th Wehrmacht infantry division of standard equipment, consisting of three regiments of three battalions each. The division also included an artillery regiment, which included one heavy artillery division, an anti-tank division, reconnaissance and reserve battalions, several communications companies, doctors, military police and ... veterinarians. The fact is that the Germans, feeling the need for vehicles, originally got out of the delicate situation of equipping the Spaniards with rolling stock. The German staff officers simply transferred all units of the division to horse-drawn traction. Horses in the amount of 5610 heads were captured during the operation of the Wehrmacht in Yugoslavia. This circumstance initially caused a lot of anecdotal situations: the animals did not understand commands either in German or in Spanish.

Soldiers of the Blue Division

The total strength of the division was 18,693 people - 641 officers, 2,272 non-commissioned officers and 15,780 lower ranks. On July 31, 1941, the Spanish volunteers swore allegiance to Hitler. The training of the division in combat according to German regulations was easy, most of the soldiers had a wealth of experience in the battles of the civil war, and therefore by August 20 it was announced that the unit was ready to be sent to the front.

Rice. Spanish infantry under fire

And on August 29, the Spanish battalions moved east on foot. Ahead lay the broken roads of Lithuania, Belarus and Russia. After a 40-day march, the Spaniards finally reached Vitebsk. The Wehrmacht command at first intended to use the division in the central sectors of the front, but the situation required an urgent transfer of troops to Army Group North, near Leningrad.

On October 4, 1941, the Blue Division arrived at the front at the Novgorod-Teremets section, where it immediately underwent its first test - an attack by Russian infantry. At the same time, for the first time in the combat reports of the Soviet troops, a message slipped about the appearance at the front of the Spaniards under the command of General Munoz Grandes. It also stated that the division was manned by young people aged 20-25, most of them ideological Falangists, who fought very bravely. On October 16, German troops went on the offensive in the Volkhov-Tikhvin direction. The German units managed to break through the defenses at the junction of the 4th and 52nd armies. In the Soviet front-line report of October 25, it was reported that "the Spanish division, having captured the villages of Shevelevo, Sitno, Dubrovka, Nikitino, Otensky Posad, is still holding them."

In November 1941 they hit very coldy, up to -30. The heat-loving inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula had a hard time - quite a few soldiers received frostbite. On December 4, 1941, Soviet troops launched a counterattack on the positions of the 250th Infantry Division. The Spaniards, who had settled in the frozen trenches, stubbornly defended their lines. The Red Army managed to surround part of the 269th regiment, it came to hand-to-hand combat. Moreover, as the Soviet commanders pointed out in operational reports, the Spaniards, unlike the Germans, were not afraid of bayonet attacks, and they themselves willingly imposed close combat on the enemy. By December 7, the fighting in the area of ​​​​Otensky Posad had subsided, the units of the Soviet troops that had broken through were driven back. This victory cost the Spaniards dearly, for example, only the 2nd battalion of the 269th regiment lost 580 people: 120 killed, 440 wounded and frostbitten, 20 missing.

Rice. Spaniards on eastern front. Winter 1941-1942

At the end of December, the Red Army launched another offensive, the Blue Division was again subjected to a massive blow. “In the reports of the 52nd Army of December 24, 25 and 27, it was reported that units of the 250th Spanish Infantry Division, leaving Shevelevo, were defending in their former grouping on the western bank of the Volkhov River in the Yamno-Yerunovo-Staraya Bystritsa sector and were stubbornly resisting the advance of our units, repeatedly turning into counterattacks ”- this is how General I.I. recalled these events. Fedyuninsky in his book Raised on Alarm. Despite the staunch resistance of the enemy, the troops of the 52nd Army broke through the defenses and pushed the Spaniards back several tens of kilometers. The following fact speaks of the fierceness of the fighting: from the combined ski company of 206 people formed by the command of the Blue Division in the first days of January 1942, only 12 fighters remained in the ranks by the middle of the month. The dispassionate pages of the archive of the USSR Ministry of Defense, dedicated to the interrogation of prisoners of the 250th division, also confirm the high losses among the Spaniards. For example, they say that “at the beginning of 1942, 30-50 people remained in the companies of the 269th infantry regiment, instead of the prescribed 150. In the 3rd battalion of the 263rd regiment, 60-80 people remained in the companies, in total 2- m battalion of the 262nd regiment - up to 80 people. Always in the testimony of prisoners we are talking about frostbite.

Having retreated to the western bank of the Volkhov River, and having received another replenishment with marching battalions regularly arriving from Spain, the soldiers of the Blue Division took up defense. However, they failed to sit quietly in warm dugouts. On January 7, the troops of the Volkhov Front inflicted new blow. In the intelligence report of the headquarters of the 225th division of the 52nd army from January 18-28, it is noted that "the 263rd and 262nd regiments of the 250th division, relying on defense units, stubbornly resist the actions of our units." The intensity of the battles was great: according to the headquarters of the 52nd Army, the losses of the regiments of the Spanish division reached 100-150 people daily and by the beginning of April 1942 amounted to 8000 people. Despite this, the Germans treated their allies with coolness. Adolf Hitler noted in his Table Talk on January 5, 1942: German soldiers the Spaniards are presented as a gang of loafers. They view the rifle as a tool that cannot be cleaned under any circumstances. Sentry they exist only in principle. They do not go out to posts, and if they appear there, it is only to sleep. When the Russians launch an offensive, the locals have to wake them up.” Let's leave these idle conjectures on the conscience of the possessed Fuhrer. The German command of the 18th Army believed that the "Blue Division" withstood the hardest tests of the winter of 41-42 with honor.

Since May 1942, the division fought in the area of ​​​​the so-called "Volkhov cauldron", and at the end of June they participated in the most difficult battles for the Small and Big Zamoshye, in the place where units of the 305th Rifle Division of the Red Army broke through. “... In front of the front of the 305th Rifle Division in the area of ​​​​Bolshoye Zamoshye, units of the 250th Spanish division approached, and the legions “Flanders” and “Netherlands” were regrouping ... Our units, exhausted from previous battles, lacking shells, and some units lacking ammunition, having no food, continued to provide stubborn resistance to the enemy .... Over 1000 enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed and 17 tanks were knocked out ... ”- says an extract from the report of the chief of staff of the Volkhov Front dated June 25-26, 1942“ On the operation to withdraw the 2nd Shock armies from the encirclement.

Member of those battles, Major A.S. Dobrov, former commander 5th Battery of the 830th Artillery Regiment of the 305th Infantry Division, recalled this as follows: “... after a massive air and artillery raid, the enemy attacked the right flank of the 305th sd - the military town of Ants, but was completely defeated and went on the defensive. More than 200 fascists were surrounded in Maly Zamoshye. They were supplied with food and ammunition, which were dropped by parachute from aircraft. Sometimes, at the behest of the wind, we got something.” On June 27, 1942, the last combat-ready units of the 2nd Shock Army were destroyed, the Volkhov Cauldron was liquidated, the war on this sector of the front moved into a positional stage.

On August 20, 1942, the German command begins to withdraw the battered regiments and battalions of the Blue Division to the rear for rest and reorganization. On August 26, the remnants of the division were transferred to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bSiverskaya, Susanino, Vyritsa, Bolshoye Lisino, where the long-awaited replenishment arrived from Spain. Compared to the original contingent of the division, consisting of ideological opponents of communism, the newly arrived marching companies were a strange conglomeration of staunch falangists, petty criminals, adventurers, adventurers and just random people. There were also curious motives for joining the Blue Division. So one prisoner of war from the 269th regiment said that he went to war to annoy his mother, another motivated his act by disagreements with his wife. Many recruited for career reasons: they were promised a two-rank promotion for service in Russia, while others were driven to this act by mercenary interests. For example, as S.P. Pozharskaya in her article “The Spanish Blue Division on the Soviet-German Front”: “each soldier of the Blue Division received 60 Reichsmarks per month, they were paid a lump sum of 100 pesetas for lifting, the families of military personnel in Spain received 8 pesetas a day” . It should be noted that this was very good money for that time, given that in Madrid the daily earnings of a skilled construction worker was 9 pesetas, a baker - 10 pesetas, the owner of a small shop - 10-20 pesetas per day.

Starting from September 10, 1942, the Spanish 250th division made a systematic replacement of the 121st German infantry division in positions near Leningrad. From the operational order for the 250th division, it follows that the border of the defended sector from the east was the Kolpino-Tosno railway, from the west - the settlement of Babolovo. So the "Blue Division" took its place in the blockade ring, occupying a 29-kilometer section of the front.

General Emilio Esteban Infantes.

On December 13, 1942, General Munoz Grandes was replaced by another famous Spanish general, Civil War veteran Emilio Esteban Infantes. The newly-minted commander got the division with shaky discipline, which was caused both by heavy losses and extreme fatigue of veterans from the war, and by the poor quality of the incoming reinforcements. Discord reigned in the regiments, sergeants and officers regularly beat soldiers, due to the almost unpunished theft of quartermasters and officers, ordinary soldiers often did not receive the food they were supposed to, there was almost no regular communication with Spain, letters went for three to four months, they almost did not see newspapers six months. The energetic general, using his authority, managed to bring the unit entrusted to him into relative order. And, as it turned out, on time: on the morning of January 12, 1943, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts, with the support of the Baltic Fleet, launched an offensive in order to break the blockade. By the morning of January 18, a critical situation had developed for the Germans, and the commander of the 18th German Army, Colonel-General Lindemann, was forced to advance reserves taken from other sectors of the front to meet the attacking Soviet troops. The command of the Blue Division allocated a battalion of the 269th regiment, consisting of the most disciplined and persistent soldiers, for the transfer to the Mga area (working village No. 6). The Red Army successfully demonstrated all its increased power against them: by January 28, out of a battalion of 800 people, only 28 fighters remained in the ranks.

Rice. Cemetery of soldiers of the 250th Spanish division of the Wehrmacht

On February 10, the turn came for the rest of La Division Azul to receive its own. According to German data, against the defensive positions of the 250th division, which numbered 5,608 people with 24 guns, the 55th Army concentrated 33,000 soldiers, 150 tanks and self-propelled guns, and several artillery regiments. After massive artillery preparation, the Soviet troops went on the offensive in order to capture the settlement of Krasny Bor, the key to the entire line of German defense. The fierceness of the battles reached its highest limit. As an eyewitness of those battles testifies, ".. the Spaniards fought steadfastly with daggers, shovels, hand grenades ..". In just a day, the 250th division lost 75% of its personnel, or 3,645 people.

The command of the "Blue Division" sent all the reserves to the front, including the reserve battalion and rear units, but this did not save the situation - Krasny Bor was abandoned. At the end of February 1943, the remnants of the division took part in the battles in the Kolpinsky sector, and after March 19, when the front stabilized, the Spanish volunteers occupied the trenches for a long time and began a tedious positional war, periodically throwing reconnaissance groups into the nearest rear of the Soviet troops. The last battle of units of the 250th Spanish division on the Soviet-German front took place on October 4, 1943, east of the city of Pushkin, when Soviet troops conducted an unsuccessful reconnaissance in force in the sector of the 269th regiment.

In October 1943, under pressure from the Western Allies, General Franco officially withdrew the Spanish Volunteer Division from the front. The withdrawal of Spanish troops began on October 12, by rail, the soldiers were sent to Germany in the city of Hof, for subsequent departure to their homeland. However, knowing that this would complicate Spanish-German relations, the caudillo turned a blind eye to the fact that almost half of the personnel did not return home. Some soldiers succumbed to the frantic propaganda of the Falangists, others were left by order. On November 20, 1943, the Spanish Volunteer Legion (Legiun Azul) was officially formed in Yamburg. The former chief of staff of the Blue Division, Colonel Antonio Garcia Navarro, was appointed commander of the newly-minted legion. As part of the legion, 2 rifle battalions (Banderas) were formed under the command of majors Ibarro and Garcia, and a major with a sonorous surname Virgil led the technical and auxiliary mixed battalions. The number of this military unit consisted of 2133 people. The legion took part in anti-partisan actions near Narva for several weeks, and at the end of December 1943 was transferred to the east, where it entered the 121st Wehrmacht infantry division, stationed in the Lyuban station area under the name of the 450th Grenadier Regiment.

Rice. "In the frozen trenches near Leningrad"

On December 25, 1943, a flurry of fire fell on the positions of the 121st division - the Red Army went on the offensive. Within a few hours, Legiun Azul was literally wiped off the face of the earth. On January 26, the miserable remnants of the regiment fought for Tosno, then for Luga. In mid-February 1944, the few remaining Spaniards were transferred to Estonia. In mid-March, Franco, in an ultimatum form, demanded that Germany return Spanish citizens to their homeland. On April 12, the Blue Legion was officially disbanded.

In total, during the participation of Spanish units in the hostilities on the Eastern Front, about 55,000 people passed through their ranks. Exact amount the number of Spaniards killed, wounded, missing and taken prisoner in 1941-43 is unknown. According to German data, the losses of the 250th Infantry Division amounted to 12,726 people, of which 3,943 were killed (including 153 officers), 8,446 were wounded, and 326 were missing. AT personal archive General Franco, there are data on total losses of 12,737 people, of which 6,286 were killed. Western sources give a loss figure of 4,954 killed and 8,700 wounded. According to the documents of the GUVPI (Main Directorate for Prisoners of War and Internees) of the USSR, 452 Spaniards voluntarily surrendered and were taken prisoner in battle.

Both commanders of the 250th division were awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, two Spaniards were awarded Gold Crosses, 138 soldiers received iron Cross I class, 2,359 - Iron Cross II class, another 2,216 soldiers earned Spanish Military Crosses with Swords (War Merit Crosses with Swords).

Unlike many other foreigners in the service of Germany, the Spaniards were absolutely sure that they were going not to enslave, but to liberate Russia from the Bolshevik yoke. They called their opponents not "Russians", but "Reds". The Spaniards of the "Blue Division" were the Europe from which the opponents of the Soviet system expected "delivery from Stalin's tyranny." It seems that the soldiers of the 250th Infantry Division were the only occupiers who simultaneously coexisted with intransigence towards the enemy at the front and a relatively good-natured attitude towards civilians.

Den Norske Legion

On November 30, 1939, war broke out between Finland and the USSR. Into the ranks Finnish army Thousands of foreign volunteers stood up. Norwegian volunteers in the amount of 600 people arrived in the country of Suomi in December 1939, and after a short training took part in the hostilities. After finishing " winter war» In March 1940, the inhabitants of the country of the fjords went to their homeland, where they were met as national heroes. In Europe, at that time, the war was already in full swing, and in April 1940 it was the turn of the Norwegians to experience the blow iron fist Wehrmacht. As a result of the operation "Teaching on the Weser", German troops occupied the southern and central part of Norway, ahead of the Anglo-French invasion by just a few days. On April 9, 1940, the pro-Nazi party National Unity (Nasjonal samling) officially came to power in the country, under the leadership of Vidkun Quisling, which had not previously had any political weight in the country.

After the German attack on the Soviet Union, the leaders of the National Unity party, as well as many famous Norwegians, such as the Nobel Prize-winning writer Knut Hamsun, proposed organizing a volunteer detachment to fight against the "Bolshevik hordes" following the example of the Norwegian Legion, which was part of the Finnish armed forces. forces during the Soviet-Finnish conflict.

On July 4, 1941, Quisling, in his radio address to the Norwegians, announced the creation of a volunteer unit that would be sent to Finland to fight the Bolsheviks. In all major cities In Norway, recruiting stations were opened and the registration of volunteers began. In the first few days, about 300 people joined the legion, an impressive number for a small country. Initially, the Norwegian government expected to form a full-fledged military unit, consisting of 2 battalions under the code name "Gula" and "Frosta". The newly created units were sent to the Bjolsen Skole field camp in Norway, from where they were relocated via Kiel to the Fallenbostel training camp. There, on August 1, 1941, the formation of the Volunteer Legion Norway was officially announced. By this time, the personnel of the legion consisted of 751 people - 20 officers, 50 non-commissioned officers and 681 lower ranks. The first commander of this military unit was Major of the Norwegian Army Finn Hannibal Kjelstrup. Against the insistence of the volunteers to fight as a separate military unit, they were included in the Waffen SS. Legionnaires dressed in Norwegian military uniform in the field uniform of the SS troops. They were distinguished from ordinary SS men only by a special sleeve badge, which is a variation of the "Cross of St. Olaf" - the emblem of the assault squads "Hird" (Hird) of the "National Unity" party. The sleeve emblem of the SS Volunteer Legion "Norway" was a round shield, framed by a silver border, with a silver cross on a gray (or, in rare cases, on a red) field, and crossed by two silver naked straight swords with points upwards parallel to the vertical beam of the cross.

On October 3, 1941, in Fallenbostel, in the presence of Vidkun Quisling, who arrived there, the first battalion took the oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler. This battalion was named "Viken". He was solemnly presented with a battalion banner with a golden lion on a red background with St. Olaf's ax in its paws. At the beginning of 1942, the number of the legion reached 1218 people. It consisted of a headquarters, 3 rifle companies, an infantry gun company and an anti-tank company, as well as a reserve battalion stationed in Holmestrand. The legion also had a Lutheran pastor with the rank of Legions Hauptsturmführer. Insisting on the immediate dispatch of Norwegian volunteers to help Finland and seeing their unit as the backbone of the new Norwegian army, the commanders of the legion, Major Kelstrup and Jurgen Backen, caused constant irritation in the military-political leadership of Germany. Therefore, on December 15, 1941, they were replaced by Legions Sturmbannführer Arthur Quist, who was extremely loyal to the Reich.

Rice. Norwegian volunteers swear allegiance to Hitler

In February 1942, the Norwegian Legion was sent to a relatively quiet area Leningrad front, where he became part of the 22nd SS motorized brigade under the command of Police Lieutenant General Friedrich Jeckeln, which occupied the defense next to the 250th Spanish Infantry Division. In addition to the Norwegians, this SS "International Brigade" also included Latvian, Dutch and Flemish volunteers. In mid-March, the legionnaires replaced their SS colleagues from the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler division in positions near Leningrad. Most of the fortifications occupied by the legionnaires were built from a mixture of snow, logs, ice and earth. “Spring came, and all these structures began to melt and collapse. The dugouts were very cramped, and many of the tall Norwegian soldiers could not stand upright. Dirt flowed through the trenches, sentries had to stand at the post for 4-5 hours knee-deep in liquid from water, snow and mud, and then go to the constantly flooded dugouts for an hour, where they could not even dry themselves. This went on for several weeks, ”said the former legionnaire Bjorn Ostring. The Norwegians failed to dig full-fledged trenches and create a continuous line of defense in the lowland wetlands, however, with the help of Latvian volunteers, they managed to equip a number of strongholds on high ground.

Rice. Drenched melt waters trenches of the norwegian legion

In March-April, the legion participated in the battles in the Krasnoe Selo - Panovo region. The positional war alternated with sorties against the fortified dugouts of the Soviet troops. Despite all the tragedy of the war, there were also curious cases at the front. Once, as the aforementioned Ostring recalled, the Norwegians received a moral shock when they found a box of American stew in one of the captured Soviet fortifications. It turns out that despite what they were told by official propaganda, America really helps the Bolsheviks!

Unlike the neighboring Latvian SS men, who had a fierce hatred for the USSR and Soviet people, the Norwegians treated the prisoners quite loyally, so defectors most often appeared on their defense sector. One of the passages between the fortifications was nicknamed by the legionnaires the “Ditch for the Defectors”.

Rice. Norwegian volunteers and defectors

In mid-May 1942, the legion fought in the Pulkovo area, and then was withdrawn to the rear. The anti-tank company was stationed in the town of Konstantinovka, other units - in Uritsk. In May, Vidkun Quisling and some other senior leaders of Norway visited the resting parts of the legion. On May 17, on the Day of the Norwegian Constitution, at the solemn construction of the Legion, awards were presented to distinguished soldiers and officers. About 25 volunteer soldiers handed over to the leader of Norway a petition that they did not want to fight under German command and demanded that part of them be transferred to Finland, but their statement was ignored.

In June 1942, the Norwegians returned to the front. Their return coincided with the start of a new Soviet offensive. Once, up to a battalion of Soviet infantry and several heavy tanks broke into the positions of the Latvian SS men. Unable to withstand the attack, the Latvians abandoned the trenches and began a disorderly retreat, which turned into a stampede. They were saved from total extermination by Scandinavian volunteers. The commander of the Norwegian anti-tank division did not lose his head and hastily transferred his guns and soldiers to the threatened area. Recently received 75 mm PAK-38 anti-tank guns, put forward for direct fire, proved to be very effective. All the tanks were knocked out, and the infantry, lying down under massive artillery fire, having suffered heavy losses, retreated. The fight was won.

On August 13, 1942, the Norwegians became part of the 2nd SS Infantry Brigade, staffed mainly by natives of Latvia. The number of the Legion by this period reached more than 1000 people. On September 3, a police company consisting of 93 people arrived from Norway as a replenishment, formed from employees of the Norwegian police - ardent supporters of Nazism. She was commanded by SS Hauptsturmführer Jonas Lee, who received in his homeland for passing numerous death sentences to the Norwegian Resistance fighters and instantly carrying them out the nickname "a man with a pen and a pistol in one hand." The police company was repeatedly used on the territory Leningrad region in punitive expeditions against Soviet partisans.

Rice. Police company of the Norwegian Legion on the march

After the Red Army launched an operation to break the blockade, the Norwegians found themselves at the epicenter of the fighting. Together with the Spanish "Blue Division" in February 1943, in the area of ​​​​Krasny Bor, the Norwegian anti-tank division took part in the most difficult battles, which was completely defeated by the Soviet troops. For several days of fighting, the Norwegians lost only 43 people killed. By mid-February, the legionnaires remaining in the ranks in the amount of less than 700 people were withdrawn to the rear. On March 1, they were taken to Norway, where on April 6, 1943, they paraded through the center of Oslo.

On May 20, 1943, at the Grafenwöhr training ground in Germany, the Norwegian Legion was officially disbanded. The remaining legionnaires and the replenishment that arrived from Norway were sent to form the "Norway" regiment of the 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland", but that's a completely different story.

During the stay of the Norwegians directly near Leningrad, the losses of the legion amounted to only 180 people killed. In total, during the Second World War, more than 15,000 Norwegians fought as part of various combat units of the Wehrmacht and SS troops, as well as police special units. 7,000 military personnel were involved on the Soviet-German front, of which about 100 were captured, 20 officers and 678 soldiers were killed.

To be continued

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Spain Spain

250th Spanish Volunteer Division(German 250. Einheit spanischer Freiwilliger), traditionally known in Russian sources as blue division, but due to the absence of the names of shades of blue in some European languages, it is possible to read and how blue division(Spanish) Division Azul, German Blaue Division) - a division of Spanish volunteers who fought on the side of Germany during the Second World War. Nominally considered to be composed of members of the Spanish Falange, in reality the Blue Division was a mixture of regulars, Civil War veterans and members of the Falangist militia. It was drawn up according to the Spanish canons: four infantry regiments and one artillery.

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 4

✪ Blue division. Spanish fascists in the USSR. Interview with B. Kovalev. Egor Yakovlev. Digital history.

✪ Blue division. History of the Spanish Volunteers WWII.avi

✪ PHI#1. Mikhail Polikarpov, Russian volunteer in the war in Yugoslavia

✪ Leningrad in blockade (old photos)

Subtitles

The emergence and features of the connection

Not wanting to openly drag Spain into the Second World War on the side of Hitler and at the same time striving to strengthen the Falange regime and ensure the country's security, Francisco Franco took the position of armed neutrality, providing Germany on the Eastern Front with a division of volunteers who wished to fight on the side of the Germans against the Soviet Union. De jure, Spain remained neutral, Germany was not an ally, and the USSR did not declare war. The division got its name from the blue shirts - the uniform of the Phalanx.

Volunteers had different motivations: from the desire to avenge their loved ones who died in the Civil War to the desire to hide (for former Republicans, as a rule, they subsequently made up the bulk of defectors to the side of the Soviet army). There were people who sincerely wanted to redeem their Republican past. Many were guided by selfish considerations - the soldiers of the division received a decent salary for those times in Spain, plus a German salary (respectively 7.3 pesetas from the Spanish government and 8.48 pesetas from the German command per day).

The former chairman of the brotherhood of the division, a former fighter, spoke about his path to its ranks only in the same way as other Nazis did:

I didn't have any ideology. I lived quietly near Teruel, a Soviet-made plane flew in, dropped a Soviet bomb. And, most likely, the pilot was Soviet. All my family died. I repeat: I was 14 years old at that moment. By the time the war with the Soviet Union began, I was 17 years old. Of course I wanted revenge. And I went to Russia to return the courtesy call.

It also appeared in Poland special treatment Spaniards to discipline. Several soldiers went AWOL in civilian clothes and were detained by the Gestapo - because of their appearance they were mistaken for Jews. The comrades freed their people after a skirmish. The following fact also speaks of discipline in the division:

It was not uncommon for members of the division to defect to the Red Army, not least because of the rudeness of their own officers and poor food.

The end of the battle

Due to strong foreign political pressure, Francisco Franco on October 20 decided to withdraw the Blue Division from the front and disband the unit. Some of the Spaniards remained in the detachments of the German army voluntarily until the end of the war - the volunteer "Blue Legion" was created (English) Russian”, whose number was 2-3 thousand people. The Germans, not wanting to lose potential soldiers, opened up widespread propaganda regarding the entry of volunteers into the German Foreign Legion, which, unlike the Blue Division, was exclusively under German command. As a rule, they were all in the SS troops, who fought to the very end. In encircled Berlin, 7,000 Spaniards fought before the surrender.

Losses

• 4957 killed
• 8766 wounded
• 326 missing
• 372 captured (most returned to Spain in 1954).

General Emilio Esteban-Infantes, who commanded the Blue Division, in his book The Blue Division. Volunteers on the Eastern Front ”gives the following figures for the losses of the division: 14 thousand on the Volkhov front and 32 thousand on the Leningrad front (winter - spring 1943). In Karl Hofker's documentary "Blue Division Azul. The History of the Spanish Volunteers" provides the following data on the total losses of the Spanish volunteers on the Eastern Front from "47,000 people, the total losses amounted to 3,600 dead, in addition 8,500 wounded, 7,800 sick with various diseases, also 1,600 people received frostbite and 321 people were captured" . At the same time, Karl Hofker estimates the losses of the Blue Division killed on the Volkhov Front at 1,400 people.

In Francoist Spain, the church and religion enjoyed great prestige. For example, during the Soviet shelling, several shells hit the central dome of the Church of St. Sophia in Veliky Novgorod, and the cross of the main dome began to fall to the ground. Spanish sappers saved the cross, restored it during the war, and it was sent to Spain. In the seventies, during the life of Franco, the cross stood at the Engineering Academy. Under it was an inscription that this cross is in storage in Spain and will return to Russia when the “godless Bolshevik regime” disappears (after the war Soviet authority accused the Spaniards of robbery). The cross was returned in 2004, 1958. (German)

Gerald R. Kleinfeld and Lewis A. Tambs. Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia. Southern Illinois University Press (1979), 434 pages, ISBN 0-8093-0865-7 . (English)

Xavier Moreno Julia. La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia, 1941-1945. Barcelona: Critica (2005). (Spanish)

Wayne H Bowen. Spaniards and Nazi Germany: Collaboration in the New Order. University of Missouri Press (2005), 250 pages, ISBN 0-8262-1300-6 . (English)

Antonio de Andrés y Andrés - Artilleria en la Division Azul

Eduardo Barrachina Juan - La Batalla del Lago Ilmen: División Azul

Carlos Caballero & Rafael Ibañez - Escritores en las trincheras: La División Azul en sus libros, publicaciones periódicas y filmografía (1941-1988)

Fernando J. Carrera Buil & Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto - Batallón Román: Historia fotográfica del II/269 Regimiento de la División Azul

Juan Chicharro Lamamié - Diario de un antitanquista en la Division Azul

Jesús Dolado Esteban (etc) - Revista de comisario: el cuerpo de Intervención Militar de la División Azul 1941-1944

Arturo Espinosa Poveda - Artillero 2º en la gloriosa Division Azul

Arturo Espinosa Poveda - ¡Teníamos razón! Cuando luchamos contra el comunismo Sovietico

Emilio Esteban-Infantes Martín - Blaue Division: Spaniens freiwillige an der Ostfront

Miguel Ezquerra

Ramiro Garcia de Ledesma - Encrucijada en la nieve: Un servicio de inteligencia desde la Division Azul

José García Hispán - La Guardia Civil en la Division Azul

César Ibáñez Cagna

Gerald R. Kleinfeld & Lewis A. Tambs - Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia

Vicente Linares - Más que unas memorias: Hasta Leningrado con la Division Azul

Torcuato Luca de Tena - Embajador en el infierno: Memorias del Capitán de la División Azul Teodoro Palacios

Xavier Moreno Julia - La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia 1941-45

Juan José Negreira - Voluntarios baleares en la División Azul y Legion Azul (1941-1944)

Ricardo Recio

José Mª Sánchez Diana - Cabeza de Puente: Diario de un soldado de Hitler

John Scurr & Richard Hook - Germany's Spanish Volunteers 1941-45

Luis E. Togores - Muñoz Grandes: Héroe de Marruecos, general de la División Azul

Manuel Vázquez Enciso - Historia postal de la Division Azul

Enrique de la Vega - Arde la Nieve: Un relato historico sobre la Division Azul

Enrique de la Vega Viguera - Rusia no es culpable: Historia de la División Azul

José Viladot Fargas

Diaz de Villegas - La Division Azul en linea.

« Blue Division "- this is the name received by the full infantry division, which was sent by the general Francisco Franco to help the Wehrmacht forces on the Eastern Front fight the Soviet Union.

The direction of the division was justified by the response to the Soviet intervention during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). The division was not a division of the Spanish army, although all the officers of the division, at the insistence of Franco, were career officers of the Spanish army. Initially, the majority of the fighters of the division were Spanish Falangist volunteers. It was the color of the party uniform of these same phalangists (and they wore blue shirts) that gave the popular nickname to the entire division.

It should be noted that not all members of the division were volunteers, even at the very beginning: Franco forcibly sent all his sworn, left-wing opponents to the Blue Division. The division was organized on June 27, 1941 by Serrano Sunier, Franco's brother-in-law, foreign minister and hardened fascist. He gave enthusiastic political support, while career officers formed 18,000 phalangist volunteers into a combat division. Most of the contingent were radical Falangists, many were university students, but there were also middle-class people and workers. Those who joined the division were motivated by a mixture of fascist enthusiasm, the expectation of an imminent German victory, and anti-communist and anti-Soviet feelings rooted in the civil war.

General Grandes greets the soldiers

While Franco was delighted to see such dedicated revolutionaries leaving Spain, he also had other interests, namely softening German influence over Spain and delaying entry into the war, as well as repaying the blood debt of the German Legion. "Condor" . The participation of the "Blue Division" in the battles on the Eastern Front would mean access to new level Spain's relations with the Axis. No other country that did not participate in World War II created an entire division for Adolf Hitler.

The first commander of the division was Agustin Munoz Grandes, former general secretary of the Falange. In December 1942 he was replaced by General Emilio Esteban Infantes.

In Bavaria, where in July 1941 the fighters of the unit underwent military training, the division was recorded as the 250th division of the Wehrmacht and was reorganized in accordance with the German order of battle. It took almost two months for the division to reach the front line, due to terrible German logistics (transportation and supply techniques). Most of the GD fighters wisely changed their blue uniforms to German ones as soon as they reached the Eastern Front. Yet some still remained in their blue shirts when the division took its first action on October 7, 1941.

The 250th division fought well, but was heavily bled dry, since in the next 2 years it was part of Army Group North, which besieged besieged Leningrad. By the end of 1941, the division had lost 1,400 men killed, but also made a strong impression on the local German commanders, and on Hitler.

The Blue Division saw more heavy fighting in the first months of 1942. The division experienced especially heavy battles on next year, when during the assault of the Red Army near the village called Krasny Bor in a bloody battle on February 10, 1943, it was eventually defeated. On that day, the division lost 2,252 men, of which more than 1,100 were killed. This amounted to one-fourth of all the casualties suffered by the division in more than 2 years. The last 7 months spent by the Blue Division on the Eastern Front were more calm. As the number of victims increased, there were fewer Falangist volunteers. Instead, more and more conscripts or soldiers were sent regular army and more enemies of the Franco regime. In 1943, the division was completely reorganized with the replacement of personnel. Spain took over the payment of all monetary allowances and maintenance costs, while Germany provided weapons and military equipment.

Later, Franco finally realized that Germany would lose the war and, under strong pressure from the Allies, who urged him to stop any cooperation with the Hitler regime, in October 1943 he withdrew and disbanded the Blue Division. But more than 2 thousand Spanish fascists refused to leave the front. Filled with recruits, they were reorganized and became part of the German 121st Division under the name of the Spanish Legion (Legion Españolo de Voluntarios) or the Blue Legion. But, it should be noted, even this small detachment was ordered to disband by Franco and returned to Spain in March 1944, as the pressure on Madrid from the Allies increased, and he feared an invasion and overthrow of his regime.

The last burst of ideological enthusiasm among the veterans of the Blue Division occurred in mid-1944, when 300 fighters crossed the border into southern France and expressed their desire to join the Wehrmacht in a joint fight against the Western Allies. The last few genuine fanatics in 1945 still remained on the eastern front: 243 fighters who refused to return to Spain, as Franco's orders demanded. They, like other Spaniards, were in the SS and fought in the east until the final surrender of Germany in 1945. Almost none of the Blue Shirts saw their relatives or Spain again.

Funeral of a soldier of the Blue Division

Of the more than 45,000 people who served a year (or longer) in the State Duma, about 5,000 were killed, 8,700 were wounded, about 400 were taken prisoner by the Red Army, and another 8,000 received serious frostbite or other front-related illnesses. Later, a large amount of laudatory literature was released in Spain depicting the GD fighters as unusually kind to Russian civilians, separating them from the well-known German atrocities perpetrated in the east. The moral distinction of the "GD" from the behavior of other units of the Wehrmacht and the SS was exaggerated in this nationalist revisionism, but claims of their somewhat greater decency are not unfounded. Most of the Spanish fascists who voluntarily joined the Blue Division were anti-communists in their ideology, not race-haters of the Nazis. There were also not a few conscripts from the working class who had no loyalty to the fascist cause at all.

Several hundred soldiers of the "Blue Division" who were taken prisoner were returned by the Soviet Union to Spain in 1954 and 1959.

warandgame.com

blue division strength, blue division of Dzerzhinsky
June 24, 1941 - October 10, 1943

Country

Third Reich
Spain

Included in Type of

infantry division

Includes

3 regiments, 8 battalions, 1 division

population Dislocation March

Spanish Tercios Heroicos

Participation in

Eastern front:

• Leningrad blockade:
  • Tikhvin defensive operation
  • Tikhvin strategic offensive operation
  • Operation North Star
    • Krasnoborsk operation

commanders Notable commanders

Agustin Munoz Grandes,
Emilio Esteban-Infantes

250th Spanish Volunteer Division(German 250. Einheit spanischer Freiwilliger, Spanish División Azul), traditionally known in Russian-language sources as, but due to the lack of naming shades of blue in some European languages, it is also possible to read as blue division(German: Blaue Division) - a division of Spanish volunteers who fought on the side of Germany during World War II. Although nominally manned by members of the Spanish Falange, the Blue Division was actually a mix of regulars, Civil War veterans, and members of the Falangist militia. It was drawn up according to the Spanish canons: four infantry regiments and one artillery.

• 1 Occurrence and features of the connection
• 2 Combat
• 3 Final battle path
  • 3.1 Losses
  • 3.2 Further fate
• 4 Notes
• 5 Literature
• 6 Links

The emergence and features of the connection

Not wanting to openly drag Spain into the Second world war on the side of Hitler and at the same time seeking to strengthen the Falange regime and ensure the security of the country, Francisco Franco took a position of armed neutrality, providing Germany on the Eastern Front with a division of volunteers who wished to fight on the side of the Germans against the Soviet Union. De jure, Spain remained neutral, did not join Germany's allies, and did not declare war on the USSR. The division got its name from the blue shirts - the uniform of the Phalanx.

Foreign Minister Sunyer, announcing the formation of the Blue Division on June 24, 1941, said that the USSR was guilty of the Spanish Civil War, that this war dragged on, that there were mass executions, that there were extrajudicial killings. In agreement with the Germans, the oath was changed - they swore not to the Fuhrer, but to the fight against communism.

The motivations of the volunteers were different: from the desire to avenge those close to them who died in the Civil War to the desire to hide (for former Republicans, as a rule, they subsequently made up the bulk of defectors to the side Soviet army). There were people who sincerely wanted to redeem their Republican past. Many were guided by selfish considerations - the soldiers of the division received a decent salary for those times in Spain, plus a German salary (respectively 7.3 pesetas from the Spanish government and 8.48 pesetas from the German command per day).

The former chairman of the brotherhood of the division, a former fighter, spoke about his path to its ranks:

I didn't have any ideology. I lived quietly near Teruel, a Soviet-made plane flew in, dropped a Soviet bomb. And, most likely, the pilot was Soviet. All my family died. I repeat: I was 14 years old at that moment. By the time the war with the Soviet Union began, I was 17 years old. Of course I wanted revenge. And I went to Russia to return the courtesy call.

- "Blue Division" and other Spaniards

Banner of the 2nd Battalion

On July 13, 1941, the division, numbering 18,693 people (641 officers, 2,272 non-commissioned officers, 15,780 lower ranks), departed Madrid and was transferred to Germany for a five-week military training at the training ground in Grafenwöhr. The division's first commander was civil war veteran Agustín Muñoz Grandes. Starting from Poland, the division advanced to the front on foot. After that, she was transferred to the Wehrmacht as the 250th Infantry Division. Over the entire existence of the division, more than 40 thousand people passed through its composition (according to other sources and estimates - more than 50 thousand).

fighting

The Blue Division held the defense near Leningrad and was considered a weak link by the Soviet command. However, during the operation "Polar Star" to liberate the Leningrad region, which was carried out on a front section near Krasny Bor almost 60 kilometers long, four Soviet divisions (approximately 44 thousand people) and 2 tank regiments could not break through the defense of the Spaniards (about four and a half thousands of people). Soviet troops suffered heavy losses in this area.

Even in Poland, a special attitude of the Spaniards towards discipline was manifested. Several soldiers went AWOL in civilian clothes and were detained by the Gestapo - because of their appearance they looked like Jews. The comrades freed their people after a shootout. The following fact also speaks of discipline in the division:

... Burgomaster (Novgorod) Morozov died at the hands of a Spanish soldier from the Blue Division. The authorities organized the distribution of milk to pregnant women. Every morning a line formed, in which the soldiers of the Blue Division slowly began to join. They peacefully stood interspersed with pregnant women, not demanding too much for themselves. received general rule and were properly removed. But Burgomaster Morozov, outraged by the fact that there was a catastrophic shortage of milk, somehow came to the council in a state of average alcohol intoxication and kicked one of the Spaniards down the stairs with a kick in the ass. Having counted all the steps with his nose, the Spaniard jumped up and emptied the magazine of his pistol into the city's head ...

This combination of high combat capability and slovenliness was noted after the battle in Krasny Bor by the statement of General Halder:

This phrase still hangs in the club of veterans of the Blue Division in Madrid.

Among the soldiers of the division, there were frequent cases of defection to the side of the Red Army, not least because of the rudeness of their own officers and poor food.

Side view of the division civilian population illustrates the diary of Lydia Osipova:

25.08.1942.<...>The Spaniards destroyed all our ideas about them as a proud, beautiful, noble people, etc. No operas. Small, fidgety, like monkeys, dirty and thieving, like gypsies. But very kind. All German kralechki immediately spread from the Germans to the Spaniards. And the Spaniards also show great tenderness and affection for Russian girls. There is hatred between them and the Germans, which is now still fueled by rivalry among women.

The Spaniards receive two rations. One from the German army, the other from their own government and distribute the surplus to the population. The population immediately appreciated all the Spanish good nature and immediately attached themselves to the Spaniards in a way that they could never attach themselves to the Germans. Especially kids. If a German rides on a cart, then you will never see children on it. If a Spaniard is driving, then he is not visible behind the children. And all these Jose and Pepe walk the streets, hung with children ...

05.10.1942.<...>It is interesting to draw a parallel between the Germans and the Spaniards as we see them. 1. The Germans are quiet and calm. Spaniards are noisy and restless like young puppies. 2. The Germans implicitly obey every order, whatever it may be. The Spaniards always strive to disobey an order, whatever it may be. The Germans "ferboten" offend the Spaniards as guests. And outwardly they treat them kindly, although they hate them passionately. The Spaniards, on the other hand, slaughter the Germans every Saturday night after drinking their weekly ration of wine. Sometimes in the daytime, when sober, they beat the Germans with a mortal battle. The Germans are only defending themselves. 3. The Germans are extremely frugal with uniforms and food. Linen is worn patched-patched. Neatly darn their own socks and stuff. Not a single crumb of their products is wasted. The Spaniards, having received brand new silk underwear, take scissors and turn underpants into panties. The rest is thrown away to the delight of my washerwomen... The Spaniards travel 35 kilometers from Pavlovsk for groceries every week. And everyone knows what they got for this week. If it's lemons, then the truck's exhaust pipe is stuffed with lemons and lemons stick out in every possible and impossible place. If apples - the same happens with apples and everything else ...

4... The Germans are brave insofar as they are ordered by the Fuhrer to be brave. The Spaniards have absolutely no sense of self-preservation. They knock out over 50% of the composition of any part from them, the remaining 50% continue to go into battle with songs. We have seen this with our own eyes. The Germans, according to the order, at the very first shell climb into the bunker and sit in it until the end of the shooting. The Spaniards from our unit lost 14 people because they not only did not hide from the shelling, but they certainly rushed to where the shells lay down to see where and how they hit. Usually the second or third shell covered them.

Osipova L. Diary of a collaborator.

The end of the battle

Banner of the 3rd Battalion (Bandera) of the Spanish Legion of the Wehrmacht

Due to strong foreign political pressure, Francisco Franco on October 20, 1943 decided to withdraw the Blue Division from the front and disband the formation. Some of the Spaniards remained in the detachments of the German army voluntarily until the end of the war. The Germans, not wanting to lose potential soldiers, opened up widespread propaganda regarding the entry of volunteers into the German Foreign Legion, which, unlike the Blue Division, was exclusively under German command. As a rule, they were all in the SS troops, who fought to the very end. encircled Berlin before the surrender fought 7,000 Spaniards.

Losses

Monument to the fallen soldiers of the Blue Division in the cemetery of Almudena.

During the battles with the Red Army, the Blue Division suffered the following losses:

• 4957 killed
• 8766 wounded
• 326 missing
• 372 captured (most returned to Spain in 1954).

General Emilio Esteban-Infantes, who commanded the Blue Division, in his book The Blue Division. Volunteers on the Eastern Front" gives the following figures for the loss of the division: 14 thousand - on the Volkhov front and 32 thousand - on the Leningrad (winter - spring 1943). Other figures are cited by Miguel Bas: the division destroyed about 17,000 Soviet soldiers. documentary film by Karl Hofker "Blue Division Azul. The History of the Spanish Volunteers" provides the following data on the total losses of the Spanish volunteers on the Eastern Front out of "47,000 people, the total losses amounted to 3,600 dead, in addition 8,500 wounded, 7,800 sick with various diseases, also 1,600 people received frostbite and 321 people were captured." At the same time, Karl Hofker estimates the losses of the Blue Division killed on the Volkhov Front at 1,400 people.

In Francoist Spain, the church and religion enjoyed great prestige. For example, during Soviet shelling, several shells hit the central dome of the Hagia Sophia in Veliky Novgorod, and the cross of the main dome began to fall to the ground. Spanish sappers saved the cross, restored it during the war, and it was sent to Spain. In the seventies, during the life of Franco, the cross stood at the Engineering Academy. Under it was an inscription that this cross is in storage in Spain and will return to Russia when the “godless Bolshevik regime” disappears (after the war, the Soviet government accused the Spaniards of robbery). The cross was returned in 2004.

Further fate

Many former soldiers"Blue Division" made a successful military career in post-war Spain.

Notes

1. MILITARY LITERATURE -- Crusade to Russia
2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/victory/703276-echo/ Miguel Fernandez Bas - bureau chief of the Spanish news agency EFE in Moscow about the "Blue Division"
3. Drobzyako S. I., Romanko O. V., Semyonov K. K. Foreign formations of the Third Reich. - M.: AST; Astrel, 2009. - ISBN-978-5-271-23888-8
4. Kovalev B. M. Nazi occupation and collaborationism in Russia. 1941-1944. - M.: AST, Transitbook, 2004. - S. 41. - 544 p. - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-17-020865-0.
5. RGASPI. F. 17, Op. 125, D. 97. L. 55-56. See also: RGVA. F. 1372k, Op. 3, D. 1435-1452.
6. Spanish "Blue Division" on the Soviet-German front (1941-1943).
7. For the text of the translation of the film, see the website: http://www.theunknownwar.ru/golubaya_diviziya_azul_istoriya_ispanskix_dobrovolczev_wwii.html

Literature

• "Crusade against Russia": Collection of articles. - M.: Yauza, 2005. ISBN 5-87849-171-0
• Elpatyevsky A.V., "The Blue Division, prisoners of war and interned Spaniards in the USSR" - Aletheia, 2015. ISBN: 978-5-9905926-5-0
• Esteban-Infantes, E. "Blaue Division. Spaniens Freiwillige an der Ostfront. Aus dem Spanischen von Werner Haupt. Hamburg, 1958. (German)
• Gerald R. Kleinfeld and Lewis A. Tambs. Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia. Southern Illinois University Press (1979), 434 pages, ISBN 0-8093-0865-7. (English)
• Xavier Moreno Julia. La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia, 1941-1945. Barcelona: Critica (2005). (Spanish)
• Wayne H Bowen. Spaniards and Nazi Germany: Collaboration in the New Order. University of Missouri Press (2005), 250 pages, ISBN 0-8262-1300-6. (English)
• Antonio de Andrés y Andrés - Artilleria en la Division Azul
• Eduardo Barrachina Juan - La Batalla del Lago Ilmen: División Azul
• Carlos Caballero & Rafael Ibañez - Escritores en las trincheras: La División Azul en sus libros, publicaciones periódicas y filmografía (1941-1988)
• Fernando J. Carrera Buil & Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto - Batallón Román: Historia fotográfica del II/269 Regimiento de la División Azul
• Juan Chicharro Lamamié - Diario de un antitanquista en la Division Azul
• Jesús Dolado Esteban (etc) - Revista de comisario: el cuerpo de Intervención Militar de la División Azul 1941-1944
• Arturo Espinosa Poveda - Artillero 2º en la gloriosa Division Azul
• Arturo Espinosa Poveda - ¡Teníamos razón! Cuando luchamos contra el comunismo Sovietico
• Emilio Esteban-Infantes Martín - Blaue Division: Spaniens freiwillige an der Ostfront
• Miguel Ezquerra
• Ramiro Garcia de Ledesma - Encrucijada en la nieve: Un servicio de inteligencia desde la Division Azul
• José García Hispán - La Guardia Civil en la Division Azul
• César Ibáñez Cagna
• Gerald R. Kleinfeld & Lewis A. Tambs - Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia
• Vicente Linares - Más que unas memorias: Hasta Leningrado con la Division Azul
• Torcuato Luca de Tena - Embajador en el infierno: Memorias del Capitán de la División Azul Teodoro Palacios
• Xavier Moreno Julia - La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia 1941-45
• Juan José Negreira - Voluntarios baleares en la División Azul y Legion Azul (1941-1944)
• Ricardo Recio
• José Mª Sánchez Diana - Cabeza de Puente: Diario de un soldado de Hitler
• John Scurr & Richard Hook - Germany's Spanish Volunteers 1941-45
• Luis E. Togores - Muñoz Grandes: Héroe de Marruecos, general de la División Azul
• Manuel Vázquez Enciso - Historia postal de la Division Azul
• Enrique de la Vega - Arde la Nieve: Un relato historico sobre la Division Azul
• Enrique de la Vega Viguera - Rusia no es culpable: Historia de la División Azul
• José Viladot Fargas
• Diaz de Villegas - La Division Azul en linea.

Links

• The 250 Infanterie Division by Jason Pipes
• The 250. Infanterie-Division on the Axis History Factbook
• S. P. Pozharskaya. Spanish "Blue Division" on the Soviet-German front (1941-1943)
• Anthem of the Blue Division
• Blue Division poster

Ground and air armed forces of the Third Reich in World War II
Army groups:	A B C D E F G H Africa Upper Rhine Vistula Don Kurland North North Ukraine Hollidt Center South South Ukraine
armies
Air fleets:	1 2 3 4 5 6 10 "Reich"
Corps	SS troops: 1st "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" 2 3 4 5 6 7 9th Croatian mountain 10 11 12 13 14 15th Cossack cavalry 16 17 18 American volunteer "George Washington" British volunteer "St. George" 1st Danish volunteer " Danmark "2nd Danish Volunteer" Schalburg "Serbian Volunteer army: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 97 101 Africa Russian motorized: 3 14 15 16 22 24 39 40 41 46 47 48 56 57 tank: 3 4 ("Feldherrnhalle") 7 14 24 38 39 40 41 46 47 48 56 57 58 76 " Greater Germany» mountain: 15 18 19 21 22 36 49 51 Norway cavalry: 1 Kalmyk reserve: 61 62 64 66 67 69 policemen: aviation: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Tunisia parachute: 1 2 "Hermann Goering"
legions
divisions	tank: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 116 155 178 179 232 233 273 Greater Deutschland Holstein Kempf Clausewitz Kurmark Löhr Müncheberg Norway Silesia Tatras Feldhernhalle 1 Feldhernhalle 2 Jüterbog infantry: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 44 45 46 48 49 50 52 68 56 57 63 64 65 68 69 70 71 72 72 74 75 76 77 78 78 79 80 81 82 82 84 85 86 87 88 88 89 91 92 93 94 95 96 98 106 110 111 112 113 121 122 123 125 126 129 131 132 134 137 149 149 150 153 154 155 155 156 160 161 161 162 /162 (T) 163 164 164 167 168 169 170 176 181 182 183 189 196 197 197 1995 205 206 207 208 210 211 212 213 214 215 217 218 219 221 225 227 228 230 230 230 230 230 230 230 230 230 230 230 230 231 232 237 239 240 242 243 244 245 246 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 260 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 286 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 301 302 303 304 305 306 309 311 319 320 321 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 330 331 332 333 333 335 336 337 338 339 340 342 343 344 346 347 348 349 351 352 355 356 358 359 361 362 363 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 364 (x) 376 377 379 383 384 385 386 387 387 389 392 (x) 393 395 399 416 430 462 521 526 542 554 555 556 560 600 606 650 702 703 704 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 714 715 715 716 716 716 716 716 717 grenadier: 6 19 31 36 44 45 153 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 Brandenburg Volksgrenadier: 6 9 12 16 18 19 22 26 31 36 45 46 47 48 61 62 78 79 167 183 211 212 246 256 257 271 272 276 277 320 326 337 340 347 349 352 361 363 462 541 542 544 545 547 548 549 551 553 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 708 mountain rifle: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 157 188 Stirmark 1st ski gamekeepers: 5 8 28 42 80 97 100 101 104 114 117 118 Alpen lungs: 1 2 5 8 28 90 97 99 100 101 164 999 cavalry: 1 3 4 1st Cossack parachute: 7th air 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 20 21 air field: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 security: 52 201 203 207 213 221 281 285 286 325 390 391 403 444 454 marines: 1 2 3 11 16 Gotenhafen reserve: 141 143 147 148 151 153 154 156 157 158 159 160 165 166 171 172 173 174 182 187 189 191 526 SS troops: 1st Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler 2nd Das Reich 3rd Totenkopf 4th Police 5th Viking 6th Nord 7th Prince Eugen 8th Florian Gaier" 9th "Hohenstaufen" 10th "Frundsberg" 11th "Nordland" 12th "Hitler Youth" 13th "Khanjar" (1st Croatian) 14th "Galicia" (1st Ukrainian) 15th (1st Latvian) 16th Reichsführer SS 17th Goetz von Berlichingen 18th Horst Wessel 19th (2nd Latvian) 20th (1st Estonian) 21 -I "Skanderberg" (1st Albanian) 22nd "Maria Theresa" 23rd "Kama" (2nd Croatian) 23rd "Nederland" (1st Dutch) 24th "Karsterger" 25- I "Hunyadi" (1st Hungarian) 26th (2nd Hungarian) 27th "Langemarck" (1st Flemish) 28th "Wallonia" (1st Walloon) 29th "Italy" ( 1st Italian) 29th "RONA" (1st Russian) 30th (1st Belarusian) 30th (2nd Russian) 31st 32nd "January 30" 33rd (3 -I Hungarian) 33rd Charlemagne (1st French) 34th Landstorm Nederland (2nd Dutch) 35th police 36th Dirlewanger 37th Lutzow 38th Nibelungen »
Air squadrons	fighter: 1st Oesau 2nd Richthofen 3rd Udet 4 5th Eismeer 6th Horst Wessel 7th Novotny 11 20 21 25 26th Schlageter 27- Africa 28 50 51st Melders 52 53rd Ace of Spades 54th Green Heart 70 71 72 76 77th Ace of Hearts 80 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 116 117 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 141 142 143 144 231 232 233 234 300th “Wild boar” 301 302 331 333 334 400 fighter-bombers: 1 2 26th Horst Wessel 52 76 101 141 142 143 144 night fighter: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 100 101 102 200

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