Tell me about the Spanish Blue Division, /his/.
How effective were they in battle on the Eastern Front? How were they viewed by their German comrades?
>>1252032
>Be Spaniard.
>Literally miss out on WWII.
>Be retarded.
>Join the fighting.
The announcement on June 28, 1941, by the regime of Caudillo Francisco Franco that a division of volunteers would be recruited to join Hitler’s six-day-old invasion of Russia set off a wave of virtual hysteria across Spain. While some mobs stoned the British embassy, others stampeded recruiting offices in such numbers that many met their quota in a day and within in the week they had signed up enough to form several divisions.
The entire cadet corps of Spain’s equivalent of West Point volunteered, as did 3,000 students from the University of Madrid. While the senior command was unenthusiastic, many officers enlisted as privates.
Many of the young Spaniards who volunteered, the Russo-German War was a continuation of their own Civil War of 1936-1939—a crusade against Communism
To reach the front, the Blue Division made the longest sustained marching effort of World War II—45 days. From August 29 to October 9, 1941, they trudged from Sulvaki, Poland, to Vitebsk, Russia, almost 625 miles, in a column stretching 20 miles, each man lugging 70 pounds of equipment. The division saw its first action just 24 hours after being moved into the line and would soon be engulfed in a military maelstrom.
The Division served along the Leningrad sector, enduring the hardships and experiencing the horrors that made the Eastern Front the most dreaded of World War II. In winter, food had to be sliced with axes and temperatures of 12 degrees below zero were considered mild weather. In springtime, the men were tormented by hoards of mosquitoes from the surrounding swamps and by the stench of thousands of bodies frozen stiff during the winter and now thawing and decomposing.
Of its 21 major battles and hundreds of smaller engagements, three actions of the Spanish Blue Division would epitomize the savagery of the Russian Front in World War II and become legendary. Spaniards who retook positions previously abandoned to the Germans found wounded they had left behind with their chests torn open with picks. In turn, volunteers from Spain’s vicious version of the French Foreign Legion sliced off the ears, noses and fingers of Russian prisoners, then sent them stumbling back to their lines.
If a german soldier is drunk <...> and clearly needs to shave, don't rush to arrest him. Probably this is a spanish volunteer.
In all 45,482 Spanish soldiers (included conscripts as well as volunteers) served on the Eastern Front as a part of the German 16th Army. At Battle of Krasny Born in February 1943 the Blue Division faced an attempt to break the siege of Leningrad by the russian 55th Army. They were able to hold their ground against a seven times larger Russian force which also was supported by tanks. The Spanish had to suffer heavy casualties mainly due to the weather and to enemy action. Through rotation the devision was reinforced until spring of 1943 and the order of withdrawal was given on October the same year. Then the following units who saw combat were collectively called the Legión Azul.
Warned by the Germans of the impending Russian assault at Krasny Bor, 20 miles east of Leningrad, a Spanish officer told his men, “Tomorrow the bulls will run.” At 6:45 am, the Spaniards were stunned by a squall of explosions as artillery shells, mortar rounds and katyusha rockets fell on them
Bunkers were demolished and trenches caved in. “Where snow had lain, the fierce heat had laid bare the scarred grass and a moment later grass and topsoil as well disappeared. A landscape like the mountains of the moon was created,” recalled one survivor. To another, it was an “absolute inferno.”
The next storm broke as almost 100 Russian tanks and thousands of soldiers charged. Twelve hours of pure chaos and carnage followed.
>>1252032
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqXgMuVxgvM
Anon, you have quite the way with words. Just got to say I really enjoyed reading this and half of it was how you worded it. Keep up the good work.
>>1252535
samezies
Very informational op thank you
