Where did Neutral Spain fight in WWII?

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and lead them to victory you are in command now don't forget to download warpath for free using the link in the description below where did neutral spain fight in world war ii the blue division was the spanish volunteer unit of the german army although spain was a neutral state during world war ii its fascist regime favored the axis powers and for that reason they allowed spanish citizens to volunteer to join the vermont this was also a way for spain's fascist leader franco to show his gratitude to germany for its assistance during the spanish civil war the only condition franco set out was that volunteers would only be allowed to fight on the eastern front this would be to avoid any confrontation with the western allies most of the volunteers were already members of the spanish fascist party and were known as phalangists these men had a deep hatred of communism so fighting against the red army would be a crusade for them and paid back for the soviet interference in the spanish civil war a small percentage of volunteers were men who were forced to enlist these were men who had been collaborating with the republicans during the civil war or whose families were in danger from the regime there were also a number of fascist volunteers from the neighboring country of portugal all combined they formed the unit officially known as division espanol de volunteers but more commonly referred to as the blue division because of the blue shirts they wore in association with the spanish fascists the first batch of 17 924 volunteers led by general munoz grandes left madrid on july 13 1941. they were transferred to the training camp in grafenwoehr bavaria there they became the 250th infantry division of the german army as a spanish army division consisted of four regiments and a german division of only three one regiment had to be disbanded and its soldiers dispersed among the other units these three divisions were named after cities from which most of the volunteers came from regiment 262 was named barcelona regiment 263 valencia and regiment 269 seville in grafenwoehr the idea was that the spanish volunteers should follow the same training regime as the german recruits however in july 1941 the spanish government feared that the war in the east could be over before their volunteers had finished their training so they authorized a fast-track training program for the recruits meaning they could be sent to the front as soon as possible fortunately most of the volunteers were experienced veterans of the spanish civil war and at least 50 percent of the officers and ncos were professional soldiers also with combat experience but none of them were prepared for the harsh climate and conditions on the eastern front that they were about to encounter the emphasis was put on familiarizing them with german weapons and equipment and the new rapid training program remained in effect for all volunteers that were traveling to germany [Music] being officially part of the vermont soldiers of the blue division were equipped with the same weapons as the german troops and also wore the same uniforms and equipment in combat soldiers of the blue division wore the standard german feldbrow uniform and the only difference being the shield badge with spanish national colors and the inscription espana sewn on the upper right sleeve the same shield was also painted on the right hand side of their helmets behind the lines or when on leave soldiers of the blue division were allowed to wear their own specially made uniforms this consisted of khaki trousers a blue shirt and red beret khaki trousers were adopted from the spanish foreign legion since general munoz was a veteran of the spanish morocco campaign serving with the legion the blue shirt was a distinctive feature of the phalanges movement worn by members of the fascist party and the red beret was the traditional headwear worn by the carlos movement that supported don carlos in his claim for the spanish throne after taking an oath of allegiance in front of adolf hitler soldiers of the blue division were sent by train to the town of suvalke in poland from there they continued on foot for the 560 miles or about 900 kilometers to the army group center from where they were to join in with the campaign to attack moscow this march was one of the longest in the entire war once they reached vitepsk in belarus the blue division was reassigned to army group north that was heading towards leningrad and became part of the german 16th army initially the germans thought that the spanish volunteers who were known as guripas or conscripts were just an ill-disciplined rabble as they refused to practice drills or clean their weapons or do guard duty or salute or obey orders and seem to be more interested in chasing the local women and enjoying themselves but once they engaged in combat they came into their own as they demonstrated that they were brutal and ruthless soldiers who would neither ask for nor give any quarter and would rarely surrender preferring to fight to the death like the russians they would seldom take prisoners this gave rise for munoz grandes to call them his bridegrooms of death and even their battle cry was viva la muerte or long-lived death they soon became respected by the germans and feared by the russians would dread going into battle against them fighting in the northwest of russia the soldiers of the blue division experienced the true horror of life and death on the eastern front they participated in 21 major battles and had a great number of smaller conflicts and they suffered not only from battle fatigue but also from hunger disease poor hygiene and extremely cold weather an example of the losses suffered by the blue division was the action conducted by the ski company in january of 1942 with orders to relieve german units that were cut off south of lake illman the spanish soldiers set off on a march in temperatures of minus 40 degrees after wading through waist-deep snow and crossing icy rivers and numerous skirmishes with soviet patrols only 12 of the original 206 men arrived in a state fit to fight similar number of casualties were suffered by the second battalion that were sent to the village of pocillock in january 1943 to help defend the leningrad front from soviet penetration on january 22nd they arrived at the village in a convoy of trucks but after enduring a constant soviet bombardment for six days only 28 men had survived the same thing happened a few weeks later at krasny boar where a detachment of the spanish volunteers were wiped out by soviet artillery and masked infantry assaults at the same time the spanish government was being pressured into repatriating the volunteers back to spain facing british demands for complete neutrality and pressure from catholic church leaders from all over spain in the spring of 1943 the spanish authorities began negotiations with germany regarding the recall of the volunteers from the eastern front the germans were not happy with the proposal but on october 14 1943 an order was given to all blue division volunteers to return home even though the majority of soldiers welcomed the decision many of them refused to return with an overwhelming urge to continue their fight against the hated communists they formed the so-called blue legion this also helped to appease hitler by still having a spanish presence on the eastern front the strength of this unit was around 3 000 men as it was becoming all too clear where the outcome of the hostilities were heading franco ordered these men to also return to spain in march 1944. only the most fanatical remained these men were incorporated into other german units including the waffen-ss and continued to fight until the fall of berlin during the four years of engagement more than 45 000 spanish soldiers saw service on the eastern front of that number 4 500 were killed while 16 000 were either wounded or ended up in turned in pow caps the last blue division prisoners of war were released from the soviet union in 1954 during their campaign on the eastern front during world war ii the officers and men of the blue division were rewarded with three night crosses with oak leaves three german crosses in gold 138 iron crosses first class 2 359 iron crosses second class and war merit crosses with swords between them and also the third reich commissioned the spanish volunteer medal on january 3rd 1944 and awarded it to all 47 000 volunteers who had served on the eastern front nationalist spain also awarded the volunteers a medal the medalla de campana de russia or the medal of the russian campaign in recognition of their support to nazi germany on the eastern front you

Channel: Simple History

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Rating: 4.9558825 out of 5

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, azul, blue division, spanish, Eastern Front, Spanish Volunteers, Blue Army, Red Army, Neutral, Spanish Civil War, Francisco Franco, Division Espanola de Voluntarios, blue shirts, General Munoz Grandes, Grafenwöhr, Bavaria, Regiment 262, Regiment 263, Regiment 269, Espana, Spanish Foreign Legion, Munoz-Grandes, Bridegrooms of Death, Krasny Bor, Lake Ilmen, Poselok, Medalla de la campana de Rusia, Spanish Volunteer Medal

Id: svF2FUTtZWk

Length: 11min 1sec (661 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 29 2021