250. Infanterie-Division
A soldier of the Blue Division secures the burial marker of a fallen comrade.
Active	June 24, 1941 - October 10, 1943
Country	Germany Spain
Branch	Heer
Type	Infantry
Size	18,104 officers and other ranks; 47,000 through rotation
Nickname	División Azul
Colors
Battles/wars	Siege of Leningrad Battle of Krasny Bor
Commanders
Notable commanders	Agustín Muñoz Grandes Emilio Esteban Infantes

The Blue Division (Spanish División Azul, German: Blaue Division), or 250. Infanterie-Division, was a unit of Spanish volunteers that served in the German Army on the Eastern Front of the Second World War. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany_1933. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Spain_Under_Franco. ... Wehrmacht   (armed forces, literally defence force(s)) was the name of the armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. ... Infantry of the Royal Irish Rifles during the Battle of the Somme in World War I. Infantry are soldiers who fight primarily on foot with small arms in organized military units, though they may be transported to the battlefield by horses, ships, automobiles, skis, or other means. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 554 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (823 × 890 pixel, file size: 98 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Flag of the Spanish Legion File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Blue... Combatants Germany Spanish Blue Division Soviet Union Commanders Wilhelm von Leeb Georg von Küchler Agustín Muñoz Grandes Kliment Voroshilov Georgiy Zhukov Strength 725,000 930,000 Casualties Unknown Red Army: 332,059 KIA 24,324 non-combat dead 111,142 missing 16,470 civilians 1 million civilians... Combatants Germany (Spain) Soviet Union Commanders Emilio Esteban Infantes Vladimir P. Sviridov Strength 5,900 44,000 Casualties 3,945 dead, wounded, missing, or captured 11,000 dead, wounded, missing or captured The Battle of Krasny Bor was fought between the German Wehrmachts 250th Infantry Division, composed of Spanish... Major General Muñoz Grandes. ... General Esteban Infantes. ... A military volunteer is a person who enlists in military service by free will, and is not a mercenary or a foreign legionaire. ... Von Brauchitsch was the high army commander from 1938 to 1941 Heer (German: Heer ) is the german word for Army, though in English it refers to the Army branch of the Wermacht. ... The Eastern Front was the theatre of combat between Nazi Germany and its allies against the Soviet Union during World War II. It was somewhat separate from the other theatres of the war, not only geographically, but also for its scale and ferocity. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Origins

Although Generalísimo Francisco Franco did not enter the war on the side of Nazi Germany, he let volunteers join the German Army (Wehrmacht), however only on the condition they would exclusively fight against Bolshevism at the Eastern Front. In this manner, he could maintain Spanish neutrality while simultaneously repaying Hitler for his support during the Spanish Civil War (see Condor Legion). Spanish foreign minister Ramón Serrano Súñer made the suggestion to raise a volunteer corps, and at the commencement of Operation Barbarossa, Franco sent an official offer of help to Berlin. Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde (4 December 1892–20th (or possibly 19th) November[1] 1975), commonly abbreviated to Francisco Franco (pron. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Wehrmacht   (armed forces, literally defence force(s)) was the name of the armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Combatants Soviet Union,[1] Poland, Tannu Tuva (until 1944 incorporation with USSR), Mongolia Germany,[2] Italy (to 1943), Romania (to 1944), Finland (to 1944), Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain (to 1943, unofficial) Commanders Joseph Stalin, Aleksei Antonov, Ivan Konev, Rodion Malinovsky, Ivan Bagramyan, Kirill Meretskov, Ivan Petrov, Alexander Rodimtsev, Konstantin Rokossovsky... Neutrality: Neutrality in international law is the status of a nation that refrains from participation in a war between other states and maintains an impartial attitude toward the belligerents. ... Hitler redirects here. ... Combatants Spanish Republic With the support of: Soviet Union[1] Nationalist Spain With the support of: Italy Germany Commanders Manuel Azaña Francisco Largo Caballero Juan Negrín Francisco Franco Gonzalo Queipo de Llano Emilio Mola José Sanjurjo Casualties 500,000[2] The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict... Hermann Göring delivering an honour (likely to be the Spanienkreuz, Spanish Cross) to a member of the Legion Condor (April 1939) The Condor Legion was a unit of Nazi Germanys air force which was sent as volunteers to support the right wing Nationalists (i. ... Ramón Serrano Súñer (September 12, 1901 – September 1, 2003), was a Spanish politician and creator of the radio station Radio Intercontinental. ... Combatants Germany, Romania, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia Soviet Union Commanders Adolf Hitler, Ion Antonescu, C.G.E. Mannerheim, Benito Mussolini, Miklós Horthy, Jozef Tiso Joseph Stalin Strength ~3. ... Location of Berlin within Germany / EU Coordinates Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country NUTS Region DE3 City subdivisions 12 boroughs Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit (SPD) Governing parties SPD / Left. ...

Hitler approved the use of Spanish volunteers on June 24, 1941. Volunteers flocked to recruiting offices in all the metropolitan areas in Spain. Cadets from the officer training school in Zaragoza volunteered in particularly large numbers. Initially, the Spanish government was prepared to send about 4,000 men, but soon understood that there were more than enough volunteers to fill an entire division: 18,104 men; 2,612 officers and 15,492 soldiers. June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... For alternative meanings, see Zaragoza (disambiguation). ... A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of around 10,000 soldiers. ...

Fifty percent of officers and NCOs were professional soldiers, many of them being veterans of the civil war. Many others were members of the Falange (the Spanish fascist party). Others felt pressure to join because of past ties with the Republic or — like Luis García Berlanga, who later became a well-known cinema director — to help their relatives in Franco's prisons. A non-commissioned officer (sometimes noncommissioned officer), also known as an NCO or noncom, is a non-commissioned member of an armed force who has been given authority by a commissioned officer. ... Yoke and Arrows. ... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... Luis García Berlanga (b. ...

General Agustín Muñoz Grandes was assigned to lead the volunteers. Because the soldiers could not use official Spanish army uniforms, they adopted a symbolic uniform comprising the red berets of the Carlists, khaki trousers used in the Spanish Legion, and the blue shirts of the Falangists - hence the nickname, "Blue Division". This uniform was used only while on leave in Spain; in the field, soldiers wore the Heer field gray uniform with a shield on the upper right sleeve bearing the word "España" and the Spanish national colors. Major General Muñoz Grandes. ... Carlism was a conservative political movement in Spain, purporting to establish an alternative branch of the Bourbons in the Spanish throne. ... The Spanish Legion (La Legión Española) is a military elite unit of the Spanish Army. ... Wehrmacht   (armed forces, literally defence force(s)) was the name of the armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. ...

Deployment and action

Soldiers from the Blue Division's 263. (Valencian) Regiment sharing jokes and cigarettes.

Image File history File links Blue_Division_263_Regiment. ... Image File history File links Blue_Division_263_Regiment. ...

Germany: training and organisation of the Division

On July 13, 1941, the first train left Madrid for Grafenwohr, Bavaria for a further five weeks of training. There they became the Heer's 250th Infantry Division and were initially divided into four infantry regiments. Following the standard Heer model, one of these regiments was dispersed among the others, which were named after three of the Spanish cities that volunteers largely originated from - Barcelona, Valencia and Seville. Each regiment had three battalions (of four companies each) and two weapons companies. An artillery regiment of four battalions (of three batteries each). Aviator volunteers formed a "Blue Squadron" (Escuadrilla Azul) which, using Bf 109s and FW 190s, was credited with 156 Soviet aircraft kills. July 13 is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Grafenwoehr is a military training ground in northeast Bavaria, Germany, located to the east of Nuremberg. ... The geographic region and Free State of Bavaria (German:  ), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... British regiment A regiment is a military unit, consisting of a variable number of battalions - commanded by a colonel. ... Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Barcelona (Catalan) Spanish name Barcelona Nickname Ciutat Comtal (Catalan) Postal code 08001–08080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 93 (Barcelona) Website http://www. ... Location Coordinates : 39°29′ N 0°22′ W Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name València (Catalan) Spanish name Valencia Founded 137 BC Postal code 46000-46080 Website http://www. ... NO8DO (I was not abandoned) Location Coordinates : ( ) Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Sevilla (Spanish) Spanish name Sevilla Founded 8th-9th century BC Postal code 41001-41080 Website http://www. ... Symbol of the Austrian 14th Armoured Battalion in NATO military graphic symbols A battalion is a military unit usually consisting of between two and six companies and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel. ... Artillery with Gabion fortification Cannons on display at Fort Point Continental Artillery crew from the American Revolution Firing of an 18-pound gun, Louis-Philippe Crepin, (1772 – 1851) A forge-welded Iron Cannon in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. ... (Bf 109 was the official Reichsluftfahrtministerium designation, though some late_war aircraft actually carried the Me 109 designation stamped onto their aircraft type plates. ... Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in flight. ... Soviet redirects here. ...

Onto the Russian front (August-October 1941)

After swearing, on August 20, a modified military oath to fight communism, the Blue Division was assigned to combat duties. It was initially assigned to Army Group Center, the force advancing towards Moscow. The division was transported by train to Suwalki, Poland (August 28), from where it had to continue by foot on a 900 km march. It was scheduled to travel through Grodno (Belarus), Lida (Belarus), Vilnius (Lithuania), Molodechno (Belarus), Minsk (Belarus), Orsha (Belarus) onto Smolensk and from there to the Moscow front. While marching towards the Smolensk front on September 26, the Spanish volunteers were rerouted from Vitebsk and reassigned to Army Group North (the force closing on Leningrad), and became part of German 16th Army. August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Army Group Centre (Heeresgruppe Mitte in German) was one of three German army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, code-named Operation Barbarossa. ... Position of Moscow in Europe Coordinates: Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Government  - Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Area  - City 1,081 km²  (417. ... Motto: none Voivodship Podlaskie Municipal government Rada miejska w Suwałkach Mayor Józef Gajewski Area 65. ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ... Hrodna City emblem Hrodna (Belarusian: ; Russian: ; Polish: ; Lithuanian: ; Yiddish: Grodne; German: ) is a city in Belarus. ... Lida (Belarusian: Лі́да, Russian: Ли́да, Lithuanian: Lyda) is a small city located in western Belarus, approximately 70 km west of Minsk. ... Location Ethnographic region AukÅ¡taitija County Vilnius County Municipality Vilnius city municipality Coordinates Number of elderates 20 General Information Capital of Lithuania Vilnius County Vilnius city municipality Vilnius district municipality Population About 600,000 in 2006 (1st) First mentioned 1323 Granted city rights 1387 Articles with similar titles include Vilnius... Maladzechna is a city in the Minsk voblast of Belarus. ... Location of Minsk, shown within the Minsk Voblast Coordinates: Country Subdivision Belarus Minsk Founded 1067 Government  - Mayor Mikhail Pavlov Area  - City 305. ... Orsha (Belarusian: Во́рша; Russian: О́рша; Polish: Orsza) is a city in Belarus, an important railway node along the Minsk–Moscow line. ... A view of Smolensk in 1912. ... Position of Moscow in Europe Coordinates: Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Government  - Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Area  - City 1,081 km²  (417. ... A view of Smolensk in 1912. ... September 26 is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Coat of arms of Vitebsk. ... Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord in German) was a high level command grouping of military units operating for Germany during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached army corps, reserve formations, and direct-reporting units. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and...

Why they were forced to march such a distance without transport is somewhat unclear. It has been speculated that the Germans sought to use the march to "toughen up" the Spaniards, who had displayed some signs of ill-discipline during their training period. (At one point, they demanded prostitutes.)

Volkhov (October 1941-August 1942)

It was first deployed on the Volkhov front, with its HQ stationed in Grigorovo, in the outskirts of Novgorod. It was in charge of a 50 km section of the front north and south of Novgorod, along the banks of the Volkhov river and Lake Ilmen. View area Volkhov may refer to Volkhov River in Russia, Volkhov, Russia, a city. ... Velikiy Novgorod (Russian: ) is the foremost historic city of North-Western Russia, situated on the M10(E95) federal highway connecting Moscow and St. ... Velikiy Novgorod (Russian: ) is the foremost historic city of North-Western Russia, situated on the M10(E95) federal highway connecting Moscow and St. ... Volkhov may refer to Volkhov River in Russia, Volkhov, Russia, a city. ... In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Ilmen is a part of the atmosphere that surrounds the world of Arda before the cataclysm at the end of the Second Age. ...

Leningrad (August 1942-October 1943)

In August, 1942 it was transferred North to the Southeastern flank of the Leningrad siege, just South of the Neva near Pushkin, Kolpino and Krasny Bor in the Izhora River area. View Area Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and... A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition, often accompanied by an assault. ... The River Neva (Russian: Нева́) is a 74 km-long Russian river flowing from Lake Ladoga (Ладожское Озеро, Ladožskoe Ozero) through the Karelian Isthmus (Карельский Перешеек, Karelskij PereÅ¡eek) and the city of Saint Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург, Sankt-Peterburg) to the Gulf of Finland (Финский Залив, Finskij Zaliv). ... Pushkin is a town in Russia that is located 24 kilometres south of Saint Petersburg, at 59°44′N 30°23′E. The town was founded in the 18th century as the summer residence of the Russian tsars under the name Tsarskoye Selo (Royal Village). ... Kolpino (Колпино in Russian) is a city in the Federal City of Saint Petersburg in Russia, located on the Izhora River (Nevas tributary) some 26 km southeast of St. ... Krasny Bor (Russian: ) is an urban-type settlement in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. ... River Izhora, in English also known as River Inger, is the main tributary to River Neva on its run through Ingria in western-most Russia from Lake Ladoga to Gulf of Finland. ...

The Blue Division remained on the Leningrad front where they suffered heavy casualties both due to cold and to enemy action. Franco dispatched more reinforcements, which in time included conscripts in addition to volunteers. Through rotation, as many as 45,000 Spanish soldiers served on the Eastern Front. They were awarded both Spanish and German military awards, and were the only division to be awarded a medal of their own, commissioned by Hitler.

After the collapse of German front following the Battle of Stalingrad, the situation changed and more German troops were deployed southwards. By this time general Emilio Esteban Infantes had taken command. Combatants Germany Italy Hungary Romania Slovakia Soviet Union Commanders Maximilian von Weichs Friedrich Paulus # Erich von Manstein Hermann Hoth Italo Garibaldi Gusztav Jany Petre Dumitrescu Constantin Constantinescu Vasiliy Chuikov Aleksandr Vasilyevskiy Georgiy Zhukov Semyon Timoshenko Konstantin Rokossovsky Rodion Malinovsky Strength German Sixth Army German Fourth Panzer Army Romanian Third Army... General Esteban Infantes. ...

Disbandment and the Legión Azul

Eventually, the Allies and Spanish Anglophiles began to pressure Franco to withdraw the troops. Franco initiated negotiations in the spring of 1943 and gave an order of withdrawal on October 10. Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in leap years). ...

Some Spanish soldiers refused to return. Even if some people believe that Franco gave his unofficial blessing as long as the number would stay below 1,500, the Spanish Government on the 3rd of November compelled everybody to return to Spain, or they would lose Spanish nationality. In the end the total of 'non returners' was closer to 3,000. Spaniards also joined other German units, mainly the Waffen-SS, and fresh volunteers slipped across the Spanish border in Lourdes, France. The new units were collectively called the Blue Legion (Legión Azul). Waffen-SS recruitment poster; Volunteer to the Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel. ... Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes Lourdes (real Occitan name Lorda) is a town situated in the Southwest of the Hautes-Pyrénées department, lying in the first Pyrenean foothills. ... The Blue Division (Spanish División Azul) was a unit of Spanish volunteers that served on the German side of the Second World War, mainly on the Eastern Front. ...

The Spaniards initially remained part of the 121st Infantry Division, but even this meager force was ordered to return home in March 1944 and was transported back to Spain on March 21. The rest of the volunteers were absorbed into German units. 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (81st in leap years). ...

Platoons of Spaniards served in the 3rd Gebirgs Division and the 357th Infantry Division. One unit was sent to Latvia. Two companies joined the Brandenburger Regiment and German 121st Division in Yugoslavia to fight against Tito's partisans. Fifty pro-Fascist Spaniards entered the French Pyrenees to combat the French Resistance. The Brandenburger Regiment was a German commando unit during World War II. The unit was originally founded by Wilhelm Canaris of the Abwehr, and until 1944 was an OKW unit rather than a unit of the regular army (Heer, OKH). ... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in the Latin alphabet, Југославија in Cyrillic; English: Land of the South Slavs) describes three political entities that existed one at a time on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century. ... Josip Broz Tito (Cyrillic: Јосип Броз Тито, May 7, 1892 (May 25th according to official birth certificate) – May 4, 1980) was the leader of the Second Yugoslavia, which lasted from 1943 until 1991. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

The 101st company Spanische-Freiwilligen Kompanie der SS 101 of 140 men, made up of four rifle platoons and one staff platoon, was attached to 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien and fought in Pomerania. Later, as part of 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland and under command of Haupsturmführer der SS Miguel Ezquerra, it fought the last days of the war against Soviet troops in Berlin. Corps Franc Wallonie Wallonische Legion 373. ... Duchy of Pomerania, ruled by the slavic dynasty of Griffits (Polish: Gryfici, German: Greifen), was a semi-independent principality in the 17th century. ... Kampfverband Waräger Germanische-Freiwilligen-Division SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 11 (Germanische) 11. ... Soviet redirects here. ...

The number of casualties of the Blue Division and its sequels accounted for 4,954 dead, and 8,700 wounded. In addition, 372 members of the Blue Division, the Blue Legion or volunteers of the Spanische-Freiwilligen Kompanie der SS 101 were taken as prisoners by the Russian forces. Of these, 286 were kept in captivity until 1954 when they returned to Spain in the ship Semiramis fleeted by the Red Cross (2 April, 1954). The Blue Division (Spanish División Azul) was a unit of Spanish volunteers that served on the German side of the Second World War, mainly on the Eastern Front. ... Red Army flag The Workers and Peasants Red Army (Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия, Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya; RKKA or usually simply the Red Army) were the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and that, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Semiramis is depicted as an armed Amazon in this eighteenth century Italian illustration. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The major military contribution of the Blue Division was entirely disproportionate to its modest strength and few material possibilities (arms and ammunition). The conviction and military fanaticism by which the Spanish volunteers assisted the Germans at the Eastern Front, was not left unawarded. Soldiers and officers of the Blue Division were awarded 2 Knight Crosses (one with Oak Leaves), 2 Golden Crosses, 138 Iron Crosses First Class, 2,359 Iron Crosses Second Class and 2,216 War Merit Crosses with Swords.

Influence of the Blue Division in later Spanish Army history

Although this is yet to be properly studied and assessed, the fact that many (if not most) of Spanish Army high ranking officers in the 1960s and '70s had served in the División Azul certainly had an influence on their role in and views about the transition to democracy in Spain in the late '70s. Many of the generals that took part in the attempted coup d'etat on February 23, 1981, both for it and against it, had served in this unit during World War II. Amongst them were generals Alfonso Armada and Jaime Milans del Bosch. Other Blue Division veterans, for example José Luis Aramburu Topete , at the time (1981) Director of the Guardia Civil, and José Gabeiras remained loyal to the legal democratic government under the young Juan Carlos I. Antonio Tejero with a gun in his hand, breaking into the Congress of Deputies February 23, 1981, attempting a coup. ... February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jaime Milans del Bosch y Ussía (June 8, 1915 - July 26, 1997) was a Lieutenant General in the Spanish Army who was dismissed in 1981 for his role in the failed coup détat of 23 February 1981 (23-F). ... Patrol boat, Nervion river, Bilbao. ... King Juan Carlos I His Majesty King Juan Carlos I (Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón), styled HM The King (born January 5, 1938), is the reigning King of Spain. ...

The Cross of Saint Sophia of Novgorod

In 2004 the Spanish Government returned the cross of the Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia of (Veliki) Novgorod to the city. The cross had fallen during one of the shellings of the city while it housed the headquarters of the División Azul during World War II. The cross was carried back to Spain, first to Burgos and afterwards to the Spanish Army Engineers Academy in Hoyo de Manzanares near Madrid. See news item shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The cathedral Our Lady of Burgos. ... Motto: De Madrid al Cielo (From Madrid to Heaven) Location Coordinates: Country Spain Autonomous Community Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid Province Madrid Administrative Divisions 21 Neighborhoods 127 Founded 9th century Government  - Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (PP) Area  - Land 607 km² (234. ...

See also

• Spain in World War II
• Battle of Krasny Bor

At the start of World War II, in September 1939, Spain had only recently come through its bitter civil war. ... Combatants Germany (Spain) Soviet Union Commanders Emilio Esteban Infantes Vladimir P. Sviridov Strength 5,900 44,000 Casualties 3,945 dead, wounded, missing, or captured 11,000 dead, wounded, missing or captured The Battle of Krasny Bor was fought between the German Wehrmachts 250th Infantry Division, composed of Spanish...

Books

• 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.
• Xavier Moreno Juliá. La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia, 1941-1945. Barcelona: Crítica (2005).
• Wayne H. Bowen. Spaniards and Nazi Germany: Collaboration in the New Order. University of Missouri Press (2005), 250 pages, ISBN 0-8262-1300-6.

External links

• The 250. Infanterie-Division by Jason Pipes