| wardog | 03 Feb 2016 2:59 p.m. PST |
franco sent a division to serve on the eastern front called Spanish blau division
could someone tell me the equipment it used when first deployed to the eastern front
tanks ,artillery ,and antitank if you have it
was it Spanish equipment or transferred from german stock |
| Pan Marek | 03 Feb 2016 3:09 p.m. PST |
German. Osprey has a book on the unit. |
 Lluis of Minairons  | 03 Feb 2016 3:49 p.m. PST |
Their dress and gear was identical to that of a German soldier except for the patches in their helmets and arms: link As far as I know, they were Infantry regiments only. Heavier supports would have been drawn from higher organisation levels. |
| bruntonboy | 03 Feb 2016 3:50 p.m. PST |
More or less standard German infantry division weapons and equipment. No tanks. |
| vaughan | 03 Feb 2016 3:54 p.m. PST |
Franco didn't send them, they were volunteers to fight USSR only. As such they were identical to any other German unit once kitted out by Germany, except for identification marks. |
| Lluis of Minairons | 03 Feb 2016 3:59 p.m. PST |
@Vaughan, not exactly so. They were disguised and masked as volunteers the same way as Condor Legion were sent in Spain during Civil War (theoretically leaving the German army and getting enlisted in the Spanish Foreign Legion). Same procedure but reversed actors. The actual fact is that Blau Division was Franco's response to Hitler's demand, accordingly to the preserved dispatches their chancelleries crossed to each other. |
| DyeHard | 03 Feb 2016 4:23 p.m. PST |
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| john lacour | 03 Feb 2016 5:23 p.m. PST |
Hitler did'nt "demand" any such thing. Franco offered the division.
I would certainly think had Hitler demanded something, it would have been more than a infantry divison, which was fitted out at german expense. |
| basileus66 | 03 Feb 2016 10:41 p.m. PST |
Lluis It's a bit more complicated. The original Blau Division was, mostly, formed by volunteers, many of them coming from the more radical wing of Falange -that more sympathetic to the Nazis- and from military sympathetic to them. Replacements were not volunteers, though, at least not a significative number of them. |
Bunkermeister  | 03 Feb 2016 11:13 p.m. PST |
Photos of them show a pretty standard infantry division in standard German uniform and equipment. You do see a few bits of Spanish uniform, and a few berets. They often seem to have flags on display or being carried, including Spanish flags. After the division was withdrawn back to Spain, many stayed and fought for Germany. Volunteers continued to flow into France and on to Germany up to near the end of the war. Spanish Unit Esquerra fought in Berlin at the end of the war. Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog |
| Martin Rapier | 04 Feb 2016 12:17 a.m. PST |
As above, they were uniformed and equipped as a normal German infantry division. They did have a jazzy arm patch though. |
| Richard Baber | 04 Feb 2016 1:09 a.m. PST |
All accounts point to them being generally more scruffy than your average German soldat :) The Division had all the support weapons of a normal German one - Each regiment had its own motorised (NOT SP – towed) Anti-tank (37mm only) and Infantry guns (75 and 105 IG)
The only difference was the Spanish took all the IG and grouped them together under divisional control (called the cannon gruppe) this was the Spanish system and one its officers were more familiar with using than the more independent German kampfgrump system. The Division had an towed anti tank battalion with 37mm and 50mm AT guns
and an artillery regiment (horse drawn) with -
3 x 105mm and 155mm batteries (the later being captured French guns) |
| Dogged | 04 Feb 2016 6:44 a.m. PST |
Didn't they wear their blue Falange shirts under the tunic? At least the falangist ones, I mean. Falange was the fascist party in Spain (in case anybody doesn't know, weird as it may sound in a SCW board). Also facial hair and a share of a neglected look? |
| Gaz0045 | 04 Feb 2016 7:06 a.m. PST |
Several of the Blue Division battle honours are still celebrated by the Spanish Legion…….they had a parade locally 2 weeks ago to celebrate an action from 1943………. |
| Winston Smith | 04 Feb 2016 12:27 p.m. PST |
It was a good way to send the ideologically pure to get shot and killed while Franco tried to rule a nation that just went through a civil war.
He blew off Hitler over going into the war, so here. Have some cannon fodder. |
| artaxerxes | 05 Feb 2016 3:53 a.m. PST |
If you're interested, there is a rather good detective/murder mystery set in the Division in Russia – Gerardo Herrero (dir.) Silencio en la Nieve (2011), which pays a lot of attention to the 'feel' of the Division in Russia, including little details like the Falange members wearing their blue shirts with the collars folded over the German uniform blouse collar. Good film and available in sub-titles. |
bases more of his German artillery tractors.
