Tor a Better Spain and a Fairer Europe'
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L o NUI MAYNOOTH O llic a ii .¡ria n£irc*r*r> MS &uati Tor a better Spain and a fairer Europe’: a re-exam ination of the Spanish B lue D ivision in its social, cultural, and political context, 1941-2005. 1 volume by Vaux J. Hall Thesis for the Degree of M. Litt Department of Modem History National University of Ireland Maynooth Head of Department: Vincent Comerford Supervisor of Research: Filipe de Meneses October 2005 Table of Contents: Summary p. 111 1. Introduction pp. 1-11. 2. Formation of the DEV pp. 12-52. a. Origins of the Division Azul b. Recruitment c. Organisation d. Blue Division in Germany e. Equipment f. Training g. Payroll h. Memories of Germany i. Repatriation and Reinforcements j. Conclusion 3. The DEV at the Front pp. 53-107. a. Introduction b. Army Group North Overview c. Overview of the Blue Division and the Eastern Front d. The Blue Division Move to the Front e. H im Labour in the DEV f. Concerns of the Infantryman g. The Blue Division and Nazi Ideology h. Receiving News at the Front i. Postal Censorship j. Spanish Military Hospitals k. Transport and Supplies 1. The Guardia Civil m. Conclusion 4. The Hoja de Campaña pp. 108-27. a. Introduction b. Origins of the Hoja de Campaña c. Informing d. Educating e. Indoctrinating f. Conclusion 5. Propaganda and the Spanish POWs pp. 128-62. a. Introduction b. Enemy Propaganda c. Krasny Bor d. Axis Prisoners of War e. Spain and the Soviet Union f. The S.S. Semiramis and Other Ways Home g. The ‘Red Fear’ and the POWs as a Propaganda Tool h. The Cautivos in Spain i. Conclusion 6. Returning to Spain pp. 163-209. a. Introduction b. Pensions c. Uncertain Homecoming d. Back to the Front- the Ghost Battalion e. Internal and Foreign Pressures during the War f. Falange Veterans Back in Spain g. The Spanish Army and the Blue Division h. International Politics and the Return to Post-War Spain i. Hermandades j. Conclusion 7. Conclusion pp. 210-19. a. The Blue Division in Modern Spain b. The Blue Division, World War II and Spanish History 8. Bibliography pp. 220-33. a. Archives and Libraries p. 220. b. Periodicals and Printed Government Documents p. 220. c. Interviews pp. 220-1. d. Primary Sources pp. 222-4. e. Secondary Sources pp. 224-33. Summary With the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany on 21 June 1941, an immense ideological war began that ultimately affected the lives of millions of Europeans and shaped the global political landscape following the conclusion of the Russo-German War in May 1945. But in this brutal war of extermination, Germany did not fight alone. Various countries within the sphere of German political influence helped sustain and assist in the war effort by sending forces to fight in the East. Spain, whose political allegiances varied throughout the Second World War, also contributed an entire ‘volunteer’ division to fight on the Eastern Front. These Spaniards fought in the División Española de Voluntarios (D.E.V.) or as they are more popularly known, the Division Azul, or Blue Division because of their Falange shirts. The DEV essentially was ‘volunteer’ in name only as it would not have been able to maintain itself on the Eastern Front without the indirect help of the Franco government or, more specifically, the Spanish Army Ministry. Although the German Army was theoretically responsible for the Blue Division, the division was continually, albeit indirectly, financed by the Franco regime as a political too in order to remaining Hitler’s grace following the latter’s support of the Nationalist cause in the Spanish Civil War. As this thesis discusses, the Spanish Army created an elaborate system to transport troops and supplies to and from the Russian Front. This system was essential in allowing Spaniards to remain in Russia as a physical symbol of Franco foreign politics, as long as the regime deemed it necessary to do so. While discussing the origins of the Division Azul, including its recruitment and training, the experiences and pit-falls of serving on the Eastern Front, this thesis attempts to transcend the battlefield and discuss the relationship of the volunteers to their native Spain upon the division’s repatriation in the autumn of 1943 up to the present day by re examining the Blue Division in its social, cultural, and political context. 1 Introduction With the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany with over 3 million men on 21 June 1941, a colossal ideological war began. The Soviet Union and its political system, which Hitler deemed ‘the most decisive concern of all German foreign affairs’, was to be destroyed to allow for German expansion in the East.1 But in this invasion, Germany did not fight alone. Germany was aided through direct pact or alliance by Italy, Finland, Hungary, Romania, and other, newer, states, such as Croatia and Slovakia. But help came from other sources, including occupied Western Europe, where numerous volunteers joined the newly formed Waffen-SS legions or divisions that helped enforce the concept of Hitler’s New Order protecting Western culture from communism and Stalin’s Soviet Union. The volunteers also included individuals from the newly ‘liberated’ Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and also from neutral states such as Sweden and Switzerland.* 3 Spain, another neutral country, also contributed an entire ‘volunteer’ division to fight on the Eastern Front. The Spaniards fought in the Division Española de Voluntarios (D.E.V.) or as they are commonly known from their uniform accruements of the Falange blue shirt, the Division Azul, or Blue Division.4 What motivated these Spaniards to join Hitler’s war machine, and what were their experiences when it came to issues such as training, the sights and sounds of Russia, and contact with and knowledge of, their Soviet enemy? And furthermore, as Spain was both neutral and ‘non-belligerent’ during various parts the war, how were these volunteers in the service of Germany later treated within post-war Spain, especially as the Spanish government attempted to return to an international community now moderated by the United Nations? Lastly, how did the veterans themselves respond to these reactions in their native home in the years after the war? 1 A. Hitler, Mein KampfQAew York, 1971), p.641. Hitler believed that, ‘Only an adequately large space on this earth assures a nation of freedom of existence.’ Mein Kampf p.643. 2 For a general overview of the various foreign national volunteer groups in the service of Germany in the Second World War, see C. Ailsby, Hitler’s renegades: Foreign nationals in the service of the Third Reich (Dulles, VA, 2004). 3 For a good overview of pan-European collaboration with Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1943, see M. Burleigh, The Third Reich: A new history (London, 2000), pp.408-31. 4 For a longer explanation of the unit’s name, among others, see J.M. Bueno Carrera, La Division y la Escuadrilla Azul: Su organización y sus uniformes (Madrid, 2003), pp.7-8, or E. de la Vega Viguera, Rusia no es capable: Historia de la División Azul (Madrid, 1999), pp.24-25. The division referred to itself as the Spanish Blue Division (División Azul Española) in its weekly newspaper Hoja de Campaña. 1 In trying to answer these questions, this thesis will attempt to look at the volunteers of Blue Division as a case study of foreign nationals’ experience in serving in the Wehrmacht (not, as most foreign nationals did, in the Waffen-SS) and fighting on the Eastern Front. It will endeavour to go further than the existing studies of the Blue Division by re-examining the divisional archive and published personal memoirs and attempting to transcend the battlefield experience, by considering the veterans’ return to civilian life in Spain. The politics surrounding Spain in the Second World War and the military merits of the Blue Division have been relatively well described and studied, but they still are important elements in the discussion of the history of the Blue Division. By keeping these factors in mind while re-examining the divisional historiography, therefore, it is hoped that this thesis will set, more carefully than before, the División Azul in a social, cultural and political context both as the unit trained, fought and, ultimately, retired from the Eastern Front.5 The thesis will also focus also on how the veterans coped with a post-war Europe very different from the one that had existed before and during their service in Hitler’s army. As it is also important to look beyond the unit’s actual physical existence and ultimate demise, the thesis will attempt to highlight the Blue Division’s place in a post-war Spain that was (and largely still) is either disinterested or ignorant of what the division was and what it had achieved. Ultimately, the goal is to generate several new insights into the Blue Division that will hopefully complement the existing historiography of the DEV and create the foundations for future, more thorough and complete academic studies. When initially attempting to gamer interest in the Blue Division, as a possible topic of historical study, there was very little interest, with one academic wondering if the Blue Division had not been ‘done to death.’ The simple answer is no. The fact is no historical monograph has been published on this subject since the late 1970’s.6 Given that most Spanish archival information may be held ‘confidential’ for over fifty years, one wonders what items now currently available were not available to Kleinfeld and Tambs when they published their Hitler’s Spanish Legion: the Blue 5 For a more recent overview of the merits and political consequences of the DEV, see D.