informatve

The Spanish Volunteers

As World War II begins Spain’s civil war starts to end, which ties Spain to the war to come. Spain in the beginning didn’t want to be involve in the war, Francisco Franco decided to be neutral. Then again were they really neutral? Francisco Franco made the decision to send out Spanish volunteers to aid Hitler in the fight against Spain’s number one enemy, Russia, he also thought it was a good way to repay him back for the help he gave during Spain’s civil war. He sends a group of volunteers called the Blue Division, which was a regiment who fought under the command of Hitler against the Soviet forces Franco only allowed volunteers to join under strict guidelines they would only fight against Soviet on the Eastern Front and not against the Allies. Doing this he could keep Spain at peace with the Allies while repaying Hitler back with the help he gave during a major turning event in Spain. “Hitler approved Spanish volunteers on June 24, 1941. Recruits had to be between 20 and 28 years old if they wanted to join. Care was taken to sign up volunteers from various educational backgrounds, military service, and occupations.”(Kleinfeld) Volunteers flocked to the recruiting offices in Spain. “In Spain, there was no shortage of volunteers and though only 4,000 men were initially required, the overwhelming response prompted the authorities to set the goal of a full division, which in the Spanish Army equaled 19,000 men” (Bianchi) About half the volunteers were professional soldiers, most of them were veterans of the Spanish Civil War. While others were members of the Spanish Fascist party, or had ties to with the Republic or to help their family in Franco’s prisons.
“General Agustín Muñoz Grandes was the leader ...

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...owards the Axis without actually entering the war. Spain’s participation came at a high cost.

Works Cited

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Bianchi, Sebastian. "The "Blue Division"" The "Blue Division" Wehrmacht-awards, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2014. .v c9,
Kleinfeld, Gerald R., and Tambs, Lewis A. Hitler’s Spanish Legion. Carbondale,
Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979. Krammer, Arnold. “Spanish Volunteers Against Bolshevism: The Blue Division.”
Russian Review 32. No. 4 (October 1973): 388-402.
Payne, Stanley G. Falange. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1961.
Scurr, John,Hook, Richard. Germany's Spanish Volunteers 1941-45. 103 Vol. London: Osprey Pub, 1980. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.