Franco withdraws his „Blue Division“ from the eastern front

© OnWar Enthusiastic reception to the volunteers of the Blue Division at the Eastern front (1941)

© Emering Badget of the Blue Division

After the September 1939 outbreak of war in Europe, Spain had declared its neutrality – although Hitler and Mussolini had decisively aided that country’s fascist dictator, General Francisco Franco, in his victory in the Spanish Civil War. When Hitler unleashed his „war of world-views“ against the Soviet Union in 1941, Spain sent only the „Blue Division“ with volunteers to support the Wehrmacht on the eastern front. As the war progressed, the Allies increased their pressure on Franco to turn his back on Berlin. On 3 May 1944 the dictator – with the German Reich’s looming military defeat in sight – finally announces the withdrawal of his troops from the eastern front and sets limits on his country’s economic relations with the Reich.