This book, translated from the original Spanish, is the primary academic and historical study of the Blue Division--a Falangist initiative involving the dispatch of some 40,000 Spanish combatants (more than a half of whom paid with their lives, health, or liberty) to the Russian Front during the Second World War. Xavier Moreno Julia does not limit himself to relating their deeds under arms, but also analyzes the political background in detail. This book, based on massive documentation in German, British, and Spanish archives, is an essential source of information to understand Spain in the...

This book, translated from the original Spanish, is the primary academic and historical study of the Blue Division--a Falangist initiative involving the dispatch of some 40,000 Spanish combatants (more than a half of whom paid with their lives, health, or liberty) to the Russian Front during the Second World War. Xavier Moreno Julia does not limit himself to relating their deeds under arms, but also analyzes the political background in detail: the complex relations between the Spanish government and Hitler's Germany; the internal conflicts between the Falangists and the Army; the rise and...