Overview

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 forty-thousand 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 analyses for the first time 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 fall of Franco's brother-in-law, Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer, who inspired the Blue Division and became the second most powerful person in Spain; and the attitude of General Agustín Muñoz Grandes, commander of the Blue Division, who was encouraged by Berlin to seriously consider the possibility of taking over the reins of Spanish power. In the end, there were 45,500 reasons that led to joining the Blue Division one for each young man who decided to enlist. To understand all of the complex reasons behind their military service under German command is impossible at this juncture. It is an irrecoverable past that lies in Spanish cemeteries and on the Russian steppes. This book, based on massive documentation in German, British and Spanish archives, is an essential source of information to understand Spain in the 1940s an epoch when the Caudillo's power and the regime's good fortune were less secure than is often believed. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, LSE.

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Dr. Moreno has written what undoubtedly will remain the definitive treatment of a difficult and multi-layered subject for the foreseeable future. Both as a unit history and as an analysis of a small, but critically important, segment of Francoist Spain's wartime foreign policy it has no peer. A translation would appear to be a highly desirable undertaking - Dr. Klaus Schmider (Royal Military Academy Sandhurst), in The Journal of Military History, Lexington (Virginia, USA), 70.3, July 2006, page 865. The great merit of this work by Moreno Julia is that it is first to be free from much of the rhetoric of the trenches, and to address the phenomenon of the Blue Division in a spirit of objectivity and completeness. The first-hand research in national and foreign archives is a first, and a delightful novelty. - Dr. Eduardo Gonzalez Calleja (CSIC, Centro Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas), in Melanges de la Casa de Velazquez, 36.1, 2006, page 329. We must welcome the publication of this book with enthusiasm. It is the work of a Spanish author and a fine testament to the best historical writing, about the recent past, from our country. The book by Moreno Julia is of the best in that it respects information from a number of archive sources. It tackles a question of primary importance. It goes beyond the precise object of his study, making a more global approach. It results, in the end, to be an investigation with definitive conclusions. - Dr. Javier Tusell Gomez (Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia), in Babelia ; El Pais newspaper, Madrid, 11.12.2004, page 24. Such an exhaustive history - subtle, profound, and free from bitterness -emerges only occasionally in some books. Xavier Moreno Julias study of the Blue Division is, without doubt, one of those books. - Dr. Ricardo Garcia Carcel (Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona) in ABC Cultural ; ABC newspaper, Madrid, 08.01.2005, page 19. In line with the great works by English speaking historians on a similar theme, here is a total history of the events, without leaving anything out, no matter how insignificant. - Rafael Nunez Florencio, critic and historian, in El Cultural ; El Mundo newspaper, Madrid, 09.12.2004, page 13 Far from the hundreds of hagiographies and memoirs on the Spaniards who fought for Hitler against the USSR, The Blue Division by Xavier Moreno is the result of an investigation of Spanish, British and German archives and from the oral testimonies of, among others, the minister and brother-in-law of Franco, Ramon Serrano Suner. - Dr. Andreu Mayayo Artal (Barcelona University), in El Periodico newspaper, Barcelona, 25.11.2004, page 11 Xavier Moreno is a solid investigator and a good writer who has based his book on unpublished Spanish and German documents The book is entertaining, and its quality sources and solid investigation combine to make it a fascinating and definitive work. - Dr. Gabriel Cardona Escanero (Barcelona University), in Clio history review, 4.39; Barcelona, January 2005, page 93. Xavier Moreno Julia has gone into the history of the Blue Division as never before: with rigorous and detailed investigation, avoiding ideological obsessions... Like a jigsaw puzzle, where one piece leads to another and yet another, Moreno Julia has brought together eleven years of study. - La Razon newspaper, Madrid, 30.11.2004, page 29. Few history books have such extensive investigation behind them or such an impartial point of view. - ABC newspaper, Madrid, 21.11.2004, page 76. An up to date, profound and detailed reconsideration of one of the saddest episodes of the Second World War - forgotten and characteristic of Francos Spain. - Revista , in La Vanguardia newspaper, Barcelona, 31.10.2004, page 10. The Blue Division returns from the past in a study of its history by Xavier Moreno In over 500 pages, Moreno analyses the political context in which the Division developed, and the later clash of interests between Falangism and the Spanish Army. The international reactions that the initiative generated occupies a good part of the book, as does a detailed description of the military operations in which the Spanish combatants were engaged. - El Pais newspaper, Madrid, 31.11.2004, page 46. Moreno Julia knows it like nobody else and, in a study praised by his fellow historians, explains it with rigor and without prejudices in The Blue Division. Subtitled Spanish Blood in Russia, 1941-1945. Reading it is a lesson in history. - La Vanguardia newspaper, Barcelona, 12.05.2005, back page. Doctor of contemporary history,Xavier Moreno has proved with his book on the Blue Division that the study of detail illuminates much more. In this case he reveals the politics of this early step in Francoism as a strong light on an ant reveals an ant hill . - El Sabado , in El Faro de Vigo newspaper, Pontevedra, 05.03.2005, page 1. Letras. The Best of the Year - Non Fiction. The Blue Division. Xavier Moreno thoroughly re-examines the history from Serrano Suners first call to arms until the devastating return. It is an overwhelming portrait of a wretched adventure. - El Cultural , in El Mundo newspaper, Madrid, 30.12.2004, page 15. Spanish history writing congratulates the appearance of this study with its unmistakeable title which reveals in depth what happened to the 40,000 Spaniards sent to fight with the Germans on the Russian front The book has been written by the doctor in contemporary history, Xavier Moreno Julia, who has searched through and poked his nose into Spanish and German archives, and has obtained live testimony from old combatants. - Mercurio, cultural review, 67; Sevilla, January 2005, page 36. Xavier Morenos Blue Division can be considered the most rigorous and comprehensive book on the Blue Division to date . - Quadern , in El Pais newspaper, 21.02.2013, page 3. The historian Xavier Moreno Julia is the author of The Blue Division, Spanish Blood in Russia, considered the most rigorous and comprehensive study published so far on this question. - Mes Periodico , weekly review in El Periodico newspaper, Barcelona, 14.07.2013, page 7.

Author Information

Xavier Moreno Julia is professor of Contemporary History in Rovira i Virgili University (Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain). This book is the first volume of his trilogy about Spain and the Second World War.

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