The 250th Infantry Division, better known as the Blue Division, was a unit of volunteers from Francoist Spain operating from 1941 to 1944 within the German Army on the Eastern Front during World War II. It was officially designated the Spanish Volunteer Division by the Spanish Army.
Blue Division soldiers manning a gun during training in 1941
Division's soldiers at the siege of Leningrad in 1943
Soldiers of the Blue Division in skis in 1942 near the Volkhov
Vault of the Blue Division, in La Almudena cemetery, Madrid
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front was a theatre of World War II fought between the European Axis powers and Allies, including the Soviet Union (USSR) and Poland. It encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Southeast Europe (Balkans), and lasted from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. Of the estimated 70–85 million deaths attributed to World War II, around 30 million occurred on the Eastern Front, including 9 million children. The Eastern Front was decisive in determining the outcome in the European theatre of operations in World War II, eventually serving as the main reason for the defeat of Nazi Germany and the Axis nations. It is noted by historian Geoffrey Roberts that "More than 80 percent of all combat during the Second World War took place on the Eastern Front".
Semyon Timoshenko and Georgy Zhukov in 1940
German soldiers in a Panzer III tank; Kalmyk steppe north of Stalingrad, September 1942
German infantry in Russia, June 1943
Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive