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Blue Division 1941-1943 (Spain)

División Azul

Divisional Colours
263rd Infantry Regiment Flag Hoax

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Divisional Colours

Juan Morales asked, "The Blue Legion is widely regarded as one of the finest outfits that fought in the Soviet front. What flag did it have?". I guess he refers to the Blue Division, the name commonly given to the German Army's 250. Infanterie Regiment made up of Spanish volunteers which fought on the Eastern Front. I seem to recall that their Colours were those of any other Spanish regiment (a 1:1 Spanish flag with centered coat-of-arms) but with some reference to the German name in the inscriptions on the flag.

Santiago Dotor, 12 November 1999

Actually, Blue Legion is not exactly the same as Blue Division. As Santiago Dotor points out, the Blue Division (División Azul) was the German Army's 250th Infantry Division, made up of Spanish volunteers. This unit was dissolved in 1943, when the Spanish government, under Allied pressure, called the volunteers back. Some of them decided to stay in the German Army, and formed a lesser unit, which was known as Blue Legion (Legión Azul).

Ismael Barba, 19 September 2000

263rd Infantry Regiment Flag Hoax

Bill Garrison reported the following offer in eBay:

Flag from 263 infantry reg of blue Division (Spain)
Flag made of two-color cotton; red and yellow, 126 cm. long and 116 cm. wide, with frayed edge. Embroidered on the obverse with natural silk is the shield of Spain with the eagle of San Juan, and a circular inscription: "SPANISH DIVISION OF VOLUNTEERS- 263 INFANTRY REGIMENT".
On the back and embroidered in the right top corner there is an inscription: "From your godmothers of Valencia del Cid". Flagpole made of bamboo of Philippines with iron point.
This flag was embroidered when the Division already was in Germany, therefore the number of regiment that appears is the number designated at Grafenwöhr, and donated, as you can see in the inscriptions by the Godmother of Valencia, possibly from the women's section.
This flag is priced at over $8,000.

That is an enormous price — for an enormous hoax. The flag bears the 1945 model coat-of-arms, quite strange for a 1941 flag. The seller is a well-known swindler in Spanish militaria circles. Actually the flag is the same one illustrated in Ibáñez Cagna 2000: the author realised he had published the picture of a false flag too late.

The Spanish Blue Division fought on the Russian front from 1941 to 1943, when it was disbanded by the Spanish government. Groups of Spanish volunteers who wished to keep on fighting formed a Blue Legion, and later on an even smaller unit formed the Ezquerra Brigade within the Waffen-SS. None of them could have ever carried a coat of arms following the model of the 12th October 1945 Decree, since the war ended (in Europe) 8th May 1945.

Santiago Dotor, 18-19 February 2002