Last modified: 2002-11-30 by santiago dotor
Keywords: spain | military | armed forces | blue division | división azul |
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For those interested in military flags, I have recently acquired a book Soldados de España, Bueno, Madrid 1998. Although it is primarily a book on Spanish army uniforms, it has more than 50 Spanish military flags mostly regimental standards or unit guidons, all in color, from 1600 to the present. I think it is still in print and it is no doubt most easily obtainable in Spain.
Norman Martin, 19 June 1999
Most if not all military colours, cavalry and armoured units' guidons etc. are 1:1.
Santiago Dotor, 14 July 1999
The Spanish Air Force fin flash a black thin saltire on white represents the Burgundy Cross, a 500-year-old Spanish (mostly military) flag.
Santiago Dotor, 14 October 1999
Madrid's Naval Museum has a new website with one or two pictures from each room, reachable through a clicable map [broken link, apparently now here]. Not many clear flags though, the larger ones being in:
Santiago Dotor, 7 June 2000
Apart from the main Spanish Army and Navy Museums, both in Madrid, there are several other military museums in Spain, one of which is the Historical Military Museum at Valencia. It has a website hosted within the Spanish Army website with a very nice virtual exhibit (Spanish text only), including a page about the Flags and Uniforms room pitifully with no flag images and the usual museum habit of displaying flags so that the minimum possible area is visible...
Santiago Dotor, 19 October 2000
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
Roberto Pla, webmaster of the unofficial (but very good) Ejército del Aire website (Spanish Air Force) sent me some air force flags, basically unit colours which he photographed at the Spanish Air Museum. He mentioned that unadecuate light in the Museum produced greenish shades which he tried to correct. Summarized translation:
The three flags were made in the 1940's (early after the Spanish Civil War), since they display the former Air Force emblem (which was no longer used after the early 1950's) and the units named on the flags no longer exist.Those showing the national colours (red-yellow-red) are estandartes [i.e. cavalry guidons, smaller than Army banderas or colours]. Since the Air Force was considered to consist of mounted units, it had guidons instead of colours. I seem to recall it was in 1980 when the first colour was granted to an Air Force unit, the MACOM or Mando Aéreo de Combate (Air Combat Command).
Santiago Dotor, 2 February 2001
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