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| Europe |
| City of Madrid sued to commemorate WWII Spanish Blue Division |
| 2017-05-23 |
| It should be noted that of the three Axis powers in WWII, only Japan has been completely open about its participation in WWII. Neither Germany nor Italy have been as forthcoming about their participation. [Regnum.ru] The city of Madrid is facing a court petition to rename a street in honor of the Spanish Blue Division, which participated on the German side in WWII, according to a Russian language news accounts. A year ago. the municipal government of Madrid embarked on a campaign to rename streets and alleys commemorating dictator Franco and his associates, according to the Russian language regnum.ru A group of relatives who lost people in Soviet Russia during WWII will petition the government to name at least one street in honor of the Blue Division. Jose Luis Martin, identified as chairman of the group said that a number of monuments to the Italian Army which fought on the German side in WWII have been erected in the Apennines Mountain, so, "in Spain why should it be otherwise. The Italian Army fought in Soviet Russian from June, 1941 to January, 1943. A total of 90,000 Italian soldiers were killed in Soviet Russia, for which a total of 17 monuments have been erected. The Spanish Blue Division, otherwise designated as the 250th Infantry Divison, was among the largest units of its size anywhere in the war with more than 18,000 soldiers. The Blue Division fought in the Leningrad area until it was withdrawn in 1944. Nearly every account of the Blue Division has been one of fulsome praise. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #8 What's interesting is that Germany has come up with a 'consolidated' EU military force where certain old friends train and equip with the Some ideas just won't go away. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2017-05-23 18:55 |
| #7 Ditto Procopius. ps I'm re-reading your 'Secret Lives' at the moment. :) |
| Posted by: borgboy 2017-05-23 18:25 |
| #6 Missed the Tokyo trials? On November 4, 1948, the trial ended with 25 of 28 Japanese defendants being found guilty. Of the three other defendants, two had died during the lengthy trial, and one was declared insane. On November 12, the war crimes tribunal passed death sentences on seven of the men, including General Hideki Tojo, who served as Japanese premier during the war, and other principals, such as Iwane Matsui, who organized the Rape of Nanking, and Heitaro Kimura, who brutalized Allied prisoners of war. Sixteen others were sentenced to life imprisonment, and two were sentenced to lesser terms in prison. On December 23, 1948, Tojo and the six others were executed in Tokyo. Missed the Manila War Crimes Trial of which Gen. Yamashita was the highest prosecuted . Yamashita was only one of thousands facing trial for their actions during World War II–and before the war for those who had participated in the rape of China. Japanese soldiers had been killing, raping, looting and torturing all across the East since the 1930s. In 1945, at long long last, the bill was coming due. Before the courts-martial and military commissions recessed for the last time, some 5,600 Japanese had been prosecuted in more than 2,200 trials. Of these men–and a few women–more than 4,400 were convicted, and about 1,000 were executed. Testifying to the Allies’ determination to deal fairly with the enemy, there had also been about the same number of acquittals. Not included are those who committed suicide rather than deal with the process. Besides Nanking there was the Sack of Manila. Which doesn't get much notice, because you know, you drop 'the bomb'!! /sarc off |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-05-23 17:51 |
| #5 It should be noted that of the three Axis powers in WWII, only Japan has been completely open about its participation in WWII. I find that a curious remark--I haven't seen much ownership of such acts as the Rape of Nanking, Bataan Death March, Unit 731, forced conscription of "Comfort Women", etc., nor did Japan face trials near as extensive as the Nuremberg Trials. What am I missing? |
| Posted by: Dar 2017-05-23 13:47 |
| #4 It was a way for Franco to get a lot of fanatics out of the country before they could destabilize his efforts, which were largely the restoration of the 'ancient regime' not the creed of national socialism. You know my opinion of Franco... We ought to keep these Red Spaniards on the back burner... They're lost to democracy, and to that reactionary crew round Franco too... I believe you to the letter, Speer, that they were impressive people. I must say, in general, that during the civil war the idealism was not on Franco's side; it was to be found among the Reds ... one of these days we'll be able to make use of them... The whole thing will start all over again. But with us on the opposite side. As quoted in Albert Speer's diary entry for 26 December 1950 recalling a conversation with Hitler in January 1943, published in Spandau: The Secret Diary (2000), p. 167 |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-05-23 09:12 |
| #3 Azul is Spanish for blue. They wore the blue shirts of the Falangists, hence the name. They marched for a month straight to get to the front, where they discovered Soviet artillery. Huge numbers of them were killed the first day. The rest got to face an attack by Soviet infantry and tanks the next day. |
| Posted by: Harcourt Angoluting9366 2017-05-23 08:57 |
| #2 Eyeshadow? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-05-23 08:09 |
| #1 "Blue" is a Russian slang word for gay - I sometimes wondered how it originated. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-05-23 04:55 |