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2017-05-23 Europe

City of Madrid sued to commemorate WWII Spanish Blue Division

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Posted by badanov 2017-05-23 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top

#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|| 2017-05-23 04:55|| Front Page Top

#2 Eyeshadow?

Posted by Skidmark 2017-05-23 08:09|| 2017-05-23 08:09|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-05-23 08:57|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-05-23 09:12|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-05-23 13:47|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2017-05-23 17:51|| Front Page Top

#7 Ditto Procopius. ps I'm re-reading your 'Secret Lives' at the moment. :)

Posted by borgboy 2017-05-23 18:25|| 2017-05-23 18:25|| Front Page Top

#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 ~~Wehrmacht~~ Federal German Army. So far they've got the Czech Republic on board (would you believe from the Sudetenland), the Romanians (remember the Brandenburg Regiment) and Northern Dutch (ahem... Group Nord).
Some ideas just won't go away.

Posted by ed in texas 2017-05-23 18:55|| 2017-05-23 18:55|| Front Page Top

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