Description
Spanish División Azul or 250 Infanterie-Division M40 helmet from Leningrad.
Most of the first formation of the division was the Phalangists, the hallmark of which was a blue shirt, so the division and was named Blue. The division was part of the German army, therefore equipment and they had the same. Except for a few details. The soldiers of the Spanish Blue Division wore standard helmets of the German Army, most of them represented by two models: the M40 and M42. On the helmet could be the only emblem is the emblem of the armed forces of Nazi Germany. This is clearly seen in military photos, as well as from the memoirs of participants of fights. Some Boyi Blue Division wore helmets with the emblem of the national flag – red-yellow tricolor. This emblem (decal) applied to the right side of the helmet, just against the emblem of the German armed forces – eagle. Very often the national emblem was applied by paint freehand or through a stencil. Interesting, but not on all of the helmets was painted the Spanish flag, but only on a very small number. As show military photos, applying decals with the flag of Spain was done in the period between July 1941 and the moments of the ceremony of the oath to Hitler in Berlin. Use of home-made (drawn) version of the national tricolor can be attributed to the period from 1942 on 1943, when the factory decals were no longer available. The exact number of decals with the Spanish tricolor not known.
