Portuguese in the Waffen-SS & Wehrmacht

Charm000 · Post by **Charm000** » 25 Oct 2004 21:08

Leaving aside the bias or otherwise of the web page (which seemed to me to be several articles strung haphazardly together by the page's owner rather than a single report) do we know if any Portuguese in the Spanish expeditionary forces stayed on when the units were recalled by Franco ie. ended up joining the Waffen-SS?

And did any Portuguese independently join the SS?

For the record, it seems obvious that the article(s) Kurt translated for us was right wing and very sympathetic towards the Blue Division, Portuguese volunteers, Hitler et al. Whether that makes them worthless or not is a judgment readers have to make for themselves.

Back on the topic!

Salazar · Post by **Salazar** » 25 Oct 2004 22:35

Lets see, the Portuguese Legion ( a fascist oranization) was definitely germanophile ( I can give you bibliography, but only in Portuguese, sorry)

The only portuguese soldiers who fought with the Blue Legion were 15 men from the disbanded legião Viriato, a force formed to help the Nacionalists and who fought with the fascists of Franco. Salazar was doing everything to keep in good terms with the British ( promissing landing strips in the Neutral Açores-Azores for you guys

)) and with the germans at the same time ( so they dont tell Franco to invade Portugal, whose forces would be unable to stop a large battle hardened army boosted by german troops).

By the way...Salazar is just a nickname and a joke, im not a salazarist...

Charm000 · Post by **Charm000** » 25 Oct 2004 23:26

I'm a little off topic here but I was under the impression that the legião Viriato never actually existed as a coherent unit in the Spanish Civil War. It was offered to the Nationalists but Franco - for whatever reason - didn't want it. Instead he agreed to accept individual or groups of Portuguese into the Foreign Legion. The name Viriatos was used to describe Portuguese volunteers but the Viriatos Legion was stillborn.

Happy to be corrected, though!

Did any of those 15 men from the Blue Legion stay on after it was recalled?

Salazar · Post by **Salazar** » 25 Oct 2004 23:56

Sorry about my bad english. I said it had been disbanded. Salazar did not wanted too look that he was more on one side than the other.

I dont know what happened to the survivores. I had a old Book about the Leigion Azul that in one chapter spoke of two survivors prisioners in Russia with remainders of the spaniards. I will look into it.

João M · Post by **João M** » 28 Jul 2006 16:29

Greetings, this is my first post.

I would like to ask to anyone who could help if is it possible to pass me some info about portuguese volunteers in the Waffen SS. I once read in a old french mag an article by Jean Mabire (RIP) mentioning the presence of portuguese volunteers among the ranks of the Spanish Division 250, known as Blau Division, and that they, after he retreat order of Franco, decided to stay in and to join the Waffen SS. The numbers were about 300 spanish and 60 portuguese. When I was younger I read a newspapper interview with a portuguese volunteer but I do not remember if he was a Waffen SS or a Wehrmacht soldier.

Well, if some one could help I would appreciate it very much and thanks in advance.

Rand · Post by **Rand** » 28 Jul 2006 17:32

Welcome to the forum, and check out these links.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... volunteers
http://www.geocities.com/divazul/portug ... nazul.html

João M · Post by **João M** » 28 Jul 2006 17:50

Thank you for the interesting links, it seems that others wanted to know the same as I. Henri landemer "Waffen SS" book also mention a portuguese green legion included in the spanish batallion who remain in the war after Blau Division retreat. It seems they have been integrated in the Charlmagne Division and there are reports saying french and spanish fighters were the last line of defense of Hitler's bunker. Perhaps some portuguese was there too...

Anyway, thanks again for the info and if anything come up please post it.

Allen Milcic · Post by **Allen Milcic** » 29 Jul 2006 17:21

João M wrote:It seems they have been integrated in the Charlmagne Division and there are reports saying french and spanish fighters were the last line of defense of Hitler's bunker. Perhaps some portuguese was there too....

Hi Joao M:

Hitler's bunker was not assaulted during the Berlin battle. There were some Frenchmen and Spaniards that participated in the final defence of the city, but they were certainly far from being the only ones. I have never seen evidence of any Portuguese participating in the fighting.

Best regards,
Allen/

Fields · Post by **Fields** » 22 Oct 2006 03:42

Hi everyone

I Just started on this forum and I have a question:

in 1942/3 the German High Comand, due to the heavy losses in soldiers, ask for volunteers from all over the world to fight in the Eastern Front in the "crusade" against bolshevism.
Portugal sent about 500 volunteers to fight in Russia in what was called the Green Legion.
Do not confuse with the Spanish Blue Legion.
I just saw two references about this Green Legion. One in the History of the Waffen SS, a book from Jackes DeLarue, and when a ex-president of Portugal died, and they mention it.
Both with just a couple of lines of text. In the hundreds of books and documents I get my hands on, I never saw any reference to this Green Legion. What I know for sure is that they were not part of the Spanish Blue Legion.

The portuguese military archive dont reply to me and I'm very interested on the subject.

Anyone can help me?
I give you the thanks in advance

Fields

Fields · Post by **Fields** » 22 Oct 2006 03:45

panzertruppe2001 wrote:Could anybody say me if there was portuguese that served in the Wehrmacht or Waffen SS (more probably here). I suppose that there may be Portuguese in this organizations because Portugal had a fascist government in this years, but i do not find anything about this matter.

Thanks

There was a Green Legion formed with only Portuguese Volunteers, but they are very unknown. I'm trying to find more about them (they were about 500 men and have nothing to do with the Spanish Blue Legion).

Regards

Fields

LiH · Post by **LiH** » 29 Dec 2008 08:25

My friend told to me that he had read an article on the internet which said there are about 500 Portugal volenteers took part in the German army and fought in the eastern front.Is it a true story?Thanks!

Borys · Post by **Borys** » 29 Dec 2008 14:39

Ahoj!
In the post by "Martelo79" - the interviewed Portuguese veteran of Division Azul gave the number of Potruguese in the division at 15.

In this thread:
http://www.hispanismo.org/showthread.php?t=117
we have the same interview as above (but in Spansh), plus the mention of another Portuguese Freedom Fighter.

Maybe "quinze" (fifteen) got "twisted into "quinhentos" (five hundered) at some point?

Borys

ben haynes · Post by **ben haynes** » 29 Dec 2008 15:34

i'm very interested in Portuguese volunteers but all i have found out is something about a green legion inside the spanish blue division on the russian front, 500 odd men were in the legion. does anyone know anything else about green legion? best regards Ben

Borys · Post by **Borys** » 29 Dec 2008 20:25

A google search for "Legião verde" (green legion) did not produce anything related to WWII.

Borys

ben haynes · Post by **ben haynes** » 31 Dec 2008 15:52

yeah i have never been able to find anything about it, are there any known pictures of volunteers from portugal? also did they have any national insignia? regards Ben

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