A Puerto Rican in Hitler's Army: The Strange Case of Ramon F. (Part 1)

Note: In 2004 I conducted a number of interviews with veterans of WW2 for The Oral History Project. The most fascinating of these was with "Ramon F," who told me a story so unique that I had to conduct extensive research to verify its accuracy. Please note that Ramon's answers to my questions are about as far from "politically correct" as it is possible to be, and some of his opinions will upset or outrage readers. It is in part because of this, rather than in spite of it, that I am relating his tale here, for there is no understanding the Second World War without knowing what it was that motivated the Axis soldier to fight -- and in Ramon's case, what motivated him to continue his support of the Axis cause long after it had been defeated.

Understanding Ramon's story involves grasping the political situation in Europe in the 1930s and 40s. In 1936, a civil war broke out in Spain between the elected leftist government and its supporters (sometimes referred to as the Popular Front) and a coalition of right-wing interests (sometimes called the Nationalists) looking to establish a Fascist state in Spain. The Fascists won the war, and their leader, General Fransisco Franco, became dictator, largely through military aid from Mussolini and Hitler. Though Spain was a Fascist state from 1939 onward, it never joined the Axis and remained neutral during WW2. However, in 1941, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Franco permitted volunteers from the military and Fascist party to join the German army to fight against communism. For political reasons the Spanish could not fight under the Spanish flag in Russia, so the German army put them in German uniforms and formed them into the 250th Infantry Division, known colloquially as "The Spanish Blue Division" because its members wore blue undershirts to indicate their membership in the "Falange," the Fascist Party of Spain. The 250th Division fought in Russia from 1941 to late 1943, when it was withdrawn to Spain, and during that time some 50,000 Spaniards served in its ranks. Among them was Ramon F. This is his story in his own words.


Q) When and where were you born?
A: I was born in the town of Monsanto in central Portugal in 1922, but was sent to live with some relatives that had settled in Puerto Rico, around 1927.

Q) Where were you raised?
A: Most of what I remember pertaining my childhood and adolescence relates to the tropical island that welcomed me at age 5, Puerto Rico. For a fact I speak, read and write in English and Spanish fluently but my Portuguese is very limited.

Q) What did your father do for a living?
A: My father's name was Gustavo Adolfo, he was a wine maker, my mother's name was Carmen Molina.

Q) Being Portuguese, what was your feeling on the Spanish civil war?
A:Not a thing moved me about the events in far away Europe until 1936, when I received word that my uncle Luis had been shot by the communists in Spain.
Our [Portuguese] leader Antonio Salazar supported the nationalist (pro Franco) against the Popular Front (communists). He allowed the representatives of the Nationalist Army to negotiate the movement of men and supplies from Germany via Portugal. I crossed the border with one such shipment and immediately joined the "Falange"  (I was 14 years old but because of my size and build appeared much older and was able to sneak in like you say in America). I was not involved in the general fighting and served mostly in guard duty at supply depots, that was the beginning of my relation with support services "servicios de intendencia" which would eventually be my branch of service in Russia many years later. When the war ended in 1939 I stayed in Spain working odd jobs and enjoying my first taste of personal independence.

Q) What were your feelings about Fascism & National Socialism (Nazism)?
A:Fascism to me is synonymous with "order". The people in the West do not know nor understand this. I think it is mainly due because of their form of rule, democracy has a way of undermining the fundamental values of nation, race and destiny. People like me who lived under dictatorship understood, stood up for and were willing to die for these principles; not because we were forced to do so... but because we chose to do so of our own free
> will. I see today's generations and shudder with fear at their total lack of ideals, of love of nation and the willingness to sacrifice individually for the benefit of the nation. True and I must give you this, there is very little in the form of leaders and ideals worth following today, yet I think that you owe it to yourself to seek a path that is both fresh and a reflection of your individuality, different... there is much more to life than following the crowd in their vices and the total degeneration of
the individual. Your grandfathers fought against us for what they believed was right and we respected them for that, but they never thought about us in the same way. We were and are still portrayed as vicious murderers and
automatons who had no will of our own and in this they were very wrong. At the other side of the macrocosm that is life you have exactly the same, we were also sons, brothers, husbands and most importantly men who like
your grandfathers fought not so much for political ideals but for love of nation and people.

Q: And your feelings about communism?
A: The Spanish equivalent for a "lowlife" is "tierra" which means "earth". I wouldn't call a communist "tierra, earth", it would be insulting....to the earth. The "earth" gives forth produce, beautiful flowers that feast our senses, food for sustenance and receives us when we pass away. A communist to me is the most unessential element in existence, to be dealt with in the very same way they deal with those unfortunate enough to live under
their yoke of terror. Franco shot most of them and I fully agree with that solution.

Q: How did you hear about the Spanish division being raised for service in Russia?
A: On June 22, 1941 [the day Germany invaded the USSR] the news spread like wildfire. Enough volunteers showed up to form not 1 but 5 or more divisions had Franco desired to do so. On June
24, I and hundreds of thousands marched to Alcalá street demanding that Spain contribute to the Great European Crusade Against Bolshevism.

Q: How did you volunteer?
A: Being  in superb physical condition and being a bona fide member of the "Falange" (which had it's privileges) all I had to do was to falsify my age on my birth certificate and I made one of the first 18,000 volunteers. By
July we were on our way to Germany.

Q: What was your family's reaction?
A: Horror! Having lost my uncle Luis they did not desire for me to join.

Q) What was your training like? (and where)
A: We trained at Graffenwohr in Germany, we were there for 5 weeks. We received exactly the same training as regular German soldiers. We learned to handle every weapon in the German arsenal, from a Walther P38 to an 88 mm antitank gun. Since we were already versed in combat it was thought we did not need to spend anymore time than that. We had a very violent clash of
cultures, you see we Portuguese and Spaniards are for the most part a fun loving people and Germans did not understand this. We would serenade Russian women with our guitars and got along generally well with the civilian population, we didn't wear our uniforms according to regulation, we grew beards, however we were very professional soldiers and the Germans and
the Russians would find out soon enough. One thing I regret is that I could never master the German language no matter how hard I tried.

Q: What was your first impression of the Germans when you met them? What were they like as soldiers & people?
A: First impression I got was, are there any small German soldiers? They were huge men. As a people they were the absolute example of nationalism and national unity. As soldiers they were second to none, I saw them
fighting and it was second nature to them. It would seem they were trained form childhood to fight and survive.

Q: What was first impression of Russia?
A: Abysmal, like going back a century in time, no decent roads, no utilities. They had no creature comforts with them to facilitate life. In my opinion this ability to survive and simplify life was essential in making the Russian soldier of WW2 the most resourceful soldier we had to face. These men could survive the most extreme conditions and hardships imaginable, unlike American and British soldiers who never lacked the essential supplies to wage war and who also had access to all the commodities imaginable, Russians could survive on almost nothing. They would have made the Spartans very happy.

Q: What military duty (duties) did you have in your unit?
A: I served in 250th supply troop. I was in charge of keeping accounts of all stocks and responsible for keeping adequate reserves available. You had
to be ingenious, I would order twice the requirements and would build a reserve which assured we had plenty in case of delivery problems. I would also drive a truck in the supply column when nobody else was available.

Q: Where in Russia did you serve?
A: Army Group North [Note: a grouping of German armies which fought near Leningrad during Ramon's time in Russia). We fought most of our actions near the Volkchov river, Krosny Bor and our first action was at place called Kapella Nova in october 1941. Since you would be marching one way or another (we were not motorized) it is very difficult to give you a chronological record of our actions.

Q: What were the Russian winters like?
A: I can't even put it into words. Picture yourself coming out of the shower naked, running a fever and stepping outside in a blizzard. Any exposed body part would freeze in a minute, ears, nose and our boots had no
insulating material which resulted in a lot of frostbite cases. The only defense was to wear two pairs of socks and keep the feet as dry as possible, provided your boots ran a size bigger than you normally wore. We often found out our feet swelled feet prevented us from putting our boots back on again after we took them of for treatment which consisted of a balm that was applied to the skin. We found out the Russians coated bullets with mercury (the liquid used in thermometers) since this substance is impervious to temperature changes and remains liquid and thus prevented the weapons action from
becoming jammed, this would also cause a horrible burning sensation when you were hit. Also they would dip their weapons in boiling water to remove the
standard lubricants that would freeze solid and jam all weapons operating mechanisms, in other words they used no lubricants whatsoever. We soon found
out the cold would make metal brittle and the surface would adhere to exposed skin. Artillery barrels would become distorted by the cold and you had to readjust your firing range by 3 to 5 degrees over the estimated
coordinates, otherwise your shells would fall on your own troops.

Q: How did your German comrades feel about the foreigners serving with them?
A: Uneasy at first. I personally don't blame them for I happen to have the same line of thinking about foreigners, however when they saw our
fighting qualities and our fervent hatred of anything communist they understood where we came from. I have talked with modern day American soldiers and
judging their actions, behavior in combat and training methods I would never want them fighting in a war next to me, and I don't mean to sound offensive
but some of these kids go into battle under the influence of drugs any alcohol. Also they rely too much on computers for everything, from range finding,
battlefield orientation and I seriously suspect they have ever trained to function if ever the computer system fails. I doubt they trained like us, we were capable of performing the duties of the next in rank proficiently
in case he was killed or wounded, I think today's modern armies have lost the capacity to instill individuality and initiative into the individual soldier.

Q: You were very young went you volunteered; how did you respond to the pressures and horrors of being at war?
A: One word sums this up"CAMARADERIE". A man knew he could depend blindly on his comrades. After the war this same camaraderie helped axis soldiers
survive the brutal treatment of the Allies (Russians, American and the French swine) for all of them committed hideous atrocities against our soldiers and civilians.

Q: What did you make of your Soviet opponents?
A: The toughest foe we ever faced. I never faced Americans or British soldiers but I doubt they could hold a candle to the Soviets. They were resilient, experts at camouflage, hand to hand combat and their weapons
were very reliable and designed for to endure the brutal conditions of their land.

Q: " Soviet civilians?
A: Like I said before we got along well with them. We would even share our provisions with them. I saw German and Spanish doctors caring for these people and giving them their first medical checkup ever. What hit us the
hardest was when their village leaders would come to us and ask if it was all right to re-open their churches and resume worshiping their faith. A little later they would bring out their icons from hiding and set up little
altars, sometimes they would join us or the German soldiers in our masses. One thing I want to clear up now and forever, German soldiers were not atheists as attested by most pseudo historians. They had chaplains, held daily mass and that included the Waffen SS. All that crap about us being some sort of non-believers in Christ is a lot of crap! The Russian people were for the most a very simple people. Those of us who saw the "workers paradise" up close learned to hate the communist
government not the people facing us in combat, unfortunately it was them or us but to say we actually hated the Russian people was just not true. The one
exception were partisans, these we would kill without regret.

Q: How did your religious faith serve you in the war?
A: Although political and ideological ideals serve as some sort of goal to chase after and give you a sense of belonging in the general sense, a deeply rooted spiritual link to a higher plane is necessary in war most of all. If you don't believe in some higher supreme being when you go to war... you will by the end of your first encounter; a mortar explosion in the midst of a group, all but one are unharmed... why him and not me or anyone else? It
> > doesn't make sense. We Latin people are staunch Catholics and had our chaplains that held mass daily, with Russian civilians attending.

Q: Much is made of atrocities committed by German troops in Russia; did you ever witness anything of this nature?

A: The only "atrocities " I witnessed were the ones committed by the Russians against our men, for which we extracted a very heavy price. Most you hear is about German atrocities here and there but believe me, the
Bolshevist swine were not human.

Q: Did you receive any awards, ribbons, commendations, of any kind from either the Spanish government or the German government?
A: An Eastern Front award was granted to all who served [Note: the "Eastern Front Service Medal," known cynically in the German Army as the "Frozen Meat Medal," was awarded to all Axis troops who served in the first winter of the Russian campaign, i.e. 1941 - 1942.] Being in a supply detachment I had very few occasions to play the role of hero. Although some division members won not only Spanish awards but also German decorations.

Q: What were the circumstances in which you were wounded?
A: We were delivering supplies to a company of the 262 infantry regiment near Krosny Bor in september 1943. We left our trucks on the road and carried the supplies down and up an impassable ravine. It got dark as we
were leaving and a Russian attack caught us halfway out, we were urged out by the commander, our 35 men clashed with a Russian patrol in the dark and a firefight started. We continued ahead in the darkness using our
compasses for orientation and came to a point some 350 yards from the ravine. We had to cross an open open field to the right of our position, which I vehemently opposed as being too risky. I went out with 3 men and found a small embankment that ran parallel to the field for 200 yards and then broke due east the last 150 yards back into the village. We followed this route of escape and made our way back into the town for some 50 yards due east until we came a street leading back to the
western part and the ravine. We made our way to a 2 story building that must have been some sort of warehouse; upon entering we found the ground floor had no exit to the ravine, cautiously we climbed the stairs and found the whole backside had been torn by an explosion. Peering into the darkness we could make out the outline of our trucks on the road, one by one we jumped
into the darkness and regrouped at the bottom of the ravine. As luck would have it as my turn came and I jumped I landed on a debris covered crater at
the base of the house and plunged some 12 feet down the crater. My comrades rushed after me and pulled me out, I found it hard to get out of the ravine and felt a numbness in my legs but paid no heed. back at camp I
collapsed and was rushed to the dressing station and from there to a German field hospital where I was examined and diagnosed with a broken back and
dislocated hip. The doctor's could find no explanation as to how I was able to make it back from the place I felled in back to the road up the steep ravine. I was commended for a wound award of some sort but firmly refused because I sincerely felt the way I was injured ( accidentally) was not worthy of any recognition, specially when my comrades were dying in combat.

Q: How were you received when you returned home?
A: Mixed emotions, but mostly it was a very warm affair. I personally have never cared for "official" recognition of any kind. We could feel the love and gratefulness of our people and that was enough to most of us. We
were dying to see our loved ones though.

Q: As the war turned against Germany, what were your emotional reactions?
A: Anger; that the western powers failed to see the writing on the wall and support our fight against the common enemy. One look at Europe's map immediately after WW2 makes you wonder what the western powers were fighting for and for what interests, certainly it was not for freedom, nor democracy. Jews ruled in Russia, Jews ruled (and still do) in the Western nations (especially in America) and that was whom they were fighting for. Two thirds of Europe under communist rule is definitely not my idea of freedom.

Q: Does the Spanish gov't compensate its veterans from the war in any way? Does the German gov't compensate its foreign volunteers in any way?
A: Are you kidding me?! We are one chapter of history they wish they could obliterate in the same way they have obliterated freedom of expression in their "Canosa Republische" of Germany. Even in Spain we were denied
pensions after the war!

Q: Are there any monuments to their service [the Blue Division] anywhere?
Yes, the most famous one being "El valle de los Caidos" (The valley of the fallen) built by Franco using communist prisoners of war (for once these vermin did something good in their useless lives). I have also included
pictures of 2 memorials, one in Madrid and another at Grigorowo in Russia. Yet the most enduring memorial to those who made the supreme sacrifice fighting Bolshevism is in the hearts of those of us who not only
remember them but also try to tell the truth about them.

Q: Did you/do you keep in touch with any of your former comrades?
A: Unfortunately not. And there are not too many left alive as I write, especially Portuguese for we were not that many to begin with.

Q: How do you feel about the way WW 2 Germany is portrayed now in movies and books?
A: Writers like Mexican Salvador Borrego and Rumanian Trian Romanescu have never been available in the English language and it is a pity for these men have told the truth about the origins and backstage causes of WW2 for decades. When your first taste of WW2 Europe is a book like rise and fall of the third Reich, written by a communist Jew named [William] Shirer and received by
mindless masses of people hungry to find out what happened and accepted as "the gospel" on the Third Reich it is a small wonder people are so misinformed about us and our struggle. As WW2 and it's aftermath fade into the realm of history we near the time when the last of us who served in that maelstrom will also fade into eternity... closing the final page perhaps forever on one of the most misunderstood chapters in humanity's struggle
to be free. It will be up to the new generations to carry on the struggle for truth so that the memory of our dead is finally vindicated by history.

Q: What did you do after the war?
A: Went back home to Portugal and stayed there for 3 years before coming down here [Puerto Rico] I served as a mercenary in Africa for a time as well, but aggravated my old back injury and had to return home.

Q: How do you feel about postwar Germany's treatment of its veterans?
A: Shameful, much like Americans treated their Vietnam vets. Waffen SS veterans were particularly mistreated, denied pensions which were rightfully theirs, making them the "resident evil" of a nation that was more concerned with appeasing Jews than with rewarding those who gave the most for nation and folk [people].

Q: Would you do it again if you had the chance?
A: Give me a rifle and show me the way to the front! I have no qualms about my past nor what I did, our generation was one of splendid young men who had conviction and faith in our cause.

Q: What do you think the world would be like if Germany had been victorious in Russia?
A: We would have contained the spread of Bolshevism, the historical implications of which are endless and open to speculation. Then we could have turned most of our might against the Western powers which would have never been able to defeat us.

Q: If you could change one modern perception about the cause you fought for, what would it be?
A: The "holohoax". Never in the history of humanity has truth been so distorted, digested by the masses and accepted as gospel in such proportions. Most people find it easier to let others do their thinking for them and accept the general concepts of history. It is up to the
individual to seek answers, to discern the mirages placed before their eyes by the Jewish controlled media and realize that history always has two sides; the victors and that of the vanquished.

This ends the formal interview I conducted with Ramon in 2004, but it was not the end of our discussion. You will note that I did not argue with any of his assertions, not even with the "holohoax" comment, and that some of my questions were fairly provocative and bound to produce inflammatory responses. The truth was, at the time I was eager to get the most controversial answers I could, because I figured I'd get an "A" on the project if I did (and I was right). Ramon, however, was a man of fierce convictions and did not need to be tricked into revealing his true feelings, however injurious they may have been to mine. The truth was I found him so complex, so fascinating, and occasionally, so horrifying, that I kept going back for more. In the next installment of this blog I will share more of what I learned about the man I came to think of as The Last (and Most Unlikely) Nazi.