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Miguel Ezquerra Sanchez (January 10, 1913 – October 29, 1984) was a Spanish Falangist, soldier and volunteer member of the Waffen-SS. He fought in the Spanish Civil War and in the Second World War, in a battalion of the Spanish Blue Division or 250. Infanterie-Division as it was known in the German Army. ==Biography== Born in Canfranc, Aragon, and the son of the town's miller, Ezquerra was a Falangist and enthusiastically signed up for military service on the Nationalist side after the military coup of 18 July 1936. He fought on the fronts of Aragón, Madrid, Extremadura and Teruel, in the 7th "Bandera de Castilla" and in the 6th Granada Infantry Regiment.〔http://www.heraldo.es/noticias/cultura/un_aragones_bunker_hitler.html〕 He was wounded in fighting around Huesca, commissioned as a "provisional second lieutenant" (alferez provisional) and ended the war as a provisional first lieutenant. He received several medals for valor. After the end of the war he was demobilised, and worked as a provincial chief of the "Obra Sindical de Artesania" union. He married Consuelo Reinoso and they had two daughters.〔 On hearing the news of the outbreak of the Second World War, he immediately visited the German embassy in Madrid, offering to enlist on the German side. His enthusiastic offer was noted, but tactfully declined. Later when Spain decided to send volunteers to assist German efforts on the Eastern front, he enrolled in the Blue Division. The Blue Division was ordered to the siege of Leningrad where it would eventually participate in the Battle of Krasny Bor.〔http://librodenotas.com/losanalesperdidos/11962/las-batallas-de-miguel-ezquerra〕 Later, after the Blue Division had been repatriated to Spain on April 2, 1944, he was determined to continue to fight. He secretly crossed the French border in April 1944 to enlist in the Wehrmacht, and he was eventually transferred into the Waffen-SS. As part of the 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland", and with the rank of Hauptsturmführer, Miguel Ezquerra fought to defend the town of Stettin on the Oder River and then helped defend Berlin against Soviet troops, commanding a unit formed by Spanish Fascists, who were among the last defenders of the bunker of Adolf Hitler. He was briefly captured by Soviet troops but was released and after various false identities and misadventures across Western Europe, returned to Spain.〔 Miguel Ezquerra was author of the book "Berlin, a vida o muerte" ("Berlin, to life or death"). Little is known about his later life. It is generally agreed that he was one of the most notable Spanish combatants in the Second World War. It has been alleged that he received several decorations and awards, including the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and had German nationality granted to him personally by Hitler but there is no hard evidence to those claims. (Cfr. Interview Review N. 339, Madrid, November 1982).〔http://www.zweiterweltkrieg.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=9851&sid=2ff5c52bb2bb1b9c22547c8353f62ff2〕 〔http://www.elmundo.es/suplementos/cronica/2005/497/1114293609.html〕 Some historians, such as Kenneth W. Estes, question the assertions made by Ezquerra himself, as no evidence has ever been found to corroborate his claims about the role he played. While no one denies he was present in Germany and that there was a unit of some sort bearing his name, his real rank and participation in some events can be questioned.
Since 1995, the remains of Ezquerra have rested next to those of his comrades in the Vault of the Blue Division, in cemetery of the Almudena (3rd Plateau, area A ) at Madrid. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Miguel Ezquerra」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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