Greim and Grasser at Award Ceremony for 15.(Spanische)Staffel / Jagdgeschwader 51

 

2 July 1942: General der Flieger Robert Ritter von Greim (Oberbefehl über das Luftwaffenkommando Ost) greeted by Major Julio Salvador Díaz-Benjumea (Staffelkapitän 15.[Spanische]Staffel / Jagdgeschwader 51) in his visit to the 15.(Spanische)Staffel base at Orel, Soviet Union. Behind Greim standing Hauptmann Hartmann Grasser (Gruppenkommandeur II.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders")

 7 July 1942: Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse award ceremony for the celebrated members of 15.(Spanische)Staffel, awarded by General der Flieger Robert Ritter von Greim (Oberbefehl über das Luftwaffenkommando Ost). The recipients, from left to right: Oberleutnant Federico Garret-Rueda, Hauptmann Bengoechea Menchaca, and Oberleutnant Emilio Barañano (Baraño).

The Blue Squadron (Spanish: Escuadrilla Azul, German: 15. Spanische Staffel) was a generic name given to the group of volunteer pilots and ground crews recruited from the Spanish Air Force that fought in the side of Germany on the Eastern Front, during the Second World War. The "Blue Patrol" was a counterpart offered by Franco to Nazi Germany for its help with the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War.

Between September 1941 and May 1943 five Spanish squadrons rotated through the Eastern Front, attached to Luftwaffe fighter wings Jagdgeschwader 27 and Jagdgeschwader 51. Flying Messerschmitt fighters and Focke-Wulf fighter-bombers, the Spaniards were credited with destroying more than 160 Soviet aircraft in nearly two years, while losing 20 pilots killed, missing, or captured. The unit remained in central Russia, despite requests by Muñoz Grandes that they be attached to the Blue Division, until their withdrawal in 1943.

Source :
http://www.history.jp/wehrmacht/008a.htm