Blue Division soldiers' height on the Volkhov front
A photo of a company of the 250th Division at Volkhov reopens the question of the height of the Spanish volunteers, and an academic study provides data.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The Blue Division and the height of its soldiers on the Volkhov front
A photograph of a company of the 250. Infanterie-Division on the Volkhov front, dated June 1943, has become one of the most widely reproduced images of the Blue Division. The snapshot shows the Spanish volunteers in formation, some of them carrying an MG34 over their shoulder. But what sparks curiosity is not the weaponry but the height: an analysis of the composition suggests that the taller men were at the front while the shorter ones were relegated to the back rows.
Was it a deliberate arrangement for the camera? There are two readings. One holds that ordering by height was standard practice in military formations, especially when they knew they were going to be filmed. The other, more sceptical view points out that the average height of Spaniards of that generation was noticeably lower than today's, and that the impression of disparity could simply be statistical.
The matter has ended up entangled with a regional stereotype. The quip that the shortest soldiers were Basques has been answered with an anthropometric study of Spaniards born in the late nineteenth century, whose data do not support the theory. Now the question remains open: whether the formation was ordered or not matters little in the face of the fact that the 250th Division left behind at Volkhov a memory that still resists the figures.
A photograph of a company of the 250. Infanterie-Division on the Volkhov front, dated June 1943, has become one of the most widely reproduced images of the Blue Division. The snapshot shows the Spanish volunteers in formation, some of them carrying an MG34 over their shoulder. But what sparks curiosity is not the weaponry but the height: an analysis of the composition suggests that the taller men were at the front while the shorter ones were relegated to the back rows.
Was it a deliberate arrangement for the camera? There are two readings. One holds that ordering by height was standard practice in military formations, especially when they knew they were going to be filmed. The other, more sceptical view points out that the average height of Spaniards of that generation was noticeably lower than today's, and that the impression of disparity could simply be statistical.
The matter has ended up entangled with a regional stereotype. The quip that the shortest soldiers were Basques has been answered with an anthropometric study of Spaniards born in the late nineteenth century, whose data do not support the theory. Now the question remains open: whether the formation was ordered or not matters little in the face of the fact that the 250th Division left behind at Volkhov a memory that still resists the figures.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (22 replies).
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