Spanish volunteers in Axis service\n\n Although Franco did not bring Spain into World War II on the side of the Axis, he permitted volunteers to join the German Army on the clear and guaranteed condition they would fight against Bolshevism (Soviet Communism) on the Eastern Front, and not against the western Allies.

One of the main reasons was that Spain was still recovering from its own civil war, which had ended in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II. Additionally, Spain's dictator at the time, Francisco Franco, was wary of becoming directly involved in another major conflict so soon after the Spanish Civil War.