Blue Division High School (Japanese: 青師団高校, Aoshidan Koukou; Spanish: Escuela Secundaria División Azul), also known as Aoshidan High School, is a Spanish-themed minor school in Girls und Panzer.
Overview[]
Behavior & Policy[]
Blue Division students are renowned for two traits. The first is their culinary skills, which is why they have a good friendship with Anzio High School and Waffle Academy. Due to their shared love for food and culinary arts, the three schools often attract international attention when they reunite at festivals.
The second trait is their incredible enthusiasm, which propels them to launch their unofficial team. Their drive and selflessness have earned the band of volunteer tankers a great deal of recognition from the other schools.
Blue Division students are open, cheerful, and curious. They are regularly late for scheduled dates, as they like to move at their own pace. It seems that their favorite interests outside of cooking are talking and fashion. In addition, they also love the arts, such as music, visual arts, and theater.
Although they are very open, they quarrel occasionally. Due to their passionate personalities, with clearly defined likes and dislikes, fights often erupt over seemingly insignificant details. Once the dust settles, however, they seem to return to being friends almost instantly, either because they know not to worry about the past or because they simply do not hold grudges.
Blue Division High School, not caring that their team is not officially recognized and the school is regularly low on funds, holds warm relations with a number of other schools. This includes the aforementioned festive schools, as well as Kuromorimine Girls Academy, with whom they hold regular practice matches.
Materiel[]
Originally Blue Division had only light tanks, such as the Panzer I, Panzer II, and Carro Veloce CV.35, complemented by heavier light tanks such as the BT-5 and the T-26. These formed the backbone of their team for much of their history. They also have one example of each models of the rare and unusual Verdeja tank, the Verdeja I and Verdeja II, a Spanish design.
With such tanks, people said that the only thing that could ever carry them to victory was their spirit.
They tried, much like Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, to improve the firepower of their tanks by doing things such as installing a Breda 20mm autocannon on a Panzer I and putting a short 75mm howitzer on a Verdeja hull. These projects were halted with the acquisition of the newer Panzer IV Ausf.H, various Panzer III models, and several StuG IIIs.
Tactics[]
Regardless of what tanks Blue Division uses, their tactics remain the same. They prioritize speed and attempted breakthroughs. They appear to be very flexible with their planning, usually having multiple backup plans in the event that their main push fails. These plans, however, are not very practical and are rather unusual; for example, using a StuG III in a frontal charge. While they excel in rapid movements and short engagements, Blue Division suffers in longer, drawn out battles of attrition.
School ship[]
The appearance and name of Blue Division High School's schoolship currently remains unknown.
Uniform[]
Blue Division's school uniform consists of a deep-cleavaged blue collared shirt with school insignia on the left sleeve, a black belt with two straps connected to it, a turquoise skirt, black high socks, and black high boots.
As they do not have an official senshado club, they have no senshado uniforms, so they fight in their school uniforms.
Background[]
Formal relations between Japan and Spain are known to have existed since the days of the Christian missionary Francis Xavier. These relations ultimately resulted in cultural exchange centers being built in the cities of Hirado in Nagasaki Prefecture, Onjuku in Chiba Prefecture, and Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture.
Years later, when the news broke that a new school ship was being built, many prefectures submitted their names in the hope that they would host the new school. In the end, Mie Prefecture and Miyagi Prefecture were the finalists, but since a decision could not be reached, it was decided that the port of Shimotsu in Wakayama Prefecture would host the school, with the compromise that the school ship would accept support from and make annual visits to Shima Peninsula in Mie Prefecture and the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture.
62nd National High School Sensha-Dō Tournament[]
Against Kuromorimine[]
Blue Division participated in the 62nd National High School Senshado Tournament and faced Kuromorimine Girls' Academy as their first opponent. Their force was composed of at least a Panzer I Ausf.B as flag tank, a StuG III Ausf.G and a Panzer IV Ausf.H. Seeing that their opponent only fielded heavy tanks, Carmen used the terrain at her advantage and started to provoke them by using her tank as a bait to draw them into mud. Her tactics worked for a time until Maho Nishizumi get pissed and mauled nearly all Blue Division tanks with her Tiger. They were eliminated in the first round.
63rd National High School Sensha-Dō Tournament[]
Against Jatkosota[]
- Main article: Jatkosota High School vs. Blue Division High School
Blue Division participated in the 63rd National High School Senshado Tournament and faced Jatkosota High School as their first opponent. Their force was composed of T-26s, BT-5s, Panzer IIs, IIIs, and IV, StuG IIIs and the Verdeja II. Despite being on unfamiliar terrain, Blue Division tried to break through Jatkosota's positions by taking a narrow corridor. However, the muddy terrain slowed them down. Their vanguard was destroyed by their opponent's T-34s, Panzer IVs, and Sturmis, while their rearguard was destroy by BT tanks that had performed a pincer movement. Blue Division's remaining tanks, trapped in the corridor, fought desperately but were ultimately destroyed. They were eliminated in the first round.
Winter Continuous Track Cup[]
Against Saunders[]
Blue Division participated in the Winter Continuous Track Cup and faced Saunders University High School as their first opponent. Their force was composed of three Panzer II Ausf.F (one as flag tank commandered by El), a Panzer IV Ausf.H, a StuG III Ausf.G, two Panzer I Ausf.B, two CV.35 and their Verdeja II. At some point in the match they lost at least a Panzer II, their Verdeja, one CV.35 and one Panzer I likely by Shermans. Near the end of match, El and another Panzer II were forced to retreat, but Andalusia's tank was destroyed by Kay and their flag tank was snipped down by Naomi and her Firefly. They were eliminated in the first round.
Members[]
Blue Division High School has five students of note.
El[]
- Main article: El
The overall commander of Blue Division. She is also the commander and gunner of a Panzer II Ausf.F.
Viridiana[]
- Main article: Viridiana
The driver of El's Panzer II Ausf.F.
Tristana[]
- Main article: Tristana
The loader and radio operator of El's Panzer II Ausf.F.
Andalusia[]
The commander of a Panzer II Ausf.F.
Carmen[]
She was Blue Division's overall commander at the time of the 62nd Senshado Tournament. She commands a Panzer I.
Vehicles[]
Tanks[]
- BT-5
- Carro Veloce CV.35
- T-26
- Pz.Kpfw I Ausf.B
- Pz.Kpfw II Ausf.E
- Pz.Kpfw II Ausf.F
- Pz.Kpfw III Ausf.J (and some other models)
- PzKpfw IV Ausf.H
- Sturmgeschutz III Ausf.G
- Verdeja I
- Verdeja II
Trivia[]
- Their logo consists of a blue circle containing a red shield with a large horizontal black stripe in the middle, with "Azul" written in Gothic script in light yellow.
- The name is a reference to the real life División Azul, a group of Spanish volunteers lent by General Francisco Franco, who fought in conjunction with the German Army on Eastern front from 1941 to 1943.
- The shield is a reference to the insigna (representing the colors of the Spanish flag) that the División Azul wore on their sleeves, with a black stripe instead of a yellow one.
- The red and black colors on the shield of Blue Division's logo are a reference to the colors of the flag of the Spanish Falange.
- The word "azul" means "blue" in Spanish.
- The blue circle is a reference to the color of Division Azul's soldiers' uniform shirt (taken from the Falangists) while they were on leave in Spain, as on the front they wore the German army uniform with their insignia on the sleeve.
- Their love for modifying their tanks is a reference to the Nationalists' attempts to up-gun their tanks during the Spanish Civil War.
- The Nationalists created the Panzer I "Negrillo" or Carro Breda, which combined a Panzer I and a Breda 20mm gun.
- They tested the Panzer I with various armament, including 37mm, 45mm, and twin 37mm guns.
- The Verdeja program, launched by Colonel Félix Verdeja, was an attempt to counter the Republicans' better armed and armored tanks by combining the T-26's gun and two MG13s in a Panzer I turret with a low-profile hull.
- The fact that Blue Division is the only known school to not have an official senshado club is a reference to Spain's unofficial participation in WW2 through volunteers.
- The fact that Blue Division is very close to Kuromorimine and Anzio is a reference to Spain being receiving aid from Germany and Italy during the Spanish Civil War.
- Their uniform is inspired by Spanish Legionnaires. By contrast the real life ladies' uniform of the Legion are way more sober.
- All students of Blue Division High School are named after Luis Buñuel films.
- Andalusia, the character, is also named after an autonomous community (region) in southern Spain and it´s a reference to Buñuel´s first film: An Andalusian Dog.
Gallery[]
| Schools in Girls und Panzer ☰ | ||
|---|---|---|
| Schools in The Anime Series | Anzio High School ♦ Kuromorimine Girls Academy ♦ Ooarai Girls Academy ♦ Pravda Girls High School ♦ Saunders University High School ♦ St. Gloriana Girls College | |
| Schools in Der Film | Chi-Ha-Tan Academy ♦ Jatkosota High School ♦ All-Stars University Team | |
| Schools in Das Finale | BC Freedom Academy | |
| Schools in The Mangas | Bellwall Academy ♦ Bonple High School ♦ Gilbert High School ♦ Maginot Girls' College ♦ Tategoto High School ♦ Tatenashi High School ♦ West Kureoji Grona High School | |
| Schools in Supplemental Material | Blue Division High School ♦ Count High School ♦ Gregor High School ♦ Koala Forest Academy ♦ Maple High School ♦ Viggen High School ♦ Viking Fisheries High School ♦ Waffle Academy ♦ Yogurt Academy | |