during the war, especially those escaping from or through France. Hitler tried to get Franco to join the Axis and enter the war, but he continually refused.

Long ago I read an article speculating that if Spain had entered the war on the Axis side, the Axis might still be in control of Europe. Spain had a large economy and many tough, battle-hardened soldiers who might have made the difference in the European war.

Here is a summary of Spanish involvement in the war from Wikipedia:

“Despite ideological sympathy, Franco even stationed field armies in the Pyrenees to deter a Axis occupation of the Iberian Peninsula in 1940. The Spanish policy frustrated Axis proposals that would have encouraged Franco to take British-controlled Gibraltar. Much of the reason for Spanish reluctance to join the war was due to Spain relying on imports from the United States...

“In 1941 Franco approved the recruitment of volunteers to Germany, on the guarantee that they only fight against the Soviet Union and not against the western Allies. This gave birth to the Blue Division, which fought as part of the German army on the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1944.

“Spanish policy would return to ‘strict neutrality’ as the tide of war started to turn against the Axis. American pressure in 1944 for Spain to stop tungsten exports to Germany and to withdraw the Blue Division led to an oil embargo which forced Franco to yield...

“After their defeat in the Spanish Civil War, numbers of Republican veterans and civilians went into exile in France...many joined the French Foreign Legion at the start of World War II, making up a sizeable proportion of it. Around sixty thousand joined the French Resistance...Several thousand more joined the Free French Forces and fought against the Axis Powers. Some sources have claimed that as many as 2,000 served in General Leclerc's Second French Division...

“The 9th Armoured Company comprised almost entirely battle-hardened Spanish veterans; it became the first Allied military unit to enter Paris upon its liberation in August, 1944, where it met up with a large number of Spanish Maquis fighting alongside French resistance fighters. Furthermore, 1,000 Spanish Republicans served in the 13th Half-brigade...”