According to some, during the Great Patriotic War a million Soviet citizens went to fight under the tricolor flag. Sometimes they even talk about two million Russians who fought against the Bolshevik regime, but here they probably also count 700 thousand emigrants. These figures are cited for a reason - they serve as an argument for the assertion that the Great Patriotic War is the essence of the Second Civil War of the Russian people against the hated Stalin. What can I say?
If it really happened that a million Russians stood under the tricolor banners and fought tooth and nail against the Red Army for a free Russia, shoulder to shoulder with their German allies, then we would have no choice but to admit that yes, the Great Patriotic War really became the Second Civil War for the Russian people. But was it so?
To figure out whether this is true or not, you need to answer several questions: how many of them were there, who were they, how did they get into the service, how and with whom did they fight, and what motivated them?
Cooperation between Soviet citizens and the occupiers took place in different forms, both in terms of the degree of voluntariness and the degree of involvement in the armed struggle - from the Baltic SS volunteers who fought fiercely near Narva, to the “Ostarbeiters” forcibly driven to Germany. I believe that even the most stubborn anti-Stalinists will not be able to enroll the latter in the ranks of the fighters against the Bolshevik regime without crooking their souls. Typically, these ranks include those who received rations from the German military or police department, or held in their hands what they received from the hands of the Germans or pro-German local government.
That is, the maximum number of potential fighters against the Bolsheviks includes:
foreign military units of the Wehrmacht and SS;
eastern security battalions;
Wehrmacht construction units;
Wehrmacht support personnel, they are also “our Ivans” or Hiwi (Hilfswilliger: “voluntary assistants”);
auxiliary police units (“noise” - Schutzmannshaften);
border guard;
“air defense assistants” mobilized to Germany through youth organizations;
HOW MANY ARE THERE?
We will probably never know the exact numbers, since no one really counted them, but some estimates are available to us. A lower estimate can be obtained from the archives of the former NKVD - until March 1946, 283,000 “Vlasovites” and other collaborators in uniform were transferred to the authorities. The upper estimate can probably be taken from Drobyazko’s works, which serve as the main source of figures for proponents of the “Second Civil” version. According to his calculations (the method of which, unfortunately, he does not disclose), the following passed through the Wehrmacht, SS and various pro-German paramilitary and police forces during the war years:
250,000 Ukrainians
70,000 Belarusians
70,000 Cossacks
150,000 Latvians
90,000 Estonians
50,000 Lithuanians
70,000 Central Asians
12,000 Volga Tatars
10,000 Crimean Tatars
7,000 Kalmyks
40,000 Azerbaijanis
25,000 Georgians
20,000 Armenians
30,000 North Caucasian peoples
Since the total number of all former Soviet citizens who bore German and pro- German uniform, they estimate at 1.2 million, then the share of Russians (excluding Cossacks) remains about 310,000 people. There are, of course, other calculations that give a smaller total number, but let’s not waste time on trifles, let’s take Drobyazko’s estimate from above as the basis for further reasoning.
WHO WERE THEY?
Hiwi and construction battalion soldiers can hardly be considered fighters civil war. Of course, their work freed them up for the front German soldiers, but this applies to the same extent to “Ostarbeiters”. Sometimes hiwi received weapons and fought alongside the Germans, but such cases in the unit's combat logs are described more as a curiosity than as a mass phenomenon. It is interesting to count how many there were who actually held weapons in their hands.
The number of hiwi at the end of the war Drobyazko gives about 675,000, if we add construction units and take into account the loss during the war, then I think we will not be much mistaken in assuming that this category covers about 700-750,000 people from total number 1.2 million. This is consistent with the share of non-combatants among Caucasian peoples, in the calculation presented by the headquarters eastern troops at the end of the war. According to him, of the total number of 102,000 Caucasians who passed through the Wehrmacht and SS, 55,000 served in the legions, Luftwaffe and SS and 47,000 in hiwi and construction units. It should be taken into account that the share of Caucasians enrolled in combat units was higher than the share of Slavs.
So, out of 1.2 million who wore German uniforms, only 450-500 thousand did so while holding weapons. Let's now try to calculate the layout of the actual combat units of the eastern peoples.
75 Asian battalions (Caucasians, Turks and Tatars) were formed (80,000 people). Taking into account 10 Crimean police battalions (8,700), Kalmyks and special units, there are approximately 110,000 “combat” Asians from total amount 215,000. This completely hits the Caucasians separately with the layout.
The Baltic states endowed the Germans with 93 police battalions (later partly consolidated into regiments), with a total number of 33,000 people. In addition, 12 border regiments (30,000) were formed, partly staffed by police battalions, followed by three SS divisions (15, 19 and 20) and two volunteer regiments, through which perhaps 70,000 men passed. Police and border regiments and battalions were partly recruited to form them. Taking into account the absorption of some units by others, in total about 100,000 Balts passed through the combat units.
In Belarus, 20 police battalions (5,000) were formed, of which 9 were considered Ukrainian. After the introduction of mobilization in March 1944, police battalions became part of the army of the Belarusian Central Rada. In total, the Belarusian Regional Defense (BKA) had 34 battalions, 20,000 people. Having retreated in 1944 along with German troops, these battalions were consolidated into the Siegling SS Brigade. Then, on the basis of the brigade, with the addition of Ukrainian “policemen”, the remnants of the Kaminsky brigade and even the Cossacks, the 30th SS Division was deployed, which was later used to staff the 1st Vlasov Division.
Galicia was once part of Austro-Hungarian Empire and was seen as potentially German territory. It was separated from Ukraine, included in the Reich, as part of the General Government of Warsaw, and put in line for Germanization. On the territory of Galicia, 10 police battalions (5,000) were formed, and subsequently a recruitment of volunteers for the SS troops was announced. It is believed that 70,000 volunteers showed up at the recruiting sites, but so many were not needed. As a result, one SS division (14th) and five police regiments were formed. Police regiments were disbanded as needed and sent to replenish the division. Galicia's total contribution to the victory over Stalinism can be estimated at 30,000 people.
In the rest of Ukraine, 53 police battalions (25,000) were formed. It is known that not most of them became part of the 30th SS Division, the fate of the rest is unknown to me. After the formation in March 1945 of the Ukrainian analogue of KONR - the Ukrainian National Committee - the Galician 14th SS Division was renamed the 1st Ukrainian and the formation of the 2nd began. It was formed from volunteers Ukrainian nationality recruited from various auxiliary formations, they recruited about 2,000 people.
About 90 security “ostbattalions” were formed from Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians, through which approximately 80,000 people passed, including the “Russian National People’s Army”, which was reformed into five security battalions. Among other Russian military formations, one can recall the 3,000-strong 1st Russian National SS Brigade of Gil (Rodionov), which went over to the side of the partisans, the approximately 6,000-strong “Russian National Army” of Smyslovsky and the army of Kaminsky (“Russian Liberation People's Army"), which arose as the so-called self-defense forces. Lokot Republic. Maximum ratings the number of people who passed through Kaminsky’s army reaches 20,000. After 1943, Kaminsky's troops retreated along with the German army and in 1944 an attempt was made to reorganize them into the 29th SS Division. For a number of reasons, the reformation was canceled, and the personnel were transferred to complete the 30th SS Division. At the beginning of 1945, the armed forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (the Vlasov army) were created. The first army division is formed from the "ostbattalions" and the remnants of the 30th SS division. The second division is formed from “ost battalions”, and partly from volunteer prisoners of war. The number of Vlasovites before the end of the war is estimated at 40,000 people, of which about 30,000 were former SS men and former battalions. In total, the Wehrmacht and SS fought with weapons in their hands in different times about 120,000 Russians.
The Cossacks, according to Drobyazko’s calculations, fielded 70,000 people, let’s accept this figure.
HOW DID THEY GET INTO SERVICE?
Initially, the eastern units were staffed with volunteers from among prisoners of war and local population. Since the summer of 1942, the principle of recruitment of the local population has changed from voluntary to voluntary-forced - an alternative to voluntary joining the police is forced deportation to Germany, as an “Ostarbeiter”. By the fall of 1942, undisguised coercion began. Drobyazko, in his dissertation, talks about raids on men in the Shepetivka area: those caught were offered a choice between joining the police or being sent to a camp. Since 1943, mandatory military service in various “self-defense” units of the Reichskommissariat “Ostland”. In the Baltic states, SS units and border guards were recruited through mobilization since 1943.
HOW AND WHO DID THEY FIGHT?
Initially, the Slavic eastern units were created for security service. In this capacity, they were supposed to replace the Wehrmacht security battalions, which were sucked out of the rear zone like a vacuum cleaner by the needs of the front. At first, soldiers of the eastern battalions guarded warehouses and railways, but as the situation became more complicated, they began to be involved in anti-partisan operations. The involvement of the eastern battalions in the fight against the partisans contributed to their disintegration. If in 1942 the number of “ost-battalion members” who went over to the partisan side was relatively small (although this year the Germans were forced to disband the RNNA due to massive defections), then in 1943 14 thousand fled to the partisans (and this is very, very a lot, with average number eastern parts in 1943 about 65,000 people). The Germans did not have any strength to observe the further decomposition of the eastern battalions, and in October 1943 the remaining eastern units were sent to France and Denmark (disarming 5-6 thousand volunteers as unreliable). There they were included as 3 or 4 battalions in the regiments of the German divisions.
Slavic eastern battalions, with rare exceptions, were not used in battles on the eastern front. Unlike them significant amount Asian Ostbattalions were involved in the first line of advancing German troops during the Battle of the Caucasus. The results of the battles were contradictory - some performed well, others, on the contrary, turned out to be infected with deserter sentiments and produced a large percentage of defectors. By the beginning of 1944, most of the Asian battalions also found themselves on the Western Wall. Those who remained in the East were brought together into the Eastern Turkic and Caucasian SS formations and were involved in the suppression of the Warsaw and Slovak uprisings.
In total, by the time of the Allied invasion, 72 Slavic, Asian and Cossack battalions with a total number of about 70 thousand people had been assembled in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In general, the remaining battalions performed poorly in battles with the allies (with some exceptions). Out of almost 8.5 thousand. irrecoverable losses, 8 thousand were missing, that is, most of them were deserters and defectors. After this, the remaining battalions were disarmed and involved in fortification work on the Siegfried Line. Subsequently, they were used to form units of the Vlasov army.
In 1943, Cossack units were also withdrawn from the east. The most combat-ready formation of the German Cossack troops is the 1st, formed in the summer of 1943. Cossack division von Panwitz went to Yugoslavia to deal with Tito's partisans. There they gradually gathered all the Cossacks, expanding the division into a corps. The division took part in battles on Eastern Front in 1945, fighting mainly against the Bulgarians.
The Baltic States gave greatest number troops to the front - in addition to three SS divisions, separate police regiments and battalions took part in the battles. The 20th Estonian SS Division was defeated near Narva, but was subsequently restored and managed to take part in last battles war. The Latvian 15th and 19th SS divisions came under attack from the Red Army in the summer of 1944 and could not withstand the blow. Reported on a large scale desertion and loss of combat effectiveness. As a result, the 15th Division, having transferred its most reliable composition to the 19th, was withdrawn to the rear for use in the construction of fortifications. The second time it was used in battle was in January 1945, in East Prussia, after which it was again withdrawn to the rear. She managed to surrender to the Americans. The 19th remained in Courland until the end of the war.
Belarusian policemen and those freshly mobilized into the BKA in 1944 were collected in the 30th SS Division. After its formation, the division was transferred to France in September 1944, where it took part in battles with the Allies. Carried big losses mainly from desertion. Belarusians ran over to the allies in droves and continued the war in Polish units. In December, the division was disbanded, and the remaining personnel were transferred to staff the 1st Vlasov Division.
The Galician 14th SS Division, barely sniffing gunpowder, was surrounded near Brody and almost completely destroyed. Although she was quickly restored, she no longer took part in battles at the front. One of her regiments was involved in suppressing the Slovak uprising, after which she went to Yugoslavia to fight Tito’s partisans. Since Yugoslavia is not far from Austria, the division managed to surrender to the British.
The KONR armed forces were formed in early 1945. Although the 1st Vlasov division was staffed almost entirely by punitive veterans, many of whom had already been to the front, Vlasov brainwashed Hitler by demanding more time for preparation. In the end, the division still managed to move to the Oder Front, where it took part in one attack against Soviet troops April 13. The very next day, the division commander, Major General Bunyachenko, ignoring the protests of his German immediate superior, withdrew the division from the front and went to join the rest of Vlasov’s army in the Czech Republic. The Vlasov army carried out the second battle against its ally, attacking on May 5 German troops in Prague.
WHAT MOVED THEM?
The driving motives were completely different.
Firstly, among the eastern troops one can distinguish national separatists who fought to create their own nation state or at least a privileged province of the Reich. This includes the Baltic states, Asian legionnaires and Galicians. The creation of parts of this kind has a long tradition - just remember Czechoslovak Corps or the Polish Legion in the First World War. These would fight against central government, no matter who sits in Moscow - the tsar, the secretary general or the popularly elected president.
Secondly, there were ideological and stubborn opponents of the regime. This may include the Cossacks (although their motives were partly national-separatist), part of the personnel of the eastern battalions, and a significant part of the officer corps of the KONR troops.
Thirdly, we can name opportunists who bet on the winner, those who joined the Reich during the victories of the Wehrmacht, but fled to the partisans after the defeat at Kursk and continued to run away at the first opportunity. These probably made up a significant part of the eastern battalions and local police. There were some from that side of the front, as can be seen from the change in the number of defectors to the Germans in 1942-44:
1942 79,769
1943 26,108
1944 9,207
Fourthly, these were people who hoped to break out of the camp and, at a convenient opportunity, go to their own. It’s hard to say how many of these there were, but sometimes there were enough for a whole battalion.
AND WHAT DOES IT END UP?
But the picture that emerges is completely different from those painted by ardent anti-communists. Instead of one (or even two) million Russians united under the tricolor flag in the fight against the hateful Stalinist regime, there is a very motley (and clearly not reaching a million) company of Balts, Asians, Galicians and Slavs, each fighting for their own. And mostly not with Stalin's regime, but with partisans (and not only Russians, but also Yugoslav, Slovak, French, Polish), Western allies, or even with the Germans in general. Doesn't sound much like a civil war, does it? Well, perhaps we can use these words to describe the struggle between partisans and policemen, but the policemen fought not under a tricolor flag, but with a swastika on their sleeves.
For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that until the end of 1944, until the formation of the KONR and its armed forces, the Germans did not provide the opportunity for Russian anti-communists to fight for the national idea, for a Russia without communists. It can be assumed that if they had allowed this earlier, more people would have rallied “under the tricolor flag,” especially since there were still plenty of opponents of the Bolsheviks in the country. But this is “would” and besides, my grandmother said it in two. But in reality, no “millions under the tricolor flag” were observed.
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There is also a fairly common myth about the Great Patriotic War. Moreover, even Goebbels didn’t think of it. Our “historians” have already counted such a number of collaborators, and “liberal” journalists picked it up and carried it.
If Hitler had such data at the end of the war, he probably would have shot himself even earlier, having eaten his tie before that, regretting that he did not want to arm 10 full-fledged Russian armies.
“It should never be allowed for anyone other than Germans to carry weapons. Even if in the near future it would seem easier for us to attract any foreign, conquered peoples to armed assistance, this would be wrong. This would one day certainly and inevitably turn against us. Only a German has the right to bear arms, and not a Slav, not a Czech, not a Cossack and not a Ukrainian” (A. Hitler).
So where does the firewood come from? The emigrant magazine "Posev" published a book three times - in 1952, 1974 and 1994 - which proved that it turns out that 10 million Russians fought for Hitler against the Bolsheviks.
How many traitors actually were there? How many Russian emigrants fought on the side of the Nazis? Not all former White Guards were as principled as General Denikin. What data is there on this matter?
Army General M.A. Gareev speaks of 200 thousand accomplices, of whom more than 100 thousand served in the armed forces of the Nazis (Gareev M. A.About myths old and new. Military history magazine. 1991. № 4.).
The reconciliation of documents from the military archive in Potsdam (Germany) was carried out by L. Repin. He managed to serve in German army 180 thousand Soviet citizens went, half of them were military personnel (Repin L.Russian prisoners do not volunteer to serve. // News. 1990.)
In the monograph by A. E. Epifanov “Responsibility for War Crimes” (Epifanov A. E.Responsibility for war crimes committed on the territory of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War Patriotic War. Volgograd, 2005.):
“Russian Liberation Army” (ROA) of General Vlasov - 50 thousand.
“Russian Liberation People's Army” (RONA) Kaminsky - 20 thousand.
Policemen - around 60-70 thousand.
Cossack troops - 70 thousand (Krasnov and Shkuro).
According to modern German data ( War against Germany Soviet Union. Berlin, 1994.)the number of policemen converges: at the beginning of 1943 from 60 to 70 thousand. Plus “eastern (national) battalions” - 80 thousand...
In general, the data does not coincide, but everywhere they are 5-7 times less than this ritual-virtual “million armed Russians for Hitler.”
Is this not enough? Not a little. But still one has to be surprised that after 20 s extra years after the victory of the Great October Revolution, when there were still people who remembered Russia before the Bolsheviks, so few people went over to the side of the Germans. Even among the White Guard emigration there was a split on this issue. Patriotic feelings prevailed over everything else.
So, about 200 thousand Russians took up arms against Soviet power. Plus the “eastern battalions” (many of which, at the first opportunity, in full equipment, went to the partisans, killing the German commanders), plus the Baltic SS legions (most of which were formed through forced mobilization), Ukrainian, approximately 150 thousand more. And at this time, in the rear of the Germans, more than 1 million people (Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Moldovans, Baltic states, Jews, etc.) fought in partisan detachments.
Over four years, 34.5 million Soviet citizens, men, women and even children, went through the war (served in the army). So compare 34,500,000 and 200,000.
And there is no need to count among the Nazis’ voluntary assistants the various “hiwis” who were recruited to serve in the auxiliary units of the Wehrmacht by force.
For example. In 1942, near Bryansk, Russian “special forces soldiers” from among local residents guarded the railways, standing right under the gallows. They were supposed to be hanged on the gallows, if they weren’t careful, and the partisans would derail the German train. Such “guards” were fundamentally not trusted with weapons.
The researcher calculated that among all the persons who were in the service of the Germans (the so-called 2nd accounting group also included Vlasov soldiers, legionnaires, those who served in the enemy armies, in the punitive and administrative bodies of the occupiers), they were successfully tested in the Soviet filtration camps more than 92%. Only 8% were arrested and tried for voluntary collaboration and detected crimes. (Let us note in fairness that the most odious executioners, accomplices of the Gestapo and SS, did not make it to the filtration camps. They were tried by military tribunals of the advancing military units and executed publicly. Lynchings were rare). The rest went to restore national economy, joined the ranks of the army, the NKVD (and such were identified - agents sent behind German lines or working for the partisans). And all this happened under the “bloody tyrant” Stalin.
Let's compare with France, where occupation regime was incomparably softer than in the occupied territories of the USSR and residents did not have to go to work for the Germans in order to simply survive.
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor B. S. Klein writes on this matter: “There is evidence that after liberation, up to 40 thousand traitors were shot. But a different figure comes from the French Ministry of Justice: 105 thousand executed between June 1944 and February 1945, many on charges of “national humiliation.” There were several times more people arrested for aiding the enemy” (international online magazine “Russian Globe”, No. 3, 2006). In general, the topic of collaboration is semi-forbidden for France. When an amnesty was declared for Nazi collaborators in 1953, according to the law they could not even be reminded of their service to the occupiers. France needs a heroic past).
We remember French perfectly volunteer legion SS and Charlemagne division. In addition, they managed to fight for the Nazis (directly, by sending troops to the front or in volunteer battalions and legions): Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain (on whose territory the heel of the invader never set foot!), Hungary, Hungary, Denmark, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands , Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Finland, France, Croatia, Czechoslovakia and others. Some national formations The Wehrmacht and SS were quite numerous.
In the photo: August 29, 1944, the city of Montelimimar. They shave the head of a girl who had the imprudence to get close to the Germans.
According to some, during the Great Patriotic War, a million Soviet citizens went to fight under the tricolor flag.
Sometimes they even talk about two million Russians who fought against the Bolshevik regime, but here they probably also count 700 thousand emigrants.
These figures are cited for a reason - they serve as an argument for the assertion that the Great Patriotic War is the essence of the Second Civil War of the Russian people against the hated Stalin.
What can I say?
If it really was that a million Russians stood under the tricolor banners and fought tooth and nail against the Red Army for a free Russia, shoulder to shoulder with their German allies, then we would have no choice but to admit that yes, the Great The Patriotic War has truly become the Second Civil War for the Russian people.
But was it so?
To figure out whether this is true or not, you need to answer several questions: how many of them were there, who were they, how did they get into the service, how and with whom did they fight, and what motivated them?
The cooperation of Soviet citizens with the occupiers took place in different forms, both in terms of the degree of voluntariness and the degree of involvement in the armed struggle - from the Baltic SS volunteers who fought fiercely near Narva, to the “Ostarbeiters” forcibly driven to Germany.
I believe that even the most stubborn anti-Stalinists will not be able to enroll the latter in the ranks of the fighters against the Bolshevik regime without crooking their souls. Typically, these ranks include those who received rations from the German military or police department, or held weapons received from the hands of the Germans or pro-German local government.
That is, the maximum number of potential fighters against the Bolsheviks includes:
- foreign military units of the Wehrmacht and SS;
- eastern security battalions;
- construction units of the Wehrmacht;
- Wehrmacht support personnel, they are also “our Ivans” or Hiwi (Hilfswilliger: “voluntary helpers”);
- auxiliary police units (“noise” – Schutzmannshaften);
- border guard;
- “air defense assistants” mobilized to Germany through youth organizations;
HOW MANY ARE THERE?
We will probably never know the exact numbers, since no one really counted them, but some estimates are available to us. A lower estimate can be obtained from the archives of the former NKVD - until March 1946, 283,000 “Vlasovites” and other collaborators in uniform were transferred to the authorities.
The upper estimate can probably be taken from Drobyazko’s works, which serve as the main source of figures for proponents of the “Second Civil” version. According to his calculations (the method of which, unfortunately, he does not disclose), the following passed through the Wehrmacht, SS and various pro-German paramilitary and police forces during the war years:
250,000 Ukrainians
70,000 Belarusians
70,000 Cossacks
150,000 Latvians
90,000 Estonians
50,000 Lithuanians
70,000 Central Asians
12,000 Volga Tatars
10,000 Crimean Tatars
7,000 Kalmyks
40,000 Azerbaijanis
25,000 Georgians
20,000 Armenians
30,000 North Caucasian peoples
Since the total number of all former Soviet citizens who wore German and pro-German uniforms is estimated at 1.2 million, that leaves about 310,000 Russians (excluding Cossacks). There are, of course, other calculations that give a smaller total number, but let’s not waste time on trifles, let’s take Drobyazko’s estimate from above as the basis for further reasoning.
30.04.2018, 11:25
Russian fascism / General Vlasov reviews troops
On the eve of the escalation of victory in Russia, the author Without Taboo debunks the myth of Russians as the main anti-fascists and recalls how many Russians were loyal followers of Hitler during World War II.
The closer the next anniversary of the victory over Hitler and his allies in World War II, the greater the obscurantism in Russian information space. Initially, the false propaganda theses of Soviet propaganda are periodically carried into neighboring states, where there has always been a sufficient Russian-speaking population. And okay, downplaying the role of the Americans and the British - everyone has long been accustomed to this. But labeling representatives of individual nations as enemies and non-humans has become quite boring.
In Lvov, the other day, the 75th anniversary of the SS division “Galicia” was very solemnly celebrated, which, according to false Kremlin reports, destroyed “millions of Russians, Poles and Ukrainians” during the war. In fact, the scale of the division’s misdeeds, which did occur, is measured in much smaller quantities. And the goal of such interaction with the Nazis was quite good - gaining state sovereignty. The enemy was terrible - it was the communists who carried out a bloody massacre in Ukraine during the so-called “civil war”, later killed millions of Ukrainians during artificial famine and repression, and during their short reign Western Ukraine in 1939-1941 hundreds of thousands of people were physically destroyed and even more were taken to Siberia to certain death.
The media behind the curb reacted to this already everyday event for us in their usual style. We remembered that the “bloody junta” is still in session in Kyiv. They have not forgotten that Yushchenko once awarded Bandera and Shukhevych the title of Heroes of Ukraine. Some even remembered the oppression of the Russian-speaking population through Ukrainization and decommunization. However, everyone was silent about the main thing, since the command came from the very top to ignore obvious facts.
On the issue of St. George ribbons
The fact is that the scale of Russian cooperation with the occupiers is much more impressive than total number Ukrainian real and imaginary collaborators. Precedents like the Russian Liberation Army led by General Vlasov are known to everyone, since the actions of the Vlasovites were captured at least in popular culture and literature. But the hundreds of thousands of “fighters against communism” who marched to the cheerful march “We march in wide fields” turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Moreover, some modern historians in general they view the ROA somewhat favorably due to a change in priorities at the end of the war, when it suddenly began fighting against the “feeding hand” in the person of agonizing Germany.
But there are also lesser-known pages of shameful history. For example, participation individual citizens The USSR in the activities of the 36th SS Grenadier Division under the command of Oskar Dirlenwanger, a surprisingly cruel and bloodthirsty man. It was this “death brigade” that burned Khatyn, Borki and other lesser-known villages. It was they who, without the slightest pity, dealt with the partisans on the territory of what is now Russia and Belarus. It was they who brutally suppressed the uprising in Warsaw in 1944. And the Russian battalion, formed mainly from criminals, shed blood hand in hand with the Germans. Although especially compassionate hardliners, in response to claims, may note that Dirlenwanger allegedly needed the Russians only as cannon fodder (like Assad, like Putin).
The Nazis also actively recruited numerous Cossack units under their wing. The 15th SS Cossack Corps, for example, consisted of 3 divisions and 16 regiments. And they fought against Soviet power selflessly. This fact is mentioned in passing even in one of the films about agent 007, but the official authorities seem to have taken a lot of water in their mouths. But everything turned out really inconsistent: Crimean Tatars, Chechens and other ethnic groups came under repression allegedly due to massive collaboration with the enemy, and the Don and Kuban villages passed the punishing hand of the Kremlin. One can, of course, recall how the Allies handed over the Cossacks to Moscow after the war. But if you look up the statistics, then there will be just a few Cossacks there - it was mainly the first wave of emigrants who came under attack, who left for the West even before the official creation of the USSR.
Russian fascists receive blessing to fight the Red Army
However, if you dig deeper, it turns out that yesterday’s white officers also did not deny themselves the pleasure of fighting against their former fellow citizens (and not only). Just look at the Russian Security Corps in Serbia, headed by a prominent monarchist, Lieutenant General Boris Shteifon. “White Bone,” unlike the peasants, was excellently trained in military affairs, and the Yugoslav partisans from units with a total number of 12 thousand people suffered a lot over four years. Similar combat units at different times also appeared in Central Europe and the Baltic countries. One could also recall South American affairs, but they do not relate to this topic.
This puts Kremlin propaganda in an extremely awkward position. If you call a spade a spade, it turns out that popular culture sang praises to the wrong people. AND St. George ribbons- a symbol of the Vlasovites, and Rosenbaum’s cheerful Cossack melodies will become an ode to unreliable double-dealing renegades. And romance " Russian field"will be perceived, among other things, as an anthem of the unprincipled" wild geese" And most importantly, the myth about Russians as the main anti-fascists in world history will be immediately dispelled.
Even if we remember the battalions “Nachtigal”, “Roland” and other few units on the side of the Germans, there will still not be fifty thousand Ukrainians there. And there are at least a million Russians, and this despite the fact that some sources are clearly inaccurate. And who are the true fascists here, can you tell me?
Vitaly Mogilevsky, Without Taboo
As a postscript, here is a list of Russian combat units that served Hitler:
- The Russian Liberation People's Army of the Wehrmacht (ROA), by the way, performed under the Russian tricolor, which became the banner modern Russia. The ROA included 12 security corps, 13 divisions, 30 brigades;
- Combat Union of Russian Nationalists (BSRN);
- RONA (Russian Liberation People's Army) - 5 regiments, 18 battalions;
- 1st Russian National Army (RNNA) - 3 regiments, 12 battalions.
- Russian National Army- 2 regiments, 12 battalions;
- Division "Russland";
- Cossack Stan;
- Congress for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR);
- Russian Liberation Army Congress of the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (3 divisions, 2 brigades).
- Air Force KONR (KONR Aviation Corps) - 87 aircraft, 1 air group, 1 regiment;
- Lokot Republic;
- Zuev's detachment;
- Eastern battalions and companies;
- 15th Cossack Russian Corps of SS troops - 3 divisions, 16 regiments;
- 1st Sinegorsk Ataman Cossack Regiment;
- 1st Cossack Division (Germany);
- 7th Volunteer Cossack Division;
- Military Cossack unit “Free Kuban”;
- 448 Cossack detachment;
- 30th SS Grenadier Division (Second Russian);
- Brigade of General A.V. Turkul;
- 1st Russian national SS brigade “Druzhina” (1st Russian national SS detachment);
- Regiment “Varyag” by Colonel M.A. Semenov;
- Higher German school for Russian officers;
- Dabendorf school of the Russian Academy of Arts;
- Russian detachment of the 9th Army of the Wehrmacht;
- SS Volunteer Regiment “Varyag”;
- SS Volunteer Regiment "Desna";
- 1st Eastern Volunteer Regiment, consisting of two battalions - “Berezina” and “Dnepr” (from September -601 and 602nd Eastern battalions);
- eastern battalion “Pripyat” (604th);
- 645th battalion;
- Separate regiment Colonel Krzhizhanovsky;
- volunteer Belgian Walloon Legion of the Wehrmacht;
- 5 assault brigade troops of the SS "Wallonia" tank division SS Viking;
- Brotherhood of “Russian Truth”;
- Muravyov Battalion;
- Nikolai Kozin’s squad;
- Russian volunteers in the Luftwaffe;
- Guard of the Russian Fascist Party;
- Corps of the Russian monarchist party;
- Russian Fascist Party;
- Russian National Labor Party;
- People's Socialist Party;
- Fighting Union of Russian Nationalists;
- Russian People's Labor Party;
- Political center fight against the Bolsheviks;
- Union of Russian Activists;
- Russian People's Party of Realists;
- Zeppelin Organization;
- Hivi (“Hilfswillige” - “volunteer helpers”).
- Russian personnel of the SS division "Charlemagne";
- Russian personnel of the SS division "Dirlewanger".
In addition, the 12th Reserve Corps of the Wehrmacht at various periods included large formations of eastern troops, such as:
- Cossack (Russian) security corps of 15 regiments;
- 162nd Training Division of the Ostlegions of 6 regiments;
- 740th Cossack (Russian) reserve brigade of 6 battalions;
- Cossack (Russian) Group of the Marching Ataman of 4 regiments;
- Cossack group of Colonel von Panwitz of 6 regiments;
- Consolidated Cossack (Russian) field police division “Von Schulenburg”.
Combat emblems of Russian collaborators
In total, about 200 Red and White Russian generals served the Nazis:
- 20 Soviet citizens became Russian fascist generals;
- 3 Lieutenant General Vlasov A.A., Trukhin F.N., Malyshkin V.F.;
- 1st Divisional Commissioner Zhilenkov G.N.;
- 6 major generals Zakutny D.E., Blagoveshchensky I.A., Bogdanov P.V., Budykhto A.E., Naumov A.Z., Salikhov B.B.;
- 3 brigade commanders: Bessonov I.G., Bogdanov M.V.; Sevostyanov A.I.;
Major General Bunyachenko - commander of the 600th division of the Wehrmacht (aka 1st division of the ROA SV KONR), former colonel, commander of the Red Army division.
Major General Maltsev - Commander of the KONR Air Force, former director sanatorium "Aviator", formerly - commander of the Air Force of the Siberian Military District, reserve colonel of the Red Army.
Major General Kononov - commander of the 3rd Consolidated Cossack Plastun Brigade of the 15th Cossack Cavalry Corps of the Main SS Troops operational management SS (FHA-SS), former major, regiment commander of the Red Army.
Major General Zverev is the commander of the 650th division of the Wehrmacht (aka the 2nd division of the ROA AF KONR), former colonel, commander of the Red Army division.
Major General Domanov - commander of the Cossack security corps Cossack Stan Main Directorate Cossack Troops Main Directorate of the SS (FA-SS), former NKVD sext.
Major General Pavlov - marching ataman, commander of the Marching Ataman Group of the GUKV.
Waffenbrigadenführer - Major General of the SS troops Kaminsky B.S. - commander of the 29th Grenadier Division of the SS troops "RONA" of the Main Operations Directorate of the SS, former engineer.
Data on Russian collaborators has been collected Russian historian Igor Garin, all of them are easily confirmed in just two clicks.
