How the SS Brigade Became a Heroic Partisan Unit. How did the Russian brigade ss

75 years ago, in August 1943, on the side Soviet partisans crossed the collaborationist brigade of the SS "Druzhina" headed by Vladimir Gil (Rodionov). People who had been an instrument of the Nazi occupation policy for more than a year became red partisans, fought bravely with their former owners and nine months later, almost all died in battle with the Nazis. There are many myths about the activities of the "Druzhina" and the personality of its commander Gil today. Some try to present him as a scout hero, who was personally awarded by Stalin, others as a completely worthless and ordinary person. According to official Soviet documents, Vladimir Gil was born on June 11, 1906 in the town of Vileika, not far from Minsk. By nationality he was Belarusian. Came from a working-class family.

The Rise and Fall of the Red Commander

In 1921, Vladimir Gil joined the Komsomol, next year graduated from a nine-year school, after which he worked as a secretary of the village council in the village of New Roads. In 1926 he entered the Borisoglebsk-Leningrad cavalry school. Three years later he graduated from it and was appointed platoon commander in the 32nd Beloglinsky Cavalry Regiment. In 1931, Vladimir Gil joined the party and, after serving as a squadron commander and assistant chief of staff of the regiment, in 1937 was enrolled in military academy Red Army named after M. V. Frunze.

Gil became a student of the academy, being in the rank of senior lieutenant, which in itself is unusual. As a rule, this was the lot of higher commanders. He was lucky in the sense that in the Red Army at that time there was an acute shortage commanders. In 1938, he was promoted to the rank of captain, in 1939 - to major, and in 1940 he was already a lieutenant colonel. He studied very well, but at the same time he was a careerist, apparently only pretending to be a sincere communist, ready to die for his homeland.

In 1940, Gil became chief of staff of the 8th motorized brigade, and in March 1941 - chief of staff of the 229th rifle division.

After the start of the Second World War, Gil managed to fight for only 10 days, after which on July 16 he was captured in the territory Vitebsk region. There is a popular myth that he was wounded, but this is not objectively confirmed by anything.

Immediately after being captured, an officer of department 1C began working with him ( military intelligence and counterintelligence) 3rd tank army Wehrmacht, but Gil did not initially cooperate with the Germans. However, having visited transit points and prisoner of war camps, where terrible things were happening, he did not want to die of hunger. Once in officer camp No. 68 in Suwalki (at that time it was the territory East Prussia), in the fall of 1941, he nevertheless went to cooperate with the Nazis. Having gathered a group of several officers, he, under the auspices of the SD, began to create an anti-Soviet organization, ”said Dmitry Zhukov.

"Druzhina" Rodionov

In the spring of 1942, Gil created the so-called "Combat Union of Russian Nationalists" (BSRN).

Gil's activities during this period took place under the auspices of the Zeppelin Organization - structural unit VI Directorate of the RSHA, which worked on the creation of reconnaissance and sabotage groups for being thrown into Soviet rear who would be engaged in inciting hatred, sabotage, terrorist attacks and undermining the forces of the Red Army. The program documents that he wrote were imbued with anti-Semitism and sustained in the colonial spirit of admiration for German domination.

In the spring and summer of 1942, the name "Druzhina" was assigned to Gil's group, and he himself took the operational pseudonym Rodionov (after his grandfather's name). In August, the Nazis deployed an SS battalion at the base of the Gil (Rodionov) formation, which was transferred first to Smolensk, and then to Belarus.

One of the deepest misconceptions historians call the stories that the "Druzhina" allegedly constantly defended the local population and even entered into clashes with the SS because of this.

Under the leadership of Gil and SS assistants, they participated in the punitive operations Cottbus, Carlsbad, and February. In a number of punitive measures they were involved along with such a sad famous unit like Sonderbattalion Dirlewanger. They participated in the burning of villages, actions against Soviet partisans and the civilian population.”

In addition to combat anti-partisan operations, Gil was actively engaged in propaganda. In 1942, he managed to lure about a hundred partisans to the side of the Nazis. However, at the same time, one of his companies in November 1942 blew up the bridge, which was supposed to be guarded, and fled to the partisans. In March 1943, an SS regiment was first formed on the basis of the "Druzhina", and in May-June - a brigade consisting of two regiments, a reconnaissance battalion, an artillery battery, a training battalion and support units.

The result of the psychological game

In the summer of 1943, the leadership of the "Druzhina" tried to carry out propaganda activities in relation to the personnel of the partisan brigade "Zheleznyak" under the leadership of Ivan Titkov. Gil ordered the negotiations to be conducted by his deputy Pavel Bogdanov, a former Major General of the Red Army. Began tangled psychological game, and the result was unexpected. At first, the negotiations stalled, but the partisans prepared a document that compromised Gil in the eyes of the Germans and at the same time began to negotiate personally with him, eventually persuading him to go over to their side.

Even before the story with Gil, the collaborators several times went over to the side of the partisans and the Red Army, but at the maximum - at the level of companies. Entire brigades from the Germans to the "Druzhina" had not yet escaped.

“It was a serious operation of the Soviet special services, a game in which they applied all their experience. It was carried out under the control of the Chief of the Central Staff Partisan Movement(TSSHPD) Panteleimon Ponomarenko and his deputy Colonel of State Security Sergei Belchenko. At the same time, the TsSHPD was in active correspondence with the leadership of other special services, the contents of which we still do not really know, since it is still largely classified. Directly on the spot, Aleksey Sklyarenko, head of the Zheleznyak special department, was responsible for the work on the Druzhina.

What happened in August 1943 came as a complete surprise to the Nazis. If the negotiations had gone on for too long, the agents embedded in the brigade would have inevitably found out about this, and Gil would have failed. However, the commander of the "Druzhina" made a decision very quickly.

On August 16, the personnel of the brigade were alerted and killed everyone German officers, as well as most of the commanders potentially loyal to the Nazi command. On the same day, the "Druzhina" officially went over to the side of the partisans and attacked the German garrison at the Krulevshchina junction station, destroying about 600 Nazis, capturing trophies and blowing up fuel and ammunition depots.

After going over to the side of the Soviet partisans, the 1st Anti-Fascist partisan brigade. According to various estimates, from one and a half to two thousand people left the Germans. About 500 fighters of the "Druzhina" remained with the Nazis. Those who went to the partisans were carefully checked for possible involvement in agents German intelligence. Some of them were arrested.

1st Anti-Fascist Partisan Brigade

For the operation at the Krulevshchina station, which Gil proposed and during which he distinguished himself, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. This was largely a propaganda move aimed at further inclining the collaborationist formations to the side of the partisans and the Red Army.

Gil was also awarded another military rank"Colonel", after which the 1st Anti-Fascist Brigade began to actively operate in the Borisov-Begoml partisan region, and then in the Polotsk-Lepel zone. She crushed the Nazi garrisons in Studenka, Zembin, Korolev Stan, fought fierce battles and held one of the important sections of the Dokshitsy-Lepel road for several weeks.

The brigade, which proved its combat capability, was sent into the thick of it, to the most difficult areas. Former fighters of the "Druzhina" fought bravely, trying to atone for their guilt. During this period, along with other partisan detachments and brigades fighting next to them, they inflicted very serious damage on the Nazi punishers.

In April 1944, the Nazis launched a large-scale punitive operation "Spring Holiday" against the partisans of the Lepel zone. By the beginning of May, 16 partisan brigades were surrounded by Wehrmacht, SS and police forces in an area of ​​​​about 4 square kilometers near the village of Plino. On May 4, the 1st Anti-Fascist Partisan Brigade launched a breakthrough. Almost all of its personnel were killed in action. Vladimir Gil himself was mortally wounded. On May 14 he died of his wounds and was buried in mass grave near the village of Nakol. In 1991, he and seven other partisans were reburied in the center of the partisan cemetery in the city of Ushachi, Vitebsk region.

“Death actually saved Gil from an almost inevitable trial. Other partisan commanders they said that it might have been better for him. Due to the fact of treason and the war crimes in which he participated, even with all the extenuating circumstances, he would definitely have waited for many years of imprisonment after the war.

Of the 1099 fighters of the 1st Anti-Fascist Brigade who took part during the reflection punitive expedition"Spring Holiday", 1025 people died.

They fought like animals, but the Nazis mowed down almost everyone.

Nevertheless, the Soviet authorities paid Gil's family allowance officer of the Red Army for 1941-1944. The name of the colonel and his fighters was immortalized on the plates memorial complex"Breakthrough". At the end of the war, Gil's daughter Galina defended her dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and became an assistant professor at the Kharkov aviation institute. Son became a candidate technical sciences and head of the sector of cryogenic processes ITMO NAS of Belarus.

Did Gil atone for his guilt with blood? Probably redeemed. However, dark pieces from his biography cannot be thrown away. If he had survived, he would have been tried, and so he remained a colonel-order-bearer. He was a typical adventurer, very ambitious and power-hungry.

And yet today was a reason to remember him.

In addition to massive attacks and direct hostilities Nazi Germany practiced and sabotage behind enemy lines. It was for this purpose that the Zeppelin organization (or enterprise) was created in 1942. Its direct purpose is reconnaissance and sabotage in the Soviet rear. Zeppelin employees organized one of the assassination attempts on Joseph Stalin in 1944.

Within the framework of this organization, in June 1942, the Nazis assembled the 1st Russian National SS Detachment, known by another name - “Squad No. 1”. A year later, the detachment was renamed into a regiment, then into a brigade. Served in the "Druzhina" former prisoners of war from concentration camps. These were volunteers who were selected and recruited by specially trained fascists.

"Druzhinnikov" were trained, and then thrown into the rear. The task of the saboteurs was such a skillful conduct of propaganda activities that the local population would not suspect them of involvement in enemy formations. "Druzhinniki" were supposed to undermine the confidence of civilians in Soviet power and thereby incline them to the side of Germany.

History of creation

The beginning of the "Druzhina" was laid in a small Polish city Suwalki. There the Germans founded one of the Oflag 68 prisoner of war camps, where, among others, there were many Red Army soldiers. The camp administration initiated the creation of an anti-Soviet group. At first, it was called the "National Party of the Russian People", and then became the combat squad of the BSRN.

The formation was led by a former Red Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Gil. Later, for obvious reasons, he took a pseudonym for himself - "Rodionov". Gil was captured by the Nazis in 1941 after the defeat of his division near Bogushevsky. In the spring of 1942, Gil went over to the side of the Germans. From May to the end of August, the "Druzhina No. 1" headed by him grew from 25 people to 700.

The former Soviet lieutenant colonel wrote the program for this organization himself. Its members were dressed in Slovak uniforms with swastikas and other SS insignia. The inscription "For Rus'" on the cuffs of uniforms and shoulder straps of their own design distinguished the "vigilantes" from other Nazis. In the summer of 1943, the Russian SS formations already numbered 3,000 well-armed and trained fighters.

The activities of the "Druzhina"

After the formation, detachments of saboteurs were prepared for future activities 3 weeks. Gil himself studied at this time in the intelligence school in the capital of the Wehrmacht, Berlin. The recruitment of volunteers to the "Druzhina" never stopped. After the formation, the first detachments were thrown into the Polish town of Parchev. There they led fighting against local partisans.

In the spring of 1943, detachments under the command of Gil burned several villages in Belarus and machine-gunned 3,000 people. The first group of saboteurs was abandoned on Soviet territory on October 6, 1942. As a result, about a hundred people went over to their side, 25 Red Army soldiers were killed, military equipment and weapons were seized.

Going over to the side of the Polotsk-Lepel partisans

In the summer of 1943, partisans from the Polotsk-Lepel region approached Vladimir Gil and established contact with him. For going over to their side, the commander of the Russian SS brigade was promised an amnesty after the war. Gil believed these promises and agreed to cooperate. Following their commander, all the fighters of the Russian SS units (almost 2,200 people) went over to the side of the Polotsk partisans. This is how the 1st Anti-Fascist Partisan Brigade was formed.

Its fighters distinguished themselves by their bravery and carried out many successful operations against the Nazis. Gil was even awarded for bravery and awarded the rank of colonel. But not so much the fighting of the brigade as its very betrayal greatly undermined the prestige of the SS. The Nazis were not going to give up so easily. In the spring of 1944, they launched an operation to defeat the Polotsk-Lepel partisans, which they called "Spring Holiday". In its course, the Nazis destroyed almost the entire 1st Anti-Fascist Brigade.

Further fate

Vladimir Gil was mortally wounded in battle and died in April 1944 near the Nakol farm. There were rumors that the wounded and starving Gil was shot by his colleague for a double betrayal. Where his remains were buried, no one knew until 1991. Subsequently, they were reburied in a mass grave near the town of Ushachi. The surviving fighters of the 1st Anti-Fascist after the war were sentenced to long terms in labor camps (an average of 10 years). The higher ranks were shot.

In March 1942, in a prisoner of war camp in Suwalki (Sulejuwek), under the patronage of “Enterprise. Zeppelin" the "National Party of the Russian People" was created. The initiator of the creation of the party was Lieutenant Colonel of the Red Army Vladimir Vladimirovich Gil, the former chief of staff of the 229th Infantry Division, who was captured near the town of Tolochin in an unconscious state. In the camp, Gil received the post of commandant and enjoyed the support of the head of the camp, SS Sturmbannführer Shindovsky. According to the information of the state security organs of the BSSR, in captivity, Gil graduated from the SD special school in Berlin, and was subsequently awarded two iron crosses for fighting the partisans. According to L.A. Samutin, who served in the Druzhina, there were rumors among the personnel of this formation that Gil was a Jew by nationality, a native of Belarus. Gil's unusual colloquial accent contributed to the replication of this rumor.

In addition to Gil, who took the pseudonym "Rodionov", the leadership block of the organization included Captain Blazhevich, Glazov, Guryanov, Colonels Egorov (Rumyantsev), Rubansky, Shepetovsky, Major M.A. Kalugin, Captain Ivin.

Subsequently, the name of the party changed to the "Fighting Union of Russian Nationalists" (BSRN).

When joining the Union, candidate members of the BSRN filled out a special questionnaire, received a membership card and took a written oath of allegiance to the Union. The primary branches of the Union were called "combat squads".

The program of the Union included the following provisions on the construction of the "future Russia":

“The future Russia should be nationalist, the peoples inhabiting Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and Transcaucasia are given the right to self-determination and separation into independent states under the protectorate Greater Germany. At future Russia it should be new order based on the principle of the new order in Europe. Power in Russia should belong to the ruler appointed by Hitler. elected for the legislature state council which is approved by the ruler. He also appoints ministers exercising local executive power. Collective farms are abolished, and all the land belonging to them is transferred to private use. In the area of ​​trade, private initiative is encouraged.

Small industry will be handed over to private capital, medium industry will be in the hands of shareholders, and large industry will be liquidated altogether. Russia should be an agrarian country.

Religion is separated from the state and from the school, but supported by the state. Education in Russia will be only primary and rural. higher…”.

In April 1942, all members of the BSRN were transferred to the Zeppelin preliminary camp, located on the territory of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. At the same time, the BSRN Center was established. It was divided into four departments: intelligence and counterintelligence (training agents), military affairs and two training groups. Each department was led by a Zeppelin official. The BSRN center was subordinate to territorial centers located in all the occupied regions of the USSR and in prisoner of war camps. Gradually, these units (with the exception of one training group) left the camp, the second personnel training department was located in the "20th SS Forest Camp" in the Breslau region, where the leaders of special camps were trained.

The second training group of the BSRN began to be deployed in the region of Breslau, where the leadership of special camps was trained in the "Waldlager SS-20".

Propaganda of the ideas of the Union was carried out in the camps in Sachsenhausen, Oswitz, Breslau, Hammelburg and Wolau. The Oswitz organization of the Union was headed by a former Major tank troops Egorov, in Sachsenhausen. lieutenant colonel Orlov, who was previously a member of the Russian Labor National Party. Later, in connection with the transition of Orlov to the post of chief of staff, he was replaced by Prince Golitsyn. The political school in Sachsenhausen was led by Lieutenant Colonel Rubansky.

In the fall of 1942, Gil was asked to negotiate with the former General Bessonov, who also collaborated with the Zeppelin. If an agreement was reached, it was recommended that both organizations be merged. Bessonov, a representative of the BSRN who arrived in Zandberg, told Shepetovsky that he was currently dealing with questions of theory and did not intend to unite, despite the commonality of thoughts. On March 24, 1943, the steering committee in full strength, together with representatives German command left for Berlin, where, after Gil's negotiations with the Zeppelin leadership, the issue of organizing a detachment (squad) to participate in the fight against the Red Army was decided.

To conduct propaganda broadcasts, the “Broadcasting Center of the Combat Union” was organized, which in fact did not depend on it, since the broadcast program compiled by the Germans was not even coordinated with Gil.

A military group of 100 people left for the area of ​​the city of Parchev (Poland), where special camp"Zeppelin". Here, by June 1942, the combat unit "1st Russian National SS Detachment", or "Druzhina No. 1", was formed, numbering about 500 people under the command of Gil. The detachment consisted of three companies and service units. The first company was completed former officers Red Army and was used as a reserve for the deployment of other units. The personnel were dressed in Czech military uniform(like all Zeppelin activists), the insignia were similar to the SS troops, but the shoulder straps were of their own design, there was a black ribbon on the cuffs of the officers' uniforms with the inscription "For Rus'!". In service, there were 150 machine guns, 50 light and heavy machine guns, 20 mortars.

The place of deployment was Parchev, then a special base in the forest between the aforementioned city and the city of Yablon. Here the "Druzhina" conducted anti-partisan operations in the Parchevsky forests. In the course of these battles, up to one and a half thousand people were destroyed by "vigilantes". In operational subordination, "Druzhina No. 1" was at the command of Operational Group "B" of the Security Police and SD, on whose instructions it carried the protection of communications, and already in mid-August it was transferred to Smolensk, located near Stary Bykhov, in March 1943 arrived in Belarusian town of Luzhki.

By that time, a special department of the BSRN had joined the Zeppelin intelligence school, also located in the city of Yablon.

In January 1943, a conference of BSRN organizations was held in Breslavl. It was attended by 35 delegates.

Here, the leadership of the BSRN put forward a proposal to begin the formation of 3 corps from prisoners of war: the 1st to fight partisans, the 2nd. for the front, 3rd. to be thrown into the Soviet rear. After the conference, Gil was called to Berlin, but his trip did not bring any results, since by that time the Germans had already relied on General Vlasov.

At about the same time, in the special SS camp "Guides" (according to other sources in "Stalaga-319") near the city of Lublin, "Squad No. 2", ("2nd Russian National Detachment of the SS"), numbering 300 people, was formed , headed by former captains Red Army Andrei Eduardovich Blazhevich (or Blazevich, former chief of staff of the artillery regiment of the Red Army), Alelekov and Makarenko.

Joined the formation and " Special Squad SS" from the city of Breslau. Vlasov's closest associate, Sergei Frelikh, writes about Blazhevich in his memoirs: “... I did not trust him, having found out that in the Soviet Union he served in parts of the NKVD. Collaboration with the NKVD was imprinted on the character of Blashevich (as in the text ... Ch.S.): he was unscrupulous, firm, insincere and knew how to earn the trust of his German superiors with his cruel behavior towards the Russian population and captured partisans.

In October 1942, Gil's team was sent to the Usakinsky forest area (Klichevsky district, Mogilev region), where from November they fought against partisans and interacted with German troops and police. Already in December, it was largely decomposed by the partisans, to whom at the end of that month a full officer company passed, having interrupted German soldiers and officers and blowing up the railway bridge over the Drut River, which she guarded.

In March 1943, both "Squads" were merged into the "1st Russian National Regiment of the SS" in Luzhki, the commander of which was Gil-Rodionov, and the chief of staff Blazhevich.

After receiving replenishment, the "Squad" consisted of 1200 people in its ranks (150 of them officers). The regiment was armed with 60 guns, 95 machine guns, 18 mortars and over 200 machine guns. The head of the regiment's counterintelligence (also called the "Prevention Service") was the former Soviet Major General P.V. Bogdanov.

In May of the same year, under its control, the regiment received special zone in Belarus in the Polotsk region, the headquarters was located in the village. Meadows. Local youth, deserters from partisan detachments and the prisoners who joined the ranks allowed the Druzhina to be deployed into the 1st Russian National SS Brigade.

The brigade included: three combat and one training battalions, an auto company, batteries of mortars and guns, a machine gun company, a training company, an ammunition company, 2 cavalry platoons, a commandant platoon, a medical unit, a utility unit, an assault company, a sapper platoon, a communications company and field gendarmerie platoon, organized on the initiative of Blazhevich. The banner of the brigade was a huge black velvet panel with the image of the "Adam's head" of golden color.

In addition to the former Soviet officers emigrants settled in some positions: Captain Dame. subsequently, after the deployment of the battalions, the chief of staff of the 1st regiment, the commander of the artillery battery, colonel, prince Svyatopolk-Mirsky, counterintelligence officer. former Denikin officer, staff captain Shmelev, Count Vyrubov and others.

A.F. spoke in his letter about the impression this unit made. Yegorov, the ataman of the "Common Cossack Association in the German Empire" Lieutenant General E.I. Balabin:

“My representative in the General Government, commander Moiseev, sent me a letter yesterday. He visited Lublin and spent a day there under the white-blue-red flag in the Russian SS battalion. The German lieutenant, who is an instructor in the detachment, began by saying that Russia is represented not by emigrants, but by yesterday's Bolsheviks, now nationalists. Emigrants, on the other hand, have many parties and even more different views, and them to the army. officially. they do not accept, but unofficially ask for favors. The SS detachments in Belorussia and Great Russia will be given all power. In addition to the SS, an army is being created under the command of General Vlasov, and there will be a place for the Whites. Moiseev got acquainted with the officers of the battalion and the orders there. The selection of soldiers is done perfectly. discipline, smartness and in general. the soul rejoiced ... The officers wear army gold shoulder straps: ensign. no stars, lieutenant. 2 stars, both along the shoulder strap, captain. three stars, as the lieutenant used to have, but gold is not particularly suitable for the German SS uniform. Battalion commander Major Blazhevich from St. Petersburg. His chief of staff is Captain Bogdanov (formerly an ensign, and at the beginning of the war he was a division commander with the rank of colonel, and now only a captain). As part of the battalion former general. now just a lieutenant. At all officers recalls former warrant officers but all are great patriots and know how to approach people. Scuffles are used in the battalion. Everyone is full of faith that Russia will be and will be friendship between two great powers.

They hope that the Bolshevik army, having learned (and appeals are scattered) that a Russian government has been created, will go over to the side of the Germans and hasten the end of the war ... "

Yesaul Moiseev himself was an employee of the Rossiya Sonderstab.

Interaction with German units engaged in the German headquarters in the amount of 10.12 SS officers. The SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Appel took care of the Druzhina. The position of the Germans in the Druzhina was unique. Not participating in battles directly at the front, they served in the combat unit of the SS (albeit Russian) with excellent material support, away from the front, having Gil-Rodionov's "Volodya" as friends.

"a wonderful guy", who also knew how to be friends with the German leadership. All the checkers of the "Druzhina" from the SS left it with voluminous packages of "gifts" from the command of the Russian formation, so favorable reviews "upstairs" were provided to Gil.

According to a contemporary of the events, the food supply of the "Druzhina" was at a high level.

Officers received rations of chocolate, French cognac and coffee beans. For the personnel there was a sea of ​​spilled moonshine, schnapps and products.

On the initiative of Gil, an orchestra was organized at the headquarters of the formation, which performed before the leadership of the brigade and its guests at banquets, arranged at every opportunity. There were many cases. for example, a successful "battle" with the partisans (that is, its staging).

As part of the formation, there was its own “sharashka” of captured Jews: tailors, shoemakers, saddlers, who provided the brigade with clothes and shoes.

A member of the leadership of the Union, Captain Kalugin, proposed to his leadership the formation of additional units of the "Squad" for their subsequent transfer to North Africa to purchase combat experience and only after that use them against units of the Red Army.

A well-armed and at first disciplined brigade fought with varying success against partisan detachments. General situation on Eastern Front gradually influenced the personnel.

Gil-Rodionov himself began to change for the worse. The manifestation of unusual cruelty and drunkenness were aggravated by the fact that Blazhevich played the role of a permanent earphone and secretary. A couple of these "commanders" were engaged in executions of prisoners and dissenters. For example, on April 18, 1943, Gil ordered Lieutenant Polferov to shoot 13 people from the brigade, among whom was Lieutenant Mekh, for listening to Moscow radio. On May 28, 1943, on the orders of Gil, a lieutenant, Hero Soviet Union and former MP Supreme Council USSR Sirotkin. On April 4, Gil, together with Blazhevich, killed Major Kuznetsov. former boss personnel department of the Black Sea Fleet.

Starting May 2, 1943 with the support German troops attack on the partisans of the Begoml zone, the "Druzhina" suffered big losses in personnel and weapons. This circumstance, along with the failure of the German summer offensive, further strengthened the desire of the military to go over to the side of the partisans.

Obersturmbannführer Appel reported to his leadership on the state of the "Druzhina":

"The position in. Druzhina. requires intervention from higher authorities ... Druzhina. developed in such a direction, which is characteristic of the Russians with their megalomania.

At the same time, there is growing discontent directed against Germany… Activists. Squads. are under the influence of Russians loitering around the camp, they lead a free life of bandits, drink and eat plenty and do not think at all about their upcoming activities. Squads ... This situation creates a danger to the policy of the empire ... "

At the end of June 1943, the regiment was reorganized and relocated to the village of Otrubok (24 km north of Begoml), in July Rodionov began to form a division at the expense of the population mobilized in western regions Belarus.

In early August 1943, Rodionov's brigade was stationed in the village of Beresnevka, Begomlsky district, Minsk region. By this time, the command of the regiment consisted of:

Rodionov - Gil. commander,

Lieutenant Colonel Orlov. chief of staff,

Majors Blazhevich, Captain Malinovsky. deputy commanders, Majors Glazov and Raevsky, assistants to the chief of staff, Major General P.V. Bogdanov, head of counterintelligence.

The size of the regiment-brigade by that time had grown to 2800 people. By national composition served in the brigade: Russians. 80%, Ukrainians and others. 20 %. The brigade was armed with 5 regimental guns, 20 mortars (including 5 battalion and 12 company), 280 machine guns, rifles of Soviet, German and Czech production.

The complete degradation of Gil led him to a double betrayal, but this time. Germans. In August 1943, on the initiative of the Druzhina officers, a secret connection was established with representatives of the partisan brigade named after. Zheleznyak, which operated in the Polotsk-Lepel region. Since August 16, negotiations have already been conducted personally with Gil. The Chekists promised him a full amnesty for the disarmament of the brigade, the surrender of its anti-Bolshevik cadres and the destruction of all German servicemen. Among the requirements, the condition for the extradition of former Major General P.V. Bogdanov and SS Hauptsturmführer Count Mirsky. The Germans themselves added fuel to the fire by deploying units of the 2nd German police regiment and SS units, reinforced with armored vehicles and artillery, at the Parafyanovo station near the location of the "Squads". The Druzhina decided that the units had arrived to eliminate the Russian formation.

Rodionov accepted Moscow's conditions, and on August 16.17, parts of the brigade destroyed the German communications headquarters and their "unreliable" officers: Captain Moskalev, Senior Lieutenant A. Polferov and others. The commander of the officer company, Colonel Petrov, personally shot A.E. Blazhevich. Major General Bogdanov and the emigrants were handed over to the partisans and on August 20 they were taken by plane to Moscow (they were shot after the end of the war). "Druzhiniki" attacked the German units in Dokshitsy and the junction railway station Krulevshchina. All attacks were repulsed by German units. After that, 2,200 "druzhinas" joined the partisans, forming the "1st Anti-Fascist Partisan Brigade."

At the same time, they took with them 10 guns, 23 mortars, 77 machine guns. K.M. Alexandrov claims that about 7 thousand people went over to the side of the partisans.

For the transition of the "Druzhina" to the partisans, Gil-Rodionov was awarded the order Red Star (according to other information, the Order of the Red Banner) and reinstated in the army with the assignment next rank colonel. In his "Memoirs" V. Schellenberg claims that "Gil personally received Stalin and awarded him with an order."

Subsequently, Commissioner I.M. was assigned to Gil. Timchuk, and the 1st Anti-Fascist Brigade operated in the Polotsk-Lepel zone, where they fought fierce battles for 11 months. The brigade proved itself well, defeating the Dirlewanger battalion, and also successfully carried out a number of bold operations, one of which was the defeat of the German garrisons on February 1, 1944 on railway station Vileyka and in the military town. Main character of our story Gil-Rodionov on May 14, 1944, was seriously wounded during the breakthrough of the German blockade in the area of ​​​​the village of Ushachi, Vitebsk region, and died of his wounds.

Even before these events, in the spring of 1943, part of the Gilya Rodionov brigade (training, propaganda teams and the “Special Russian SS Battalion”, formed in 1943 in Breslau) was reorganized on the initiative of the SD and came under the command of General G. Zhilenkov, with nominal subordination " Russian Committee" Vlasov. This is a division. The "1st Guards Battalion (Brigade) of the ROA" was located in the town of Stremutki, 15 km from Pskov. The leadership was staffed by white émigré officers who had previously participated in the formation of the RNNA. The patronage of the unit by the Germans was carried out by the head of the 6th department of the RSHA, Dr. H. Greife. He was primarily interested in the possibility of using Russian volunteer activists as scouts and saboteurs in the Soviet rear, so the battalion was a kind of filter for screening out unsuitable candidates for saboteurs under the Russland-Mitte Zeppelin Main Team.

As part of the unit, it was planned to allocate two special groups for transfer to Moscow. The first group was to steal General K.K. Rokossovsky and persuade him to at least formal leadership of the Russian Liberation Army. The commander of this group was a former Lieutenant Colonel of the Red Army Alexei Bocharov (Bugrov).

The head of the second special group was a former major of the Red Army, an employee of the Abwehr I.M. Grachev (pseudonym "Giants", former commander special battalion of the Abvergroup-211 and a teacher at the Abwehr reconnaissance school in the town of Vano-Nursi). The group was supposed to entrust the conduct of reconnaissance. On March 20, 1943, the Russian battalion (120 people) was transferred from Breslau to Glubokoe. At the end of April, part of the battalion took part in the fighting against the partisans in Dokshitsy, during which 30 people went into the forest.

The rest were disarmed, 7 people were returned to Glubokoe. At that time, a group of former “vigilantes” and volunteers from the city of Volau arrived there, where the main team"Zeppelin" "Russland-Mitte". In May 1943, the former Osintorfians Sakharov, Kromiadi and Lamsdorf arrived in Glubokoe, who immediately began to form the "1st Shock Brigade of the ROA".

Upon their arrival, battalion commander Druzhinin and chief of staff Vasiliev were removed from their posts.

Soon the brigade became an exemplary unit, stationed in good barracks under a white-blue-red flag. The soldiers were wearing the same Czech uniform gray color, as the "vigilantes", but with buttonholes, shoulder straps and ROA stripes. After receiving replenishment, the 1st rifle battalion, a farm company, an officer's reserve company and a propaganda unit were formed. S.N. became the battalion commander. Ivanov, deputy. I.K. Sakharov, chief of staff. K.G. Kromiadi, representative of Vlasov. G. Zhilenkov.

This unit was not destined to turn into a part of more than a battalion, and after the transition of Gil, the SD reorganized it into the Jagdkommando-113. On June 23, a riot broke out in the battalion, but was suppressed after a shootout. The rebellion was led by one of the standard-bearers, who participated with G. Lamsdorf in the parade on June 22, 1943, anniversary start of the war.

In August 1943, the command staff of the battalion was recalled to Berlin and a situation similar to that in the RNNA was repeated. Part of the units of the brigade-battalion was transferred to other places, and Captain Count G. Lamsdorf took command of the rest. November of this year most of soldiers and officers went to the partisans, the remaining 100 people were thrown into the Pskov concentration camp.

Zhilenkov and the emigrants claimed command of the entire "Druzhina" under the auspices of the ROA, but the Gilevites made it their condition that their entire unit be transferred to the ROA as a whole, with Gil retained as commander. Opposition was also provided by the SD officers who were at Gila.

After the transition of the Gil brigade to the partisans, the “Combat Union of Russian Nationalists” continued to exist, but this enterprise had already exhausted itself and compromised in the eyes of German intelligence. This is also evidenced by the memorandum of the NKGB I.V. Stalin No. 1767/m of August 27, 1943:

“In the Polotsk-Vitebsk region, there is an operational group of the NKGB of the USSR under the leadership of Major Comrade. Morozov, with up to 1900 soldiers and commanders.

Comrade group. Morozova conducts active subversive work behind enemy lines. In April of this year. the following defectors from. Fighting Union of Russian Nationalists.:

1. Fedor Vasilyevich Vedernikov, born in 1911, ex. the commander of the battery of the 23rd Infantry Division of the 11th Army, in August 1941 near Velikie Luki, being wounded, was captured by the Germans.

2. Dmitry Petrovich Leonov, born in 1912, ex. radio engineer of the 599th anti-tank regiment, ex. prisoner of war.

3. Nagornov Petr Afanasyevich, born in 1922, ex. fighter of the anti-tank unit No. 1638, ex. prisoner of war.

The listed persons have connections among the fighters and commanders created by the Germans. Russian Liberation Army., gave valuable testimony about the intelligence work carried out by the Germans through the members of these units and expressed a desire to accept Active participation in the fight against the Germans. Vedernikov, Leonov and Nagornov named a number of persons from composition of the ROA who are patriotic and intend to defect to our side.

Tov. Morozov was given the task of establishing contact with the persons named by Vedernikov, Leonov and Nagornov, forbidding them to go over to our side and using them to prepare and carry out the necessary measures against them. Crow. ("Raven". code designation gene.

(A.A. Vlasov. Ch.S.)”.)

The one who betrayed once will certainly do it the second time.

To have time to fight in the Great Patriotic War both on the side of the Nazis and on the side of the Communists - is this really possible? It turns out - completely. It was this fate that was prepared for the Russian fighters from the SS brigade "Druzhina".

The goal is sabotage

Waging war is not only attacks and high-profile battles, it is also the thoughtful actions of saboteurs. The Zeppelin organization was created by the Nazis precisely for the purpose of sabotage and reconnaissance in the rear of the Soviet enemy. It was the Zeppelins who in 1944 organized an assassination attempt on Stalin. And it was the Zeppelin that came up with the idea of ​​an SS detachment consisting of Russians.

"Druzhina No. 1" - the so-called Russian national SS detachment, assembled in 1942. A year later, the detachment began to be called a regiment, later - a brigade. They recruited into the "Druzhina" prisoners of war who fell into concentration camps; recruits passed special education campaign work, and then went to the rear of their home country to convince there civilians: it's time to go over to the side of Germany and fight the partisan movement.

For Rus'!

The first "vigilantes" were recruited from the Oflag 68 camp, located in Poland, in a town called Suwałki. First, the camp administration organized the anti-Soviet "National Party of the Russian People", convincing some captured Red Army soldiers to join it, and then this party became a combat squad. It was headed by a former lieutenant colonel of the Red Army Vladimir Gil(later he will take the pseudonym "Rodionov").

In 1941, his division was defeated near Bogushevsky, and Gil was taken prisoner; in the spring of 1942, the Nazis managed to recruit him. Gil independently wrote a program for the “Druzhina No. 1” and from May 1942 until the end of August increased its composition from 25 people right up to 700. And a year later there were already about three thousand “druzhinas”.

Members of the Druzhina were dressed in Slovak uniforms, decorated with a swastika and other SS insignia. They were distinguished from the Nazi Germans by special shoulder straps and the inscription “For Rus'!” emblazoned on the cuffs of their uniforms.

Each of the recruits was trained for three weeks. The “vigilantes” began their activities in Poland, near the town of Parchev, fighting with local partisans, and on October 6, 1942, the first group of saboteurs was transferred to the Soviet side- to Belarus. The soldiers of the "Druzhina" lured the Red Army soldiers to their side, seized weapons and military equipment, burned the villages, whose inhabitants helped the partisans, machine-gunned the partisans themselves. Only in the spring of 1943 they shot more than three thousand people.

From fascist to anti-fascist

And in the summer of 1943, the partisans of the Polotsk-Lepel region came into contact with Gil: “at the top” it was decided that it was easier to recruit the “restraints” back than to destroy them. Gil was promised that by going over to the side Soviet state, he and his fighters will deserve a full amnesty. This is how the 1st Anti-Fascist Partisan Brigade arose: Russian SS men decided to fight “for the Motherland, for Stalin” and went over to the side of the partisans.

I must say that the fighters of the brigade bravely fought against the Nazis, and Gil-Rodionov was even promoted to colonel. As for the prestige of the SS, it was greatly undermined by this betrayal.

The return move of the Nazis was thought out and cruel: they launched a devastating operation against the Polotsk partisans under code name"Spring Holiday" - and in the spring of 1944, the 1st Anti-Fascist Brigade was destroyed almost entirely.

Gil was seriously wounded in action in April 1944 and died soon after; few of his wards survived. The survivors also did not fare well - after the war they did not receive the promised amnesty. higher ranks they were sentenced to death, the rest were given long sentences and sent to camps. So the former Russian SS men ingloriously ended their existence.