An incredible number of myths and stereotypes are associated with the history of the Vlasov army, as well as with the personality of General Vlasov. Unfortunately, in recent years their number has been seriously progressing. However, the problem is that the very phrase "Vlasov movement", if we mean it as a kind of political phenomenon, is, of course, much wider than what is called the "Vlasov army". The fact is that not only military personnel can be considered participants in the Vlasov movement, but also civilians who had nothing to do with military service at all. For example, members of the “assistance groups” of the KONR, which arose in the guest worker camps after November 1944: these are civilian employees of the Committee and its institutions, divisions, several thousand people - all of them can be considered participants in the Vlasov movement, but not military personnel of the Vlasov army.

Most often, with the phrase "Vlasov army" we have such an association - the Russian Liberation Army (ROA). But in reality, the ROA was a fiction; it never existed as an operational association. It was an exclusively propaganda stamp that appeared in late March - early April 1943. And all the so-called (or almost all) Russian "volunteers" who served in the German armed forces: freiwilliger, partly Khiva - they all wore this chevron and were considered soldiers of an army that never existed. In fact, they were members of the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht, in the first place. Until October 1944, the only unit that was subordinate to Vlasov was a security company scattered in Dabendorf and Dalen, where the general was actually under house arrest. That is, there was no Vlasov army. And only in November 1944, or rather in October, did a really serious, qualified headquarters begin to be created.

By the way, I must say that Vlasov performed more representative functions in his army. Its true organizer, a man who has managed to achieve a lot over the past six months, was Fyodor Ivanovich Trukhin, a professional General Staff officer, former head of the operations department of the North-Western Front, deputy chief of staff of the North-Western Front, who was captured in the last days of June 1941 . Actually, it was General Trukhin who was the real creator of the Vlasov army. He was Vlasov's deputy for the affairs of the Committee, military affairs, deputy head of the military department.

The true creator of the Vlasov army was General Fyodor Trukhin

If we talk about the structure of the Vlasov army, then it developed as follows: firstly, Vlasov and Trukhin counted on the fact that the Germans would transfer all existing Russian units, subdivisions, formations under their command. However, looking ahead, this did not happen.

In April 1945, the Vlasov army de jure included two Cossack corps: in the Separate Cossack Corps in Northern Italy there were 18.5 thousand combatants, and in the 15th Cossack Corps von Pannwitz without German personnel - about 30 thousand people. On January 30, 1945, the Russian Corps also joined Vlasov, which was not very large in number, about 6 thousand people, but consisted of fairly professional personnel. Thus, as of April 20-22, 1945, about 124 thousand people were subordinate to General Vlasov. If we single out Russians separately (without Ukrainians, Belarusians), then about 450 - 480 thousand people passed through the Vlasov army. Of these, 120 - 125 thousand people (as of April 1945) can be considered Vlasov military personnel.

The certification of servicemen who arrived in the officer reserve was carried out by a qualification commission led by Major Arseniy Demsky. The commission assessed the knowledge, training, professional suitability of former Soviet officers. As a rule, the serviceman retained his old military rank, especially if documents or a prisoner of war card were kept, where it was recorded, but sometimes he was assigned a higher rank. For example, military engineer II rank Alexei Ivanovich Spiridonov served in Vlasov's Main Directorate of Propaganda - he was immediately accepted into the ROA as a colonel, although his military rank did not correspond to this rank. Andrey Nikitich Sevastyanov, head of the logistics department of the Central Headquarters, in general, a unique person in Russian history (we will say a few words about him below), received the rank of major general in the ROA.

KONR meeting in Berlin, November 1944

The fate of Andrei Nikitich Sevastyanov has almost never been the subject of attention of historians and researchers. He was the son of a Moscow clerk or even a merchant of the second guild (versions differ). He graduated from a commercial school in Moscow, after which he studied for some time at the Higher Technical School. Before the revolution, he served in active service in the ranks of the Imperial Army, and left with the rank of warrant officer in the reserve. The First World War began. Sevastyanov immediately went to the front, ending the war in the fall of 1917 with the rank of staff captain. In principle, there is nothing to be surprised here. However, we note that during these three years of the war, our hero received seven military Russian awards, including the St. George Cross of the 4th degree and the Order of St. Vladimir with swords. As far as is known, this is the only case in the history of the First World War when a non-professional officer (Sevastyanov was from the reserve) received seven military orders, including the two highest ones. At the same time, he also earned a serious wound: during the attack of the Austrian cavalry, Sevastyanov was wounded with a blade in the head and spent almost the entire 1917 in the hospital.

In 1918, Sevastyanov went to serve in the Red Army, from where he was fired for anti-Soviet views. For twenty years he was imprisoned, then released. And in 1941, near Kyiv, according to one version, he went over to the side of the enemy himself, according to another, he was captured.

In the Red Army, Sevastyanov passed an attestation, his card was in the card file of the commanding staff, but he was never awarded a military rank. Apparently he was waiting. According to one version, he should have been given the rank of captain, which corresponded to a staff captain, but for some reason the chief of artillery of the 21st Army ordered Sevastyanov to wear one rhombus in his buttonholes. It turns out that Andrei Nikitich was captured with the rank of brigade commander, a rank that was no longer there in September 1941. And on the basis of this entry in the ROA, Sevastyanov was certified as a major general.

In February 1945, Andrei Sevastyanov, together with the generals of the ROA, Mikhail Meandrov and Vladimir Artsezo, who served with Vlasov under the pseudonym "Iceberg", was extradited by the Americans to Soviet representatives. In 1947, he was shot by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR.

In April 1945, about 124 thousand people obeyed General Vlasov

If we estimate the size of the officer corps of the Vlasov army, then as of April 1945, it ranged from 4 to 5 thousand people in the ranks from second lieutenant to general, including, of course, white emigrants who joined Vlasov in a fairly compact group. Mostly they were officers of the Russian Corps. For example, military personnel under the leadership of Lieutenant General Boris Alexandrovich Shteifon, hero of the Erzurum battle of 1916, commandant of the Gallipoli camp, member of the White movement. It is worth noting that almost all white émigré officers occupied separate, rather important posts in Vlasov's army.

If we compare the number of Soviet officers who were captured with the number of white emigrants who joined the Vlasov army, then the ratio will be somewhere around 1:5 or 1:6. At the same time, we note that the latter compared favorably with the commanders of the Red Army. It can even be said that the officers of the Russian Corps were more ready for rapprochement with the Vlasovites than the soldiers of the Red Army.

How can this be explained? Partly because the appearance of General Vlasov was psychologically justified in the eyes of white emigrants. In the 30s, all the magazines of the white military emigration (“Sentry” and a number of others) enthusiastically wrote (the theory of “Comcor Sidorchuk” was very popular) that there would be some popular commander of the Red Army who would lead the struggle of the people against the authorities, and then we will definitely support this commander, even if he opposed us during the Civil War. And when Vlasov appeared (the first meeting between Vlasov and Major General of the General Staff Alexei von Lampe took place on May 19, 1943 at the house of the former vice-director of the department of agriculture Fyodor Schlippe, Stolypin's ally in agrarian reform), he made a very good impression.

Thus, we emphasize this once again, there were much more white emigrants in the ranks of the Vlasov army than participated in the resistance movement. If you objectively look at the number, then about 20 thousand Russian white emigrants during the Second World War fought on the side of the enemy.

Soldiers of the Russian Liberation Army, 1944

The “baptism of fire” of the ROA, with the exception of the active hostilities that the formations conducted before they entered the Vlasov army, took place on February 9, 1945. The strike group under the command of Colonel Igor Sakharov, formed from Soviet citizens, volunteers who served in the Vlasov army, and several white emigrants, together with German troops, took part in battles with the 230th rifle division of the Red Army, which took up defense in the Oder region. I must say that the actions of the ROA were quite effective. In his diary, Goebbels noted "the outstanding achievements of the detachments of General Vlasov."

> The second episode involving the ROA, much more serious, took place on April 13, 1945 - the so-called operation "April weather". It was an attack on the bridgehead of the Soviet fortification, the Erlenhof bridgehead, south of Furstenberg, which was defended by the 415th separate machine-gun and artillery battalion, which was part of the 119th fortified area of ​​the Soviet 33rd Army. And Sergey Kuzmich Bunyachenko, a former colonel of the Red Army, major general of the ROA, put two of his infantry regiments into action. However, the terrain there was so unfavorable, and the front of the attack was only 504 meters, and the attackers exposed themselves from the flank under the strong barrage of Soviet artillery of the 119th UR, that success (advance 500 meters, capture the first line of trenches and hold out on it until the next days) achieved only the 2nd regiment. The 3rd regiment under the command of Georgy Petrovich Ryabtsev, who served under the pseudonym "Alexandrov", a former major of the Red Army, lieutenant colonel of the Vlasov army, was defeated.

By the way, the fate of Ryabtsev, who shot himself on the demarcation line in the Czech Republic after the Prague uprising, is very curious. In the First World War, he was captured by the Germans, fled, being a non-commissioned officer of the Russian army, to the allies, the French. He fought in the Foreign Legion, then returned to Russia. He served in the Red Army, in 1941 he was the commander of the 539th regiment. He fell into German captivity for the second time, spent two years in the camp, filed a report with the ROA and was enrolled in the inspectorate of Major General Blagoveshchensky.

In the eyes of white emigrants, the appearance of Vlasov was psychologically justified

The 2nd Regiment was led by Lieutenant Colonel Vyacheslav Pavlovich Artemiev, a career cavalryman, by the way, is also a very interesting character. He was captured by the Germans in September 1943. At home, he was considered dead, posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After the war, Artemyev avoided forced extradition to the Soviet administration. He died in Germany in the 60s.

But the life story of General Ivan Nikitich Kononov could easily become the basis for a cinematic film or a detective story. A former Red Army soldier, commander of the 436th regiment of the 155th rifle division, Kononov on August 22, 1941, with a fairly large group of soldiers and commanders, went over to the side of the enemy, immediately offering to create a Cossack unit. During interrogation to the Germans, Kononov stated that he was from the repressed Cossacks, his father was hanged in 1919, two brothers died in 1934. And, interestingly, the Germans retained the rank of major assigned to Kononov in the Red Army, in 1942 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, in 1944 to colonel of the Wehrmacht, and in 1945 he became a major general of KONR. Over the years of service to the Wehrmacht, Kononov received twelve military awards - this is in addition to the Order of the Red Star, acquired at home.

As for the fate of the Colonel of the Red Army, Major General of the KONR Sergei Kuzmich Bunyachenko, there are many ambiguities in it. Bunyachenko was born into a poor Ukrainian family, more than half of which died from the "Holodomor". In 1937, at a party meeting, he criticized collectivization, for which he was immediately expelled from the party. The exception was later, however, replaced by a severe reprimand. In 1942, Bunyachenko commanded the 389th Infantry Division on the Transcaucasian Front and, following the order of General Maslennikov, blew up the bridge in the Mozdok-Chervlenoe section before some of the Red Army units had time to cross it. Bunyachenko was made a scapegoat, sent to court by a military tribunal, sentenced to death, which was later replaced by ten years of labor camps with departure after the end of the war. In October 1942, Bunyachenko took command of the 59th separate rifle brigade, seriously weakened, having lost in previous battles more than 35% of the personnel. In mid-October, in fierce defensive battles, the brigade suffered new losses, and in November it was practically destroyed. This defeat was also blamed on Bunyachenko, who was threatened with another arrest. And then there are two versions of the development of events: according to one of them, Bunyachenko was captured by the reconnaissance group of the 2nd Romanian infantry division, according to the other, he himself went over to the side of the Germans in December 1942 (however, the problem in this case is that that the Germans sent defectors to special camps, and Bunyachenko until May 1943 was in an ordinary camp).

After the Prague Uprising, having disbanded the division on the orders of Vlasov and removed his insignia, Bunyachenko went in a headquarters column to the headquarters of the 3rd American Army. On May 15, 1945, he, along with the chief of staff of the division, Lieutenant Colonel of the Armed Forces of the KONR Nikolaev and the head of divisional counterintelligence, Captain of the Armed Forces of the KONR Olkhovik, was transferred by American patrols to the command of the 25th Soviet tank corps. Nikolaev and Olkhovik were shot separately, and Bunyachenko was included in the group of officers and generals who were involved in the Vlasov case - he was hanged along with the commander-in-chief of the ROA. At the same time, there is reason to believe that it was Bunyachenko who was subjected to torture during the investigation: the time of the interrogation, judging by the record in the protocol, took 6-7 hours. Sergei Kuzmich was a man of principle, rude, boorish, but collectivization made a very terrible impression on him. In general, it is worth noting that this was the main reason why the Vlasov movement arose.

General Vlasov inspects the soldiers of the ROA, 1944

Let's say a few words about the aviation of the Vlasov army. It is known that among the “falcons” of the general there were three Heroes of the Soviet Union: Bronislav Romanovich Antilevsky, Semyon Trofimovich Bychkov and Ivan Ivanovich Tennikov, whose biography is the least studied.

A career pilot, a Tatar by nationality, Tennikov, performing a combat mission to cover Stalingrad on September 15, 1942 over Zaikovsky Island, fought with enemy fighters, rammed a German Messerschmitg-110, shot it down and survived. There is a version that he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for this feat, but his name is not on the list of persons who were deprived of this title. Tennikov served in Soviet aviation until the autumn of 1943, when he was shot down and considered missing. While in a prisoner of war camp, he entered the service of German intelligence and was then transferred to the Vlasov army. For health reasons, he could not fly and served as a propaganda officer. Nothing is known about Tennikov's further fate after April 1945. According to the documents of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Ministry of Defense, he is still missing.

White emigrant pilots also served with Vlasov: Sergei Konstantinovich Shabalin, one of the best aviators of the First World War, Leonid Ivanovich Baidak, who in June 1920 initiated the defeat of the 1st cavalry corps of Dmitry Zhlob, Mikhail Vasilyevich Tarnovsky, the son of a famous Russian gunsmith, Colonel of the Russian army, hero of the Russo-Japanese War Vasily Tarnovsky. At the age of 13, Mikhail left his homeland with his family. He lived first in France, then in Czechoslovakia, where he graduated from flight school, becoming a professional pilot. In 1941, Tarnovsky entered the service of German propaganda. He was an announcer and editor of a number of programs of the Vineta radio station, developed scripts and hosted radio programs of an anti-Stalinist and anti-Soviet nature. In the spring of 1943, in May, he applied to join the ROA. He served near Pskov in the Guards shock battalion, and then transferred to the Air Force, where he commanded a training squadron.

Why do we focus on Tarnovsky? The fact is that, surrendering to the Americans, he, as a citizen of the Czechoslovak Republic, was not subject to extradition to the Soviet occupation zone. However, Tarkovsky expressed a desire to share the fate of his subordinates and follow them to the Soviet zone. On December 26, he was sentenced to death by a military tribunal. Shot on January 18, 1946 in Potsdam. In 1999 he was rehabilitated by the prosecutor's office of St. Petersburg.

The third Hero of the Soviet Union in the ROA was pilot Ivan Tennikov

And finally, a few words about the ideological component of the Vlasov movement. Briefly state the theses - draw your own conclusions. Contrary to very common stereotypes and myths, most of the Vlasov officers began to cooperate with the enemy after Stalingrad, that is, in 1943, and some joined the general's army in 1944 and even in 1945. In a word, the life risks of a person, if he enrolled in the ROA after 1943, did not decrease, but increased: the situation in the camps had changed so much compared to the first months of the war that only a suicide could join the Vlasov army in these years.

It is known that Vlasov had completely different people, not only in military ranks, but also in political views. Therefore, if during such a terrible war there is such a mass betrayal of captured generals and officers to their own state, the oath, you still need to look for social reasons. During the First World War, the enemy had thousands of officers of the Russian army in captivity, but there was nothing like that, not a single defector officer (except Ensign Yermolenko) was even close. Not to mention the situation of the XIX century.

As for the trial of General Vlasov and other leaders of the ROA, at first the leadership of the USSR planned to hold a public trial in the October Hall of the House of the Unions. However, this intention was later abandoned. Perhaps the reason was that some of the accused could express views in court that could objectively coincide with the moods of a certain part of the population dissatisfied with the Soviet regime.

On July 23, 1946, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks issued a decision on the death sentence. On August 1, General Vlasov and his followers were hanged.

This term has other meanings as well. Roa.

Russian Liberation Army
General Vlasov inspects ROA soldiers
Years of existence
Subordination	Third Reich (1943-1944) KONR (1944-1945)
	Armed forces
Includes	infantry, air force, cavalry, auxiliaries
Function	opposition to the regular units of the Red Army
population	120-130 thousand (April 1945)
Nickname	"Vlasov"
March	"we go wide fields"
Equipment	German and Soviet captured weapons
Participation in	The Second World War: Eastern front Operation April Wind Prague operation
Marks of Excellence	Sleeve badge
commanders
Notable commanders	Commander-in-Chief: A. A. Vlasov (since January 28, 1945) S. K. Bunyachenko, G. A. Zverev, V. I. Maltsev

Russian Liberation Army, ROA- the historically established name of the armed forces of the Committee Liberation Peoples Russia (KONR), who fought on the side of the Third Reich against the USSR, as well as the totality of the majority of Russian anti-Soviet units and subunits from Russian collaborators in the Wehrmacht in 1943-1944, mainly used at the level of individual battalions and companies, and formed by various German military structures (headquarters of the SS Troops, etc.) during the Great Patriotic War.

About 800,000 people wore insignia of the Russian Liberation Army (sleeve badge) at different times, but only a third of this number was recognized by the leadership of the ROA as actually belonging to their movement. Until 1944, the ROA did not exist as any specific military formation, but was mainly used by the German authorities for propaganda and recruiting volunteers for service. The 1st division of the ROA was formed on November 23, 1944, a little later other formations were created, and at the beginning of 1945 other collaborationist formations were included in the ROA.

The army was formed in the same way as, for example, the North Caucasian Sonderverband Bergmann, the Georgian Legion of the Wehrmacht, - mainly from Soviet prisoners of war or from among emigrants. Unofficially, the Russian Liberation Army and its members were called "Vlasovites", after the name of their leader, Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov.

Story

The Russian Liberation Army was formed mainly from Soviet prisoners of war who were captured by the Germans. On December 27, 1942, Lieutenant General A. A. Vlasov and General V. G. Baersky, in a letter to the German command, proposed organizing a ROA. The army was declared as a military formation created to "liberate Russia from communism." Based on propaganda considerations, the leadership of the Third Reich announced this initiative in the media, however, without doing anything organizationally. From that moment on, all soldiers of Russian nationality in the structure of the German army could consider themselves servicemen of the Russian Liberation Army, which, however, existed then only on paper.

The formation of the ROA units began in 1943, they were involved in the security and police service and the fight against partisans in the occupied territory of the USSR.

According to the regulation on volunteers issued on April 29, 1943 by the Chief of the General Staff of the OKH, Major General K. Zeitzler, all volunteers of Russian nationality were formally united in the Russian Liberation Army.

General F. I. Trukhin was appointed chief of staff, General V. G. Baersky (Boyarsky) was appointed his deputy, Colonel A. G. Neryanin was appointed head of the operational department of the headquarters. The leaders of the ROA also included generals V.F. Malyshkin, D. E. Zakutny, I. A. Blagoveshchensky, former brigade commissar G. N. Zhilenkov. The rank of general of the ROA was held by a former major of the Red Army and a colonel of the Wehrmacht, I. N. Kononov. Some priests from the Russian emigration served in the field churches of the ROA, including priests A. N. Kiselev and D. V. Konstantinov. One of the authors of a number of program documents of the Vlasov movement was the journalist M. A. Zykov.

Captain V.K. Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt, who served in the German army, did a lot to create the ROA.

Among the leadership of the ROA were former generals of the civil war in Russia from the White movement: V. I. Angeleev, V. F. Belogortsev, S. K. Borodin, colonels K. G. Kromiadi, N. A. Shokoli, lieutenant colonel A. D. Arkhipov, as well as M. V. Tomashevsky, Yu. K. Meyer, V. Melnikov, Skarzhinsky, Golub and others, as well as Colonel I. K. Sakharov (former lieutenant of the Spanish army, General F. Franco). Support was also provided by Generals A.P. Arkhangelsky, A. A. fon Lampe, A.M. Dragomirov, P. N. Krasnov, N. N. Golovin, F. F. Abramov, E. I. Balabin, I. A. Polyakov, V. V. Kreiter, Don and Kuban chieftains, Generals G. V. Tatarkin and V. G. Naumenko . One of the adjutants of General A. A. Vlasov was a member of the NTS L. A. Rar.

However, there were serious disagreements between the former Soviet prisoners of war and white emigrants, and the "whites" were gradually ousted from the leadership of the ROA. Most of them served in other Russian volunteer formations not associated with the ROA (only a few days before the end of the war formally attached to the ROA) - the Russian Corps, the brigade of General A. V. Turkula in Austria, the 1st Russian National Army, the Varyag regiment of Colonel M.A. Semyonov, a separate regiment of Colonel Krzhizhanovsky, as well as in Cossack formations (15th Cossack Cavalry Corps and Cossack Stan).

The practical creation of the ROA began only after the establishment of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR), which was formed in Prague on November 14, 1944. The Committee, equivalent to the government in exile, established the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (AF KONR), which the ROA became. She had her own command and all branches of the military, including a small air force. General Vlasov, as chairman of the Committee, simultaneously became the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, which de jure and de facto constituted a completely independent Russian national army, connected with the Third Reich only by allied relations. It was financed by the ROA by the Ministry of Finance of the Third Reich. The money was issued as a loan, reimbursable "as far as possible", and was not included in the budget of the Third Reich. On January 28, 1945, the ROA received the status of the armed forces of an allied power that remains neutral in relation to the United States and Great Britain.

After the victory of the USSR and the occupation of Germany, most of the members of the ROA were transferred to the Soviet authorities. Some of the "Vlasovites" managed to escape punishment from the Soviet authorities and escape to Western countries.

Compound

Order of General Vlasov, aimed at combating the arbitrariness of commanders in the ROA.

By April 22, 1945, the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia included the following formations, units and subdivisions:

Commander-in-Chief, a group of officers of personal subordination (Colonel K. G. Kromiadi, Lieutenant Colonel M.K. Meleshkevich, Captain R.L. Antonov, Lieutenant V.A. Reisler, etc.), personal security company of Captain P.V. Kashtanov ;

1st Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the KONR, Major General S.K. Bunyachenko, fully armed and equipped (about 20,000 people);

2nd Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the KONR, Major General G. A. Zverev, the personnel were armed with automatic weapons up to and including machine guns, there were no heavy weapons (11856 people);

The 3rd infantry division of the Armed Forces of the KONR, Major General M. M. Shapovalov, had only a cadre of volunteers, unarmed (10,000 people);

Air Force, Major General V. I. Maltsev (more than 5,000 people);

Training reserve brigade of Colonel S. T. Koida (7000 people)

Russian Corps of Lieutenant General B. A. Shteifon (5584 people);

15th Cossack Cavalry Corps (32,000 men, excluding Germans);

Separate corps of Major General A. V. Turkul (about 7000 people);

A separate Cossack corps in northern Italy (Cossack Stan) of the Marching Ataman, Major General T. I. Domanov (18395 people);

Separate anti-tank brigade of major Vtorov (1240 people);

Auxiliary (technical) troops directly subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief (about 10,000 people);

The central headquarters of Major General F. I. Trukhin, the officer reserve at the headquarters of Lieutenant Colonel G. D. Belaya, a separate cavalry squadron of Captain Tishchenko, a guard battalion of the headquarters of Captain A. P. Dubnoy, a special detachment for the protection of valuables of the KONR of Captain A. Anokhin (up to 5000 pers.);

1st Joint Officer School of the Armed Forces of the KONR, Major General M. A. Meandrov (785 people);

Bratislava reconnaissance school of the Armed Forces of the KONR, Major S. N. Ivanov;

Marienbad reconnaissance school of the Armed Forces of the KONR captain R. I. Becker;

Directorate of the Cossack Troops under the KONR;

In total, these formations, according to various sources, numbered about 120-130 thousand people .. These formations were scattered over a large section of the front from Zagreb (Croatia) and Tolmezzo (northern Italy) to Bad Schandau (southwest of Dresden).

Now it is no secret to anyone that the war of 1941-1945 had elements of the Second Civil War, since about 2 million people, 1.2 million citizens of the USSR and 0.8 million white emigrants fought against Bolshevism, which illegally seized power in 1917. There were only 40 divisions in the SS, 10 of which were staffed from citizens of the Russian Empire (14th Ukrainian, 15th and 19th Latvian, 20th Estonian, 29th Russian, 30th Belorussian, two Cossack divisions of the SS , North Caucasian, SS brigades Varyag, Desna, Nakhtigal, Druzhina, etc. There was also the RNA of General Smyslovsky, the Russian Corps of General Skorodumov, Cossack Stan Domanov, the ROA of General Vlasov, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the Eastern divisions of the Wehrmacht, police, Khiva There were many of our compatriots directly in the German units, and not just in the national formations.

Today I would like to talk about ROA ( Russian Liberation Army) General Vlasov.

P.S. The article does not justify ROA and does not blame anything. The article was solely made for historical reference. Everyone decides for himself who they were heroes or traitors, but this is part of our history and I think everyone has the right to know about this history.

Russian Liberation Army , ROA - military units that fought on the side of Adolf Hitler against the USSR, formed by the German headquarters of the SS Troops during the Great Patriotic War from Russian collaborators.

The army was formed mainly from Soviet prisoners of war, as well as from among Russian emigrants. Unofficially, its members were called "Vlasovites", after their leader, Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov.



Story:

The ROA was formed mainly from Soviet prisoners of war who fell into German captivity, mainly at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, during the retreat of the Red Army. The creators of the ROA was declared as a military formation created for " liberation of Russia from communism "(December 27, 1942). Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov, who was captured in 1942, together with General Boyarsky, proposed in a letter to the German command to organize a ROA. General Fyodor Trukhin was appointed chief of staff, General Vladimir Baersky (Boyarsky) was appointed his deputy, and Colonel Andrei Neryanin was appointed head of the operational department of the headquarters. The leaders of the ROA also included generals Vasily Malyshkin, Dmitry Zakutny, Ivan Blagoveshchensky, and former brigade commissar Georgy Zhilenkov. The rank of general of the ROA was held by a former major of the Red Army and Wehrmacht colonel Ivan Kononov. Some priests from the Russian emigration served in the field churches of the ROA, including priests Alexander Kiselev and Dmitry Konstantinov.

Among the leadership of the ROA were former generals of the civil war in Russia from the White Movement: V. I. Angeleev, V. F. Belogortsev, S. K. Borodin, Colonels K. G. Kromiadi, N. A. Shokoli, Lieutenant Colonel A. D. Arkhipov, as well as M. V. Tomashevsky, Yu. K. Meyer, V. Melnikov, Skarzhinsky, Golub and others, as well as Colonel I. K. Sakharov (formerly a lieutenant of the Spanish army, General F. Franco). Support was also provided by: Generals A. P. Arkhangelsky, A. A. von Lampe, A. M. Dragomirov, P. N. Krasnov, N. N. Golovin, F. F. Abramov, E. I. Balabin, I. A. Polyakov, V. V. Kreiter, Don and Kuban chieftains, Generals G. V. Tatarkin and V. G. Naumenko.

Captain V.K. Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt, who served in the German army, did a lot to create a collaborator of the ROA.

The army was financed entirely by the German state bank.

However, there was antagonism between former Soviet prisoners of war and white emigrants, and the latter were gradually forced out of the leadership of the ROA. Most of them served in other Russian volunteer formations not connected with the ROA (only a few days before the end of the war formally attached to the ROA) - the Russian Corps, the brigade of General A.V. Turkul in Austria, the 1st Russian National Army, the regiment " Varyag "by Colonel M. A. Semenov, a separate regiment of Colonel Krzhizhanovsky, as well as in Cossack formations (15th Cossack Cavalry Corps and Cossack camp).

On January 28, 1945, the ROA received the status of the armed forces of an allied power that remains neutral in relation to the United States and Great Britain. On May 12, 1945, an order was signed to dissolve the ROA.

After the victory of the USSR and the occupation of Germany, most of the members of the ROA were transferred to the Soviet authorities. Some of the "Vlasovites" managed to escape and get asylum in Western countries and avoid punishment.

Compound:

At the end of April 1945, A. A. Vlasov had the armed forces under his command in the following composition:
1st Division Major General S. K. Bunyachenko (22,000 people)
2nd division of Major General G. A. Zverev (13,000 people)
3rd division of Major General M. M. Shapovalov (not armed, there was only a headquarters and 10,000 volunteers)
the reserve brigade of Lieutenant Colonel (later Colonel) S. T. Koida (7,000 people) is the only commander of a large unit not issued by the US occupation authorities to the Soviet side.
Air Force General V. I. Maltsev (5000 people)
VET division
officer school of General M. A. Meandrov.
accessory parts,
Russian Corps of Major General B. A. Shteifon (4500 people). General Steifon died suddenly on 30 April. The corps that surrendered to the Soviet troops was led by Colonel Rogozhkin.
Cossack camp of Major General T. I. Domanov (8000 people)
group of Major General A. V. Turkul (5200 people)
15th Cossack cavalry corps of Lieutenant General X. von Pannwitz (more than 40,000 people)
Cossack reserve regiment of General A. G. Shkuro (more than 10,000 people)
and several small formations numbering less than 1000 people;
security and punitive legions, battalions, companies; Russian liberation army of Vlasov; Shteifon's Russian security corps; 15th Cossack Corps von Pannwitz; separate military formations that were not part of the ROA; "volunteer helpers" - "hivi".

In general, these formations numbered 124 thousand people. These parts were scattered at a considerable distance from each other.

I, a faithful son of my Motherland, voluntarily joining the ranks of the Russian Liberation Army, solemnly swear: to fight honestly against the Bolsheviks, for the good of my Motherland. In this struggle against a common enemy, on the side of the German army and its allies, I swear to be faithful and unquestioningly obey the Leader and Commander-in-Chief of all liberation armies, Adolf Hitler. I am ready, in fulfillment of this oath, not to spare myself and my life.

I, as a faithful son of my Motherland, voluntarily joining the ranks of the fighters of the Armed Forces of the Peoples of Russia, in the face of my compatriots, I swear - for the good of my people, under the command of General Vlasov, to fight against Bolshevism to the last drop of blood. This struggle is waged by all freedom-loving peoples in alliance with Germany under the general command of Adolf Hitler. I swear to be true to this union. In fulfillment of this oath, I am ready to give my life.



Symbols and insignia:

As the flag of the ROA, the flag with the St. Andrew's Cross was used, as well as the Russian tricolor. The use of the Russian tricolor, in particular, was documented in the footage of the parade of the 1st Guards Brigade of the ROA in Pskov on June 22, 1943, in the photo chronicle of the formation of the Vlasovites in Münsingen, as well as other documents.

A completely new uniform and insignia of the ROA could be seen in 43-44 on the soldiers of the eastern battalions stationed in France. The uniform itself was sewn from grayish-blue fabric (stocks of captured French army cloth) and in terms of cut it was a compilation of a Russian tunic and a German uniform.

The epaulettes of soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers were of the model of the Russian tsarist army and were sewn from dark green matter with a red edging. The officers had one or two narrow red stripes along their epaulettes. The general's shoulder straps were also of the royal type, but the same green shoulder straps with a red piping were more common, and the general's "zig-zag" was depicted with a red stripe. The placement of insignia among non-commissioned officers roughly corresponded to the tsarist army. For officers and generals, the number and placement of stars (German-style) corresponded to the German principle:

In the figure, from left to right: 1 - soldier, 2 - corporal, 3 - non-commissioned officer, 4 - sergeant major, 5 - lieutenant (lieutenant), 6 - lieutenant (senior lieutenant), 7 - captain, 8 - major, 9 - lieutenant colonel , 10 - colonel, 11 - major general, 12 - lieutenant general, 13 - general. The last highest rank in the ROA Petlitsy was also provided for in three types - a soldier's. and non-commissioned officers, officers, generals. The officer's and general's buttonholes were edged with silver and golden flagella, respectively. However, there was a buttonhole that could be worn by both soldiers and officers. This buttonhole had a red border. A gray German button was placed at the top of the buttonhole, and 9mm went along the buttonhole. aluminum galloon.

"Russia is ours. Russia's past is ours. Russia's future is also ours" (gen. A. A. Vlasov)

Press organs: newspapers " ROA fighter" (1944), weekly " Volunteer"(1943-44)," Front leaflet for volunteers "(1944)," Volunteer Herald "(1944)," Nabat"(1943)," Volunteer Page "(1944)," Warrior voice"(1944)," Dawn"(1943-44)," Work », « arable land", weekly" Truth"(1941-43)," with hostility». For the Red Army: « Stalinist warrior », « brave warrior », « Red Army », « front-line soldier», « Soviet warrior ».

General Vlasov wrote: "Recognizing the independence of each people, National Socialism provides all the peoples of Europe with the opportunity to build their own lives in their own way. For this, each people needs a living space. Hitler considers possession of it the basic right of every people. Therefore, the occupation of Russian territory by German troops is not aimed at destruction Russians, but vice versa - the victory over Stalin will return to the Russians their Fatherland within the framework of the New Europe family.

On September 16, 1944, Vlasov and Himmler met at the headquarters of the Reichsfuehrer SS in East Prussia, during which the latter said: "Mr. General, I spoke with the Fuhrer, from now on you can consider yourself commander-in-chief of the army with the rank of colonel general." A few days later, the reorganization of the headquarters began. Prior to this, in addition to Vlasov and V.F. Malyshkin included: the commandant of the headquarters, Colonel E.V. Kravchenko (since 09.1944, Colonel K.G. Kromiadi), head of the personal office, Major M.A. Kalugin-Tensorov, Vlasov's adjutant Captain R. Antonov, supply manager Lieutenant V. Melnikov, communications officer S.B. Frelnh and 6 soldiers.

On November 14, 1944, the founding congress of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR) was held in Prague, and A. Vlasov was elected chairman. In his opening speech, Vlasov said: “Today we can assure the Fuhrer and the entire German people that in their difficult struggle against the worst enemy of all peoples - Bolshevism, the peoples of Russia are their faithful allies and will never lay down their arms, but will go shoulder to shoulder with them until complete victory. At the congress, the creation of the Armed Forces of the KONR (AF KONR), headed by Vlasov, was announced.

After the congress from Dabendorf to Dalem, the security company of Major Begletsov and the guard of Major Shishkevich were transferred. Major Khitrov was appointed commandant of the headquarters instead of Kromiadi. Kromiadi was transferred to the post of head of Vlasov's Personal Office, his predecessor, Lieutenant Colonel Kalugin, to the post of head of the Security Department.

On January 18, 1945, Vlasov, Aschenbrener, Kroeger met with the Secretary of State of the German Foreign Ministry, Baron Stengracht. An agreement was signed on subsidizing the German government for KONR and its aircraft. At the end of January 1945, when Vlasov visited the German Foreign Minister von Ribbenthorp, he informed Vlasov that cash loans were being provided for the KONR. Andreev testified about this at the trial: “As the head of the main financial department of the KONR, I was in charge of all the financial resources of the Committee. I received all financial resources from the German State Bank from the current account of the Ministry of the Interior. I received all the money from the bank by checks drawn by representatives of the Ministry of the Interior Sievers and Ryppei, who controlled the financial activities of the KONR. With such checks I received about 2 million marks.”

On January 28, 1945, Hitler appointed Vlasov Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces. The ROA was treated as the Armed Forces of an allied power, temporarily subordinated in operational terms to the Wehrmacht.

"Telegram from the Reichsführer SS to General Vlasov. Compiled at the direction of Obergruppenführer Berger. From the day this order was signed, the Führer appointed you supreme commander of the 600th and 650th Russian divisions. At the same time, you will be entrusted with the supreme command of all new Russian formations that are being formed and regrouped. You will the disciplinary right of the supreme commander in chief and at the same time the right to promotion to officer ranks up to lieutenant colonel will be recognized. Promotion to colonels and generals takes place in agreement with the head of the main department of the SS according to the provisions existing for the Great German Empire. G. Himmler".

On February 10, 1945, the inspector general of volunteer formations, E. Kestring, informed Vlasov that, in view of the completion of the creation of the 1st division and the progress made in the formation of the 2nd, he could officially take command of both formations.

The swearing-in parade took place on 16 February in Müsingen. The parade was attended by Kestring, Aschenbrenner, commander of the 5th military division. in Stuttgart Fayel, the head of the polygon in Müsingen, gene. Wenniger. The parade began with a round of troops by Vlasov. Bunyachenko raised his hand in an Aryan greeting and reported. Having finished the round, Vlasov went up to the podium and said the following: “During the years of joint struggle, the friendship of the Russian and German peoples was born. Both sides made mistakes, but tried to correct them - and this speaks of a common interest. The main thing in the work of both sides is trust, mutual trust. I thank the Russian and German officers who participated in the creation of this alliance. I am convinced that we will soon return to our homeland with the soldiers and officers that I see here. Long live the friendship of the Russian and German peoples! Long live the soldiers and officers of the Russian army! Then the parade of the 1st division began. There were three infantry regiments with rifles at the ready, an artillery regiment, an anti-tank destroyer battalion, battalions of sappers and communications. The procession was closed by a column of tanks and self-propelled guns. On the same day, the Russian Corps announced its entry into the ROA.

The text of the oath of the ROA / Armed Forces of the KONR: “As a faithful son of my Motherland, I voluntarily join the ranks of the troops of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. In the presence of my countrymen, I solemnly swear to fight honestly to the last drop of blood under the command of General Vlasov for the good of my people against Bolshevism. This struggle is waged by all freedom-loving peoples under the supreme command of Adolf Hitler. I swear that I will remain true to this alliance."

On February 20, 1945, a KONR memorandum was handed over to the deputy representative of the International Red Cross in Germany on protecting the interests of prisoners of war from the ROA if they surrender to representatives of the Western powers. When making contact with the International Red Cross, Vlasov counted on the help of the secretary of the organization, Baron Pilar von Pilahu, a Russian officer.

By the end of March 1945, the total strength of the KONR Armed Forces was about 50,000 people.

On March 24, 1945, at the All-Cossack Congress in Virovitica (Croatia), a decision was made to unite the Cossack troops with the KONR Armed Forces. Vlasov was also joined by the brigade of Major General A.V. Turkula, who began the formation of regiments in Lienz, Ljubljana and Villach.

Major General Smyslovsky, who headed the 1st Russian National Army, refused to cooperate with Vlasov. Negotiations with General Shandruk on the inclusion of the SS division "Galicia" in the KONR Armed Forces remained without result. The German command did not subordinate the 9th PBR to Vlasov. Major General von Henning, in Denmark. Later, one of the regiments of br. (714th), which has been stationed since February on the Oder front under the command (from the beginning of March) of Colonel Igor Konst. Sakharova (participant in the Spanish Civil War, head of the Spanish branch of the Russian Fascist Party).

To test the combat capability of the Armed Forces of the KONR, on the orders of Himmler, an assault group (505 people) of Colonel I.K. was formed. Sakharov. Armed with SG-43 rifles, MP-40 submachine guns and faustpatrons, the group was put into action on February 9 in the area between Vritsen and Güstebize in the Kyustrin region in order to dislodge Soviet troops from the bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder. The detachment as part of the "Döberitz" division participated in the battles against the 230th division. Commander of the 9th Army Gen. Busse ordered the commander of the 101st Corps, Gen. Berlin and the division commander, Colonel Hünber, "to accept the Russians as friends" and "to behave politically with them very cleverly." During the night attack, the detachment was entrusted with the task of freeing a number of settlements in the area of ​​the 230th division of the Red Army and persuading its soldiers to stop resistance and surrender. During a night attack and a 12-hour battle, the Vlasovites, dressed in Red Army uniforms, managed to capture several strongholds and capture 3 officers and 6 soldiers. In the following days, Sakharov's detachment undertook two reconnaissance in force in the region of the city of Schwedt and participated in repelling a tank attack, destroying 12 tanks. On the actions of the Russians, the commander of the 9th Army, General of the Infantry Busse, reported to the High Command of the German Ground Forces (OKH) that the Russian allies distinguished themselves by the skillful actions of the officers and the courage of the soldiers. Goebbels wrote in his diary: "... during the Sakharov operation in the Kustrin area, the troops of General Vlasov fought superbly ... Vlasov himself believes that although the Soviets have enough tanks and weapons, they nevertheless faced almost insurmountable difficulties supplies from the rear. They have a mass of tanks concentrated on the Oder, but they do not have enough gasoline ... ". Gene. Berlin personally awarded the soldiers and officers with Iron Crosses (Sakharov was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class), Vlasov received Himmler's personal congratulations on this occasion. After that, Himmler told Hitler that he would like to have more Russian troops under his command.

On March 26, at the last meeting of the KONR, it was decided to gradually pull all formations into the Austrian Alps for surrender to the Anglo-Americans.

On April 13, the Swiss ambassador in Berlin, Zehnder, announced that the arrival of the Vlasovites in Switzerland was undesirable, because. it could harm the interests of the country. The Swiss government also refused Vlasov personally.

In April, with the task of establishing contact with the allies, Vlasov sent Captain Shtrik-Shtrikfeld and General Malyshkin.

On April 10, the Southern ROA group performed in the Budweiss-Linz region. The 1st division moved here from the Oder front. In early May, she was not far from Prague, where by this time a rebellion had broken out. Chekhir on the radio asked for help.

On May 11, Vlasov surrendered to the Americans and was in the Shlisselburg fortress in the position of a prisoner of war. At 2 pm on May 12, under the protection of an American escort, he was sent to a higher American headquarters, ostensibly for negotiations. The column of cars was stopped by Soviet officers. At gunpoint, they demanded that Vlasov and Bunyachenko, who was with him, get into their cars. American officers and soldiers did not intervene. German historians believe that Colonel P. Martin, deputy NSh of the 12th corps of the American army, played an important role in this.

ROA officers were shot without trial, and all the rest in battened down freight cars were sent to concentration camps. Those who were not sentenced to death and camp terms, according to the decision of the State Defense Committee of August 18, 1945, received 6 years of special settlement out of court.

In addition to Vlasov, Malyshkin, Zhilenkov, Trukhin, Zakutny, Blagoveshchensky, Meandorov, Maltsev, Bunyachenko, Zverev, Korbukov and Shatov appeared at a closed trial. The court sentenced them to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out on August 1, 1946.

1. Commander-in-Chief: Lieutenant General Andrey A. Vlasov, former commander of the 2nd Shock Army of the Red Army. Iron Cross (9.02.1945).

2. NSH and Deputy Commander-in-Chief: Major General F.I. Trukhin (08.1946, hanged), former deputy of the NSH of the North-Western Front of the Red Army

3. Deputy NSH: Colonel (since 09/24/1944 Major General) V.I. Boyarsky

4. officer at the Commander-in-Chief for special assignments: Nikolai Aleksan. Troitsky (b. 1903), in 1924 he graduated from the Simbirsk Polytechnic Institute, then the Moscow Architectural Institute. He worked in the People's Commissariat of Education, scientific secretary of the Moscow Architectural Society, deputy scientific secretary of the Academy of Architecture of the USSR. Arrested in 1937, 18 months was under investigation in the Lubyanka. In 1941 he was taken prisoner, until 1943 he was in a concentration camp. Co-author of the Prague Manifesto KONR. After the war, one of the leaders and organizers of the SBONR. In 1950-55. Director of the Munich Institute for the Study of the History and Culture of the USSR. Author of the book "Concentration camps of the USSR" (Munich, 1955) and a series of short stories.

5. adjutant of the leading group of the Headquarters: Lieutenant A.I. Romashin, Romashkin.

6. commandant of the headquarters: colonel E.V. Kravchenko

7. officer for special assignments: senior lieutenant M.V. Tomashevsky. Graduated from the Faculty of Law of Kharkov University.

8. liaison officer: Nikol. Vladim. Vashchenko (1916 - after 1973), pilot, in 1941 was shot down and taken prisoner. He graduated from propagandist courses in Luckenwald and Dabendorf.
head of the office: Lieutenant S.A. Sheiko
translator: Lieutenant A.A. Kubekov.
Head of the General Department: Lieutenant Prokopenko
head of food supply: captain V. Cheremisinov.

Operations department:

1. Chief, Deputy NSh: Colonel Andrey Geor. Aldan (Neryanin) (1904 - 1957, Washington), the son of a worker. In the Red Army since 1919. He graduated from infantry courses and the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze (1934, with honors). In 1932, he was expelled from the CPSU (b) for a left-Trotskyist deviation, then reinstated. Head of the operational department of the Urals v.o. (1941), was taken prisoner near Vyazma in November 1941, being the head of the operations department of the headquarters of the 20th Army. In 1942-44. member of the Anti-Comintern. Responsible for the organizational activities of the headquarters of the ROA. Chairman of the Union of Liberation Movement Warriors (USA). Member of the Central Bureau of the SBONR.

2nd Deputy: Lieutenant Colonels Korovin

3. head of the subdivision: V.F. Riel.

4. head of the subdivision: V.E. Michelson.

Intelligence department:

Initially, the military and civilian intelligence services were under the jurisdiction of the KONR security department, Lieutenant Colonel N.V. Tensorova. His deputies were Major M.A. Kalugin and b. head of the special department of the headquarters of the North Caucasian v.o. Major A.F. Chikalov. On February 2, 1945, military intelligence separated from civilian intelligence. Under the supervision of Major General Trukhin, a separate intelligence service of the ROA began to be created, and an intelligence department was formed at the Headquarters. On February 22, the department was divided into several groups:
intelligence: chief lieutenant N.F. Lapin (senior assistant to the head of the 2nd department), later - lieutenant B. Gai;

counterintelligence.

enemy intelligence group: Lieutenant A.F. Vronsky (assistant to the head of the 1st department).

According to the order of Major General Trukhin dated 8.03. In 1945, the l / s of the department was, in addition to the chief, 21 officers. Later, Captain V. Denisov and other officers joined the department.

1. chief: major I.V. Grachev

2. head of counterintelligence: Major Chikalov, supervised the operational intelligence of the ROA, since 1945 organized the training of personnel for the military intelligence unit and terrorist actions in the USSR.

Counterintelligence Department:

Chief Major Krainev

Investigation Department:

chief: Major Galanin

Department of secret correspondence:

chief: captain P. Bakshansky

Human Resources Department:

Head: Captain Zverev

Communication department:

head of the office senior lieutenant V.D. Korbukov.

Department of VOSO:

Head: Major G.M. Kremensky.

Topographic department:

Head: Lieutenant Colonel G. Vasiliev. Senior Lieutenant of the Red Army.

Encryption department:

1st head: Major A. Polyakov
2nd Deputy: Lieutenant Colonel I.P. Pavlov. Senior Lieutenant of the Red Army.

Formation department:

1st head: Colonel I. D. Denisov
2nd Deputy: Major M.B. Nikiforov
3. group leader of the formation department: captain G.A. Fedoseev
4. head of the group of formations department: captain V.F. Demidov
5. head of the group of formations department: captain S.T. Kozlov
6. head of the group of the formations department: Major G.G. Sviridenko.

Combat Training Department:

1. Chief: Major General Asberg (Artsezov, Asbyargas) (r. Baku), Armenian. He graduated from a military school in Astrakhan, commander of a tank unit. Colonel of the Red Army. He left the encirclement near Taganrog, was convicted by a military tribunal and sentenced to death in 1942, which was replaced by a penal battalion. In the first battle he went over to the Germans.

2. Deputy: Colonel A.N. Tavantsev.

head of the 1st subdivision (training): Colonel F.E. Black

3. Head of the 2nd subdivision (military schools): Colonel A.A. Denisenko.

4. head of the 3rd subdivision (statutes): lieutenant colonel A.G. Moskvichev.

Command Department:

Consisted of 5 groups.

1. Chief: Colonel (02.1945) Vladimir Vas. Poznyakov (05/17/1902, St. Petersburg - 12/21/1973, Syracuse, USA). In the Red Army since 1919. In 1920 he graduated from the Kaluga command courses. From 09.20 instructor of the newspaper business of the South-Western Front. In 1921-26. student of the Higher Military Chemical School. From 01.26, the head of the chemical service of the 32nd Saratov sd. In 1928-31. teacher at the Saratov school of reserve commanders. In 1931-32. teacher at the Saratov armored school. In 1932-36. head of the chemical service of the Ulyanovsk armored school. Captain (1936). Major (1937). In 1937-39. arrested, tortured. In 1939-41. teacher of chemistry at the Poltava Auto-Technical School. Since 03.41, the head of the chemical service of the 67th SC. Lieutenant Colonel (05/29/1941). 10.1941 was taken prisoner near Vyazma. In 1942, the head of the camp police near Bobruisk, then at the propagandist course in Wulheide. 04.1943 at the Dabendorf school of propagandists, commander of the 2nd cadet company. Since 07.43, the head of the preparatory courses for propagandists in Luckenwalde. In the summer of 1944, he was the head of the ROA propagandist group in the Baltic states. Since 11.1944, the head of the command department of the headquarters of the ROA. On October 9, 1945, he was sentenced to death in absentia. From the beginning of the 50s. taught at military schools of the US Army, worked in the CIA. From the beginning of the 60s. taught at the military aviation school in Syracuse. Author of the books: The Birth of the ROA (Syracuse, 1972) and A.A. Vlasov" (Syracuse, 1973).

2. Deputy: Major V.I. Strelnikov.

3. Head of the 1st subdivision (officers of the General Staff): Captain Ya. A. Kalinin.

4. Head of the 2nd subdivision (infantry): Major A.P. Demsky.

5. head of the 3rd subdivision (cavalry): senior lieutenant N.V. Vashchenko.

6. Head of the 4th subdivision (artillery): Lieutenant Colonel M.I. Pankevich.

7. Head of the 5th subdivision (tank and engineering troops): Captain A. G. Kornilov.

8. Head of the 6th subdivision (administrative and economic and military sanitary services): Major V.I. Panayot.

Russian Liberation Army - ROA. Part 1.

High command and officer corps of the ROA. Separation of ROA

On January 28, 1945, after the completion of the preparatory work that had been in full swing since September 1944, the existence of the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, united under the name of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), became a reality. On this day, Hitler appointed Vlasov commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces and gave him command of all Russian formations, both newly formed and resulting from regroupings. Since January 28, 1945, the Germans considered the ROA to be the armed forces of an allied power, temporarily subordinated in operational terms to the Wehrmacht. By order No. 1 of the same date, Major General F. I. Trukhin was appointed chief of staff and permanent deputy commander in chief. It is unlikely that General Vlasov could have found a more successful candidate for this post. A native of a noble-landlord family, a former student of St. theorist G. S. Isserson, the only "extraordinary personality in the Academy" . The war found Trukhin as chief of the operations department of the headquarters of the Baltic Special Military District (North-Western Front). A talented man with deep military knowledge, with a strong character and imposing appearance, Trukhin belonged to the brightest representatives and true leaders of the Liberation Movement. His deputy, Colonel, and then Major General V. I. Boyarsky, a descendant of the Ukrainian prince Gamalia, a former adjutant of Marshal of the Soviet Union M. N. Tukhachevsky, a graduate of the Frunze Military Academy, was also an outstanding personality. He was captured by the Germans, being the commander of the 41st Infantry Division. Colonel von Henning, who was involved in volunteer formations, in 1943 described Boyarsky as "an exceptionally intelligent, resourceful, well-read and well-worn soldier and politician." From the very beginning, Boyarsky's position was distinguished by independence and open opposition to the Germans, to whom he treated as an equal and demanding opponent. This position was so clear that in July 1943, Field Marshal Bush removed Boyarsky from the post of "headquarters officer for the training and leadership of the Eastern troops" at the 16th Army. The adjutant of the so-called leading group of the army headquarters was Lieutenant A.I. Romashkin, the head of the office was Major S.A. Sheiko, translator - Lieutenant A. A. Kubekov. In fact, the “high command of the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia” (or, in other words, the “headquarters of the Armed Forces of the KONR”) performed the functions of the military ministry.

An idea of ​​the tasks of the headquarters is given by its organization as of the end of February 1945.

1. Operational department.

Head of Department: Colonel A. G. Neryanin. Born in 1904 in a working-class family, he graduated with honors from the Frunze Military Academy and the General Staff Academy. Chief of the General Staff Marshal of the Soviet Union B. M. Shaposhnikov called Neryanin "one of our most brilliant army officers." During his service in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) he was the head of the operational department of the headquarters of the troops of the Ural Military District. He was taken prisoner in November 1941 in the Rzhev-Vyazma region, being the head of the operational department of the headquarters of the 20th Army.

Deputy Head of Department: Lieutenant Colonel Korovin. Heads of subdivisions: lieutenant colonels V.F. Ril and V.E. Mikhelson.

2. Intelligence department.

Head of Department: Major I. M. Grachev. Head of counterintelligence: Major A.F. Chikalov.

3. Communication department.

Head of Department: Lieutenant Colonel V. D. Korbukov.

4. Department of military communications.

Head of Department: Major G. M. Kremenetsky.

5. Topographic department.

Head of Department: Lieutenant Colonel G. Vasiliev.

6. Encryption department.

Head of Department: Major A.E. Polyakov. Deputy: Lieutenant Colonel I.P. Pavlov.

7. Department of formations.

Head of Department: Colonel I. D. Denisov. Deputy: Major M. B. Nikiforov. Heads of subdivisions: captains G. A. Fedoseev, V. F. Demidov, S. T. Kozlov, major G. G. Sviridenko.

8. Department of combat training.

Head of Department: Major General V. Assberg (aka Artsezov or Asbyargas) - an Armenian, originally from Baku, graduated from a military school in Astrakhan, in 1942 he was a colonel, commanded the tank troops of one of the armies. Although he managed to withdraw his troops from the encirclement near Taganrog, he was sentenced to death, but then again thrown into battle and this time was captured.

Deputy Head of Department: Colonel A.N. Tavantsev. Head of the 1st subdivision (training): Colonel F.E. Cherny.

Head of the 2nd subdivision (military schools): Colonel A. A. Denisenko.

Head of the 3rd subdivision (statutes): Lieutenant Colonel A. G. Moskvichev.

9. Command department.

Head of Department: Colonel V.V. Pozdnyakov. Born in 1901 in St. Petersburg, in 1919 he joined the Red Army, after appropriate training he was the head of the chemical service (Nachkhim) of various military schools, regiments and divisions. In 1937 he was arrested and tortured. In 1941, he was taken prisoner near Vyazma, being the head of the chemical service of the 67th rifle corps. Deputy: Major V. I. Strelnikov. Head of the 1st subdivision (officers of the General Staff): Captain Ya. A. Kalinin.

Head of the 2nd subdivision (infantry): Major A.P. Demsky. Head of the 3rd subdivision (cavalry): senior lieutenant N. V. Vashchenko.

Head of the 4th subdivision (artillery): lieutenant colonel M.I. Pankevich.

Head of the 5th subdivision (tank and engineering troops): Captain A. G. Kornilov.

Head of the 6th subdivision (administrative and economic and military sanitary services): Major V.I. Panayot.

10. Department of propaganda.

Head of Department: Colonel (then Major General) M. A. Meandrov. Born in Moscow in 1894 in the family of a priest. Father, a priest of the Church of St. Khariton in Moscow, was exiled in 1932, died in exile. Meandrov graduated from the Alekseevsky Infantry School in Moscow in 1913, before the war he taught tactics at the Kremlin infantry school, until July 25, 1941, the chief of staff of the 37th Rifle Corps, then - the deputy chief of staff and head of the operational department of the 6th Army. He was taken prisoner in the Uman region. Deputy: Major M.V. Egorov.

Propaganda inspector in the troops: Captain M.P. Pokhvalensky.

Propaganda inspector among volunteers in Wehrmacht formations: Captain A.P. Sopchenko.

The propaganda department was subordinated to the song and dance ensemble, as well as the military orchestra.

11. Military legal department.

Head of Department: Major E.I. Arbenin.

12. Financial department.

Head of Department: Captain A.F. Petrov.

13. Department of armored troops.

Head of Department: Colonel G. I. Antonov. Born in 1898 in a peasant family in the Tula province. He was taken prisoner, being a colonel, commander of the tank troops of one of the armies. Deputy: Colonel L. N. Popov.

14. Artillery department.

Head of department: Major General M. V. Bogdanov (in the Red Army he was a major general, division commander). Deputy: Colonel N. A. Sergeev. Combat training inspector: Colonel V. A. Kardakov. Inspector for Artillery: Colonel A.S. Perchurov. Line armament inspector: Lieutenant Colonel N. S. Shatov.

15. Department of material and technical supply.

Head of Department: Major General A.N. Sevastyanov (in the Red Army he was a brigade commander).

Commander of the rear service: Colonel G.V. Saks.

Food Supply Inspector: Major P.F. Zelepugin.

Quartering Inspector: Captain A.I. Putilin.

16. Engineering department.

Head of Department: Colonel (surname unknown). Deputy: Colonel S. N. Golikov.

17. Sanitary department.

Head of Department: Colonel Professor V. N. Novikov. Deputy: Captain A. R. Trushnovich.

18. Veterinary department.

Head of Department: Lieutenant Colonel A. M. Saraev. Deputy: Captain V.N. Zhukov.

19. Protopresbyter.

Archpriest D. Konstantinov. Confessor of the Army Headquarters: Archpriest A. Kiselev.

Although at the beginning of March 1945 the army headquarters was not yet fully staffed, it had the same number of officers as in the entire Reichswehr ministry in 1920. The commandant of the headquarters, Major Khitrov, was subordinate to the administrative and economic department under the command of Captain P. Shishkevich, as well as the economic company under the command of senior lieutenant N. A. Sharko. The protection of the senior command staff, the KONR and the army headquarters was entrusted to the security battalion under the command of Major N. Begletsov. For the personal safety of Vlasov, the head of security, Captain M.V. Kashtanov, was responsible. In addition, the headquarters was given an officer reserve camp under the command of Lieutenant Colonel M. K. Meleshkevich with an officer battalion (commander M. M. Golenko). At the direct disposal of the headquarters were also a separate construction battalion (commander - engineer-captain A.P. Budny), a special-purpose battalion of the headquarters of the commander-in-chief, as well as the so-called auxiliary troops. These troops, formed from special personnel and workers transferred from technical units, under the command of Colonel Yaroput, received military status at the personal request of Vlasov, although at first they intended to attach them directly to the KONR for maintenance. The chief of staff of the auxiliary troops was at first Lieutenant Colonel K. I. Popov, and just before the end of the war, Colonel G. I. Antonov.

Almost all of the army staff officers listed here were formerly generals, colonels and staff officers of the Red Army. Already from this, the groundlessness of the later Soviet assertion is clear that the Soviet senior officers refused to join the ROA and therefore some nameless traitors were appointed officers. Meanwhile, back in 1944, circles of national minorities hostile to Vlasov complained to the Eastern Ministry that former Soviet generals and colonels, people who once belonged to the “Stalinist guard”, “retained all their privileges and distinctions and enjoyed all the blessings of life”, occupying leading positions in ROA. In addition to former officers of the Red Army, leading positions in the ROA were also occupied by some old emigrants. Vlasov, who understood the value of the political and military experience of emigrants, repeatedly spoke out in favor of cooperation with them and even introduced some of them into his inner circle. In this regard, it is worth mentioning one of his adjutants, Colonel I. K. Sakharov, the son of Lieutenant General of the Imperial Army K. V. Sakharov, the former chief of staff of Admiral A. V. Kolchak. Colonel Sakharov took part in the Spanish Civil War on the side of General Franco and, like another old officer, Lieutenant Colonel A.D. Arkhipov, until the end of the war he commanded a regiment in the 1st division of the ROA. Vlasov appointed the former regimental commander of the tsarist army, Colonel K. G. Kromiadi, as the head of his personal office. The officer for special assignments at the headquarters was Senior Lieutenant M. V. Tomashevsky, a lawyer, a graduate of Kharkov University, who, in order to avoid accusations of careerism, refused the rank of major of the ROA. The Liberation Movement was joined by Generals Arkhangelsky and A. von Lampe, as well as General A. M. Dragomirov and the famous military writer, professor, General N. N. Golovin, who lived in Paris, who before his death managed to draw up a charter for the internal service of the ROA. The head of the personnel department of the headquarters of the auxiliary troops was Colonel of the tsarist and white armies Chokoli. At the head of the Directorate of Cossack Troops, created in 1945 under the KONR, was the chieftain of the Don army, Lieutenant General Tatarkin. Major General V. G. Naumenko, Cossack generals F. F. Abramov, E. I. Balabin, A. G. Shkuro, V. V. Kreiter and others also supported the Vlasov movement. General Kreyter, later the plenipotentiary representative of the KONR in Austria, handed over to Vlasov the jewels that had once been taken out of Russia by the army of General Wrangel. However, over time, there were fewer and fewer such officers in the ROA, and by 1945 we can already talk about the deliberate pushing back of old emigrants. The chief of staff, Major General Trukhin, was especially wary of them. For example, he initially rejected the request of Major General A.V. Turkul to enroll in the army, fearing to associate the ROA with the name of this general, who became famous during the civil war as the commander of the Drozdov division of the Wrangel army. In addition, some former senior emigrant officers who were ready to join the ROA put forward impossible demands, hoping to take leading positions. They had some grounds for this: after all, in the Cossack corps, which was formed back in 1945 by Major General Turkul, or in the 1st Russian National Army by Major General Holmston-Smyslovsky, command was the prerogative of old emigrants, and former Soviet officers occupied the lower posts. Meanwhile, the elderly officers for the most part lagged behind the latest achievements of military science, and it was not easy for them to retrain. In any case, the friction between old emigrants and former Soviet servicemen, noted even in volunteer formations, also manifested itself in the ROA. This is evidenced, for example, by the story of Major General B. S. Permikin, the former headquarters captain of the tsarist army, the founder and commander of the Talab regiment, which was part of Yudenich’s northwestern army and distinguished himself in battles near Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo in 1919. In 1920, Permikin commanded General Wrangel's 3rd Army in Poland. In the ROA, Vlasov appointed him as a senior teacher of tactics at an officer school. But in the camp of the 1st division of the ROA, the former White Guard officer was treated so rudely that in February 1945 Permikin chose to join the ROA Cossack corps that was being formed in Austria under the command of Major General Turkul.

The appointment of a commander and the formation of a high command meant, at least outwardly, the completion of the process of isolation of the ROA, its formation as an independent unit. Indeed, it soon became clear that the Liberation Army had gained independence in at least two such important areas as military justice and military intelligence. We have only fragmentary data about the military court, but it is clear from them that the position of chief military prosecutor was established at the army headquarters, attempts were made to create a judicial instance order of the “top to bottom” movement and, in cooperation with the legal department of the KONR, develop instructions and instructions for the prosecutor's office. oversight and litigation. There is involuntary evidence from the Soviet side that Vlasov, being commander in chief, also served as the supreme judge of the ROA: in the Moscow trial of 1946, he was charged with the execution of several “prisoners of war”. Actually the story is like this. Six ROA fighters, sentenced to death by a military court for spying for the USSR, were under arrest in April 1945 in the area of ​​the ROA air force headquarters in Marienbad, since only there were premises from which it was impossible to escape. Vlasov, during his stay in Marienbad, was shown the verdict, which, according to eyewitnesses, he approved extremely reluctantly, and even then only after he was shown that it was illogical to convince the Germans of the autonomy of the ROA and at the same time refuse to perform basic legal functions. The independence of the ROA was also manifested in the fact that the military court of the 1st division in the last days of the war sentenced the German officer Ludwig Catterfeld-Kuronus to death on charges of spying for the Soviet Union.

As for the intelligence service, at first both military and civilian intelligence were under the jurisdiction of the security department, created under the KONR at the insistence of the Russians under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel N. V. Tenzorov. He was a man of character, although he had never dealt with such matters, a former physicist, an employee of one of the Kharkov research institutes. His deputies were Major M. A. Kalugin, former head of the special department of the headquarters of the North Caucasian Military District, and Major A. F. Chikalov. The counterintelligence department was headed by Major Krainev, the investigative department - Major Galanin, the secret correspondence department - Captain P. Bakshansky, the personnel department - Captain Zverev. Some of the intelligence officers - Chikalov, Kalugin, Krainev, Galanin, Majors Yegorov and Ivanov, Captain Bekker-Khrenov and others - used to work in the NKVD and, obviously, had some idea of ​​​​the work of the secret police. It is possible that the rest, although they were workers, architects, directors, school directors, oil workers, engineers or lawyers before the war, also turned out to be good intelligence officers. There were also representatives of the old emigration in this department, such as, for example, an officer for special assignments, Captain Skarzhinsky, Senior Lieutenant Golub and Lieutenant V. Melnikov.

After the army headquarters moved from Berlin to the Heiberg training ground in Württemberg (to the place of training of troops) in February 1945, military intelligence was organizationally separated from the civil one, and under the supervision of Major General Trukhin, the creation of its own intelligence service ROA began. The intelligence department, organized at the army headquarters, was, as already mentioned, entrusted to the major, and then to lieutenant colonel Grachev, a graduate of the Frunze Academy. On February 22, 1945, the department was divided into several groups: enemy intelligence - led by Lieutenant A.F. Vronsky; reconnaissance - it was commanded first by Captain N.F. Lapin, and then by Senior Lieutenant B. Gai; counterintelligence - commander Major Chikalov. By order of Major General Trukhin on March 8, 1945, the department received replenishment, so that in addition to the chief, twenty-one officers now worked in it: Major Chikalov, four captains (L. Dumbadze, P. Bakshansky, S. S. Nikolsky, M. And . Turchaninov), seven senior lieutenants (Yu. P. Khmyrov, B. Gai, D. Gorshkov, V. Kabitleev, N. F. Lapin, A. Skachkov, Tvardevich), lieutenants A. Andreev, L. Andreev, A. F. Vronsky, A. Glavai, K. G. Karenin, V. Lovanov, Ya. I. Marchenko, S. Pronchenko, Yu. S. Sitnik). Later, Captain V. Denisov and other officers joined the department.

After the war, suspicion fell on some members of the intelligence service that they were agents of the Soviets. We are talking, first of all, about Captain Bekker-Khrenov, an experienced counterintelligence officer who held the post of head of a special department of a tank brigade in the Red Army, and about Senior Lieutenant Khmyrov (Dolgoruky). Both appeared at the Moscow trial in 1946 as witnesses for the prosecution, the latter posing as adjutant Vlasov. The role of the chief of counterintelligence of the ROA, Major Chikalov, who served in the border troops of the NKVD, and then a political worker of a large partisan association operating in the Dnieper-Plavnya region, is also mysterious. Chikalov was taken prisoner at the end of 1943, along with the commander of this group, Major I. V. Kirpa (Kravchenko), and in 1944 both joined the Liberation Movement. The leaders of the ROA had no doubts about the authenticity of Chikalov's spiritual coup, however, according to some reports, Vlasov was warned back in 1944 that Chikalov should not be trusted. After the war, Chikalov acted in West Germany as a Soviet agent, and in 1952, shortly before his exposure, he was recalled to the USSR. Notable in this regard is an article by former senior lieutenant Khmyrov in the Soviet weekly Voice of the Motherland, which claims that Chikalov was killed in Munich in 1946, and Khmyrov slanderously links Colonel Pozdnyakov with this murder. Being the head of the personnel department, Pozdnyakov knew the officers of the army headquarters like no one else, and even after the war he kept some profiles. In one of his articles, Pozdnyakov wrote that Chikalov was unsympathetic to him as a former Chekist, emphasizing, however, that he had no complaints about Chikalov's work and that post-war affairs may not have any connection with the affairs of the war years. However, Pozdnyakov generally categorically denied that Soviet agents managed to get into the intelligence department.

The department faced difficulties of a different kind. Such, for example, as the methods of work of the counterintelligence officer of the 1st division of the ROA captain Olkhovnik (Olchovik), who was used to acting independently and reported on the results only to the division commander, Major General S. K. Bunyachenko, without informing the intelligence department of the army headquarters. In addition, counterintelligence information often turned out to be insignificant, related to incompetent statements of one or another officer or soldier, violations of discipline, drunkenness in the service, the use of gasoline for private trips, etc. , and Trukhin, for whom the identification of Soviet ties was most important, seriously thought about replacing Major Chikalov with Captain Bekker-Khrenov, to whom he wanted to confer the rank of lieutenant colonel back in 1944. While the counterintelligence group struggled with varying success against Soviet espionage, the intelligence group finally got down to business that was not intended for German eyes: by order of Major General Trukhin, it tried to establish contacts with American troops at the end of the war. In general, the work of the intelligence service of the ROA headquarters was first negatively affected by the distrust of German counterintelligence, then by organizational problems and a jealous attitude on the part of volunteer associations not subordinate to Vlasov. Nevertheless, the intelligence service has achieved some success.

The growing importance of intelligence in the ROA is evidenced by the creation at the beginning of 1945 in the Hunting Lodge near Marienbad of the ROA intelligence school under the leadership of one of the most talented intelligence officers, senior lieutenant Yelenev. In the Soviet interpretation, this school, designed to train intelligence officers and agents, mainly in the field of tactics, looks like a dangerous center for espionage, sabotage, terror, and even preparing an uprising in the rear of the Soviet army - the last charge was brought against Vlasov personally. It was the existence of this school that the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR considered as a particularly grave point of accusation, although in the Soviet army military intelligence is considered a legitimate and honorable branch of the military, and practical training in the Hunting Lodge was hardly very different from training in the corresponding Soviet institutions. Moreover, the structure of the school resembled a Soviet educational institution. In addition to the spirit that reigned here, everything in it was Soviet: the cadets wore Soviet uniforms and Soviet orders and medals, called each other “comrade” instead of the “master” accepted in the ROA, read Soviet books and newspapers, listened to Soviet radio and even ate in order, instituted in the Red Army. The cadets studied map orientation and cartography, methods of collecting and transmitting intelligence data, Soviet regulations, learned to use Soviet-made vehicles, weapons and radio transmitters, learned how to handle explosives, etc. On March 11, 1945, Vlasov and Major General Maltsev arrived at the school on the occasion of the graduation of the first twenty people. Vlasov addressed the graduates with a speech in which he once again emphasized the importance of military intelligence. He said:

Only those few who are undividedly devoted to the ideas of the Liberation Movement and are ready to bear all the hardships of this extremely important work in war conditions are worthy of the honorary title of intelligence officer of the ROA. Freed from Bolshevism, Russia will never forget their exploits.

The group was airlifted behind the front line with the task of organizing, together with the anti-Soviet resistance movement, the fight against the Soviet army. With great difficulty, we managed to get 20,000 liters of gasoline needed for this action. There is also evidence that such groups were repeatedly led across the front line by a reconnaissance officer, senior lieutenant Tulinov, and they suffered heavy losses. In the formation of the officer corps, as well as in the creation of the military legal service and military intelligence, the Russians were guided by their own ideas. An officer of the Liberation Army was defined as a representative of the new Russia in "European society" and was different from his comrades in the volunteer units under German command. He was not just a military specialist who mastered his craft, but also a Russian patriot, devoted to the ideals of the liberation struggle, to his people and fatherland. In the brochure published in 1945 “Warrior of the ROA. Ethics, Appearance, Behavior” The first of the qualities of an officer is the demand put forward by Suvorov for absolute honesty in the service and in his personal life. In relation to subordinates, the type of “father-commander”, common in the old Russian army, is taken as a model, who, by personal example, justice and paternal care, wins the respect and love of soldiers. The ROA officer does not have the right to humiliate the dignity of his subordinates or other people. It is worth mentioning one more point: the ROA officer is obliged to spare civilians, respect their national and religious feelings, and be generous to the defeated enemy. Under the editorship of Major General Trukhin, by December 1944, a provision was developed on the service of officers and military officials of the ROA, which we can judge from the reviews of Colonels Boyarsky and Meandrov. According to this provision, in wartime, when conferring ranks from warrant officer to the rank of army general proposed by Boyarsky, one should proceed only from the achievements of this officer, and not from the principle of seniority in service, while merit at the front should have been evaluated higher than in the rear. It was necessary to distinguish between rank and position and take into account the ranks received in the Red Army. Thus, the methods of appointing and promoting officers also testify to the originality and independence of the Liberation Army.

Until 1944, Kestring, a German general of volunteer formations, was in charge of appointing and promoting officers, and he, under his own responsibility, could appoint only “compatriots” (Volksdeutsche), that is, in the case of the USSR, immigrants from the Baltic republics. In relation to the pilots, the corresponding functions were performed by the inspector for foreign personnel of the Luftwaffe "Vostok". Based on “personal qualities, military merit and political reliability”, the officer was assigned a certain rank within a given volunteer unit (in most cases corresponding to his rank in the Red Army), and the personnel department of the army or the Luftwaffe allowed him to wear a German uniform with the appropriate insignia. After the Reich recognized the Russian Liberation Movement in September 1944, a procedure was temporarily established according to which the Russians submitted submissions for officers of the emerging ROA to the general of volunteer formations. Finally, on January 28, 1945, Vlasov himself received the right, as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the KONR, to appoint officers to his subordinate formations at his own discretion, to determine their rank and raise them. However, there were some limitations, indicating that the Germans were still clinging to the last opportunity to control Vlasov. For example, in order to promote generals - or confer the rank of general - it was necessary to obtain, through the OKW, the consent of the head of the SS Main Directorate. As before, in addition to the right now given to Vlasov to assign the next rank, a sanction was also needed for the assignment of German insignia, which were distributed by the army personnel department on behalf of the general of volunteer units and the Luftwaffe personnel department on behalf of the then inspector for eastern Luftwaffe personnel. This condition, caused by the requirement to observe certain rules of equality, remained in force only as long as the soldiers of the ROA wore German insignia. The Russian side made efforts to return to the Liberation Army Russian shoulder straps, introduced back in 1943 in the then Eastern troops, but then replaced by German ones. Let us note, by the way, that this was the only point in which the wishes of the Russians were in tune with the aspirations of Hitler, who on January 27, 1945, spoke out against the issuance of German uniforms to the Vlasovites.

In practice, however, the promotion of officers was already then carried out exclusively as the Russians desired. A qualification commission organized at the army headquarters under the command of Major Demsky determined the rank of newly arrived officers. The appointments of junior officers were made by Major General Trukhin together with the head of the personnel department of the headquarters, Colonel Pozdnyakov, and the issue of appointing staff officers was decided by General Vlasov together with Trukhin and Pozdnyakov. We have no information about the objections of the German side. So, for example, the head of the Main Directorate of the SS, Obergruppenführer Berger, who, like his representative at Vlasov, tried to support the Liberation Movement, in February-March 1945, unconditionally agreed to provide Colonels V. I. Boyarsky, S. K. Bunyachenko, I. N. Kononov, V. I. Maltsev, M. A. Meandrov, M. M. Shapovalov and G. A. Zverev with the rank of major general. As for the rest of the officers, the friendly understanding established between Colonel Pozdnyakov and Captain Ungermann, who was responsible for personal affairs at the headquarters of the general of volunteer formations, served as a guarantee of a benevolent attitude towards Russian requests.

Concerned about his prestige in relations with the Germans, Vlasov considered it superfluous to personally prepare ideas for promotion. They were signed by the head of the personnel department of the army headquarters Pozdnyakov. After the war, this was interpreted in such a way that for the Germans the word of Commander-in-Chief Vlasov had no value, they listened to the opinion of another person "German agent" at the headquarters of the ROA. Soviet propaganda, seizing on this argument, tried to present Pozdnyakov, hated by her journalistic and political activities, as a tool of the SD, Gestapo and SS, attributing all kinds of atrocities to him. To be convinced of the absurdity of these statements, from which it follows that Vlasov and the leading officers of the Liberation Army were at the mercy of a Gestapo agent, one need only look at Pozdnyakov's official position. In his service, he was connected with the headquarters of the general of volunteer formations, but had nothing to do with the Gestapo and the SD, and cooperation with them was absolutely excluded for organizational reasons. This was written by the general of volunteer formations Kestring, this was emphasized by the former head of the propaganda department of the Wehrmacht, Colonel Hans Martin, who assured that he knew Pozdnyakov well from his previous work. Both of them, like Kestring's former adjutant, Captain Horvath von Bittenfeld (after the war, Secretary of State and Head of the Office of the Federal President) speak of Pozdnyakov's impeccable honesty, his patriotism and organizational skills. However, if he did not possess these qualities, he would hardly have been able to become Vlasov's operational adjutant, and then take the responsible post of head of the command department.

After Vlasov was appointed commander in chief, the soldiers of the ROA were sworn in:

“I, a faithful son of my fatherland, voluntarily join the ranks of the troops of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. Before the face of my compatriots, I solemnly swear to fight honestly under the command of General Vlasov to the last drop of blood for the good of my people, against Bolshevism.

The German side could not come to terms with the fact that the soldiers would personally swear allegiance to Vlasov, and clauses hinting at an alliance with Germany were included in the oath. In particular, it was said: “This struggle is waged by all freedom-loving peoples headed by Adolf Hitler. I swear to be faithful to this union." This wording was personally approved by the Reichsführer SS, and the Russians thus managed to avoid taking the oath personally to Hitler.

At the very end of the war, ROA soldiers still wore German insignia on gray uniforms, which led to a fatal misunderstanding: the Americans saw this as proof of their belonging to the Wehrmacht. Meanwhile, not to mention the fact that the French soldiers of de Gaulle and the Polish General Anders in 1944-45. also not without difficulty distinguished from American or British soldiers, the Vlasovites even outwardly lacked the main sign of belonging to the Wehrmacht: the emblem of an eagle with a swastika. On March 2, 1945, the OKW urgently issued a belated order on this subject:

Members of Russian formations subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia are obliged to immediately remove the German emblem from their hats and uniforms. Instead of the German emblem, a sleeve badge is worn on the right sleeve, and a cockade of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) is worn on the cap. German personnel communicating with the ROA are instructed to remove the ROA sleeve insignia.

From that moment on, the banner of the Liberation Army becomes - instead of the banner of the Reich - a white-blue-red naval flag with an St. Andrew's cross, established by Peter I, and the standard of the commander-in-chief was with tricolor tassels and the image of George the Victorious on a blue background. On the service seal of the ROA was written "Armed Forces of the Peoples of Russia". If further evidence is required to confirm the autonomous status of the Liberation Army, then it can be added that the Wehrmacht was represented in it - as in the allied armies of Romania, Hungary and other countries, only liaison officers who did not have command authority: General OKW under the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the KONR and groups communications with Russian divisions. With the exception of some connections of a purely formal nature, the Russian Liberation Army was legally and in fact completely separated from the Wehrmacht.

So, the Wehrmacht and the ROA were now officially considered allies. What has been achieved for several years by many senior officers of the German army. But this by no means meant a transition to new, cloudless relations between Russians and Germans. In the army, especially at the lowest level, there was distrust of the Russians, born of ignorance and misunderstanding. It was difficult for the Germans to see Russians as equal allies. There are many examples that clearly demonstrate how easily this distrust grew into serious conflicts. Such is the story of Captain Vladimir Gavrinsky, an officer from Vlasov's personal guard. Being on the assignment of the commander in chief, the captain at the station in Nuremberg argued with a German pilot over a place in a second class compartment. The railroad sergeant arrived in time to immediately resolve the conflict by cold-bloodedly shooting a Russian officer. But it happened in February 1945 ... The news of the murder of this honored officer, who received several orders for brave actions in the rear of the Red Army, reached the members of the KONR during a meeting in Karlsbad, causing them deep indignation. The Germans present at the meeting were also very upset by this incident. Vlasov sent a telegram of protest to the Reichsführer SS, and the Germans tried to hush up the matter. Captain Gavrinsky was given a military funeral of the highest order, which was attended by the city commandant of Nuremberg and senior German officers. However, Vlasov's demand to bring the killer to trial was not fulfilled, and the sergeant major was simply transferred to another unit without much fuss.

But the Russians did not forget about past enmity and past humiliations. So, in a secret report from the intelligence department at the army headquarters, dated 1945, there was an increase in hostility towards the Germans in the 1st division of the ROA. In this phenomenon, they saw the influence of Major M.A. Zykov, an outstanding man, but extremely contradictory and mysterious. In 1943, Vlasov appointed Zykov in charge of the press in the then-nascent Liberation Movement. In the summer of 1944, Zykov was apparently arrested in Berlin by the Gestapo. His ideas enjoyed great success among students of propaganda courses in Dabendorf, who now occupied officer posts in the formations of the ROA. Therefore, some authors believe that political officers, like Zykov, who used to be Bukharin's confidant and corps commissar in the Red Army, deliberately sowed discontent among the officers, driving a wedge between the ROA and the Wehrmacht. There are also clear hints of the influence of the "genius Jew Zykov" in the statement of the former employee Vlasov dated December 23, 1944. He told the Eastern Ministry, which already did not have particularly friendly feelings for Vlasov, that in the general’s entourage there are people “disposed against everything German”, “preliminarily withdrawing from the programs of propagandist courses everything that is directed against the Anglo-Americans” and - that it was especially noted - "keeping complete silence about the Jewish question." An example of this way of thinking could also be the statement of Captain Voskoboinikov, recorded at the same time, which sounded provocative to National Socialist ears: “Jews are nice, intelligent people.”

According to the same source, secret agitation was going on in the ROA not only against the Germans themselves, but also against the volunteer formations still under their command. Agents or proxies of the ROA allegedly tried to sow confusion in the Eastern troops, persuaded the soldiers to join Vlasov, "who will solve the Russian question without the Germans." In the spirit of Soviet propaganda, these agitators called the officers of the Eastern Forces, many of whom had been fighting for more than a year, “Gestapo, traitors and mercenaries”, contrasting them with genuine leaders who “did not sell out to the Germans”, that is, they came straight from captivity to Vlasov. These claims seem unlikely, since such a distinction would be contrary to the very principles of the KONR, which considered all Russian volunteers to be participants in the Liberation Movement, regardless of their location. Finally, we should not forget that most of the leading figures of the ROA moved out of the Eastern troops, such as, for example, Major General Bunyachenko, who commanded the Russian regiment during the German offensive. The leadership of the ROA resolutely opposed all such anti-German currents, which developed more latently than on the surface. Lieutenant-General Zhilenkov, head of the main propaganda department of the KONR, was inclined to regard such sentiments as a deliberate enemy provocation. In the military newspaper KONR "3a Motherland" dated January 7, 1945, he wrote:

A soldier of the liberation army must show maximum respect towards the allies and daily take care of strengthening the military friendship between Russians and Germans ... Therefore, the soldiers and officers of the liberation army must show maximum correctness and full respect for the national orders and customs of the country in whose territory they will be forced to fight against Bolshevism.

Vlasov himself, who witnessed how, after the battle for Kyiv, Stalin in the Kremlin demanded from Beria by all means to incite "hatred, hatred and once again hatred *" against everything German, it was in overcoming this hatred between the two peoples that he saw the foundations of his policy, although he himself treated the Germans quite critically and soberly. His personal attitude towards the German allies is evidenced by his statement in a speech delivered on February 10, 1945 at the training ground in Münsingen on the occasion of taking command of the 1st and 2nd ROL divisions. In the presence of eminent German guests, he said to the assembled troops:

During the years of joint struggle, friendship between the Russian and German peoples was born. Both sides made mistakes, but tried to correct them - and this speaks of a common interest. The main thing in the work of both sides is trust, mutual trust. I thank the Russian and German officers who participated in the creation of this alliance. I am convinced that we will soon return to our homeland with the soldiers and officers that I see here. Long live the friendship of the Russian and German peoples! Long live the soldiers and officers of the Russian army! *

In his speech, Vlasov never mentioned Hitler and National Socialism. Therefore, the official German report on the ceremony in Münsingen emphasizes how difficult it is to adhere to the equality required by Vlasov. After all, it was precisely this condition that Vlasov put forward as the basic principle of the relationship between the Germans and the ROL.

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November 14, 1944 in Prague, Andrey Vlasov published the "Manifesto for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia", which was a universal program of Russian collaborators.

It is Vlasov who is the most famous Russian traitor during the Great Patriotic War. But not the only one: what was the real scale of the anti-Soviet movement?

Hanged ROA collaborators in the last years of the war

Let's start with the total. Throughout the war, the number of collaborators slightly exceeded 1,000,000 people. But it is important to note that most of them were the so-called Khivs, that is, prisoners employed in rear work. In second place are Russian emigrants from Europe, members of the white movement. The percentage of the population of the USSR involved in direct operations against, and even more so in leading them, was extremely insignificant. The political composition of the participants was also extremely heterogeneous, which shows that the collaborators lack a powerful ideological platform.

ROA (Russian Liberation Army)

Commanding: Andrey Vlasov

Maximum population: 110-120,000 people

Vlasov in front of the soldiers

ROA Vlasov was the most numerous group that collaborated with the Germans. Nazi propaganda paid special attention to it, so the very fact of its creation in 1942 was presented in the media as a "personal initiative of Vlasov" and other "fighters against communism." Almost all commanders in it were recruited from ethnic Russians. This, of course, was done for ideological reasons, in order to demonstrate "the desire of the Russians to join the liberation army."

True, at the first stage of the formation of the ROA, there were not enough qualified personnel from prisoners who wished to embark on the path of cooperation with the Nazis. Therefore, positions in the movement were occupied by former white officers. But by the end of the war, the Germans began to replace them with Soviet traitors, since understandable friction arose between the Whites and the ex-Red Army.

The number of Vlasov formations is usually defined as more than one hundred thousand people, but this figure is what stands behind this figure. At the end of 1944, when the Nazis finally decided to throw Vlasov’s army to the front — before that, its role was quite operatic — other Russian national formations like the “Cossack camp” of Major General Domanov and the “Russian Corps” General Major Shteyfon. But the union took place only on paper. There was still no unified command of the reinforced army: all its units were scattered at great distances from each other. In reality, the Vlasov army is only three divisions - Generals Zverev, Bunyachenko and Shapovalov, and the latter was not even armed. Their total number did not exceed 50,000 thousand.

By the way, legally, the ROA received the status of an independent "ally" of the Reich, which gives some revisionists reason to represent Vlasov as a fighter against Stalin and Hitler at the same time. This naive assertion is broken by the fact that all funding for the Vlasov army came from the funds of the Ministry of Finance of Nazi Germany.

Hivi

Heavis received special books confirming their status as military personnel

Number: about 800 thousand people.

Naturally, in the conquest of Russia, the Nazis needed helpers from among the local population, civil servants - cooks, waiters, cleaners of machine guns and boots. The Germans cordially recorded all of them in "Khivi". They did not have weapons and worked in rear positions for a piece of bread. Later, when the Germans were already defeated at Stalingrad, the Goebbels department began to classify the Khivs as "Vlasovites", hinting that they were inspired by the political example of Andrei Vlasov to betray communism. In reality, many Khivs had a very vague idea of ​​who Vlasov was, despite the abundance of propaganda leaflets. At the same time, about a third of the Khivs were actually engaged in hostilities: as local auxiliary units and policemen.

"Russian Corps"

Maximum population: 16,000 people

Commanding: Boris Shteifon

The formation of the "Russian Corps" began in 1941: then the Germans captured Yugoslavia, where a large number of white emigrants lived. From their composition, the first Russian voluntary formation was created. The Germans, confident in their impending victory, treated the ex-White Guards with little interest, so their autonomy was reduced to a minimum: throughout the war, the Russian Corps was mostly engaged in the fight against the Yugoslav partisans. In 1944, the Russian Corps was included in the ROA. Most of his employees eventually surrendered to the Allies, which allowed them to avoid trial in the USSR and stay in Latin America, the USA and England.

"Cossack camp"

Maximum population: 2000-3000 people

Commanding: Sergey Pavlov

Under the flag of the SS, the Cossack cavalry goes on the attack

The history of the Cossack detachments was of particular importance in the Reich, since Hitler and his associates saw in the Cossacks not the Slavic population, but the descendants of the Gothic tribes, who were also the ancestors of the Germans. From this arose the concept of a "German-Cossack State" in the south of Russia - a stronghold of the Reich's power. The Cossacks within the German army tried in every possible way to emphasize their own identity, so it came to curiosities: for example, Orthodox prayers for the health of "Hitler Tsar" or the organization of Cossack patrols in Warsaw, looking for Jews and partisans. The Cossack movement of collaborators was supported by Pyotr Krasnov, one of the leaders of the white movement. He described Hitler as follows: “I ask you to tell all the Cossacks that this war is not against Russia, but against the Communists, the Jews and their henchmen who sell Russian blood. God help the German weapons and Hitler! Let them do what the Russians and Emperor Alexander I did for Prussia in 1813.”

Cossacks were sent to different European countries as auxiliary units to suppress uprisings. An interesting moment is connected with their stay in Italy - after the Cossacks suppressed the uprisings of anti-fascists, a number of cities occupied by them were renamed "villages". The German press treated this fact favorably and wrote with great enthusiasm about "Cossacks asserting Gothic superiority in Europe."

At the same time, it should be taken into account that the number of the "Cossack camp" was very modest, and the number of Cossacks who fought in the Red Army significantly exceeded the number of collaborators.

1st Russian National Army

Commanding: Boris Holmston-Smyslovsky

Number: 1000 people

Smyslovskiy in Wehrmacht uniform

The very project of the 1st Russian National Army is of little interest, since it was no different from the numerous small gangs that formed under the wing of Vlasov. It is perhaps distinguished from the general series by the charismatic personality of its commander, Boris Smyslovsky, who had the pseudonym Arthur Holmston. Interestingly, Smyslovsky came from Jews who converted to Christianity and received a title of nobility in tsarist times. However, the Nazis were not embarrassed by the Jewish origin of the ally. He was helpful.

In 1944, a conflict of interests arose between Smyslovsky and Vlasov, the commander of the ROA. Vlasov told the German generals that the introduction of characters like Smyslovsky into his structure contradicted the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe movement of ordinary Soviet people, infringed by the Stalinist regime. Smyslovsky, on the contrary, considered all Soviet traitors to the original tsarist Russia. As a result, the conflict escalated into a confrontation, and Smyslovsky's squads left the ROA, forming their own formation.

Boris Smyslovsky with his wife in the 60s. Quiet life of the former executioner.

By the end of the war, the few remnants of his army withdrew to Liechtenstein. Smyslovsky's position that he was not a supporter of Hitler, but only an anti-Soviet, allowed him to stay in the West after the war. A little-known, but revered in certain circles, French film “Wind from the East” was made about this story. The role of Smyslovsky in the film was played by the legendary Malcolm McDowell, the fighters of his army are depicted as heroes who fled from Stalin's tyranny due to repression. In the end, some of them, deceived by Soviet propaganda, decide to return home, but in Hungary, the Red Army soldiers stop the train and, on the orders of political workers, shoot all the unfortunate. This is rare nonsense, since most of Smyslovsky's supporters left Russia immediately after the revolution, and in the post-war USSR, no one shot collaborators without trial.

Ethnic formations

Maximum population: 50,000 people

The motives of the members of the Ukrainian SS division "Galicia" or the Baltic SS-sheep are obvious: hatred of the USSR for invading their lands, plus the desire for national independence. However, if the ROA Hitler allowed at least some formal autonomy, the Germans were much less condescending towards the national movements in the USSR: they were included in the German armed forces, the vast majority of officers and commanders were Germans. Although the same Lviv Ukrainians, of course, could amuse the national feeling by translating German military ranks into their own language. For example, in "Galicia" the obershutze was called the "senior strylets", and the haupscharführer was called the "mace".

Ethnic collaborators were entrusted with the most rough work - the fight against partisans and mass executions: for example, Ukrainian nationalists were the main executioners at Babi Yar. Many representatives of national movements settled in the West after the war; after the collapse of the USSR, their descendants and supporters play a significant role in the politics of the CIS countries.