The history of the creation, existence and destruction of the so-called Russian Liberation Army under the command of General Vlasov is one of the darkest and most mysterious pages of the Great Patriotic War.
First of all, the figure of its leader is amazing. Nominee N.S. Khrushchev and one of the favorites of I.V. Stalin, lieutenant general of the Red Army, Andrey Vlasov was taken prisoner on the Volkhov front in 1942. Leaving the encirclement with the only companion - the cook Voronova, in the village of Tukhovezhi, he was given to the Germans by the local headman for a reward: a cow and ten packs of makhorka.Almost immediately after being imprisoned in a camp for senior military near Vinnitsa, Vlasov goes to cooperate with the Germans. Soviet historians interpreted Vlasov's decision as personal cowardice. However, Vlasov's mechanized corps in the battles near Lvov proved to be very good. The 37th Army under his leadership in the defense of Kyiv too. By the time of his capture, Vlasov had the reputation of one of the main saviors of Moscow. He did not show personal cowardice in battles. Later, a version appeared that he was afraid of punishment from Stalin. However, leaving the Kiev Cauldron, according to Khrushchev, who was the first to meet him, he was in civilian clothes and was leading a goat on a rope. No punishment followed, moreover, his career continued.
There are other versions. One of them says that he was a GRU agent and fell victim to the post-war "showdown" in the Soviet special services. According to another version, he was an active participant in the conspiracies of "marshals" and "heroes". He went to establish contacts with the German generals. The goal was to overthrow both Stalin and Hitler. In favor of the latest version, for example, Vlasov's close acquaintance with the repressed in 1937-38 speaks. the military. Blucher, for example, he replaced as an adviser to Chiang Kai-shek. In addition, his immediate superior before the capture was Meretskov, the future marshal, who was arrested at the beginning of the war in the case of "heroes", gave confessions, and was released "on the basis of instructions from the directive bodies for reasons of special order."
And yet, at the same time as Vlasov, the regimental commissar Kernes, who went over to the side of the Germans, was kept in the Vinnitsa camp. The commissar went out to the Germans with a message about the presence in the USSR of a deeply conspiratorial group. Which covers the army, the NKVD, Soviet and party organs, and stands on anti-Stalinist positions. A high-ranking official of the German Foreign Ministry Gustav Hilder came to meet with both of them. Documentary evidence of the last two versions does not exist. But let's go back directly to the ROA, or, as they are often called "Vlasovites." You should start with the fact that the prototype and the first separate "Russian" unit on the side of the Germans was created in 1941-1942. Bronislav Kaminsky Russian Liberation People's Army - RONA. Kaminsky, born in 1903 to a German mother and a Pole father, was an engineer before the war and served time in the Gulag under Article 58. Note that during the formation of RONA, Vlasov himself still fought in the ranks of the Red Army. By the middle of 1943, Kaminsky had 10,000 fighters, 24 T-34 tanks and 36 captured guns under his control. In July 1944, his troops showed particular cruelty in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. On August 19 of the same year, Kaminsky and his entire headquarters were shot by the Germans without trial or investigation.
Around the same time as RONA, the Gil-Rodionov squad was created in Belarus. Lieutenant Colonel of the Red Army V.V. Gil, speaking under the pseudonym Rodionov, in the service of the Germans created the Fighting Union of Russian Nationalists and showed considerable cruelty against Belarusian partisans and local residents. However, in 1943, with most of the BSRN, he went over to the side of the Red partisans, received the rank of colonel and the Order of the Red Star. Killed in 1944. In 1941, the Russian National People's Army, also known as the Boyarsky Brigade, was created near Smolensk. Vladimir Gelyarovich Boersky (real name) was born in 1901 in the Berdichevsky district, it is believed that in a Polish family. In 1943 the brigade was disbanded by the Germans. From the beginning of 1941, the formation of detachments of people calling themselves Cossacks was actively going on. Quite a lot of different divisions were created from them. Finally, in 1943, the 1st Cossack division was created under the leadership of the German colonel von Pannwitz. She was thrown into Yugoslavia to fight the partisans. In Yugoslavia, the division worked closely with the Russian Security Corps, created from white émigrés and their children. It should be noted that in the Russian Empire, the Kalmyks, in particular, belonged to the Cossack estate, and abroad all emigrants from the Empire were considered Russians. Also in the first half of the war, formations subordinate to the Germans from representatives of national minorities were actively formed.
The idea of Vlasov about the formation of the ROA as the future army of Russia liberated from Stalin, Hitler, to put it mildly, did not cause much enthusiasm. The head of the Reich did not need an independent Russia at all, especially having its own army. In 1942-1944. The ROA as a real military formation did not exist, but was used for propaganda purposes, to recruit collaborators. Those, in turn, were used by separate battalions mainly to perform security functions and fight partisans. Only at the end of 1944, when the Hitlerite command simply had nothing to plug the gaps in the defense with, was the go-ahead given to the formation of the ROA. The first division was formed only on November 23, 1944, five months before the end of the war. For its formation, the remnants of the units disbanded by the Germans and battered in battles that fought on the side of the Germans were used. As well as Soviet prisoners of war. Few people looked at nationality here. The deputy chief of staff Boersky, as we have already said, was a Pole, the head of the combat training department, General Asberg, was an Armenian. Great help in the formation was provided by Captain Shtrik-Shtrikfeld. As well as figures of the white movement, such as Kromiadi, Chocoli, Meyer, Skorzhinsky and others. The rank and file, in the circumstances, most likely, no one checked for nationality. By the end of the war, the ROA formally numbered from 120 to 130 thousand people. All units were scattered over vast distances and did not represent a single military force.
Until the end of the war, the ROA managed to take part in hostilities three times. On February 9, 1945, in the battles on the Oder, three Vlasov battalions under the leadership of Colonel Sakharov achieved some success in their direction. But these successes were short-lived. On April 13, 1945, the 1st division of the ROA took part in battles with the 33rd Army of the Red Army without much success. But in the battles of May 5-8 for Prague, under the leadership of her commander Bunyachenko, she showed herself very well. The Nazis were driven out of the city, and could not return to it. At the end of the war, most of the "Vlasovites" were extradited to the Soviet authorities. Leaders hanged in 1946. The rest were waiting for camps and settlements. In 1949, less than half of the 112,882 “Vlasov” special settlers were Russians: - 54,256 people. Among the rest: Ukrainians - 20,899; Belarusians - 5,432; Georgians - 3,705; Armenians - 3,678; Uzbeks - 3,457; Azerbaijanis - 2,932; Kazakhs - 2,903; Germans - 2,836; 807, Kabardians - 640, Moldovans - 637, Mordovians - 635, Ossetians - 595, Tajiks - 545, Kirghiz -466, Bashkirs - 449, Turkmens - 389, Poles - 381, Kalmyks -335, Adyghes - 201, Circassians - 192, Lezgins - 177, Jews - 171, Karaites - 170, Udmurts - 157, Latvians - 150, Mari - 137, Karakalpaks - 123, Avars - 109, Kumyks - 103, Greeks - 102, Bulgarians -99, Estonians - 87, Romanians - 62, Nogais - 59, Abkhazians - 58, Komi - 49, Dargins - 48, Finns - 46, Lithuanians - 41 and others - 2095 people. Alexey Nos.
General Vlasov at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War stood on a par with the best commanders in chief of the Red Army. General Vlasov distinguished himself in the Battle of Moscow in the autumn of 1941. By mid-summer 1942, when Vlasov surrendered to the Germans, the Germans were in captivity a large number of soldiers and officers of the Red Army. A large number of the population of Ukraine, Russia, the Baltic States and the Cossack formations of the Don Cossacks went over to the side of the Germans. After Vlasov was interrogated by the German Field Marshal Theodor von Bock, the Russian Liberation Army, or ROA, began its life. Andrei Vlasov, together with like-minded people (of course, with the Germans) wanted to start a new civil war on the territory of the USSR.
Meanwhile, the general was one of the favorites of Joseph Stalin. Vlasov first distinguished himself in the Battle of Moscow, when the Red Army created a layered defense on the outskirts of the capital, and then repelled German attacks with counterattacks.
General Andrey Vlasov
On December 31, 1941, a photograph of General Andrei Vlasov was placed on the front page of the Izvestia newspaper, along with other military leaders (Zhukov, Voroshilov, etc.). Already on next year Vlasov is awarded an order, and later he is awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Joseph Stalin instructs Soviet writers to write a book about General Vlasov "Stalin's Commander". After this promotion by Stalin, Vlasov became very popular in the country. He receives greeting cards and letters from all over the country. Vlasov often gets into the camera lens.
General Andrey Vlasov
Andrei Vlasov was drafted into the armed forces of the Red Army in 1920. In 1936, Vlasov was awarded the rank of major. The following year, the rapid growth of Andrei Vlasov's career began. In 1937 and 1938 Vlasov served in the military tribunal of the Kiev Military District. He was a member of the military tribunal and signed death warrants.
Vlasov's excellent career was the result of the mass repressions that Stalin carried out in the Red Army as a commander in the mid-30s. Against the background of these events in the country, the career of many military men was very rapid. Vlasov was no exception. At 40, he becomes a lieutenant general.
According to many historians, General Andrei Vlasov was an excellent and strong-willed commander, at the same time he was a diplomat and well versed in people. Vlasov gave the impression of a strong and demanding personality in the Red Army. Thanks to the good qualities of the commander, Joseph Stalin was loyal to Vlasov, and always tried to move him up the ranks.
General Andrey Vlasov
When the Great Patriotic War began, she found Vlasov when he served in the Kiev military district. He, with many commanders and soldiers of the Red Army, retreated to the east. In September 1941, Vlasov left the encirclement in the Kiev pocket. Vlasov left the encirclement for two months, and he retreated not with the soldiers of the Red Army, but with a female military doctor. In those days of the difficult retreat of the Red Army, General Vlasov sought to break through to his own as quickly as possible. Having changed into civilian clothes with a military doctor in one of the settlements, Andrei Vlasov left the encirclement near the city of Kursk by the beginning of November 1941. After leaving the encirclement, Vlasov fell ill and was placed in a hospital. Unlike other officers and soldiers of the Red Army who left the encirclement, Vlasov was not interrogated. He still enjoyed Stalin's loyalty. Joseph Stalin remarked on this occasion: "Why bother a sick general."
General Andrey Vlasov
With the beginning of the winter of 1941, the German units of Guderian were rapidly advancing towards the capital of the USSR. The Red Army in echeloned defense with difficulty resists the Germans. The critical situation for the Soviet Union is about to begin. At that time, the defense of Moscow in the Battle of Moscow was commanded by Georgy Zhukov. To carry out the combat mission, Zhukov specially selected, in his opinion, the best army commanders. At the time when these events took place, General Vlasov was in the hospital. Vlasov, like other commanders, was appointed to the lists of commanders in the battle for Moscow without his knowledge. General Sandalov developed an operation for the counteroffensive of the Red Army near Moscow. The operation for the counter-offensive of the Red Army, when Vlasov arrived at the headquarters, was fully developed and approved. Therefore, Andrei Vlasov did not take part in it. On December 5, 1941, the 20th Shock Army launched a counterattack against the Germans, which drove them back from Moscow. Many mistakenly believe that General Andrei Vlasov commanded this army. But Vlasov returned to headquarters only on December 19. Only two days later he took command of the army. By the way, Zhukov has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction, due to the passive command of the army by Vlasov. After that, the Red Army successfully counterattacked the Germans and Vlasov was promoted. But Vlasov made almost no effort to carry out these events.
General Andrey Vlasov
Many historians seriously argue that Vlasov, even before the start of the war with Germany, was an ardent anti-Stalinist. Despite this, he attended a meeting with Joseph Stalin in February 1942 and was quite impressed by his strong personality. Vlasov was always in good standing with Stalin. Vlasov's army has always fought successfully. Already in April 1942, Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov, Stalin appointed commander of the 2nd shock army.
General Andrey Vlasov
On April 19, 1942, Vlasov appears for the first time before the 2nd shock army with a speech: “I will start with discipline and order. No one will leave my army just because he wants to leave. The people of my army will leave either with orders for promotion, or for execution .... Regarding the latter, of course, I was joking "
General Andrey Vlasov
At that moment, this army was surrounded and something urgently needed to be done to bring it out of the boiler. The army was cut off by the Germans in the Novgorod swamps. The position of the army became critical: there was not enough ammunition and food. Meanwhile, the Germans systematically and cold-bloodedly destroyed the encircled army of Vlasov. Vlasov asked for support and help. At the beginning of the summer of 1942, the Germans blocked the only road (it was also called the "Road of Life"), along which the 2nd Shock Army was provided with food and ammunition. On the same road, the soldiers of the Red Army left the encirclement. Vlasov gave his last order: to break through to everyone on their own. Together with the breakthrough group, Lieutenant General Vlasov headed north in the hope of breaking out of the encirclement. During the retreat, Vlasov lost his temper and was absolutely indifferent to the events taking place. Many surrounded officers of the 2nd Shock Army shot themselves while trying to take them prisoner by the Germans. Systematically, soldiers from the 2nd shock army of Vlasov left the encirclement to their small groups. The 2nd shock army consisted of several hundred thousand fighters, of whom no more than 8 thousand people escaped. The rest were killed or taken prisoner.
General Andrey Vlasov
Against the background of the encirclement of the 2nd shock army, the anti-Soviet sentiments of General Vlasov escalated. July 13, 1942 Vlasov voluntarily surrendered. Early in the morning a German patrol passed through the village. Local residents told the Germans that a Russian soldier was hiding with them. A German patrol seized Vlasov and his companion. This happened in the village of Tukhovezhi, Leningrad region. Before surrendering, Vlasov communicated with local residents who were in contact with Russian partisans. One of the inhabitants of this village wanted to hand over Vlasov to the Germans, but did not have time to do this. According to local residents, Vlasov had the opportunity to go out to the partisans, and then return to his own. But for unknown reasons, he did not.
General Andrey Vlasov
On July 13, a secret note was brought to the NKVD headquarters, which mentioned that the commanders of the 2nd shock army, Vlasov, Vinogradov and Afanasyev, went out to the partisans and were safe with them. On July 16, they found out that a mistake was made in the message and Vlasov was not with the surviving commanders. And the commander Vinogradov did not leave the encirclement. In search of Vlasov and other commanders, on behalf of Stalin, sabotage detachments were sent to the rear of the Germans. Nearly all search parties perished.
General Andrey Vlasov
Vlasov decided to surrender to the enemy for many reasons. Firstly, he assumed that the Soviet Union was unable to destroy the German army, against the backdrop of the events that took place on the Volkhov front in Myasnoy Bor. He decided that it would be better for him that he would surrender to the Germans. Vlasov planned that after the defeat of the Soviets, he would become the head of the leadership of the conquered country.
General Vlasov was transferred to Germany, to Berlin. In one of the houses on the outskirts of Berlin was the headquarters of Vlasov. The Germans needed this kind of figure from the Red Army. Vlasov was offered to become the head of the army in the liberation from Bolshevism in Russia. Vlasov begins to travel to concentration camps where Soviet soldiers are imprisoned. He begins to create the backbone of the ROA (Russian Liberation Army) from captured Russian officers and soldiers. But not many join this army. Later, in the occupied city of Pskov, a parade of several ROA battalions takes place, where Vlasov takes the parade. At this parade, Andrei Vlasov declares that there are already half a million soldiers in the ranks of the ROA, who will soon fight against the Bolsheviks. But in fact, this army did not exist.
Throughout the existence of the ROA, German officers, and even Hitler himself, treated this formation with disdain and distrust.
General Andrey Vlasov
After the defeat of the Wehrmacht at the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, General Vlasov decides to act actively and decides to offer the Germans to lead the five hundred thousandth army of Russian prisoners of war who will take up arms and stand up against the USSR. After Hitler's meeting with the top command staff of the Wehrmacht, it was decided not to create a combat-ready Russian army of the ROA. Hitler categorically forbade the formation of military units from Russian volunteers, due to distrust of them.
After Vlasov was denied the creation of his army, he was taken under house arrest. During the period of idleness, Vlasov in his residence often indulged in drinking and other entertainment. But at the same time, with the leaders of the ROA, Vlasov planned an action plan for various scenarios. Realizing that nothing could be expected from the Germans in terms of helping to create an army, the leaders of the ROA planned to take refuge in the Alps and hold out there until the Allies arrived. And then surrender to them. That was their only hope at the time. Moreover, Vlasov has already contacted MI6 (British military intelligence). Vlasov believed that having gone over to the side of England, he would fight with the USSR with his army when England entered Europe and started a war with Russia. But the British did not negotiate with Vlasov, considering him a war criminal who acts contrary to the interests of the allies.
In the summer of 1944, Andrei Vlasov marries the widow of the murdered SS man, Adella Billinberg. Thus, he wanted to gain the loyalty of the Germans towards himself. Moreover, he wanted to reach Himmler with this act, who in the summer of 1944 received Vlasov. Hoping for help from the Vlasov formations, Himmler allows the creation of an army for Vlasov. As a result, General Vlasov achieves his goal: the first division of the ROA is formed under his leadership. The preparation of sabotage detachments immediately begins to overthrow the government in Russia. It was planned to carry out terrorist acts on the territory of Moscow against the Soviet government. Vlasov also wanted to create underground organizations in large Russian cities in order to counter the Soviet regime.
General Andrey Vlasov
After the creation of his army, General Vlasov moved to the Czech Republic. In November 1944, the first congress of the Committee of the Liberation Peoples of Russia took place in Prague. The Germans, and Vlasov himself, seriously planned that in the event of victory in the war, Vlasov would become the head of the government governing Russia.
But events unfold differently. The Red Army moves west and systematically destroys the scattered German army. Soviet troops approach the borders of Czechoslovakia. Vlasov understood that the only chance for his salvation was to surrender to the Americans.
Putin's modern rashists accuse Ukraine of all sins and crimes. Although, it was the Russian Federation that brazenly sent its troops into the Crimea, started a senseless massacre in the Donbass, capturing part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions ... Syria, Turkey ... Russian propagandists have no shame or conscience.
Ukraine for them is a fascist junta, where “Banderites of the Galicia division” are in power…
The Museum of the Poster of Ukraine under the magazine "Museums of Ukraine" politely reminds of Vlasov's ROA. Their crimes and symbolism. Which, surprisingly, became the state in the Russian Federation.
So who are the “fascists, junta and Nazis”? I would like to ask the successors of Goebbels' propaganda and Vlasov's fascist ideology ...
Press Service of the Poster Museum of Ukraine
Russian Liberation Army, ROA- the historical name of the armed forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR), who fought on the side of the Third Reich against the political system of the USSR, as well as the totality of the majority of Russian anti-Soviet units and units from Russian collaborators in the Wehrmacht in 1943-1944, mainly used at the level separate 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, other formations were created a little later, 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 special-purpose battalion "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, the former Soviet lieutenant general Andrey Vlasov.
At the end of June 1942, the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front was cut off from the main forces of the Red Army. Most of the fighters died, the survivors scattered through the swampy forests. In this critical situation, the army commander and at the same time the deputy commander of the Volkhov Front, General A. Vlasov, abandoned the troops entrusted to him and disappeared in an unknown direction. In early July 1942, Vlasov surrendered to the Germans. Due to his high official position, Vlasov knew a lot, so he was soon sent to the Vinnitsa prisoner of war camp, which was run by German military intelligence - the Abwehr. There Vlasov declared his consent to participate in the struggle against the Red Army on the side of the Nazis. In early August 1942, he proposed to the German authorities to create an independent volunteer "Russian Liberation Army" (ROA) to fight in alliance with Germany against the Stalinist regime. This idea interested the Nazi leadership, and Vlasov was entrusted with the recruitment of volunteers in prisoner-of-war camps and in an emigre environment. Vlasov pursued the task of uniting all anti-Soviet forces. However, the practical implementation of this plan by Hitler was postponed. Given the cases of transition of such volunteers to the side of the Red Army, there was little trust in them. It was not until mid-1944 that the Nazi rulers began to realize that things were now going very badly for them. In September 1944, the head of the SS and the Gestapo, G. Himmler, met with Vlasov and gave the green light to the formation of independent Russian divisions from proven forces.
On November 14, 1944, in Prague, with the money of the German Reich, the so-called “Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia” (KONR) was formed. The committee adopted a manifesto of the anti-Soviet movement, literally reproducing Hitler's propaganda texts about the USSR, England and the USA. Following this, the formation of ROA divisions began from units that had previously taken part in the fight against Soviet partisans, in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, in hostilities on various sectors of the Soviet-German front, as well as volunteers from France, Denmark, Norway, the Balkan countries, Italy and etc. with a total number of up to 50 thousand fighters. In December 1944, at the direction of the Minister of Aviation of Nazi Germany G. Goering, the air forces of the ROA were also created on the basis of the “Russian air group”, formed as part of the Luftwaffe back in November 1943 (in total, they were provided with 28 Messerschmitt and Junkers aircraft ”). ROA units managed to take part in battles with Soviet troops during the Vistula-Oder and Berlin operations in the spring of 1945, as well as on the Yugoslav-Hungarian border.
PROPAGANDA
To reinforce the ROA, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was also involved, which could not forgive the Soviet authorities for religious persecution. Here is what, for example, calling for armed struggle against Soviet soldiers, wrote in one of the Vlasov publications in November 1944, the priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad Alexander Kiselev: “Who among us does not have a heartache at the thought that the bright cause of saving the Motherland is connected with the necessity of fratricidal war - a terrible thing. What is the answer? What's the way out? And he himself answered: "War is evil, but sometimes it is the least evil and even good."
And here is another, how terrible, just as absurd text - also from the Vlasov newspaper, only dated already in 1945. This is a short article entitled “The Poles lost 10 million people”: “The British Reuters agency reports the information bureau of the Polish armed forces, according to which Poland lost 10 million people during this war. Such are the terrible results of the fatal war for the Polish people, caused by the criminal policy of the Warsaw government deceived by London.” In other words, the Vlasovites who fought together with the Germans in Poland believed that it was not Hitler and his assistants who were to blame for the terrible sacrifices made, but the Poles themselves and their allies!
MYTHS ABOUT VLASOVIANS
In some publications, one can find statements that the Vlasovites did not participate in hostilities against the Red Army. Such, unsupported by facts, theses do not stand up to scrutiny. Suffice it to quote the Vlasov newspaper "For the Motherland", which from November 15, 1944 was published in Russian twice a week in the territories occupied by Hitler. One of Vlasov's closest associates, Major General F. Trukhin, himself denounces his movement in the very first issue of the mentioned newspaper: “The German people are convinced that they have true allies in the person of our volunteers. In the battles on the Eastern Front, in Italy, in France, our volunteers showed courage, heroism and an unbending will to win.” Or: “We have cadre units of the Russian Liberation Army, the Ukrainian Vizvolny Viysk and other national formations, united in battles and having gone through a harsh school of war on the Eastern Front, in the Balkans, in Italy and France. We have experienced and trained officers.” And further: "We will courageously, not for life, but for death, fight with the Red Army." The article also states that the Vlasov troops will have in their composition all the types of troops necessary for the conduct of a modern war, and weapons according to last word technology: "In this respect, our German allies are of great help." The editorial of the newspaper “For the Motherland” dated March 22, 1945, speaks of the solemn transfer to the Vlasovites of the Russian battalion, which was still in parts of the German army: “Glorious and instructive is the path traveled by the battalion. It was formed in Belarus and distinguished itself there in battles with partisans. After this preliminary combat training, which showed a high degree of courage, fearlessness and stamina of Russian soldiers, the battalion was included in the active German army, was in France, Belgium, Holland. On the memorable days of the Anglo-American offensive in the summer of 1944, the battalion took part in hot battles. fighters have awards for bravery.”
And here are excerpts from a report on the arrival of the former commander of the German division, which previously included this Russian battalion: “Great, brothers! - his greeting is heard in purely Russian. Until today, you belonged to the German army. For a year and a half you fought alongside the German soldiers. You fought near Bobruisk, Smolensk, in France, Belgium. Many feats are yours, the third company is especially glorious. We are now required to fight to the last drop of blood. We need to win in order to liberate long-suffering Russia from the 25-year yoke of Jews and communists. Long live the new Europe! Long live liberated Russia! Long live the leader of the new Europe, Adolf Hitler! Hooray! (Everyone stands up. Three powerful cheers shake the hall)”.
We will also cite interesting excerpts from a letter to the editors of the newspaper from one Russian volunteer from the front: “I went through the hard school of war together with my soldiers. For three years we have been hand in hand with the German comrades on the eastern, and now on the northeastern front. Many fell heroes in battle, many were awarded for bravery. My volunteers and I look forward to the next evening broadcasts. Say hello personally to General Vlasov. He is our commander, we are his soldiers, imbued with true love and devotion.”
Another message says: “We have a group of volunteers here in the German battalion. Four Russians, two Ukrainians, two Armenians, one Georgian. Having heard the call of the committee, we hasten to respond and want an early transfer to the ranks of the ROA or national units.
Another common myth is that Vlasov's campaign materials supposedly did not contain a single word of anti-Semitism. One “eyewitness” defending the general recalls: “It is unlikely that I saw all the Vlasov leaflets, but if at least one came across with a call to fight the“ Jewish-Bolshevik ”regime, General A. Vlasov would cease to exist for me. The slightest hint of anti-Semitism was completely absent.” Our own analysis of issues of the newspaper Za Rodinu, the printed organ of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, shows that almost every issue contains calls for a fight against “Judeo-Bolshevism” (the newspaper’s stable stamp), direct attacks on Jews (true, not necessarily Soviet), lengthy quotations of speeches by Hitler, other Nazis, or reprints from the fascist newspaper Völkischer Beobachter, to one degree or another touching on the topic of “Judeo-communism”. We do not consider it necessary to reproduce them here.
Of particular interest in the "biography" of the Vlasov movement is the episode associated with the Prague events in May 1945. An absurd version is being planted that Prague, they say, was liberated from the Nazis by the Vlasovites! Without going into details of the offensive operation of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, as a result of which a million-strong enemy grouping was surrounded and defeated and thereby assisted the insurgent Prague, let us pay attention to the following. Even before the start of the Prague operation, Vlasov, who realized that the Wehrmacht had come to an end, telegraphed to the headquarters of the 1st Ukrainian Front: “I can hit the rear of the Prague group of Germans. The condition is forgiveness for me and my people.” Thus, by the way, there was another betrayal - now of the German masters. However, no response was received. Vlasov and his associates had to make their way through the German detachments in Prague to the Americans. They expected to sit out with the Americans until the third world war. The Vlasovites seriously proceeded from the fact that the United States and England, after the defeat of Germany, would dare to attack the USSR. And between the troops of the three fronts of the Red Army, moving day and night along all roads to the insurgent Prague, on May 6, 1945, the 1st division of the ROA slipped there, numbering about 10 thousand people, in which A. Vlasov himself was. Such a small, demoralized formation, of course, could not have played any serious role in the liberation of Prague, in which there were more than a million Nazis. The Prague residents, mistakenly mistaking the ROA division for the Soviet one, at first greeted it cordially. But the clumsy maneuver of the Vlasovites was soon understood, and the armed detachments of the Czechoslovak Resistance threw them out of Prague, having managed to partially disarm them. Fleeing, the Vlasovites were forced to engage in battle with the SS barriers that blocked their path to the zone of American troops. This ended the “decisive role” of the Vlasovites in the liberation of Prague.
END OF MOVEMENT
On May 12, 1945, the Soviet command learned from radio interception that Vlasov was located in the area of the Czech city of Pilsen. The operation to capture it was carried out by the 162nd tank brigade under the command of Colonel I. Mashenko. The forward detachment of the brigade captured the commander of one of the ROA battalions, who indicated the exact location of Vlasov. Everything else was a matter of technique. Some time later, the general was taken to the headquarters of the 13th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front, and then by plane to Moscow. The trial of Vlasov and his eleven henchmen took place in July-August 1946. By the decision of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR, Vlasov and his closest accomplices were sentenced to death.
Most of the Soviet collaborators chose to surrender to the Americans and the British. The allies, as a rule, considered the “Vlasovites” as prisoners of war of the anti-Hitler coalition. According to the Yalta agreements of the allied powers of 1945, all citizens of the USSR who found themselves abroad as a result of the war, including traitors, were subject to repatriation. By decision of the courts, most of the participants in the Vlasov movement ended up in labor camps, and the officers were executed.
However, not all Nazi accomplices were extradited to the Soviet side. So, the remnants of the 1st Russian National Army of the white emigrant B. Smyslovsky (about 500 people) on the night of May 2-3 managed to escape from the zone of French occupation in Austria (Vorarlberg land) to neutral Liechtenstein. There they were interned. The "Smyslovites" were not formally part of the Vlasov army. They operated independently from July 1941, when the Russian Foreign Battalion was created at the headquarters of the German Army Group North to collect intelligence. Later, it was transformed into a training reconnaissance battalion, that is, in essence, into a school for the training of intelligence officers and saboteurs. At the end of 1942, Smyslovsky headed a special structure to combat the partisan movement. In 1945, Smyslovsky's army numbered almost 6 thousand people.
The French and the Soviet side demanded that the Smyslovites be handed over to them, but the then Liechtenstein authorities, who sympathized with Hitler, refused to do so. In 1946, the Argentine government agreed to receive Smyslov and his accomplices. Transportation costs were later borne by the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Americans, in contrast to the British, also tried not to extradite those who could be useful to them for future subversive work against the USSR. And this is understandable: after the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union, which conquered all of continental Europe, the words of F. Schiller that only Russians can defeat Russians acquired particular relevance ...
WHO ARE THEY?
According to some estimates, a total of 800 thousand to 2 million Soviet citizens and emigrants from Russia and the USSR fought (or helped) against the USSR and its allies on the side of the Germans - those who participated in the terrorist actions of the invaders, prolonged them and slowed down coming of victory.
For most of our contemporaries, the common noun in relation to all of them, the name "Vlasov" and the concept of "traitor" mean the same thing. On the Internet, we found the memoirs of one of the participants in the Vistula-Oder operation - K. V. Popov, which contain characteristic assessments of this group of people: “In Germany, we met Vlasovites. We did not take them prisoner - they shot them, although there was no such order. We hated these traitors to the Motherland fiercely - they were worse than the Nazis. They found diaries. There, the traitors described how they were captured, how they were kept, how they went over to the side of the enemy. I read such a diary of one murdered Vlasovite and I. Vlasovets wrote that he wanted to return to his own, but the Germans were vigilantly watching them. Then, when the opportunity arose to cross, it became clear: they would not believe their own people, they would not forgive them - that’s how they had to shoot their own people to the end. ”
Attempts to make general Vlasov and his comrades-in-arms fighters against Stalinism, fighters for democratic Russia have little connection with reality. Indeed, in Vlasov's appeals there was a lot of such rhetoric. Of course, the ideological opponents of the Soviet government joined the Vlasov units, but in the vast majority they were those who wanted to avoid the hard fate of German captivity. The morale of the Vlasovites fluctuated depending on the situation at the front. That is why the German command considered the Vlasov units as unreliable.
The “ideological commitment” of most Vlasovites was just a beautiful wrapper for their desire to save their own lives at all costs, and if they were lucky, to make a career, get rich, or settle old scores with offenders. With “ideology” they only calmed their mental anguish due to treason and cooperation with the Germans. It is unlikely that they, shooting at Red Army soldiers and partisans, did not understand that they could potentially shoot at their own fathers or mothers, brothers or sisters, sons or daughters, who were not related to the crimes of the regime, but rather were its victims. How did they then differ from the “criminals-Bolsheviks”? Therefore, objectively, the Vlasovites did not fight against Stalinism, but against their own people, and the Vlasov team was just an obedient cog in the Nazi machine of conquest. If the Russian collaborators fought against Bolshevism, then why did they also fight on the Atlantic coast with the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, receiving thanks and promotions from the German command for this? It's just that the Vlasovites miscalculated, betting on the invincibility of the Reich.
Vlasovites, or fighters of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) - in military history figures are ambiguous. Until now, historians cannot come to a consensus. Supporters consider them fighters for justice, true patriots of the Russian people. The opponents are unconditionally sure that the Vlasovites are traitors to the Motherland, who went over to the side of the enemy and mercilessly destroyed their compatriots.
Why Vlasov created ROA
The Vlasovites positioned themselves as patriots of their country and their people, but not the government. Their goal was allegedly to overthrow the established political regime in order to provide people with a decent life. General Vlasov considered Bolshevism, in particular Stalin, the main enemy of the Russian people. He associated the prosperity of his country with cooperation and friendly relations with Germany.
treason
Vlasov went over to the side of the enemy at the most difficult moment for the USSR. The movement he propagated and in which he involved former soldiers of the Red Army was aimed at the destruction of the Russians. Having taken an oath of allegiance to Hitler, the Vlasovites decided to kill ordinary soldiers, burn villages and destroy their homeland. Moreover, Vlasov presented his Order of Lenin to Brigadeführer Fegelein in response to the loyalty shown to him.
Demonstrating his loyalty, General Vlasov gave valuable military advice. Knowing the problem areas and plans of the Red Army, he helped the Germans plan attacks. In the diary of the Minister of Propaganda of the Third Reich and the Gauleiter of Berlin, Joseph Goebbels, there is an entry about his meeting with Vlasov, who gave him advice, taking into account the experience of defending Kyiv and Moscow, how best to organize the defense of Berlin. Goebbels wrote: “The conversation with General Vlasov inspired me. I learned that the Soviet Union had to overcome exactly the same crisis that we are overcoming now, and that there is certainly a way out of this crisis, if you are extremely resolute and do not succumb to it.
At the mercy of the fascists
Vlasovites took part in the brutal massacres of civilians. From the memoirs of one of them: “The next day, the commandant of the city, Schuber, ordered all the state farmers to be driven out to Chernaya Balka, and the executed communists to be duly buried. Here stray dogs were caught, thrown into the water, the city was cleared ... First from Jews and cheerful ones, at the same time from Zherdetsky, then from dogs. And bury the corpses at the same time. trace. How else, gentlemen? After all, it’s not the forty-first year already - the forty-second in the yard! Already carnival tricks, joyful ones had to be hidden slowly. After all, it was possible before, and so, in a simple way. Shoot and throw on the coastal sand, and now - bury! But what a dream!”
The soldiers of the ROA, together with the Nazis, smashed the partisan detachments, enthusiastically talking about it: “They hung the captured partisan commanders at the poles of the railway station at dawn, then continued to drink. They sang German songs, embracing their commander, walked the streets and touched the frightened sisters of mercy! The real gang!
Baptism of fire
General Bunyachenko, who commanded the 1st division of the ROA, received an order to prepare the division for an offensive on the bridgehead captured by the Soviet troops with the task of pushing the Soviet troops back to the right bank of the Oder in this place. For Vlasov's army, it was a baptism of fire - it had to prove its right to exist.
On February 9, 1945, the ROA entered the position for the first time. The army captured Neulevien, the southern part of Karlsbyse and Kerstenbruch. Joseph Goebbels even noted in his diary " outstanding achievements detachments of General Vlasov. The ROA soldiers played a key role in the battle - due to the fact that the Vlasovites noticed in time a disguised battery of Soviet anti-tank guns ready for battle, the German units did not become a victim of a bloody massacre. Saving the Fritz, the Vlasovites mercilessly killed their compatriots.
On March 20, the ROA was supposed to capture and equip a bridgehead, as well as ensure the passage of ships along the Oder. When during the day the left flank, despite strong artillery support, was stopped, the Russians, who were waiting with hope for the exhausted and discouraged Germans, were used as a "fist". The Germans sent Vlasov on the most dangerous and obviously failed missions.
Prague uprising
The Vlasovites showed themselves in occupied Prague - they decided to oppose the German troops. On May 5, 1945, they came to the aid of the rebels. The rebels demonstrated unprecedented cruelty - they shot down a German school from heavy anti-aircraft machine guns, turning its students into a bloody mess. Subsequently, the Vlasovites, retreating from Prague, met with the retreating Germans in hand-to-hand combat. The uprising resulted in robberies and murders of the civilian population and not only the German one.
There were several versions of why the ROA took part in the uprising. Perhaps she was trying to earn the forgiveness of the Soviet people, or she was seeking political asylum in liberated Czechoslovakia. One of the authoritative opinions remains that the German command delivered an ultimatum: either the division follows their orders, or it will be destroyed. The Germans made it clear that the ROA would not be able to exist independently and act according to its convictions, and then the Vlasovites went on sabotage.
The adventurous decision to take part in the uprising cost the ROA dearly: about 900 Vlasovites were killed during the fighting in Prague (officially - 300), 158 wounded disappeared without a trace from Prague hospitals after the arrival of the Red Army, 600 Vlasov deserters were identified in Prague and shot by the Red Army
On August 10, the Yeltsin Center hosted another ideological event dedicated to the Last Address project, the essence of which is hanging on houses commemorative plaques with the names of people who were subjected to "Stalinist repressions".
The essence of the project is simple: you need to force Russians to look every day at the signs with the names of the victims of the “regime” installed here and there, so that people gradually begin to think that, in general, the whole history of Russia before the advent of Yeltsin and “democracy” consisted of slavery and humiliation .
The names of the organizers of the project eloquently complement its provocative essence.
- Sergei Parkhomenko, publisher, journalist, political commentator, host of the infamous radio station Ekho Moskvy. Parkhomenko is known for casually talking on the air of the media about what the Soviet Union had to do with the victory in World War II, and about the fact that Leningrad had to be surrendered to the Nazis.
- Society "Memorial", officially .
It was in the Yeltsin Center on August 10, 2016 that a press conference was held dedicated to the Last Address project, which shocked many.
At the conference of the Deputy Director for scientific work Yeltsin Center Nikita Sokolov said that it is necessary
"to go beyond the narrow understanding of the repressed and expand it."
According to Sokolov, an important social problem is the memory of groups of people
"who were not rehabilitated and created real combat groups to oppose Soviet power", including the "Vlasovites".
Sokolov himself is “not sure that modern Russia should consider them “enemies of the people.”
“If we receive such an application (to open a memorial plaque to people who fought the Soviet regime with weapons in their hands), then we will start a public discussion on this matter,” said Nikita Sokolov. He clarified that "Vlasovites" is a big question, which, "finally, should be answered."
Nikita Sokolov
Since the Yeltsinists have already begun to install memorial plaques for the victims of repression, and they want to bring the Vlasovites under the same category, it is easy to predict that soon all over Yekaterinburg will begin to appear inscriptions with the names of "heroes" who bravely fought on the side of Hitler against the Soviet regime, "oppressing the people." In the modern language of American political science, the Vlasovites are such an "opposition to Stalin."
This is how American political science interprets Bandera and other bandits and traitors of all stripes who fought against their country and people. By the way, this is also why Western science gives completely different figures on the scale of repression.
Taking into account the fact that the Yeltsin Center is headed by director Dina Sorokina, who was discharged from New York, this is natural. Yes, and the Yeltsin Center was equipped by the American company Ralph Appelbaum Associates, which created the Jewish Tolerance Center, whose board of trustees includes his American friend and partner Leonard Blavatnik, David Rene James de Rothschild, Daria Zhukova and other personalities of a similar plan.
It should be noted that Ralph Appelbaum Associates has not previously organized museum projects in Russia: the company works only for very large sums of money.
We will not now embark on discussions with State Department historians about whether the Red Army was a people's army, and whether Stalin was a true people's leader. Historical sources of that era speak for themselves.
The inscription on the wall in the Brest Fortress. June 1941
All this is obvious, as well as the fact that Vlasov and Bandera are the most disgusting representatives of the human race, affected by the traitor gene, for handouts from the invaders, they hunted atrocities against their own relatives.
Andrey Vlasov with accomplices in the courtyard of the Butyrskaya prison. August 1, 1946.
In accordance with the decisions of the Yalta Conference, after the end of hostilities in Europe, most of the members of the so-called "Russian Liberation Army" were handed over to the Soviet authorities; many were shot without trial or investigation.
What other questions do the staff of the Yeltsin Center face? What more discussion is needed about them?
The goal of the Yeltsinists is clear: to educate the generation of neo-Vlasovites who are coming to replace us, as neo-Bandera people have already been brought up in Ukraine. It was precisely for this that the huge historical center named after Yeltsin was opened, a man for whom the continuation of the work of the Vlasovites became the main political idea.
Collaborationism, betrayal and defeatism became the basis of the ideology of the young reformers of the nineties, and today the Yeltsinists are again instilling in society.
Like in Ukraine
The specialists of the Yeltsin Center operate according to the classic methods of American external services, which have been effectively worked out in Ukraine.
Pro-nationalist work in Ukraine skyrocketed after 2004, when foreign grants poured into the country. Particularly zealous in this direction was created on the initiative of Viktor Yushchenko Ukrainian Institute of National Memory.
In Ukraine, monuments to Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych began to be erected, streets were named after them, members of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) and UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) were glorified as "fighters against fascism."
Monument to Stepan Bandera in Lviv
“The monument to Stepan Bandera is the pride of Lviv. On October 13, 2007, a monument to a respected person in these parts, Stepan Bandera, was unveiled on Kropyvnytsky Square in the western city of Ukraine - Lvov. This discovery deliberately coincided with the 65th anniversary of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, led by Bandera. Being an idol in the west of the country and an indifferent, and sometimes even hated person in the east, he received the status of Hero of Ukraine posthumously.”
“The choice of the author and sculptor for the construction of such a landmark monument was very responsible. The competition for the best project was held 7 times. After careful consideration, the decision was made, and in 2002 the winning couple were architect Mikhail Fedko and sculptor Nikolai Posikira. The implementation of the conceived sculpture into reality took place over 5 years. Not being able to carry out work at public expense, the necessary funds were collected as donations. According to the words of the mayor of the city on the opening day, the money came from all over Ukraine. Thus, the public recognition of Bandera was confirmed. The scale of the monument is impressive. The first part of it includes a four-meter bronze sculpture representing the full-length UPA leader, and the area around it. The second part of the memorial complex is a triumphal arch about 30 meters high. The arch includes 4 columns, symbolizing the stages of the history of the Ukrainian people.
Currently, there are about 30 monuments to Stepan Bandera on the territory of Western Ukraine (from small busts to full-length bronze statues). They can be found on the territory of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne and Ternopil regions.
In 2014, Petro Poroshenko established the celebration of the Day of the Defender of Ukraine on the date traditionally considered the day of the creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) - October 14.
And on July 7, 2016, at a session meeting, the deputies of the Kiev Rada voted for the renaming of Moskovsky Prospekt in Kyiv to Stepan Bandera Prospekt.
It is easy to draw an analogy: in 2004, the work of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance began, and in 2014, freshly baked neo-Nazis hit Donetsk with hailstones. It took ten years, count ten years of education. This means that supporters of the independent Urals, neo-Vlasovites and Yeltsinists will arrive in time by about 2025, if the public does not insist on transferring the Yeltsin Center to the format of a museum of the crimes of Yeltsinism instead of romanticizing the nineties.
Who are the Vlasovites?
And now let's carefully figure out who the Vlasovites are, whom the employees of the Yeltsin Center are ready to justify.
The Nazis attached particular importance to the head of the Russian Liberation Army, General Andrei Andreevich Vlasov, in the information war against the USSR and the creation of a "fifth column" in the Soviet territories occupied by the Nazis.
Vlasov
Andrey Vlasov was born in the family of a middle peasant farmer on September 14, 1901 in the village of Lomakino, Nizhny Novgorod province.
Having shown himself on the fronts of the civil war, Andrei Vlasov rapidly climbed the army career ladder. Since 1922, he held command and staff positions, and was engaged in teaching. In 1929 he graduated from the Higher Army Command Courses "Shot". In 1930 he joined the CPSU(b). In 1935 he became a student of the MV Frunze Military Academy.
Andrei Vlasov met the war near Lvov with the rank of commander of the 4th mechanized corps. Later he was appointed commander of the 37th Army, which defended Kyiv.
After leaving the encirclement near Kyiv, Vlasov ended up in the hospital, but he did not manage to stay there for a long time. Stalin personally summoned the general to a meeting. The fate of Moscow was at stake. In the battle of Moscow, Andrey Vlasov distinguished himself again. Possessing only 15 tanks, the Vlasov units stopped the tank army of Walter Model in the Moscow suburb of Solnechegorsk, and pushed the Germans back 100 kilometers, while freeing three cities. In the newspapers of that time, General Vlasov was called nothing more than "the savior of Moscow." On the instructions of the Main Political Directorate, a book is being written about Vlasov called "Stalin's commander."
Vlasov, meanwhile, was sent to lead the 2nd Shock Army, which was blockaded in Myasnoy Bor.
July 11, 1942 Andrey Vlasov surrendered to the Wehrmacht soldiers. According to the testimony of his personal chef Voronova M.I., it happened like this:
“Being surrounded, Vlasov, among 30-40 people of staff workers, tried to connect with units of the Red Army, but nothing worked. Wandering through the forest, we connected with the leadership of one division, the commander of which was Cherny, and there were already about 200 of us. Around June 1942, near Novgorod, the Germans discovered us in the forest and imposed a battle, after which Vlasov, I, the soldier Kotov and the driver Pogibko escaped into the swamp, crossed it and went out to the villages. Pogiko with the wounded soldier Kotov went to one village, and Vlasov and I went to another. When we entered the village, I don’t know its name, we went into one house, where we were mistaken for partisans, the local “self-defense” surrounded the house, and we were arrested. We were put in a collective farm barn, and the next day the Germans arrived, showed Vlasov his portrait cut out of a newspaper in a general's uniform, and Vlasov was forced to admit that he was really Lieutenant General Vlasov. Prior to that, he was recommended as a refugee teacher.”
Vlasov in the POW camp 
NTS logo. 
General Vlasov was not beaten or tortured. He testified very willingly himself, starting with the fact that he joined the Communist Party for the sake of a career. Vlasov praised the work of German aviation and artillery, illustrating the successes of the enemy exact number killed and captured. He apologized for not knowing the answer to some questions.
The Germans offered Vlasov cooperation, and he agreed.
Soon Vlasov organized the Russian Liberation Army on the basis of the previously created "Russian battalions". Mass surrenders of Soviet soldiers and officers have been taking place since the beginning of the war
"The count of prisoners and weapons captured to date gave the following figures: 287,704, including many divisional and corps commanders, 2,585 tanks captured or destroyed, including super-heavy types."
The collaborationist "Russian forces" and their authors needed their own leader. They became the "Stalinist commander" Vlasov.
It should be noted that Vlasov was closely associated with numerous foreign White Guard organizations that during the Civil War intended to overthrow the Bolsheviks, relying on the interventionists - the Entente and the United States. After the defeat in the Civil War, the White Guard leaders moved to Europe in order to prepare for revenge.
In 1929-1930, the Union of Russian National Youth (SRNM) was created in Belgrade, soon renamed the Russian Union of the New Generation (RSNP). The NRNM merged with several similar foreign youth organizations and was renamed the New Generation National Union (NSNP). Since 1943, they adopted the name of the National Labor Union (NTS). NSNP-NTS worked closely with the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), founded by General Wrangel on September 1, 1924.
Vlasov and the fifth column of the Third Reich.
In March 1942, the Germans set up training camps in Zittenhorst, and then in Wustrau near Berlin, where qualified prisoners of war were selected to prepare for administrative work "in the East."
Teaching in them was taken over by the leaders of the NSNP/NTS. Of the more than 500 Russian cadets, about 30 people were admitted to the NTS, including future prominent figures. The printed materials necessary for the union were published there - both underground and openly, under the guise of textbooks.
In February 1943, in Berlin, Vlasov met with Major General Fyodor Trukhin from the Executive Bureau of the NTS. Since the autumn of 1944, Trukhin led all practical activities to create the Vlasov army.
Fyodor Ivanovich Trukhin (1896-1946), Major General of the Red Army (1940). Collaborator, Vlasov. Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. In October 1942 he joined the New Generation National Labor Union (NTSNP). He was a member of the executive bureau and council of the NTSNP, one of the authors of the political program of this organization (1943). In February 1943 he met General A. A. Vlasov. Since the spring of 1943 - the head of the school of the Russian Liberation Army in Dabendorf. In 1945 he was captured by Czech partisans, transferred to the Red Army, in 1946 he was convicted on charges of treason and executed.
By the time they met, the NTS had already announced the existence of a Russian anti-Soviet center in the occupied territories with the document “Appeal of the Russian Committee to the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, to all the Russian people and other peoples of the Soviet Union.”
The “Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR)” was the name given to the group united around Vlasov, although in reality no “committee” existed then. From December 27, 1942, the "socialist" text of the Appeal began to be actively used in German special propaganda.
Political Manipulation to Expand the Fifth Column: Russia's Return to February 1917
Milety Zykov (left, in uniform) and G. N. Zhilenkov. Between 1942 and 1944. From the book by W. Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt "Gegen Stalin und Hitler", 1970.
All thirteen points of the document did not contradict the "Stalinist" Constitution of 1936. The only innovation was the point on the systematic transfer of collective farm land to the private ownership of the peasants. Thanks to Zykov, the ideology of the Vlasov movement began to develop in the spirit of the ideas of the February Revolution of 1917, which was most fully expressed in the Prague Manifesto on November 14, 1944 and the programs of some Vlasov post-war organizations of the Russian Diaspora.
The propaganda department of the Reich was fine with flirting with Russian democracy. "Vlasovites" of various kinds, from socialists to monarchists, believed in the great possibilities of the Movement to return to their original positions in 1917.
Similarly, today the ROVS believes in a return to the starting positions of 1991.
The most serious success in the "tactics of small steps", as Shtrik-Shtrikfeld called events in support of the Vlasov movement, undoubtedly was the creation of a personnel and training center for anti-Stalinists - the Dabendorf school of the ROA (Ostpropagandaabteilung zur besonderen Verwendung "-" Special Purpose Oriental Propaganda Department ").
Wilfried Karlovich Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt, (1896, Riga - 1977, Oberstaufen) - Russian and German officer, employee and one of the founders of the ROA. Author of memoirs “Against Stalin and Hitler. General Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement / transl. I. Bach and M. Rubtsova. 3rd ed. M.: Posev, 1993).
Against Stalin in the service of Hitler. Vlasov movement in the documents of the Reich
The initiative to create a school of Vlasov propagandists in a barracks camp for former French prisoners of war near the village of Dabendorf south of Berlin belonged to Klaus Schenck von Stauffenberg. Stauffenberg achieved an increase in the staff and teaching staff of the school from 400 to 1200 people.
Colonel of the Wehrmacht R. Gehlen and Major General of the ROA V.F. Malyshkin. Dabendorf, 1943
The task of the “Special Purpose Eastern Propaganda Department” was to train propagandist groups with 100 Wehrmacht divisions on the Eastern Front and in prisoner of war camps run by OKV-OKH (Wehrmacht Supreme High Command). The Vlasovites themselves believed that they were training officers for their future army. Later, in the Armed Forces of the KONR, almost all officer positions were taken by Dabendorf graduates.
Vlasov inspects a school in Dabendorf.
Just before the end of the war, the ROA joined the EMRO.
The Russian Liberation Army was formed mainly from Soviet prisoners of war on December 27, 1942 by Andrey Vlasov and Deputy Chief of Staff of the KONR Armed Forces Vladimir Baersky, who, in a letter to the German command, proposed organizing a ROA.
On the instructions of the Germans, Vlasov tried to persuade other captured Soviet generals to do the same. In court, Vlasov testified as follows:
“In December 1942, Shtrikfeldt organized a meeting for me in the propaganda department with Lieutenant General Ponedelin, the former commander of the 12th. In a conversation with Ponedelin, the latter flatly refused to take part in the creation of the Russian volunteer army ... At the same time, I had a meeting with Major General Snegov, the former commander of the 8th Rifle Corps of the Red Army, who also did not agree to take part in the work ... After that, Strikfeldt took me to one of the prisoner of war camps located, where I met with Lieutenant General Lukin, the former commander of the 19th Army, whose leg was amputated after being wounded and his right hand did not work. In private with me, he said that he did not believe in the Germans, he would not serve with them, and rejected my offer. Having failed in conversations with Ponedelin, Snegov and Lukin, I no longer addressed any of the generals' prisoners of war ... "
The army was declared as a military formation created to "liberate Russia from communism." At the same time, all these White Guard organizations did not support Hitler's Nazi plans. The Nazis perceived them as collaborators, assistants in the fight, mainly against the partisans in the occupied countries.
The practical creation of the ROA began after the establishment in Prague on November 14, 1944 of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR).
Berlin, November 1944. General Vlasov in Berlin (to the speaker's right). On stage is the Presidium of the newly established Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. General Vlasov spoke to the Ostarbeiters (forced workers from the East), officers and soldiers of the liberation army about a combat program to overthrow the Bolshevik tyranny. Source: SS-PK. Bogner Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1997-076-02A / Bogner / CC-BY-SA
The committee was declared equivalent to the All-Russian government in exile. The Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (SC KONR) were created, which became the Russian Liberation Army. Vlasov was declared commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the KONR. The ROA possessed all branches of the military, including a small air force. The ROA was recognized as an independent Russian national army, connected with the Third Reich by allied relations.
//Source: Hoffman I. Stalin's war of annihilation (1941-1945). Planning, implementation, documents = Stalins Vernichtungskrieg 1941-1945: Planung, Ausfuhrung und Documentation. Moscow: Astrel, 2006.
The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia proclaimed a manifesto, the main theses of which were the overthrow of the Stalinist regime and the return to the peoples of the rights they had won in the revolution of 1917, the conclusion of an honorable peace with Germany, the creation in Russia of a new free statehood, "the establishment of a national labor system", "all-round development international cooperation”, “liquidation of forced labor”, “liquidation of collective farms”, “granting the intelligentsia the right to create freely”
Vlasov at a reception at the Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda of Germany (1933-1945) Joseph Goebbels
It was financed by the ROA by the Ministry of Finance of the Third Reich.
The main merit in the propaganda of the "horrors of Bolshevism" belongs to the closest collaborator of Goebbels, Dr. Eberhard Taubert.
F.I. Trukhin
Documents speak about the connection between Taubert and Vlasov.
//Dvinov B. L. Vlasov movement in the documents of the Great Reich, with the application of secret documents. New York, 1950.
The Taubert style used in Nazi propaganda was reused after the war to raise the fear of communism in the West. For this mission, he worked with the secret services (eg CIC).
From 1943 to 1945, up to 5,000 people passed through Dabendorf, 12 graduations took place. From the training camp for the eastern occupied territories in Wustrau, a group of teachers arrived - members of the NTS, headed by General F. I. Trukhin. The permanent staff of the school - 54 officers, 11 non-commissioned officers and 44 privates - were dressed in Wehrmacht uniforms with Russian field epaulettes, a cockade and the emblem of the ROA on the left sleeve.
Nazi historian Georg Leibbrandt (1899-1982). Head of the Eastern Department of Management foreign policy Nazi Party, head of the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories since 1941. In February 1943, he presented a memorandum on the Russian National Committee and the Russian Liberation Army (ROA). Ideologist of racial proximity of Germans and Ukrainians.
The course of lectures was reduced to criticizing the system that existed in the USSR, to convincing listeners of the prospects of the ROA movement. The purpose of the training center was to re-educate captured fighters and commanders of the Red Army into staunch opponents of the communist regime. The school completed its history on April 22, 1945.
General A. A. Vlasov
“Mr. Vlasov began to show the excessive pride inherent in Russians and Slavs. He declares that Germany cannot conquer Russia, that Russia can only be conquered by the Russians. Be careful, gentlemen: there is a mortal danger in this maxim... The German army can have only one prayer - in the morning, afternoon and evening: we have defeated the enemy, we, the German infantry, have defeated all the enemies in the world. And if suddenly there is some Russian, deserter, who the day before yesterday, perhaps, was a butcher's assistant, and yesterday - a Stalinist general, and lectures us with purely Slavic arrogance, arguing that Russia can only be conquered by Russians, then I will tell you that this phrase alone shows what he is a pig."
However, in the summer of 1944, SS Standartenführer Gunther d Alken, who was responsible for propaganda on the Eastern Front, convinced Himmler to meet with Vlasov and give his consent to the deployment of the anti-Stalinist movement.
They met on 16 September 1944 at the Reichsführer's headquarters near Rastenburg. Their conversation went on for several hours. Vlasov was more than independent and uttered such things for which in the Third Reich and his generals were transferred to concentration camps without talking. In the end, Himmler agreed to the formation of the ROA and offered Vlasov the rank of Colonel General of the Wehrmacht, from which he evaded.
On January 28, 1945, 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. From that day on, the Germans considered the Armed Forces of the KONR to be the Armed Forces of an allied power, temporarily subordinate to the Wehrmacht.
Who fought on the side of Vlasov, and how many there were.
World War II was entering its final phase. According to the assessment of the head of the operational department of the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the KONR, Colonel A. G. Neryanin, Vlasov was ready to provide Hitler with the following support
The human resources that made it possible by the autumn of 1945 to form 10 line infantry divisions and a separate tank regiment;
- command staff: personnel lieutenant general of the Red Army, 5 major generals, 2 brigade commanders, 29 colonels, 1 brigade commissar, 16 lieutenant colonels, 41 majors, 5 military engineers of the 2nd rank, 6 military engineers of the 3rd rank, 1 military doctor of the 2nd rank, 1 military doctor of the 3rd rank, 1 captain of the 1st rank of the Navy, 3 senior lieutenants of state security;
- 1st (600th in German numbering) Infantry Division, Major General S. K. Bunyachenko. Formed in the autumn of 1944 in Münsingen on the basis of the personnel of the 29th SS Grenadier Division "RONA" (about 4000 people), the personnel of the 30th SS Grenadier Division, 308, 601, 618, 621, 628, 630, 654, 663, 666th, 675th and 681st separate Russian battalions, 582nd and 752nd Russian artillery battalions, 1604th Russian infantry regiment, as well as parts of volunteers from prisoner of war camps, Ostarbeiters and persons adjoining the division on the march April 15-30, 1945.
Vlasovets Sergey Kuzmich Bunyachenko (1902-1946)
This division included: headquarters, headquarters company, field gendarmerie, topographic department, sapper battalion, communications department, anti-tank battalion, reserve battalion (aka military school divisions), a separate reconnaissance detachment, 5 infantry regiments, an artillery regiment and a supply regiment. The division had 10 self-propelled artillery mounts, 10 T-34 tanks, 12 heavy field howitzers of 150 mm caliber, 42 guns of 75 mm caliber, 6 heavy and 29 light infantry guns, 31 anti-tank guns of 75 mm caliber, 10 anti-aircraft guns of 37 mm caliber , 79 grenade launchers, 563 heavy and light machine guns, 20 flamethrowers. Total number - 20,000 people(taking into account losses in the offensive operation on April 13, 1945);
- 2nd (650th by German numbering) Infantry Division, Major General G. A. Zverev. It began to form in January 1945 in Heuberg on the basis of the personnel of the 427th, 600th, 642nd, 667th and 851st separate Russian battalions, the 3rd battalion of the 714th Russian infantry regiment, the 851st engineer-construction battalion, the 621st Russian artillery battalion and other small Russian units, as well as from volunteers recruited in prisoner of war camps. The fighters of the division were armed with personal small arms (assault rifles, submachine guns), a certain number of machine guns and faustpatrons;
Grigory Alexandrovich Zverev. Collaborator. Born in 1900 in Voroshilovsk in a working-class family. Took part in Soviet-Finnish war(in the position of division commander). At the beginning of the 2nd World War, commanding a division, he was surrounded, but together with a group of officers he made his way to the Soviet front line. He was arrested and charged with espionage. He was imprisoned for six months, and then, with a demotion, was sent to Central Asia. In 1942 he was appointed commander of the 350th Infantry Division. In March 1943, being the military commandant of Kharkov, he was captured and sent to the Dnepropetrovsk prisoner of war camp, where he joined the ROA. With the rank of colonel of the ROA in January 1945, he took command of the 2nd division of the ROA. In February 1945 he was promoted to major general. Member of KONR. Executed 1 August 1946.
The division included: headquarters, 2 separate engineer battalions, 1 separate communications battalion, 3 infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, a supply regiment, 2 anti-tank and anti-aircraft divisions, a medical company and a command of the Cossack division. Total number - 11,865 people.
- 3rd (700th according to German numbering) Infantry Division of Major General M. M. Shapovalov, which began to form in February 1945, mainly from volunteers from among prisoners of war and Ostarbeiters. But the formation was not completed due to the lack of weapons, it was only possible to create a headquarters and recruit about 10,000 fighters who did not even have training weapons.
Mikhail Mikhailovich Shapovalov (1898, Grayvoron - 1945, Pribram). Collaborator, Vlasov.
A separate anti-tank brigade of Major Vtorov, which began to form on February 1, 1945 in Münsingen and consisted of the 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th anti-tank divisions. The brigade had assault guns and 2400 faustpatrons. As the divisions formed in February - April 1945, they departed to the 9th Wehrmacht Army of Infantry General T. Busse on the Oder Front. Total number - 1 240 people.
The reserve training brigade of Colonel S. T. Koida, which began to form in January 1945 in Münsingen as a reserve for the mobile units of the KONR Armed Forces on the basis of volunteers - prisoners of war and Ostarbeiters.
The brigade included a headquarters, a field gendarmerie platoon, a military band, an infantry regiment, an artillery battalion, a motorized battalion, a tank destroyer battalion, a cavalry squadron, a communications department, a sapper battalion, an artillery and technical supply battalion, a school for junior commanders and a convalescent battalion. Total number - 7000 people.
1st Joint Officer School of the Armed Forces of the Peoples of Russia, Major General M. A. Meandrov, which arose in November 1944 at the 1st Division in Münsingen and later transformed into an independent military educational institution. The heads of the school were S. T. Koida, M. A. Meandrov. In January 1945, the Wehrmacht school for the commanders of the peoples of the East, Colonel V. G. Kiselev, joined it.
Personnel: 18 staff, 42 combat officers, 120 non-commissioned officers and privates. The school had 1 battery with 75 mm guns and mortars, other weapons and technical equipment. At the second graduation, held in the Czech Republic on May 12, 1945, 605 cadets were trained. Total number - 785 people.
The headquarters of Major General F. I. Trukhin (20 departments), the economic company of Lieutenant N. A. SHARKO, the guard battalion of the headquarters of Major N. I. Begletsov, the officer reserve of Lieutenant Colonel M. K. Meleshkevich with the officer battalion of Lieutenant Colonel M. M. Golenko , a separate construction battalion of Captain A.P. Budny, a special-purpose battalion, engineering and technical auxiliary troops of Colonel G.I. Antonov, a reconnaissance school near Marienbad of Lieutenant Yelenev.
The total number of headquarters, support services and units of army subordination - not less than 5000 people.
Air Force: headquarters of Colonel A.F. Vanyushin, security platoon of lieutenant V.G. Vasyukhno, special-purpose platoon of lieutenant N. Fatyanov, 1st aviation regiment of colonel L.I. Baidak, 9th anti-aircraft artillery regiment of lieutenant colonel R.M. Vasiliev, 12th regiment of construction, telegraph and air communications, parachute battalion of Lieutenant Colonel M. D. Kotsar, 6th communications company of Lieutenant Colonel V. I. Lantukh. The Air Force had: 16 Me-109 (G-10) fighters, 12 Yu-88 light bombers, 3 Fi-158 reconnaissance aircraft, 1 Me-262 fighter, 2 Yu-52 transport aircraft; The training park included two Me-109, Yu-88, Phi-156 and U-2 each, and one Xe-111 and Do-17 each. The anti-aircraft artillery regiment was partially armed with captured anti-aircraft guns. Total number - not less than 5000 people.
The corps of Major General A. V. Turkul, which began to form at the end of 1944 in the Salzburg region (Austria) from the personnel of Russian units as part of the Wehrmacht and the SS troops. The corps included a separate Russian infantry regiment of Colonel Krzhizhanovsky, a Special Russian Regiment of the SS "Varangian" of Colonel M. A. Semenov and a separate Don Cossack regiment of Major General S. K. Borodin. Total number - 5200 people.
The Russian corps of Lieutenant General B. A. Shteifon, subordinated by Vlasov to Major General A. V. Turkul by order No. 423 / p of March 25, 1945. The corps included a headquarters, a separate Belgrade battalion, a veterinary company, a communications company, 2 infirmaries, 5 incomplete mountain rangers regiments. Total number - 5584 people.
XV Cossack Cavalry Corps of SS Gruppenführer X. Von Pannwitz. In April 1945, Vlasov appointed Major General of the Armed Forces of the KONR I. N. Kononov as commander of the corps, but he never took up his duties. Composition of the corps: headquarters, reconnaissance division; 1st Cossack Cavalry Division: 1st Don Cossack Regiment, 2nd Siberian Cossack Regiment, 4th Kuban Cossack Regiment, 1st Cossack Artillery Regiment, supply regiment and units of divisional subordination; 2nd Cossack Cavalry Division: 3rd Kuban Cossack Regiment, 5th Don Cossack Regiment, 6th Artillery Regiment, units of divisional subordination; 3rd Cossack cavalry division: reconnaissance battalion, 7th plastun regiment, 8th plastun regiment, 9th Kalmyk regiment, Caucasian cavalry division; parts of corps subordination and rear support. With the exception of the 3rd division, which was in the process of formation, in reality all command posts remained in the hands of German officers. The total number without the Wehrmacht and SS troops - not less than 32,000 people.
German general von Pannwitz and Cossack ataman Kononov.
Separate Cossack Corps in Northern Italy (Kazachiy Stan) Major General T. I. Domanov. 1st Cossack Foot Division under Major General D. A. Silkin: 1st Don Cossack Foot Brigade under Major General Voronin: 1st Don Cossack Foot Regiment under Major General I. V. Balabin, 2nd Don Cossack Foot Regiment military foreman Rykovsky; 2nd consolidated Cossack foot brigade of Major General E. S. Tikhotsky: 3rd Kuban Cossack foot regiment of Major General P. V. Golovko, 4th Terek-Stavropol Cossack foot regiment of Colonel I. A. Morozov; 1st Don Cossack light battery of centurion V. N. Cheryachukin, 2nd Don Cossack light battery of commander A. I. Sofronov, 3rd Kuban Cossack light battery of centurion Fedulin, 4th Terek-Stavropol Cossack light battery of centurion Yegopov, the headquarters hundred of the captain Seleznev, the engineering and technical hundred of the military foreman Efimenko, the hundred of communications of the captain Zuykin, the hundred of intelligence of the captain Marinin, the gendarmerie hundred of the captain Chausov, the squadron of the captain E. Kukolevsky, the headquarters of the division of Colonel G. T. Shornikov, the armored detachment of the captain I. A Mikhailenkova. 2nd Cossack foot division of Major General G. P. Tarasenko: 3rd consolidated Cossack foot brigade of Colonel Gneilakh: 5th consolidated Cossack foot regiment of Colonel A. A. Polupanov, 6th Don Cossack foot regiment of Colonel F Shevyreva; 4th consolidated Cossack foot brigade of Colonel Lobasevich: headquarters of the division of Colonel Makarychev, 3rd Cossack reserve regiment of military foreman Ovsyannikov, 1st Don Cossack foot battalion of stanitsa self-defense Yesaul Poevov, 2nd Kuban Cossack foot battalion of stanitsa self-defense Yesaul Tyukin, 3rd consolidated Cossack foot battalion of the stanitsa self-defense of Yesaul N. N. Maslennikov, a separate Cossack detachment of Colonel Grekov, 5th consolidated Cossack light battery of commander I. V. Usachev, 6th Don Cossack light battery of the centurion G. V. Davydov, a separate Cossack horse battery captain I. Sakhno.
In addition: the 1st Cossack cavalry regiment of Colonel A. M. Golubov, the Ataman Cossack cavalry escort regiment of Major General Vasiliev, the 7th light Cossack battery of the centurion I. G. Zabusov, the 8th Cossack light battery of the centurion Pinozzi, the Cossack school of Colonel A. I. Medynsky, the Cossack officer division of Colonel E. A. Mikhailov, the Cossack training team of the military foreman A. I. Kovalenkov, a separate equestrian Cossack gendarmerie division of the military foreman G. A. NAZYKOV, the Ataman paratrooper group of Yesaul B. I. Kantemir, Cossack bodyguard detachment of Major General T.I. Domanova centurion D. Pleshakov, Cossack light battery at the headquarters of Major General T.I. - Major T. I. Domanov from the full St. George Knights. A total of 18,395 combat personnel.
The total strength of the KONR Armed Forces was more than 124,000 people.
The German command never transferred Lieutenant General A. A. Vlasov to the Armed Forces of the KONR, most of the eastern volunteer units. The 599th Russian Grenadier Brigade of Major General W. von Henning (about 13,000 people) remained outside the KONR Armed Forces: the 3rd Ukrainian cadre volunteer regiment, the 4th Russian cadre volunteer regiment, the Russian super-construction regiment, the supply regiment, 25 separate Russian and Ukrainian formations numbering from a division to a battalion, 14 separate sapper-construction and supply battalions, etc.
Combat« exploits» Vlasov
In early February 1945, on the orders of Vlasov and Trukhin, Colonel I.K. Sakharov formed a strike group of three infantry platoons. On February 6, they arrived under the operational control of the 303rd Infantry Division "Deberitz" of the 9th Army of the German Infantry General T. Busse. From February 3 to 7, the regiments of the 301st Rifle Stalinist Order of Suvorov Division defeated the Deberitz Infantry Division, the 25th Motorized Grenadier Infantry Division and the 5th Separate Tank Division of the enemy. About 40 times the fascist chains were raised in a counterattack and rolled back the same number of times.
Vlasovite Igor Konstantinovich Sakharov (1912, Saratov - 1977, Australia)
On February 9, with the support of two infantry battalions, 10 tanks and artillery from the Nei-Levin area, Sakharov's group attacked the bridgehead occupied by units of the 230th Infantry Division of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel D.K. Shishkov. The first attack was repulsed.
At 24.00 the attack was repeated. By 2.00 on February 10, the Vlasovites captured the southern part of Karlsbize and Kerstenbruch, the settlement of Neu-Levin, ensuring the successful entry of German reserves. Sakharov's success was noted in the OKW report and reconnaissance report No. 34 of February 10, 1945 of the headquarters of the 5th Shock Army. By mid-March, on the basis of the 714th Eastern Infantry Regiment, Sakharov formed the 1604th Russian Grenadier Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht, which joined Bunyachenko's division in April 1945.
T. Busse suggested that Bunyachenko destroy the Soviet fortification on the western bank of the Oder and push the enemy back to the east. The Vlasovites acted completely independently, using only the support of several German batteries during artillery preparation. On April 13 at 4.45 a fire raid began. At 5.15, the 2nd regiment of lieutenant colonel of the Armed Forces KONR V.P. Artemiev and the 3rd regiment of Lieutenant Colonel of the Armed Forces KONR G.P. Alexandrov went on the offensive. By 8 am, the Vlasovites broke through the first line of defense, pushing the defenders 500 meters and capturing a number of firing points.
However, the success of the Vlasovites failed to consolidate. Later, V.P. Artemyev indignantly wrote that the Germans had specially organized this operation in order to bleed the division and deprive it of ammunition, since it was not realistic to achieve success in those conditions.
On April 15, the Vlasovites arbitrarily left the Oder positions. The 1st Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the KONR moved to the Czech Republic, effectively ceasing to obey the German command. By the end of April 1945, formations of the Armed Forces of the KONR were scattered on a large front in Germany, Austria and Yugoslavia. Vlasov, Trukhin planned to assemble their formations in Yugoslavia. Success in defeating the Nazis, the rapprochement of the Western and Eastern fronts did not allow them to carry out these plans: the Vlasovites were forced to surrender to the allies separately and under completely different circumstances.
End
On May 12, Bunyachenko disbanded the division and took off his shoulder straps. Parts of the 25th tank corps of the guard Colonel Eliseev captured 9000 Vlasov, 5 tanks, 5 self-propelled artillery mounts, 2 armored personnel carriers, 3 combat vehicles, 38 cars and 64 trucks, 1378 horses and "other military property.
Many Vlasovites managed to escape to the West. Of those who remained in Prague, more than 200 people were shot, and everyone who was in Prague hospitals under the inscriptions “Here lies the heroic liberators of Prague” was also shot or taken out.
On May 10-11, at least 400 people were taken to execution by SMERSH officers. Colonel A. D. Arkhipov, Lieutenant Colonel V. P. Artemiev and Colonel I. K. Sakharov escaped from the command of the 1st Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the KONR.
On the same day, the commander of the 5th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel P.K. Maksakov, was captured at the location of the division, the commander of the artillery regiment, Lieutenant Colonel V.T. Zhukovsky, surrendered himself. The command of the division headed by Bunyachenko was given by the Americans on May 15, 1945. Lieutenant General Vlasov was captured on May 12, 1945 by submachine gunners of the motorized rifle battalion of Captain M. I. Yakushov on the Lnarzhe - Pilsen road. The British, violating the word of political asylum given by Lieutenant General C. Keatley, from May 28 to mid-June forcibly deported to the Soviet occupation zone at least 65,000 collaborators who trusted them. Many were shot while trying to escape at the time of extradition. Separate groups of captives were rescued by US Army officers at their own peril and risk, providing them with forged documents. Major General of the Armed Forces of the KONR, Meandrov, who took command of the Armed Forces of the KONR after the arrest of Vlasov, categorically forbade the unauthorized abandonment of the camps, believing in the democratic principles of the Western powers. It cost him and his subordinates their lives.
The Vlasovites were tried by the military tribunals of the GSVG, various special meetings and tribunals of the military districts of the Soviet Union, the VKVS of the USSR.
Twelve senior officers of the AF KONR: A. A. Vlasov, V. F. Malyshkin, G. N. Zhilenkov, F. I. Trukhin, D. E. Zakutny, I. A. Blagoveshchensky, M. A. Meandrov, V. I. Maltsev, S. K. Bunyachenko, G. A. Zverev, V. D. Korbukov and N. S. Shatoov were hanged in the courtyard of the Butyrskaya prison in Moscow on August 1, 1946.
Whom and how many Vlasovites offer to rehabilitate modern collaborators
The official document of the Commission for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repressions under the President of the Russian Federation “The Fate of Prisoners of War and Deported Citizens of the USSR” contains a figure of 280,000 to 300,000 Soviet citizens who served in the police and the German Armed Forces in 1941-1945.
Historians interested in showing the Vlasov movement as “opposition to Stalin” on the side of Hitler are ready to increase this figure right now:
“This is the minimum recognized by the historians who took part in the work of the Commission. The vast majority of those involved in this problem believe that in various formations, as well as regular formations of the Wehrmacht and the SS, punitive units of the SS and SD, there were more than a million people.
It should be noted that almost all the captured generals of the Red Army, for various reasons, evaded participation in the Vlasov movement.
So Lieutenant General M.F. Lukin told Vlasov:
“You, Vlasov, are you officially recognized by Hitler? And have you been given guarantees that Hitler recognizes and will observe the historical borders of Russia?
The answer was no.
“You see! Lukin said. - Without such guarantees, I cannot cooperate with you. From my experience in German captivity, I do not believe that the Germans have the slightest desire to free the Russian people. I don't believe they will change their policy. And from here, Vlasov, any cooperation with the Germans will serve to benefit Germany, and not our Motherland.
M. F. Lukin (1892 -1970) - Soviet military leader, Hero of the Russian Federation (1993, posthumously), lieutenant general (June 6, 1940). When leaving the encirclement on October 14, 1941, the commander was seriously wounded and unconscious was taken prisoner. In captivity, his leg was amputated. In May 1945 he was released from captivity. After returning to the USSR until December 1945, he was tested by the NKVD, as a result of which he was reinstated in the ranks of the Red Army. Since 1946 - in reserve.
Who today is the initiator of the rehabilitation of Vlasov
After the war, various programs of subversive work in the USSR were developed in the NTS. However, the OGPU destroys all agents of the NTS even before infiltrating society. Then one of the leaders of the NTS, V.D. horizontal bonds between molecules. The NTS was asked to create and develop "tamizdat" - the printing and distribution of Russian journalism to help the Russian "samizdat" and the inclusion of Russians in the dissident movement. Active correspondence and personal meetings of Poremsky played a role in attracting public attention and awarding the Nobel Prizes to Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov.
“We all came out from under the sowing overcoat.” From the collection "Free word" Poseva ": 1945-1995".
The free Russian publishing house "Posev" appeared after the end of the Second World War, in 1945, in a camp of political refugees from Russia ("displaced persons"), near the village of Menhehof near the city of Kassel, in West Germany. Its first editor was Boris Vitalyevich Pryanishnikov (lit. pseudonym Serafimov), who as a child fought against the Bolsheviks in the ranks of the Don Cossacks, and then in the army of Wrangel and fled during the Crimean evacuation in November 1920 to the Greek Lemnos.
Boris Vitalyevich Pryanishnikov (1902, Velun - 2002, Silver Spring), founder and first editor of the Posev magazine.
See details in my article, in two parts
Characteristic of the publications of the NTS is the coverage in a positive sense of the activities of General Vlasov and his followers, whose moods were most clearly expressed by Solzhenitsyn in the book "August the Fourteenth".
The novel is riddled with longing: why did the "smart nation" (German) not subdue the "very stupid" nation. It is from this angle that the actions of the Russian and German troops in East Prussia in August 1914 are described.
“A simple truth, but it must be suffered: blessed are not victories in wars, but defeats in them! ... We are so used to being proud of our victory over Napoleon that we miss: it was thanks to her that the liberation of the peasants did not happen half a century earlier, it was thanks to her that the strengthened throne was broken Decembrists (the French occupation was not a reality for Russia).
Solzhenitsyn is not alone in his conclusions. Here is the statement of one of his spiritual allies A. A. Vlasov:
“I have come to the firm conviction that the tasks facing the Russian people can be resolved in alliance and cooperation with the German people. The interests of the Russian people have always been combined with the interests of the German people. The highest achievements of the Russian people are inextricably linked with those periods of its history when it linked its fate with Germany.
Myths about Vlasov
In an order dated July 9, 1943, sent to the commanders of partisan formations, the chief of the Central Staff partisan movement P.K. Ponomarenko pointed out:
“It has been established that the majority of the personnel of the Vlasov units come from prisoner of war camps. The political and moral state of the rank and file is unstable, in the part of the "Vlasovites" the majority were recruited because of the desire to escape from the hungry prisoner-of-war camps. Given this, the Gestapo planted a dense network of its agents among the personnel of the units, for example, from surveys of defectors, it is known that the Gestapo recruits one agent for about 10 people.
In parts, the entire unit is responsible for the misconduct of one soldier. By establishing mutual responsibility, the Germans bind people and achieve the establishment of a certain discipline. Therefore, underground organizations and partisan detachments should not underestimate this issue and are obliged to expand more widely the work of sending their agents to disintegrate the units and detachments created by the Germans from within in order to go over to the side of the partisans with weapons in their hands. There are many examples of the transition to the side of the partisans of large units of the "Vlasovites", including the command staff.
"Vlasovites" is not a political trend, but an event entirely inspired by the Nazis, with the goal of causing a civil war in the occupied territory of the Soviet Union. This idea of the fascist invaders and their agents was met with an organized rebuff by the population of the occupied regions; hiding from ongoing mobilizations, the masses of the population go into the forests, into partisan detachments.
However, the various "volunteer" formations created by the Germans and introduced into the occupied territory complicate the situation in the rear and pose a serious danger to the partisan movement.
Partisans and partisans, commanders, commissars of partisan detachments and brigades, secretaries of underground party committees, leaders of the partisan movement must see this danger and work persistently and stubbornly to disrupt the plans of the German invaders - to put the local population and prisoners of war at the service of the Nazi military machine.
The Vlasov team was just a cog in the Nazi machine of conquest. Vlasov, embarking on the path of treason and cooperation with the Nazis, fought not with the Nazi regime, as they are trying to imagine, but with his own people.
In some publications, one can find statements that the Vlasovites did not participate in hostilities against the Red Army. Such, unsupported by facts, theses do not stand up to scrutiny. It is enough to quote the Vlasov newspaper "For the Motherland", which from November 15, 1944 was published in Russian twice a week in the territories occupied by Hitler.
One of Vlasov's closest associates, Major General F. Trukhin, himself exposes his movement in the very first issue of the mentioned newspaper:
“The German people have become convinced that they have true allies in the person of our volunteers. In the battles on the Eastern Front, in Italy, in France, our volunteers showed courage, heroism and an unbending will to win.”
“We have cadre units of the Russian Liberation Army, Ukrainian Vizvolny Viysk and other national formations, united in battles and having gone through a harsh school of war on the Eastern Front, in the Balkans, in Italy and France. We have experienced and fired officers.”
"We will courageously, not for life, but for death, fight the Red Army."
The article also states that the Vlasov troops will include all types of troops necessary for the conduct of a modern war, and weapons with the latest technology:
"Our German allies are of great help in this regard."
The editorial of the newspaper "For the Motherland" dated March 22, 1945, speaks of the solemn transfer to the Vlasovites of the Russian battalion, which was still in parts of the German army:
“Glorious and instructive is the path traversed by the battalion. It was formed in Belarus and distinguished itself there in battles with partisans. After this preliminary combat training, which showed a high degree of courage, fearlessness and stamina of Russian soldiers, the battalion was included in the active German army, was in France, Belgium, Holland. During the memorable days of the Anglo-American offensive in the summer of 1944, the battalion took part in hot battles. Many fighters have awards for bravery.”
And here are excerpts from a report on the arrival of the former commander of the German division, which previously included this Russian battalion:
"Hey, brothers! - his greeting is heard in purely Russian. Until today, you belonged to the German army. For a year and a half you fought alongside the German soldiers. You fought near Bobruisk, Smolensk, in France, Belgium. Many feats are yours, the third company is especially glorious. Now it is required of us that we fight to the last drop of blood. We need to win in order to liberate long-suffering Russia from the 25-year yoke of Jews and communists. Long live the new Europe! Long live liberated Russia! Long live the leader of the new Europe, Adolf Hitler! Hooray! (Everyone gets up. A powerful triple TuraU shakes the hall).
Here are excerpts from a letter to the editors of the newspaper from a Russian volunteer from the front:
“I went through the hard school of war together with my soldiers. For three years we have been hand in hand with the German comrades on the eastern, and now on the northeastern front. Many fell heroes in battle, many were awarded for bravery. My volunteers and I look forward to the next evening radio broadcasts. Say hello personally to General Vlasov. He is our commander, we are his soldiers, imbued with true love and devotion.”
Another message says:
Another common myth is that Vlasov's campaign materials supposedly did not contain a single word of anti-Semitism.
One eyewitness defending the general recalls:
“It is unlikely that I saw all the Vlasov leaflets, but if at least one came across with a call to fight the “Jewish-Bolshevik” regime, General A. Vlasov would cease to exist for me. The slightest hint of anti-Semitism was completely absent.”
The above quote is a pure lie.
Our own analysis of issues of the newspaper Za Rodinu, the press organ of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, shows that almost every issue contains calls for a fight against “Judeo-Bolshevism” (the newspaper’s stable stamp), direct attacks on Jews (although not necessarily Soviet), lengthy quotations of speeches by Hitler, other Nazis, or reprints from the fascist newspaper Völkischer Beobachter, to one degree or another touching on the topic of “Judeo-Communism”. I do not consider it necessary to reproduce them here.
Another common myth is the absurd version that Prague, they say, was liberated from the Nazis by the Vlasovites! Without going into details of the offensive operation of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, as a result of which a million-strong enemy grouping was surrounded and defeated and thereby assisted the insurgent Prague, let us pay attention to the following.
Even before the start of the Prague operation, Vlasov, who realized that the end of the Wehrmacht had come, telegraphed to the headquarters of the 1st Ukrainian Front:
“I can strike at the rear of the Prague group of Germans. The condition is forgiveness for me and my people.”
Thus, by the way, there was another betrayal - now of the German masters. However, no response was received.
Vlasov and his associates had to make their way through the German detachments in Prague to the Americans. They expected to sit out with the Americans until the third world war. The Vlasovites seriously proceeded from the fact that the United States and England, after the defeat of Germany, would dare to attack the USSR.
Between the troops of the three fronts of the Red Army, moving day and night along all roads to the insurgent Prague, on May 6, 1945, the 1st division of the ROA, numbering about 10,000 people, also slipped there. General Vlasov himself was in it. Such a small and demoralized unit, even if desired, could not play any serious role in the battle for Prague, in which there were more than a million Nazis.
The inhabitants of Prague, mistaking the division of the ROA for the Soviet, at first greeted her warmly. But the clumsy maneuver of the Vlasovites was soon understood, and the armed detachments of the Czechoslovak Resistance threw them out of Prague, having managed to partially disarm them.
Fleeing, the Vlasovites were forced to engage in battle with the SS barriers that blocked their path to the zone of American troops. This ended the "decisive role" of the Vlasovites in the liberation of Prague.
Photo album: Vlasov
Oleg Smyslov. Cover books. O. Smyslov's books about the traitor general A. A. Vlasov and the "Vlasov movement" contain unique materials about Russian emigration in the interwar period, about separatists abroad, about their cooperation with Nazi Germany before the start of World War II and after. The theme of the “fifth column” is covered, which was created by the German military command and the Abwehr to ensure the success of the lightning campaign in the East, and then, as a result of the failure of the blitzkrieg, had its unsuccessful continuation in the occupied territory. 
Vlasov after being awarded the Order of Lenin. I.K. Sakharov
Guards battalion of the ROA, exercises, Pskov, 1943
Vlasovets in Prague
Vlasovites
Vlasovites
Turkmen volunteers of the Turkestan Legion of the Wehrmacht in France, 1943.
North Caucasian Legion of the Wehrmacht
