Vladimir Batshev, a former Soviet dissident, lives in Frankfurt am Main, where he publishes two literary magazines: monthly "Literary European" and quarterly "Bridges". In parallel with this, he studies the history and fate of Russian soldiers who, for one reason or another, during the Second World War, ended up on the other side of the front and took up arms to fight against Soviet Russia. About this - his monumental four-volume work "Vlasov". Today Vladimir Batshev is answering questions from the Voice of America Russian service.

Semyon Reznik: Volodya, your book is called "Vlasov", but its content goes far beyond the biography of General Vlasov and his army. In general, I must say that from childhood I got used to the fact that all traitors, traitors, collaborators during the Second World War were Vlasovites, that is, they were all from the army of General Vlasov. The most unexpected thing I learned from your book is that, in fact, Vlasov's army was relatively small compared to the total number of Russians who fought on the side of the Wehrmacht. I would like to start our conversation with statistics. What was the size of Vlasov's army? And what was the number of Russians who fought on the other side of the front?

Vladimir Batshev: Vlasov's army was really not very large. His two divisions, which had already been formed, represented no more than 40 thousand fighters. Plus, he had a poorly armed and not yet fully formed third division. This is also about 10-12 thousand fighters. The Cossack corps of General Helmut von Panivitz, who became part of the ROA, also adjoined Vlasov. These are 45 thousand Cossacks who fought in Yugoslavia. It included the Russian corps, formed from emigrants, who fought in Serbia: it is about six thousand people. And a few more units of the Cossacks, the Kalmyk Corps and others. In total, about 120 thousand people. This is what we can call the ROA - the Russian Liberation Army.

S.R.: That is, in fact, this is what the Vlasovites were?

V.B.: These were the same Vlasovites who wore a chevron with the St. Andrew's flag on their sleeves, black and blue on a red background. famous icon.

S.R.: And how many Russians fought on the other side?

V.B.: Until the forty-third year, the Germans did not have records. And as of 1943 - 800 thousand. Given that many died in the battles (and the Russians were used on the front lines: the Germans knew that the Russians had nothing to lose, they would fight to the end), we can assume that there were approximately one million two hundred - one million three hundred thousand people. In 1943, when Hitler demanded that all Russians be removed from the Eastern Front and transferred to the Western, the generals clutched their heads: it was impossible, because one in five on the Eastern Front was then Russian.

S.R.: I know that initially you conceived the book "Vlasov" in three volumes. But then a fourth volume was needed. What for?

V.B.: Firstly, the part concerning the role of the NKVD as the organizer of the so-called " partisan movement". Secondly, the role of the occupation had to be reconsidered. I come to the conclusion that the occupation was a boon for the occupied territories. Of course, as we talked to you last time, this cannot be said about Jews and Gypsies, who were completely destroyed, and this does not apply to prisoners of war.

S.R.: Wait, was the occupation a boon for the rest of the population? In what sense is this?

V.B.: The invaders came, but at the same time the liberators. They returned what the people had been deprived of for twenty-five years: freedom of trade, freedom of speech, freedom of religion...

S.R.: Do you think that the Germans brought this to the territories liberated from Stalinist totalitarianism? That on the bayonets of the German troops there appeared such things as freedom of religion, freedom of speech? This seems strange to me...

V.B.: Of course! Of course! Nowhere were so many newspapers published as in the occupied territory. Six newspapers and two magazines were published in Odessa!

S.R.: But the point is not the quantity, but the fact that they were written. Was it possible to criticize Hitler there? Germany?

V.B.: Germany was not allowed. It was impossible. But Stalin, the communist regime - please, talk about everything that people have experienced in twenty-five years ... For a historian, these newspapers of the occupied territories are just a treasure.

S.R.: Well, I think that we will not agree here. Of course, at German occupation one could scold and criticize and write terrible things about the Stalinist regime, but not about Hitler's!

V.B.: Quite right. Quite right.

S.R.: I wouldn't call it freedom of speech.

V.B.: You know, compared to what the people were deprived of for twenty-five years, it was still some kind of freedom.

S.R. A: No, we won't agree on that. Let's move on to another. What interested me most about the last volume of your book is what happened after the Victory, when Soviet army together with the Allied army defeated this terrible force- German militarism, the Wehrmacht, Hitler, Nazism - and came to Europe. What happened to these people, who in Russia were called "Vlasovites". Some of them were Vlasovites, some were not, but they fought on the other side and, of course, had to bear responsibility for this.

V.B.: First, what does it mean to be "responsible"? Why were German soldiers not held responsible if they fell into the hands of the Allies?! They were in POW camps, that's all. True, when they fell into Soviet hands, they received a standard five to ten years, they were sent to Siberia, to restore the national economy.

And with the Russians, who fell into the hands of the allies, they acted very vilely. They were promised that they would not be handed over to the Soviets, but Yalta agreement everyone who was a citizen of the USSR on September 1, 1939, was subject to return. And the one who on June 22 was in military uniform, all the more so, he had to be returned - into the hands of SMERSH. And they had a very sad fate. Most of the officers were immediately shot. Privates were sent to camps. The British and Americans, especially the British, betrayed them. They betrayed the Cossacks...

S.R.: Issued to the Soviet side! Against their will!

V.B.: Yes! Soviet side! They deceived them. They said the officers would go to the conference. And they really thought that they were invited to some kind of conference to discuss the situation with the Cossacks. And they were transported there from Spital to a place like Judenburg, and right on the bridge they were handed over to advisers ... And there were mass suicides of Cossacks. There is a monument there. This year I will go there. There will be a meeting of the last remaining people who survived this.

S.R. A: Very few survived.

V.B. A: Very few.

S.R.: And how many people were extradited?

V.B.: Total number Three million people were repatriated. This is three million people who were returned to Russia.

S.R.: Yes, but many of them probably returned voluntarily? Especially those that belonged to the civilian population?

V.B.: Part - yes. But for the most part, people who looked even at the ruined Europe did not have great desire come back. And there were about 80-100 thousand more people who belonged to armed formations.

S.R.: Were they issued too?

V.B. A: Yes, they were issued.

S.R.: And their fate, of course, was the most difficult, the saddest?

V.B.: Less than a thousand of them survived Stalin, and in 1955, when there was an amnesty, they were released.

S.R.: The rest died?

V.B.: Yes. In 1955, Adenauer arrived to establish diplomatic relations (before that, there were no diplomatic relations between the USSR and West Germany) ...

S.R.: Yes, I remember this visit of Adenauer to Moscow, and the then agreement on the repatriation of all German prisoners of war ...

V.B.: Citizens! I emphasize - the citizens of Germany! And those Russians who managed to obtain German citizenship during the war also fell under this.

S.R. A: This is a very interesting detail. Does this mean that those Russians who received German citizenship during the war fell under this agreement and were also repatriated?

V.B.: Yes. And captured Russian emigrants who were citizens of other countries.

S.R.: Thank you, Vladimir Batshev. I must congratulate you on the completion of such a grandiose work. These are four very thick, solid volumes with a large number documents, photographs, certificates. Some of your assessments may not agree. It is impossible to disagree with your other assessments, since they are strictly based on materials. In general, this is an important work that will remain in history, in literature, because everyone who will be interested in the Second World War will have to refer to it.

This term has other meanings as well. Roa.

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

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

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

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

Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Compound

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

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

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

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

2nd Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the KONR, Major General G. A. Zverev, the personnel were armed with automatic weapons up to and including machine guns, heavy weapons absent (11856 people);

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1st United officer school AF KONR Major General M. A. Meandrov (785 people);

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

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

Control Cossack troops with KONR;

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

The name of the armed forces proclaimed with the support of the authorities Nazi Germany Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. It was the largest form of organization of collaborationism in the occupied territories in the Great Patriotic War.

Background of creation

In the summer of 1942, during the unsuccessful Luban offensive operation in German captivity the commander of the 2nd shock army, Lieutenant General of the Red Army, was hit. He was sent to Vinnitsa, where he was Special Camp intended for representatives of the highest commanders who were interested in the German intelligence services.

On August 3, 1942, Vlasov and the former commander of the 41st Rifle Division, Colonel Vladimir Gelyarovich Baersky, who later adopted the pseudonym Boyarsky, who was kept in the same camp, sent a letter to the Wehrmacht command in which they proposed to form a Russian army from among the anti-Soviet Soviet citizens. Despite the fact that there was no answer to this document, already in September 1942, Vlasov was transferred to Berlin and began to be actively used by the Germans in propaganda activities. At that time, the former chief of staff of the 19th Army, Major General Vasily Fedorovich Malyshkin, former member of the Military Council of the 32nd Army, Georgy Nikolaevich Zhilenkov and a number of other former Soviet military personnel who agreed to go over to the side of the enemy, who later formed the backbone of the top command staff of the ROA. Activists took an active part in the ideological design of the future organization, a member of the Executive Bureau of which was elected the former deputy chief of staff of the North-Western Front, Major General Fyodor Ivanovich Trukhin - later chief of staff of the ROA.

Creation of ROA

On December 27, 1942, the so-called "Smolensk Declaration" was adopted, signed by Vlasov and members of the so-called "Russian Committee". The document was reproduced and actively used in German propaganda. Its authors suggested that the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army go over to the side of the "Russian Liberation Army, acting in alliance with Germany." This day is considered the date of creation of the ROA. The formation of its divisions was started already at the beginning next year. A ROA school was created in the city of Dabendorf, symbols were adopted. On April 29, 1943, by the Regulations on Volunteers, all Soviet prisoners of war and emigrants of Russian nationality who agreed to go over to the side of the enemy were included in the ROA.

For a long time, the German command did not dare to involve parts of the ROA in direct participation in hostilities - they were only involved in guard duty and the fight against partisans and underground fighters. The very idea of ​​creating Russian collaborationist formations for a long time caused opposition among the command of the Wehrmacht and the SS. In 1944, many NTS and ROA activists who promoted the ideology of Russian nationalism and anti-Bolshevism were arrested by the Gestapo, some of them were executed. However, by autumn, due to the crisis on all fronts, the leadership of the Third Reich was forced to give sanction to the official creation of leadership bodies for Eastern collaborationism.

On September 16, 1944, a meeting of the Reichsfuehrer SS and Vlasov took place at Hitler's headquarters near Rastenburg, as a result of which the ROA received official status. On November 14, 1944, the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR) was proclaimed in Prague, and the Russian Liberation Army became its armed forces. Vlasov was both the chairman of the KONR and the commander-in-chief of the ROA. The army was not a structural unit of the Wehrmacht, while having its own types of troops and its own command, while being fully funded and provided by the Third Reich.

On January 28, 1945, by order of Hitler, Vlasov was officially appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, with all formed and Russian formations subordinate to him. Formally, the armed forces of the KONR were considered by the Germans to be the army of the union state. By the spring of 1945, the ROA included: 3 infantry divisions (commanders - major generals S. K. Bunyachenko, G. A. Zverev, M. M. Shapovalov) with a total number of more than 40 thousand people; air force (commander - Major General V. I. Maltsev); whole line individual units, Cossack and cavalry formations. However, a number eastern formations, created under the auspices of the Third Reich, was never transferred under the command of Vlasov. AT total, according to estimates by various historians, it included from 120 to 130 thousand soldiers and commanders scattered over the area from Yugoslavia and Italy to the Dresden region. Among them are many former Soviet officers (1 lieutenant general, 5 major generals, 2 brigade commanders, 29 colonels, 16 lieutenant colonels, 41 majors, 1 brigade commissar, 5 military engineers of the 2nd and 6 - 3rd rank, 1 captain 1 -th rank of the Navy, 3 senior lieutenants of state security, etc.)

Participation in hostilities and the end of the ROA

On February 9, 1945, the strike group under the command of Colonel I.K. Sakharov took the battle against units of the 230th Infantry Division (commander - Colonel D.K. Shishkov), storming the settlement of Neulevin, as well as the southern parts of the settlements of Karlsbize and Kerstenbruch. After this success, Himmler, who included a number of ROA formations in the Vistula Army Group led by him, decided to use them in the battles on the Oder. The 1st Infantry Division of the ROA under the command of General S.K. Bunyachenko, on the orders of the German command, attacked Soviet positions on the western bank of the Oder. They managed to break through the first line of defense, but the further offensive bogged down due to the lack of German support and heavy barrage fire from the other side of the Oder.

On April 15, 1945, Bunyachenko with his division arbitrarily left the position, violating the order of the German command, and moved to occupied Czechoslovakia, where the headquarters of the KONR and ROA were located. By that time, the defeat of Germany became obvious, and Vlasov and his generals planned to break into Yugoslavia, where they would join up with anti-communist formations. However, the rapid advance of the Red Army and the Allies thwarted these plans, as a result of which the formations of the ROA, one after another, began to surrender to the British and Americans. Subsequently, many who surrendered to the allies were extradited to the USSR in accordance with the agreements reached earlier.

A number of military leaders of the ROA - F. I. Trukhin, M. M. Shapovalov, V. I. Boyarsky - were arrested by Czechoslovak partisans. Some Vlasov units joined against the fifty thousandth German garrison, which began on May 5, 1945. On the eve of S. K. Bunyachenko, the chief of staff of his division N. P. Nikolaev and I. K. Sakharov signed an agreement on a joint fight against the rebel command. Bunyachenko's division fought until the Czech National Council refused to confirm the guarantees previously given to the Vlasov by the rebels. Ultimately, it ended up in a Soviet environment and was dissolved. Most of her personnel was captured by Soviet infantry and tank units. On May 12, 1945, on the Lnarzhe-Pilsen road, a battalion of Captain Mikhail Ivanovich Yakushev captured a car in which General A. A. Vlasov was heading west.

Prosecution in the USSR and the post-war fate of former military personnel of the ROA

After the end of the war, former fighters and commanders of the Russian Liberation Army were prosecuted in accordance with Soviet law. July 30 - August 1, 1946 the case of 12 top commanders of the ROA (A. A. Vlasov, F. I. Trukhin, G. N. Zhilenkov, V. F. Malyshkin, I. A. Blagoveshchensky, M. A. Meandrov, V I. Maltsev, S. K. Bunyachenko, D. E. Zakutny, G. A. Zverev, N. S. Shatov, V. D. Korbukov) was considered at a closed litigation. They were all found guilty and sentenced to death penalty through hanging. The sentence was carried out on the night of August 1, 1946 in the courtyard of the Butyrskaya prison in Moscow. Most of the Vlasovites returned to the USSR were also convicted, depending on the degree of their participation, from various terms of imprisonment to the death penalty. Among those sentenced to highest measure There were two former Heroes of the Soviet Union who served in the Air Force of the ROA - B. R. Antilevsky and S. T. Bychkov.

A large number of former ROA servicemen ended up abroad, where their organizations functioned for a number of years, the ideological basis of which continued to be the Prague Manifesto of 1944. A number of ex-Vlasovites were NTS activists. Finally, the movement, which failed to form strong organizations in the West in the post-war years, ceased to exist by the beginning of the 1980s.

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

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

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

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

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



Story:

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

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

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

The army was financed entirely by the German state bank.

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

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

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

Compound:

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

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

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

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



Symbols and insignia:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By the end of March 1945 total strength VS KONR amounted to about 50,000 people.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Operations department:

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

2nd Deputy: Lieutenant Colonels Korovin

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

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

Intelligence department:

Initially, the military and civilian intelligence services were under the jurisdiction of the KONR security department, Lieutenant Colonel N.V. Tensorova. His deputies were Major M.A. Kalugin and b. head of the special department of the headquarters of the North Caucasian v.o. Major A.F. Chikalov. 02.1945 military intelligence separated from civilians. Under the supervision of Major General Trukhin, a separate intelligence service of the ROA began to be created, and an intelligence department was formed at the Headquarters. On February 22, the department was divided into several groups:
intelligence: chief lieutenant N.F. Lapin (senior assistant to the head of the 2nd department), later - lieutenant B. Gai;

counterintelligence.

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

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

1. chief: major I.V. Grachev

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

Counterintelligence Department:

Chief Major Krainev

Investigation Department:

chief: Major Galanin

Department of secret correspondence:

chief: captain P. Bakshansky

Human Resources Department:

Head: Captain Zverev

Communication department:

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

Department of VOSO:

Head: Major G.M. Kremensky.

Topographic department:

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

Encryption department:

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

Formation Department:

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

Combat Training Department:

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

2. Deputy: Colonel A.N. Tavantsev.

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

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

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

Command Department:

Consisted of 5 groups.

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

2. Deputy: Major V.I. Strelnikov.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Russian Liberation Army - ROA. Part 1.

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

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

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

The true creator of the Vlasov army was General Fyodor Trukhin

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

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

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

KONR meeting in Berlin, November 1944

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

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

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

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

In April 1945, about 124 thousand people obeyed General Vlasov

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

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

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

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

Soldiers of the Russian Liberation Army, 1944

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

General Vlasov inspects the soldiers of the ROA, 1944

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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