Collaboration during World War II. Collaboration in World War II
Today's slaves are tomorrow's traitors.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Not only in Ukraine or the Baltic States, but also in Leningrad,
Pskov, Novgorod regions population
welcomed the invaders.
J. Kaunator
... In the first months of the war, when German troops marched along
recently “liberated” territories, there were episodes
when the population welcomed the invaders.
During and after World War II, Stalin initiated the total deportation of ten peoples Soviet Union who were indiscriminately accused of collaborating with Nazi Germany(Germans, Koreans, Finns-Ingrian, Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars and Meskhetian Turks), and in total during the war years peoples and population groups of 61 nationalities were subjected to forced resettlement. In total, about 3 million people were subjected to Stalin's ethnic "cleansings".
Mass deportations were carried out at the cost of inhuman suffering and hundreds of thousands human lives. Stalin's hatred for some peoples of the USSR is saturated with the directive on the demobilization of their representatives and resettlement in the "bear corners" of the country. Among those who were indiscriminately accused without trial or investigation were not only servicemen, awarded with orders and medals, but even several Heroes of the Soviet Union. At the same time, it was completely silent that the real, and not fictional collaborators, consisted mainly of Russians and that 75% of foreign Wehrmacht legionnaires recruited from the conquered countries were "Soviet". Their total number approached one and a half million (!) people who passed through 800 (!) army battalions and other fascist military and civilian structures. Naturally, these were not only Russians: the collaborators reflected the multinational composition of the USSR, but the Russians dominated among the traitors. According to Vadim Petrovich Makhno, captain of the first rank, who served for several decades in the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR, about 10 divisions in the SS alone were staffed by "eastern volunteers", in which up to 150 thousand former Soviet citizens served.
This figure (1.5 million accomplices) is only comparable with the total number of mobilized citizens of Hitler's allies (Italy, Spain, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Croatia, Slovakia) - about 2 million people. For comparison, I will indicate the number of mobilized in other countries conquered by Hitler: Denmark - less than 5 thousand, France - less than 10 thousand, Poland - 20 thousand, Belgium - 38 thousand military personnel ...
In addition to the total (total) number of traitors-accomplices from the USSR, the German archives preserved accurate data on the number of those mobilized by the Germans into the army from the territory of the USSR: the RSFSR - 800 thousand, Ukraine - 250 thousand, Belarus - 47 thousand, Latvia - 88 thousand ., Estonia - 69 thousand, Lithuania - 20 thousand military personnel. Among the collaborators there were also Cossacks - 70 thousand, representatives of the peoples of Transcaucasia and Central Asia- 180 thousand, representatives of the peoples North Caucasus- 30 thousand, Georgians - 20 thousand, Armenians - 18 thousand, Azerbaijanis - 35 thousand, Volga Tatars - 40 thousand, Crimean Tatars- 17 thousand and Kalmyks - 5 thousand (It is curious that some Russian "truth-mongering analysts" willingly cite these figures, embarrassingly excluding the RSFSR from the list ...)
Of the surviving 2.4 million Soviet prisoners (and the death rate among Soviet prisoners exceeded 60%), approximately 950 thousand entered the service in various anti-Soviet armed formations of the Wehrmacht. In the local auxiliary forces german army the following categories of Russians served:
1) voluntary helpers (hiwi);
2) order service (one);
3) front-line auxiliary units (noise);
4) police and defense teams (gema).
At the beginning of 1943, the Wehrmacht numbered: up to 400 thousand Khivs, from 60 to 70 thousand Odies, and 80 thousand in the eastern battalions. About 183 thousand people worked for railway in Kyiv and Minsk, ensuring the movement of Nazi units and military cargo. To this should be added from 250 to 500 thousand prisoners of war who avoided repatriation to the USSR after the war (in total, more than 1.7 million people did not return to their homeland), as well as big number traitors who handed over captured commissars and Jews to the Nazi authorities. In June 1944, the total number of Khivs reached 800 thousand people.
The grandiose scale of betrayal during the Second World War (as well as the massive, multimillion-dollar, permanent emigration from Russia) for me are clear evidence of the “bloatness” and “bloatness” of Russian patriotism. In order to hide the grandiose scale of collaborationism, our historians bashfully write that “ maximum amount collaborating with the occupation authorities during the Second World War were in countries with the maximum population"...
That's not all: about 400 thousand former "Soviet" served as Nazi policemen and about 10% of the population of the occupied part of the USSR actively collaborated with the occupiers - I mean Wachmans, members of the "aisatzgruppen", elders, burgomasters, Russian officials of the German administration, scammers, journalists and priests working for German propaganda...
Taking into account the fact that there were more than 60 million people in the occupied territories, that is, about 40% of the population of the Soviet Union, even with 10% actively cooperating again, a multi-million figure is obtained ... I believe that this is a world record for mass betrayal in the history of all wars that ever led mankind. For example, through security battalions German concentration camps about 5,000 thousand Wahmans took part in the torture and massacres of concentration camp prisoners, as well as residents of the countries of Europe occupied by the Nazis. The “Eisatzgruppen” created by Heydrich usually included about 10% of the local residents. In particular, all the inhabitants of the Belarusian Khatyn were shot or burned alive by the Eisatzkommando, which included 20% of the locals ... I can’t name the exact number of Russian prostitutes serving the Wehrmacht soldiers, but the brothel “relied” on the state for each German division.
To this it should be added that only in 1941 the Red Army suffered the following losses:
3.8 million people prisoners of war (against 9147 German soldiers and officers, that is, 415 times fewer Soviet prisoners of war!);
More than 500 thousand killed and died of wounds in hospitals;
1.3 million wounded and sick.
Abandoned by officers, demoralized soviet soldiers surrendered to the Nazis or hid from the enemy. In October 1941, the 1st Deputy Head of the Department of Special Departments of the NKVD S. Milshtein reported to the Minister of the NKVD Lavrenty Beria: “... From the beginning of the war to October 10, 1941, special departments of the NKVD and detachments detained 657,364 servicemen who had fallen behind and fled from the front.” By the end of 1941, only 8% of the personnel remained in the army at the beginning of the war (June 22, 1941)
Ours also have a routine justification for all these shameful facts: they say that their reason was the dissatisfaction of a part of the population with the Soviet government (including collectivization). This is true, but not all. Many Russians went into the service of the Nazis because they were brought up in the spirit of chauvinistic, nationalist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic ideas and regular Jewish pogroms. In addition, as I found out in the book "Russian Fascism", Russian pogroms preempted the German ones, and Nazi ideas covered wide layers " white movement". In fact, high patriotism is possible when you feel your country, free, prosperous, in the end - just comfortable for life. When all this is not there, patriotism, whether we like it or not, invariably degenerates into “Russian marches”, Nashi “Seliger”, xenophobia, gloating over other people’s failures, pitiful imitations of loyalty, ending in betrayal…
Professor Lev Simkin, Doctor of Law, wrote that many Russians believed that “there is hardly a worse Soviet power in the world - they did not evacuate for ideological reasons. 22 million citizens of the USSR collaborated with the occupiers.” And one more thing: “Nazism lay on prepared soil - the Soviet government managed to instill in people a firm belief in the existence of the enemy. They were not used to living without an enemy, and changing his image was a common thing. Propaganda changed its sign, if the communist stigmatized kulaks and "enemies of the people", then the Nazi propaganda - communists and Jews.
However, there were also deeper historical prerequisites for military collaborationism. Friedrich Engels, describing the Russian bureaucracy and officers in a serious analytical work of the "Army of Europe", prophetically wrote:
“What is the lower class of officials in the Russian civil service, recruited from the children of the same officials, the same is the officers in the army: cunning, meanness of views, narrowly selfish behavior are combined with superficial primary education making them even more disgusting; vain and greedy for profit, having sold themselves soul and body to the state, at the same time they themselves daily and hourly sell it on trifles, if this can be in any way profitable for them ... This category of people, in civilian and military areas, mainly and supports that huge corruption that permeates all industries public service in Russia".
I could reinforce the thought of Napoleon and Engels: it is difficult to demand patriotism from slaves, in whom the authorities of Russia have always tried to convert their own people. Yes, and the fear of the "masters" imposed on the people did little to promote love. L. Puzin is ironic: "The Russians have always fought badly, so they were forced to fight heroically." The reason why the Russians so often lost military campaigns (which Engels also writes about) is that deep down they were more afraid of their own than of enemies. However, they also won "heroically" not to a small extent out of fear of firing squads.
The Russian people greet the German troops with the national white-blue-red flag (tricolor). Russia, 1941
How many people even think about the fact that a flawed government gives rise not only to a flawed life, but also to mass hatred for such a life and for the country, which gives rise to it forever? Quite naturally, this is most evident in difficult periods of history. Although Russia has always boasted of its patriotism, the revolution and wars have shown its price - and not only in the form of grandiose, historically unparalleled collaborationism. Why is that? Because, my friend L. Puzin answers, that patriotic education is understood in Russia as the education of slaves who are ready to defend the interests of their masters without sparing their lives.
K. Bondarenko saw the roots of betrayal in the very depths of Russian history: collaborationism is elevated to the rank of dignity here, he wrote: Batu's associates last years the life of a bloody khan, and, according to a common version, was poisoned in the Horde, becoming a victim of a power struggle between Batu's heirs. Alexander's grandson, Ivan Daniilovich Kalita, Prince of Moscow, went down in history due to the fact that he himself decided to collect tribute for the Tatars, offering his services instead of the services of the Baskaks. "Thus, part of the tribute remained in Moscow, hiding from the khan, and this factor contributed to the strengthening of the Moscow principality," historians are touched. At the same time, without pointing out one significant point: Kalita robbed his own people ... "
As an example of the insight of the “classic”, it is enough to recall the mass violation of the oath of the Russian officers, who betrayed the tsar and Kerensky in turn. Moreover, it was the tsarist officers that formed the backbone of the leadership of the Red Army (Bonch-Bruevich, Budyonny, Tukhachevsky, Blucher, Krylenko, Dybenko, Antonov-Ovsienko, Muravyov, Govorov, Bagramyan, Kamenev, Shaposhnikov, Egorov, Kork, Karbyshev, Chernavin, Eideman, Uborevich , Altfater, Lebedev, Samoilo, Behrens, von Taube ...) - a total of 48.5 thousand tsarist officers, only 746 former lieutenant colonels, 980 colonels, 775 generals. In the decisive year 1919, they accounted for 53% of the entire command staff of the Red Army.
The Supreme Military Council of the Army, created by the Bolsheviks on March 4, 1918, included 86 tsarist officers in the rank from major and lieutenant colonel to general (10 people). Of the 46 members of the senior command staff of the Red Army in May 1922, 78.3% were regular officers of the old tsarist army, of which 7 former generals, 22 lieutenant colonels and colonels, 8.8% came from the Imperial Life Guards. According to A.G. Kavtardze, a total of about 30% of the pre-revolutionary officer corps tsarist Russia betrayed the former authorities and went to serve in the Red Army, which to a large extent contributed to the victory of the "Reds" in the Civil War. 185 generals of the General Staff imperial army later was in the corps of the General Staff of the Red Army, and this number does not include generals who were in other positions in the Red Army. Most of the 185 were in the service of the Red Army voluntarily, and only six were mobilized. It was no coincidence that a saying arose then: the Red Army is like a radish - red on the outside and white on the inside.
(The Bolsheviks "thanked" the creators of the Red Army by the almost complete destruction of the pre-revolutionary officer corps. Of the total number of 276 thousand tsarist officers as of the autumn of 1917 and 48.5 thousand defectors by June 1941, there were hardly more than a few hundred in the army, and then, mainly - commanders from former ensigns and second lieutenants. In Leningrad alone, more than a thousand former military specialists were shot. Among them: divisional commander A. Svechin, P. Sytin - the former commander of the Southern Front, Yu. Gravitsky, A. Verkhovsky, A. Snesarev and others.In 1937, already in the infamous case of the "military", Marshal Tukhachevsky, Uborevich - the commander of the Belarusian Military District, Kork - the commissar of the Military Academy, the commander of the Leningrad Military District Iona Yakir, the chairman of the sovaviahim Eideman and others) were shot. In an interview, the writer Boris Vasiliev said: “On the eve of the war, Stalin shot all talented people to hell. And often captains commanded divisions.
Mass betrayal was repeated after 1991, when many officers and generals of state security, called upon to protect the "socialist fatherland" and the "great principles of communism", with extraordinary ease went into the service of the emerging capitalist class or joined the criminals. Is it any wonder after that that Russian officers sold arms to Chechen terrorists en masse? Anna Politkovskaya was dealt with precisely for exposing these betrayals, and in the Putin era, extrajudicial showdowns became a method of state policy.
The former KGB agent has a resourcefulness worthy of Machiavelli, writes Gianni Riotta in the newspaper La Stampa. But, it seems to me, resourcefulness is still inferior to the main driving force - self-interest. In general, communism has developed this quality to the extent of universal genetic hunger: in all post-Soviet godfathers, this quality of national bandocracy dominates over all the others. I would not be surprised by the information that the current leaders were bought up or recruited in the bud in their youth, which A. Illarionov transparently hints at in an article on Ekho Moskvy devoted to the secret springs of pardoning M. Khodorkovsky.
The military writer V. Beshanov, who served as a naval officer, testifies that in 1989, when his warship sailed through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, a vigilance watch consisting of political workers and officers was set up on deck, and the sailors were driven under deck. For what? They were afraid that they would run away to caprai, in other words, they would desert ... Perhaps they were subconsciously afraid, knowing the enormous scale of desertion during the war of 1941-1945.
Engels also has other prophecies on the “Russian” theme: “The Russian revolution is already ripe and will break out soon, but once it starts, it will carry the peasants along with it, and then you will see such scenes before which the scenes of 93 years will pale.” Reading this, I always think that time has always bypassed Russia.
There is a great deal of evidence for this. Here is just one of them. Having visited Russia, the French Marquis Astolfe de Custine wrote a highly critical book
Nikolaev Russia. 1839". I will not quote it, but I will note that a hundred years later, US Ambassador to the USSR W.B. Smith (March 1946 - December 1948), after returning from the USSR, said about de Custine's book: “... Before us are political observations so insightful, so timeless, what book can be called the best work ever written about the Soviet Union.
Until Stalin's death, the existence of Russian units of the Wehrmacht was hidden, and for the disclosure of this information, many people ended up in camps. Nowadays, the activities of the Russian Liberation People's Army (ROA) under the command of General Vlasov are relatively fully covered in the literature, but it is very reluctant to say that the ROA was only a small fraction of collaborators who went into the service of the Nazis. The fact that, moving east, the Germans everywhere encountered anti-Soviet partisan detachments operating in the Soviet rear, led by former officers of the Red Army, was also carefully concealed. The armed units of the collaborators partly arose spontaneously, and partly were recruited by the occupiers. By the way, about Vlasov. Molotov, in a fit of frankness, once said: "What Vlasov, Vlasov is nothing compared to what could be ..."
The Russian Liberation People's Army of the Wehrmacht (ROA), by the way, performed under the Russian tricolor, which became the banner of modern Russia. The ROA included 12 security corps, 13 divisions, 30 brigades;
Fighting Union of Russian Nationalists (BSRN);
RONA (Russian Liberation People's Army) - 5 regiments, 18 battalions;
1st Russian National Army (RNNA) - 3 regiments, 12 battalions.
Russian National Army - 2 regiments, 12 battalions;
Division "Russland";
Cossack Stan;
Congress for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR);
Russian Liberation Army of the Congress for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (3 divisions, 2 brigades).
KONR Air Force (KONR Aviation Corps) - 87 aircraft, 1 air group, 1 regiment;
Lokot Republic;
Zuev detachment;
Eastern battalions and companies;
15th Cossack Russian Corps of the SS troops - 3 divisions, 16 regiments;
1st Sinegorsk Ataman Cossack Regiment;
1st Cossack division (Germany);
7th Volunteer Cossack Division;
Military Cossack unit "Free Kuban";
448 Cossack detachment;
30th SS Grenadier Division (Second Russian);
Brigade of General A.V.Turkul;
1st Russian National SS Brigade "Druzhina" (1st Russian National SS Detachment);
Regiment "Varyag" Colonel M.A. Semenov;
Higher German school for Russian officers;
Dabendorf School of the ROA;
Russian detachment of the 9th army of the Wehrmacht;
Volunteer Regiment of the SS "Varyag";
SS Volunteer Regiment "Desna";
1st Eastern Volunteer Regiment, consisting of two battalions - "Berezina" and "Dnepr" (from September -601 and 602nd Eastern battalions);
Eastern battalion "Pripyat" (604th);
645th battalion;
Separate regiment Colonel Krzhizhanovsky;
Volunteer Belgian Walloon Legion of the Wehrmacht;
5th SS assault brigade "Wallonia" with the SS Panzer Division "Viking";
Brotherhood of "Russian Truth";
Battalion Muraviev;
Detachment of Nikolai Kozin;
Russian volunteers in the Luftwaffe;
Guards of the Russian Fascist Party;
Corps of the Russian Monarchist Party;
Russian Fascist Party;
Russian National Labor Party;
People's Socialist Party;
Fighting alliance of Russian nationalists;
Russian People's Labor Party;
The political center of the fight against the Bolsheviks;
Union of Russian Activists;
Russian People's Party of Realists;
Zeppelin Organization;
Hivi ("hilfsvillige" - "voluntary helpers").
Russian personnel of the SS division "Charlemagne";
Russian personnel of the SS division "Dirlewanger".
In addition, the 12th Reserve Corps of the Wehrmacht at various times included large formations of the Eastern troops, such as:
Cossack (Russian) security corps of 15 regiments;
162nd Ostlegion Training Division of 6 regiments;
740th Cossack (Russian) reserve brigade of 6 battalions;
Cossack (Russian) Group of the Marching Ataman of 4 regiments;
Cossack group of Colonel von Panwitz from 6 regiments;
Consolidated Cossack (Russian) field police division "Von Schulenburg".
Mention should also be made of the Asano Brigade - the Russian units of the Kwantung Army, and the Russian units of the Japanese and Manchurian special services of Manchukuo.
As the Wehrmacht's casualties grew, and especially after Battle of Stalingrad 1942-1943, the mobilization of the local population has become even more widespread. In the front line, the Germans began to mobilize the entire male population, including adolescents and the elderly, who for one reason or another were not taken to work in Germany.
Here we must also bear in mind that the turning point in the course of the war led to significant changes in Nazi ideology. Hitler's doctrine of the "master race" began to be crowded by the concept of the New European Order, which was maturing in the depths of Nazi ideology. According to this concept, after the victory of Germany, a United European Reich will be formed, and in the form government controlled there will be a confederation of European peoples with a single currency, administration, police and army, which should include European parts, including Russian ones. In this new community there was a place for Russia, but only free from Bolshevism.
The Belgian collaborator, founder of the Rexist Party and commander of the 28th Volunteer SS Walloon Division Leon Degrelle insisted on changing the status of the SS troops and turning them from a purely German organization into a European one. He wrote: “From all parts of Europe, volunteers rushed to the aid of their German brothers. It was then that the third great Waffen SS was born. The first was German, the second - German, and now the European Waffen SS has become.
It is curious that the head of the Rosenberg Operational Headquarters, Herbert Utikal, also adhered to a similar point of view, and one of the Nazis R. Proksch at the end of 1944 at a meeting of this headquarters said: “The hour of Europe has come. Therefore, we must admit: the peoples differ from each other spiritually and physically... A mosaic of many possibilities... If the word "Europe" is spoken, they are all meant... The current war for Europe must be accompanied by a new idea. In wars fought over ideological issues, the stronger ideas always win. This is the spiritual mission of the Reich. The goal is unity in diversity… the freedom of peoples in the unity of the continent.”
It is not my task to dwell in detail on both the gradual change in Nazi ideology, and on all the listed Russian pro-fascist military structures and Nazi collaborationist parties, so I will limit myself to the most significant of them.
Russian Liberation Army (ROA). The number of the ROA, formed mainly from Soviet prisoners of war, amounted to several hundred thousand people (and not 125 thousand, as follows from Soviet sources). About 800,000 people at various times wore the insignia of the ROA, but only a third of this number was recognized by the Vlasov leadership as belonging to their movement.
The ROA was headed by Lieutenant General Andrey Vlasov. The leadership of the ROA and later KONR (see below) also included former Russian ("red" and "white") generals F.F. Abramov, V.I. Angeleev, A.P. Arkhangelsky, V. Assberg, E.I. Balabin, V.F. Belogortsev, I. Blagoveshchensky, M.V. Bogdanov, S.K. Borodin, V.I. Boyarsky, S.K. Bunyachenko, N.N. Golovin, T.I. .M.Dragomirov, G.N.Zhilenkov, D.E.Zakutny, G.A.Zverev, I.N.Kononov, P.N.Krasnov, V.V.Kreyter, A.A. von Lampe, V.I. Maltsev, V.F. Malyshkin, M.A. Meandrov, V.G. Naumenko, G. von Pannwitz, B.S. G.V. Tatarkin, F.I. Trukhin, A.V. Turkul, M.M. Shapovalov, A.G. Shkuro, B.A. Shteyfon and others.
According to V. Makhno, in total, about 200 red and white Russian generals served the Nazis:
20 Soviet citizens became Russian fascist generals;
3 Lieutenant General Vlasov A.A., Trukhin F.N., Malyshkin V.F.;
1 divisional commissioner Zhilenkov G.N.;
6 Major Generals Zakutny D.E., Blagoveshchensky I.A., Bogdanov P.V., Budykhto A.E., Naumov A.Z., Salikhov B.B.;
3rd brigade commander: Bessonov I.G., Bogdanov M.V.; Sevostyanov A.I;
Major General Bunyachenko - commander of the 600th division of the Wehrmacht (it is also the 1st division of the ROA SV KONR), former colonel, commander of the Red Army division.
Major General Maltsev - commander of the Air Force KONR, former director of the sanatorium "Aviator", formerly commander of the Air Force of the Siberian Military District, colonel in the reserve of the Red Army.
Major General Kononov - commander of the 3rd Consolidated Cossack Plastun Brigade of the 15th Cossack Cavalry Corps of the SS troops of the Main Operational Directorate of the SS (FHA-SS), former major, commander of the Red Army regiment.
Major General Zverev - commander of the 650th division of the Wehrmacht (it is also the 2nd division of the ROA Armed Forces of the KONR), a former colonel, commander of the Red Army division.
Major General Domanov - commander of the Cossack Security Corps of the Cossack Camp of the Main Directorate of the Cossack Troops of the Main Directorate of the SS (FA-SS), a former secret officer of the NKVD.
Major General Pavlov - marching ataman, commander of the Group of the Marching ataman of the GUKV.
Waffenbrigadenführer - Major General of the SS Troops Kaminsky B.S. - Commander of the 29th Grenadier Division of the SS "RONA" of the Main Operational Directorate of the SS, a former engineer.
The figure of Vlasov is far from being as unambiguous as it is presented in post-war sources. During the Civil War, Vlasov, after completing a four-month command course from 1919 in command positions, participated in battles with whites on the Southern Front, then transferred to headquarters. At the end of 1920, the group in which Vlasov commanded cavalry and foot reconnaissance was transferred to eliminate the insurgent movement led by Nestor Makhno.
He graduated military academy named after Frunze. Stalin sent him to China on secret missions to Chiang Kai-shek. Only a small part of the senior Soviet officers survived the purges of the Red Army in 1936–38, but Vlasov was among those chosen. In 1941, Stalin appointed him commander of the Second Shock Army. By personal order of Stalin, he was entrusted with the defense of Moscow, and he played a significant role in the operations that stopped the Nazi advance on the capital. Together with six other generals, he was ranked among the "saviors" of the city, and in January 1942 Vlasov was awarded the order Red Banner, but soon after that he was captured, and his army was almost completely destroyed while trying to repel the Nazi offensive in the Leningrad direction.
Vlasov was considered Stalin's favorite, and at the end of June 1942, he was very concerned about the fate of Vlasov and demanded that he be taken out of the encirclement on the Volkhov, rescued at any cost, the corresponding radiograms were preserved.
Having been captured, Vlasov during interrogations (August 1942) stated that Germany would not be able to defeat the Soviet Union - and this was at the moment when the Wehrmacht was approaching the Volga. Vlasov never connected his plans with Hitler's victory in the East. At first, he sincerely hoped that in the rear of the Germans he would be able to create a sufficiently strong and independent Russian army. Then he counted on the activity of the conspirators and hatched plans for a radical change in the occupation policy. Since the summer of 1943, Vlasov had pinned his hopes on the Western allies. With any outcome, as it seemed to Vlasov, options were possible - the main thing was to get their own significant armed force. But, as history has shown, there were no options.
Frankly developing his views in a narrow circle of German listeners, Vlasov emphasized that among Stalin's opponents there are many people "with a strong character, ready to give their lives for the liberation of Russia from Bolshevism, but rejecting German bondage." However, "they are ready to cooperate closely with the German people, without prejudice to their freedom and honor." “The Russian people lived, lives and will live, they will never become a colonial people,” the former captive general firmly stated. Vlasov also expressed the hope "for a healthy renewal of Russia and for an explosion of the national pride of the Russian people."
Russian policeman on joint patrol with the Germans
Both Russian and German sources agree that the ROA could have attracted at least 2,000,000 fighters out of a total of 5.5 million captured Red Army soldiers (!) If the Nazis had not put sticks in the wheels and interfered with the work of their own hands.
At first, the first detachments of the ROA were sent mainly to fight against special forces NKVD operating in the German rear. The idea of uniting disparate Russian formations into an anti-Soviet Russian army took hold in the summer of 1942. Vlasov, who enjoyed such high favor with the Kremlin to such an extent that allied intelligence officials at first refused to believe the information about his cooperation with the enemy and considered it a propaganda trick of the enemy, became her guide and inspirer.
At the end of June 1942, Vlasov addressed an appeal to all "Russian patriots", announcing the beginning of the liberation struggle. At the same time, at first it was silent that this struggle was supposed to go under the auspices of the Nazis. On the outskirts of Berlin Dabendorf was created Main Headquarters ROA. In August and September 1942, Vlasov visited the Leningrad, Pskov regions and Belarus. The response to his first appeals was overwhelming. Tens of thousands of letters from civilians and from the captured Red Army soldiers poured into the Dabendorf headquarters. First shock guards brigade The ROA was formed in May 1943 in Breslau. On November 14, the first and only Vlasov congress took place in Prague, where the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia was created and a stillborn Manifesto was adopted demanding the "destruction of Stalin's tyranny" and the liberation of the Russian people from the Bolshevik dictatorship. Surprisingly, even at the end of the war, facts of a voluntary transition of small units of the Red Army to the side of the ROA were recorded.
I will not dwell on Vlasov's contradictions with the German functionaries and on the transition of parts of the ROA at the end of the war to the side of the Italian and Czech resistance. According to some reports, the First Division of the ROA came to the rescue of the desperate Czech rebels and saved Prague from destruction by the Germans. The saved city was handed over to the Red Army, which immediately arrested and shot all the Vlasovites who did not have time to escape. The remnants of the ROA in Czechoslovakia and Austria surrendered to US troops.
After the war, the fighters and officers of this army hid throughout Western Europe, and the agents of the Soviet counterintelligence were busy hunting these people mercilessly. General Vlasov was taken prisoner for the second time on May 12, 1945. The trial of Vlasov was classified in order, firstly, to hide from the people the extent of Russian collaborationism and, secondly, the fact of the voluntary entry of Soviet officers and generals into his army.
The execution of A. Vlasov only opened a long list of major military leaders shot by Stalin until the murder of the tyrant himself in March 1953. I will give an abbreviated list of the destroyed "traitors to the motherland, spies, subversive saboteurs":
Another high-ranking military man, brigvrach (corresponding to the rank of "brigade commander") Ivan Naumov, almost fell short of the KGB bullet "put" to him - he died on August 23, 1950 from torture in Butyrka.
Rear Admiral Pyotr Bondarenko, Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Floo for Political Affairs (October 28, 1950);
On the same day, Lieutenant General killed by Chekists died. tank troops Vladimir Tamruchi.
In total, according to Vyacheslav Zvyagintsev, who worked with the materials of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR,
There are different forms of collaborationism: military, political and economic. One way or another, a lot of people had to interact with the occupation regime. Soviet people who did not dare to join the ranks of the partisans. Candidate of Military Sciences A. Tsiganok claims that about 10% of the population collaborated with the invaders in one way or another.
Farming, repairing roads, cleaning in administrative offices or carrying out a death sentence - all these actions in the territories captured by the Germans during the Second World War fall under the definition of collaborationism. Until April 1943, there were no clarifications in the legal sphere regarding the severity of guilt in relation to Nazi collaborators.
Who are collaborators and what did they do during the Second World War
Active military collaborationism is one of the most tragic topics in the history of the USSR. During the Second World War, an impressive number of Soviet citizens served in the military units of Nazi Germany, which allows us to consider collaborationism a mass phenomenon. Candidate of Military Sciences A. Tsiganok names the figure - up to 1.5 million people, Russian historian K. Alexandrov - 1.24 million. And these are only those who defended the interests of the Third Reich with weapons in their hands, performing such tasks as police supervision and punitive operations against partisans.Auxiliary police units were formed from the local residents of the occupied territories, which allowed the German administration to maintain order in settlements. The duties of the guards included checking documents, guarding prisons and concentration camps, guarding agricultural facilities.
Also, the policemen had to catch the "encirclement" - the soldiers of the Red Army, who got out of the boilers. Any person in the forest who did not have a special permit to go for firewood was subject to capture and delivery to the German administration. The policemen received 30 Reichsmarks, rations, clothes, shoes and 6 cigarettes per day.
For destruction partisan detachments and the population loyal to them from collaborator policemen, Schuma-battalions were created, the participants of which were well paid (from 40 to 130 Reichsmarks, depending on age and marital status; married people with children received more than single ones).
The battalions consisted of 500 people, and only 9 of them were Germans. Together with regular troops, such units carried out anti-partisan operations, which were particularly cruel. From the report on the operation "Swamp Fever" (Belarus, 1942) we see that the punishers killed 389 armed partisans in battle, while the number of "suspicious persons" executed after the battle was 1274 people (3 times more than those killed in battle).
Another way of cooperation with the Nazis should be identified - economic and passive military interaction, which also became quite widespread. Volunteer assistants to the Wehrmacht (they were called Hivi from Hilfwilliger) numbered about 1 million. They performed the work of orderlies, cooks, sappers.
Who dared to serve the Nazi regime
The prisoners made up the bulk of the military collaborators. Staying true to the oath was extremely difficult. The first reason: the action did not apply to the Red Army Geneva Convention"On the treatment of prisoners of war", their conditions of detention were unbearable. As a result of exhaustion, epidemics and torture, many died.In 1941, the position of the Wehrmacht was unequivocal - all the military personnel of the USSR were to be destroyed, it was not planned to involve them in the units of the German troops. The Russian geographer and publicist P. Polyan claims that of the captured Red Army soldiers in the first year of the Second World War, only 20% of people survived.
With the first failures on the Eastern Front, the growth partisan movement the situation began to change. The German military-political leadership formed police units from collaborators, which made it possible to release a significant part of the personnel for battles on the front line.
The second reason is that the Soviet leadership equated surrender with a crime. There was an order dated August 16, 1941, No. 270 “On the responsibility of military personnel for surrendering and leaving weapons to the enemy.”
Another stratum of the population, in which many collaborators were noted, are citizens with an anti-Soviet position. These are mainly those who lost their property during collectivization, relatives of repressed citizens. It should be noted that the motive for fighting Bolshevism is greatly exaggerated in Western historiography. In fact, few contributed to the Third Reich under these slogans. The children of those who were repressed as a member of the monarchist movement were often not privy to the details of the events due to fear. The new generation, for security reasons, was not instilled with the idea of the need to fight against Bolshevism.
The Nazis successfully recruited representatives of the national minorities of the Soviet Union, using the idea of creating independent states. The strategy was effective where national question was especially sharp - Ukraine, the Baltic States, the Caucasus.
Historians do not give exact figures, since the topic of collaborationism was hushed up for a long time and was not properly studied. But most scientists agree that the lion's share of those who collaborated with the Nazis had the main task of surviving. Those who fought against Bolshevism were few in number.
How distinguished military collaborators
The accomplices of Nazism did not achieve significant success in the battles against the Red Army and the troops of the Anti-Hitler coalition. But history knows a lot of high-profile punitive operations, the tragedy and cruelty of which is beyond understanding.In 1941, in the tract of Babi Yar (near Kyiv), with the participation of Ukrainian collaborators, a mass shooting of Soviet prisoners of war, as well as the civilian population of Jewish and Gypsy nationalities, was carried out. The death toll ranges from 100 to 150 thousand people.
"Winter Magic" - an anti-partisan operation in the north of Belarus, carried out in 1943, in which Ukrainian and 7 Latvian police battalions took part. As a result of the action, about 11 thousand people were killed, including children.
The Kryukovskaya tragedy that occurred in the village of the Chernihiv region ended in the death of more than 6 thousand people, most of the bodies of which could not be identified. These are only the largest operations of collaborators, in total hundreds of thousands of people suffered from them.
The more time passes after the war, the more questions arise for everyone who is interested in history, and the more valuable the photographs taken at that time. Here's what it looks like.
Igor Garin
Today's slaves are tomorrow's traitors.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Not only in Ukraine or the Baltic States, but also in Leningrad,
Pskov, Novgorod regions population
welcomed the invaders.
J. Kaunator
... In the first months of the war, when German troops marched along
recently “liberated” territories, there were episodes
when the population welcomed the invaders.
From Wikipedia
During and after the Second World War, Stalin initiated the total deportation of ten peoples of the Soviet Union who were indiscriminately accused of collaborating with Nazi Germany (Germans, Koreans, Ingrian Finns, Karachays, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars and Meskhetian Turks), and in total during the war years peoples and groups of the population of 61 nationalities were forcibly resettled. In total, about 3 million people were subjected to Stalin's ethnic "cleansings".
Mass deportations were carried out at the cost of inhuman suffering and hundreds of thousands of human lives. Stalin's hatred for some peoples of the USSR is saturated with the directive on the demobilization of their representatives and resettlement in the "bear corners" of the country. Among those who were indiscriminately accused without trial or investigation were not only military personnel awarded orders and medals, but even several Heroes of the Soviet Union. At the same time, it was completely silent that the real, and not fictional collaborators, consisted mainly of Russians and that 75% of foreign Wehrmacht legionnaires recruited from the conquered countries were "Soviet". Their total number approached one and a half million (!) people who passed through 800 (!) army battalions and other fascist military and civilian structures. Naturally, these were not only Russians: the collaborators reflected the multinational composition of the USSR, but the Russians dominated among the traitors. According to Vadim Petrovich Makhno, captain of the first rank, who served for several decades in the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR, about 10 divisions in the SS alone were staffed by "eastern volunteers", in which up to 150 thousand former Soviet citizens served. In fact, there were even more SS units manned by Russians.
Constantly reproaching their neighbors for fascism and for the formation of SS divisions during the Second World War, the Russians bashfully forget that the lion's share of the SS units in the occupied territories was manned by Russian soldiers. Unlike the Latvians, Estonians and Ukrainians, who were recruited from strength to one division, there were more than a dozen Russian units and formations of the SS:
- SS Volunteer Regiment "Varyag".
- 1st Russian National SS Brigade "Druzhina".
- 15th Cossack Cavalry Corps of the SS.
- 29th SS Grenadier Division "RONA" (1st Russian).
- 30th SS Grenadier Division (2nd Russian).
- 36th SS Grenadier Division "Dirlewanger".
CORPS OF THE SS TROOPS OF THE MAIN OPERATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF THE SS FHA-SS
- 15th Cossack Russian Corps of the SS FHA-SS - 3 divisions, 16 regiments.
- SS FHA-SS (TROOPS-SS)
- 29th Russian FHA-SS - 6 regiments.
- 30th Russian FHA-SS, 1st formation 1944, - 5 regiments.
BRIGADS OF THE MAIN DEPARTMENT OF THE IMPERIAL SECURITY OF THE SS RSHA-SS
- 1st Russian National SS Brigade "Druzhina" - 3 regiments, 12 battalions.
- 1st Guards Brigade of the ROA "Sonderkommando 113" SD - 1 battalion, 2 companies.
- SS brigade "Center for anti-Bolshevik struggle" (CPBB) - 3 battalions.
- Reconnaissance and sabotage unit of the Main Team "Russia - Center" of the Sonderstaff "Zeppelin" of the RSHA-SS - 4 special forces.
The figure of 1.5 million accomplices of fascism is only comparable with the total number of mobilized citizens of Hitler's allies (Italy, Spain, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Croatia, Slovakia) - about 2 million people. For comparison, I will indicate the number of mobilized in other countries conquered by Hitler: Denmark - less than 5 thousand, France - less than 10 thousand, Poland - 20 thousand, Belgium - 38 thousand military personnel ...
In addition to the total (total) number of traitors-accomplices from the USSR, the German archives preserved accurate data on the number of those mobilized by the Germans into the army from the territory of the USSR: the RSFSR - 800 thousand, Ukraine - 250 thousand, Belarus - 47 thousand, Latvia - 88 thousand ., Estonia - 69 thousand, Lithuania - 20 thousand military personnel. Among the collaborators were also Cossacks - 70 thousand, representatives of the peoples of Transcaucasia and Central Asia - 180 thousand, representatives of the peoples of the North Caucasus - 30 thousand, Georgians - 20 thousand, Armenians - 18 thousand, Azerbaijanis - 35 thousand, Volga Tatars - 40 thousand, Crimean Tatars - 17 thousand and Kalmyks - 5 thousand (It is curious that some Russian "truth-seeking analysts" willingly cite these figures, shyly excluding the RSFSR from the list ...)
Of the surviving 2.4 million Soviet prisoners (and the mortality among Soviet prisoners exceeded 60%), approximately 950 thousand entered the service in various anti-Soviet armed formations of the Wehrmacht. The following categories of Russians served in the local auxiliary forces of the German army:
1) voluntary helpers (hiwi);
2) order service (one);
3) front-line auxiliary units (noise);
4) police and defense teams (gema).
At the beginning of 1943, the Wehrmacht numbered: up to 400 thousand Khivs, from 60 to 70 thousand Odies, and 80 thousand in the eastern battalions. About 183 thousand people worked on the railway in Kyiv and Minsk, providing the movement of Nazi units and military cargo. To this should be added from 250 to 500 thousand prisoners of war who avoided repatriation to the USSR after the war (in total, more than 1.7 million people did not return to their homeland), as well as a large number of traitors who extradited captured commissars and Jews to the Nazi authorities. In June 1944, the total number of Khivs reached 800 thousand people.
This fact is noteworthy: when in 1943 Hitler demanded that Russian units be removed from the Eastern Front and transferred to the Western, the generals clutched their heads: it was impossible, because every fifth on the Eastern Front was then Russian.
The grandiose scale of betrayal during the Second World War (as well as the massive, multimillion-dollar, permanent emigration from Russia) for me are clear evidence of the “bloatness” and “bloatness” of Russian patriotism. In order to hide the grandiose scale of collaborationism, our historians bashfully write that "the maximum number of those who collaborated with the occupation authorities during the Second World War was in countries with the maximum population"...
That's not all: about 400 thousand former "Soviet" served as Nazi policemen and about 10% of the population of the occupied part of the USSR actively collaborated with the occupiers - I mean Wachmans, members of the "aisatzgruppen", elders, burgomasters, Russian officials of the German administration, scammers, journalists and priests working for German propaganda...
Taking into account the fact that there were more than 60 million people in the occupied territories, that is, about 40% of the population of the Soviet Union, even with 10% actively cooperating, a multi-million figure is again obtained ... I believe that this is a world record for mass betrayal in the history of all wars that humanity has ever led. For example, about 5,000 Wachmans passed through the guard battalions of German concentration camps, who personally took part in the torture and massacres of concentration camp prisoners, as well as residents of the countries of Europe occupied by the Nazis. The “Eisatzgruppen” created by Heydrich, who hunted Jews and took a direct part in their executions (in fact, execution teams that killed about 2 million people), usually included about 10% of the local residents. In particular, all the inhabitants of the Belarusian Khatyn were shot or burned alive by the Eisatzkommando, which included 20% of the locals ... I can’t name the exact number of Russian prostitutes serving the Wehrmacht soldiers, but the brothel “relied” on the state for each German division.
To this it should be added that only in 1941 the Red Army suffered the following losses:
— 3.8 million people prisoners of war (against 9147 German soldiers and officers, that is, 415 times fewer Soviet prisoners of war!);
- more than 500 thousand killed and died of wounds in hospitals;
- 1.3 million wounded and sick.
Abandoned by officers, demoralized Soviet soldiers surrendered to the Nazis or hid from the enemy. In October 1941, the 1st Deputy Head of the Department of Special Departments of the NKVD S. Milshtein reported to the Minister of the NKVD Lavrenty Beria: “... From the beginning of the war to October 10, 1941, special departments of the NKVD and detachments detained 657,364 servicemen who had fallen behind and fled from the front.” By the end of 1941, only 8% of the personnel remained in the army at the beginning of the war (June 22, 1941)
Ours also have a routine justification for all these shameful facts: they say that their reason was the dissatisfaction of a part of the population with the Soviet government (including collectivization). This is true, but not all. Many Russians went into the service of the Nazis because they were brought up in the spirit of chauvinistic, nationalist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic ideas and regular Jewish pogroms. In addition, as I found out in the book “Russian Fascism”, the massive Russian pogroms preempted the German ones by several decades, and Nazi ideas embraced wide sections of the “white movement”. In fact, high patriotism is possible when you feel your country, free, prosperous, in the end - just comfortable for life. When all this is not there, patriotism, whether we like it or not, invariably degenerates into "Russian marches", the Nashi "seliger", xenophobia, gloating over other people's failures, pitiful imitations of loyalty, ending in betrayal...
Professor Lev Simkin, Doctor of Law, wrote that many Russians believed that “there is hardly a worse Soviet power in the world - they did not evacuate for ideological reasons. 22 million citizens of the USSR collaborated with the occupiers.” And one more thing: “Nazism lay on prepared soil - the Soviet government managed to instill in people a firm belief in the existence of the enemy. They were not used to living without an enemy, and changing his image was a common thing. Propaganda changed its sign, if the communist stigmatized the kulaks and "enemies of the people", then the Nazi - communists and Jews.
However, there were also deeper historical prerequisites for military collaborationism. Friedrich Engels, characterizing the Russian bureaucracy and officer corps in the serious analytical work "Army of Europe", prophetically wrote: "What is the lower class of officials in the Russian civil service, recruited from the children of the same officials, the same is the officers in the army: cunning, meanness attitudes, narrowly selfish behavior combined with superficial elementary education, making them even more disgusting; vain and greedy for gain, having sold themselves body and soul to the state, at the same time they themselves sell it every day and every hour in small things, if this can be in any way profitable for them ... This category of people, in the civil and military fields, and mainly supports that enormous corruption that pervades all branches of the civil service in Russia.
I could reinforce the thought of Napoleon and Engels: it is difficult to demand patriotism from slaves, in whom the authorities of Russia have always tried to convert their own people. Yes, and the fear imposed on the people by the "masters" did little to promote love. L. Puzin is ironic: "The Russians have always fought badly, so they were forced to fight heroically." The reason why the Russians so often lost military campaigns (which Engels also writes about) is that deep down they were more afraid of their own than of enemies. However, they also won "heroically" not to a small extent out of fear of firing squads.
How many people even think about the fact that a flawed government gives rise not only to a flawed life, but also to mass hatred for such a life and for the country, which gives rise to it forever? Quite naturally, this is most evident in difficult periods of history. Although Russia has always boasted of its patriotism, the revolution and wars showed its price - and not only in the form of grandiose, historically unparalleled collaborationism. Why is that? Because, my friend L. Puzin answers, patriotic education is understood in Russia as the education of slaves who are ready to defend the interests of their masters without sparing their lives.
K. Bondarenko saw the roots of betrayal in the very depths of Russian history: collaborationism is elevated to the rank of dignity here, he wrote: comrades-in-arms of Batu in the last years of the life of the bloody khan, and, according to a common version, he was poisoned in the Horde, becoming a victim of a power struggle between Batu's heirs. Alexander's grandson, Ivan Daniilovich Kalita, Prince of Moscow, went down in history due to the fact that he himself decided to collect tribute for the Tatars, offering his services instead of the services of the Baskaks. “Thus, part of the tribute remained in Moscow, hiding from the khan, and this factor contributed to the strengthening of the Moscow principality,” historians are touched. At the same time, without pointing out one significant point: Kalita robbed his own people ... "
As an example of the insight of the “classic”, it is enough to recall the mass violation of the oath of the Russian officers, who betrayed the tsar and Kerensky in turn. Moreover, it was the tsarist officers that formed the backbone of the leadership of the Red Army (Bonch-Bruevich, Budyonny, Tukhachevsky, Blucher, Krylenko, Dybenko, Antonov-Ovsienko, Muravyov, Govorov, Bagramyan, Kamenev, Shaposhnikov, Egorov, Kork, Karbyshev, Chernavin, Eideman, Uborevich , Altvater, Lebedev, Samoilo, Behrens, von Taube ...) - a total of 48.5 thousand tsarist officers, only 746 former lieutenant colonels, 980 colonels, 775 generals. In the decisive year 1919, they accounted for 53% of the entire command staff of the Red Army.
The Supreme Military Council of the Army, created by the Bolsheviks on March 4, 1918, included 86 tsarist officers in the rank from major and lieutenant colonel to general (10 people). Of the 46 members of the senior command staff of the Red Army as of May 1922, 78.3% were regular officers of the old tsarist army, of which 7 were former generals, 22 lieutenant colonels and colonels, 8.8% came from the Imperial Life Guards. According to A.G. Kavtardze, in total, about 30% of the pre-revolutionary officer corps of tsarist Russia betrayed the former authorities and went to serve in the Red Army, which to a large extent contributed to the victory of the "Reds" in the Civil War. 185 generals of the General Staff of the Imperial Army later served in the corps of the General Staff of the Red Army, and this number does not include generals who held other positions in the Red Army. Most of the 185 were in the service of the Red Army voluntarily, and only six were mobilized. It was no coincidence that a saying arose then: the Red Army is like a radish - red on the outside, but white on the inside.
(The Bolsheviks "thanked" the creators of the Red Army by the almost complete destruction of the pre-revolutionary officer corps. Of the total number of 276 thousand tsarist officers as of the autumn of 1917 and 48.5 thousand defectors by June 1941, there were hardly more than a few hundred in the army, and then, mainly - commanders from former ensigns and second lieutenants. In Leningrad alone, more than a thousand former military specialists were shot. Among them: divisional commander A. Svechin, P. Sytin - former commander of the Southern Front, Yu. Gravitsky, A. Verkhovsky, A. Snesarev and others.In 1937, Marshal Tukhachevsky, Uborevich, the commander of the Belarusian Military District, Kork, the commissar of the Military Academy, the commander of the Leningrad Military District, Iona Yakir, the chairman of the Sovaviahim Eideman, and others were shot in the notorious case of the "military". In an interview, the writer Boris Vasiliev said: “On the eve of the war, Stalin shot all talented people to hell. And often captains commanded divisions.
Mass betrayal was repeated after 1991, when many officers and generals of state security, called upon to protect the "socialist fatherland" and the "great principles of communism", with extraordinary ease went into the service of the emerging capitalist class or joined the criminals. Is it any wonder after that that Russian officers sold arms to Chechen terrorists en masse? Anna Politkovskaya was dealt with precisely for exposing these betrayals, and in the Putin era, extrajudicial showdowns became a method of state policy.
The former KGB agent has a resourcefulness worthy of Machiavelli, writes Gianni Riotta in the newspaper La Stampa. But, it seems to me, resourcefulness is still inferior to the main driving force - self-interest. In general, communism has developed this quality to the extent of universal genetic hunger: in all post-Soviet godfathers, this quality of national bandocracy dominates over all the others. I would not be surprised by the information that the current leaders were bought up or recruited in the bud in their youth, which A. Illarionov transparently hints at in an article on Ekho Moskvy devoted to the secret springs of pardoning M. Khodorkovsky.
The military writer V. Beshanov, who served as a naval officer, testifies that in 1989, when his warship sailed through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, a vigilance watch consisting of political workers and officers was set up on deck, and the sailors were driven under deck. For what? They were afraid that they would run away to caprai, in other words, they would desert ... Perhaps they were subconsciously afraid, knowing the enormous scale of desertion during the war of 1941-1945.
Engels also has other prophecies on the “Russian” theme: “The Russian revolution is already ripe and will break out soon, but once it starts, it will carry the peasants along with it, and then you will see such scenes before which the scenes of 93 years will pale.” Reading this, I always think that time has always bypassed Russia.
There is a great deal of evidence for this. Here is just one of them. Having visited Russia, the French Marquis Astolfe de Custine wrote a sharply critical book
Nikolaev Russia. 1839". I will not quote it, but I will note that a hundred years later, US Ambassador to the USSR W.B. Smith (March 1946 - December 1948), after returning from the USSR, said about de Custine's book: “... Before us are political observations so insightful, so timeless, that the book can be called the best work ever written about the Soviet Union.
Until Stalin's death, the existence of Russian units of the Wehrmacht was hidden, and for the disclosure of this information, many people ended up in camps. Nowadays, the activities of the Russian Liberation People's Army (ROA) under the command of General Vlasov are relatively fully covered in the literature, but it is very reluctant to say that the ROA was only a small fraction of collaborators who went into the service of the Nazis. The fact that, moving east, the Germans everywhere encountered anti-Soviet partisan detachments operating in the Soviet rear, led by former officers of the Red Army, was also carefully concealed. The armed units of the collaborators partly arose spontaneously, and partly were recruited by the occupiers. By the way, about Vlasov. Molotov, in a fit of frankness, once said: "What Vlasov, Vlasov is nothing compared to what could be ..."
In order not to be unfounded, I will try as completely as possible, but far from exhaustive, to list the main collaborationist formations of Russians and Russian fascist parties:
- The Russian Liberation People's Army of the Wehrmacht (ROA), by the way, performed under the Russian tricolor, which became the banner of modern Russia. The ROA included 12 security corps, 13 divisions, 30 brigades;
- Fighting Union of Russian Nationalists (BSRN);
- RONA (Russian Liberation People's Army) - 5 regiments, 18 battalions;
- 1st Russian National Army (RNNA) - 3 regiments, 12 battalions.
- Russian National Army - 2 regiments, 12 battalions;
- Division "Russland";
- Cossack Stan;
- Congress for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR);
- The Armed Forces of the Congress for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR) (1 army, 4 corps, 8 divisions, 8 brigades).
- Air Force KONR (KONR Aviation Corps) - 87 aircraft, 1 air group, 1 regiment;
- Lokot Republic;
- Zuev's detachment;
- Eastern battalions and companies;
- 15th Cossack Russian Corps of SS troops - 3 divisions, 16 regiments;
- 1st Sinegorsk Ataman Cossack Regiment;
- 1st Cossack division (Germany);
- 7th Volunteer Cossack Division;
- Military Cossack unit "Free Kuban";
- 448 Cossack detachment;
- 30th SS Grenadier Division (Second Russian);
- Brigade of General A.V. Turkul;
- Brigade "Graukopf" - "RNNA" General Ivanov - 1 regiment, 5 battalions;
- "Special Division" Russia "" of General Smyslovsky - 1 regiment, 12 battalions;
- 1st Russian National SS Brigade "Druzhina" (1st Russian National SS Detachment);
- Russian Legion "White Cross" of the Wehrmacht - 4 battalions.
- Regiment "Varangian" Colonel M.A. Semenov;
- Higher German school for Russian officers;
- Dabendorf school of the ROA;
- Russian detachment of the 9th army of the Wehrmacht;
- SS Volunteer Regiment "Varyag";
- SS Volunteer Regiment "Desna";
- 1st Eastern Volunteer Regiment, consisting of two battalions - "Berezina" and "Dnepr" (from September -601 and 602nd Eastern battalions);
- Eastern battalion "Pripyat" (604th);
- 645th battalion;
- Separate regiment of Colonel Krzhizhanovsky;
- Volunteer Belgian Walloon Legion of the Wehrmacht;
- 5th assault brigade of the SS troops "Wallonia" with the SS Panzer Division "Viking";
- Brotherhood of "Russian Truth";
- Battalion Muravyov;
- Detachment of Nikolai Kozin;
- Russian volunteers in the Luftwaffe;
- Guards of the Russian fascist party;
- Corps of the Russian Monarchist Party;
- Russian Fascist Party;
- Russian National Labor Party;
- People's Socialist Party;
- Fighting Union of Russian Nationalists;
- Russian People's Labor Party;
- The political center of the struggle against the Bolsheviks;
- Union of Russian Activists;
- Russian People's Party of Realists;
- Zeppelin Organization;
- Hivi ("hilfsvillige" - "voluntary helpers").
- Russian personnel of the SS division "Charlemagne";
- Russian personnel of the SS division "Dirlewanger".
In addition, the 12th Reserve Corps of the Wehrmacht at various times included large formations of the Eastern troops, such as:
- Cossack (Russian) security corps of 15 regiments;
- 162nd Ostlegion Training Division of 6 regiments;
- 740th Cossack (Russian) reserve brigade of 6 battalions;
- Cossack (Russian) Group of the Marching Ataman of 4 regiments;
- Cossack group of Colonel von Panwitz from 6 regiments;
- Consolidated Cossack (Russian) field police division "Von Schulenburg".
SECURITY CORPORATIONS OF THE ARMY REAR AREAS OF THE WEhrmacht
- 582nd security (Russian) corps of the Wehrmacht - 11 battalions.
- 583rd security (Estonian-Russian) corps of the Wehrmacht - 10 battalions.
- 584th security (Russian) corps of the Wehrmacht - 6 battalions.
- 590th security Cossack (Russian) corps of the Wehrmacht - 1 regiment, 4 battalions.
- 580th security Cossack (Russian) corps of the Wehrmacht - 1 regiment, 9 battalions.
- 532nd security (Russian) corps of the Wehrmacht - 13 battalions.
- 559th security (Russian) corps of the Wehrmacht - 7 battalions
"NATIVE" SECURITY CORPORATIONS AND SELF-DEFENSE
- Russian security corps of the Wehrmacht in Serbia - 1 brigade, 5 regiments.
- Russian "People's Guard" of the General Commissariat "Moscow" (Rear Area of the Army Group "Center") - 13 battalions, 1 cavalry division.
(RUSSIAN-CROATIAN)
- 15th Special Purpose Mountain Rifle Corps of the 2nd Tank Army: Russians - 1 security corps, 5 regiments, Croatian - 2 divisions, 6 regiments.
- 69th Special Purpose Corps of the 2nd Tank Army: Russian - 1 division, 8 regiments, Croatian - 1 division, 3 regiments.
Mention should also be made of the Asano Brigade - the Russian units of the Kwantung Army, and the Russian units of the Japanese and Manchurian special services of Manchukuo.
As the Wehrmacht's casualties grew, and especially after the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943, the mobilization of the local population became even more widespread. In the front line, the Germans began to mobilize the entire male population, including adolescents and the elderly, who for one reason or another were not taken to work in Germany.
Here we must also bear in mind that the turning point in the course of the war led to significant changes in Nazi ideology. Hitler's doctrine of the "master race" began to be crowded by the concept of the New European Order, which was maturing in the depths of Nazi ideology. According to this concept, after the victory of Germany, the United European Reich will be formed, and the form of government will be a confederation of European peoples with a single currency, administration, police and army, which should include European parts, including Russian ones. In this new community there was a place for Russia, but only free from Bolshevism.
The Belgian collaborator, founder of the Rexist Party and commander of the 28th Volunteer SS Walloon Division Leon Degrelle insisted on changing the status of the SS troops and turning them from a purely German organization into a European one. He wrote: “From all parts of Europe, volunteers rushed to the aid of their German brothers. It was then that the third great Waffen SS was born. The first was German, the second German, and now the European Waffen SS has become.
It is curious that the head of the Rosenberg Operational Headquarters, Herbert Utikal, also adhered to a similar point of view, and one of the Nazis R. Proksch at the end of 1944 at a meeting of this headquarters said: “The hour of Europe has come. Therefore, we must admit: the peoples differ from each other spiritually and physically... A mosaic of many possibilities... If the word "Europe" is spoken, they are all meant... The current war for Europe must be accompanied by a new idea. In wars fought over ideological issues, the stronger ideas always win. This is the spiritual mission of the Reich. The goal is unity in diversity… the freedom of peoples in the unity of the continent.”
It is not my task to dwell in detail on both the gradual change in Nazi ideology, and on all the listed Russian pro-fascist military structures and Nazi collaborationist parties, so I will limit myself to the most significant of them.
Russian Liberation Army (ROA). The number of the ROA, formed mainly from Soviet prisoners of war, amounted to several hundred thousand people (and not 125 thousand, as follows from Soviet sources). About 800,000 people at various times wore the insignia of the ROA, but only a third of this number was recognized by the Vlasov leadership as belonging to their movement.
The ROA was headed by Lieutenant General Andrey Vlasov. The leadership of the ROA and later KONR (see below) also included former Russian ("red" and "white") generals F.F. Abramov, V.I. Angeleev, A.P. Arkhangelsky, V. Assberg, E.I. Balabin, V.F. Belogortsev, I. Blagoveshchensky, M.V. Bogdanov, S.K. Borodin, V.I. Boyarsky, S.K. Bunyachenko, N.N. Golovin, T.I. .M.Dragomirov, G.N.Zhilenkov, D.E.Zakutny, G.A.Zverev, I.N.Kononov, P.N.Krasnov, V.V.Kreyter, A.A. von Lampe, V.I. Maltsev, V.F. Malyshkin, M.A. Meandrov, V.G. Naumenko, G. von Pannwitz, B.S. G.V. Tatarkin, F.I. Trukhin, A.V. Turkul, M.M. Shapovalov, A.G. Shkuro, B.A. Shteyfon and others.
According to V. Makhno, in total, about 200 red and white Russian generals served the Nazis:
- 20 Soviet citizens became Russian fascist generals;
- 3 Lieutenant General Vlasov A.A., Trukhin F.N., Malyshkin V.F.;
- 1 divisional commissioner Zhilenkov G.N.;
- 6 Major Generals Zakutny D.E., Blagoveshchensky I.A., Bogdanov P.V., Budykhto A.E., Naumov A.Z., Salikhov B.B.;
- 3 brigade commander: Bessonov I.G., Bogdanov M.V.; Sevostyanov A.I;
Major General Bunyachenko - commander of the 600th division of the Wehrmacht (aka the 1st division of the ROA SV KONR), former colonel, commander of the Red Army division.
Major General Maltsev - commander of the Air Force KONR, former director of the sanatorium "Aviator", formerly commander of the Air Force of the Siberian Military District, colonel in the reserve of the Red Army.
Major General Kononov - commander of the 3rd Consolidated Cossack Plastun Brigade of the 15th Cossack Cavalry Corps of the SS troops of the Main Operational Directorate of the SS (FHA-SS), former major, commander of the Red Army regiment.
Major General Zverev - commander of the 650th division of the Wehrmacht (it is also the 2nd division of the ROA Armed Forces of the KONR), a former colonel, commander of the Red Army division.
Major General Domanov - commander of the Cossack security corps of the Cossack Camp of the Main Directorate of the Cossack Troops of the Main Directorate of the SS (FA-SS), former secret police officer of the NKVD.
Major General Pavlov - marching ataman, commander of the Group of the Marching ataman of the GUKV.
Waffenbrigadenführer - Major General of the SS troops Kaminsky B.S. - Commander of the 29th Grenadier Division of the SS "RONA" of the Main Operational Directorate of the SS, a former engineer.
The figure of Vlasov is far from being as unambiguous as it is presented in post-war sources. During the Civil War, Vlasov, after completing a four-month command course from 1919 in command positions, participated in battles with whites on the Southern Front, then transferred to headquarters. At the end of 1920, the group in which Vlasov commanded cavalry and foot reconnaissance was transferred to eliminate the insurgent movement led by Nestor Makhno.
He graduated from the Frunze Military Academy. Stalin sent him to China on secret missions to Chiang Kai-shek. Only a small part of the highest Soviet officers survived after the purges of the Red Army in 1936-38, but Vlasov was among those chosen. In 1941, Stalin appointed him commander of the Second Shock Army. By personal order of Stalin, he was entrusted with the defense of Moscow, and he played a significant role in the operations that stopped the Nazi advance on the capital. Together with six other generals, he was ranked among the "saviors" of the city, and in January 1942 Vlasov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, but soon after that he was captured, and his army was almost completely destroyed while trying to repel the Nazi offensive in the Leningrad direction.
Vlasov was considered Stalin's favorite, and at the end of June 1942, he was very concerned about the fate of Vlasov and demanded that he be taken out of the encirclement on the Volkhov, rescued at any cost, the corresponding radiograms were preserved.
Having been captured, Vlasov during interrogations (August 1942) stated that Germany would not be able to defeat the Soviet Union - and this was at the moment when the Wehrmacht was approaching the Volga. Vlasov never connected his plans with Hitler's victory in the East. At first, he sincerely hoped that in the rear of the Germans he would be able to create a sufficiently strong and independent Russian army. Then he counted on the activity of the conspirators and hatched plans for a radical change in the occupation policy. Since the summer of 1943, Vlasov had pinned his hopes on the Western allies. With any outcome, as it seemed to Vlasov, options were possible - the main thing was to get their significant armed force. But, as history has shown, there were no options.
Frankly developing his views in a narrow circle of German listeners, Vlasov emphasized that among Stalin's opponents there are many people "with a strong character, ready to give their lives for the liberation of Russia from Bolshevism, but rejecting German bondage." However, "they are ready to cooperate closely with the German people, without prejudice to their freedom and honor." “The Russian people lived, lives and will live, they will never become a colonial people,” the former captive general firmly stated. Vlasov also expressed the hope "for a healthy renewal of Russia and for an explosion of the national pride of the Russian people."
Both Russian and German sources agree that the ROA could have attracted at least 2,000,000 fighters out of a total of 5.5 million captured Red Army soldiers (!) If the Nazis had not put sticks in the wheels and interfered with the work of their own hands.
At first, the first detachments of the ROA were sent mainly to fight against the special troops of the NKVD operating in the German rear. The idea of uniting disparate Russian formations into an anti-Soviet Russian army took hold in the summer of 1942. Vlasov, who enjoyed such high favor with the Kremlin to such an extent that allied intelligence officials at first refused to believe the information about his cooperation with the enemy and considered it a propaganda trick of the enemy, became her guide and inspirer.
At the end of June 1942, Vlasov addressed an appeal to all "Russian patriots", announcing the beginning of the liberation struggle. At the same time, at first it was silent that this struggle was supposed to go under the auspices of the Nazis. On the outskirts of Berlin, Dabendorf, the General Staff of the ROA was created. In August and September 1942, Vlasov visited the Leningrad, Pskov regions and Belarus. The response to his first appeals was overwhelming. Tens of thousands of letters from civilians and from captured Red Army soldiers poured into the Dabendorf headquarters. The first shock guards brigade of the ROA was formed in May 1943 in the city of Breslau. On November 14, the first and only Vlasov congress took place in Prague, where the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia was created and a stillborn Manifesto was adopted demanding the "destruction of Stalin's tyranny" and the liberation of the Russian people from the Bolshevik dictatorship. Surprisingly, even at the end of the war, facts of a voluntary transition of small units of the Red Army to the side of the ROA were recorded.
I will not dwell on Vlasov's contradictions with the German functionaries and on the transition of parts of the ROA at the end of the war to the side of the Italian and Czech resistance. According to some reports, the First Division of the ROA came to the rescue of the desperate Czech rebels and saved Prague from destruction by the Germans. The saved city was handed over to the Red Army, which immediately arrested and shot all the Vlasovites who did not have time to escape. The remnants of the ROA in Czechoslovakia and Austria surrendered to US troops.
After the war, the fighters and officers of this army hid throughout Western Europe, and the agents of the Soviet counterintelligence were busy hunting these people mercilessly. General Vlasov was taken prisoner for the second time on May 12, 1945. The trial of Vlasov was classified in order, firstly, to hide from the people the extent of Russian collaborationism and, secondly, the fact of the voluntary entry of Soviet officers and generals into his army.
The execution of A. Vlasov only opened a long list of major military leaders shot by Stalin until the murder of the tyrant himself in March 1953. I will give an abbreviated list of the destroyed "traitors to the motherland, spies, subversive saboteurs":
- Air Marshal Sergei Khudyakov (April 18, 1950);
- Major General Pavel Artemenko (June 10, 1950);
- Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union Grigory Kulik (August 24, 1950);
- Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel-General Vasily Gordov (August 24, 1950);
- Major General Philip Rybalchenko (August 25, 1950);
- Major General Nikolai Kirillov (August 25, 1950);
- Major General Pavel Ponedelin (August 25, 1950);
- Major General of Aviation Mikhail Beleshev (August 26, 1950);
- Major General Mikhail Belyanchik (August 26, 1950);
- brigade commander Nikolai Lazutin (August 26, 1950);
- Major General Ivan Krupennikov (August 28, 1950);
- Major General Maxim Sivaev (August 28, 1950);
- Major General Vladimir Kirpichnikov (August 28, 1950);
- another high-ranking military man, brigvrach (corresponding to the rank of "brigade commander") Ivan Naumov, almost did not reach the KGB bullet "put" to him - he died on August 23, 1950 from torture in Butyrka.
- deputy commander Black Sea Fleet on the political side, Rear Admiral Pyotr Bondarenko (October 28, 1950);
- On the same day, Vladimir Tamruchi, a lieutenant general of the tank troops, killed by the Chekists, died.
In total, according to Vyacheslav Zvyagintsev, who worked with the materials of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, only from August 18 to August 30, 1950, 20 generals and one marshal were sentenced to death.
For cooperation with the Germans in captivity, at least six more military leaders went to execution: brigade commanders Ivan Bessonov and Mikhail Bogdanov and four major generals Pavel Artemenko Alexander Budykho, Andrey Naumov, Pavel Bogdanov and Yevgeny Yegorov.
The captured generals who refused to cooperate with the Germans were also shot, namely, Generals Artemenko, Kirillov, Ponedelin, Beleshev, Krupennikov, Sivaev, Kirpichnikov and brigade commander Lazutin. Some of them even successfully passed the post-war KGB special check and were reinstated in the cadres of the USSR Armed Forces (for example, Pavel Artemenko), but they were not spared either. Aviation Major General Mikhail Beleshev was guilty for Stalin, apparently, by the fact that he was the commander of the Air Force of the 2nd shock army - the same one commanded by Vlasov before his capture. All the rest were to blame for the military miscalculations of the "great leader" himself.
By the way, the stigma of Vlasov fell not only on the collaborators of the captured Second Shock Army, but also on the few military men who miraculously managed to get out of the Volkhov cauldron, in which Vlasov himself was captured.
The executions of the generals in 1950 became the final phase of the pogrom of the marshal-general group, begun by Stalin immediately after the Victory, as part of a whole series of cases then deployed. Stalin needed to besiege the military leaders who imagined themselves victorious (and, of course, only Comrade Stalin could be such!) and allowed themselves to talk too much. Stalin was always afraid of the military and beat their corporate cohesion. In 1950, he believed that in the war with the United States, the second edition of Vlasov and Vlasovism could not be mastered.
Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR). On November 14, 1944, the founding congress of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR) was held in Prague, proclaiming the unification of all anti-Soviet forces located in Germany, including emigrant organizations, national committees, the Vlasov army and other eastern formations, to fight "for a new free Russia against the Bolsheviks and exploiters. At the same time, the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (AF KONR) began to operate, represented mainly by the Vlasov army. They consisted of three Russian divisions, a reserve brigade, an anti-tank brigade, an air force, an officer school, auxiliary units and small formations. By March 1945, the total strength of the KONR Armed Forces exceeded 150 thousand people. The first division was armed with 12 heavy and 42 light field howitzers, 6 heavy and 29 light infantry guns, 536 heavy and light machine guns, 20 flamethrowers, 10 Hetzer self-propelled guns, 9 T-34 tanks.
For the period of registration, the Committee consisted of 50 members and 12 candidates (including representatives of 15 peoples of Russia) and practically performed the functions of a general meeting. The KONR included the Russian National Council (chaired by General V.F. Malyshkin); Ukrainian national council; National Council of the Peoples of the Caucasus; National Council of the Peoples of Turkestan, Main Directorate Cossack troops, Kalmyk National Committee and Belarusian National Rada.
The Lokot Republic (Lokot self-government, Lokotsky district) is an administrative-territorial national entity in the workers' settlement of Lokot in Soviet territory occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. Existed from November 1941 to August 1943. The "republic" included several districts of the pre-war Oryol and Kursk regions. The size of the Lokot Republic exceeded the territory of Belgium, and its population was 581 thousand people. All power here belonged not to the German commandant's offices, but to local governments.
On the territory of the district, an attempt was made to create and legalize the Nazi party and form an independent Russian government. At the end of November 1941, the head of the Lokotka self-government, K.P. Voskoboinik, published the Manifesto of the People's Socialist Party "Viking", which provided for the destruction of the communist and collective farm system, the provision of peasants with arable land and household plots, the development of private initiative and "the merciless extermination of all Jews, former commissioners." The Jewish population of the Lokot "republic" was completely destroyed.
After Konstantin Voskoboinik was killed by partisans in January 1942, Bronislav Kaminsky took his place, who developed the charter, program and structure of the party bodies of the "republic". Since November 1943, after several renamings, the party became known as the National Socialist Labor Party of Russia (NSTPR). The short name of the National Socialist Party is Viking (Vityaz). All leading employees of the self-government must join the party.
The head of the "republic" Voskoboinik repeatedly spoke to the German administration with the initiative to extend such self-government to all the occupied territories. The "republic" had the status of a national entity and its own armed forces - the Russian Liberation people's army(RONA). On its territory, the district had its own Code of Criminal Procedure. Cases of mass desertion of partisans and their transfer to the side of the armed formations of the Lokot self-government are described.
During the existence of the self-government, many industrial enterprises engaged in the processing of agricultural products were restored and put into operation, churches were restored, 9 hospitals and 37 outpatient medical centers operated, 345 general education schools and 3 orphanages, the city art and drama theater named after K.P. Voskoboinik was opened in the city of Lokot. The local newspaper "Voice of the People" was also published here. S. I. Drobyazko, describing local self-government in the occupied territories of the RSFSR, wrote: “With minimal control from the German administration, the Lokot self-government has achieved major successes in the socio-economic life of the district.”
Russian Liberation People's Army (RONA). This was the name of the collaborationist military formations created by B.V. Kaminsky on the territory of the Lokot Republic. The RONA included 5 infantry regiments or 14 battalions with 20 thousand soldiers.
The army was equipped with guns, grenade launchers and machine guns. The creator and leader of the RONA, a former volunteer of the Red Army and a member of the CPSU (b), had the rank of SS Brigadeführer. RONA formations first acted against the partisans of the Bryansk region, and then took part in Operation Citadel on Kursk Bulge, after which they were forced to leave the Lokot Republic along with about 50 thousand military and civilians. In 1944, the RONA was renamed the 29th SS Grenadier Division, which, together with the Dirlewanger Brigade, took part in operations to suppress the partisan movement in Belarus, for which Kaminsky was awarded the Iron Cross, and then the first class badge"For the fight against partisans", the Eastern Medal of the 1st and 2nd classes. In March 1944, the unit was renamed the Kaminsky People's Brigade, and in July it joined the ranks of the SS under the name assault brigade SS-RONA. It was then that the brigade commander received the title of brigadeführer.
On August 1, 1944, when the Home Army raised an uprising in Warsaw, the Kaminsky Brigade took an active part in its suppression. The soldiers were drawn into mass robberies and drunkenness, robbed warehouses and shops, raped women, and shot local residents. According to Polish researchers, 235,000 Poles became victims of the Russians, of which 200,000 were civilians. Executions in the courtyards of Warsaw streets continued for several weeks. Members of the RONA brigade also raped two German girls from the KDF organization.
The actions of the Kaminsky Brigade aroused the indignation of the Wehrmacht and veterans of the First World War. In response to the accusations, Kaminsky stated that his subordinates had the right to loot, as they had lost all their property in Russia.
Being a pathological sadist, Bronislav Kaminsky distinguished himself in cruelty and looting so much that the Germans were forced to shoot him themselves, after which the remnants of his brigade joined the ROA and other units of the Wehrmacht.
Cossack Stan. In October 1942, in Novocherkassk, occupied by German troops, a Cossack gathering took place, at which the headquarters of the Don Cossack Army, an organization of Cossack formations within the Wehrmacht, was elected. According to historian Oleg Budnitsky, "in the Cossack regions, the Nazis received very significant support." The researcher of this problem, Professor Viktor Popov, wrote: “Now it is already known for certain that a certain, and rather considerable, part of the population of the Don, the basis of which was the Cossacks, was very sympathetic and even sympathetic to the German troops.” The creation of the Cossack units was headed by the former colonel of the tsarist army S.V. Pavlov, who worked as an engineer at one of the factories in Novocherkassk. Cossack regiments and battalions were also formed in the Crimea, Kherson, Kirovograd and other cities. Pavlov's initiative was supported by the "white" general P.N. Krasnov. Only through the Cossack units on the side of Germany in the period from October 1941 to April 1945. about 80,000 people passed. Already by January 1943, 30 Cossack detachments with a total number of about 20,000 people were formed. During the retreat of the Germans, the Cossacks covered the withdrawal and participated in the destruction of about a thousand villages and settlements. In May 1945, when surrendering to British captivity, the number of Cossack units of the Wehrmacht numbered 24 thousand military and civilians.
The formations of the "Cossack Camp", created in Kirovograd in November 1943 under the leadership of the "marching ataman" S.V. Pavlov, were replenished with Cossacks from almost all of the South of Russia. Among the commanders of the Cossack military units, the most colorful figure was a participant in the Soviet-Finnish war, a major of the Red Army, awarded the Order of the Red Star, he was also a Wehrmacht colonel, awarded with iron crosses I and II class Ivan Kononov. Having gone over to the side of the Wehrmacht in August 1941, Kononov announced his desire to form a volunteer Cossack regiment and take part in the battles with him. The military unit of Kononov was distinguished by high combat capability. At the beginning of 1942, as part of the 88th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht, she participated in hostilities against partisans and paratroopers of the encircled corps of Major General P.A. Belov near Vyazma, Polotsk, Velikiye Luki, in Smolensk region. In December 1944, Kononov's regiment distinguished itself in the battle near Pitomach with units of the 57th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian front who were severely defeated.
On April 1, 1945, Kononov was promoted to major general of the "Vlasov" Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia and was appointed marching ataman of all Cossack troops and commander of the 15th corps, but he did not manage to take up his duties. After the death of S.V. Pavlov in June 1944, T.N. Domanov was appointed field ataman of the Stan. The Cossacks took an active part in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, when the Nazi command awarded many officers with the Order of the Iron Cross for their diligence. In July 1944, the Cossacks were transferred to northern Italy (Karnia) to fight against the Italian anti-fascists. The newspaper "Cossack Land" was published here, many Italian towns were renamed into villages, and local residents were subjected to partial deportation. On May 18, 1945, Stan surrendered to the British troops, and later his commanders and fighters were handed over to the Soviet command.
Eastern battalions and companies. With the growth of the partisan movement in the German rear, the Wehrmacht
took steps to increase the number of security units from the local population and prisoners of war. Already in June 1942, anti-partisan companies from among Russian volunteers appeared at the headquarters of divisions. After appropriate military training under the guidance of German officers, Russian units turned into full-fledged combat units capable of performing a wide variety of tasks - from protecting objects to conducting punitive expeditions in partisan areas. Jagdkommandos (fighter or hunting teams) were also created at the headquarters of German units and formations - small, well-equipped groups with automatic weapons, which were used to search for and destroy partisan detachments. The most reliable and well-trained fighters were selected for these joys. By the end of 1942, most of the German divisions operating on the Eastern Front had one, and sometimes two, eastern companies, and the corps had a company or battalion. In addition, the command of the army rear areas had at its disposal several eastern battalions and yagdkommandos, and as part of the security divisions, eastern cavalry battalions and squadrons. According to the German command, by the summer of 1943, 78 eastern battalions, 1 regiment and 122 separate companies(security, extermination, economic, etc.) with a total number of 80 thousand people.
Division "Russland" (1st Russian National Army, later - the Green Special Purpose Army) - a military formation operating as part of the Wehrmacht during the Great Patriotic War under the leadership of General B.A. Smyslovsky (sondeführer of the Abwehr, acting under the pseudonym Arthur Holmston). The division was formed from units and groups of the Sonderstab "R". The number of the division was up to 10 thousand former White Guards. In February 1945, the 1st Russian National Division was renamed the "Special Purpose Green Army". On April 4, 1945, it increased by 6,000 people due to the inclusion in the Russian Corps, in addition, about 2,500 members of the Association of Russian Military Unions were at their disposal. She was also joined by the heir to the Russian throne, Vladimir Kirillovich. At the end of the war, the remnants of the division ended up on the territory of Liechtenstein, from where most of the Russians emigrated to Argentina.
The Russian Corps (Russian Security Corps, Russian Corps in Serbia, staffed mainly by white emigrants) was organized by Major General M.F. Skorodumov in 1941 after the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia. The corps was used to protect Yugoslav territory from Tito's communist partisans. In 1944 the Germans used the corps to cover their withdrawal from Greece. At this time, the corps participated in battles not only with the Tito partisans, but also with the regular units of the Red Army. In the winter of 1944-1945. was included in the ROA.
The Fighting Union of Russian Nationalists (BSRN) was organized on the initiative of the SD in April 1942 in a prisoner of war camp in Suwalki. The BSRN was headed by the former chief of staff of the 229th rifle division Lieutenant Colonel V.V. Gil. From the members of the BSRN, the 1st Russian National SS Detachment, also known as the "Druzhina", was also formed. The tasks of these units included the security service in the occupied territory and the fight against partisans. The composition of the 1st company of the BSRN consisted exclusively of former commanders of the Red Army. She was a reserve and was engaged in training personnel for new units.
Russian volunteers in the Luftwaffe. In the autumn of 1943, on the initiative of Lieutenant Colonel Holters, a flight unit was formed from Russian volunteers who were ready to fight in the air on the side of Germany. In October of the same year, a special camp was set up in Suwalki for the selection of POW pilots, navigators, mechanics and radio operators. Those recognized as fit studied at two-month preparatory courses, after which they received a military rank, took an oath and were transferred to the Holters group stationed in Moritzfeld ( East Prussia). At first, the flight and technical staff put the captured vehicles in order, but later the Russian pilots were allowed to participate in hostilities. The group was engaged aerial reconnaissance, throwing propaganda material and reconnaissance paratroopers into the Soviet rear. One of these squadrons operated against partisans in Belarus. Subsequently, the personnel of the Holters group entered the KONR Air Force.
From March 1944, through the combined efforts of the Hitler Youth, the SS and the Luftwaffe, young people aged 15 to 20 were recruited into the German Air Defense Auxiliary Service in the occupied territories. The number of Russian volunteers, called "Luftwaffe assistants" (Luftwaffenhelfer), and from December 4, 1944 - "SS pupils" (SS-Zögling), was determined at 1383 people. By the end of the war, 22.5 thousand Russian volunteers and 120 thousand prisoners of war served in the Luftwaffe, which made up a significant percentage of the service personnel in anti-aircraft batteries and construction units.
Here it should be emphasized that the personnel of these units was formed not only from prisoners. Talking among themselves, veterans often recall frequent cases of group betrayals, when soldiers, whispering, whole platoons, and even companies, crawled out of the trenches in order to surrender to the enemy in the darkness of the night. God be their judge: what is “command”, than the attitude towards soldiers as “cannon fodder”, is captivity not more saving ... But, having been captured, traitors became the most attractive contingent for the formation of Russian units.
Walter Schellenberg wrote in his memoirs: “Thousands of Russians were selected in the prisoner of war camps, who, after training, were parachuted deep into Russian territory. Their main task, along with the transfer of current information, was the political decomposition of the population and sabotage. Other groups were intended to fight the partisans, for which they were thrown as our agents to the Russian partisans. In order to achieve success as soon as possible, we began to recruit volunteers from among Russian prisoners of war right in the front line.
Collaborationism, to one degree or another, accompanied all major armed conflicts in world history (it was only called differently), but it was in the Second World War that it acquired the most massive character.
The very word collaborationism appeared in 1940 and originally denoted the collaboration of the French with the Nazis, which was called for by the head of the Vichy regime, Marshal Philippe Pétain. During the war years, collaborationism was widespread everywhere, national SS divisions were created in all territories occupied by the Germans. Of the 38 SS divisions, only 12 were manned by the Germans. Volunteer armies and national divisions were formed on all fronts of the war: from India to Denmark. There were not only separate Greek, Polish, Czech and Lithuanian formations, although representatives of these nations were represented in other German units.
Much has been said about the causes of collaborationism. This is dissatisfaction with the existing government, and mercantile interests. The first reason is most often tried to justify Soviet collaborationism, since the time that has passed since the Civil War, collectivization and dispossession was very insignificant on a historical scale.
The unity of the people, about which Soviet propaganda spoke, had not yet been formed by 1941, the standard of living left much to be desired, therefore, part of the population in the occupied territories, if they did not accept the Germans with bread and salt, then had some hopes with the advent of the "new power".
If we talk about European collaborationism, then we should take into account the artificial as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, which became the cause of nationalism among the ethnic majority of many countries.
When today they talk about collaborationism during the war years, they usually remember the Russian liberation army General Vlasov, the Cossack SS divisions and the Galicia division. However, despite the undoubted similarities of these combat units, they differed significantly. The backbone of the ROA was made up of white emigrants, whose nominal goal was the fight against Bolshevism, the Cossack divisions fought for the promised "independence" and Cossacks.
With "Galicia" the situation was quite strange. According to the memoirs of Kubiyovych, Wächter, the initiator of the creation of the division, believed that “Galicia was a country in which it was necessary to renew the German (Austrian) influence, which had been going on since the second half of XVIII century."
It is significant that initially Hitler was very skeptical about the idea of creating national divisions in the occupied territories. According to the racial theory of the Third Reich, all "non-Aryans" were considered "Untermensch", "subhuman", and therefore, in the future, the Germans planned the areization of the conquered peoples.
Hitler was allowed to attract a significant part of the Cossacks to his side by the theory that the Cossacks belong to the Ostrogoths, and therefore the idea of liberation from "" should be no less attractive to them.
Already in December 1942, the Cossack Administration of the Don, Kuban and Terek (Kozaken Leite-Stelle) was organized. The promised independence of the Cossacks meant not only special priority conditions for the Cossacks, but also their obligations to the Reich. A large food tax was removed from the Cossack territories. The idea of creating an independent Cossackia did not last long, the Third Reich abandoned it already in January 1943.
The Germans failed to persuade everyone to cooperate. It was the Cossacks that were the core of the cavalry of the Red Army, by the end of 1941, 116 Cossack cavalry divisions fought against the Nazis.
Most of the Soviet collaborators were the so-called "Khivi" - soldiers of the auxiliary troops of the Wehrmacht. For the most part, they were recruited among the captured Red Army soldiers. According to the historian Romanko, the number of "Khivi" in the Wehrmacht was 665-675 thousand people.
On April 29, 1943, the Heavi was officially allowed to wear the German uniform, but without German emblems, without buttonholes and shoulder straps. Despite the large number of “Khivi” cannot be unequivocally attributed to ideological collaborators, the prisoners went to help Nazi Germany for reasons of conformism.
Jagdkommandos (fighter or hunting teams) were also formed in the occupied territories - “false partisans”, which were used to search for and destroy real partisans.
By the end of 1943, the number of "eastern formations" amounted to about 300-350 thousand people, but such a large number did not speak of quality.
Desertion, low combat capability and frequent defections to the side of the Red Army indicated that the Germans could only rely on collaborators with great caution.
What can we say if the "glorified" division "Galicia" lasted less than two years and suffered a crushing defeat near Brody in the summer of 1944.
By and large, collaborationism was the greatest deception of World War II. Residents of the occupied territories cooperated with the Germans, hoping for better life, however, as history has shown, all the propaganda of the Third Reich was only a tool for the functioning of the German military machine.
During the Great Patriotic War, there were Soviet citizens who were on the other German side - in the ranks of the Wehrmacht, the SS, paramilitary and police formations. And today there are admirers of these people who betrayed their country. Many of them like to speculate about the 2 million Russians who fought against the USSR on the side of Germany for ideological reasons: they say, the damned Bolshevik commissars were so hated by them. There is also talk of a "second civil war". In fact, collaborationism was based not at all on the ideological denial of Soviet power. Yes, there were many staunch opponents of the communists, but they did not determine the face of "Russian" collaborationism.
Failure from the start
Let's start with the fact that 1.2 million people seem to be the most plausible figure. The historian calls it Sergey Drobyazko who studied the data in the most detail. Among them there were many immigrants from Central Asia, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Ukraine. The number of Russians proper is estimated at about 400,000.
Almost immediately, the Russian units showed themselves to be poor helpers. Many very quickly realized their own real situation of the serfs, and the wrongness, the hopelessness of their cause. Moreover, this realization came even before Stalingrad, when the USSR stood on the edge of the abyss. In this regard, the fate of the so-called Russian National People's Army (RNNA) is very indicative. They formed this "army" on the initiative of several white émigrés Sergei Ivanov, Konstantin Kromiadi and others who brainwashed the Soviet prisoners with stories about the new Russian state that would arise in the course of the struggle against the Bolsheviks and Jews. The number of participants in the formation reached 4 thousand, and the Germans had certain hopes for him. The most important task of the RNNA was entrusted in the spring of 1942: it was used against the Soviet units of the 4th Airborne Corps and the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, located in the German rear in the Vyazma and Dorogobuzh regions.
It was assumed that collaborators dressed in Soviet uniforms would capture the lieutenant general Pavel Belov and try to persuade the surrender of the Red Army. However, the opposite happened: 100 RNNA fighters went over to the Soviet side. After that, the "army" was aimed at fighting the partisans. The struggle was sluggish, and the People's Army en masse went over to the side of those with whom they were supposed to fight. So, only on August 6–15, 1942, 200 officers and soldiers of the RNNA ran across to the partisans (with weapons in their hands). And in October there was a major conflict between the RNNA and the German command, which set out to clearly show who is the master and who is the servant. From the very beginning of the existence of the RNNA, they wore Soviet uniforms there, but with shoulder straps and white-blue-red cockades. Now the order was given to change into German uniforms. In addition, the people's army should have been divided into battalions. The personnel were indignant and refused to obey, as a result, the SS troops had to be used - to admonish the presumptuous lackeys. The weapons were taken away from the RNNA fighters, then, however, they were returned, after which 300 people immediately went over to the partisans. Further - more: in November, another 600 people joined the ranks of defectors. In the end, the patience of the Germans snapped, the RNNA was disbanded, and its units were transferred to France.
March of the Defectors
In April 1943, the Nazis sought to raise the morale of their assistants and immediately enrolled all Russians in the Vlasov Russian Liberation Army (ROA). Thus, they tried to convince them that they represent something one. The Germans did this not from the breadth of their souls, but because an exodus began: in the same 1943, 14 thousand people fled to the partisans.
It was already a real decomposition, and the Germans decided to remove the "assistants" from the Eastern Front out of harm's way. Relatively reliable units were sent to France, Holland, Belgium and the Balkans, while unreliable ones were simply disbanded. This dealt a rather powerful blow to the psyche of the defectors, who finally realized the insignificance of their real status. Many of them preferred to flee to the partisans than go to the West.
In this regard, the fate of the 1st Russian National SS Brigade "Druzhina" is most indicative. It was created on the basis of the Fighting Union of Russian Nationalists, which was headed by a Soviet colonel Vladimir Gil(who took the pseudonym Rodionov). First, the 1st Russian National SS Detachment (“Druzhina No. 1”) arose. After merging with Druzhina No. 2, the formation became known as the 1st Russian National SS Regiment. And due to the amplification local residents and prisoners in May 1943, the SS brigade itself was formed. At the headquarters of the brigade, the German headquarters functioned, which was headed by SS Hauptsturmführer Rosner. It is clear that there could be no talk of any independence. The number of the brigade was 3 thousand people. Specialized "vigilantes" in the fight against partisans.
So, the brigade took part in anti-partisan operations in the Begoml-Lepel area. There, the "Russian" SS men were taught a hard lesson by the partisans, which had a good educational effect. Many thought about the transition, and the partisans immediately took advantage of these moods. In August 1943, Gil-Rodionov established contact with the command of the Zheleznyak partisan brigade. He and the fighters of the SS brigade were promised an amnesty if the “vigilantes” went over to the side of the partisans. The proposal was readily accepted, parts of the brigade destroyed the German headquarters, and along with those officers who were considered unreliable. Further, the former SS men attacked the nearest German garrisons.
Almost the entire composition of the unit passed to the partisans, which became known as the 1st anti-fascist partisan brigade. Vladimir Gil was awarded the Order of the Red Star and restored to his former rank. Freshly baked partisans showed themselves very well in battle. So, they defeated the German garrisons in Ilya, Obodovtsy and Vileyka. In April 1944, the Nazis undertook a serious operation to defeat the partisans of the Polotsk-Lepel zone. The brigade was forced to break through the German blockade. During this breakthrough, Gil was seriously injured, from which he died.
Deserter movement
The Vlasov army, however, also did not want to fight. Andrei Vlasov stubbornly tried to convince the German command that he needed more time to prepare. With difficulty it was possible to force the 1st division Sergei Bunyachenko advance to the Oder front. There, on April 13, she took part in the attack Soviet troops, and the Vlasovites did not like such a contribution to the fight against Bolshevism. They beat them seriously, for real. Then Bunyachenko, without hesitation, took his formation to the Czech Republic to join with other Vlasov units.
Let's leave aside the ideological anti-communists for the time being and draw the obvious conclusion. For the most part, the so-called Vlasovites were more deserters than anti-communists. They simply did not have the will to somehow resist the huge military-political machine of the Third Reich. In a number of cases, the lack of will was facilitated by resentment at Soviet power, in which very many really offended. However, many offended resisted the fascist invaders to the end, fearing neither deprivation nor death. So the factor of resentment, not to mention the ideology, did not play a decisive role.
It is interesting to compare all this with the First World War. Then those who disagreed with the authorities did not run over to the Germans or Austrians, did not desert. They carried on stubborn (and rather risky) revolutionary work in the tsarist army. The Bolsheviks were famous for their organization and courage, advocated the overthrow of all imperialist governments, but they did not take the side of the Germans. The Bolsheviks have always been in favor of holding the front, and are categorically against desertion. And they never supported the deserter's call "Bayonet to the ground - and let's go squeeze your woman."
The Bolsheviks continued to fight, fraternizing with the Germans, while not surrendering to them, agitating the same Germans and preparing for a decisive revolutionary assault. The steadfastness of the Bolsheviks was recognized by many army commanders, for example, the commander of the Northern Front, General Vladimir Cheremisov. He was so shocked by the fortress of the Bolsheviks that he even financed their newspaper Our Way. And he's not alone. Many other military leaders also funded the Bolshevik press. This, incidentally, to the question of where the Bolsheviks took the money from. And, of course, here one can and should recall the Battle of Moonsund, during which the Bolsheviks concentrated resistance to the Germans in their hands.
It is a completely different matter - the "assistants" of the Germans. They showed themselves very, very poorly. Their irretrievable losses amounted to 8.5 thousand people, of which 8 thousand were missing. In fact, it was about deserters and defectors. As a result, the Germans disbanded many of these units, leaving them for fortification work. When the allies landed on the Atlantic coast, many easterners fled, others surrendered, and others even rebelled, killing their superiors. And right before the curtain, they tried to use the “assistants” to form the Russian Liberation Army.
Lokot Republic: vain PR
The current fans of collaborationism have a special pride - the Lokotsky district, loudly called the republic. During the war, the Germans allowed the creation of an autonomous police formation on the territory of several districts of the Oryol and Kursk regions for reasons that will be discussed below. This education headed by Bronislav Kaminsky, leader of the so-called People's Socialist Party of Russia "Viking" (first burgomaster was Konstantin Voskoboynik who was killed by the partisans). Nothing to say, a good name for the Russian nationalist party! In its manifesto we read: “Our party is a national party. She remembers and appreciates best traditions Russian people. She knows that the Viking knights, relying on the Russian people, created the Russian state in hoary antiquity. It is very significant that these collaborators build the Russian state by non-Russian Vikings, who only rely on the Russian people! By the way, the newly-minted "Vikings" - the Nazis at first did not allow the creation of a party, the go-ahead was given only in 1943. Such is the "independence".
Now the Lokot self-government is regularly promoted, trying to present it as an alternative to communism and Stalinism. A lot of molasses is being poured out about what kind of economic prosperity the collaborators managed to achieve there after the abolition of the hated collective farm system. Say, the peasants had plenty of land and livestock with poultry. At the same time, it is completely incomprehensible what kind of prosperity can be discussed in the conditions of the most difficult war, when the vast majority of the adult male population is put under arms. Moreover, powerful requisitions were imposed on the local population: thousands of cattle were stolen for the needs German army- Liberators.
RONA field commanders
Kaminsky created the Russian Liberation People's Army (RONA), whose strength reached 20 thousand. She acted, however, not very effectively, although she was fierce in relation to the captured partisans and those who were suspected of complicity. Here, the administrative and legal talents of the Kaminians also manifested themselves, who compiled a special anti-partisan code of 150 articles, each of which was subject to the death penalty. They served quite productively as scouts, directing German punishers at the partisans. However, there were also enough defectors in the RONA: only in the winter of 1942-1943, thousands of Kaminians, who had previously destroyed German garrisons and warehouses, went over to the side of the partisans.
Kaminsky and his henchmen controlled only part of their autonomy, the population of which was 0.5 million people. “Looking at the map, it is easy to make sure that the territories around the railway lines Bryansk - Navlya - Lgov and Bryansk - Navlya - Khutor-Mikhailovsky were given under the control of Kaminsky,- writes the historian Alexander Dyukov. - It was in these areas that the so-called Southern Bryansk partisan region operated ... Thus, the territories de facto controlled by the partisans were transferred to Kaminsky ... In order to save "German blood", the command of the 2nd Panzer Army went to provide Bronislav Kaminsky"militarize" the area subordinate to him and fight the partisans, naturally, under German control" (Die Aktion Kaminsky. A crushed victory. Against lies and revisionism).
One of the Kamenites, Mikheev, honestly admitted: "Only 10% of the forest belonged to us." A general Bernhard Ramke stated: "The militants of engineer Kaminsky cannot repel major attacks on themselves." In fact, the Nazis set up some kind of experiment on the “Untermensch” subordinate to them, the main task which consisted in the protection of railway lines from partisans. The experiment failed miserably, which is why, by the way, the Germans did not do this anywhere else.
The end of Kaminsky turned out to be inglorious: the Germans shot him during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising.
Suicide Complex
In general, if the deserters desperately wanted to live, and the erring ones wanted to atone for their guilt, then the ideological anti-communists sought death with the persistence of suicides. And here it is appropriate to recall some more "heroes" of the anti-Bolshevik struggle. "Member, and then the head of the Russian Imperial Union-Order N. Sakhnovsky fought in the Belgian Walloon legion of SS troops under the command of a deeply believing Catholic Leon Degrel, writes the historian Vladimir Larionov. - Sakhnovsky's battalion received weapons only in Ukraine, and, breaking out of the encirclement, in the Korsun-Shevchenko operation of the Red Army, the battalion almost without exception died in a heroic hand-to-hand fight "(" Knights of Holy Russia ").
This is just some kind of extravaganza - "he died in hand-to-hand combat", but the weapon was not issued! It is clear why the Nazis assigned the role of serfs and cannon fodder to Russian "assistants". But how could the Russian people grab such a deadly bait? It is significant that fans of collaborationism glorify the Cossacks with might and main, who followed Peter Krasnov and were eventually handed over to Joseph Stalin by Western democracies. (For some reason, the very act of extradition is called betrayal, which is completely absurd, because the allies did not betray anyone. They were just fulfilling their allied obligations, extraditing to the USSR those who fought on the side of Germany, including against themselves.) it is known that many of these unfortunates committed suicide, fearing a "terrible reprisal."
These horrors are fairly exaggerated, the attitude towards collaborators was often very liberal. Here is an example: on October 31, 1944, the British authorities handed over to the Soviet allies 10,000 repatriates who served in the Wehrmacht. As soon as they arrived in Murmansk, they were announced forgiveness, as well as release from criminal liability. True, they had to pass the test, and the collaborators spent a year in a filtration camp, which is quite logical. After that, the vast majority were released, moreover, they accrued seniority.
The data of the archives have long been open, which expose the lie that supposedly all or most of the prisoners were imprisoned. Historian Victor Zemskov worked in the State Archives of the Russian Federation, studied the materials stored there. It turns out that by March 1, 1946, 2,427,906 repatriates were sent to their place of residence, 801,152 - to serve in Soviet army, 608 095 - enrolled in the worker battalions of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR. But 272,867 people (6.5%) were transferred to the disposal of the NKVD of the USSR. In fact, they were sitting.
The suicide of the Cossacks is a terrible end, which shows the depth of despair and doom of "Russian" collaborationism.
Thousands of fighters against Bolshevism did not represent any independent force, did not possess any subjectivity. First they went to fight for the Germans, then they rushed to seek the patronage of the Anglo-Americans, hoping for their help and intercession. But among the collaborators who adhere to the extreme right, there were enough people who perfectly understand what Western democracies are. They knew they were plutocracies trying to subdue Russia. The same Krasnov in the novel "From the Double-Headed Eagle to the Red Banner" put into the mouth of his hero Sablin the words that the main enemy is England. And now the people who just yesterday fought for the anti-democrat Adolf Hitler, with some kind of blind hope, rush into the arms of this very main enemy.
Pyotr Krasnov (third from left)
It may be objected that Krasnov and the Krasnovites used, albeit illusory, but still a chance for salvation. Yes, this is true, although it is significant that they themselves considered themselves completely dependent on some external, foreign forces. And this shows the inferiority of collaborationism, which was expressed in a terrible illness of the will. If these people were really sure that they were right, they would continue the fight, for example, entering into an alliance with the Serbian Chetniks Drazhi Mihajlovic.
In any case, you could make an attempt, because anything is better than taking your own life by committing the terrible sin of suicide. However, in reality it turned out that these people did not have any faith in themselves, there was only a blind hatred for Bolshevism, which was combined with a wild fear of it. And this hatred, mixed with fear, blinded and deafened the collaborators. They were not looking for the Truth, but for the Force, seeing it in the deadly Teutonic armadas. They stood under the banner of foreign invaders, which means political suicide. And then many of them - quite naturally - committed literal suicide.
Here are revealing lines from the diary of a certain Lydia Osipova, who passionately hated Bolshevism and wished for the arrival of the German liberators: “They are bombing, but we are not afraid. Bombs are liberation. And that's how everyone thinks and feels. Nobody is afraid of bombs... But when the Bolsheviks came, I decided to poison myself and poison Nikolai [husband. – A. E.] so that he doesn't know it." Reading all this is wild, here some absolutely terrible, infernal abysses open up. And again, there is suicidality. Lack of own strength, hatred and fear - all this threw ideological collaborators into a spinning funnel of suicide. They so merged with the alien Force that they dissolved in it and died with it together.
Disease of the will
Now we need to remember that collaborationism also existed in countries where there were no Bolsheviks in power. Very well written on this subject. Yuri Nersesov: “The population of the Third French Republic with colonies by the beginning of the war exceeded 110 million people ... At least 200 thousand French citizens got into the ranks of the German army. Another 500 thousand served in military units the collaborationist government of Marshal Pétain, who independently fought against the allies in Africa and the Middle East, and also joined the German formations, amounting, in particular, infantry regiment and an artillery battalion in the illustrious 90th Light motorized division Field Marshal's African Corps Rommel. Taking into account the police, Gestapo and fascist militants diligently catching partisans and underground fighters, it turns out about 1 million with 80 thousand dead.
The same picture will be in any other European country. From Poland, where, with 35 million pre-war population, only from the territories occupied by Germany, 500 thousand people joined the army and police, to Denmark, which, having capitulated to Germany almost without resistance, only in the SS troops on the Eastern Front lost about 2.5 thousand people.
So it turns out that the share of collaborators in European countries, where there was neither the Gulag nor the collective farms, much higher than the Soviet "(" The Myth of the Second Civil ").
There were, of course, ideological people there, like, say, a Belgian SS man Leon Degrel. In the winter of 1945, he led three battalions and three separate companies of Walloon volunteers to help the German cities. After the battles near Stargard, only 625 people survived. Or an SS volunteer Eugene Volo, the last of those who received the Iron Cross in the Reich Chancellery. Although these were a minority, and the majority of collaborators simply obeyed the Force, being bewitched by the power and ruthlessness of the German military-political machine. It's the same with the majority of "Russian" collaborators. True, the sickness of the will, forcing one to seek the Force (and not to be it), was also inherent in Hitler's ideological accomplices.
It must be said that in our country this disease of the will is fatally superimposed on our long-standing Westernism, inherent in the most different people, and even those who are very, very far from collaborationism. In the West they see the Force before which they bow. Not the Truth, but namely the Force, expressed in ruthless, all-destroying expansion and unrestrained accumulation of material resources. This Force kills and enslaves the will, turning a person into an object, a conductor of cosmic power. Ultimately, the subjects of the Force themselves become such objects. Let us remember that a plutocrat is also a slave of his capitals.
In 1941-1945, the majority of Russians fought on the side of Pravda, resisting the armadas German Force. And the minority bowed before the Force, which made him weak and doomed to defeat.
Alexander ELISEEV