The Russian Liberation Army was a group of predominantly Russian forces that
fought under German command during World War II. The army was led by Andrey
Vlasov, a defected Red Army general, and members of the army are often referred
to as Vlasovtsy. In 1944, it became known as the Armed Forces of the
Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia.
The ROA was organized by former Red Army general Andrey Vlasov, who tried to
unite Russians opposed to communism and the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin with the
goal of fighting with Germany to liberate Russia. The volunteers were
mostly Soviet prisoners of war but also included White Russian émigrés. On 14
November 1944 it was officially renamed the Armed Forces of the Committee for
the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, with the KONR being formed as political
body for the army to be loyal to. On 28 January 1945, it was officially declared
that the Russian divisions no longer formed part of the German Army, but
would directly be under the command of KONR.
Origins Russian volunteers who enlisted into the
German Army wore the patch of the Russian Liberation Army, an army which
did not yet exist but was presented as a reality by Nazi propaganda. These
volunteers were not under any Russian command or control; they were
exclusively under German command carrying out various noncombat duties. A
number of them were employed at the Battle of Stalingrad, where it was
estimated that as much as one quarter of the 6th Army's strength were Soviet
citizens. Soon, several German commanders began forming small armed
units out of them for various tasks, including combat against Soviet
partisans, driving vehicles, carrying wounded, and delivering supplies.
Adolf Hitler allowed the idea of the Russian Liberation Army to circulate in
propaganda literature so long as no real formations of the sort were permitted.
As a result, some Red Army soldiers surrendered or defected in hopes of
joining an army that did not yet exist. Many Soviet prisoners of war volunteered
to serve under the German command just in order to get out from Nazi POW camps
which were notorious for starving Soviet prisoners to death.
Meanwhile, the newly captured Soviet general Andrei Andreevich Vlasov, along
with his German and Russian allies, was desperately lobbying the German high
command, hoping that a green light would be given for the formation of a real
armed force that would be exclusively under Russian control. They were able to
somewhat win over Alfred Rosenberg. Hitler's staff repeatedly rejected these
appeals with hostility, refusing to even consider them. Still, Vlasov and his
allies reasoned that Hitler would eventually come to realize the futility
of a war against the USSR with the hostility of the Russian people and
respond to Vlasov's demands. Irrespective of the political wrangling
over Vlasov and the status of the ROA, the reality by mid-1943 was several
hundred thousand ex-Soviet volunteers were serving in the German forces,
either as Hiwis or in Eastern volunteer units. These latter were generally
deployed in a security role in the rear areas of the armies and army groups in
the East, where they constituted a major part of the German capacity to counter
the activity of Soviet partisan forces, dating as far back as early 1942. The
Germans were, however, always concerned about their reliability, and with the
German setbacks in the summer of 1943 this situation took a turn for the
worse. On 12 September for example, 2nd Army had to withdraw Sturm-Btl. AOK 2 in
order to deal with what is described as “several mutinies and desertions of
Eastern units". A 14 September communication from the army states that
in the recent period, Hiwi absenteeism had risen strongly. Following a series
of mutinies attempted or successful and a surge in desertions, they decided in
September 1942 that the reliability of these units had fallen to levels where
they were more a liability than an asset. In an October 1943 report, 8th
Army concluded grimly: "All local volunteers are unreliable during enemy
contact. Principal reason of unreliability is the employment of these
volunteers in the East." Two days previously, army had recorded in the KTB
stern measures to be taken in the event of further cases of rebellion or
unreliability, investing in regimental commanders far-reaching powers to
perform summary courts and execute the verdicts.
Since it was considered that it would improve their reliability if they were
removed from contact with the local population, it was decided to send them
to the West, which the majority of them were in late 1943 and early 1944.
A large number of these battalions were hence integrated into the Divisions in
the West. A number of such soldiers were on guard in Normandy on D-Day, and
without the equipment or the motivation to fight the Allies, most promptly
surrendered. There were instances of bitter fighting to the very end,
triggered by mishandled propaganda from the Allies that accurately told of the
quick repatriation of soldiers back to the Soviet Union after they gave up.
A total of 71 "Eastern" battalions served on the Eastern Front, while 42
battalions served in Belgium, Finland, France, and Italy.
An aerial component from Russian volunteers was formed as
Ostfliegerstaffel in December 1943, only to be disbanded before seeing combat in
July 1944. The Russian airmen were regrouped into the Night Harassment
Squadron 8, whose first and only mission took place on 13 April 1945, when they
attacked a Soviet bridgehead at Erlenhof, on the Oder River.
Formation of ROA and the fight against Red Army
The ROA did not officially exist until autumn of 1944, after Heinrich Himmler
persuaded a very reluctant Hitler to permit the formation of 10 Russian
Liberation Army divisions. On 14 November in Prague, Vlasov read
aloud the Prague Manifesto before the newly created Committee for the
Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. This document stated the purposes of the
battle against Stalin, and spelled out 14 democratic points which the army was
fighting for. German insistence that the document carry anti-Semitic rhetoric was
successfully parried by Vlasov's committee; however, they were obliged to
include a statement criticising the Western Allies, labelling them
"plutocracies" that were "allies of Stalin in his conquest of Europe".
By February 1945, only one division, the 1st Infantry was fully formed, under the
command of General Sergei Bunyachenko. Formed at Münsingen, it fought briefly
on the Oder Front before switching sides and helping the Czechs liberate Prague.
A second division, the 2nd Infantry, was incomplete when it left Lager Heuberg
but was put into action under the command of General Mikhail Meandrov.
This division was joined in large numbers by eastern workers which caused
it to nearly double in size as it headed on its march south. A third, the 3rd
Infantry, only began formation. Several other Russian units, such as the
Russian Corps, XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps of General Helmuth von Pannwitz,
the Cossack Camp of Ataman Domanov, and other primarily White émigré formations
had agreed to become a part of Vlasov's army. However, their membership remained
de jure as the turn of events did not permit Vlasov to use these men in any
operation. A small group of ROA volunteers fought
against the Red Army on 9 February 1945. Their fighting vigor gained them the
praise of Heinrich Himmler. The only active combat the Russian Liberation
Army undertook against the Red Army was by the Oder on 11 April 1945, done
largely at the insistence of Himmler as a test of the army's reliability. After
three days, the outnumbered 1st Division had to retreat.
On 28 January 1945, it was officially declared that the Russian divisions no
longer formed part of the German Army, but would directly be under the command
of KONR. Vlasov then ordered the first division
to march south to concentrate all Russian anticommunist forces loyal to
him. As the army, he reasoned, they could all surrender to the Allies on
"favorable" terms. Vlasov sent several secret delegations to begin negotiating
a surrender to the Allies, hoping they would sympathise with the goals of ROA
and potentially use it in an inevitable future war with the USSR.
Fight against the Germans and capture by the Soviets
During the march south, the first division of the ROA came to the help of
the Czech insurgents to support the Prague uprising which started on May 5,
1945, against the German occupation. Vlasov was initially reluctant, but
ultimately did not resist General Bunyachenko's decision to fight against
the Germans. The first division engaged in battle
with Waffen-SS units that had been sent to level the city. The ROA units armed
with heavy weaponry fended off the relentless SS assault, and together with
the Czech insurgents succeeded in preserving most of Prague from
destruction. Due to the predominance of communists in the new Czech Rada, the
first division had to leave the city the very next day and tried to surrender to
US Third Army of General Patton. The Allies, however, had little interest in
aiding or sheltering the ROA, fearing such aid would severely harm relations
with the USSR. Soon after the failed attempt to surrender to the Americans,
Vlasov and many of his men were caught by the Soviets.
Some soldiers were initially taken into allied custody then forcefully
extradited to the Soviets by the Allies. However, some allied officers who were
sympathetic to the ROA soldiers permitted them to escape in small groups
into the American controlled zones. The Soviet government labelled all ROA
soldiers as traitors. The ROA soldiers who were repatriated were tried and
sentenced to detention in prison camps. Vlasov and several other leaders of the
ROA were tried and hanged in Moscow on August 1, 1946.
Order of battle The composition of the VS-KONR was as
follows: Air elements
I. Ostfliegerstaffel II. Störkampfstaffel 8
KONR Air Force Two former Soviet Air Force ace pilots,
Semyon Trofimovich Bychkov and Bronislav Romanovich Antilevsky, defected and
became part of the ROA air forces. The air force was later disbanded in the
July of 1944. The air force was commanded by Major General Viktor
Maltsev. See also
Ukrainian Liberation Army Ukrainian National Army
Ostlegionen Russian Liberation Movement
Kaminski Brigade Lokot Republic
Operation Keelhaul Russian Corps
Russian All National Popular State Movement
Collaboration during World War II Russian Monument
Victims of Yalta, a 1977 book by Nikolai Tolstoy detailing the forced
repatriation of Soviet people after WWII Repatriation of Cossacks after World War
II Wehrmacht foreign volunteers and
conscripts References
Sources The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956 by
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn Army of the Damned: on Twentieth Century
- CBS Documentary Documentary Series - December 1962
External links Articles
It's Too Early To Forgive Vlasov, The St. Petersburg Times, November 6, 2001
Other Russian Liberation Army information page
by veteran Alexander Dubov Russian Volunteers in the German
Wehrmacht in World War II by Lt. Gen Wladyslaw Anders and Antonio Munoz
Russian Liberation Army, rare footage