I'm here at the Olšany Cemetery in Prague and right here you see a tombstone and a wooden cross
that commemorates the 187 soldiers of the ROA: the Russian Liberation Army, that Iie buried here...
but wait a minute, these were soldiers that fought on the side of the Nazis right? Well, not here in
Prague because here in Prague in the last days of World War II in Europe the Prague Uprising took
place where the Czech resistance fought against the Germans and the Czech resistance was supported
by the soldiers of the ROA led by Andrey Vlasov that switched sides at the last moment. Why did
they do this exactly and how did it all take place? That's what you're going to learn in this video
about how the soldiers of the ROA and the Czech resistance fought together against the Germans.
So why were Russians actually fighting for the Nazis? Well, I did make an elaborate video
on that so see the end screen for that. The first Russians that helped the Germans during Operation
Barbarossa served as Hiwis and later as Security Units; later more independent units were set up
the infamous SS “RONA” (Kaminsky Brigade) which was led by Bronislav Kaminsky and the most well-known is the
ROA: the Russian Liberation Army that was led by General Vlasov. Vlasov initially served in a Red
Army was captured in March 1942 at the Volkov Front, south of Leningrad. While being interned
he wrote a letter to the German leaders in which he proposed the idea of an anti-Bolshevik army: a
Russian Liberation Army. Vlasov had his reasons to join the enemy. “[H]e [Vlasov] was alienated from a
system that traded in lies and deceit, butchered its own people and threw thousands of soldiers
into battles for which they were poorly prepared.” Hitler was against it he did not want Slavic
people in his ranks but other German officers were more sympathetic to Vlasov's idea. In December 1942
Vkasiv issued the Smolensk declaration in which he urged the Soviet people to rise up against Stalin
he concluded the declaration as follows: “Arise and join in the struggle for freedom! Long may
peace with honour with Germany prevail!” Hitler was immovably against it because he believed
that having inferior races, the Slavs, in his ranks well it might undermine his plans for the east, but
nevertheless the ROA (the Russian Liberation Army) was born: in February already existing Hiwi and
Security Unit formations - consisting of Russians, Belarussians and Ukrainians - were transferred to
the ROA. In September 1944 Hitler accepted the Russian Committee; by now pragmatism had the
upper hand as the Germans were losing the war. In November 1944 Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler promoted
Vlasov to full general and gave him control of 45 000 Russian Axis troops. And Vlasov created the
Russian People's Liberation Committee (KONR). This happened in German-occupied Prague where he
issued the Prague Manifesto and the forces of the KONR were named the VS-KONR. Although
they still wore the ROA arms shield so I'll still refer to them as ROA soldiers. These
ROA (or KONR) troops saw action in the last month of World War II: some fought at Nuremberg
against the Americans; others they switched sides and joined the Czech resistance against
the Germans in Prague. By that time the Germans already started to mistrust the men of the ROA
and that had to do with what happened near the end of April. ROA General Sergei Bunyachenko was ordered
to march to Brno to fight against the advancing Red Army. His men were under equipped and he knew
casualties would be severe; so instead of advancing he decided to retreat. Eventually he was caught up
by General Schörner, the Nazi hardliner as well as with Vlasov and they had a short meeting. After the
meeting was over Vlasov spoke to Bunyachenko and he said that he basically understood why Bunyachenko
had not advanced towards Brno. And he ordered him to operate as he saw fit. Vlasov he feared that
the Germans might launch reprisals against his men; the Czech resistance was aware of this
and on the 2nd of May the men of the ROA were 50 kilometers Southwest of Brno; they were approached
by officers of the Czech resistance who asked them to join them in the uprising against the Germans
in Prague. At first Bunyachenko wasn't willing but anti-German sentiments were rife among his men.
“Bunyachenko excused himself and returned with Vlasov, who questioned the Czechs; then he asked
Bunyachenko and his regimental commanders, “[...] So, gentlemen? What are we going to do now?” There was
a long silence. Suddenly Bunyachenko bellowed, “I think we must help our Slavic brothers!” Turning
to the Czechs, Vlasov said, “We will support your uprising. Go ahead.”” And so the so-called Vlasovites
joined the Czech resistance and fought the Germans in Prague. There are different theories on why they
changed sides: some believe that it was due to the anti-German sentiments among the ROA men; others
believed they wanted to gain favor with the Allies and the Soviets as they saw that the side they
were on was losing the war. On the 5th of May they reached the outskirts of Prague in the following
day. They fought against the German troops in the city; also against SS troops that were called to
the city to put down the revolt. That evening there was a meeting between representatives from
the Czech resistance and some Americans and also a representative of the ROA was there.
The Americans they were very surprised that there was a soldier in a German uniform in their
midst. The Americans said they were not going to liberate Prague. Prague was for the Soviets to take.
But they asked the Czech resistance if they needed any assistance when the meeting was over. The Russian
KONR officer went back to his superiors, Bunyachenko and Vlasov, and he explained them that the
Americans were not coming... the Soviets were coming and they knew very well that it would not end up
well for them if they were caught by the Soviets. In other words remaining in the city would lead
to the capture by the Red Army. They had to get out of there. By that time around 300 ROA soldiers had
died fighting the Germans in Prague; by the evening of the 7th of May the ROA soldiers left Prague.
Although some soldiers kept fighting the Germans and left the evening of the eighth; they hoped
to reach American lines as soon as possible. They also learned that several KONR officers
were captured by the Czech resistance, handed over to the Soviets and shot! By the evening of the 9th
of May the First Division of the ROA ran into a tank detachments of the US Third Army. After some
negotiations they were disarmed by the Americans. This happened on the 11th of May; they were in the
Schlusselburg region which is southwest of Prague. The Americans did not permit them to
cross American lines. The Soviets were not far; the Soviets even sent some emissaries and wanted
to encourage the ROA men to come to their side. An agreement was made to cross the Soviet lines
at 12 am on May 12th. They knew very well which fate awaited them if they would go over to the
side of the Soviet but at least it bought them some time. When Bunyachenko he went to the American
Commander that was stationed in the Schlusselburg castle, which was the American HQ. The American
commander he understood the situation but he could not permit the Russians to go over to their side.
Also the Americans would soon evacuate the Czech region altogether. “This news was the death blow for
the division. The order was given for the men to dismiss and to fend for themselves.” An eestimated 10 000
KONR / ROA men fell in Soviet hands right away. Half of the First Division managed to reach
the American lines but many of them were captured by the Americans and handed over to the Soviets.
The Western Allies had made an agreement with Stalin at Yalta: former Soviet citizens needed to be
repatriated. “Neither the British nor the Americans had fully thought through the implications of this
agreement. Soviet authorities misled their allies, by insisting that their citizens had been forced into German ranks against their will. They should be separated from German prisoners,
treated well and not categorized as prisoners of war. […] The British and Americans guessed that Stalin wanted revenge on all those Soviet citizens,
around a million of them, who had served in Wehrmacht uniform, or had been forced through starvation to become Hiwis.”
Bunyachenko and Vlasov remained at a castle and they both fell in Soviet hands; there are different accounts on what exactly happened... what is clear is
that they made it out of the castle and wanted to reach American lines. They ran into a Soviet
column. According to Soviet accounts Vlasov was wrapped in a carpet on the bottom of the jeep.
He was brought to Moscow and not heard from again till the 2nd of August 1946. Then it
was announced he had been hanged together with 11 others on the orders of the Military Tribunal of
the Supreme Court of the USSR. Very little is known about his imprisonment and to what extent
he was tortured or not. There is one testimony of a Soviet officer that went to Vlasov to
ask him to recant and if he wouldn't do that he would be tortured to death to which Vlasov
seemed to have replied: 'I know that. And I am very frightened. But it would be even worse to have to
vilify myself. But our sufferings will not be in vain. In time the [Russian] people will remember
us with warmth.' To what extent Vlasov was tortured or not is unknown, I mean, he even
got a trial although he refused to recant and the forcibly repatriations it's a very tragic
aftermath of WW2, especially because it also applied for White émigrés:
people who fled Russia during the Russian Civil War and actually never had been Soviet citizens.
Although not all were repatriated. Then there was also General Patton who refused to comply and of
course a very small nation of Liechtenstein that became a safe haven of the First Russian National
Army, which was also a Russian collaborationist force. One of the most notorious cases was
the forcibly repatriation of 50 000 Cossacks among which 11 000 women children and elderly.