Each state has its own symbols that carry some meaning. The flag, along with other signs, symbolizes the independence of the state and people.
Official history says that until the seventeenth century there was no state flag in the Russian Empire. In all countries that had a fleet, ships had to sail with their country's flag raised. And when it appeared, it was necessary to raise the flag, as in other countries. That’s when they came up with the tricolor, which some now call the “Vlasov flag.” Warships sailed under it for thirty years. But after the adoption of a decree that military ships fly a different flag - St. Andrew's, the tricolor began to be used only by civilian ships.
In the nineteenth century, it was proposed to select the colors of the Russian flag in accordance with the coat of arms. After imperial approval for several decades, the black-yellow-white flag became the state flag. But without receiving public approval, it was changed to a white-blue-red tricolor. And the former flag has since become the flag of the Romanov dynasty.
Flag of the Russian Federation
After the breakup Soviet Union became the tricolor, the same as it was during the Russian Empire. At the end of the year 2000, a law on the national flag was adopted, defining the rules for its use and legal status.
On the Internet you can find this name for the Russian state flag. This is how it began to be called in connection with the events during the Great Patriotic War.
After the overthrow of the monarchical system, the tricolor was replaced by the red flag of the RSFSR, and later by the USSR. The flag of the Vlasov army appeared when individual traitorous formations, who decided to unite with Hitler’s army in order to fight the Soviet regime, united into the so-called ROA, the Russian liberation army. It was headed by A. Vlasov, a man who enjoyed the confidence of the Kremlin. However, after being captured, after some time he decided to start fighting the Soviet regime, becoming a traitor to his homeland.
Flag of traitors
A huge number of Russian people lived in inhumane conditions, slowly dying. The fascists offered them an alternative to these conditions - joining the ROA, and some people, unable to endure it any longer, went over to the side of the enemy. They were called Vlasovites.
By joining the flag of the Vlasov army, people not only avoided starvation. Among them were many officers who believed in the idea that, thanks to the fascist army, they would be able to overthrow the Bolshevik system.
However, this idea turned out to be not exactly the one they were after, because the methods of fighting the Stalinist regime turned, in fact, into a betrayal of their Motherland. Therefore, the plans could not be implemented, since the initial betrayal made the “rainbow” ideas flawed. This is why the Russian flag (Vlasov) is sometimes associated with betrayal.
Vlasov wanted to take advantage of the fascists, and the fascists took advantage of him. When they needed it, they gave him freedom to form their so-called army. However, when he entered into polemics with the Germans and disagreed with them in some way, his ROA ceased to receive support for further agitation, and the fascists directed the army solely for their own purposes.
Vlasov was transferred to the Soviet Union on May 5, 1945 by the Americans. And fifteen months later he was executed for
What should the flag of the Russian Federation be like?
Some Russians, citing the “bad past” of the white-blue-red tricolor, are in favor of replacing the Russian flag with the flag of the Romanov dynasty, considering it “more Russian” than the Vlasov flag. Photo of the Russian flag:
Initially, the colors of the flag, as far as is now known, did not mean anything specific. But later they found meaning for the Russian people.
This is what these stripes meant:
- white - freedom and independence;
- blue is the color of the Mother of God;
- red - sovereignty.
Today the flag is described as follows:
- white - peace, purity, perfection;
- blue - loyalty and faith;
- red - strength, energy, blood shed for the Motherland.
So, is it worth calling the symbol of Russia the Vlasov flag because of the small number of people who got confused during the Great Patriotic War and became traitors? After all, the tricolor has been used in Russia for several centuries.
Stop disturbing the people with all sorts of vile inventions and slander! Nowadays, the myth about the flag of the Russian Federation as “Vlasov” is actively being introduced into consciousness, and therefore “unworthy” to be the official flag of our country. We can only counteract emotions with facts. And for this purpose, let's look at the history Part I. Flags of collaborators. The use of the national flag by various collaborators is quite common. For example, the Vichy government used the national flag of France. Nevertheless, de Gaulle did not even think about replacing it with any other, citing the fact that it was being used by collaborators. Example: 33rd SS Grenadier Division "Charlemagne" (1st French). It used a chevron with the French tricolor applied to it. Or "Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism." His fighters subsequently formed the basis of the Charlemagne division.
1 - National flag of the Republic of France (has been such since the time of the French Revolution). 2 - 3 - models of the “Legion...” banner. 4 - coat of arms of the collaborationist Vichy government.
1 - Legion fighters. 2 - USSR, November 1941. Legionnaires with their banner. Interesting facts: The 638th Infantry Regiment (the official name of the "Legion" in the Wehrmacht) was the only foreign unit in the Wehrmacht that attacked Moscow in 1941. In addition to the French themselves, several dozen White emigrants, subjects of the former Russian Empire(Great and Little Russians, Georgians). In addition to them, the regiment also included Arabs from the French colonies, a number of blacks and Bretons. Most of the Russian emigrants and blacks were demobilized during the reorganization of the legion in March 1942 (c) What was the situation among those French who remained loyal to their country and fought against the Nazi occupiers? Example - Fighting France, the patriotic movement of the French for the national independence of their country.
1 - Flag of the Free French Forces, flag of "Free France" (another version of the name "Fighting France"). 2 - Guys of the Free Naval Forces. In the center is the Cross of Lorraine, one of the national symbols of France. The most famous unit of the Free French is, of course, the Normandie-Niemen air regiment.
Banner of the Normandie-Niemen regiment. Many years have passed since then, but the state flag of the French Republic is STILL THE SAME! The same flag that the collaborators had, the same flag that the patriots of France had. Is someone in France today demanding that it be removed as a flag of collaborators? Nobody! Today all the political forces of the republic are fighting under the flag of France - both the Gaullists and " National Front", and socialists. The same is with the flags of other countries that had their own collaborators - Belgium, the Netherlands, Serbia, Norway and so on. Moreover, I want to note that the collaborators also used old symbols, dating back to royal times, but how - not enough.
Symbols of the 33rd Waffen SS Division "Charlemagne". The unit was officially founded on September 1, 1944 in Bavaria. A unit called Brigade Jeanne d'Arc also joined its composition. The Maid of Orleans, a symbol of France and its struggle for freedom! In France, is anyone demanding that we stop mentioning Jeanne’s name as “stained by traitors”? I've never heard anything like this. The name of the division "Charlemagne" ("Charlemagne") was given in memory of the emperor who united Europe in the distant past, whose grave is in Aachen. The personality of the emperor became a symbol of the new German-French alliance. The division's badge, which was never used in combat, was a new coat of arms, copied from the clothes of Charlemagne - a two-part shield, divided vertically. On the left field there is half a German eagle (Reichsadler) - white on a gold field, on the right - 3 French traditional lilies, on a blue field. Instead of this sign, a chevron with the French tricolor (Flag of France) was applied to it, and the sign with the coat of arms was never put into use (c) Lilies - a symbol of the French monarchy. They are called "fleur-de-lis" and during the "Old Order" they were on the white royal banner. By the way, this White color combined with the colors of the city of Paris (red and blue) and became the basis of the flag of France. French monarchical symbols are not prohibited in modern France. Part II. Which flag was actually the ROA flag? Indeed, some Russian anti-Bolshevik formations created during the Second World War used the tricolor flag, in particular the Russian Security Corps and the 1st RNA of General Smyslovsky. However, these formations were formed mainly from Russian emigrants and had nothing to do with Vlasov. The flag of the ROA itself was a white flag with an oblique azure cross, best known as St. Andrew's. The ROA sleeve chevron was also an Andreev shield with a red edging. Photographs of the famous Prague meeting of the KONR on November 14, 1944 clearly show that the stage is decorated with two huge banners: the fascist flag with a swastika and the St. Andrew's flag. The only documented use of the tricolor flag by the Vlasovites was the parade of the 1st Guards Brigade of the ROA in Pskov on June 22, 1943. However, in the future, the Germans did not allow such amateur activities. (c) S. Drobyazko. Russian Liberation Army. M., AST, 1999 "Motherland", 1992, N 8-9, p. 84-90. http://www.conservator.ru/mif/...Now Let's move on to viewing the illustrative material. Let's start with the Russland division.
One of the variants of the sleeve insignia of the “Special Division R”, 1943. The commander of this unit, Smyslovsky, had a serious conflict with Vlasov, who spoke harshly about her. Vlasov was categorically against using the tricolor as the “flag of the White Guards.” He did not like that Holmston was supported by the heir to the Russian throne, Grand Duke. Vladimir Kirillovich (however, we will not argue about the rights of this gentleman to the Russian throne; this is a topic for a separate story, interesting only to monarchists). Vlasov was categorically against the monarchy and everything that had a connection with the White Guards, he hated them very much: in 1920 he himself fought against Wrangel. Vlasov was, whatever one may say, Soviet man, from the peasants, completely alien to the White emigrants (which, however, makes his betrayal doubly criminal and does not justify it at all). Therefore, the ROA and other Russian collaborator units (which were formed from emigrants) were not allies and friends, they did not fight together. In addition, the White Guards themselves hated Vlasov: he fought against them in civilian life, he was a former Red general, a Bolshevik, a communist (since 1930), a traitor-defector, and so on. Now on the symbolism of the ROA.
1 - sleeve chevron of ROA fighters.2 - St. Andrew's flag.3 - Breastplate of the first officer school of the ROA4 - Grave of 187 nameless ROA fighters and ROA generals Boyarsky and Shapovalov, executed by Czech partisans, in Prague.5 - ROA fighters - Vlasovites. Filming location: Northern France. 1944. St. Andrew's flag is everywhere. And this was at a ceremonial meeting held in Prague, where the Vlasov Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR) was created. This was in 1944. The so-called "Prague Manifesto" by Vlasov.
And here Andreevsky is everywhere. Although the use of the white-blue-red flag by the Vlasovites is also known. For example, at the parade of the 1st Guards Brigade of the ROA in Pskov on June 22, 1943. But this was rather an exception to the rule. To confirm the above, we present photographs of the parade in Pskov and the raising of the white-blue-red flag during the formation of the ROA in Müsingen (1945). (c) Let's look at the photos from the parade. .
Do you see the man carrying the tricolor? In a white uniform, with a short mustache. This man is a white emigrant and collaborator G.P. Lamsdorf, who, it should be noted, did not serve in either the Russian Imperial or the white armies, but this does not change the essence of the matter - the use of the tricolor was isolated and came as an initiative from the white emigration.
“In 1943, by the way, it was Lamsdorf who voluntarily went with the tricolor to the parade of the ROA Guards Brigade (in which there was no Vlasov yet), which caused the extreme anger of the Germans. The brigade, by the way, partially went over to the partisans, and partially fled.” (Author of the quote - drakonit) This only confirms my guess that the use of the tricolor was unauthorized, an isolated incident and had nothing to do with Vlasov and the Vlasovites.
So, we have before us Vlasovites, every single one of them with chevrons with the St. Andrew’s flag, and the white emigrant Lamsdorf, for whom the tricolor was native. It was the flag of the monarchists, the flag of the Russian Empire. Therefore, he used this flag on the initiative of himself and a number of officers who served in both the Russian Imperial and White armies. Part III. Myth-making. There are known scandalous “paintings” by the “artist” N.M. Terekhov, who obviously has some kind of personal dislike for our national flag. Obviously, he is unpleasant that this flag was replaced by the red banner in 1991. The dislike is understandable, but why do this? Admire his "creativity".
This is nothing more than manipulation of consciousness and distortion of objective reality. The author of these “pictures” is trying to change consciousness and introduce into it the stupidest myth that the tricolor is the “flag of the enemy”, that the Vlasovites only used it. Obviously, the author has problems that zombify other people and there are those who quite seriously consider the flag to be “Vlasov”. Although, as we see, this is not true. Let's see what people say about this: Is it worth responding to demagogy of this level? Joan of Arc was one of the most important symbols of the Vichy regime (for fighting against the British). So, is that why she stopped being a national heroine of France? (c) The Russian flag existed before the ROA, and it is not his fault that it was used (c) The Russian tricolor was used by every nit. So what now? Should the government pay attention to this mold? The Russian flag has long been a tricolor. And the leeches that once sat down have long since died and fallen off. (c) Memoirs of a Russian German, an officer in the service of the Wehrmacht, assigned to A.A. Vlasov V. Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt “Against Stalin and Hitler”, published in 1993 - it is difficult to find a more valuable source. We read: “Rosenberg (Alfred Rosenberg, one of the main war criminals of Nazi Germany, engaged in propaganda. - M. Ch.) was interested in the issue of the flag (for the Vlasovites. - M. Ch.). The Romanov flag with an eagle and the white-blue-red colors were, of course, rejected by him (since no one had ever ruling elite Nazi Germany did not think about recreating the Russian Empire! - M.Ch.). On the contrary, Rosenberg liked the blue St. Andrew’s cross on a white background, designed as a small shield on a red banner.” Or: “The historical Russian national colors – white-blue-red – were banned.” Over the Dobendorf camp, in which the formation of the Vlasov formations took place, “...next to the German flag... a blue St. Andrew’s cross fluttered on a white cloth.” Against this background, the lines of one brochure (published right at Moscow State University!) will seem somewhat strange, where the author writes very vaguely, perhaps even timidly, about the existence of the ROA’s own banner: “The entire Russian emigration continued to consider the white-blue-red flag a national shrine . (...) St. Andrew’s flag finally became just as national. Perhaps General A.A. borrowed his symbols from the white emigration. Vlasov, creating the ROA - Russian Liberation Army." And the reader is perplexed: what kind of symbolism did Vlasov use? White-blue-red flag or St. Andrew's flag? Or both at the same time? Not a single photograph has preserved for us the image of the Vlasovites under the “besik”, and on the contrary, the sleeve insignia was a heraldic Spanish shield with a red border and the St. Andrew’s flag in it. These are the vicissitudes of the historical destinies of the slandered white-blue-red and the “real Vlasov” St. Andrew’s flag... Probably, few people know that they wanted to revive the white-blue-red colors even in... the USSR! From 1949 to 1953, in connection with the return to many historical symbols (epaulets, ranks, ministries), most republics introduced national colors into their flags. On January 9, 1954, the flag of the RSFSR was approved - one of its projects included white-blue-red colors in the lower third of the flag, but at the last moment the project was rejected, probably because the idea was too bold. Therefore, we limited ourselves to introducing a narrow vertical blue stripe near the shaft. But the symbolism they use is not to blame for the fact that dirty hands took it for dirty purposes. Just like the French tricolor is not to blame for the fact that it was used by traitors. The French punished their traitors, but there was not even a thought about the flag, replacing it, abolishing it, or doing anything else. Thus, we can say that the Russian Flag in no way can be considered “Vlasov” and criminal, especially since, contrary to someone’s sick imagination, obviously formed under the impression of Terekhov’s “painting” (see link), the tricolor they were not thrown to the Mausoleum. Well, that wasn’t the case, it wasn’t. All the banners thrown then were taken into account and counted. all of them are in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces. You can see them all there. The enemy banners and standards thrown onto the platform at the Mausoleum were collected by captured SMERSH teams in May 1945. All of them were of an outdated 1935 model, taken from regimental storage areas and training camps (new ones were not made until the end of the war; the Germans never went to the battle under the banners). The dismantled Leibstandarte LSSAH is also an old model - 1935 (the panel from it is stored separately in the FSB archive). In addition, among the banners there are almost two dozen Kaiser banners, mostly cavalry ones, as well as party flags, Hitler Youth, Labor Front, etc. All of them are now stored in the Central Military Museum. (c) There is NO tricolor among these flags. And it never was. It’s time to get rid of myths and throw out of our heads this stupid myth about the “Vlasov flag”, which is already quite boring and is being spread only by those who don’t like it and nothing more. The Russian flag is dear to me, I grew up under this flag, it means a lot to me. My flag, the Russian flag for me is the tricolor.
The link contains a bunch of lulz and tons of crap for 1.5 thousand comments - not without my participation.
As befits the propagandists-guardians of the so-called. letter so-called bloggers are filled with blatant lies, distortions and substitution of concepts - which is not surprising for the guardian propagandists standing guard over their liberal mistresses. What housewives are like that are mongrels - arrogant, lying, stupid scum. And their ribbon is “St. George’s”, and not the Guards’, as it is written in black and white in its Statute. And the tricolor was not used by Vlasov and other paramilitary units of collaborators (like Hitler banned!), and other lies designed for weak-minded, illiterate idiots. It’s like it’s the 90s now and you can just as brazenly and uncontrollably shit in people’s brains. But at least piss in their eyes, bishop. Although many of the signatories and participants in the mega-fight are, in some places, quite sane and patriotic citizens. But only with brains crap from 25 years of propaganda. And there is practically no difference from zombie dill.
Let's figure it out. To begin with, about the tricolor. I already wrote about the ribbon and the rest - links at the end of the article.
KONR brochure, 1944, - the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia - a political body created with the participation of the authorities of Nazi Germany to overthrow the existing political system in the USSR and united the Russians and a number of national organizations operating in territories controlled by Nazi Germany.
IN Lately, in view of the extremely negative attitude of Russian society towards the so-called Vlasov army, ideological movements began to separate it from its flag - the state flag of the Russian Federation, known as white-blue-red. Russian Liberation Army, ROA - the historical name of the armed forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR), who fought on the side of the Third Reich against the USSR, as well as the totality of the majority of Russian anti-Soviet units and units from Russian collaborators within the Wehrmacht in 1943-1944, formed various German military structures (the headquarters of the SS Troops, etc.) during the Great Patriotic War, led by the famous traitor General A.A. Vlasov. As a flag, she used a flag with the St. Andrew's Cross, as well as the Russian tricolor, which is documented in the footage of the parade of the 1st Guards Brigade of the ROA in Pskov on June 22, 1943 and in the photo chronicle of the formation of the Vlasovites in Munsingen.
The use of the Russian tricolor in ROA units is confirmed by one of their marching songs - the so-called “March of the Russian Liberation Army”:
We are walking, with a tricolor flag above us.
We walk through our native fields.
Our motive is carried by the winds
And they are carried to the Moscow domes.
http://www.roa.ru/musik.html
And so, when everything had long been established precisely, absurd statements like these suddenly began to appear: It is a reliably known fact that when forming such units, the Germans banned the use of the white-blue-red three-stripe flag, clearly fearing Russian national symbols. This data can be gleaned from the memoirs of V. Shtrik-Strikfeldt “Against Stalin and Hitler,” a Russian German seconded to A.A. Vlasov: “Gradually, all the so-called “national military units” in the German army received badges with the national colors of their peoples . Only the largest people - the Russians - were denied this. This issue urgently required a solution. But even here difficulties arose. Historical Russian national colors - white-blue-red - were banned." (Russian flags during the Second World War)
To improve visibility, the flag is artificially colored.
Along with this data, the German writer Sven Steenberg argued that the flag of the ROA was Andreevsky. The ROA sleeve chevron was an Andreev shield with a red edging. Photographs of the famous Prague meeting of the KONR on November 14, 1944 clearly show that the stage is decorated with two huge banners: the Nazi flag with a swastika and the St. Andrew's flag. There is an opinion that the ROA flag was also a white-blue-red flag, but it was banned by the Germans. To development ROA symbols Russian artist A. N. Rodzevich was involved. He made nine sketches, all of which were dominated by the colors of the old Russian flag - white, blue and red. The sketches were submitted to the Imperial Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories for approval. Rosenberg personally crossed out all nine, after which the sketches came back, prompting a bitter remark from Vlasov: “I would have left it that way - the Russian flag, crossed out by the Germans out of fear of it.” Then Malyshkin suggested using the St. Andrew's Cross, and the sketch, which ultimately received Rosenberg's approval, was a blue St. Andrew's Cross on a white field. In the footage of the parade of the 1st Guards Brigade of the ROA in Pskov on June 22, 1943, there is a white-blue-red flag. But there the white-blue-red flag was used as a symbol of the Russian people, Russia and the White Army. (Steenberg S. General Vlasov. - M.: Eksmo, 2005)
So, the Germans banned the tricolor because they didn’t like it, these scribblers claim. But besides the ROA, Hitler also had other units of Soviet traitors.
The Russian National People's Army (RNNA) (Sonderverband “Graukopf” (“Special Unit “Gray Head”)) is an armed paramilitary formation formed in the occupied territory of the USSR and took part in the Second World War on the side of the Third Reich.
Lieutenant V.A. Ressler, Colonel K.G. Kromiadi and senior doctor Razumovsky. Osintorf, 1942. Ressler and Kromiadi are dressed in Soviet uniforms with RNNA shoulder straps and tricolor cockades.
“For the cockade of the headdress, the colors of the Russian national flag were taken - white, blue and red. Due to the lack of suitable material, they were made from cloth and cardboard. Of course, our flag was white, blue and red,” he writes in his book “For the Land, for Freedom!” Colonel of the White Army K. G. Kromiadi.
“Green Army of Special Purpose” - 1st Russian National Army - Division “Russland” - a military formation that operated as part of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War under the leadership of B. A. Smyslovsky (an Abwehr officer operating under the pseudonym Arthur Holmston) - went into battle wearing the tricolor.
Sleeve insignia of the “Special Division of General Smyslovsky”, 1943
Why did the fascists, who allegedly did not like the tricolor so much that they allegedly banned Vlasov from using it, allowed the tricolor to everyone who liked it? Where is the logic? Why was a white-blue-red flag used at the KONR meeting in Riga in 1944?
Why was the blue and red cockade worn on the right sleeve the distinctive badge of the KONR Armed Forces? The answer is obvious - no one in Hitler's army The tricolor was not prohibited, the ROA simply used two flags to expand the range of attracting volunteers. Today's Vlasovites select chronicle footage where only one of the hung flags is captured by the camera lens, and present them as proof of the “innocence” of their symbol, saying that the participants in the events have already died, there are no ROA museums - go figure. (For the main collaborator of the Kremlin junta, Gena Zyuganov, the tricolor has long ceased to be a Vlasov skirt; now he calls it “the desecrated Vlasov.”) Modern Vlasovites themselves admit their lies when, between statements about the Nazis banning the tricolor, they insert phrases like, “But there is white and blue -The red flag was used as a symbol of the Russian people, Russia and the White Army." Like, yes, they banned it, but they used it, but not as Vlasovites, but as the Russian people.
And although the order of the Main Staff of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces (OKH) 500/43 on the introduction of the uniform and insignia of the Russian Liberation Army for the “Vlasovites” prescribed stripes and a flag in the form of St. Andrew’s oblique cross (another Russian symbol defaced by betrayal), Himmler allowed Vlasov use the "state" white-blue-red flag.
On February 16, 1945, the white-blue-red tricolor was solemnly raised over the military training ground and barracks in Munsingen, where the 1st and 2nd divisions of the ROA were formed (according to German numbering - 600th and 650th). On this day, Vlasov, like Yeltsin later, declared this flag to be the flag of “free Russia.”
But even if the tricolor really was not the official flag of the ROA, its widespread use by other units of traitors who fought with Hitler against their people still makes it the flag of traitors, traitors, and scum. And it doesn’t matter that these traitors practically did not take part in the fighting at the front, as the current liberal traitors are trying to justify. The important thing is that they betrayed the Oath. And moreover, they swore allegiance to the enemies - the Third Reich and Hitler personally. And they definitely took part in punitive actions against their own people.
It is worth recalling that for the first time in the occupied territory of the USSR, the red-blue-white flag was raised in November 1941 in the so-called. "Lokot Republic". It was from these traitors that the first punitive detachments and RONA were formed to suppress the local population. They were later reorganized into the 129th SS Brigade and sent to Belarus to fight partisans and suppress the Warsaw Uprising. There will be a separate article about that. The RONA emblem is the same tricolor:
When the Nazi occupiers occupied another city, the first thing they did was catch and hang all the communists, and the second thing was to open the Orthodox Church. From here you can see who was Hitler’s enemy and who was his friend. In Hitler's army there was not and could not be a red banner with a sickle, a hammer, and a star, but any traitor carried the state flag of the Russian Federation in it. And here we see under which symbol people were supporters of Hitler, and under which opponents. The 70th anniversary is approaching" great victory", which the Kremlin Vlasovites stole from the Soviet people, so it’s not superfluous to remember this so that there are no illusions that they have stopped hanging Vlasovites...
About the Russian tricolor, history - why it has never been the official state flag of Russia.
Now it’s no secret that the war of 1941 - 1945 had elements of the Second Civil War, since about 2 million people fought against Bolshevism, which illegally seized power in 1917, 1.2 million citizens of the USSR and 0.8 million white emigrants. The SS had a total of 40 divisions, 10 of which were composed of citizens of the Russian Empire (14th Ukrainian, 15th and 19th Latvian, 20th Estonian, 29th Russian, 30th Belorussian, two Cossack SS divisions , North Caucasus, SS brigades Varyag, Desna, Nachtigal, Druzhina, etc. There was also the RNA of General Smyslovsky, the Russian Corps of General Skorodumov, the Cossack Stan of Domanov, the ROA of General Vlasov, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the Eastern divisions of the Wehrmacht, police, Hiwi There were many of our compatriots directly in German units, and not just in national formations.
Today I would like to talk about ROA( Russian Liberation Army) General Vlasov.
P.S. The article does not justify the ROA and does not accuse them of anything. The article was solely made for historical reference. Everyone decides for themselves whether they were heroes or traitors, but this is part of our history and I think everyone has the right to know about this history.
Russian Liberation Army , ROA - military units that fought on the side of Adolf Hitler against the USSR, formed by the German headquarters of the SS Troops during the Great Patriotic War from Russian collaborators.
The army was formed mainly from Soviet prisoners of war, as well as from among Russian emigrants. Unofficially, its members were called “Vlasovites,” after their leader, Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov.
Story:
The ROA was formed primarily from Soviet prisoners of war who were captured by the Germans mainly at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, during the retreat of the Red Army. The creators of the ROA declared it as a military formation created for “ liberation of Russia from communism "(December 27, 1942). Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov, who was captured in 1942, together with General Boyarsky, proposed in a letter to the German command to organize the ROA. General Fyodor Trukhin was appointed chief of staff, General Vladimir Baersky (Boyarsky) was his deputy, Colonel Andrei Neryanin was appointed head of the operational department of the headquarters. The leaders of the ROA also included generals Vasily Malyshkin, Dmitry Zakutny, Ivan Blagoveshchensky, and former brigade commissar Georgy Zhilenkov. The rank of ROA general was held by former Red Army major and Wehrmacht colonel Ivan Kononov. Some priests from the Russian emigration served in the marching churches of the ROA, including priests Alexander Kiselev and Dmitry Konstantinov.
Among the leadership of the ROA were former generals of the Russian Civil War from the White Movement: V. I. Angeleev, V. F. Belogortsev, S. K. Borodin, Colonels K. G. Kromiadi, N. A. Shokoli, Lieutenant Colonel A. D. Arkhipov, as well as M. V. Tomashevsky, Yu. K. Meyer, V. Melnikov, Skarzhinsky, Golub and others, as well as Colonel I.K. Sakharov (formerly a lieutenant in the Spanish army under General F. Franco). Support was also provided by: generals A. P. Arkhangelsky, A. A. von Lampe, A. M. Dragomirov, P. N. Krasnov, N. N. Golovin, F. F. Abramov, E. I. Balabin, I. A. Polyakov, V.V. Kreiter, Don and Kuban atamans, generals G.V. Tatarkin and V.G. Naumenko.
Captain V.K. Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt, who served in the German army, did a lot to create the collaborator ROA.
The army was financed entirely by the German state bank.
However, there was antagonism between former Soviet prisoners and white emigrants, and the latter were gradually ousted from the leadership of the ROA. Most of them served in other Russian volunteer formations not associated with the ROA (only a few days before the end of the war, formally attached to the ROA) - the Russian Corps, the brigade of General A.V. Turkul in Austria, the 1st Russian National Army, the regiment " Varyag" by Colonel M.A. Semenov, a separate regiment of Colonel Krzhizhanovsky, as well as in Cossack formations (15th Cossack Cavalry Corps and Cossack Stan).
On January 28, 1945, the ROA received the status of the armed forces of an allied power, maintaining neutrality towards the United States and Great Britain. On May 12, 1945, an order was signed to dissolve the ROA.
After the victory of the USSR and the occupation of Germany, the majority of ROA members were transferred Soviet authorities. Some of the “Vlasovites” managed to escape and get asylum in Western countries and avoid punishment.
Compound:
At the end of April 1945, A. A. Vlasov had the following armed forces under his command:
1st Division of Major General S.K. Bunyachenko (22,000 people)
2nd Division of Major General G. A. Zverev (13,000 people)
3rd Division of Major General M. M. Shapovalov (unarmed, there was only a headquarters and 10,000 volunteers)
the reserve brigade of Lieutenant Colonel (later Colonel) S. T. Koida (7000 people) is the only commander of a large formation not extradited by the US occupation authorities to the Soviet side.
Air Force General V.I. Maltsev (5000 people)
VET division
officer school of General M. A. Meandrov.
auxiliary parts,
Russian Corps of Major General B. A. Shteifon (4500 people). General Steifon died suddenly on April 30th. The corps that surrendered to Soviet troops was led by Colonel Rogozhkin.
Cossack Camp of Major General T. I. Domanov (8000 people)
group of Major General A.V. Turkul (5200 people)
15th Cossack Cavalry Corps under Lieutenant General H. von Pannwitz (more than 40,000 people)
Cossack reserve regiment of General A. G. Shkuro (more than 10,000 people)
and several small formations of less than 1000 people;
security and punitive legions, battalions, companies; Russian Liberation Army of Vlasov; Russian security corps of Shteifon; 15th Cossack Corps von Pannwitz; individual military formations that were not part of the ROA; “volunteer helpers” - “hivi”.
In total, these formations numbered 124 thousand people. These parts were scattered at a considerable distance from each other.
I, a faithful son of my Motherland, voluntarily joining the ranks of the Russian Liberation Army, solemnly swear: to fight honestly against the Bolsheviks, for the good of my Motherland. In this struggle against the common enemy, on the side of the German army and its allies, I swear to be faithful and unquestioningly obey the Leader and Commander-in-Chief of all liberation armies, Adolf Hitler. I am ready, in fulfillment of this oath, not to spare myself and my life.
I, as a faithful son of my Motherland, voluntarily joining the ranks of the fighters of the Armed Forces of the peoples of Russia, in the face of my compatriots, swear an oath - for the good of my people, under the main command of General Vlasov, to fight against Bolshevism until last straw blood. This struggle is being waged by all freedom-loving peoples in alliance with Germany under the main command of Adolf Hitler. I vow to be faithful to this union. In fulfillment of this oath, I am ready to give my life.
Symbols and insignia:
The flag with the St. Andrew's Cross, as well as the Russian tricolor, was used as the flag of the ROA. The use of the Russian tricolor, in particular, is documented in footage of the parade of the 1st Guards Brigade of the ROA in Pskov on June 22, 1943, in photo chronicles of the Vlasov formation in Munsingen, as well as other documents.
Completely new uniforms and insignia of the ROA could be seen in 43-44 on soldiers of the eastern battalions stationed in France. The uniform itself was made of grayish-blue material (stocks of captured French army cloth) and in cut was a compilation of a Russian tunic and a German uniform.
The shoulder straps of soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers were of the Russian tsarist army type and were sewn from dark green fabric with red edging. Officers had one or two narrow red stripes along their shoulder straps. General's shoulder straps were also of the royal type, but the same green shoulder straps with red edging were more common, and the general's "zig-zag" was depicted with a red stripe. The placement of insignia among non-commissioned officers roughly corresponded to the tsarist army. For officers and generals, the number and placement of stars (German model) corresponded to the German principle:
In the figure from left to right: 1 - soldier, 2 - corporal, 3 - non-commissioned officer, 4 - sergeant major, 5 - second lieutenant (lieutenant), 6 - lieutenant (senior lieutenant), 7 - captain, 8 - major, 9 - lieutenant colonel , 10 - colonel, 11 - major general, 12 - lieutenant general, 13 - general. The last highest rank in the ROA, Petlitsy, also included three types - soldier. and non-commissioned officer, officer, general. The officer's and general's buttonholes were edged with silver and gold flagella, respectively. However, there was a buttonhole that could be worn by both soldiers and officers. This buttonhole had a red border. A gray German button was placed at the top of the buttonhole, and a 9mm ran along the buttonhole. aluminum galloon.
"Russia is ours. Russia's past is ours. Russia's future is also ours" (gen. A. A. Vlasov)
Printing organs: newspapers ROA fighter"(1944), weekly" Volunteer" (1943-44), " Front leaflet for volunteers "(1944), " Volunteer Messenger "(1944), " Alarm"(1943), " Volunteer Page "(1944), " Warrior's Voice"(1944), " Zarya" (1943-44), " Work », « Arable land", weekly " Is it true" (1941-43), " With hostility». For the Red Army: « Stalin's warrior », « Brave Warrior », « Red Army », « Front-line soldier», « Soviet warrior ».
General Vlasov wrote: "Recognizing the independence of each people, National Socialism provides all the peoples of Europe with the opportunity to build their own lives in their own way. For this, each people needs living space. Hitler considers its possession the fundamental right of every people. Therefore, the occupation of Russian territory by German troops is not aimed at destruction Russians, but on the contrary - victory over Stalin will return to the Russians their Fatherland within the family of New Europe."
September 16, 1944 at the headquarters of the Reichsführer SS in East Prussia A meeting between Vlasov and Himmler took place, during which the latter stated: “Mr. General, I spoke with the Fuhrer, from now on you can consider yourself the commander-in-chief of the army with the rank of colonel general.” A few days later, the reorganization of the headquarters began. Before that, to the headquarters, except for Vlasov and V.F. Malyshkin included: commandant of headquarters Colonel E.V. Kravchenko (since 09.1944, Colonel K.G. Kromiadi), head of the personal office, Major M.A. Kalugin-Tenzorov, Vlasov’s adjutant Captain R. Antonov, supply manager Lieutenant V. Melnikov, liaison officer S.B. Frelnkh and 6 soldiers.
On November 14, 1944, the founding congress of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR) took place in Prague, and A. Vlasov was elected chairman. In his opening remarks Vlasov said: “Today we can assure the Fuhrer and the entire German people that in their difficult struggle against the worst enemy of all peoples - Bolshevism, the peoples of Russia are their faithful allies and will never lay down their arms, but will go shoulder to shoulder with them until complete victory. ". At the congress, the creation of the Armed Forces of the KONR (AF KONR) was announced, led by Vlasov.
After the congress, the security company of Major Begletsov and the management company of Major Shishkevich were transferred from Dabendorf to Dahlem. Major Khitrov was appointed commandant of headquarters instead of Kromiadi. Kromiadi was transferred to the post of head of Vlasov's Personal Office, his predecessor, Lieutenant Colonel Kalugin, to the post of head of the Security Department.
On January 18, 1945, Vlasov, Aschenbrener, Kroeger met with the Secretary of State of the German Foreign Ministry, Baron Stengracht. An agreement was signed on the subsidization of KONR and its aircraft by the German government. At the end of January 1945, when Vlasov visited German Foreign Minister von Ribbentorp, he informed Vlasov that cash loans were being provided for KONR. Andreev testified about this at the trial: “As the head of the main financial department of KONR, I was in charge of all the financial resources of the Committee. I received all financial resources from the German State Bank from the current account of the Ministry of the Interior. I received all amounts of money from the bank by checks issued by representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Sievers and Ryuppei, who controlled the financial activities of KONR. From such checks I received about 2 million marks.”
On January 28, 1945, Hitler appointed Vlasov Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces. The ROA began to be treated as the Armed Forces of an allied power, temporarily subordinated operationally to the Wehrmacht.
"Telegram from the Reichsführer SS to General Vlasov. Compiled on the instructions of Obergruppenführer Berger. From the day this order was signed, the Fuhrer appointed you as the supreme commander of the 600th and 650th Russian divisions. At the same time, you will be entrusted with the supreme command of all new emerging and regrouping Russian formations. Yours." "The disciplinary right of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief will be recognized and at the same time the right of promotion to officer ranks up to lieutenant colonel. Promotion to colonel and general takes place in agreement with the head of the SS Main Directorate in accordance with the provisions existing for the Great German Empire. G. Himmler."
On February 10, 1945, Inspector General of Volunteer Formations E. Kestring informed Vlasov that in view of the completion of the creation of the 1st Division and the progress made in the formation of the 2nd, he could officially take command of both formations.
The oath-taking parade took place on February 16 in Müsingen. Kestring, Aschenbrenner, commander of the 5th military regiment were present at the parade. in Stuttgart Fayel, head of the testing site in Müsingen, General. Wenniger. The parade began with Vlasov walking around the troops. Bunyachenko raised his hand in an Aryan salute and reported. Having completed his tour, Vlasov ascended to the podium and said the following: “During the years of joint struggle, the friendship of the Russian and German peoples was born. Both sides made mistakes, but tried to correct them - and this speaks of a commonality of interests. The main thing in the work of both sides is mutual trust trust. I thank the Russian and German officers who participated in the creation of this union. I am convinced that we will soon return to our homeland with those soldiers and officers whom I see here. Long live the friendship of the Russian and German peoples! Long live the soldiers and officers of the Russian army! Then the parade of the 1st Division began. There were three infantry regiments with rifles at the ready, an artillery regiment, an anti-tank fighter division, sapper and signal battalions. The procession was closed by a column of tanks and self-propelled guns. On the same day, the Russian Corps announced its entry into the ROA.
Text of the oath of the ROA/AF KONR: “As a faithful son of my Motherland, I voluntarily join the ranks of the troops of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. In the presence of my fellow countrymen, I solemnly swear to fight honestly to the last drop of blood under the command of General Vlasov for the good of my people against Bolshevism. This struggle is being waged by all freedom-loving peoples under the supreme command of Adolf Hitler. I vow that I will remain faithful to this union."
On February 20, 1945, the deputy representative of the International Red Cross in Germany was given a KONR memorandum on protecting the interests of prisoners of war from the ROA if they surrendered to representatives of the Western powers. When coming into contact with the International Red Cross, Vlasov counted on the help of the organization’s secretary, Baron Pilar von Pilah, a Russian officer.
By the end of March 1945, the total strength of the KONR Armed Forces was about 50,000 people.
On March 24, 1945, at the All-Cossack Congress in Virovitica (Croatia), a decision was made to unify Cossack troops with BC CONR. Vlasov was also joined by the brigade of Major General A.V. Turkul, who began the formation of regiments in Lienz, Ljubljana and Villach.
Major General Smyslovsky, who headed the 1st Russian National Army, refused to cooperate with Vlasov. Negotiations with General Shandruk on the inclusion of the SS division "Galicia" in the KONR Armed Forces remained without result. The German command did not subordinate the 9th infantry brigade to Vlasov. Major General von Henning, in Denmark. Later, one of the regiments of the brigade became part of the 1st division. (714th), stationed since February on the Oder Front under the command (from the beginning of March) of Colonel Igor Konst. Sakharov (participant in the Spanish Civil War, head of the Spanish branch of the Russian Fascist Party).
To test the combat capability of the KONR Armed Forces, on the orders of Himmler, an assault group (505 people) was formed by Colonel I.K. Sakharov. Armed with SG-43 rifles, MP-40 machine guns and faustpatrons, the group was brought into battle on February 9 in the area between Vriezen and Gustebise in the Küstrin region with the aim of dislodging Soviet troops from the bridgehead on west bank Odera. The detachment as part of the Döberitz division took part in the battles against the 230th Division. Commander of the 9th Army, Gen. Busse ordered the commander of the 101st Corps, General. Berlin and the division commander, Colonel Hünber, “receive the Russians in a friendly manner” and “behave very smartly with them politically.” The detachment was entrusted with the task of liberating a number of settlements in the sector of the 230th SD of the Red Army and persuade its soldiers to cease resistance and surrender. During the night attack and 12-hour battle, the Vlasovites, dressed in Red Army uniforms, managed to capture several strong points and capture 3 officers and 6 soldiers. In the following days, Sakharov’s detachment undertook two reconnaissance in force in the region of the city of Schwedt and participated in repelling a tank attack, destroying 12 tanks. On the actions of the Russians, the commander of the 9th Army, Infantry General Busse, reported to the main command of the German ground forces (OKH) that the Russian allies distinguished themselves by the skillful actions of their officers and the bravery of their soldiers. Goebbels wrote in his diary: “... during Sakharov’s operation in the Küstrin area, General Vlasov’s troops fought magnificently... Vlasov himself believes that although the Soviets have enough tanks and weapons, they nevertheless faced almost insurmountable difficulties supplies from the rear. They have a lot of tanks concentrated on the Oder, but they don’t have enough gasoline..." Gene. Berlin personally awarded the soldiers and officers the Iron Crosses (Sakharov was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class), Vlasov received personal congratulations from Himmler on this occasion. After this, Himmler told Hitler that he would like to have more Russian troops under his command.
On March 26, at the last meeting of the KONR, it was decided to gradually pull all formations into the Austrian Alps for surrender to the Anglo-Americans.
On April 13, the Swiss Ambassador in Berlin, Zehnder, said that the arrival of the Vlasovites on Swiss territory was undesirable, because this may harm the interests of the country. The Swiss government also refused to Vlasov personally.
In April, Vlasov sent Captain Shtrik-Shtrikfeld and General Malyshkin with the task of establishing contact with the allies.
On April 10, the Southern group of the ROA performed in the Budweis-Linz region. The 1st Division moved here from the Oder Front. At the beginning of May she was near Prague, where by this time a rebellion had broken out. Chehir radioed asking for help.
On May 11, Vlasov surrendered to the Americans and was in the Shlisselburg fortress as a prisoner of war. At 14:00 on May 12, under the protection of an American convoy, he was sent to higher American headquarters, ostensibly for negotiations. The column of vehicles was stopped by Soviet officers. At gunpoint, they demanded that Vlasov and Bunyachenko, who was with him, move into their cars. American officers and soldiers did not interfere. German historians believe that the Deputy NSh of the 12th Corps American army, Colonel P. Martin, played an important role in this.
ROA officers were shot without trial, and everyone else was sent to concentration camps in locked freight cars. Those who were not sentenced to death penalty and camp terms, according to the resolution of the State Defense Committee of August 18, 1945, they received an extrajudicial 6 years of special settlement.
On closed trial In addition to Vlasov, Malyshkin, Zhilenkov, Trukhin, Zakutny, Blagoveshchensky, Meandorov, Maltsev, Bunyachenko, Zverev, Korbukov and Shatov appeared. The court sentenced them to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out on August 1, 1946.
1. Commander-in-Chief: Lieutenant General Andrei A. Vlasov, former commander of the 2nd Shock Army of the Red Army. Iron Cross (02/09/1945).
2. NS and Deputy Commander-in-Chief: Major General F.I. Trukhin (08.1946, hanged), former deputy NSh of the North-Western Front of the Red Army
3. Deputy NS: Colonel (since 09/24/1944 Major General) V.I. Boyarsky
4. officer under the Commander-in-Chief for special assignments: Nikolai Aleksan. Troitsky (b. 1903), graduated from the Simbirsk Polytechnic Institute in 1924, then from the Moscow Architectural Institute. He worked in the People's Commissariat for Education, scientific secretary of the Moscow Architectural Society, and deputy scientific secretary of the USSR Academy of Architecture. Arrested in 1937, he was under investigation for 18 months at Lubyanka. In 1941 he was captured and until 1943 he was in a concentration camp. Co-author of the Prague Manifesto KONR. After the war, one of the leaders and organizers of the SBONR. In 1950-55. Director of the Munich Institute for the Study of History and Culture of the USSR. Author of the book "Concentration Camps of the USSR" (Munich, 1955) and a series of short stories.
5. adjutant of the Headquarters leadership group: second lieutenant A.I. Romashin, Romashkin.
6. Commandant of Staff: Colonel E.V. Kravchenko
7. officer for special assignments: senior lieutenant M.V. Tomashevsky. Graduated from the Law Faculty of Kharkov University.
8. Liaison Officer: Nikol. Vladim. Vashchenko (1916 - after 1973), pilot, was shot down and captured in 1941. He graduated from propagandist courses in Luckenwald and Dabendorf.
Head of the Office: Lieutenant S.A. Sheiko
translator: second lieutenant A.A. Kubekov.
Head of the general unit: Lieutenant Prokopenko
head of food supply: captain V. Cheremisinov.
Operations department:
1. Chief, Deputy NS: Colonel Andrey Geor. Aldan (Neryanin) (1904 - 1957, Washington), son of a worker. In the Red Army since 1919. Graduated from infantry courses and Military Academy them. M.V. Frunze (1934, with honors). In 1932 he was expelled from the CPSU(b) for his left-Trotskyist deviation, then reinstated. Head of the Operations Department of the Ural Military District (1941), was captured near Vyazma in November 1941, being the head of the operations department of the 20th Army headquarters. In 1942-44. member of the Anti-Comintern. Responsible for the organizational activities of the ROA headquarters. Chairman of the Union of Warriors of the Liberation Movement (USA). Member of the Central Bureau of the SBONR.
2. Deputy: Lieutenant Colonels Korovin
3. Head of subdepartment: V.F. Ril.
4. Head of subdepartment: V.E. Mikhelson.
Intelligence Department:
Initially, the military and civilian intelligence services were under the jurisdiction of the KONR security department, Lieutenant Colonel N.V. Tensorova. His deputies were Major M.A. Kalugin and b. head of the special department of the headquarters of the North Caucasus military district Major A.F. Chikalov. On 02.1945, military intelligence separated from civilian intelligence. Under the supervision of Major General Trukhin, a separate intelligence service of the ROA began to be created, and an intelligence department was formed at the Headquarters. On February 22, the department was divided into several groups:
intelligence: chief lieutenant N.F. Lapin (senior assistant to the head of the 2nd department), later Lieutenant B. Gai;
counterintelligence.
enemy intelligence group: second lieutenant A.F. Vronsky (assistant to the head of the 1st department).
According to the order of Major General Trukhin dated 8.03. In 1945, the l/s department consisted of 21 officers, in addition to the chief. Later, the department included captain V. Denisov and other officers.
1. Chief: Major I.V. Grachev
2. head of counterintelligence: Major Chikalov, supervised the operational intelligence of the ROA, since 1945 he organized the training of military intelligence personnel and terrorist actions in the USSR.
Counterintelligence Department:
Chief Major Krainev
Investigation Department:
Chief: Major Galanin
Secret correspondence department:
Chief: Captain P. Bakshansky
Human Resources Department:
Chief: Captain Zverev
Communications department:
Head of the Office, Senior Lieutenant V.D. Korbukov.
VOSO Department:
Chief: Major G.M. Kremensky.
Topographic department:
Chief: Lieutenant Colonel G. Vasiliev. Senior lieutenant of the Red Army.
Encryption department:
1st Chief: Major A. Polyakov
2. Deputy: Lieutenant Colonel I.P. Pavlov. Senior lieutenant of the Red Army.
Formations department:
1st Chief: Colonel I. D. Denisov
2nd Deputy: Major M.B. Nikiforov
3. group leader of the formations department: captain G.A. Fedoseev
4. group leader of the formations department: captain V.F. Demidov
5. group leader of the formations department: captain S.T. Kozlov
6. Head of the formation department group: Major G.G. Sviridenko.
Combat training department:
1. Chief: Major General Asberg (Artsezov, Asbjargas) (b. Baku), Armenian. Graduated military school in Astrakhan, commander of a tank unit. Colonel of the Red Army. He emerged from encirclement near Taganrog, was convicted by a military tribunal and sentenced to death in 1942, which was replaced by a penal battalion. In the first battle he went over to the Germans.
2. Deputy: Colonel A.N. Tavantsev.
Head of the 1st subsection (training): Colonel F.E. Black
3. Head of the 2nd subsection (military schools): Colonel A.A. Denisenko.
4. Head of the 3rd subsection (charter): Lieutenant Colonel A.G. Moskvichev.
Command department:
Consisted of 5 groups.
1. Chief: Colonel (02.1945) Vladimir Vas. Poznyakov (05/17/1902, St. Petersburg - 12/21/1973, Syracuse, USA). In the Red Army since 1919. In 1920 he graduated from the Kaluga command courses. From 09.20 instructor of newspaper business on the Southwestern Front. In 1921-26. student of the Higher Military Chemical School. Since 01.26, head of the chemical service of the 32nd Saratov Infantry Division. In 1928-31. teacher at the Saratov School of Reserve Commanders. In 1931-32 teacher at the Saratov Armored School. In 1932-36. head of the chemical service of the Ulyanovsk armored school. Captain (1936). Major (1937). In 1937-39 arrested and tortured. In 1939-41. teacher of chemistry at the Poltava Automotive Technical School. Since 03.41, head of the chemical service of the 67th IC. Lieutenant Colonel (05/29/1941). 10.1941 captured near Vyazma. In 1942, he was the head of the camp police near Bobruisk, then at the propaganda courses in Wulheide. 04.1943 at the Dabendorf school of propagandists, commander of the 2nd cadet company. From 07.43 chief preparatory courses propagandists in Luckenwalde. In the summer of 1944, he was the head of a group of ROA propagandists in the Baltic states. Since 11.1944, head of the command department of the ROA headquarters. On October 9, 1945, he was sentenced to death in absentia. Since the early 50s. taught at military schools of the US Army, worked for the CIA. Since the beginning of the 60s. taught at the military aviation school in Syracuse. Author of the books: “The Birth of the ROA” (Syracuse, 1972) and “A.A. Vlasov" (Syracuse, 1973).
2. Deputy: Major V.I. Strelnikov.
3. Head of the 1st subsection (General Staff officers): Captain Ya. A. Kalinin.
4. Head of the 2nd subsection (infantry): Major A.P. Demsky.
5. Head of the 3rd subsection (cavalry): senior lieutenant N.V. Vashchenko.
6. Head of the 4th subsection (artillery): Lieutenant Colonel M.I. Pankevich.
7. Head of the 5th subsection (tank and engineering troops): Captain A. G. Kornilov.
8. Head of the 6th subdepartment (administrative, economic and military sanitary services): Major V.I. Panayot.
Russian Liberation Army - ROA. Part 1.
"Flag Day" was established by Yeltsin's decree. Why exactly August 22 is clear to anyone who has even the slightest idea about the events of August 1991 and the collapse of the USSR. Yeltsin's decree states that this day is established in honor of the restoration of "the historical Russian tricolor state flag, covered with the glory of many generations of Russians." We’ll talk a little about this glory.
The blue-white-red tricolor, which existed for two centuries as the merchant flag of the Russian fleet, was approved as a national flag only in 1896, at the very beginning of the reign of Nicholas II. All the unlucky time of this last emperor passed under this flag. From not at all victorious Russo-Japanese War(where the bravely fighting army - by the way, under completely different banners - was defeated precisely because of the total inability of the already decayed state to exert itself) and until the complete and absurd collapse of the Empire in February 1917.
Further, the blue-white-red tricolor did not long overshadow the ever-increasing state chaos of the Provisional Government.
By the spring of 1918, the Bolsheviks changed the national flag to red. And then the blue-white-red tricolor appeared again. Strangely enough, it was the Czechs who raised it above all and first then - the so-called. The Czechoslovak Corps, whose rebellion in May 1918 began a large-scale civil war in Russia. As a standard, the Slavic brothers from the moment of their formation, when the tsarist government in 1916 decided to create Slavic legions from Austro-Hungarian prisoners, used the blue-white-red tricolor, since its colors coincide with the national Czech and Slovak ones.
The 70,000-strong, well-armed and organized Czechoslovak corps, stretching from the Volga region to Vladivostok, in agreement with British and French intelligence, raised an anti-Bolshevik rebellion and, in fact, destroyed Russia in one day. There were no other such significant and organized “whites” in the country - Kornilov with a couple of thousand volunteers got lost somewhere in the Kuban steppes, and Kolchak traveled from the USA to Japan.
Overshadowed by the blue-white-red flag, the Czechs invented and used, perhaps the first in the world, still primitive gas chambers - the Czech occupiers destroyed Bolshevik prisoners in the holds of river barges filled with bleach. However, the Bolsheviks were lucky, the Czechs were ready to kill, but not die, and after the first rebuff they received, they preferred to leave Russia through America to their native Bohemia, stealing along the way most gold reserves of the Russian Empire.
We inherited from the Czech occupiers a large-scale civil war and Admiral Kolchak, who proclaimed himself the Supreme Ruler of Russia, and the white-blue-red tricolor - accordingly, the state flag. In 1918, the United States alone gave Kolchak more than 200 thousand rifles and 150 thousand pairs of boots. In 1919 this assistance increased significantly. This year Kolchak received from the United States 381 thousand rifles, 963 machine guns and about 200 thousand sets of uniforms. In total, the United States handed over to Kolchak different materials and weapons worth $187 million. Still those dollars from the beginning of the last century. In modern times, this is more than tens of billions. But the USA was not even the main sponsors, there were also the British and Japanese empires, France!
Kolchak is, of course, a talented sailor, a strong personality, but it is also a fact that in modern terminology he is the very “fifth column” that exists with Washington’s money. And not in propaganda myths, but quite realistically. Advancing on red Moscow, the white admiral had a very reliable rear - Russian occupied by the Americans and Japanese Far East. Kolchak was very nice and polite with the occupiers. Enviable patriotism. Well, the number of victims of Kolchak’s terror during the Civil War exceeded the Red Terror in those places. It was Kolchak who left the first depopulated villages in the Urals and Siberia.
In the North of Russia, the blue-white-red flag also gained unfading glory during the civil war. This tricolor was officially adopted by the so-called “Provisional Government of the Northern Region,” which was formed from Russian collaborators by the British occupiers who captured Murmansk and Arkhangelsk in 1918. This “government” even sent an official invitation to the British to occupy the Russian North. And it was precisely this that organized on the islands White Sea the first concentration camps, incl. on the famous Solovki.
In June 1919, the British staged a military parade in Arkhangelsk in honor of the birthday of their king. The parade was commanded by General Ironside, head of the occupation forces. The British even drove the so-called through the streets of the city under the red, white and blue flag. Daer's battalion - formed from prisoners of Arkhangelsk prisons and named after the British captain killed by the Red partisans. All this is reminiscent of modern-day occupied Iraq, isn't it?
In the South of Russia, the Whites also fought under the blue-white-red flag, using a combination of these colors and in various details of the uniform. Among them there were many convinced and honest people, which, however, did not prevent them from accepting foreign military assistance and fight against red Russia, even when the Polish occupiers captured the original Russian lands.
After the end of the civil war, the blue-white-red flag was waved by various white émigré organizations, which, in alliance with foreign intelligence services, tried to harm the USSR in every possible way.
Well, with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the tricolor fanned itself with truly unfading glory - without a statute of limitations, as liability for crimes against humanity!
The first in the occupied territory of the USSR to raise the red-blue-white flag in November 1941 was in the so-called. “Lokot Republic” - here, on the territory of several districts of the Kursk and Oryol regions with the center in the city of Lokot (now Bryansk region), the Germans conducted an experiment in “local self-government”. Here, with the help of local collaborators led by Chief Burgomaster Voskoboynik (he called himself “the governor of Lokt and the surrounding land”), the Germans fought the partisans in their immediate rear. They fought so hard that in two years the traitors under the white-blue-red flag killed over 10,000 civilians and burned over 200 alive. Ordinary victims were shot, underground activists and partisan movement they were hanged, and some were publicly beheaded.
The Minister of the Occupied Eastern Territories Rosenberg (the author of the project on “destruction of the biological potential of the Soviet Union”) reported to Hitler in a special note about the state of affairs in the Lokot district. The Fuhrer was generally against any cooperation with the Slavic subhumans, but allowed Rosenberg to continue this experiment in “local self-government.”
Lokot collaborators, in a fit of enthusiasm and breaks between punitive operations, officially proclaimed the blue-white-red tricolor “state”, wrote their own criminal code, following the example of the NSDAP, created the “National Socialist Labor Party of Russia”, announced economic reform and adopted a bunch of manifestos about the fight against the Judeo-Bolsheviks. They also formed the "Russian People's Liberation Army" under the same b.-s.-k. tricolor and tricolor chevrons on German and police uniforms. A real sovereign democracy!
When in January 1942 our partisans killed the “governor of Lokot and the surrounding land” Voskoboynik, the place of the leader of the Lokot sovereign democracy was taken by his deputy Bronislav Kaminsky. He began by renaming the city of Lokot to Voskoboynik, and adapted “Tonka the Machine Gunner”, who soon became famous in the region, for the execution of partisans and civilians. Former nurse Antonina Makarova became, perhaps, the executioner with the largest personal account in the entire history of the Great Patriotic War - only documented later Soviet court its victims exceeded 1,500 people. She shot Russian people with a machine gun in a specially equipped room in a former stable. For each execution, Tonka received, symbolically, 30 German marks. And all this Judas’ work was illuminated by the white-blue-red flag of the Rosenberg experiment, the one that now flutters over the Kremlin and other government buildings in Russia! "Tonka the Machine Gunner", by the way, was found and shot only many years after the war - in 1978. It was last process in the USSR over a traitor from the era of the Great Patriotic War.
In 1943, as our troops approached, the Germans transferred their minions under the white-blue-red flag further to the rear - to Belarus to fight the partisans. Here they also left their mark in the form of shot residents and burned villages. In the summer of 1944, the collaborators were transformed into the 129th SS Brigade and sent to suppress the Warsaw Uprising. In Warsaw, on August 5, 1944 alone, according to the Germans themselves, Kaminsky’s brigade massacred 15 thousand people, finishing off the last Jews not exterminated by the Germans. But the trouble is, in the Polish General Government of the Third Reich there lived not only Poles, but also Germans. The Kaminsky bandits did not know languages and robbed everyone indiscriminately, and in addition they raped an entire delegation of German girls from the organization “Strength through Joy” (sort of Hitler’s “Ours” for girls). SS Brigadeführer Kaminsky, under the white-blue-red flag, realizing that the Germans would not pat him on the head for these arts, tried to flee to the Carpathians to the Banderaites, but in the south of Poland he was detained by the Gestapo and shot.
The remnants of Kaminsky’s brigade were transferred to Germany to the Munsingen military training ground, where it was from them that they began to form the 1st ROA division, the same “Russian Liberation Army"General Vlasov, whose name has become a household name.
Almost everyone knows about the Vlasovites. It is less known that there were several attempts to form the Vlasov army. The first was crowned with a parade in German-occupied Pskov on June 22, 1943, where the so-called "consolidated company of the ROA Guards Division." But almost until the end of the war, all statements by Vlasov and his associates about the “Russian Liberation Army” were purely propaganda in nature - Hitler was categorically against the creation of any independent Russian formations with any state symbols (the only exception was made for Rosenberg with his “Lokot experiment”) .
Collaborators were used by the Germans in various auxiliary and rear battalions. Many of them wore armbands, chevrons or cockades with white, blue and red flags. In addition, on the side of the Germans in the Balkans and in the occupied territory of the USSR, formations of former White Guards also operated under the blue-white-red tricolor, bearing pompous names like “Russian National Army” or “Russian National People’s Army”. All these warriors were mainly engaged in mopping up operations and fighting partisans.
And only at the end of 1944, when the drowning Germans began to clutch at any straw, after a personal meeting with the head of the SS Himmler, the traitor Vlasov received permission to actually form the “Russian Liberation Army”, with the official status of an ally of the German Reich. And although the order of the Main Staff of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces (OKH) 500/43 on the introduction of the uniform and insignia of the Russian Liberation Army for the “Vlasovites” prescribed stripes and a flag in the form of St. Andrew’s oblique cross (another Russian symbol defaced by betrayal), Himmler allowed Vlasov use the "state" white-blue-red flag.
On February 16, 1945, the white-blue-red tricolor was solemnly raised over the military training ground and barracks in Munsingen, where the 1st and 2nd divisions of the ROA were formed (according to German numbering - 600th and 650th). On this day, Vlasov, like Yeltsin later, declared this flag to be the flag of “free Russia.”
For some comparison, very close on the same day, in the evening, about a thousand Soviet prisoners of war were driven by stage to the Mauthausen concentration camp. All night the German guards doused the prisoners with ice water from fire hoses. By morning, out of a thousand, only seven dozen remained alive. Among the dead was an officer of the tsarist army, general of the Soviet army Dmitry Karbyshev. Those who remained faithful to the Motherland and the oath died a martyr’s death, and the traitors to the oath and the Motherland that day raised the blue-white-red tricolor and drank German schnapps for “free Russia.”
The first attempt at military use of the Vlasovites took place in February 1945 - the Germans sent traitors to attack one of our bridgeheads on the Oder, which directly threatened Berlin. In April, the 1st Division of the ROA (the 2nd Division was never formed until the end of the war) was defeated near Fürstenberg and left the front without permission, going to the Czech Republic, where it tried to support the Prague Uprising, thereby abandoning everyone. Which, however, did not help the traitors! The Vlasovs, Krasnovs and other lovers of waving the white-blue-red flag to the delight of our enemies were hanged by court verdict.
Next after Rosenberg and Vlasov is the history of b.-s.-k. Yeltsin continued the tricolor. Well, you don’t need to explain anything about him to anyone.
This is, in fact, the whole history of this flag, all, in the words of Yeltsin’s decree, “the glory of many generations of Russians.” Glory, where, between the shameful Russian-Japanese and Chechen wars (shameful not for soldiers and officers, but for state power), a whole century of history of betrayal, bloody cooperation with interventionists and occupiers, the history of the collapse and collapse of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union fit in.
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