The Germans used Ukrainian nationalists for the war with the USSR, but did not allow them to create an "independent" Ukraine. Berlin was not going to create an independent Ukraine, it was subject to occupation and had to become part of the German Empire. And ordinary members of the OUN were used as a grassroots occupation administration, policemen and punishers.
Continuation of the fight against Bandera
After the operation of the NKVD in August - September 1940, the Krakow center of the OUN (b) ordered to strengthen the conspiracy, to transfer all illegal immigrants to Poland. Under the conditions of severe pressure from the NKVD, Bandera, at the direction of the Krakow center, tried to break through the border. So, during 1940, as a result of battles between Soviet border guards and OUN militants, 123 insurgents were killed and wounded and 387 people were arrested. However, most of the bandits still managed to escape from the border guards: 111 cases of breakthroughs in the Ukrainian SSR were recorded and 417 - beyond the cordon.
The Chekists were forced to admit: “The illegal OUN members have excellent conspiracy skills and are prepared for combat work. As a rule, when arrested, they show armed resistance and try to commit suicide."
In general, during 1940, the Soviet law enforcement agencies, thanks to preventive strikes, managed to prevent an outbreak of banditry on the territory of Western Ukraine. In the Volyn region in 1940, 55 gang manifestations were registered, while 5 police officers and 11 people of the Soviet-party activists were killed and injured. In the Lviv region on May 29, 1940, there were 4 political gangs (30 people) and 4 criminal-political gangs (27 people), in the Rivne region there were no political gangs, only criminal ones, in Tarnopil - 3 criminal-political gangs (10 people).
In the winter of 1940-1941. the Chekists carried out an operation to finally liquidate the nationalist-gangster underground. In December 21-22, 1940 alone, 996 people were arrested. From January 1 to February 15, 1941, 38 OUN groups (273 people) were liquidated, 747 people were arrested, 82 bandits were killed and 35 wounded. 13 were killed and 30 were wounded. The punishments were harsh, commensurate with the criminal and terrorist activities of the defendants. In January 1941, the "Trial of 59" took place in Lvov: 42 people were sentenced to death, the rest to imprisonment and exile. In May 1941, two trials took place in Drogobichi. The first was over 62 rebels: 30 people were sentenced to death, 24 were sentenced to ten years each, the court returned the cases of eight for additional investigation. The Supreme Court changed the sentence. 26 people were sentenced to death, the rest received sentences ranging from 7 to 10 years in prison. The second trial took place over 39 OUN members. Result: 22 were shot, the rest received prison terms (5 and 10 years in the camps) or were exiled.
The OUN leadership tried to restore personnel by sending new emissaries. In the winter of 1940-1941. more than a hundred attempts were made to break through the Soviet border. At the same time, the number of bandit formations reached 120-170 fighters. Most of the breakouts ended in failure. At the same time, the Bandera members were distinguished by a very tough discipline: most of the militants, in case of failure, preferred to die rather than surrender. During 1940-1941. 400 emissaries who arrived from abroad were arrested, 200 reconnaissance and sabotage groups were liquidated
In early 1941, the nationalist leadership began to prepare for a new uprising. At the same time, 65 terrorist attacks were committed. In April alone, 38 representatives of the Soviet regime were killed by bandits. Also, the bandits were engaged in arson and robbery. In April-May 1941 alone, 1,865 active members of the Ukrainian nationalist organization were identified and evicted. By June 15, 38 political and 25 criminal gangs had been liquidated. A large number of weapons and ammunition were seized from the members of the liquidated bandit groups. In total, in 1939-1941, according to the Soviet state security bodies (GB), 16.5 thousand members of Nazi organizations were arrested, captured or killed in Western Ukraine. However, the radicals managed to retain sufficient potential in order to begin a large-scale anti-Soviet uprising after the attack of the Third Reich on the USSR.
In the service of Berlin
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet GB authorities interrogated German intelligence officers and seized a large number of documents, then they had complete information about what the OUN people living in the territory of the Third Reich were doing - Melnikov and Bandera. In particular, Siegfried Müller, a German military intelligence officer and Colonel Erwin Stolze, testified about the activities of the OUN members and their connections with the Reich. So, Stolze served in the Abwehr until 1936 and specialized in organizing reconnaissance for the camp of a potential enemy in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Since 1937, Stolze was responsible for providing and conducting sabotage operations abroad.
After the successful end of the war with Poland, the Reich was intensively preparing for a war with the Soviet Union, so the German special services took measures to intensify subversive activities, the formation of a "fifth column" in the USSR. Ukrainian Nazis prepared for the war with the USSR on the side of Germany: they underwent intensive military training with an emphasis on reconnaissance and sabotage activities. Numerous primary military training schools were created for nationalist youth. The most capable underwent special training for the OUN security service. It is clear that Ukrainian nationalists could not have done this if they did not have permission from Berlin. Ukrainian Nazis actively collaborated with the Abwehr (military intelligence) and the Gestapo (secret political police). In 1940, the Gestapo created the "Office for Ukrainian Affairs" in Berlin, headed by Melnyk, to consolidate and control the Ukrainian nationalist movement.
The OUN members supplied the German special services with intelligence about the USSR. In turn, the Germans trained police personnel in special schools for the future occupation apparatus, scouts and saboteurs. Abwehr financed the OUN, assisted in the deployment of saboteurs to the territory of the USSR. In February 1941, the chief of the Abwehr, Admiral Canaris, gave permission to form the Ukrainian Nationalist Druzhins (DUN). They included: group "North" (commander R. Shukhevych) and "South" (R. Yary). In the documents of the Abwehr, these groups were called "Special unit" Nachtigal "(German" Nachtigal "-" Nightingale ") and" Organization "Roland" (German "Roland") and were part of the special regiment Brandenburg-800.
Melnik and Bandera were instructed immediately after the Reich attack on the USSR to organize an uprising in order to undermine the rear of the Red Army and in order to convince international public opinion of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Just before the outbreak of the war (in June 1941), German military intelligence set the following tasks for the OUN: to destroy important objects in the rear; whip up instability, start an uprising; to form a "fifth column" behind enemy lines. Before the attack on the USSR, the Germans tried to reconcile the Melnikovites and the Banderaites in order to strengthen the potential of the OUN as a single organization. Bandera and Melnik publicly agreed on the need for reconciliation, but did nothing for this. The OUN finally disintegrated. Then the Germans made their main bet on Melnik. However, after the German attack on the USSR, Bandera intensified the nationalist underground in the territory occupied by the Germans and attracted the most active part of the OUN members to his side, in fact displacing Melnik from the leadership.
With the beginning of the war, the OUN members launched an active sabotage activity in the rear of the Red Army. OUN bandit groups violated communications, communication lines, prevented the evacuation of people and material values, killed Soviet and party workers, commanders and fighters of the Red Army, representatives of law enforcement agencies, people who actively collaborated with the "Bolsheviks", attacked border guards, small units of Soviet troops, carried out attacks to prisons in order to free their comrades-in-arms, etc. Following the advancing German troops, several Bandera groups moved, which helped the invaders to form local authorities and the police.
On June 30, 1941, in Lvov, the creation of a "Ukrainian state" headed by Bandera was proclaimed, which, together with "Great Germany", was to establish a new order in the world. The government of the "state" was headed by Stetsko. The OUN members began to form governing bodies and the police, which actively cooperated with the German occupation forces. However, the successes of the Wehrmacht, which was rapidly advancing to the east, became the reason for abandoning the "Ukrainian state". Berlin was not going to create an "independent" Ukraine, it was subject to occupation and had to become part of the German Empire. And the Ukrainian nationalists were simply used for their own purposes. In September 1941, Bandera and Stetsko were placed in a Berlin prison, in 1942 they were transferred to the special barrack "Cellenbau" of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where various politicians were already staying. The Bandera organization officially became illegal, although the Germans did not conduct large-scale operations against it in Ukraine. The Melnikovites remained in a legal position until the beginning of 1942. At the same time, both Bandera and Melnikovites were still used to form police and auxiliary punitive battalions, to fight Soviet partisans and reconnaissance and sabotage groups.
OUN (b) greetings July - early September 1941. Text (top to bottom): Glory to Hitler! Glory to Bandera! Long live the independent Ukrainian conciliar state! Long live the leader Art. Bandera! Glory to Hitler! Glory to the invincible German and Ukrainian armed forces! Glory to Bandera!"
For example, on the territory of Belarus, Ukrainian police battalions were formed from Red Army prisoners of war. In July 1941, the formation of the 1st Ukrainian battalion began in Bialystok, in which about 480 volunteers were recruited. In August, the battalion was transferred to Minsk, where its strength increased to 910 people. The formation of the 2nd battalion began in September. They later became the 41st and 42nd Auxiliary Police Battalions, and by the end of 1941 they had 1,086 soldiers. Nationalist police units were created in Lviv, here they participated in the genocide against the Jewish population.
From among Ukrainian nationalists and traitors, battalions of the Ukrainian security police (Schutzmannschaft battalions or "noise") were created under the numbers 109th, 114th, 115th, 116th, 117th and 118th. Their main task was to fight the partisans. Until the end of 1943, 45 Ukrainian auxiliary police battalions were formed on the territory of the Reichskommissariat "Ukraine" and in the rear areas of the active army. In addition, the Germans formed 10 Ukrainian battalions on the territory of the Ostland Reichskommissariat and the rear operational area of Army Group Center. Three more battalions operated in Belarus. Also 8 battalions of "noise" were organized in 1942-1944. on the territory of the Polish General Government. The total number of Ukrainian police battalions was about 35 thousand people.
The actions of these auxiliary units, which were guarded in the occupied territories and were used in punitive operations against partisans (mainly in Belarus), were associated with numerous war crimes against civilians. In particular, punishers smashed and burned entire settlements, destroyed civilians, most often they were old people, women and children (capable men were in the army or partisan detachments). Also, Ukrainian battalions took part in the protection of Jewish ghettos and large concentration camps. Ukrainian policemen were active participants in the genocide of Jews.
In addition to the auxiliary police battalions, the so-called. Ukrainian people's self-defense. Its total number by the middle of 1942 reached about 180 thousand people, but self-defense was extremely poorly armed (only half of the soldiers had rifles). There were also detachments for the protection of industrial enterprises, teams for the protection of concentration camps, etc.
Thus, the Germans used Ukrainian nationalists for the war with the USSR, but did not allow them to create an "independent" Ukraine. Their leaders were arrested, but kept on special conditions, in case they still come in handy. Ordinary members were still used as a grassroots occupation administration, policemen and punishers in the occupied territories. Also, agents were recruited from among the Ukrainian nationalists to be sent behind the front line to organize sabotage, terror and intelligence.
Group portrait of militants of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Soldiers are armed with captured Soviet PPSh and German MR-40 submachine guns
Group portrait of the OUN-UPA militants in Transcarpathia. 1944 year. Photo source: waralbum.ru
After a strategic turning point in the war, the Germans again reconsidered their attitude towards the OUN. With the help of the Melnikovites in 1943, the formation of the SS "Galicia" division begins, and the Banderaites form the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). When German troops were driven out of most of Ukraine, Canaris personally gave instructions along the Abwehr line to create a nationalist underground to continue the fight against Soviet power in Ukraine, conduct sabotage, espionage and terror. Special officers and agents were left especially to lead the nationalist movement. Warehouses of weapons, equipment and food were created. To communicate with the gangs, agents were sent across the front line and parachuted from aircraft. Weapons and ammunition were also dropped by parachute. In 1944, the Germans liberated Bandera, Melnik (he was arrested in early 1944, and several hundred other nationalists.
After the defeat of Nazi Germany, Ukrainian nationalists for some time carried on subversive, terrorist and bandit activities on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR. Now they are sponsored by the intelligence services of Britain and the United States. However, by the beginning of the 1950s, they were completely destroyed by the organs of the Soviet GB. After that, the OUN existed in exile, collaborating with Western intelligence services. After the collapse of the USSR, neobander, Nazi movements in Ukraine were restored. At first, they were in a semi-underground position and were invisible in the political field. But as the legacy of Soviet Ukraine was destroyed, they came out of the shadows and are now actively operating in Little Russia. As before, the Ukrainian Nazis are used by external forces interested in the destruction of the Russian civilization and the Russian superethnos, including its southwestern part (southern Rus-Russians, Little Russians), as well as local oligarch-thieves who are completing the plundering of this part of great Russia.
Servicemen of military unit 3229 of the USSR Ministry of State Security in the Korosten Forest during the liquidation of the OUN-UPA formations in Western Ukraine. 1949 year
