On the eve of the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the discussion about the role of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) of General Vlasov in the battles against the Red Army was revived.
Behind the propaganda screen
Historians of the new generation, relying only on facts known only to them, united the ROA traitors with collaborators of all stripes, including units formed by the Germans from Russian emigrants, and made their own nasty conclusion about a certain Second Civil War.
About 1,200 thousand immigrants from Russia and the USSR are now recorded under this army, and on the basis of the "new" numbers they are trying to give out a theory about some kind of civil opposition to Stalin, which forced people to stand up under Hitler's banners and fight the Red Army.
One thing unites the official historiography and the newly-minted "carriers of history." Both groups name approximately the same share of Russians in the Vlasov ROA - 35-45%. That is, in the Russian Liberation Army advertised by Goebbels, the Russians themselves were in the minority. Yes, more was not required for the propaganda screen about the guardians of the "liberation of Russia from communism" who were at war with Stalin.
In fact, they did not really fight with the Red Army. The main goal pursued by the Nazis during the formation of the ROA was propaganda. Like, look - the Russians are ready to fight on our side against Bolshevism.
The ROA received its "baptism of fire" only in February 1945, when its strike group of three platoons, together with Nazi troops, took part in battles with the 230th rifle division of the Red Army, which took up defenses in the Oder region.
Meanwhile, the history of the ROA has been going on since December 1942. It was then that the traitor generals Vlasov and Baersky (he rose to the rank of colonel in the Red Army. The Germans gave him a new rank) approached the leadership of the Third Reich with a proposal to form an army to "liberate Russia from communism." In fact, this is how the Germans themselves arranged everything, who decided to create a propaganda campaign from the surrendered Soviet general. And the general quickly picked up the idea.
The so-called "Smolensk Declaration" was even prepared. It contained an appeal from the "Russian Liberation Committee" located in Smolensk to the Soviet people. The stated aim of the committee was to fight communism.
The proposal did not impress Hitler himself at all. He had other plans for Russia. Hitler did not see her free, independent and self-reliant, as was presented in the appeal of the Smolensk committee.
Nevertheless, after the Smolensk declaration, all immigrants from Russia (mainly representatives of the White emigration) who fought in the Nazi ranks were called servicemen of the Russian Liberation Army.
From a paper army to a "third force" against the USSR
This army was listed only on paper. The first ROA unit appeared in the late spring of 1943. Loudly called the First Guards Brigade of the ROA, it united 650 volunteers from Soviet prisoners of war and emigrants.
The task of the brigade included security functions (therefore, it was dressed in an SS uniform) and the fight against partisans in the Pskov region. There was no complete trust of the Germans in the Vlasov army. After the defeat of the Nazis near Kursk, fermentation began in it.
And then another unit formed from prisoners of war (1st Russian National SS Brigade "Druzhina") almost in full force, taking with them 10 artillery pieces, 23 mortars, 77 machine guns, small arms, 12 radio stations and other equipment, switched to the side partisans and began to fight against the soldiers of the Wehrmacht.
After that, the Vlasov brigade was disarmed and disbanded. The officers were even placed under house arrest. Then they changed their minds and sent everyone to France, away from the Eastern Front and contact with the partisans.
Only by the end of 1944, Vlasov managed to form (from those who already had nothing to lose) the first full-fledged ROA division numbering 18,000 soldiers with heavy artillery weapons, armored vehicles (ten self-propelled guns and nine T-34 tanks). This included units of various collaborators who retreated with the Nazis from the USSR, emigrants, and volunteers from prisoners of war.
The goals of the "liberators" have also changed. In November 1944, they created the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR) in Prague, claiming the status of a government in exile. General Vlasov became at the same time the chairman of the Committee and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, which formalized as an independent Russian national army associated with Nazi Germany only by allied relations.
"Allies" through the Ministry of Finance of the Third Reich allocated ROA credit line, reimbursed "as far as possible." With these funds, several more formations were formed, which by April 1945 had grown to 120 thousand people.
This growth was driven by new political goals. Vlasov planned to use ROA as a "third force" in the anticipated confrontation of the United States and Britain with the Soviet Union at the end of the war.
In January, the ROA even declared its neutrality towards the United States and Great Britain. By March, she had acquired her own sleeve insignia and badge. Outwardly, she distanced herself from the Nazi soldiers. Although it was during this period that Vlasov's army joined in active hostilities against the Red Army.
For example, the already mentioned 1st ROA Infantry Division fought on the Erlengof bridgehead as part of the 9th German Army. So, if any of the fashionable historians saw the Second Civil War in the Patriotic War, let him know: it was fought on the western bank of the Oder River, in alliance with completely different "citizens".
The result of the betrayal of the Vlasovites is known. After the war, the Western allies handed over two-thirds of the ROA to the USSR, where they were sent to the camps. The six leaders of the Vlasov army and the self-appointed Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia were hanged by a court decision in the courtyard of the Butyrka prison.
The betrayal of General Vlasov and his accomplices became a dark spot in the history of our Great War. Therefore, the attempts of unscrupulous historians to present black as white in the eyes of people who know the real history of the war and its heavy price are countless and futile.
