Andrei Grigoryevich Shkuro
Andrei Grigorjewitsch Schkuro (Shkura) ( Russian Андрей Григорьевич Шкуро , scientific transliteration Andrej Grigor'evič Škuro ; * 7 January July / 19 January 1887 greg. In Jekatarinodar ; † 17 January 1947 was a general of the Russian in Moscow ) Army that sided with the Whites in the Russian Civil War and led a Cossack association fighting for the Axis powers during World War II .
Life
The scion of a South Russian Cossack family began his military career in 1907 with the successful completion of his training at the Nikolayev Cavalry School . He then served first with the Kuban Cossacks. During the First World War he was the commander of a special guerrilla unit . In this capacity he was awarded the rank of Colonel and the Cossack rank of Jessaul .
In the wake of the October Revolution , he set up a Cossack association in the area of Batapalchinsk in the spring of 1918 , with which he fought on the side of the whites against the Bolsheviks . In May and June 1919 his units raided and looted the cities of Stavropol , Essentuki and Kislovodsk . He was then appointed commander of the Kuban Cossack Brigade in General Denikin's army. In May 1919, Shkuro finally took command of the entire cavalry corps of the Denikin Army as Lieutenant General .
The troops led by Shkuro were described by Soviet historians as a bunch of particularly cruel and neglected bandits , with whose activities even the leading commanders of the white people were not satisfied. This contrasts with the statements in Shkuro's memoirs , in which he describes in various places how he spared the lives of captured opponents and countered anti-Jewish pogroms . Which of these descriptions is correct should be difficult to clarify today.
As a stubborn Cossack leader, Shkuro finally got into a conflict with General Wrangel , who was superior to him , and who demanded strict obedience from his subordinates. In the course of a reorganization of the White Army carried out by Wrangel, Shkuro was then passed over in the distribution of posts, so that he withdrew from active service and went into exile in Paris .
Abroad, Shkuro continued to play a key role in activities directed against the Soviet Union . In addition, he devoted himself to the beautiful life. So he has been described by many Russian exiles as an enthusiastic participant in wet and happy social evenings.
In 1941 Shkuro gave in to the Third Reich's requests to take part in the establishment of anti-Soviet Cossack regiments. These troops, recruited from emigrated "white" Russians and Soviet prisoners of war , were supposed to take part in the Second World War on the German side. Shkuro saw the attack on the Soviet Union as an opportunity to free Russia from the Communists .
In 1944 Shkuro took over command of a unit called "Cossack Reserve", which was mainly stationed in Yugoslavia and used there against Titopartisans .
At the end of the war, he was captured by British troops in Austria in early 1945 . These handed him and his men over to Soviet units in the context of Operation Keelhaul , breaking previous assurances . In the Soviet Union he was sentenced to death and executed on January 17, 1947 together with the Russian General Krasnov , who was also involved on the German side in World War II .
In 1997 the public association "For Faith and Fatherland" in Russia asked for the rehabilitation of the generals who had collaborated with Nazi Germany and were executed after the Second World War. On December 25 of the same year, the Military College of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation announced its verdict on Shkuro and other generals such as Pyotr Krasnov , Semyon Krasnov , Sultan Girej-Klycz and Timofei Domanov , according to which they were guilty and could not be rehabilitated.
Web links
- Article Andrei Grigoryevich Shkuro in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE) , 3rd edition 1969–1978 (Russian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Смирнов А. А .: Казачьи атаманы. Издательский дом "Нева", Санкт-Петербург 2002, ISBN 5-7654-2220-9 , pp. 539 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Shkuro, Andrei Grigoryevich |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Shkura, Andrei Grigoryevich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian general during the Russian Civil War and ally of the Nazis |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 19, 1887 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Jekatarinodar |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 17, 1947 |
| Place of death | Moscow |