29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS "RONA" (Russian No. 1)
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29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS "RONA" (Russian No. 1) |
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.svg) Troop registration |
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| active | August 1944 to 1945 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire
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| Armed forces |
 Armed SS
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| Branch of service | Grenadiers |
| Type | division |
| structure | See outline |
| Colours | white, blue and red |
| commander | |
| list of | Commanders |
| insignia | |
| Sleeve badge |
 
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| Collar Tabs |
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The 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS "RONA" (Russian no. 1) ( Russian Русская Освободительная Народная Армия , Russkaya Oswoboditelnaja Narodnaya Armija , Russian People's Liberation Army was) a division of the Waffen SS , which in the summer of 1944 due to the reclassification Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA was to emerge, but the formation was never carried out. The unit is also often referred to as the Kaminski Brigade after its leader, the Waffen-Brigadführer (with the rank of major general ) of the Waffen-SS Bronislaw Wladislawowitsch Kaminski . On Hitler's orders, the division was only allowed to fight partisans . It was dissolved before the end of the war due to its unreliability.
Kaminski Brigade
The Kaminsky Brigade had its origins in 1941 in Lokot , a city in the Bryansk Oblast ( southern Russia ). After the city was captured by the 2nd Panzer Army , many units of the Red Army withdrew to the surrounding forests in order to attack the German supply lines from there. The German occupiers then allowed the city's mayor, Konstantin Woskobojnik (also: Woskobojnikow), a classmate of Kaminski's, to set up a 500-strong militia . This unit proved itself in the fight against the partisans, whose activities quickly subsided.
After Voskobojnik was killed in action, the commander-in-chief of the 2nd Panzer Army, Colonel General Schmidt , appointed Kaminski as the new commander on August 19, 1942 and allowed him to increase the unit. By autumn 1943 it grew to a brigade of 10,000 men, which was divided into five infantry regiments, an artillery department with 36 field guns, an armored unit with 24 captured T-34 tanks and various supply units. Together with the SS special unit Dirlewanger , the brigade was deployed to fight partisans in the rear of Army Group Center .
When the Red Army reached the operational area of the brigade, it withdrew to the west in autumn 1943, taking its family members and cattle with them, and was subordinate to the head of the SS gang fighting units, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski .
RONA
In 1944 the unit took on the title "Russian People's Liberation Army" ( Russian Ру́сская освободи́тельная наро́дная а́рмия - Russkaja oswoboditelnaja narodnaja armija ). The relatives wore the initials "RONA" on a dark green background over a white shield with a red border with a black cross on the left sleeve as a national emblem.
On August 1, 1944, the division was officially set up and a few days later it was used to put down the Warsaw Uprising , where it was noticeable in the massacres of Wola and Ochota for its particular cruelty and extensive looting. Kaminski and his staff were lured to Łódź under a pretext and, on Bach-Zelewski's orders, shot as a looter after a brief court martial. The version spread among his subordinates was that Kaminski had been ambushed by partisans. According to Heinz Guderian's memoir, however, Kaminski was shot dead in Warsaw for his actions, also to kill a disreputable witness.
After the events in Warsaw, the division, which was still in formation, was repeatedly called in to suppress rebellions, for example in Slovakia . In November 1944, the attempt to bring the division to full strength was finally given up. The remnants of the RONA , around 3,000 men, were integrated into the 1602 Grenadier Regiment of the 600th Infantry Division (Russian) of General Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army at the Münsingen military training area . Division number 29 was reassigned to an Italian SS unit in early March 1945 .
Recruitment and personnel composition
Kaminski initially had extensive freedom in recruiting his men. How many members of which nationalities his “Russian People's Liberation Army” consisted of at a given point in time is unknown. In the literature and various "Internet sources ", allegations that can be read over and over again that these were predominantly Russian and Ukrainian "nationalists", and in some cases even Kalmyks , cannot be confirmed by relevant sources . Statements about the national identity of Kaminski's troops therefore remain speculative. What is certain is that Kaminski's men were former Soviet citizens.
Organization as 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS
- Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment of SS 72 (Russian No. 1)
- Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment of the SS 73 (Russian No. 2)
- Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment of SS 74 (Russian No. 3)
- Waffen-Artillerie-Regiment of SS 29 (Russian No. 1)
- SS Fusilier Battalion 29
- SS Pioneer Battalion 29
- SS tank destroyer division 29
- SS News Department 29
- SS Supply Regiment 29
- SS Veterinary Company 29
- SS medical company 29
- SS Field Replacement Battalion 29
Commanders
- 1. – 28. August 1944 Arms Brigade Leader Bronislaw Wladislawowitsch Kaminski
- August 28 to September 27, 1944: SS Brigadefuhrer and Major General of the Police Christoph Diehm
- September 27 to October 1944: SS group leader and lieutenant general of the police Heinrich Juers
References and comments
- ↑ a b On Voskobojnik's death on January 8, 1942, there are just as different information in the literature as on the relationship between the two men. According to some works, Bronislaw Kaminski “inherited” his predecessor in his office after he was killed in a fight with Russian partisans or a victim of a targeted assassination attempt by the NKVD. Accordingly, Kaminski would have already acted as his right-hand man, or at least as one of the most important subordinates. According to other accounts, the two are even said to have been friends and Kaminski was almost number two in the command hierarchy from the start. After Franz W. Seidler: The collaboration 1939–1945. Historical documentation in biographies. 2nd, reviewed and expanded edition, Herbig-Verlag, Munich a. a. 1999, ISBN 3-7766-2139-7 , p. 281, Kaminski mayor Woskobojnik only “made himself available ” later, which was probably connected with the fact that he first had to “work his way up” in the hierarchy.
- ↑ Heinz Guderian: Memories of a Soldier (autobiography) 18th edition, Motor-Buchverlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-87943-693-2
- ↑ See Rudny (1996), pp. 87-97.
literature
- Christopher Ailsby: The History of the Waffen-SS.
- Reuben Ainsztein : Jewish Resistance in German-Occupied Eastern Europe during the Second World War. Oldenburg 1993, p. 363 ff.
- J. Armstrong: Soviet Partisans in World War II. Madison 1969, pp. 237, 544.
- Alexander Dallin : The Kaminsky Brigade. A Case Study of Soviet Disaffection. In: Revolution and Politics in Russia (= Russian and East European Series, Vol. 41), Indiana University Press 1972.
- Ernst von Dohnányi (unenlightened pseudonym): Fight against Soviet guerrillas , in: Franklin Mark Osanka (ed.): The war from the dark. 20 years of communist guerrilla struggles around the world , Cologne 1943, pp. 153–167 (the article deals with the early phase of the Kaminski Brigade).
- Erich Hesse: The Soviet partisan struggle 1941–1944. Göttingen 1969, p. 176.
- Zenon Rudny: Kontrowersje wokół Brigadführerera Bronisława Kamińskiego . In: Dzieje Najnowsze 38 (1996), Heft 3–4, pp. 87–97.
- Watili Wilenchik: The partisan movement in Belarus 1941–1944. In: Research on Eastern European History , 34 (1984), here p. 257 ff.
- Gordon Williamson: The SS - Hitler's Instrument of Power.
See also
Web links
- Entry at www.zweiter-weltkrieg-lexikon.de ( Memento from March 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive )