Special Association Graukopf

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The Special Association Graukopf was a test association formed by the German Wehrmacht on the initiative of Russian exiles, made up of Russians willing to collaborate , to carry out the dismantling of the Red Army and insurgent tasks behind the front. This irregularly fighting association was also called the Russian National People's Army (Russian Русская национальная народная армия ; not to be confused with the unit, which was renamed the 1st Russian National Army in 1945 ) or Trial Association Middle .

Creation of the association

The special unit was formed in April 1942 at the suggestion of Russian exiles by Abwehr II and Army Group Center and stationed in Osintorf ( Belarus ). The first leadership ranks consisted of the Berlin exile Russians Sergej N. Ivanov (* 1900 in St. Petersburg ; whereabouts unknown), Igor K. Sakharov (* 1912 in Saratow , † 1977 in Australia ), who was a mercenary and German agent in the Spanish Civil War Sides of the anti-communist and fascist Falangists who supported the coup of General Franco , and the tsarist regimental commander Konstantin G. Kromiadi (* 1893 in Kars ( Russian Empire ), † 1990). The company was named after the civil war veteran Ivanov, who stood out because of his gray hair. Ivanov's code name was Hans Bergdorf , Kromiadi's code name was Sanin , Sakharov's Levin . Those involved also included various members of the Russian aristocracy, such as the Paris exiles Count Grigorij Lamsdorf and Count Sergej von der Pahlen . Further officers and men were recruited from prisoner-of-war camps of Army Group Center and supplemented by defectors. The plan submitted by the Russian emigrants to the OKW was originally to infiltrate Moscow with the Association in order to overthrow Stalin and the Soviet rulers there and to enable the German Wehrmacht to march into the city.

Graukopf company

The first mission of the unit, about which it is most well known, was a commando action in which on May 23, 1942, 350 Russian divers in the area of ​​Army Group Center were killed behind the lines of encircled Soviet troops and partisans, with great losses to raise General Pawel A. Below's staff during the Hanover undertaking to " fight gangs ", to usurp his communication apparatus and to spread anti-Soviet propaganda and false orders among the encircled troops, which failed. However, 500 Soviet soldiers were disarmed and great confusion was caused in the enemy rear. There was lively fighting with heavy losses on both sides, so that only a little more than 100 men returned to the German lines. It is unknown whether members of the special unit defected to the Soviet armed forces during the fighting, but it cannot be ruled out with certainty. The activities of the Graukopf Association also included further commando operations, enemy reconnaissance by scouting troops, propaganda directed against Red Army soldiers and partisans to recruit defectors, re-education of Red Army soldiers and military training, provision of agents and experiments with frontal infiltration. The Russian collaborators were given an enclave at Schklou for self-administration. Soldiers from the Graukopf Association were called in to perform security tasks and helped comb through forest areas and track down partisans. To improve the mood among the population, they helped bring in the harvest and distributed aids from the collections of Russian emigrants.

Equipment and strength

The men were camouflaged in Soviet uniforms. The Graukopf Association reached a strength of 3,000 men and had its own staff and intelligence service. The equipment included scout cars, grenade launchers, artillery pieces, 45 mm anti-tank guns and Maxim heavy machine guns .

End of the association

The emigrants, regarded as unreliable, were removed from the association in the autumn of 1942 and replaced by Soviet cadre prisoners of war. At the end of 1942 the Graukopf company was broken off and the last Russian commanders Vladimir Bojarskij, Georgi N. Schilenkow and Rudolf Riehl were also deposed. The regular Eastern Battalions 633 to 637 that emerged from the association were used to fight partisans and in autumn 1943 were mainly relocated to France. As far as they had surrendered after the invasion of Normandy, the teams were extradited to the Soviet Union. In many cases, the emigrants were able to escape capture by the Soviets, as they were not considered Soviet citizens under the Yalta Agreement and therefore did not have to be extradited by the Western Allies.

literature

  • John Armstrong: Soviet Partisans in World War II . 1964, p. 440 ff.
  • Gert Buchheit : The German Secret Service - History of Military Defense . List, Munich 1966, p. 266 f.
  • Julius Mader: Hitler's anti-spy generals testify . Berlin (GDR) 1979, p. 198.
  • Timm C. Richter: "Herrenmensch" and "Bandit" . LIT, Münster 1998, p. 53.
  • Sven Steenberg : Vlasow - traitor or patriot . Science and Politics, Munich 1968, p. 60 ff.
  • Jürgen Thorwald: The illusion . Droemer Knaur, 1974, p. 129.
  • R. Chr. Freiherr von Gersdorff: Soldier in decline . 1977, p. 115 f.
  • Burkhard von Grafenstein: From Putsch Plan to Military Experiment: The Graukopf Company . in: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies 4, 2, 2010, pp. 108–127.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Grafenstein 2010, p. 112.
  2. ^ Grafenstein 2010, p. 117.
  3. ↑ Buchheit 1966, pp. 266f.
  4. ↑ Grafenstein 2010, p. 118.
  5. ^ Grafenstein, 2010, p. 116 u. 120.