Turkistani Legion
The Turkistani Legion was one of the Eastern Legions deployed on the German side during World War II . It consisted of members of Turkic peoples who had become prisoners of war in Germany .
history
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, millions of Red Army soldiers soon fell into German captivity. At first, the members of the "Turkic peoples" below were described as racially inferior; as early as autumn 1941 another official stance was announced. When it became clear in December 1941 that the war was going to last a long time, people began to consider the potential benefits that anti-Russian sentiments could bring to oppressed minorities.
Proposals were accepted to set up military units from anti-Soviet prisoners of war. Unlike the Baltic states or the Ukraine , for example , Turkestan in Central Asia was not occupied by German troops. However, since the German leadership was already thinking “into the future”, the establishment of an Idel-Ural state on the other side of the Urals was envisaged , which was supposed to exert “pressure” on the rest of the Russian state from the east.
The establishment of the Turkestan Reichskommissariat was planned on the territories of the Central Asian republics of the USSR. But the Nazi regime promised the soldiers of the Turkestan Legion to establish the " Greater Turkestan " for propaganda purposes , which, in addition to Central Asia, would also include the Volga region, Azerbaijan , the North Caucasus and Xinjiang . On November 15, 1941, Eduard Wagner , Quartermaster General in the Army High Command , issued an order "On the establishment of a military unit made up of prisoners of war from Turkestan and Caucasian nationalities". According to this order, a Turkestan regiment was created within the German 444th Security Division under the command of First Lieutenant Taube.
In May 1942 the first "Turkistani Legion" was set up; it initially consisted of a single battalion. By the end of 1943 a total of 16 battalions with a total strength of around 16,000 soldiers had been created. Standing under the command of a Wehrmacht general , the relatives were finally integrated into the 162nd Infantry Division . In mid-June 1943 Ernst-August Köstring was appointed inspector of the Turkistani Legion and on January 1, 1944 he was promoted to General of the Eastern Legions in the Army High Command. In order to rule out a possible capture by the “Red Army”, the Turkistani Legion was transferred to France or northern Italy. In 1945 most of the Legion was captured by the British Army.
According to the agreement reached at the Yalta Conference , the members of the Legion were returned to the Soviet Union, where they suffered the same fate as the other so-called "Eastern peoples" who had switched sides: Stalin had them deported to remote areas of the Soviet Union.
Turkestani in the Wehrmacht:
literature
- Flagmaster No. 105, Summer 2002, publication by The Flag Institute, Mayfair, London, W1J5NS, United Kingdom.
- Werner H. Krause: Despised Brothers in Arms. The tragedy of the Eastern peoples 1941 - 1945. From the estate of the military attaché and general Ernst Köstring. Druffel & Vowinckel , Inning am Ammersee 2011 ISBN 3806112126
Web links
notes
- ↑ According to information provided there, "Eastern Legion" was a superordinate term, both for this Turkistani L., as well as for another, real "Caucasian-Mohammedan Legion"; as well as for other legions that did not get beyond the planning stage.
- ↑ Л. А. Безыменский: Разгаданные загадки Третьего рейха. Книга не только о прошлом, 1941-1945. том 2. М. 1984, p. 22-23 .
- ↑ Романько О.В: Мусульманские легионы во Второй мировой войне . М: АСТ; Транзиткнига, 2004.
- ↑ С. И. Дробязко: Под знаменами врага. Антисоветские формирования в составе германских вооружённых сил 1941—1945 гг. М .: Эксмо, 2004, p. 150-159 .
- ↑ the specific profile of the publisher must be observed.