Battles of ROA

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Sturmschwein
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Battles of ROA

#1

Post by Sturmschwein » 04 Dec 2019, 21:35

In wich battles the Russian liberation army was involved after the the ROA exist officially in 1944 ?

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Steve
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Re: Battles of ROA

#2

Post by Steve » 22 Dec 2019, 20:30

Hi, I presume you are referring to the units Vlasov formed after meeting with Himmler in September 1944 known as the KONR. Himmler agreed to the formation of two divisions with a third as a possibility.

The 1st division has it’s passing out parade at Munsingen in southern Germany on February 16 1945 and numbered either then or shortly afterwards 20,000 men. After moving to the Oder front the division was ordered on April 6 to liquidate a Soviet bridgehead near Frankfurt on Oder. The attack on the 13th failed due to heavy Soviet flanking fire. Against German orders the division moved south towards Prague presumably hoping to link up with the 2nd division. It saw some further action against Germans during the Prague uprising and on May 7 left Prague. On May 12 at Schlusselburg the order was given for disbandment of the division and the men to fend for themselves.

The 2nd division was formed at Heuberg in southern Germany and in April moved towards Czechoslovakia via Linz. While in Austria the 2nd made contact with the Americans on May 5 and were ordered to surrender but also received a messenger from Vlasov ordering them to march into Czechoslovakia and join with the 1st. While trying to make contact with Vlasov the commanders of the division together with Vlasov’s envoy were captured by communist partisans. The 2nd division surrendered to the Americans.


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Re: Battles of ROA

#3

Post by Sturmschwein » 03 Jan 2020, 16:38

Okay thank you for your answer but did they were involved in any other battles ? I always reading only about the attack on the soviet bridgehead but 1st division was earlier on the Oder than april or not ?

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Re: Battles of ROA

#4

Post by Steve » 03 Jan 2020, 22:31

Hi, the 1st Division held it’s passing out parade at Munsingen on February 16 two weeks later it was ordered to move to Stettin in Pomerania by rail. Shortly afterward the orders were changed and it was now ordered to move to the Cottbus area south of Berlin. Because of disruption to rail lines it had to march to Nuremburg to entrain and did not reach it’s destination till March 26. The order to attack the bridgehead was received on April 6 and Vlasov told his commanders that it must be undertaken regardless of the risk of failure. Apparently he expected the attack to fail but Himmler had insisted the division attack. It seems that he ordered the division’s commander Bunyachenko to withdraw from the front once the attack failed. This attack and the fighting in Prague is it.

From - Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement by Catherine Andreyev – a dry read and from the reviews on Amazon not to everyone’s taste but I doubt that anything about Vlasov that is known has been left out.

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Re: Battles of ROA

#5

Post by Sturmschwein » 12 Jan 2020, 01:19

thank you very much for your answer ! Whats about the Strikegroup Sacharov ? As far as i know they fighting on the Oder already in february. Did they stay on the Oder after the first battle and did they were involved in any other battles ? And how big the strikegroup was ? I think there are less information about it but I hope you know something

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Re: Battles of ROA

#6

Post by Steve » 14 Jan 2020, 03:36

Hello,there is a mention in Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement of a Colonel Sakhalov who presumably is the same man as Sacharov. He joined the 1st division when they were marching towards Prague near Senftenberg leading a regiment of Russian volunteers. Sakhalov is also mentioned as being one of Vlasov’s aids de camp when he met Himmler in September 44 but it is doubtful that he went into to meeting.

I also found mention of Colonel Sakharov in Victims of Yalta by Nicolai Tolstoy. Apparently he together with a Colonel Lamsdorff led a group of volunteers drawn from Russian nationals stationed at Stettin. They distinguished themselves in an attack on a Russian bridgehead at Neulowin on the Oder. The link below gives some information about him.

https://prabook.com/web/igor_.sakharov/1034923

The link below gives a picture of Igor k Sacharov.

https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Kons ... D_Sacharov

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