Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

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Vasilyev
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Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#1

Post by Vasilyev » 14 Feb 2023, 19:02

In another topic on manpower, the importance of liberated POWs as a source of recruits for the Red Army in the final months of the war came up. Starting a separate thread for discussion and sharing materials about this.

From February 1st to March 8th, 1945, the 59th Collection and transit point (SPP) of the 31st Army sent 1,072 liberated POWs and 669 liberated civilians (654 men and 15 women) to the 199th Reserve Rifle Regiment. More civilians and liberated POWs were sent to various rear services of the army, a phenomenon which seems to have been common everywhere during this period:
Directive of the Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front No. 00469

By orders to the Front’s troops No. 035, 052, and 075 and by Order 020 -1945, exhaustive instructions were given on the issue of collecting and sending repatriates to collection-transit points [SPP) and commandant's offices, these same orders strictly forbid to arbitrary arrest of repatriates, enrolling them in units without checking at the SPP and use in any work without special permission from the Military Council of the Front.

Despite this, a number of violations of the established procedure for the repatriation of Soviet and Allied citizens and prisoners of war have recently been revealed.

Facts of illegal detention of repatriates by army and front units and unauthorized use of them in various jobs still take place, in particular such facts are available in 61st Army, where the number of illegally detained is up to 5,000 people. Similar violations were identified in 27 UOS RGK [ Defense Construction Department Number 27 of the Reserve of the High Command] and UVVR 20 [Department for Military Reconstruction Work Number 20].

The established procedure for the collection and management of certain categories of repatriates at army collection and transit points is violated. These checkpoints should only contain Soviet military personnel of the Red Army released from prison and freed from captivity, but in fact in many cases it is permitted to keep Soviet citizens and prisoners of war together with citizens and prisoners of war of the Allied countries.

Accounting for repatriates at army SPPs is poorly set up. Registration cards for Soviet citizens of military age and soldiers of the Red Army who passed through the points, released from captivity - are not filled out. There is no data on where, and how many of these persons were sent from the points.

At the additional assembly points created at the road units of the army, the joint detention of Soviet citizens together with citizens and prisoners of war of the allied countries is allowed (134th ODZB [Seperate Road Provisioning Battalion] of the 47th Army and others).

Some commanders and chiefs, especially of rear units and institutions, as well as military commanders of cities and regions, arbitrarily detain repatriates on their way to collection points and use them for work.

Over 9,000 repatriates were detained by the military commanders of cities and districts just during the period of the January offensive.

There are also individual cases when repatriates are subjected to illegal searches at the checkpoint, where their belongings and horses are taken from them.

Concerning this:

1) Establish proper order at the army collection and transit points, ensuring accurate accounting of the passing contingents and data on the further direction of each of them.

Do not allow the admission to the army SPP and contain in them any category of repatriates except for former Red Army soldiers and Soviet citizens of military age, released from captivity and imprisonment.

2) The Military Councils of the Armies of the Commanders and Chiefs of the Armed Forces and Services of the Front, will organize inspections of rear units and institutions, especially trophy and road-building ones.

All repatriates who are illegally detained or arbitrarily enlisted in these units and institutions must be taken and sent to the front-line SPP and commandant's offices, in accordance with orders to the front troops Number 020 and 023 - 1945.

The officials responsible for this will be severely punished.

3) For the required number of laborers from among the liberated Soviet citizens, submit substantiated applications to the Military Council of the front.

I categorically prohibit the employment of repatriates from among the military prisoners of war and citizens of the Allied countries for any work, these categories of repatriates can only be involved in work related to their personal service inside the commandant's offices, front-line collection points.

4) At all army and front SPPs, immediately separate Soviet citizens from foreigners and in the future do not allow them to be kept together, and even more so when both are kept together with German prisoners of war.

5) Shut down unauthorized illegal searches of repatriates and seizing of their property and means of transportation (oxen and horses).

6) Bringing repatriates on the way through the army subsidiary points at the road units is to be carried out in strict accordance with the Order of the Chief of the Rear of the Front Number 33-1945.

7) To the head of the rear of the front, ensure the uninterrupted supply of repatriates at the front-line SPPs and commandant's offices, with all types of provisions and the creation of established unreduced food supplies in commandant's offices and SPPs.

8) On the implementation of the directive by the Military Council of the Army, report implementation to me by May 7th.

9) I entrust the control over the implementation of this directive to the head of the repatriation department - Colonel Kurovsky.
https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=450263191

https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=130462076

Liberated POWs/civilians who couldn't be deployed for frontline service were still utilized as labor for the rear, especially in repair and construction, on a legal and illegal basis.

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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#2

Post by Art » 14 Feb 2023, 21:45

See the known story of the Devyatayev's escape. As the wikipedia staff claim:
The NKVD did not believe Devyataev's story, arguing that it was impossible for the prisoners to take over an airplane without cooperation from the Germans. After a short time in hospital in late March 1945 seven of the escapees were sent to serve in a penal military unit
In reality these seven men ended up in the 447 Rifle Regiment/397 Rifle Division/61 Army which is well traced from the original documents.

Also see a related disseration by Latyshev from another topic:
viewtopic.php?p=2069755#p2069755


Vasilyev
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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#3

Post by Vasilyev » 14 Feb 2023, 23:10

Art wrote:
14 Feb 2023, 21:45
See the known story of the Devyatayev's escape. As the wikipedia staff claim:
The NKVD did not believe Devyataev's story, arguing that it was impossible for the prisoners to take over an airplane without cooperation from the Germans. After a short time in hospital in late March 1945 seven of the escapees were sent to serve in a penal military unit
In reality these seven men ended up in the 447 Rifle Regiment/397 Rifle Division/61 Army which is well traced from the original documents.

Also see a realted disseration by Latyshev from another topic:
viewtopic.php?p=2069755#p2069755
Thanks for sharing! Latyshev is excellent.

Below is a summary of replacements received by 1st Belorussian Front from December-April, 1945. I assume nearly all of the replacements under the "обычное" heading for Army Reserve Rifle Regiments are liberated POWs/civilians and some component of the same heading for the Front's Reserve Rifle Division and march replacements (Repatriates are only noted for the Front for March) . Shame April doesn't break down the "army resources" between convalescents and liberated POWs/civilians.
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00000471_1.jpg
00000313.jpg
C5CCBE30-C65A-4E12-B90F-A90361EF2AA0.jpeg
00000513.jpg
Locally recruited POWs/civilians liberated from captivity make up a very substantial contribution to the Front's replacements. When you count those not included in the above numbers who were recruited directly into combat formations, sent from Army/Front SPPs and other points directly to the front, or sent to man rear bodies or perform labor in the rear, their contribution is even more substantial.

Some details on the movement of the "special contingent" for 2nd Belorussian Front for the first 20 days of April are here:

https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=152814197

https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=152814198

I assume this is only Front-level processing and doesn't include lower-level processing.

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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#4

Post by LineDoggie » 15 Feb 2023, 03:00

On 19 January 1946, a detail of Third Army troops -men and officers far from pleased with their assignment- undertook to put 399 former Soviet soldiers aboard a train at Dachau. The Russians refused to leave their quarters and, after tear gas was used to force them out, 9 were found to have hanged themselves, 2 had stabbed themselves to death, and 20 others had to be hospitalized for self-inflicted wounds.

Of the 368 Russians eventually put aboard the train, 11 were found at the last minute not to be Soviet citizens and six escaped en route.

In a dismal final scene in the Soviet zone, Russian soldiers threatened to shoot the American guards if they attempted to leave the train. Hoping to avoid another such series of events, Third Army postponed further shipments while it reworked its procedures and awaited the results of appeals from the Russian Orthodox clergy to the President and the Pope.
60


(1) Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. V, p. 141f. (2) Hqs, Third Army, AG, to Distribution, sub: Procedure for Repatriation of Russian Nationals, 22 Jan 46, in USFET, Hist Div, U-11068/69. (3) Opns Rpt, Third Army, CofS Sec, 1 Jan-31 Mar, in EUCOM, P-120, 66-98.


https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ ... m#contents
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Art
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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#5

Post by Art » 16 Feb 2023, 08:37

Vasilyev wrote:
14 Feb 2023, 23:10
Some details on the movement of the "special contingent" for 2nd Belorussian Front for the first 20 days of April are here:

https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=152814197

https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=152814198

I assume this is only Front-level processing and doesn't include lower-level processing.
I believe these are total numbers for POWs and displaced civilians registered on the Front's territory.

In a nigher level Soviet office of plenipotentiary for repatriations registered the following numbers of POWs and civil DP registered on the territory of Germany
Jan 45 - 8421
Feb 45 - 54 296
Mar 45 - 92 795
Apr 45 - 87 543
May 45 - 204 121

Poland:
Jan-Feb 45 - 1823
Mar 45 - 5679
Apr 45 - 24 498
May 45 - 1569

Romania:
Oct 44 - 7482
Nov 44 - 23 842
Dec 44 - 36 744
Jan 45 - 18 062
Feb 45 - 1988
Mar 45 - 16 605
Apr 45 - 6684
May 45 - 4985

And also some numbers from Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
From Zemskov's book on repatriation:
http://militera.lib.ru/research/zemskov_vn02/index.html

Total by the end of the war there several hundred thousand POWs and Soviet civilians recovered on the territory of Eastern Europe, and also repatriates sent from West Europe and about 100,000 POWs and civilians repatriated from Finland after the armistice.
LineDoggie wrote:
15 Feb 2023, 03:00
On 19 January 1946, a detail of Third Army troops -men and officers far from pleased with their assignment- undertook to put 399 former Soviet soldiers aboard a train at Dachau.

These were collaborators from ROA, Russian Schutzkorps etc., some of them were Russian emigrants and never were in the Soviet army.

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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#6

Post by Vasilyev » 16 Feb 2023, 18:25

Art wrote:
16 Feb 2023, 08:37
Vasilyev wrote:
14 Feb 2023, 23:10
Some details on the movement of the "special contingent" for 2nd Belorussian Front for the first 20 days of April are here:

https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=152814197

https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=152814198

I assume this is only Front-level processing and doesn't include lower-level processing.
I believe these are total numbers for POWs and displaced civilians registered on the Front's territory.

In a nigher level Soviet office of plenipotentiary for repatriations registered the following numbers of POWs and civil DP registered on the territory of Germany
Jan 45 - 8421
Feb 45 - 54 296
Mar 45 - 92 795
Apr 45 - 87 543
May 45 - 204 121

Poland:
Jan-Feb 45 - 1823
Mar 45 - 5679
Apr 45 - 24 498
May 45 - 1569

Romania:
Oct 44 - 7482
Nov 44 - 23 842
Dec 44 - 36 744
Jan 45 - 18 062
Feb 45 - 1988
Mar 45 - 16 605
Apr 45 - 6684
May 45 - 4985

And also some numbers from Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
From Zemskov's book on repatriation:
http://militera.lib.ru/research/zemskov_vn02/index.html

Total by the end of the war there several hundred thousand POWs and Soviet civilians recovered on the territory of Eastern Europe, and also repatriates sent from West Europe and about 100,000 POWs and civilians repatriated from Finland after the armistice.
An additional report for 2nd Belorussian Front adds numbers for the end of April: http://docs.historyrussia.org/ru/nodes/ ... e/1/zoom/4

Total Soviet civilians and POWs liberated for April is 40,736, nearly all from the Front's operations west of the Oder in the second half of April. That's nearly half of all those officially registered in April. Given the complete disorder in the rear, those higher level numbers from Zemskov probably only represent a floor, not a ceiling.

1st Ukrainian Front gives "more than 40,000" liberated civilians and POWs sent to reinforce its units up to March 20: http://docs.historyrussia.org/ru/nodes/ ... e/1/zoom/4

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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#7

Post by Art » 18 Feb 2023, 13:29

Zemskov numbers (based on records of the Soviet office for repatriation) stand for men repatriated. It appears that "repatriated" actually also included personnel inducted to military on foreign territory. The total numbers near the end of the war (as of 20 May 1945) were as follows:
557 567 POWs and 766 128 civil displaced persons registered abroad
of them 273 602 POWs and 461 087 civil DP repatriated
In addition 258 228 former POWs and 789 725 civilans repatrated from western regions of the USSR.
This total number of 1,782,642 POWs and civiliains included:
1,082,973 returned to home area
553,831 transferred to the disposal of Glavupraform (i.e. to the military)
145,838 sent to NKVD filtration camps (from which some also ended in the military)
(Golikov's report to Stalin on 19 May 1945)
Again repatriation from foreign countires includes men returned from Finland of Western countries.

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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#8

Post by Vasilyev » 22 Feb 2023, 00:09

Art wrote:
18 Feb 2023, 13:29
Zemskov numbers (based on records of the Soviet office for repatriation) stand for men repatriated. It appears that "repatriated" actually also included personnel inducted to military on foreign territory. The total numbers near the end of the war (as of 20 May 1945) were as follows:
557 567 POWs and 766 128 civil displaced persons registered abroad
of them 273 602 POWs and 461 087 civil DP repatriated
In addition 258 228 former POWs and 789 725 civilans repatrated from western regions of the USSR.
This total number of 1,782,642 POWs and civiliains included:
1,082,973 returned to home area
553,831 transferred to the disposal of Glavupraform (i.e. to the military)
145,838 sent to NKVD filtration camps (from which some also ended in the military)
(Golikov's report to Stalin on 19 May 1945)
Again repatriation from foreign countires includes men returned from Finland of Western countries.
Some number (10s of thousands) of those marked "returned home" were probably deployed by the Fronts/Armies and other rear institutions for work. At least 30,000 Soviet civilians and over 10,000 foreign civilians were working for 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Front as of 4/17:

http://docs.historyrussia.org/ru/nodes/ ... e/1/zoom/4

I've seen several documents from that collection mention that thousands of those cleared to return home were used for local work instead.

Do you know how civilian labor was utilized before 1945? I assume the use of liberated civilians for rear work was a continuation of how things were done by the field army within the USSR.

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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#9

Post by thorwald77 » 08 May 2023, 19:29

The data in Krivosheev 2010 is relevent to this discussion.

1-On page 213 2.237 million -deducted from the total called up during the war. This includes 939,700 re-conscripted.
2-On page 217 427,900 -sent to penal units.
3-On page 219 376,300 -imprisoned for desertion.
4- The combined total of 427,900 and 376,300 is 939,200.
5-The Krivosheev total of POW/MIA is 1,783,000.

Missing/Pow
(1,000)
4,455.6 Army/Navy
32.0 Civilians
103.4 Border/Security
4,591.0 Total missing

Less:
(1,368.8) Released POW (Page 501)
(376.3) Deserters
(135.0) Convicts executed
(427.9) Convicts sent to penal sub-units
(500.0) reported missing
1,783.0 Total missing and Pow

Total losses

8,668.0 Krivosheev balance
2,164.0 Forced labor in Germany
550.0 Sluzba Tyl (support units)
562.0 Convicts (executed & penal units)
11,944.0 Irrecoverable losses

94.0 Civilian losses (page 229)
376.0 Deserters
12,414.0 Total losses
Last edited by thorwald77 on 08 May 2023, 20:17, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#10

Post by thorwald77 » 08 May 2023, 20:01

Estimated actual of ADK balance of total war losses

11,944.1 Army/Navy
94.6 Civilians in military
376.3 Deserters
4,500.0 Civilians killed
658.0 Siege of Leningrad
40.0 Bombing of Stalingrad
17,613.0 Direct war losses

Demographic losses
4,100.0 Occupied region
3,600.0 Unoccupied region
1,300.0 Increase in infant mortality
26,613.0 Total war losses

Demographic losses include increase in natural deaths due to famine and disease and the decline in births.

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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#11

Post by thorwald77 » 08 May 2023, 20:16

Estimated actual detail of Military Archive balance

11,944.0 Total military
2,016.0 Pow released
354.0 Filtration
94.0 Civilians
(563.0) Convicts
13,845.0 Archive balance

12,431.2 Enlisted men Army
1,1000.0 Officers
154.8 Navy
159.0 Border Security
13,845.0 Archive balance

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Re: Liberated Soviet POWs/Civilians in 1945

#12

Post by thorwald77 » 08 May 2023, 22:08

The deserters and convicts also appear in the official Russian statistic of civilians exterminated by Germany

550,100 Sluzba Tyl
562,900 Convicts
91,100 Civilians in military
376,300 Deserters
4,500,000 Civilians killed
658,000 Siege of Leningrad
40,000 Bombing of Stalingrad
190,600 Pow not retured to USSR 3/1946
451,100 2nd emmigratiom
7,420,100

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