The participation of representatives of Don Cossacks in World War II on the side of Third Reich is the page, undeservedly forgotten and pushed to the margins of the national historiography. The combination of words “Nazi collaborators” for today strongly associates in post-Soviet information space with Ukrainian division “Halychyna”, battalions “Nachtigall” and “Roland”.

Rarely general Vlasov and “Russian Liberation Army” are remembered. Such military formations like 29. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS „RONA“, Russian National People’s Army (RNPA) – Sonderverband «Graukopf», Russisches Schutzkorps Serbien, Cossack camp – Kosakenlager as if, forgotten by historians and publicists. Informator.lg.ua collected and concluded the information how Command of the Wehrmacht and the SS had used Don Cossacks as military force and also for strengthening power on occupied territories.

“White spots” of the domestic historiography

In particular, Soviet and Russian historians has been preferring not to concentrate the attention for long decades that the number of Russians had fighted on the side of Nazi Germany consisted from 800 thousands to 1 million of people during World War II. This number includes re-recruited POWs, emigrants and their children and also volunteers from the number of locals of occupied territories. Maybe, they would be called “militants” for today. The work of European, American and some Russian historians on this topic publish as usual in Western countries and don’t available to the average inhabitant of the CIS. However, it’s almost impossible to hide the truth collected by the crumbs in XXI century from those, who interest with real state of things.

For God, Fuehrer and Fatherland?

A big number of representatives of Cossacks, fought against Bolsheviks, were forced to search for shelter outside the created not so long ago USSR, at the beginning of 1920s after final overcome of Bolshevism in Russia. As usual the found it in European countries. Those people from Stanitsa settlements, who decided by different reasons to stay in Russia, experienced soon all the delights of “Red Terror”, collectivization and other “advantages” of Soviet power. Bolsheviks had begun extermination of cossacks even before the ending of the civil war. They made such activity regular after the victory under all their enemies.

There were enough of famous personalities among cossacks, who were forced to run away in Europe with their families, such as the general of Imperial Army Petr Krasnov, lieutenant general Andrei Shkuro, major Ivan Kononov and others.

Generals Petr Krasnov, Helmuth von Pannwitz and other chieftains of Nazi Cossacks

Not a bit representatives of cossack ethnos settled in Weimar Germany, where Adolf Hitler began his political career in a period between two World Wars. According to a number of Western historians, Adolf Hitler at the beginning of his political career used the support of representatives of cossacks, who had a certain influence in political circles of Germany. Afterwards, sympathy of Fuehrer to cossacks determined their important role in the occupation policy of Third Reich in USSR. Cossacks put forward a dubious version for the ideological explanation of the cooperation with nazists that they didn’t directly related to the Slavs and occur from Goths, like separate ethnos. Representatives of Cossacks accepted enthusiastically new historical myth, which had the partial historical basis. “Cossacks! Remember, you are not Russians, you’re Cossacks, independent people. Russian are hostile to us. Moscow always was the enemy of cossacks, it pressured on them and exploited. Now, the time has come, when we, cossacks, can create our independent from Moscow life”, it it the words from speech of chieftain Petr Krasnov in Potsdam on courses of propaganda.   

Revenge

First references about the direct participation of representatives of cossacks in battles with the Red Army are dated by 1941. The commander of 436th regiment of 155th infantry division of Red Army Ivan Kononov removed to service to Nazis on August 22, 1941. He offered to create volunteer cossack unit to resist the Red Army. The military unit consisting of two cavalry and two squadrons and also artillery platoon has been formed by Kononov already in autumn of 1941. It became a base to create 5th Cossack Cavalry Regiment of Wehrmacht.

Created in 1941 defensive line of Nazis on the territory of Donbass along the river Mius, called Mius-front, came on the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The fierce battle in the rear of the Red Army has been already going on the moment of entering to the river Mius of armored units of Wehrmacht. “Cossack reconnaissance battalion of 14th Panzer Corps of Wehrmacht” under the command of Don cossack Nickolay Nazarenko had been directed in rear of Soviet army before the arrival of main offensive forces. During the offensive operation, his unit decided to strike in a back of Red Army men, providing the success of the attack. The offensive of Nazis continued and the number of supporters of a “new power” was growing.  So, representatives of Cossacks had killed representatives of local authority already before German army came in Stanitsa Sinyavska (Rostov region for today). They enthusiastically met coming Nazis and asked them to assist in the creation of hundreds of Cossack. Their requests was satisfied, equipped cossacks with all necessary things and formed from them “Cossack reconnaissance squadron of the 4th Regiment of the Wehrmacht security”. Not less than 7 hundreds of cossacks fought in the Wehrmacht till the end of 1941. The same number added to them in summer 1942. Beginning from 1942 Nazis switched to the creation of cossacks regiments and divisions.

to be continued…
Aleksei Chernov for Informator.lg.ua