The Russian Liberation Army(ROA) was a collaborationist army under the leadership of former Red Army general Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov. The ROA was formed in the Autumn of August, 1944. It first saw action in the Odor river against the Soviets.
Formation[]
Andrey Vlasov wanted to form a liberation army to combat the Stalinist Soviets and to essentially free the entire Soviet Union from Stalin however Hitler denied him this. Vlasov began to work harder to gain a liberation army. In the August autumn of 1944, Vlasov was granted a Liberation Army.
Vlasov speaking with his men
The newly made ROA went threw training and more people joined the ROA. The ROA in 1945 sent out the first ROA division to fight at the Odor front under Commander Sergei Bunyachenko. The first ROA division was formed at Munsingen.
Military actions[]
The ROA first military action was at the Odor front. Heinrich Himmler carefully watched the new divisions behavior, Himmler praised them. After three days of fighting, the first division had to retreat.In the battle of Nuremberg, the ROA was used to fight the American advance but to no success.
Defection and capture[]
The first ROA division went south and met up with Czech insurgents and help them at the Prague Uprising. Vlasov was at first reluctant but ultimately he didn't resist Bunyachenko's choice. The ROA then attempted to surrender to the western allies but all of them were sent to the Soviets. Every member and commander, with the exclusion of a few, was executed in Moscow.
List of Units[]
- 600th Infantry Division(First KONR Division)
- 650th Infantry Division(Second KONR Division)
- 700th Infantry Division(Third KONR Division)(Never finished formation)
Air elements[]
The ROA also had an Airforce which was led by Major General Viktor Ivanovich Maltsev. Two former Soviet ace pilots, Semyon Bychkov and Romanovich Antilevesky also joined the KONR Airforce but never saw much action has the KONR Airforce was disbanded in July, 1944. The KONR Airforce was made out of the following units:
- Ostfliegersstaffel Squadron
- Storkampfstaffel Squadron
Commanders and Members[]
- Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov
- Sergei Kuzmich Bunyachenko
- Mikhail Meandrov
- Mikhail Shapalov
- Viktor Ivanovich Maltsev
- Grigory Zverev
- Georgy Zhilenkov
- Semyon Trofimovich Bychkov
- Bronislav Romanovich Antilevesky
- Turkul Anton Vasilyevich
- Yevgeniy Ivanovich Balabin
- Ivan Denisovich Frolov
- Abram Mikhaylovich Dragomirov
References[]
1:https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/russian-liberation-army.html
2:https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/russian-liberation-army.html/2