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A group of Russians captured by the Nazis during Operation Barbarossa: Documents from secret archives have revealed how some Soviets believed the Germans were Christian crusaders come to throw of the yoke of communism. By Allan Hall An extraordinary secret archive has revealed for the first time how thousands of Soviet citizens collaborated with Nazi invaders during World War II.…
Bataillon Nachtigal The formation of the âNachtigalâ battalion (âNightingaleâ) began in Krakov in March, 1941. The formation centre was located in the suburb in former âArbeitdienstâ barracks. German instructors trained there the volunteers that wore the âArbeitdienstâ uniform for security. Those students who had pretensions to get sergeant-major posts finished…
In August 1941 Taras Bulba-Borovets formed the âPolesskaya Hostâ detachment â the Ukrainian militia armed unit. It had German arms and counted about 3.000 persons. Its mission was to clean the swampy and woody region of north-western Ukraine (and partially Byelorussia) from the remains of Red Army and Soviet partisans.…
Ukrainian National Army became the largest Ukrainian formation during the war and included most of Ukrainian volunteers from the German Army. The Ukrainian National Committee which was formed in 1944 and approved by Alfred Rosenberg had elected former officer from UNR (Ukrainian Peopleâs Republic 1921) Pavlo Shandruck as the general…
After just a few weeks since German invasion thousands of Soviet citizens desired to serve in the German army. The number of such volunteers was constantly increasing. There are no precise data, but approximately 1.500.000 Soviet citizens had served in Wehrmacht. From the very first day of the World War…
Just like Legion Nachtigal, Roland was set up by OUN prior the German Invasion to Soviet Union. The training began in May 1941 and vas done in complete secrecy in the castle Saubersdorff in Austria. Supplied with the German instructors the Legion was trained very harshly, spending a lot of…
The Soviet experience of warfare was very different from that of its Allies, Britain and the United States. Large in territory and population, the Soviet Union was poorer than the other two by a wide margin in productivity and income. It was Soviet territory that Hitler wanted for his empire,…
How To Use the Formation Tables BelowThe tables below provide the organization of the Eastern…
A group of Russians captured by the Nazis during Operation Barbarossa: Documents from secret archives…
It is truly ironic that the most numerous units of foreign nationals raised by the…
âOstarbeiterâ (eastern workers) were mostly eastern European women brought to Germany for forced labor. They…
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