29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS RONA (1st Russian)

29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS "RONA" (1st Russian) (also known as the Kaminski Brigade) was an anti-partisan formation made of the people from so-called Lokot Autonomy territory in the Nazi Germany-occupied Russia during World War II. The formation saw action behind the German lines of the Eastern Front and was later became folded into the Waffen-SS.

History

Lokot Autonomy

When the Germans advanced into the Soviet Union in June 1941, many saw them as liberators. While many prisoners of war were taken, many Soviets escaped capture and retreated to the forests to wage a guerrilla war on the Germans. To supply their campaigns, the Soviet partisans often raided towns and villages for food and supplies.

In October 1941, near the city of Bryansk, citizens of the town of Lokot banded together to defend their town from such raids. They elected the Russian born Konstantin Voskoboinik as Mayor and commander of the defence. Voskoboinik's Saint Petersburg classmate, the German-Polish engineer Bronislav Kaminski (former volunteer of the Red Army from the Russian Civil War), was elected as deputy commander. Initially the militia numbered no more than 400-500 men. The Commander of Army Group Centre, Günther von Kluge and the commander of Panzergruppe 1, Heinz Guderian approved the creation of the Lokot Autonomy, which received some degree of autonomy and self rule.

The population of the region grew Fact|date=June 2008 as Russians, Byelorussians, and other former Soviet citizens looking to escape the harassment of the partisans began to move into the area. Soon there were too many people to be accommodated in the town Fact|date=June 2008, and so a militia was created to protect the expanding republic. Equipped mostly with a mixture of captured Red Army uniforms and weapons, the militia began to expand.

During a partisan attack in January 1942, Voskoboinik was killed, and so Kaminski took over command of the Autonomy and its expanding militia. In cooperation with German forces, the militia began commencing aggressive anti-partisan operations. In June 1942, the group took part in the major action codenamed Operation Vogelsang as a part of "Generalleutnant" Werner Freiherr von und zu Gilsa's Gruppe Gilsa II. The militia, serving as guides, scouts and translators, stayed with the Gruppe until it was disbanded in October 1942.

By late 1942, the armed forces of the Lokot Autonomy had expanded to the size of a five-regiment brigade, close to 10,000 men under arms. Kaminski now decided to give his militia an official title. He decided on the Russian National Liberation Army ("Russkaya Osvoboditelnaya Narodnaya Armiya", RONA). The Germans now decided to send heavy weapons (36 captured Soviet field guns and 24 captured T-34/76 tanks in various states of disrepair) to reinforce Kaminski's militia, which was now rostered upon the official German order of battle as the Kaminski Brigade. The brigade was tasked with controlling the partisan presence in the forests which covered the Bryansk Oblast.

In the summer of 1943, the brigade began to suffer major desertions, due in part to the recent Soviet victories and in part to the efforts of the partisans to "turn" as many of Kaminski's troops as possible. As a part of these efforts, several attempts on Kaminski's life were carried out. Each time, Kaminski narrowly avoided death and punished the conspirators with execution. Several German officers passing through Lokot reported seeing bodies hanging from gallows outside Kaminski's headquarters. Fearing a breakdown in command, a German liaison staff was attached to Kaminski's HQ to restructure the brigade and return stability to the unit.

Prior to Operation Citadel, the massive offensive to destroy the Kursk salient, the brigade took part in several major anti-partisan operations aimed at protecting German supply lines. In Operations Zigeunerbaron, Freischütz and Tannenhauser, the brigade was involved in action against partisans and also took part in reprisal operations against the civilian population.

After the failure of Citadel, the Soviet counteroffensives forced the brigade, along with the their families (around 30,000 civilians), back with the retreating Germans.

Retreat

During the retreat, desertions from the brigade increased greatly, and the entire formation seemed close to disintegration. When the commander of the Second Regiment threatened to join the partisans (he was offered amnesty if his entire regiment joined the partisans), Kaminski flew to his headquarters and according to one account, strangled him in front of his men. Despite losing many men to desertion, Kaminski instigated harsh measures to keep the brigade together.

The brigade finally settled in the Lepel area of Polotsk. This area was overrun by partisans, and the brigade was involved in heavy combat in this area for the rest of the year. Early in 1944, the brigade was relocated to Warthegau. At this point, the brigade's ranks were replenished by the addition of Belorussian police forces, resulting in a worsening of discipline.

In March 1944, the brigade was renamed Volksheer-Brigade "Kaminski" for a brief period, before it was absorbed as a part of the Waffen-SS in June 1944. With its transfer to the Waffen-SS, the brigade was renamed Waffen-Sturm-Brigade "RONA", and Kaminski was given the rank of "Waffen-Brigadeführer der SS", as the only man with such rank. Plans were made for a Russian/Byelorussian SS Division, and the structure was laid down for the 29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr.1).

During this period, the brigade was attached to Kampfgruppe" von Gottberg", an anti-partisan formation which also contained Dr. Oskar Dirlewanger's infamous SS-Sturmbrigade "Dirlewanger". The brigade took part in several anti-partisan operations and committed numerous atrocities against the civilian population.

As the front line approached again, the brigade and accompanying civilian refugees were due to be evacuated to Hungary, but the start of the Slovak National Uprising left it stranded in a railway trains near Racibórz in southern Poland.

Warsaw

When the Armia Krajowa rose in Warsaw Uprising on 1 August 1944, the brigade was ordered north to assist the efforts in crushing the rebellion. SS-"Gruppenführer" Heinz Reinfarth was placed in charge of Kampfgruppe "Reinfarth", a pacification unit which consisted of the "Kaminski" along with the "Dirlewanger" and several other Ordnungspolizei and SS rear area units. Himmler personally requested Kaminsky's assistance, and the latter obliged by gathering a task force of 1,700 unmarried men and sending them (together with four T-34 tanks, one SU-76 and few artillery pieces) to Warsaw as the 1st Regiment under field command of Kaminski's deputy, SS-"Sturmbannführer" Yuri Frolov.

"Kaminski" volunteers were first tasked with clearing the sector of Ochota district defended by only 300 poorly-armed Poles. Their attack was planned for the morning of August 5, but when the time came, the Kaminski's men could not be found; after some searching, they were found looting abandoned houses in the rear. The attack finally got underway shortly before noon, and the assault went poorly, with the brigade advancing only 275 meters before nightfall. The men had no training for or prior experience in urban combat (for many it was first time they had even seen a major city) and they fought poorly while suffering high casualties. At the same time, thousands of Polish civilians were killed by the RONA SS men during the events known as Ochota massacre; many victims were also raped. Mid-month, the "Kaminski" was moved south to the Wola sector, but it fared no better in combat here than in Ochota; in one incident a sub-unit had stopped their advance to loot a captured building on the front line and was consequently cut off and wiped-out by the Poles.

By August 27, the German commanders decided the brigade was too indisciplined and unreliable. In almost a month of fighting, the brigade had still not achieved any its major objectives. German commander in Warsaw, SS-"Obergruppenführer" Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, stated in post war trials that the unit "had no military combat value whatsoever, with both officers and soldiers having not even a hint of tactical understanding. (...) I saw Kaminski's men removing entire cartloads of stolen jewelry, gold watches, and precious stones. The capture of a liquor supply was more important for the brigade than the seizure of a position commanding the same street. Each assault has been instantly stopped, because after taking the objective over, units dispersed into loose plundering hordes." Kaminski himself was involved in the looting in Warsaw, claiming he was collecting for his "Russian Liberation Fund". Major General Günter Rohr, commander of the Warsaw's southern sector, demanded that the brigade be removed from his command. Bach-Zelewski agreed, as the troublesome unit was slowing his efforts to suppress the uprising. As soon as replacement units were available, the "Kaminski" was pulled out of the line after losing about 500 men in combat during the fighting in Warsaw, including its commander Frolov killed by flamethrower.

The RONA volunteers, now decimated and infamous even among the SS, were then assigned to the Kampinos Forest to help seal off Warsaw. During their stay in the forest, the unit's artillery battery and one of its infantry battalions were suddenly attacked by 80 Polish partisans led by Lieutenant Colonel "Dolina" (Adolf Pilch) while stationed at the emptied village of Truskaw. Nearly 100 Russian and German SS-men died in the midnight assault; the remnants of the battalion, which was mostly drunk at the time of the attack, fled in disarray discarding their weapons. In Truskaw the 1st Regiment lost its whole artillery and much of the loot from the city. [pl icon [http://wilk.wpk.p.lodz.pl/~whatfor/rona.htm Rosyjska Narodowa Armia Wyzwoleńcza] ] According to some Polish sources, 250 RONA troops were killed during the night of September 2-3 in the raid on Truskaw, and 100 more in the raid on the village of Marianów the next night. [pl icon [http://www.ibprs.pl/ak_obroza_kampinos/44.html VII Obwód "Obroża" Okręgu Warszawskiego Armii Krajowej] ] A captured diary of the "Kaminski" brigade soldier Ivan Vashenko killed at Truskaw was published in Poland in 1947. [pl icon Dziennik Iwana Waszenko — "Dzieje Najnowsze, zesz. 2, 1947, p. 324—335]

Dissolution

Kampinos disaster was the last combat action of the brigade. Soon, Kaminski was called to Łódź to attend a leadership conference. He never reached it; officially, Polish partisans were blamed for an alleged ambush in which Kaminski was killed. According to various sources he was either tried first by an SS court or simply executed by the Gestapo out of hand. The behaviour of the RONA during the battle was an embarrassment to the SS, and the alleged rape and murder of two German Strength Through Joy (Kdf) girls may have played a part in this.

With Kaminski's death, the plans for expansion to divisional status were dropped, and the number reassigned to 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Italian). The remnants of Kaminski's brigade were planned to be folded into General Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army. Vlasov protested, calling them "mercenaries," and only agreed to include one out of every ten members of the brigade into his army after careful examination. Accompanying civilians were sent to work in Pomerania.

Commanders

* Konstantin Voskoboinik (? October 1941 - ? January 1942)
* "Waffen-Brigadeführer der SS" Bronislav Kaminski (17 June 1944 - 19 August 1944)
* SS-"Brigadeführer" Christoph Diehm (19 August 1944 - ? August 1944)

RONA anthem

"We shall not be slaves! "
"To the fight with the enemy we are ready day and night. "
"Through clouds and flames our people's flag "
"We shall with a strong hand carry. "

"Through an open and grief stricken road "
"In the midst of smoke and battery fire "
"In action and battle we go with prayer "
"To the freedom of our Russia!"

"Who believes, who dares, whose blood is inflamed "
"Who has not forgotten oppression and shame "
"Those are tied together with great revenge "
"For the ashes of our family's graves. "

"With pain we have paid for that which we loved "
"For the tortures of our fathers and children "
"We have not forgiven them, nor forgotten the shame "
"Of those days suffocated with suffering. "

"In tight columns march our legions "
"To fight, for a great revenge "
"The millions carry on our bright flags "
"The freedom and honour of our people. "

"Through an open and grief stricken road "
"In the midst of smoke and battery fire "
"In action and battle we go with prayer "
"To the freedom of our Russia!"

ee also

* 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Russian)

References and sources

* [http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=308 Bronislav Kaminski and the RONA]
* [http://www.warsawuprising.com/paper/rona.htm RONA – Russian National Liberation Army (Russkaya Osvoboditelnaya Narodnaya Armiya)] (Warsaw Uprising Museum)
* [http://www.feldgrau.com/kaminski.html The RONA and the Kaminski Brigade]
* [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/GrenadierdivisionenSS/29SSGD-R.htm 29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr.1)]
* Rolf Michaelis, "Die Brigade Kaminski: Partisanenbekämpfung in Rußland - Weißrußland - Warschau"
* Rolf Michaelis, "Russen in der Waffen-SS"

External links

* [http://rona.org.ru/ RONA.org.ru - Русская освободительная народная армия]