Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Amanuensis Balkanicus (talk | contribs) at 20:03, 11 October 2013 (more from Vertepov). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Russian Corps
File:Знакъ чиновъ Русскаго Корпуса.jpg
Active	1941–1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Branch	Wehrmacht
Type	Infantry
Role	Anti-Partisan operations
Size	11,197 (maximum strength)
Engagements	Yugoslav Front of World War II: Belgrade Offensive Operation Lawine
Commanders
Notable commanders	Mikhail Skorodumov Boris Shteifon † Anatoly Rogozhin

The Russian Corps (Template:Lang-ru; Template:Lang-de) was an armed force composed of anti-Communist Russian émigrés in German-occupied Serbia. The Corps existed from 1941 to 1945, during World War II. Commanded by Lieutenant-General Boris Shteifon, it served primarily as a guard force from the autumn of 1941 until the spring of 1944. It was incorporated into the Wehrmacht on 1 December 1942 and later clashed with both the Yugoslav Partisans and the Chetniks. In late 1944 it fought against the Red Army during the Belgrade Offensive, later withdrawing to Bosnia and Slovenia when the Germans withdrew from the Balkans. Shteifon was killed in April 1945 and was replaced by Colonel Anatoly Rogozhin, who subsequently managed to evade the Communists by surrendering to the British instead. He and his men were eventually set free and were allowed to resettle in the West.

History

Background

In the Balkans before World War II there were approximately 15,000 White Russian émigrés who had fled there in the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution. On 6 April 1941, Axis forces invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Poorly equipped and poorly trained, the Royal Yugoslav Army was quickly defeated. The country was then dismembered, with Serbia being reduced to its pre-1912 borders and placed under a government of German military occupation. Milan Nedić, a pre-war politician who was known to have pro-Axis leanings, was then selected by the Germans to lead the collaborationist Government of National Salvation in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia.

Formation

The Russian Corps was formed by émigré White Russians and officers of the Russian Imperial Army, which had been defeated by the Communists in the Russian Civil War twenty years earlier. Over the course of the Uprising in Serbia in the summer of 1941, the Communist-backed Yugoslav Partisans killed approximately 300 Russian emigrants, and injured many more, sometimes in acts of vengeance. In response, local Russians began to organize themselves into self-defense units. At the time, there were an estimated 10,000 Russian men within the borders of Yugoslavia, the majority of whom lived in Serbia.

The Russian Corps was founded in Belgrade by General Mikhail Skorodumov on 12 September 1941 and took shape under the supervision of the occupying German authorities, with the cooperation of Nedić's regime. At first, the group was an independent force reporting to the plenipotentiary for economic affairs, Franz Neuhausen. It was composed of White Russians who sided with the Germans because of their opposition to Communism and because they believed that their only hope of a non-Communist Russia lay in a German victory in World War II. Russian émigrés from Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary subsequently came to Belgrade to join the unit.

After only a month, Skorodumov was replaced by his chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Boris Shteifon. The formation was initially designated the "Independent Russian Corps" before being renamed the "Russian Defense Corps" on 2 October. It was envisaged as a 3,000–strong unit, organized into three regiments. By late 1941, it was comprised of 1,500 members. It consisted of a single regiment, organized into four battalions. Major General Egorov commanded the first battalion, Colonel Shatilov the second, Colonel Endrzheevskiy the third and Colonel Nestrenko the fourth, respectively. A second regiment was set up on 18 October, commanded by Colonel Zhukov.

Operations

Although its aim was to fight Communist forces in the Soviet Union, the Russian Corps, when engaged in combat, was used almost exclusively to fight the Yugoslav Partisans in areas of occupied Yugoslavia. Composed of one cavalry regiment and four infantry regiments, it was reinforced with younger émigrés and former Soviet prisoners of war and was armed by the Germans with weapons captured from the Royal Yugoslav Army. Its command language was Russian.

Between the autumn of 1941 and the spring of 1944, members of the Corps were responsible primarily for protecting weapons factories, mines, roads, and railroads throughout occupied Serbia in accordance with priorities established by the German High Command. During this time, the Corps was referred to as the "Russian Factory Protection Group" (Template:Lang-de). It was initially used during anti-Partisan operations to guard mines in Krupanj, and later in Bor and Trepča. In November 1941 it began actively collaborating with the Chetniks, and on 1 December 1942 it was incorporated into the Wehrmacht and all its members were required to swear an oath to Adolf Hitler. By this time the Corps was composed of five regiments of about 7,500 men, all of whom were Russian. An attempt was then made to expand it further by recruiting Soviet prisoners. However, this attempt proved unsuccessful and the Corps never operated as a unified fighting force, the regiments being its largest operational units. These were later assigned to act as auxiliaries to German or Bulgarian occupying forces. On 8 December 1941, the Corps defended the Stolice mine against the Yugoslav Partisans.

The Corps grew in numbers throughout 1942, following an influx of volunteers from Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Greece. While guarding installations, members of the Corps were largely assigned to manning brick bunkers, protecting the railway in the Ibar River valley, the Bor, Trepča, Majdanpek, and Krupanj mines, as well as Serbian borders along the Danube and Drina rivers while deployed together with various Serbian collaborationist factions such as the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDS) and the Serbian Volunteer Corps (SDK). It also closely cooperated with the Croatian Ustaše. During this period, members of the Corps often plundered Serbian villages. The 1st regiment was deployed in Loznica, Ljubovija and other towns along the Drina. On the other hand, the 2nd regiment operated in towns such asNegotin, Bor, and Majdanpek. The two regiments were operationally subordinated to the 704th German Division. The 3rd regiment was established in Banjica on 8 January 1942, placed under the command of Colonel Shapilov and deployed to Kosovska Mitrovica, where it was operationally subordinated to the 1st Bulgarian occupational corps. The 4th regiment was established on 29 April with General Cherepov as commander and was deployed to the area around Kraljevo. In May, the Corps was divided into two brigades. The 1st Brigade was placed under the command of Major General Dratsenko and its headquarters was established in the town of Aranđelovac on 22 May. On 30 November, the 4th regiment was disbanded, its 1st battalion assigned to the 1st regiment and the rest of its manpower assigned to the 2nd regiment.

On 9 December 1942, the 1st regiment started to be transformed with the arrival of Kuban Cossacks led by Major General Naumenko. By January 1943, it was fully composed of Cossacks. On 17 March 1943, Major General Gontarev replaced Shapilov as commander of the 3rd regiment. The 1st regiment fought in Loznica in April and participated in a large operation in Zapolje) on 11-15 May, where it engaged in heavy combat with Communist forces. From 1-8 July, the regiment was again stationed in Loznica and Ljubovija, participating in the defence of the Drina Bridge at Zvornik against the Partisans. During this time the regiment allowed the passage of 379 wounded Croatian soldiers and civilians, 1,000 healthy soldiers and as many refugees, sustaining casualties of two killed and seventeen wounded. It clashed with the Partisans over the village of Nedelica on 19 July. Meanwhile, the 2nd regiment clashed with the Partisans around the town of Negotin.

The Corps clashed with the Chetniks in 1944. In the spring, it focused increasingly on fighting the Partisans, who were penetrating Serbia from Bosnia and the Sandžak. That summer, it mediated an agreement between the Chetniks and the Germans in which the two parties agreed to fight the Partisans in Serbia. In September it reached its peak of 11,197 members. In late 1944 the Corps fought against the Red Army in Belgrade, suffering heavy casualties. It was then assigned to anti-Partisan operations in Bosnia. On 10 October the Russian Corps became known as the "Russian Corps in Serbia". It was then that the 1st regiment and a battalion of the 2nd regiment guarded a bridgehead north of Brčko in order to allow German forces that were stationed in Greece to withdraw through the town.

In January 1945, elements of the Corps participated in the German capture of Travnik, part of Operation Lawine. They then withdrew to Slovenia. On 30 April, Shteifon was killed while passing through Zagreb. Afterwards, Colonel Anatoly Rogozhin took over as commander. On 12 May, Rogozhin surrendered to British forces near Klagenfurt. Members of the Corps were then allowed to resettle in the West after hostilities ceased. At the time of surrender, the Corps consisted of 3,500 to 5,584 men. It had suffered 6,709 members killed, wounded or missing from 1941 to 1945. Overall, 17,090 men served in its ranks over the course of the war.

Order of battle

The Russians Corps was composed of:

• 1st Cossack Regiment Generala Zborovskogo
• Infantry Regiments I, II, III, IV, V

Commanders

The Russian Corps had three commanders during its existence:

• General Mikhail Skorodumov (September 1941)
• Lieutenant-General Boris Shteifon (October 1941 – April 1945)
• Colonel Anatoly Rogozhin (April – May 1945)

Uniform

Members of the Corps wore the uniform of the Russian Imperial Army from 12 September 1941 to 30 November 1942. The uniform was sometimes worn with pips of the Royal Yugoslav Army, alongside special rank insignia on the collar. Wehrmacht uniforms and insignia were adopted on 1 December 1942, but the old uniforms continued to be worn for some time.

Notes

1. McAteer 2009, p. 264.
2. Cohen 1996, p. 28.
3. ^ Cohen 1996, p. 50.
4. Singleton 1985, p. 182.
5. ^ Timofejev 2007, p. 45.
6. ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 192.
7. ^ Cohen 1996, p. 49.
8. Timofejev 2007, p. 47.
9. ^ Tomasevich 2001, p. 191.
10. ^ Mordwinkin 2003, p. 69.
11. ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, pp. 21–22.
12. Abbott 1983, p. 22.
13. ^ Timofejev 2010, p. 47.
14. ^ Vertepov 1963, pp. 38–39.
15. Vertepov 1963, p. 40.
16. ^ Thomas & Mikulan 1995, p. 22.
17. Tomasevich 2001, p. 193.
18. Vertepov 1963, pp. 73–75.
19. Tomasevich 2001, p. 185.
20. ^ Vertepov 1963, p. 79–81. Cite error: The named reference "FOOTNOTEVertepov196379–81" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
21. Vertepov 1963, p. 81.
22. ^ Vertepov 1963, pp. 120–121.
23. Vertepov 1963, p. 76.
24. Vertepov 1963, p. 82.
25. Vertepov 1963, p. 77.
26. ^ Vertepov 1963, p. 83.
27. Vertepov 1963, p. 77–78.
28. ^ Vertepov 1963, p. 116.
29. Vertepov 1963, p. 117.
30. Vertepov 1963, p. 119.
31. Cohen 1996, pp. 49–50.
32. ^ Timofejev 2010, p. 48.
33. Vertepov 1963, pp. 25–26.
34. Vertepov 1963, p. 24.
35. Vertepov 1963, p. 27.
36. Mordwinkin 2003, p. 87.
37. ^ Vertepov 1963, p. 28.
38. Abbott 1983, p. 35.

References

• Abbott, Peter (1983). Partisan Warfare 1941–45. London: Osprey. ISBN 978-0-85045-513-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Cohen, Philip J. (1996). Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-0-89096-760-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• McAteer, Sean M. (2009). 500 Days: The War in Eastern Europe, 1944–1945. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Dorrance Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4349-6159-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mordwinkin, George (2003). Russian White Guards. Bloomington, Indiana: Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55395-548-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Singleton, Frederick Bernard (1985). A Short History of the Yugoslav Peoples. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-27485-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Thomas, Nigel; Mikulan, Krunoslav (1995). Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941–45. New York: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-473-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Timofejev, Aleksej (2007). "Political Activity of Russian Emigration in Yugoslavia 1941–1945" (PDF). Tokovi istorije. No. 3. New York. ISBN 978-1-85532-473-2. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Timofejev, Aleksej (2010). Rusi i drugi svetski rat u Jugoslaviji (in Serbo-Croatian). Belgrade: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije. ISBN 978-86-7005-089-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-3615-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Vertepov, Dmitriĭ Petrovich (1963). Русский Корпус на Балканах во время II Великой Войны 1941-1945 г.г. (in Russian). New York: Nashi vesti. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)

• Military units and formations of Yugoslavia in World War II
• Russian collaborators with Nazi Germany
• Foreign volunteer units of the Wehrmacht
• Serbia under German occupation
• Russian counter-revolutionaries
• White Russian emigration
• Military units and formations established in 1941
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1945