Stalin's Nemesis

by Michael James Melnyk

  Several bunkers and wooden emplacements were also discovered which had weapons, munitions, tools, provisions, medical supplies and clothing stored in them obtained from the airdrops. Everything usable was taken, the bunkers and hide-outs blown up and the items of clothing burned. Waffen-Unterscharführer Wasyl Sirsky (13./WGR) reported that during one patrol near the village of Tarnavetz a hidden partisan bunker used as a hospital was discovered with several partisans inside suffering from frostbite, but the Ukrainians did not report their presence, and instead advised them to hide.130 On another occasion among the prisoners captured by the 11./III./WGR 29 was a group of four comprising of two Serbs, one Pole and one eastern Ukrainian from the Poltava region. Their English made rifles were seized and they were kept under guard until the morning when the two Serbs and the Pole were handed over to the battalion HQ for interrogation, but not wanting to surrender their compatriot, the Ukrainian was sent to the company cook house where after being given a uniform he was successfully concealed and employed until the end of the war.131

  On account of the failure of these large scale actions, the Division’s command preferred to employ smaller detachments and Jagdzugs which had proved their worth in Slovakia, in local security sweeps which were carried out by almost all of its sub-units, some in conjunction with other German formations. Typically lasting only a few days, they were generally far more effective and many of the most notable successes were directly attributable to the Volhynians who due to their background showed a particular aptitude for anti-partisan warfare.132 In this way, limited amounts of enemy matériel comprised mainly of small arms, rifles, machine guns, ammunition and items of clothing were captured,133 and a variety of masterfully camouflaged bunkers, hideouts and installations were also discovered and destroyed.134

  Small groups of soldiers operating in remote areas were however prone to ambush—a tactic frequently successfully employed by the small bands operating in remote areas.135 The funerals of those killed on active service were presided over by the Division’s chaplains.

  In compliance with their orders, as a rule the partisans sought to evade frontal battles at all costs and their virulent hatred of the Germans and unorthodox tactics demanded the upmost vigilance from the pursuit groups which had to contend with hazards such as booby traps which accounted for a number of fatalities including Waffen-Untersturmführer Jaroslav Terlecky.

  Sentry duty was also always conducted in earnest and sometimes patrols found dead soldiers without weapons and due to a critical lack of clothing amongst the insurgents, stripped to their underwear. The more ruthless partisans showed no mercy even for medical personnel136 and accordingly losses were appreciably higher than they had been in Slovakia (an estimated one hundred and fifty six were killed on Yugoslav territory).137 This number which included Waffen-Grenadiers’ Wasyl Orytschuk and an east Ukrainian Petro Zyrnyj would undoubtedly have been greater still had not some unit commanders on both sides entered into unofficial local truces and deliberately avoided contact.138 Such unusual circumstances may account for the fact that in exceptional situations some partisans were released after interrogation as were some Ukrainian troops who fell into enemy hands.139

  Between large scale operations garrison duty continued which accounted for still further losses. Waffen-Grenadier Walter Keczun recalled:

  […] We had to monitor a very small hamlet on a mesa on top of a hill. Just a few houses, well spread out, sometimes 100–200 metres or more apart. There were some clumps of trees and bushes. The forest was lower down. Usually our patrols went up along a dirt track through the forest and then through the middle of the hamlet to the end of the ridge and then back. At first the inhabitants were avoiding us but eventually became very friendly. We knew many of them by name.

  One day it was my and Kuchar’s turn to go on a patrol. Ziemba asked the two of us to go try to buy some bread in a hamlet. He managed to buy two rings of salami in one of the villages and we got our monthly ration of vodka. As it was Lischynsky’s birthday we would hold a party. Before we left, Holowczak (our horse groom) pleaded to be taken along because he had never had a chance to visit the hamlet. So we set off: I was leading, Kuchar behind me, Holowczak last. I had a Bergmann machine pistol, they had rifles.

  When we came out from the forest on to the mesa it was a nice sunny morning. In the middle of the hamlet we met a woman and after some pleasantries, we asked her for news. She told us that everything was quiet, as usual. When we inquired about the possibility of buying some bread on our way back, she said that nobody baked bread lately but if we enquired at the two houses beyond the hamlet, they might have some to sell. We went to the end of the ridge and then retraced our footsteps back. When we reached the forest, instead of going down to the left to our station, we decided to check the two houses that woman told us about. We noticed them before but they were out of our way, so everybody ignored them. We took the footpath to the right and after about 200 metes we came to the end of our mesa. In front of us was a fairly steep grassy slope, over 150 metres in length and then it rose again roughly at the same slant and length, beyond that was a forest. At the bottom of the slant there was a small wooden house and a footpath lead to it. In front of the house the footpath turned left and carried on to another bigger house over 200 metres away. We observed the idyllic scene for a few minutes. There were no trees or bushes or any hiding places to be seen except for the forest behind us and one about 150 metres behind first house.

  We decided to visit the second house first so we lengthened the distance between us and started going down with caution. Because of the gradient, the back of the first house was on the ground and the front had a stone foundation so that the threshold was chest height. When we came to the house we turned left and when we came level with the door, which was open, I noticed an elderly man watching us so on impulse, I told Kuchar and Holowczak to wait for me and watch out while I went to investigate inside. To get to the door there were stone steps along the wall from the left to the door, so I went up them, stepped over the threshold and said ‘dobry den’ (good day) to the man and he replied. Then Kuchar shouted that they had decided to carry on to the other house and I could catch up later. Before I could reply there came a very loud shout in German ‘Hände hoch’ (hands up!) followed by a shot. I jumped out onto the doorstep and glimpsed Holowczak and Kuchar running to the other end of the house and at the same time there came another shot from the second house and bullet hit the jamb beside me so I jumped inside the house. Trapped like a rat I thought. Soon after a grenade exploded somewhere behind the house, there was sporadic rifle fire and then silence. It seemed to me that they got my friends and now were planning to get me, so, although I was frightened I took stock of my situation.

  The house was really very small, just one room with a door and window in the front and a side window looking towards second house, through which I managed to glimpse [after the grenade explosion and sporadic rifle fire] a man with what looked like a rifle, running very fast towards the forest behind house that I was in.

  My biggest problem was the man with me because from now I could not turn my back on him. If I was Ziemba, or anybody else a bit older, I could have hit him with something on his head and stunned him, but I was not. I was too soft, so I told him to sit on the bench near the door so I could watch him and the door at the same time. I found out from him, that the other end of the house was a pantry without windows and that there were no windows at the back, just a sturdy door latched from inside. I don’t remember how long I stood there watching the door and the man but it seemed ages. Silence! What had happened to Kuchar and Holowczak?

  Then I noticed through the door a woman from the hamlet coming cautiously down the slope. When she reached the house, she stopped and looked at something and then cautiously came inside. I ordered her to sit with the man and asked her what she was looking at before she came in. She told me that one of my friends was lying there, the old one, face down and there was blood beside his head. Then I n
oticed two women walking down the slope. I panicked because if I got a lot of women in the room they would be able to overpower me because I could not shoot at women. Then an idea came to my mind. In my teens I read in a book about the adventures of a Spanish hero called ‘Zorro’, who escaped from his adversaries by surrounding himself with people. It sounded daft, but I made my mind and when the two women reached the house, I ordered the two people inside to walk out in front of me and not to do anything foolish, because I would be behind them with a primed machine pistol. When we joined the other two, I ordered all of them to walk in front of me up the slope. I hoped that, if there were any partisans around, they would hesitate to shoot at me because of the women and that might give me chance to get to the forest on top of the hill and down to our billet for help.

  When we reached top safely, out of the forest emerged a breathless Lischynsky, Ziemba with his MG 42, and others. I nearly fainted from relief and surprise because the last one to emerge from the forest was Holowczak. How could it be? Later I found out that as they decided to continue to the other house without me, they neared the corner and a partisan jumped out from round the corner with a rifle in front of Kuchar and shouted: ‘Hände hoch!’. Then one of them fired a shot. The partisan jumped backwards and Holowczak and Kuchar ran to the other corner and dropped to the ground. When they were running in front of the house, they glimpsed me in the doorway, heard the second shot and the impact of the bullet on the door jamb and me vanishing, so they thought that I was wounded. Then the partisans threw a hand grenade at them and a small splinter hit Kuchar in the neck and he started bleeding badly. Holowczak jumped up and ran up the slope so fast that the partisans could not hit him with rifle fire. That explained sporadic fire after the explosion of the grenade. The partisans knew that Holowczak would bring more troops, so they ran away. Ziemba spotted them on the next mountain, over a kilometre away and fired a salvo from his MG 42 at them, but they just vanished into the forest. Kuchar was dead.[…] There was no birthday party that day.[…]140

  The nature of the Division’s assignment in Slovenia meant that apart from the experience and physical conditioning gained during combat with the partisans, little time remained for other training activities. Any exercises which did take place had to allow for several factors; the dispersal of its units over a wide area; the posting of sentries (although to a certain extent its tracking dogs proved to be useful in this respect) and continuous assignments at short notice.141 Drill was held weekly to maintain discipline, whilst training focused on weapons instruction and marksmanship.142

  Free time for rest and recreation was scarce and when available it was generally limited to visiting cinemas in the larger towns or trying to befriend local girls—which the soldiers did at their own peril.143 As the region had been incorporated into the Reich, military pay was issued in German Marks with which the soldiers could purchase necessities and as circumstances permitted, members of some non-combatant units also attended services held at local Slovenian churches where they were able to participate in the Mass.144 The Divisional newspaper Do Boyu, continued to be published by its staff and printed in Maribor.145

  Despite carrying a mandatory death penalty, during its tour of duty in Slovenia a further one hundred and fifty ‘desertions’ of both Ukrainian and German personnel occurred.146 While some left of their own volition, others were taken against their will having been kidnapped on patrol or while performing guard duty, which brought the total number from autumn 1943 until the end of March 1945 (excluding those who deserted at Brody) to around 600 men, a desertion rate of less than 3 per cent. In accordance with the draconian military code to which the Division’s soldiers were always subjected, executions for desertion and other infractions continued throughout this period without let up as Waffen-Sturmmann Roman Chomicky recalled: ‘[…] In Novo Mesto two soldiers were executed because the prisoner they were guarding escaped during the night. This prisoner was a friend of theirs; he was from the same village they came from. He told them that he needed to relieve himself. He didn’t return and they were found guilty […]’.147

  At the same time at least two Ukrainian officers—from WGR 31, Waffen-Untersturmführers’ Michael Kosatschewytsch and Taras Chmola148 and one from WGR 30, Waffen-Untersturmführer Miroslav Bihus were decorated with the Iron Cross II. Class for their courage during actions in Slovenia.149

  The Division’s command received all news of the most recent developments on the eastern front, the proximity of which was getting closer by the day, through the offices of Dr Steindl, the head of the Styrian Heimatsbund. As the foremost units of the Red Army had advanced to within forty kilometres of Maribor directly in front of the Division’s position, from early March all its sub-units were put on full alert and plans drawn up for committing it to battle.

  A German Extravagance

  By March 1945, the German’s were close to inevitable and total defeat and on the southern sector of the eastern front where the ‘14. Waffen Grenadier Division der SS [ukrainsche Nr.1]’ was deployed, the situation had deteriorated rapidly. Following the failure of the last German offensive in Hungary150 the Soviet 2 and 3 Ukrainian Fronts had pushed Army Group South which held the right wing of the eastern front, back towards Austria’s eastern provinces. It was imperative that the line held in this area as Army Group South protected the withdrawal of Army Group E151 (Balkan) which was retreating through Yugoslavia towards Austria pursued by Soviet and Bulgarian Armies as well as Marshal Tito’s partisans.

  As part of the massive offensive against Austria code named ‘Operation Vienna’, the corps and divisions of Marshal Tolbhukin’s 3 Ukrainian Front launched a powerful assault on Army Group Souths defensive line. On 21 March a Soviet spearhead attacked and successfully penetrated the left flank of the German 6 Army which stood in its path, at the boundary between 6 Army and 6 SS Panzer Army. On 6 Army‘s right flank was the German 2 Panzer Army. In anticipation of attacks in the area of 2 Panzer Army, on 24 March Army Group South issued a general directive stating that the ‘14 SS Waffen-Gren.Div (Ukrainer)[sic]’ and the 297.Infantry Division were to occupy secondary positions in its sector.152 As of this date it is identified on a German operations chart as being within 2 Panzer Army.

  The same chart also indicates each units estimated combat value and shows the classification of the ‘14. Waffen Grenadier Division der SS [ukrainsche Nr.1]’ to be ‘unreliable’153 most likely in accordance with Freitag’s estimation given at the beginning of the month.

  The secondment to 2 Panzer Army however was only on paper, as the Division’s’ sub-units remained scattered over a large area causing the actual transfer of command to be delayed, consequently it could not draw supplies from any Army Group at this time as would ordinarily have been the case. As it was still considered to be in the process of reformation, for operational and supply purposes it remained under the control of HSSPF Rösener.154

  At this juncture both the Division and its Training and Reserve Regiment were engaged in combating partisans in the Pohorje region south of the River Drava,155 when a sudden and completely unexpected order arrived at its HQ which jeopardised its very existence. In his memoir, Major Heike wrote:

  […] Like a bolt from the clear sky the Division received the order from Army Group South that all its weapons and all its equipment was to be handed over for the formation of new German units. The order came from the Reichsführer Himmler. All weapons and equipment were to immediately be gathered near the railway and transported to Nürnberg. The Army Group was entrusted with the implementation of the instruction.

  He goes on to say that it specified ‘this should not be considered as disarmament but rather as a temporary measure because the division would get new armament as soon as possible’.156 According to Heike ‘this order arrived at the Division around 20 March 1945’. (‘Dieser Befehl trifft bei der Division gegen den 20 March 1945, ein’).157

  The origins of the order can be traced to a briefing at Hitler’s headquarters in Berli
n, on the night of the 23/24 March 1945, when he was informed of the existence of a ‘Ukrainian SS Division’ [i.e.: 14 Galician]. The transcript of the conversation reads:

  2.26 a.m. to 3.43 a.m., 24 March 1945.

  […] Hitler: ‘We just don’t know what is floating around. I just heard for the first time, to my amazement, that a Ukrainian SS Division has suddenly appeared. I didn’t know a thing about this Ukrainian SS Division.’

  Göhler: ‘It has existed for a long time.’

  Hitler: ‘But no reference was made it to in our discussions. Or do you remember one?’

  Göhler: ‘No I don’t remember.’

  Hitler: ‘I don’t know. It may have been reported to me a long, long time ago. How strong is the Ukrainian Division?’

  Göhler: ‘I’ll find out again.’

  Hitler: ‘Either the outfit is trustworthy, or its not trustworthy. I can’t organise units in Germany today because I don’t have any weapons. It’s just insanity for me to give weapons to a Ukrainian Division that isn’t quite trustworthy. I’d rather take their weapons away and raise a new German division. Because I suppose they are splendidly armed, better armed than most of the German divisions we are raising today.’

  […] other foreign units are then discussed

  Hitler: ‘[…] But it’s all nonsense. If you have a surplus of weapons you can afford a joke like that for propaganda purposes, but if you don’t have a surplus of weapons, such jokes for propaganda purposes are entirely irresponsible. What is the Galician Division anyway? is that the same as the Ukrainian Division?’