Stalin's Nemesis

by Michael James Melnyk

  133The information was collected centrally by SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Niermann of section Ic of the Divisional staff. Verbally to author M. Scharko, 6 October 2014.

  134The dead were buried at the local cemetery and were later transferred to the German cemetery in the village of Vazec. They included Mychailo Hlybyckyj (5 August 1923), Petro Husak (20 May 1923), Mykola Muzyka (20 February 1923) and Ivan Tokar, (26 July 1923). This information was obtained by Prof. Mykola Mushynka in Slovakia.

  135Chomicky, Memoir, pp. 3-4.

  136Letter to author R. Kolisnyk, 28 January 2011.

  137To cite as a typical example, a mobile ‘Ski-Jagdzug’ (ski-hunt platoon) comprising of three squads, each of fifteen men was formed from the staff company of WGR 31. It was well equipped with automatic weapons for armed reconnaissance patrols. Hawrylak, Memoir, op cit.; p. 17.

  138Letter to author O. Sokolsky, 2 April 1997.

  139Verbally to author M. Scharko, 27 January 2000.

  140The locally raised anti-partisan units did not take part in any resulting engagements. Heike, Eng. ed, op cit.; p. 82.

  141For example see the account by the commander 5./II./WGR 30, W.Ustuf. Zenon Kuk, concerning the rescue of a Divisional soldier taken hostage, M. Melnyk, To Battle …, op cit.; p. 203.

  142Chomicky, Memoir, op cit.; p. 4.

  143Heike blames failure to communicate on one abortive action which took place east of Zilina and north of the Váh Valley involving the entrapment of around 200 partisans by the Division’s forces. In this instance the partisans managed to escape during the night when the Ukrainian commander of the 7./II./WGR 29 went into a tavern to warm himself. For dereliction of duty he was convicted by a field court and sentenced to 8 years but survived the war and emigrated to the USA where he died in 2012. Ibid., p. 82.

  144One amusing incident was told to the author by a Ukrainian platoon commander who found himself in the same room as a Ukrainian radio operator when a message was received from battalion command to which the Ukrainian kept replying Jawohl!, Jawohl! (Yes sir! yes sir!) implying that he understood perfectly the instructions that he was being given. When the message had ended the radio operator turned to his comrade and said ‘What the hell did he say?’ Verbally to author M. Prymak, 16 October 1997.

  145Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 82.

  146Ibid., p. 79.

  147‘I was stationed in the village of Bela with the 14.Feld Reserve Battalion. We mainly performed guard duties, protecting the village and surrounding area from Communist partisan attacks. From time to time expeditions were made into the Carpathian Mountains on the Slovak side. On one such occasion, our unit caught a partisan and he was held captive within our unit pending transfer to Divisional HQ. The prisoner asked my brother, who was on duty at the guard house (a private house in the village) for permission to go outside the building to the toilet at night. My brother took him outside and allowed him to escape after having fired a few shots into the air to protect himself against further investigation’. Letter to author O. Sokolsky, 14 July 1992.

  148In a letter to the author dated 24 May 1994, a former medical practitioner serving with the Division’s reserve battalion, Dr W. Krywulak related how in the village of Bela he treated a Soviet partisan for a compound shotgun fracture of the leg by the application of a leg cast.

  149During a routine search of some houses some rifles were found in a Roman Catholic pastor’s house. Although the penalty for such an offence in German occupied territories was the death sentence the pastor was not reported and therefore escaped punishment. Letter to author O. Sokolsky, 14 July 1992.

  150Kormylo, Memoirs of a Forgotten ..., op cit.; pp. 57-58.

  151Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 81. The ‘Osttürkischer Waffenverband’ der SS was a Waffen-SS formation formed from Muslim volunteers recruited in the Crimea and Caucasus.

  152Ibid., p. 80. Interview M. Klymchuk, London, 6 October 1990.

  153In his unpublished memoirs Roman Hawrylak, a former Ukrainian officer serving with WGR 31, relates in detail one occasion during a large scale operation during which an enlisted man stole a watch while searching a house for partisans. On receipt of a complaint by the owner of the watch, the regimental commander SS-Standartenführer Rudolf Pannier demanded that the death penalty be meted out for ‘plundering’. After the submission of a character reference by the enlisted man’s commanding officer and some heated argument, the sentence was commuted to service with a Waffen-SS penal detachment. Hawrylak, Memoir, op cit.; p. 20.

  154For example when it was first deployed in Slovakia 1/I/30 had four German NCOs (all transferred from 4.Polizei Division), all of whom had been replaced by Ukrainians by the end of 1944. Verbally to author Roman Herasymowycz, 25 November 1997 and 29 November 1997.

  155Verbally to author S. Wasylko, 23 December 1996. Q11: J. Padyk.

  156Keczun, Memoir, op cit.; p. 20.

  157For example within I./WGR 30 to accomplish this an individual would be recommended for urgent urlaub (leave) because of a fictional emergency at home. Once leave was approved the battalion commander SS-Hauptsturmführer Siegfried Klocker and the commander of 13./WGR SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Vorkoeper would been given food parcels to take with them and for their families. Verbally to author M. Scharko, 6 October 2014.

  158Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 86.

  159In his book Roman Lazurko recounts at length one episode where he exchanged a number of unregistered hunting rifles confiscated from partisans for foodstuffs with an inn keeper. See Lazurko, On Europe’s …, pp. 182-283. Also interview M. Duskursky, Norwich, England, 16 February 1991, and interview S. Dmytryk, Bedford, England, 21 October 1990.

  160Q15: O. Sokolsky.

  161‘Yunaky’ were Ukrainian teenagers trained for anti-aircraft duties.

  162Verbally to author Petro Pilkiv, 7 September 2014.

  163One such episode of this nature was related to the author by a former member of 12./III./WGR 29. This particular incident occurred in Banska Bystrica and resulted in the discovery of an armed NKVD agent. Verbally to author M. Prymak, 8 November 1997.

  164Zoglauer was promoted to the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer on 9 November 1944.

  16514.Waffen-Gren.Div. der SS (galiz.Nr.1) Div.St.Qu.,d.6.11.44, Betr.: Feindliche Propaganda (als Lehrstoff zu verwenden). SA. See also circular letter from Freitag, to the Ukrainian soldiers about the situation at the front, especially guerrilla activities in Slovakia, the enemies’ propaganda and agent provocateurs. 14.Waffen-Gren.Div der SS (ukrain.Nr.1) VI; Div.St.Qu.,d.7.12.44. SA.

  166Figure given by Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 84.

  167Estimate based on entries in Spysok Polyahlych WII-hiy Svitoviy Viyni v Boyakh proty CCCR) Obyednannya Buvshykh Voyakiv u Velykiy Brytaniyi, London 1953. (Listing of the Killed Soldiers of the 1 Ukrainian Division and other Military Formations in the Second World War in the Battles Against the USSR) published the Association of Former Combatants in Great Britain, London, 1953. Each entry lists (wherever possible), name, place and date of birth, unit to which they belonged, location and time of death.

  168Emails to author T. Andruszko, 29 and 30 May 2010.

  169According to Motyka, 63 Ukrainian ‘Deserters’ fought in the partisan unit of A. Suvorov between 1944/1945. Motyka, G. Ukraińska partyzantka 1942–1960 pp. 183-184.

  170Eastern Ukrainians who had formerly served with the Red Army and who came to the ‘14 Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (ukrainische Nr.1)’ from other German formations were prominent among those who deserted. Q1: S. Dmytryk.

  171Spysok …, op cit.; Several examples of individuals who were shot were given to the author during interviews with veterans of the Division including P. Maslij, Scunthorpe, England, 8 February 1992.

  172The firing squad consisted of 5 soldiers; therefore, thirty soldiers for six convicted men.

  173Verbally to author Jaroslav Wenger, 13 October 2014 and also Memoir, pp. 64-65.

  174M. Hrycyszyn, Smert Podolav (Death Cheated), p. 102, and verbally
to author, M. Prosac, 22 November 1991. It should be noted that various estimates ranging from 1,000–1,300 have been given in post war accounts by Ukrainians who were amongst the group that was assigned to the ‘Wiking’ Division.

  175During the summer of 1944, Ukrainians who were enlisted into what was then the ‘14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (galizische Nr.1)’, were taken to the Division’s Training and Reserve Regiment, which had relocated at a new training ground Gross Kirchbaum near Frankfurt on der Oder shortly after the Division left for Brody. From these men 1,200 were assigned to the ‘Wiking’ for training.

  176After a preliminary medical examination some were transported firstly at the training ground at Gross Kirchbaum before being sent on to Heidelager which acted as an assembly point. Interview Lev Babij, Toronto, 2 June 1993.

  177In the interim the group received a few weeks’ training in the forests near two villages Laizau and Koglan (near Frankfurt on der Oder). They stayed in tents and continued training. Since no supplies were available local farmers were used to supply food, the remainder had to be begged from the local population.

  178Two officers from each of these regiments selected the men for his unit.

  179In support of the appointment of a chaplain, Bisanz wrote to the ‘Wiking’ Division command explaining the Ukrainians had volunteered for the Galician Division and not the Wikings which created special difficulties. See An das Kommando der 5-ten SS-Division Wiking, Kracow, den 24.10.1944. Betr.: Divisionspfarrer Waffen-Obersturmführer Julian Habrusewycz. SA.

  180For Rev. Julian Habrusewych’s experiences see ‘Bachyv ia bachyv, ranenoho druha …, (I saw, I saw a wounded friend’), Visti Kombatanta, Nr.2, 1994, pp. 88-91.

  181Interview L. Babij, Toronto, 2 June 1993. See also Ia. D., Vikingy, Surmach, Nos. 1-4 (1983), pp. 20-25.

  182In the unpublished account of his father’s experiences while serving with the ‘Wiking’ Division, Michael Hrycyszyn: writes: ‘During the campaign against the partisans, an Allied airdrop took place. We were very near to Warsaw just after the uprising had taken place, when late one morning Allied aircraft came over at fairly low level and parachutes started to fall. There was great commotion because we thought this might be the start of the invasion. We knew that the Western Allies had some Polish military units and we feared that they might even be Polish paratroopers who would pick on us as traitors. Whoever we were it was more dangerous for any Ukrainians in Germans uniform so we started to rip off our lion insignia’. Hrycyszyn, Smert …, op cit.; p. 117.

  183The Division did include Hungarians and Romanians who spoke Ukrainian. It has also been suggested that difficulties with the language was used as an excuse for sending Ukrainians into dangerous situations. Interview Lev Babij, Toronto, 2 June 1993.

  184See Strassner, The Battles in the ‘Wet Triangle’ in European Volunteers …, op cit.; pp. 180-191.

  185The figure of 360 returnees from those assigned to the ‘Wiking’ is given Ia. D., Vikingy, Surmach, No’s. 1-4 (1983), pp. 20-25.

  186Apart from the heavy fighting, two main contributory factors which led to the heavy casualty rate: inevitable misunderstandings of orders occurred because of language difficulties which resulted in unnecessary casualties, in addition to which during brief periods of rest and respite some Ukrainians were assigned to dangerous tasks such as burial detail which involved the recovery of bodies from the battlefield. Interview L. Babij, Toronto, 2 June 1993. Regardless of their endeavours the author has found no evidence of any Ukrainian being decorated as a result of his service with the ‘Wiking’ Division.

  187On the initiative of interpreter Yaroslav Deremenda, a petition was written to ‘Wiking’ HQ asking to be removed and returned to the ‘Halychyna’ division threatening hunger strike if the request was not complied with. The German commander threatened disciplinary action for insubordination and said he could not resolve the request and forwarded the letter to higher authorities. Interview L. Babij, Toronto, 2 June 1993.

  188Abschrift, 5.SS Panzer Division Wiking Kommandeur, Div.Gef.St., 4.11.1944, Division-Sonderbefehl/anl. der Verabschiedung der gal. Waffen-willigen am 3.11.44. An original copy of this document is in the Schevchenko Archive, London.

  189Half the heavy weapons company (45–60 men) were former ‘Wiking’ members who were very good and well trained. Verbally to author V. Tomkiw, 23 December 1996.

  190Hitler and several of his immediate associates would have preferred to have nothing to do with the idea of outright Russian collaboration in the war against the Soviet Union.

  191For further details concerning the Vlasov movement see Thorwald, The Illusion …, op cit.: Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement; Catherine Andreyev: Soviet Reality and Émigré Theories. and Wilfried Strik-Strikfeldt: Against Stalin and Hitler.

  192Vlasov himself believed in a centralised unified state.

  193The Wehrmacht Propaganda IV section, General Kurt Zeitzler, Hauptmann Wilfred Strik-Strikfeldt, and the intelligence community were also among those who energetically backed and promoted this initiative.

  194Several prominent members of his Ostministerium including Otto Bräutigam, Major Wilhelm Kinkelin, Prof. Gerhard von Mende, Friedrich Markull and others had been submitting proposals for the establishment of a Ukrainian Committee which was to have far reaching administrative and political authority since as early as February 1943. Hunczak, The Ukrainian …, op cit.; pp. 7-8.

  195The ‘federalists’ opposed this concept believing it would splinter rather than unite the forces struggling against Bolshevism.

  196The clandestine founding meetings of the UHVR were held between 11–15 July 1944, near Nedilna in the Sambir region under the protection of UPA forces. There were twenty participants (the majority of which were not OUN members), ten from the north western Ukrainian lands and central Ukraine. For further details see Encyclopaedia Ukraine …, op cit.; Vol. V, pp. 447-448.

  197As early as 20 August 1944, Army Group North Ukraine reported ‘the leadership of the UPA has recognised that it cannot wage the struggle against the Bolsheviks by itself and has repeatedly asked the Wehrmacht for support in the form of arms’, and that since the UPA’s operations were directed principally against the Red Army, the Army Group would do all in its power to assist the nationalists. See Alexander Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 1941–1945, p. 622, and James Lucas, The Last Year of the German Army, p. 122. For the local success of the new approach, See Verhandlungen mit der UPA,’ 5. Juni 1944, H3/474, BA-MA.

  198For details of a report dated 27 November 1944, about the activities during a five week mission of ‘Long Range Reconnaissance Commando 202’ led by Captain Kirn, involving airdrops of supplies to UPA units operating behind Soviet lines see Lucas, The Last Year, op cit.; pp. 123-126.

  199Dallin, German …, op cit.; p. 623.

  200In an interrogation report dated 5 June 1945, Berger takes the credit for obtaining the release of Melnyk and Bandera. On page 8 he states […] ‘Both had been invited to a conference by commissar (REICHSKOMMISSAR) Koch, were dined well, and then thrown into jail for 6 months to a year. After protests by the Ukrainian workers , I saw to it that they were set free’. See Top Secret, Ref No. SAIC/X/7 5 Jun 45, p. 8. In contrast Dallin credits Rosenberg whilst Thorwald suggests instead ‘on [Dr] Arlt’s insistence Stephan Bandera was released from a concentration camp and ‘turned over’ to Arlt’. Thorwald, The Illusion …, op cit.; p. 234.

  201To cite as an example Bandera demanded the creation of an independent Ukrainian state and the creation of a Ukrainian armed force. See ‘Aktion des Generals Wlassow-Regelung der ukrainischen Frage’, Pressburg, 23. Nov.1944, Bundesarchiv R70 Slowakei 223/2, p. 5 and p. 8). The meeting between Berger and Bandera took place on 5 October 1944. In a memorandum prepared the following day, Berger concluded that Bandera was a tough and tricky partner, ‘at present extremely valuable to us, later dangerous’. NA, T175 roll 125 frames 0700-0702.

  202The attitude of most of the minority populations towards the KONR
is aptly summarised by the leader of the Georgians M. Kediya who, when urged to subordinate his committee to Vlasov responded ‘I would rather have Stalin in front of me than Vlasov behind me’. Shandruk, Arms …, op cit.; p. 205.

  203Although after his release from Sachsenhausen on 17 October 1944, Andrii Melnyk received a mandate from the Ukrainians to head a ‘working Commission’ and conduct negotiations with the Germans with a view to being the head of the future UNC which he agreed to do only if certain preconditions were met. These included (i) full amnesty and release of all Ukrainians from prisons and camps (except criminal cases and those resulting from Bolshevik actions) (ii) a declaration by the Germans which would have pledged the establishment of a sovereign Ukrainian state within its ethnographical borders, (iii) creation of a Ukrainian National Army under unified Ukrainian command (iv) withdrawal of all German troops from Ukrainian territory immediately upon the signing of the peace treaty (v) a guarantee that the UNC would be independent of General Vlasov. When the Germans refused his demands, Melnyk refused to accept the leadership of the UNC. Handwritten statement by Colonel Andrii Melnyk, Berlin 18. November 1944, SA.

  204 The UNR was a five man directorate which had emigrated to Poland under the leadership of Symon Petliura after the collapse in 1921 of the Ukrainian struggle for independence.

  205General Pavlo Shandruk, Born 28 February 1889, in Lubny (Poltava Province) Ukraine–died 15 February 1979, Trenton, New Jersey, USA. Served as an officer in the imperial Russian Army in 1914, and was awarded six military decorations and promoted to the rank of captain. In 1917 he joined the Ukrainian armed forces and fought against the Red Army commanding various units earning himself promotion to the rank of Colonel. In 1938 he served as a contract officer in the Polish Army and fought against the Germans after their invasion of Poland in September 1939. He was wounded and taken prisoner by the Germans and kept under Gestapo surveillance. See ‘General Pavlo Shandruk and the Ukrainian National Army 1945–1985’. V. Veryha, pp. 35-45, Visti Kombatanta, 1985, Nr.2. pp. 36-37.