Stalin's Nemesis
Page 45
1 Lieutenant Ostap Czuczkewycz excelled in fighting on April 6 and 8 for the village of Gleichenberg. Disregarding the dangers he went at the head of his company into the attack against the fortified Bolshevik positions. Giving an example to his soldiers they were successful.’ Do Boyu, Nr.6, 28 April 1945. AA.
38The list of recipients as given in Do Boyu, 6 May 1945, is as follows: W-Grenadiers and W-Oberschutze’s and Grenadiers: Ivan Ivashko, V. Slivinskyi, M. Zarichnyi, V. Soroka, A. Shevchuk, H. Severa, M. Kerd, S. Hutnyk, I. Kosak, Z. Dackiv, I. Kochetov, M. Andrukhiv, I. Ivanchechko, V. Volia, I. Kovalj: W-Sturmmanns: Mykola Kobak, Osyp Novosad: W-Unterscharführers: V. Stasiv, I. Shapoval, M. Shevchenko, B. Bilynsky, M. Sichko, P.Vardalj: W-Untersturmführers Volodymyr Mykula, Jurij Kostiv, Osyp Holynsky, Myroslav Prontschak, R. Kovalsky, Ihor Havryliv, Evhen Khmilovsky, Bohdan Handziuk, Ivan Skira, Andrij Komorowsky, Taras Kachmarchuk, Bohdan Spivak. The list was not complete and the editor noted that a further list would be published in the next issue. Other known recipients of the EK II Class include: W-Untersturmführer’s Oleksa Horbatsch, Roman Herasymowycz, Phylyp Trotch, Roman Tymkevych, Orest Yarymovych, Roman Drazniowsky, Mychailo Prymak and Volodymyr Malynovych. It should be noted that because of acute shortages which prevailed, most of the awards given at this time were the cloth and not metal varieties as would have usually been the case.
39Do Boyu, 6 May 1945.
40Ibid.
41Lagekarte der Heeresgruppe Süd vom 20 April 1945, Ausschnitt, BA-MA.
42Armee, III Panzerkorps, 117 Jäger Division, KGr. Semmering/9.Geb Div, 1.Geb Div Beyern SS-Polizei Rgt 13, 1 Pz Div, Arko 3, 3.Pz.Div. IV) 4 SS Panzer Corps was comprised of; 5 SS-Pz Div Wiking, 1.Ung.SS-Skibtl, 14 SS-Waffen-Grenadier Div Ukraine, SS-Rgt.Ney, Koruck 593, KGr. Wolf.KGr. Kunz, II Abt.FSchartRgt 10. d 10 FSchjgDIV., Sperrverband Motschmann, KGr. Gottwald, KGr. Siegers (mit Geb Ers.u.Ausb Btl 138), Tiger Btl. 509.
43Shandruk, Arms …, op cit.; p. 263.
44Letter to author R. Kolisnyk, 12 August 1997.
45Freitag also urged Shandruk not to pursue the matter any further. Shandruk, Arms …, op cit.; p. 272.
46Ibid., some of the new ranks are shown on page 257.
47The situation vis a vis Krat’s proposed appointment as Divisional commander, in many ways typified the unfortunate Ukrainian position in respect of the securing the services of Ukrainian officers with recent tactical training in modern warfare. Born 6 August 1892, in Hadiache Poltava, Mychailo Krat had served in the Imperial Russian Army and later the UNR in 1917, where he attained the rank of Colonel. After holding various staff appointments, in 1919 he was given command of the ‘Black Sea Regiment’. He served as Chief of Staff of the ‘Third Iron Rifle Division’ and then the ‘Zaporozhian Division’ in 1920. He had not seen active service since, yet had he been appointed he would have immediately have been given control of a Division which was for the greater part staffed by Germans and was actively engaged in combat on the eastern front. Krat had previously had no connection whatsoever with the Division and only took command of it during its internment in Italy. See J. Krokhmaliuk, ‘In Service of a Nation. The 80 Anniversary of General Mychailo Krat’, Visti Kombatanta 1972, Nr.5-6, pp. 67-70 and L. Romaniuk ‘General Mychailo Krat’, Visti Kombatanta, 1980, Nr. 1, pp. 68-73.
48Shandruk, Arms …, op cit.; p. 267. Simultaneously, the 29, 30 and 31 infantry regiments were renamed Nr.’s 1, 2 and 3 but like the changes in rank, in practice these designations were not used.
49For his demands in this respect, see Ibid., p. 270.
50Shandruk promoted him to the rank of Major of the UNA on the spot.
51Shandruk, ‘It was Like That’ Visti, Nr.3-4 (53-54), March-April 1955, pp. 2-6. No mention is made of the possibility of appointing the popular Major Heike as Divisional commander even on a temporary basis.
52Another Ukrainian born general who was fighting with the Germans, Sergei Buniachenko adopted a completely different attitude towards his German superiors. In mid April 1945, Buniachenko, in flagrant disregard of his orders, marched the ‘1 Vlasov Division’ away from the front towards the safety of Bohemia, and refused to put his troops at the disposal of the Central Army Group commanded by Field Marshal Schörner regardless of Schörner’s threats that if he failed to do so he would have the 17,000 men machine-gunned from the air by a fighter squadron. For an account of his enterprise see Reitlinger, The House …, op cit.; pp. 379-384.
53Shandruk, Arms …, op cit.; p. 271, in his capacity as ‘Commander of the Army and Fleet of the Ukrainian Republic’.
54Herasymowycz, The History of …, op cit.; pp. 4-5.
55Hawrylak, Memoir, op cit.; p. 31. and Letter to author O. Sokolsky, 23 June 1992.
56ABFC. This was not however the wording agreed by Himmler on 16 February 1945, when Shandruk had proposed a new oath to the German authorities which read:
Neuer Vorschlag
‘Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, das ich im Kampf gegen den Bolschewismus, zur Befreiung meines ukrainischen Volkes, meiner ukrainischen Heimat, dem Obersten Befehlshaber der Deutschen Wehrmacht und aller Kämpfer der jungen europaischen Völker gegen den Bolschewismus, Adolf Hitler, unbedingten Gehorsam leiste und als tapferer Kämpfer bereit sein will jederzeit fur diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen’. For details see ‘An den Reichsführer-SS und Reichsminister des Innern’ den 5.2.1945, NS19/544, BA-KO.
57Keczun, Memoir, op cit.; p. 35.
58In various post war accounts, many veterans of the Division have described the oath and the effect it had on them. Two typical accounts can be found in Roman Prypkhan ‘My Prysiahaly Ukraini’ (We Swore Ukrainian Allegiance) Visti, 1951, Nr.7 (9), p. 4 and Roman Lazurko, On Europe’s Crossroads, The Brotherhood of Former Soldiers of the 1 Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army, Chicago, 1971, pp. 242-249.
59Letter to author Roman Kolisnyk, 21 October 1997.
60A few lower ranking German officers were present—Hauptsturmführer Klocker (kdr. I./WGR 30) and SS- Hauptsturmführer Vorkörper (kdr. 13./WGR 30) were both present and affixed the trident badge to their officers caps. In the case of the latter this was exceptional as he according to a member of his company he was an ardent Nazi.
61Letters to author from former Kriegsberichter Waffen-Sturmmann Oleh Lysiak, 11 and 14 June 1996.
62‘We Swore Allegiance to Ukraine’. Oleh Lysiak. Visti Kombatanta, Nr 2, 2008, pp. 19-21.
63See An: 14 Gren.div. der SS ‘Ukraine’ 1, Marburg/Drau: 29.4.45, ‘SS-Hauptstuf. STREITHORST ist fur Sonderauftrag vorgesehen und hat sich Sofort mit marschgepack hier, melden…zu melden.’ Von Pers.d.W-SS, SS-Brig.u.Genmaj. Dr KATZ., HW/16 (43) GPD/- 4–4056, 29.4.45, OEU de DPM.1948/SSD/DQH Nr 86/1245/193/LYV/3595. NA, PRO, Kew.
64ABFC.
65Heike, Eng., ed., op cit.; pp. 131-132.
66 Shandruk , Arms …, op cit.; p. 273. On this issue Shandruk goes on to say ‘General Shkuro came to see me on 2 May but during our talks he did not display any desire to put himself under my command or join me’.
67Letter to author O. Wankevych, 28 October 1998.
68Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 128.
69Keczun, Memoir, op cit.; pp. 35-37.
70Letter to author M. Pasij, 29 September 1998.
71The Germans celebrated Easter by the Gregorian Calendar (Pope Gregory the Great) according to which ‘Good Friday’ fell on 31 March 1945. The Eastern Rite or Orthodox celebrated according to the Julian Calendar (Julius Caesar).
72Chomicky, Memoir, op cit.; p. 6.
73Letter to author J. Kunycky, 10 October 1998.
74Letter to author Andrij Komorowsky, 20 September,1998.
75Letter to author M. Pasij, 29 September 1998.
76Stefan Hulak, ‘Easter in the Front in 1945’, Visti, Nr.5-5 (18–19) April -May 1955.
77Letter to author W. Motyka, 24 May 1993.
78Although no official announcement was made, many of the 1 Ukrainian Division’s units which had access to a radio learned of Hitler’s death in this
way. Verbally to author, M. Nykolyshyn 23 February 1992, Hawrylak, Memoir, op cit.; p. 34. Verbally to author R. Herasymowycz, 27 September 1998, Letter to author J. Kunycky, 10 October 1998.
79General Rendulic’s orders specified that the cease-fire on the western front, (against the Americans) would become effective on 0800 hrs on 7 May 1945. In his unpublished post war account the commander 1 Cavalry Corps General der Kavallerie Gustav von Harteneck confirms that to avoid falling into Russian [Soviet] hands the ‘Ukrainian Division’ marched in the direction of Italy but makes no mention of any special provision having been made to facilitate its escape. See ‘Das Deutsche Kavallerie-Korps’, February 1963, (unpublished manuscript), p. 14 (21), RH 24-202/23, p. 16, BA-MA.
80There is a discrepancy between the dates given in the two primary accounts of Marakushka’s mission; Heike states that Makarushka made contact with the British on 5 or 6 May 1945. Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 129, while Shandruk gives the date of his departure as 9 May 1945. Shandruk, Arms …, op cit.; p. 279. There is no record in the War diary of 5 Corps of the meeting.
81SS-Grenadier-Ausbildungs-und Ersatz-Regiment 14 (ukrain. Ausbildungs-Regiment 1), AA.
82Letter to author R. Drazniowsky, 6 October 1997.
83Myron Maslovsky, ‘My Last Shot’, Visti Kombatanta, Nr.3, 1997, pp. 99-100.
84Volodymyr Gotsky, ‘Ostanni dni viiny v Zapasnomu polka 1 UD’, Visti, 1952, pp. 17-18.
85Divisional Order Number 71’, issued on 27 April 1945, gave explicit instructions that files, war diaries and Divisional staff papers were to be destroyed, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Soviets. This is the principal reason that so little documentary material from this period has survived.
86Motyka, Memoir, op cit.; p. 14.
87Letter to author W. Sirsky, 28 September 1998.
88Although both the Germans and Soviets developed a number of gasses for chemical warfare, neither side ever used them. Consequently unbeknown to unit commanders, the gas mask canisters which were issued to every soldier, were put to a variety of uses and frequently contained foodstuffs, playing cards or other personal items.
89Letter to author W. Sirsky, 27 September 1998.
90Ferkuniak, Spomyny …, op cit.; p. 33.
91According to Heike on the day of general surrender every gun had a standard allotment of 10-15 rounds, and in this regard was in a better position than any other units in 6 Army. Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 122.
92Keczun, Memoir, op cit.; pp. 37-38.
93Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 132.
94Letter to author A. Komorowsky 30 September 1998. The rearguard forces are likely to have had a strength of approximately one company per battalion.
95F. Tsymbaliuk-Obychenko ‘Ostannie bii pid Feldbakhom’, Visti Kombatanta 1971, Nr.5 (55), pp. 33-34, and letter to author 30 September 1998.
96Interview T. Katschmartschuk, Etobicoke, Canada, 20 June 1999.
97For example Waffen-Hauptsturmführer* Volodymyr Kosak whose company was given the responsibility for the rearguard of the I./1 Regiment, did not destroy all the bridges over the Mur in the 1 Ukrainian Division’s sector. See Erklarung, Major (SS-Sturmbannführer) Elemer Scholtz, 4 April 1973, Erklarung Major Wolf Dietrich Heike, 14 May 1973, Eidesstattliche-Erklarung Oberst (SS-Obersturmbannführer) Karl Wildner 7 April 1957, AA. On 28 February 1984, Maria Berghold, an Austrian civilian, swore an affidavit which stated that Kosak intervened to save her property from destruction by over zealous German military personnel. Maria Berghold, Eidesstattliche Erklarung, AA. *Kosak’s Soldbuch indicates that he was promoted to the rank of Waffen-Hauptsturmführer on 1 May 1945. AA
98This figure of 729 is the number of known dead, including those killed in Slovenia as taken from a list compiled by the Brotherhood ‘Brody-Lev’ which cares for the graves of the former soldiers of the Ukrainian Division. An estimate of fifteen hundred killed in action in Austria given in ‘Pamiatnyk Ukrainskym Heroiam’ (‘Memorial to the Ukrainian Heroes’), Visti, 1961, Nr.3, p. 47, may come close to the truth.
99M. Prymak verbally to author, 28 November 1997.
100Several veterans recounted instances of casualties caused by attacks from Soviet aircraft, for example Q4: Jacyna, Q1: Dmytryk, Kuk, The 5 ..., op cit.; p. 37.
101Q1: Dmytryk .
102Keczun, Memoir, op cit.; p. 38.
103Shandruk, Arms …, op cit.; p. 281.
104Chomicky, Memoir, op cit.; pp. 6-7.
105Motyka, Memoir, op cit.; pp. 15-16. For a full account of this episode see Melnyk, To Battle …, op cit.; p. 274.
106Kuk, The 5 …, op cit., p. 39.
107Letter to author A. Komorowsky, 30 September 1998.
108Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 133.
109Paziuk, Victim …, op cit.; pp. 102-103 and verbally to author 7 August 1997.
110Krywulak, The Medical …, op cit.; p. 4.
111Shandruk, Arms …, op cit.; p. 283.
112Verbally to author M. Nykolyshyn, Leicester, England, 23 February 1992.
113Q8: and letter to author I. Melnyk, 12 June 1991.
114Keczun, Memoir, op cit.; pp. 38-39.
115Chornij, Memoir, op cit.; p. 60.
5: The Legacy
1Heike, Eng. ed., op cit.; p. 135.
2His body was interned in the cemetery at St. Andrä. See WO 170-7127 See Secret Security Intelligence Report No. 1 (covering period 1–15 June 1945) from OC 313 Field Security Section CMF to GSI(b) HQ 78 Division, CMF: NA, PRO, Kew. Had he lived, Freitag would certainly have stood trial for his activities prior to his appointment with the Galician Division.
3Britain at that time had no comparable significant ethnic Ukrainian community.
4Shandruk survived the war and emigrated to the USA with his wife in the early 1950’s where he obtained manual work. He remained active in the Ukrainian community in the USA and politically involved with the national RADA and the Ukrainian government in exile holding the post of Minister of Military Affairs. He died on 15 February 1979, and is buried in the Ukrainian St Andrews Orthodox cemetery in South Bound, New Jersey, USA. See ‘General Pavlo Shandruk and the Ukrainian National Army’ 1945–1985. V. Veryha, Visti Kombatanta, 1985, Nr.2, pp. 42-45. His companions, Dr Fritz Arlt and Dr Makarushka both survived the war. Ultimately, Arlt remained in Germany where continued to write publish and give interviews until his death on 21 April 2004. Makarushka lived until his death in the city of Bonn in Germany.
5During his tenure as Governor of Galicia, Wächter had also signed death warrants for Polish and Ukrainian citizens for alleged partisan activities and for those convicted of OUN / UPA membership. For further information on the latter issue see the Oral Testimony of defence witness Dr Joseph Buehler, State Secretary to Government General, in the case for Frank, Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Vol. XII, p. 168.
6Information from Horst Wächter based on material in his private archive.
7In the spring of 1949 Wächter crossed the border to South Tyrol in Italy where he met his wife and his elder children for the last time. On 24 April 1949 he arrived in Rome. Here through the Austrian Bishop Dr Alois Hudal, rector of the Teutonic College of Santa Maria dell’Anima he found rudimentary accommodation in the clerical institute ‘Vigna Pia’ on the southern outskirts of the city where he lived under the assumed name of Alfredo Reinhardt. In June of that year he was in the process of collecting information about a flight to South America, when as a result of his daily morning swim in the polluted canals of the Italian capital he contracted jaundice on 3 July. On 9 July he was taken to the hospital ‘Santo Spirito’ near the Vatican were, faced with his approaching death he revealed his true identity. He received the last Catholic rites from Bishop Hudal in the evening of 13 July and died peacefully in the early hours of 14 July 1949.
8Heike was interned from August 1945, to May 1947, on the suspicion that he had been an SS company commander. During his captivity he wrote his memoirs. From 1950 until his retirement he e
njoyed a successful career with the automotive firm Audi, eventually becoming company director. He attended several veterans gatherings in Austria and maintained regular contact with the Ukrainian veterans up until his death in his home of Lenting, in Bavaria, Germany on 30 November 1994. Heike was the only German of any rank who responded to any of the author’s numerous letters.
9The Corps was comprised of 6. Armoured Division, 46 Infantry Division, 78. Infantry Division and 7. Armoured Brigade.
10See various entries in the War Diary of 5 Corps, WO 170/4241, NA, PRO, Kew.
11Keczun, Memoir, op cit.; pp. 39-40.
12Email to author Theo Andruszko, 12 June 2015.
13Email to author Theo Andruszko, 12 October 2010.
14The author has in his possession two examples of identity cards issued to known former members of the Division who had registered themselves as ‘stateless persons’.
15At the end of the war Bisanz was with the Ukrainian Division in Austria, then moved to Salzburg, then to the resort of Hallein near Salzburg until September 1945. In October he went illegally to Vienna to his family and was arrested on 6 February 1946. See ‘Litopys UPA’, Nr. 10, minutes of the interrogation of sentenced Alfred Yohanovich Bisanz from 23 November 1949. Interrogator: KGB Captain Kuznietsov. СТ. ОПЕРУП. ОТДЕЛА 2-Н 2 НЛ. УПР. МГБ СССР Гв. Капітан КУЗНЕЦОВ СБУ–Ф. 65.–ДЮС-7848.–Л. 15-22. In ‘Postup’. 16-22 November 2000, Nr. 188 (632), ‘Colonel of Ukrainian Armed Forces Alfred Bisanz’ , V. M. Liakhovych wrote that he learned from other doctors that Bisanz died in the Central camp hospital at the 9 Lagerpoint in 1949 from a heart attack.
16Keczun, Memoir, op cit.; p. 40.
17Letter to author V. Veryha, 14 February 1999.
18Personal account prepared for the author covering capitulation and internment by Roman Cholkan 26 April 1999, pp. 1-2.
19Ferkuniak, Spomyny …, op cit.; pp. 36-37.
20Letter to author R. Kolisnyk, 21 February 1999. Those interned by the Americans were however released sooner than those held by the British.