Never before in world history has such a powerful citadel been taken in such a short time: in just a week. The German command carefully thought out and perfectly prepared the city for defense. Six-story stone bunkers, pillboxes, bunkers, tanks dug into the ground, fortified houses in which “faustniks” settled down, representing a mortal danger to our tanks. The center of Berlin with the Spree River, cut by canals, was especially strongly fortified.
The Nazis sought to prevent the Red Army from seizing the capital, knowing that the Anglo-American troops were preparing an offensive in the direction of Berlin. However, the degree of preference for surrender to the Anglo-Americans, rather than the Soviet troops, was greatly exaggerated in Soviet time. On April 4, 1945, J. Goebbels wrote in his diary:
The main task of the press and radio is to explain to the German people that the Western enemy is hatching the same vile plans for the destruction of the nation as the Eastern one ... We must again and again point out that Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin will ruthlessly and regardless of anything plans, as soon as the Germans show weakness and submit to the enemy ...».
Soldiers of the Eastern Front, if in the coming days and hours each of you fulfills his duty to the Fatherland, we will stop and defeat the Asian hordes at the gates of Berlin. We foresaw this blow and countered it with a front of unprecedented power... Berlin will remain German, Vienna will be German...».
Another thing is that the anti-Soviet propaganda among the Nazis was much more sophisticated than against the Anglo-Americans, and the local population of the eastern regions of Germany experienced panic at the approach of the Red Army, and Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were in a hurry to break through to the West to surrender there. Therefore, I.V. Stalin hurried the marshal Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov as soon as possible to begin the assault on Berlin. It began on the night of April 16 with the most powerful artillery preparation and the blinding of the enemy by a multitude of anti-aircraft searchlights. After long and stubborn battles, Zhukov's troops captured the Seelow Heights, the main German defensive point on the way to Berlin. Meanwhile, the tank army of Colonel-General P.S. Rybalko, having crossed the Spree, advanced on Berlin from the south. In the north, on April 21, the tankers of Lieutenant General S.M. Krivoshein were the first to break into the outskirts of the German capital.
The Berlin garrison fought with the desperation of the doomed. It was obvious that he could not resist the deadly fire of Soviet heavy 203 mm howitzers, nicknamed by the Germans "Stalin's sledgehammer", volleys of "Katyusha" and constant bombardment of aviation. Soviet troops acted on the streets of the city in the highest degree professionally: assault groups with the help of tanks knocked out the enemy from fortified points. This allowed the Red Army to suffer relatively small losses. Step by step Soviet troops approached the government center of the Third Reich. Krivoshein's tank corps successfully crossed the Spree and connected with the units of the 1st Ukrainian Front advancing from the south, encircling Berlin.
The captured defenders of Berlin are members of the Volksshurm (militia detachment). Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Who defended Berlin from the Soviet troops in May 1945? The Berlin Defense Headquarters urged the population to prepare for street fighting on the ground and underground, using the metro lines, sewer network and underground communications. 400 thousand Berliners were mobilized for the construction of fortifications. Goebbels began to form two hundred Volkssturm battalions and women's brigades. 900 square kilometers of city blocks turned into "impregnable fortress Berlin".
The most combat-ready divisions of the Waffen-SS fought in the southern and western directions. The newly formed XI Panzer Army under the command of SS-Oberstgruppenführer F. Steiner operated near Berlin, which included all the surviving SS units of the city garrison, reservists, teachers and cadets of the "SS Junker Schools", personnel of the Berlin headquarters and numerous SS departments.
However, in the course of fierce battles with the Soviet troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, Steiner's division suffered such heavy losses that he, in his own words, "remained a general without an army." Thus, the main part of the Berlin garrison was made up of all kinds of improvised battle groups, and not regular formations of the Wehrmacht. The largest division of the SS troops with which the Soviet troops had to fight was the SS division "Nordland", its full name is the XI Volunteer SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland". It was recruited mainly from volunteers from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway. In 1945, the division included the Danmark and Norge grenadier regiments, Dutch volunteers were sent to the emerging SS Nederland division.
Berlin was also defended by the French SS division "Charlemagne" ("Charlemagne"), the Belgian divisions of the SS "Langemark" and "Wallonia". On April 29, 1945, for the destruction of several Soviet tanks, a young native of Paris from the SS Charlemagne division, Unterscharführer Eugene Valo, was awarded the order Knight's Cross, becoming one of his last holders. On May 2, a month before his 22nd birthday, Vajo died on the streets of Berlin. The commander of the LVII battalion from the Charlemagne division, Haupsturmführer Henri Fene, wrote in his memoirs:
Berlin has a French street and a French church. They are named after the Huguenots, who fled from religious oppression and settled in Prussia at the beginningXVIIcentury, helping to build the capital. In the middle of the 20th century, other Frenchmen came to defend the capital that their ancestors had helped build.».
On May 1, the French continued to fight on Leipziger Strasse, around the Air Ministry and at Potsdamer Platz. The French SS "Charlemagne" became the last defenders of the Reichstag and the Reich Chancellery. During the day of fighting on April 28, out of the total number of 108 Soviet tanks shot down, the French "Charlemagne" destroyed 62. On the morning of May 2, following the announcement of the surrender of the capital of the III Reich, the last 30 Charlemagne fighters out of 300 who arrived in Berlin left the Reich Chancellery bunker, where, besides them, there was no one left alive. Along with the French, the Reichstag was defended by the Estonian SS. In addition, Lithuanians, Latvians, Spaniards and Hungarians took part in the defense of Berlin.
Members of the French SS division "Charlemagne" before being sent to the front. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Latvians in the 54th fighter squadron defended against Soviet aviation Berlin sky. The Latvian legionnaires continued to fight for the Third Reich and the already dead Hitler even when the German Nazis stopped fighting. On May 1, a battalion of the XV SS Division under the command of Obersturmführer Neulands continued to defend the Reich Chancellery. The famous Russian historian V.M. Falin noted:
Berlin fell on May 2, and "local battles" ended in it ten days later ... In Berlin, SS units from 15 states resisted the Soviet troops. Along with the Germans, Norwegian, Danish, Belgian, Dutch, Luxembourg Nazis acted there».
According to the French SS man A. Fenier: “ All of Europe gathered here for the last meeting”, and, as always, against Russia.
Ukrainian nationalists also played their part in the defense of Berlin. On September 25, 1944, S. Bandera, Ya. Stetsko, A. Melnyk and 300 other Ukrainian nationalists were liberated by the Nazis from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin, where the Nazis had once placed them for too zealous agitation for the creation of an “Independent Ukrainian State”. In 1945, Bandera and Melnyk were instructed by the Nazi leadership to gather all Ukrainian nationalists in the Berlin area and defend the city from the advancing Red Army units. Bandera created Ukrainian units as part of the Volkssturm, and he himself hid in Weimar. In addition, several Ukrainian air defense groups (2.5 thousand people) operated in the Berlin area. Half of the III company of the 87th SS Grenadier Regiment "Kurmark" were Ukrainians, reservists of the XIV Grenadier Division of the SS troops "Galicia".
However, not only Europeans took part in the Berlin battle on the side of Hitler. Researcher M. Demidenkov writes:
When in May 1945 our troops were fighting on the outskirts of the Reich Chancellery, they were surprised that they came across the corpses of Asians - Tibetans. This was written about in the 50s, however, briefly, and was mentioned as a curiosity. The Tibetans fought to the last bullet, shot their wounded, did not surrender. Not a single living Tibetan in the form of the SS left».
In the memoirs of veterans of the Great Patriotic War there is evidence that after the fall of Berlin, corpses were found in the Reich Chancellery in a rather strange form: the cut was everyday SS troops (not field), but the color was dark brown, and there were no runes in the buttonholes. Those killed were clearly Asians and pronounced Mongoloids with rather dark skin. They apparently died in battle.
It should be noted that the Nazis conducted several expeditions to Tibet along the Ahnenerbe line and established strong, friendly relations and a military alliance with the leadership of one of the largest religious movements in Tibet. Permanent radio communications and an air bridge were established between Tibet and Berlin; a small German mission and a guard company from the SS troops remained in Tibet.
In May 1945, our people crushed not just a military enemy, not just Nazi Germany. Nazi Europe was defeated, another European Union, previously created by Charles of Sweden and Napoleon. How can one not recall here the eternal lines of A.S. Pushkin?
The tribes went
Trouble Russia threatening;
Wasn't all of Europe here?
And whose star led her! ..
But we have become the fifth solid
And breast took the pressure
Tribes obedient to the will of the proud,
And it was an unequal dispute.
But no less relevant today is the following stanza from the same poem:
Your disastrous escape
Boasting, they have forgotten now;
Forgot Russian bayonet and snow
Buried their glory in the wilderness.
A familiar feast beckons them again
- The blood of the Slavs is intoxicating for them;
But it will be hard for them to hangover;
But the guests' sleep will be long
On a cramped, cold housewarming party,
Under the grass of the northern fields!
see also Occupation of France33rd SS Grenadier Division "Charlemagne"
The predecessor of the Charlemagne division was the Volunteer French Legion, created in 1941 under the control of the German army. Initially, it was called the 638th Army Infantry Regiment and first entered combat on the Eastern Front during the winter 1941/42 offensive against Moscow as part of the 1st Infantry Division. The French unit suffered heavy losses and was withdrawn from the front from the spring of 1942 to the autumn of 1943, after which it was used mainly for anti-partisan operations. At this stage, it was divided to conduct operations in the rear against partisans and was used in the form of units, in terms of their quantitative composition equal to a battalion.
In January 1944, another reorganization of the battalion took place, but it was still used to fight partisans.
In June 1944, the battalion returned to the central sector of the Eastern Front to take part in offensive operations against the Red Army. His actions were so impressive that the Soviet command considered that they were dealing with not one, but two French battalions, although in fact the number of legionnaires corresponded to about half a battalion. In September 1944, French volunteers joined the Waffen-SS.
In France, recruitment into the SS began in earnest only in 1943, in Paris. In August 1944, the first 300 volunteers were sent to Alsace for training as part of the French SS Volunteer Assault Brigade. In September 1943, about 30 French officers were sent to military school SS to the Bavarian city of Bad Tölze, and about a hundred non-commissioned officers to various schools for junior officers in order to raise their training to the level of Waffen-SS standard requirements.
At this time, a group of French volunteers was on the Eastern Front as part of the 18th SS Volunteer Panzer-Grenadier Division Horst Wessel. After fierce battles with units of the Red Army, they were recalled to the rear for rest and reorganization. At this time, a decision was made - given the combat track record of the French, to combine them with the remnants of the legion and French militia units to create a new Waffen-SS division.
This most unusual of all divisions also included a number of soldiers from the French colonies, including from French Indochina and even one Japanese. Eyewitnesses claim that several French Jews managed to escape Nazi persecution by hiding in the ranks of the Charlemagne division.
The division was formed in the winter of 1944/45 and sent to the front in Pomerania at the very beginning of 1945. Constant fierce battles against the numerically superior units of the Red Army badly battered the French division and split it into three parts. One of the groups, numbering a battalion, retreated to the Baltic states and evacuated to Denmark, after which it ended up in Neustrelitz, not far from Berlin. The second group was completely exterminated by the furious volleys of Soviet artillery. The third managed to retreat to the west, where it was destroyed - its soldiers either died or were taken prisoner by the Russians.
Those who remained in Neustrelitz were rounded up by the divisional commander, SS Brigadenführer Gustav Krukenberg, who released from the oath those who no longer wished to serve in the SS. Nevertheless, about 500 men voluntarily followed their commander to defend Berlin. Approximately 700 people remained in Neustrelitz. The 500 volunteers who participated in the defense of Berlin fought with exceptional integrity, despite the fact that they knew that the battle was lost.
Their courage was awarded with three Knight's Crosses. One of them was awarded to SS Obersturmführer Wilhelm Weber, a German division officer, and two to French soldiers Unterscharführer Eugène Vallot and Oberscharführer Francois Apollo. All awards were honors for personal bravery shown in the destruction of several Soviet tanks alone. Three days later, Vallo and Apollo were killed. Weber was lucky to survive the war.
Those members of the Charlemagne division who chose not to go to the front made their way to the west, where they voluntarily surrendered. They undoubtedly believed that the Western Allies would treat them better than the Russians. Those of them who surrendered to their compatriots from the Free French army had to be very disappointed in their illusion. It is known that when they encountered the Free French soldiers, when asked by the latter why they wished to wear German uniforms, the French SS soldiers inquired about the uniforms of the American troops worn by the de Gaulles. Enraged by such a question, the commander of the de Gaulle troops on the spot, without any trial or investigation, shot his fellow SS men.
As for the Free French, it is itself guilty of the most terrible war crimes. It makes no sense to say that the murderers of the French SS went unpunished. Ironically, the French SS men who took part in the brutal destruction of Oradour in 1944 were treated much more leniently. They were considered people subjected to forced mobilization and thus "victims". The French court acquitted them. The reason for this surprising verdict seems to be purely political.
The French SS men who appeared before the court were from Alsace, which over the years of its history has repeatedly passed either to France or to Germany. There was an opinion that a guilty verdict against the perpetrators of the tragedy that broke out in Oradour could cause unrest in Alsace. Thus, a situation arose in which the French SS men, who took part in the execution of a large number of French citizens, went unpunished, while members of the Charlemagne division, who fought with detachments of communist partisans in the East and against units of the Red Army, lost their lives after were taken prisoner.
Based on the book by G. Williamson "SS - an instrument of terror"
There was no more hope, there was nothing. Ultimately, life no longer made sense and we no longer cared about life. Absolutely. Only fight. Keep fighting. Loyalty to the end. Loyal to the end...
On the night of April 23-24, 1945, the commander of the SS Charlemagne division Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg received an urgent telegram from the Berlin Reich Chancellery in Neustrelitz with an order to immediately come to the defense of the Reich capital. In the ranks of the French division, which at the beginning of 1945 numbered about seven and a half thousand fighters, by that time no more than 1100 remained. which on April 24 went to Berlin in nine trucks. In the capital of the Reich, they managed to break through the northwestern suburbs in Nauen a few hours before the Soviet troops completely closed the blockade around the city.
SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg (1888 - 1980)
Upon reaching the Olympic Stadium in Charlottenburg, the French regrouped and replenished their supplies of ammunition from an abandoned Lustwaffe warehouse. The battalion was divided into 4 rifle companies of 60-70 people each and transferred to the command of Hauptsturmführer Henri-Joseph Fene to replace Krukenberg, who was placed at the head of the SS Nordland division, which received the French in its tactical subordination. Following that, the Charlemagne assault battalion, under constant Soviet bombardment, advanced to the east of Berlin in the Neuköln area, where it entered into battle with the advancing Red Army.
After several fierce counterattacks on Hasenheide and the Tempelhof airfield, the French moved west across the Landwehr canal on April 26 and, fighting heavily outnumbered enemy forces in the Kreuzberg area in the following days, gradually retreated to the city center. The last command post of the division was located next to the Reich Chancellery in the underground pavilion of the Stadtmitte metro station in a broken carriage lit by candles. On May 1, the French continued to fight at Leipzigerstraße, around the Air Ministry and at Potsdamerplatz. On the morning of May 2, following the announcement of the surrender of the German capital, the last 30 Charlemagne fighters out of 300 who arrived in Berlin left the Reich Chancellery bunker, where no one was left alive except for them.
It is authentically known about the fate of two Russian volunteers from the Charlemagne assault battalion. SS-Standartenoberjunker Sergei Protopopov, grandson of the last Minister of the Interior of the Russian Empire, died on April 29 defending the approaches to the Reich Chancellery, and was posthumously awarded the Iron Cross for courage at the last award ceremony for distinguished SS men, held at the division headquarters at the Stadtmitte station on the night of 29 to April 30. SS-Obersturmführer Sergei Krotov, the son of the former Russian consul in Madagascar, after being wounded in a Bavarian hospital, was captured by the Americans, was handed over to the French and shot on May 8 on the orders of General Leclerc, along with 11 other French SS volunteers.
SS-Standartenoberjunker Sergey Protopopov
SS-Obersturmführer Sergei Krotov
Standarten Oberjunker SS Sergey Protopopov (1923-1945)
The grandson of the last Minister of the Interior of the Russian Empire Alexander Protopopov, who was shot by the Bolsheviks in October 1918, Sergei Protopopov was born in France. In 1943, at the age of twenty, like many other Russians, he joined the French Anti-Bolshevik Legion and was trained at its military school in Montargis near Orleans. In September 1944, the French Anti-Bolshevik Legion was included in the SS, first as a brigade, and from February 1945 as a division, called Charlemagne (Charlemagne). In December 1944, Sergei Protopopov graduated from the SS officer school in Kinschlag.
In February-March 1945, the Charlemagne division lost most of its personnel in heavy fighting with the advancing Red Army in Pomerania. In early April, only 700 people remained in its ranks, of which about 300 volunteered to go to the defense of Berlin. The assault battalion formed from them under the command of Hauptsturmführer Henri-Joseph Fene arrived in the besieged German capital on April 24, 1945. Sergei Protopopov was also part of it.
The Charlemagne battalion, attached to the SS Nordland division, was entrusted with the defense of Sector C. The French volunteers entered the first battle with the advancing Reds on April 26 near the Tempelhof airfield. On April 27, the fighting became especially fierce. During them, Sergei Protopopov personally knocked out five Soviet tanks with faustpatrons and shot down a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft from a MG 42 machine gun. On April 29, the detachment, which included the standard-oberjunker Protopopov, was covered by fire from Soviet mortars on Gendarmenmarkt Square. The Russian volunteer died from multiple shrapnel wounds and was posthumously awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his courage. His comrades-in-arms in the Charlemagne battalion turned out to be the last defenders of the Reich Chancellery bunker, the defense of which they held until May 2.
Obersturmführer Sergei Krotov(far left) among the soldiers of the SS division "Charlemagne" and French Legion before being shot on May 8, 1945.
Far left Sergey Krotov
While being treated in a German hospital in Bavaria after being wounded in the Battle of Berlin, 12 French volunteers were captured by the Americans on May 6 and were placed by them, along with other prisoners, in the barracks of the Alpine shooters in the city of Bad Reichenhall. Upon learning that the Americans were going to hand over the city to the French, they tried to escape, but were detained by an American patrol and issued to the 2nd Free French Armored Division of General Leclerc. A general drove up to the place of transfer of prisoners of war.
Upon learning that the soldiers in German uniforms were French, he became indignant and began to vilify them in every possible way, calling them “Boches” and “traitors”. When he spoke the words:
How could you French wear a German uniform?
One of the prisoners could not stand it and boldly replied:
Just like you, General, you can wear an American one.
After these words, Leclerc exploded and ordered the prisoners to be shot. According to one version, the general gave the order, so cruel and contrary to the laws of the Geneva Convention, being under the painful impression of inspecting the death camp at Dachau, where Leclerc seemed to have been the day before. Be that as it may, the next day, May 8, 12 French SS-sheep were taken to be shot.
At their request, a Catholic priest spoke to them. Further, the condemned flatly refused to blindfold or “humanely” shoot them in the back. Immediately before the execution, they began to sing the Marseillaise and shout "long live France!", looking into the faces of the firing squad. Fierce by the "unrepentant" obstinate "Charlemagnes", the general ordered not to bury the bodies, but to leave them in the clearing. Only three days later, according to the local population, they were buried by the Americans.
In 1947, the Germans transferred the ashes to the monument. Several soldiers managed to find out the names. They were engraved on a granite board, which depicts one of the symbols of France, the “royal lily”, and the words “to the 12 brave sons of France” are written.
Here are the names of those whose documents were found:
SS Obersturmführer Serge Krotoff, (Serg Krotoff)
SS Untersturmführer Paul Briffaut
SS Untersturmführer Robert Doffat.
Grenadiers Jean Robert
and Raymond Pairas
Jacques Ponnau
Igor Knyazev. Appeal of Russian volunteers of the French SS division "Charlemagne", published in the Berlin newspaper "New Word" for October 31, 1943.
Russians in foreign legion.
According to E. Nedzelsky, in 1924, 3200 Russians were registered who passed through the base point of the Foreign Legion in Sidi Bel Abbes in Algeria, and 70% of them were former officers, cadets and soldiers. In the third regiment, according to E. Nedzelsky, based in Morocco in 1924, out of 500 Russians, 2% were illiterate, 73% with incomplete secondary education, and 25% with secondary and higher education. Approximately the same ratio was maintained in the 2nd regiment. The oldest legionnaires were officers and soldiers of the expeditionary corps in France. They joined the legion back in 1918 and accounted for about 10% of the total number of Russian legionnaires. 25% accounted for those evacuated from Russia in 1919, 60% - for the ranks of the Russian army who left Russia in 1921, and 5% fell into the legion for various reasons, mainly from German captivity and tempted by "preferential" service19. After signing the contract, the volunteers were sent to the assembly camp for about a month, and then distributed in parts. So, out of 400 people who signed up for the legion at the same time as E. Giatsintov, 350 were sent to Syria, and the rest to Algeria. From the Syrian group, 90 people were later sent to Beirut to the 18th repair squadron of the 5th African Cavalry Chasseur Regiment (commander - Captain E. de Avaris), and 210 to the Mountain Company, formed in Damascus exclusively from Russian volunteers (commander — Captain Duval).
LIST OF RUSSIAN VOLUNTEERS,
DEAD IN THE RANKS OF THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION
From 1921 to 1945
Akimov - corporal of the 3rd company of the 2nd regiment. Died 11/13/1923 in Post Bader.
Alexandrov-Dolnik Vladimir Alexandrovich - lieutenant of the 2nd regiment. Killed 09/07/1932 in battle at Tazigzaout, Morocco.
- Andreev - legionnaire of the 12th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on April 20, 1921 in Kenara-Khenui.
-Andrienko - Corporal 5 S. Mont. 2nd regiment. He died on September 4, 1924 in Ishieraf.
-Antonov - legionnaire of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/21/1925 in Bab Taza.
-nfilov - sergeant of the 26th company of the 1st regiment. Died 09/10/1925 in Jebel ne Negir.
- Arkadiev is a legionnaire. Died in Morocco.
-Afanasiev - legionnaire of the 1st company of the 2nd regiment. He died on May 20, 1923 in Recife Bou Arfa.
-Baranov - legionnaire of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Berezin - legionnaire of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/04/1925 in Astar.
-Bobovsky - sergeant of the 7th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/14/1925 in Brikka.
-Bogdanchuk - sergeant of the 27th company of the 1st regiment. Died 08/17/1925 in Dzhebel Asdem .. Bondarev - legionary CM1 of the 1st regiment. He died on 07/14/1926 in Tizi N "Widei.
-Boritsky - legionnaire of the 9th company of the 2nd regiment. He died on 05/06/1922 in Tadu Skorra.
-Bubanov - legionnaire of the 1st battalion of the 4th regiment. He died on 10/19/1923 in Bu-Ishsamer.
-Bukovsky - corporal of the SMZ of the 2nd regiment. He died on 12/11/1926 in Jebel Ayad.
Bulyubash Vladimir - lieutenant of the 1st cavalry regiment - "an officer of exceptional courage." Died 11/28/1944
-Count Vorontsov-Dashkov Alexander is the grandson of the last Caucasian governor. Killed in Vietnam (?).
-Voroponov - legionnaire of the 9th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 06/24/1923 in El Mer.
Guyer is a legionnaire. He died on May 20, 1940 at Perron.
-Garbulenko - legionnaire of the 2nd company of the 3rd regiment. Died 10/27/1923 in El Mer.
- Geckner - sergeant. He died on 05/11/1943 in Tunisia. Gendrikson Vladimir - died on 07/06/1941 in Damascus in Syria.
-Glebov - legionary CM7 of the 1st regiment. He died on 09/10/1925 in Jebel Yei Negir.
-Gnutov - legionnaire of the 1st company of the 1st regiment. He died on May 25, 1925 in Biban.
-Goncharov - SM sergeant of the 4th regiment. Died 08/10/1933 in Ukzer
-Gorbachev - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Mikhail Gorodnichenko - sergeant of the 5th regiment. Died of wounds on 09/15/1945 in Indochina.
-Graev - legionnaire of the 28th company of the 1st regiment. Died 09/30/1925 in Kerkur.
-Gusarov Alexander - died in Tunisia.
- Grunenkov Mikhail Fedorovich — participant of the Civil War in the 1st Kornilov Regiment, 1st Kuban campaign. He was badly wounded. Centurion. Evacuated to Bizerte. In March 1922 he was in the command of the Kornilov regiment. Served in the French Foreign Legion. Killed.
-Damagalsky - legionnaire of the 7th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 07/24/1925 in Tamzimet.
-Danilov - legionnaire of the 3rd company of the 2nd regiment. He died on May 25, 1925 in Biban.
-Doroshenko - sergeant of the 3rd company of the 1st regiment. He died on 07/18/1925 in Sof-El-Kazbar.
- Evreinov - legionnaire of the 7th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 01/10/1924 in Meckx.
-Edelov - legionnaire of the 7th company of the 2nd regiment. He died on April 24, 1925 in Tamzimet.
-Enin is a legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Enoshin - legionnaire of the 1st cavalry regiment.
-Efremov - lieutenant. Zaloka Nikolay - was born on December 25, 1916. He died on January 13, 1943 in Pont du Fage, Tunisia.
-Zanfirov - legionnaire of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Zameshaev Ivan - buried at the military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
Z-emtsov Ivan - Lieutenant of the Russian Imperial Army. Sergeant-Chief of the French Foreign Legion. He died on 06/1/1942 in Bir Gaheim (Libya). He was awarded the Military Cross.
-Ivankovich - legionnaire of the 22nd company of the 1st regiment. Died 08/13/1923 in Tafgirt Airt.
-Ivanov - sergeant of the 22nd company of the 1st regiment. He died on May 22, 1925 in AedAmeam.
-Ivanov - sergeant of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/10/1925 in Mediun.
-Ivanov - legionnaire of the 8th company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/18/1925 in Terual.
-Ivanov - legionnaire of the 3rd battalion of the 4th regiment. He died on 07/12/1922 in Bou Drois de l "Hulges.
-Ivanov - legionnaire of the 1st cavalry regiment.
-Ivanov (pseudonym) - a former cadet of the Russian Corps in Versailles. Legionnaire of the Foreign Legion. Died 03/15/1945 in Ga Giang in Indochina.
- Ignatiev - legionnaire of the 3rd company of the 1st regiment. He died on 07/14/1926 in Tizi N "Widei.
-Izvarin - legionnaire of the 1st cavalry regiment. Kazarinov - sergeant of the 4th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/24/1923 in El Mers.
-Kalashnikov is a legionnaire of the 7th battalion of the 1st regiment. He died on 08/17/1926 in Jebel Galaza.
- Kalinishchev - trumpeter of the 9th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 05/06/1922 in Tadu Skorra.
-Karneri (pseudonym) - a native of Moldova, graduated from a Russian gymnasium. Trumpeter of the French Foreign Legion. 03/10/1945 was wounded and finished off with a bayonet during the Japanese attack on the garrison in Tang in Indochina.
-Karnovsky (Karpovsky) Alexander - lieutenant. Died 08/25/1944 in Tunis.
-Karpov - legionnaire of the 5th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 08/11/1923 in Jebel Idlan.
-Kowalsky - corporal of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Kodovsky Ivan - sergeant-chief. He died on 06/11/1942 in Bir-Gakom.
-Kozlov - a participant in the First World War and the Civil War. Colonel. Sergeant of the Foreign Legion. He died in 1923 (1926) in Morocco.
-Kolesnikov - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 17.09. 1925 at Massifray in Syria.
-Kolotilin - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Komarov Vladimir - former cadet of the Naval Corps. He emigrated to France, where in 1926 he graduated from a military school in Saint-Cyr. Captain, commander of the 6th company of the 2nd battalion of the 5th regiment of the Foreign Legion. He died on 04/01/1945 in Tuar Giao in Indochina.
-Konenko is a legionnaire. He died in 1926 in Morocco.
-Slanting - corporal-chief S. From. 1st regiment. Died 08/10/1933 in Kerduas.
- Kostrevsky Ivan - a former sailor. He died on 06/17/1941 in Damascus in Syria.
-Kostryukov - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Kostevich Vladimir - legionnaire. He died on December 11, 1944 in Vieux Tgann.
-Kosyanenko - legionnaire SM5 of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Kravchenkov Iosif Silych - died of wounds in 1943.
- Kreshenkov Joseph - was buried in a military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
-Kudryavtsev is a legionnaire of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/10/1925 in Mediun.
-Kuznetsov is a legionnaire of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/10/1925 in Mediun.
- Kuznetsov Gennady Dmitrievich - adjudan (ensign). E Morocco died.
-Kuydenko - corporal of the 3rd battalion of the 4th regiment. Died 09/20/1922 in Bin El-Uidanq.
-Daniil Kulish is a legionnaire. He died on December 9, 1944 in Tgann.
-Ladzin is a legionary of the Mining Company. Shot for trying to escape from the Foreign Legion.
-Lakovlev (Yakovlev?) - legionnaire of the 6th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on 06/19/1929 in Ait-Yakub.
-Larin is a legionnaire of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/10/1925 in Mediun.
-Larin is a legionary of the 6th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 07/24/1925 in Mediun.
-Larin is a legionary of the 6th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 07/24/1925 in Tamzimet.
- Levov - foreman of the 1st cavalry regiment. Lishaksky Alexander - lieutenant. Died of wounds in 1943.
-Lyubovitsky - foreman of the 3rd squadron of the 1st foreign cavalry regiment. He died on 07/03/1925 near Gersif.
- Lyashko - corporal of the 10th company of the 2nd regiment. He died on 07/23/1923 in Plateau d'Immuzert.
-Malev - legionnaire of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. Died 16.10. 1923 in Akurirt.
-Malevsky - legionnaire of the 1st company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/14/1926 in Tizi N Widei.
-Maleyko - legionnaire of the 1st company of the 2nd regiment. Died 09/10/1925 in Jebel Ayad.
-Margulies Albert - killed 06/05/1940 on the Somme.
-Markov - legionnaire of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/07/1925 in Sof-El-Kazbar.
-Markovich - SMM corporal of the 1st regiment. He died on February 28, 1933 in Jebel Sadgo.
-Masaev Vladimir - died on 06/08/1942 in Bir-Gasheim.
-Mausin is a legionnaire of the 4th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on 10/10/1923 in Tizi N "Zhuar.
-Mitriev - legionnaire of the 8th company of the 4th regiment. Died 04/25/1926 in Suida.
-Melnichuk Sergey - died on 12/10/1944 in Tgann.
Mishalsky is a legionnaire of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 7/10/1925 in Jebel Druz.
- Mukhin - sergeant S.M. 1st regiment. He died on 10/14/1929. in Zguilma Dzhigani.
-Nankov - buried in the military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
-Nikolaev - sergeant SM6 of the 1st regiment. He died on 10/16/1923 in Akurirt.
-Nikolov - legionnaire of the 12th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on October 27, 1922 in Ishieraf.
-Novarzin - legionnaire of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/04/1925 in Astar.
- Novikov - legionnaire of the 1st Cavalry Regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Ogarovich - buried in the military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
- Ogorodnoye - sergeant of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. He died on May 22, 1925 in Aed Amzam.
- Orlov - legionnaire of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/25/1925 in Jebel Asdem.
-Pavlovsky - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Pavlovsky Ivan - buried in a military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
-Petrov - legionnaire of the 6th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 11/17/1923 in Jebel Idlan.
-Pleshakov - legionnaire of the 27th company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/24/1925 in Jebel Asdem.
-Pokrovsky - sergeant of the 9th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 05/20/1927 in Oued Dessaya.
-Povolotsky - mareshal of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Popov - legionnaire of the 9th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 09/05/1922 in L "Aderzh.
-Popov - mareshal of the 4th squadron of the 4th cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Popov - legionnaire of the 1st cavalry regiment. Popov was born on August 25, 1905. in Moscow. Died of wounds on January 12, 1943.
- Punchin Georgiy - was born on February 11, 1905 in Kerch. Died of wounds on December 23, 1944.
-Raskin - legionnaire of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. Died 23.07. 1923 in Ain Tagzut.
-Regema is a lieutenant. Killed in 1925
-Reshetnikov - Legionnaire SM. 3rd regiment. Died 07/14/1926 in Jebel Taster.
-Romanov - Legionnaire SM. 2nd regiment. Died 06/09/1923 in Izuko.
-Sapronov - corporal of the 2nd company of the 2nd regiment. Died 10/10/1923 in Ponzegu.
-Safonov Nikolai (?) - died in Tunisia in 1943.
- Sidelnikov - sergeant SM. 3rd regiment. Died 07/14/1926 in Jebel Taster.
-Siz is a native of the Terek region. During the Civil War, he was a lieutenant of the 10th Ingrian Regiment. He went missing on March 26, 1945 in Son La in Indochina.
- Siyanin - legionnaire of the 22nd company of the 1st regiment. He died on May 4, 1925 in Taunat.
-Soloviev - corporal of the 8th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/13/1925 in Sker.
- Magpie - Corporal SM. 1st regiment. Died 10/14/1929 in Zguilma Dzhigani
- Staroselsky (Starozelsky?) - legionnaire of the 5th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 01/17/1923 in Naegllin.
- Sukov - corporal of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/04/1925 in Astar.
-Tabunshchikov - legionnaire of the 26th company of the 1st regiment. He died on 09/10/1925 in Jebel Yei Negir.
- Tanas Igor - was born on 03/24/1921 in Constantinople. In March 1941, he signed up for the Foreign Legion. Fought in Senegal. He died on 04/25/1943. He was awarded the Military Cross.
-Taranuka - legionnaire of the 25th company of the 1st regiment. He died on 09/10/1925 in Jebel Yei Negir.
-Tishevsky - legionary of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. He died on May 22, 1925 in Aed Amzam.
-Tkachenko - Kuban Cossack. He died in June 1925 in a battle near the Turkish village of Mussey-Frey, taking command of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment of the Foreign Legion.
-Trofimov Vyacheslav - buried in a military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
- Tumanov - legionnaire of the 5th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on May 9, 1923 in Beni Buzert.
- Turutin - legionnaire of the 4th company of the 2nd regiment. He died on 07/01/1923 in El Mers.
-Prince Urusov Sergey - was born on 01/13/1916 in Moscow. St. George boarding school student. Killed in Africa in the ranks of the Foreign Legion.
- Utkin - corporal of the 25th company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/25/1925 in Jebel Asdem.
-Utcharenko - corporal of the 5th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on May 9, 1923 in Beni Buzert.
- Fedorov is a legionnaire. He died in 1926 in Morocco.
- Fedortsev Nikolai - died on 01/28/1944 in a hospital in Tunisia.
-Fomin - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Kharitonov - legionnaire of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/04/1925 in Astar.
-Hotcharenko - legionnaire of the 7th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 07/25/1925 in Tamzimet.
-Chernenko - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Shamalov - legionnaire of the 10th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 01/17/1923 in Naegllin.
-Sharev is a legionnaire of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Shillo - legionnaire of the 5th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on October 27, 1924 in P. Anuai.
-Shumeyko Dmitry - buried at the military cemetery in Maps in Tunisia.
-Yakov - Corporal S.M. 1st regiment. He died on 10/14/1929 in Zguilma Dzhigani.
-Yakushov - legionnaire of the 26th company of the 1st regiment. He died on 09/10/1925 in Jebel Yei Negir.
- Yasinsky Victor - died on 01/25/1945 in Syria.
The famous French military museum in the Palais des Invalides in Paris has a special Russian section, "where the memory of the valiant sons of Russia is kept, who managed to achieve glory for their homeland abroad."
And about one more interesting historical event, with which the Russian military in the Foreign Legion were associated. It refers to civil war in Spain 1936-1938
"On August 1, 1936, the Harbin newspaper" Our Way "published an interview with the Spanish professor E. Afenicio under the heading "The Spanish uprising was raised by Russian emigrants, ranks of the Foreign Legion in Morocco." As you know, the north of Morocco was under a special occupation regime due to the restless nature of the local tribes The Foreign Legion controlled the situation in these places, "where the Russians make up the largest percentage, both soldiers and officers.
... The first events began in Melilla and Ceuta, garrisons ... where units consisting exclusively of Russian emigrants were stationed ... Therefore, I am convinced that the uprising in Morocco, which has now spread to the continent, is the work of your compatriots, who were the first to put their the real strength of the regiments ... of the Foreign Legion, "wrote the Spanish professor.
Russian emigrants, as opposed to the international brigades, fought on the side of Franco in Spain. One cannot deny the possible connection between the actions of emigrants from the Russian All-Military Union and the Russians from the French Foreign Legion. The version about the coordinated actions of two streams of Russian emigration, who decided to help the Spanish rebels who opposed the communist regime, is quite likely.
As you know, France entered the war with Germany on September 3, 1939. Military operations then affected the territory of North Africa. The Foreign Legion participated in the battles against the Nazis in Morocco. By the way, the fighting here continued for another two months after the surrender of France on June 22, 1940.
Some commanders of the Legion, including Zinovy Peshkov, refused to recognize the shameful truce for France. After the defeat of 1940, he escaped by night on a steamboat and was one of the first to arrive in London. He responded to the call of Charles de Gaulle and became one of his closest associates, and in this capacity returned to North Africa.
The Foreign Legion again took part in the hostilities against the German army, this time as component formations of General de Gaulle. Many Russian legionnaires were awarded military decorations for their merits in the battles against the Nazis. The "Cross of Liberation" was awarded to Lieutenant Colonel D. Amilakhvari, who died in 1942 in Egypt; N. Rumyantsev, commander of the 1st Moroccan cavalry regiment; Captain A. Ter-Sarkisov.
V. Kolupaev's study reports the names of a number of Russian officers and soldiers who died in battle: Vashchenko, Gomberg, Zolotarev, Popov, Regema, Rothstein, Prince Urusov; Zemtsov, who was awarded two Military Crosses, the second cross - posthumously.
The French from the SS units before being shot by the French from the Free French. From left to right: Obersturmführer Sergei Krotov (Serge Krotoff, 10/11/1911-05/08/1945, Russian by birth, born in a French colony on the island of Madagascar), Untershurmführer Paul Briffaut (Paul Briffaut, 08/08/1918-05/08/1945, in the foreground, in the form of a Wehrmacht lieutenant) and Obersturmführer Robert Doffat (looks at the photographer).
12 Frenchmen who served in the SS troops were executed by Free French soldiers. 11 of them were from the 33rd SS Infantry Division "Charlemagne" (1st French) (33.Waffen-Gren.Div. der SS "Charlemagne" / Franzusische Nr 1) and one (Paul Briffaut) - from the 58th (until August 1944 - the reinforced 638th Grenadier Regiment) of the SS Grenadier Regiment (as part of the SS Charlemagne division).
They were recovering in a German hospital when the Americans occupied it in early May 1945. The hospital patients were placed with other prisoners in a temporary camp in the barracks of the Alpine Riflemen in the city of Bad Reichenhall. There was a rumor that the Americans were handing over the city to the French units of General Leclerc, and these 12 people tried to escape, but were detained by patrols and handed over to the French. They ended up in the hands of soldiers of the 2nd Armored Division of the Free French.
The prisoners behaved with dignity and even defiantly. When the division commander, General Leclerc, called them traitors and said: "How could you Frenchmen wear someone else's uniform?" one of them answered: “You yourself wear someone else’s uniform - American!” (the division was equipped by the Americans). They say this angered Leclerc, and he ordered the prisoners to be shot.
On May 8, 1945, these 12 prisoners were executed. The bodies were thrown on the spot and only three days later they were buried by the Americans.
Paul Briffaut and Robert Doffat in November, Sergei Krotov in December 1947, and Raymond Payras (another of the executed) in 1950 were convicted in absentia and sentenced to death by the Seine Department Court for treason.
The photo was added by the user, but the description was replaced by the project editor.
Photo source:
Thanks to user Pazifist for valuable additions to the description of the photo.
Photo Information
|