SS Sturmbrigade RONA
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The S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A. (also known as the Kaminski Brigade) was a Waffen-SS unit. The Russian Liberation People's Army (Russian: Русская освободительная народная армия, РОНА; transcription: Russkaya osvoboditel'naya narodnaya armiya, RONA) originated from the Lokot Autonomy, a semi-autonomous region in the German-occupied Soviet Union, led by Bronislav Vladislavovich Kaminski (de). It is described as initially being volunteers, later also including conscripts. The Warsaw Uprising began on the same day that Heinrich Himmler signed an order for the establishment of the division (1 August 1944). The division formation was never implemented.
Contents
History
The Kaminski Brigade was an anti-Partisan formation (Bandenbekämpfung) made up of Russians, Belorussians, and some Poles from Lokot in Byelorussia. The formation saw action behind the lines of the Eastern Front during World War II. It later became folded into the Waffen SS.
When the Germans advanced into the USSR in June 1941, many saw them as liberators. While many prisoners of war were taken, many Soviets escaped capture and retreated to the forests to wage a guerrilla war on the Germans. To supply their campaigns, the Soviet partisans often raided towns and villages for food and supplies. In October 1941, near the city of Bryansk in Byelorussia, citizens of the town of Lokot banded together to defend their town from such raids. They elected the Russian born Ivan Voskoboinik as Mayor and commander of the defence. Voskoboinik's St. Petersburg classmate, the German-Polish engineer Bronislav Kaminski (former volunteer of the Red Army from the Russian Civil War), was elected as deputy commander. The Commander of Army Group Centre, Günther von Kluge and the commander of Panzergruppe 1, Heinz Guderian approved the creation of the Republic of Lokot, which received an unprecedented degree of autonomy and self rule.
The population of the republic grew as Russians, Byelorussians, and other former Soviet citizens looking to escape the harassment of the partisans began to move into the area. Soon there were too many people to be accommodated in the town, and so a militia was created to protect the expanding republic. Equipped with a mixture of antiquated Red Army uniforms and weapons, the militia began to expand.
During a partisan attack in January 1942, Voskoboinik was killed, and so Kaminski took over command of the Republic and its expanding militia. In cooperation with German forces, the militia began commencing aggressive anti-Partisan operations. In June 1942, the militia took part in the major anti-partisan operation codenamed Vogelsang as a part of Generalleutnant Werner Freiherr von und zu Gilsa's Gruppe Gilsa II. The militia, serving as guides, scouts and translators, stayed with the Gruppe until it was disbanded in October 1942. By late 1942, the armed forces of the Republic of Lokot had expanded to the size of a five Regiment Brigade, close to 10,000 men under arms.
Kaminski now decided to give his militia an official title. He decided on Russkaya Osvoboditelnaya Narodnaya Armiya (Russian National Liberation Army) or RONA. The Germans now decided to send thirty-six captured Soviet field guns and twenty-four captured T-34 tanks in various states of disrepair to reinforce Kaminski's militia, which was now rostered upon the official German order of battle as the Kaminski Brigade. The brigade was tasked with controlling the partisan presence in the forests which covered the Bryansk Oblast.
In summer 1943, the brigade began to suffer major desertions, due in part to the recent Soviet victories and in part to the efforts of the partisans to "turn" as many of Kaminski's troops as possible. As a part of these efforts, several attempts on Kaminski's life were carried out. Each time, Kaminski narrowly avoided death and punished the conspirators with execution. Several German officers passing through Lokot reported seeing bodies hanging from gallows outside Kaminski's headquarters. Fearing a breakdown in command, a German liaison staff was attached to Kaminski's HQ to restructure the brigade and return stability to the unit.
Prior to Operation Citadel, the massive offensive to destroy the Kursk salient, the brigade took part in several major anti-partisan operations aimed at protecting German supply lines. In Operations Zigeunerbaron, Freischütz and Tannenhauser, the brigade was involved in action against partisans and also took part in reprisal operations against the civilian population. After the failure of Citadel, the Soviet counteroffensives forced the brigade, along with the entire population of the Lokot Republic (around 50,000 civilians), back with the retreating Germans.
Warsaw
After the events during the Warsaw Uprising (1944), the division, still in formation, was repeatedly called upon to suppress uprisings, for example, in Slovakia. In November 1944, the attempt to restore the division to full strength was finally abandoned. The remnants of the RONA, approximately 3,000 men, were incorporated into the 1602nd Grenadier Regiment of the 600th Infantry Division (Russian) of General Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army at the Münsingen military training area. The division number 29 was reassigned to an Italian SS unit, the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Italian), in early March 1945.
29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS RONA (1st Russian); planned structure
- Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 72 (russisches Nr. 1)
- Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 73 (russisches Nr. 2)
- Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 74 (russisches Nr. 3)
- Waffen-Artillerie-Regiment der SS 29 (russisches Nr. 1)
- SS-Füsilier-Bataillon 29
- SS-Pionier-Bataillon 29
- SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 29
- SS-Nachrichten-Abteilung 29
- SS-Versorgungs-Regiment 29
- SS-Veterinär-Kompanie 29
- SS-Sanitäts-Kompanie 29
- SS-Feldersatz-Bataillon 29
Commanders
- 1 to 28 August 1944 Waffen-Brigadeführer Bronislaw Wladislawowitsch Kaminski
- 28 August to 27 September 1944: SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Christoph Diehm
- 27 September bis October 1944: SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei Heinrich Jürs
