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| == Deployment == | == Deployment == | ||
| The Corps under General Shteifon was plunged into the heat of the Yugoslav |
The Corps under General Shteifon was plunged into the heat of the Yugoslav guerilla war. The Corps engauged Titoists in villages and cities throughout Yugoslavia, often deployed in regions the Germans considered particularly dangerous. This went against the hopes of the founders of the Corps, who had hoped that it would be primarily deployed as a defense unit against partizan aggression. | ||
| As per Skorodumov's point 6, the Corps refused to attack the national Serbian ] forces. The Chetniks maintained a neutral and occasionally an allied relationship with the Corps, with a few exceptions. The ] of Dimitri Ljotic, by contrast, were a constant ally of the Corps. | |||
| Frictions had also developed between the Corps and the ] which the Corps was in a ] alliance with. This occured after the Corps' soldiers had intervened by force to stop atrocities against Serbs committed by Croatian soldiers. | |||
| Shteifon's diplomatic war with the German command forced him to make several concessions. One was the introduction of the German uniform (as the Germans refused to supply anything else), another was an oath all soldiers were forced to give to Hitler. Shteifon was, however, able to win permission to send representatives to occupied territories (notably in ] Odessa and Besarabia) in order to recruit Soviet POW's for the Corps. Over 5,000 new recruits were succesfully enlisted this way, allowing the formation of two additional ] (bringing the total number to five). In the wake of this expansion, an officer training program was instituted in order to create new ranks for a future army. | |||
Revision as of 02:22, 1 July 2006
The Russian Corps, the Russian Guard Corps, the Russian Corps in Serbia, the Separate Russian Corps (Русский Охранный Корпус, Русский Корпус в Сербии, Russisches Schutzkorps Serbien) was an armed force that existed from 1941 to 1945, predominantly composed of anti-communist Russian emigres. It fought in alliance with axis forces against the communist partizans of Tito, and later against the Red Army.
Formation
The Corps formed after the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia, after a wave of atrocities committed by communist Yugoslav partizans against Russian white emigres.
General Mikhail Skorodumov, a veteran of the White movement, referred to the German occupational forces, asking for permission to form an armed "Separate Russian Corps" which would defend the Russian population against the communist partizans. In return for being armed and supplied by the Germans, Skorodumov set forth six conditions:
1. Only one commander of the Corps is responsible to the German command. All units and ranks of the Corps are responsible only to the commander of the Corps, who is confirmed by the German command, and the leaders that are picked by the commander of the Corps.
2. Units of the Russian Corps cannot be integrated into German units, they are entirely independent.
3. The Russian corps wears the old Russian uniform, the materials for which must come from the old Serbian supplies.
4. The officers of the corps do not make any oaths.
5. When the Corps finishes its formation and communism in Serbia is defeated, the German command transfers the Corps to the Eastern Front.
6. The Russian Corps may not be used against any government, nor against the Serbian national forces of Draza Mihailovic.
In point 5, Skorodumov reasoned, as many Russian white emigres at the time, that it would be possible to take advantage of a foreign war in order to break open a civil war in Russia and overthrow Stalin's dictatorship. The Corps, he reasoned, was to become the seed of this resistance.
On the 12th of September, 1941, after recieving the written approval of German Colonel Kevish, Skorodumov ordered the formation of the Corps. Three days later he was arrested by the Germans for forming a "separate Russian corps" and was replaced by his assistant, General Boris Shteifon (who was half Jewish from his father's side), another White army veteran. Shteifon continued the formation of the Corps. At the same time, he was engauged in a diplomatic war with the German command in an attempt to win as much independence and freedom of action as possible.
Several thousand Russian emigres living in Yugoslavia and in surrounding Eastern European countries enlisted in the Corps, men from age 16 to those in their seventies were admitted. At the beginning the Corps heavily lacked men in their twenties, due to the fact that most were conscripted into the Yugoslav Royal Army and were either taken prisoner, living in exile, or with the Chetnik partizans. Most volunteers were either young men who grew up in Russian Cadet Corps of Yugoslavia, or seasoned veterans of the Russian Tsarist and White armies. Consequently, many commissioned officers had to enlist as privates or non-coms. Officers and generals were permitted to wear their old rank on the shoulderboards, while using their collar to display their Corps rank.
Deployment
The Corps under General Shteifon was plunged into the heat of the Yugoslav guerilla war. The Corps engauged Titoists in villages and cities throughout Yugoslavia, often deployed in regions the Germans considered particularly dangerous. This went against the hopes of the founders of the Corps, who had hoped that it would be primarily deployed as a defense unit against partizan aggression.
As per Skorodumov's point 6, the Corps refused to attack the national Serbian Chetnik forces. The Chetniks maintained a neutral and occasionally an allied relationship with the Corps, with a few exceptions. The Serbian Volunteer Corps of Dimitri Ljotic, by contrast, were a constant ally of the Corps.
Frictions had also developed between the Corps and the Croatian Home Guard which the Corps was in a de jure alliance with. This occured after the Corps' soldiers had intervened by force to stop atrocities against Serbs committed by Croatian soldiers.
Shteifon's diplomatic war with the German command forced him to make several concessions. One was the introduction of the German uniform (as the Germans refused to supply anything else), another was an oath all soldiers were forced to give to Hitler. Shteifon was, however, able to win permission to send representatives to occupied territories (notably in Romania_during_World_War_II Odessa and Besarabia) in order to recruit Soviet POW's for the Corps. Over 5,000 new recruits were succesfully enlisted this way, allowing the formation of two additional regiment (bringing the total number to five). In the wake of this expansion, an officer training program was instituted in order to create new ranks for a future army.