The nationality of those who fought in the "Galicia" is absolutely not important - crimes and cruelty are always international. Let's recall a little history in order to better understand who was honored on July 19, 2008 in the village of Krasnoye.

The winter of 1943 became a nightmare for the German army and their allies. After Stalingrad, it became obvious that losses in manpower could not be compensated for by "true Aryans". Then it was decided to form several special SS divisions from the collaborators of the occupied territories. So, one after another, thirty-six SS divisions appeared, recruited not from native Germans, but from "sympathizers" - "Viking" (Norwegians and Danes), "Charlemagne" (French), "Wallonia" (Belgians), "Netherlands", 15 -I (Latvian), 20th (Estonian), "Handshar" (Croatian), etc. "Galicia" became the 14th both by number and by the time of formation.

G. Himmler inspects the training camp of the division "SS-Galicia"

There were practically no Ukrainian officers in the "Ukrainian" division. Brigadeführer Fritz Freitag commanded the division, Major Wolf-Dietrich Gaike was in charge of the operations department, Hauptsturmführer Fritz Niermann was in charge of the intelligence department, Hauptsturmführer Herbert Schaaf was in charge of the supply department, commander's adjutant was Sturmbannfuehrer Erich Finder, officers for assignments were Friedrich Lengardt and Herbert Genel. The regimental commanders are Karl Wildner, Hans Otto Forstroiter, Paul Herms, Karl Brishtot and Friedrich Baersdorf. Even the pharmacist was a German - Hauptsturmführer Werner Beneke.
Do modern Ukrainian nationalists remember this, honoring the Nazis and calling "Galicia" the "greatest spiritual wealth" of the nation? What spiritual values ​​can we talk about if the Germans entrusted the Galician volunteers with only one role - to be cannon fodder, grease for bayonets?
But the cannon fodder was of poor quality. The division did not justify the hopes placed on it by the command. On June 25, 1944, the division was transferred to Brody at the disposal of the XIII Army Corps, where it occupied a reserve line of defense, located 20 km from the front line. On June 30, 1944, the division consisted of 15299 soldiers and officers. On July 13, the Red Army went on the offensive. On the morning of July 15, units of the SS division "Galicia", together with two tank divisions of the Wehrmacht, took part in a counterattack against the advancing Soviet troops. But by the end of the day, the counterattack ran out of steam and the Nazis began to randomly retreat.

Memo on the assignment of the Iron Cross 2nd class. division war correspondent Marchuk

Analyzing the course of hostilities, the chief of staff of the division, V. Heike, noted the weakness of the Galicians in defense and the demoralizing effect of Katyusha strikes on them. The commander of Corps Group C (Korpsabteilung C), Major General Wolfgang Lange, negatively characterizes the actions of the Galicia division during the battles near Brody. The commander of the 48th tank corps F.V. Mellentin, who participated in the battle, had the same opinion about the fighting qualities.

By July 18, the Brodsky boiler slammed shut. All attempts to break out of the encirclement were unsuccessful. According to V. Heike, no more than 500 soldiers and officers managed to escape from the cauldron together with the division commander. At the assembly point of the division, they were joined by another 1200 soldiers and officers of the auxiliary divisions of the division who were not in the boiler. Another small part was able to go out with other parts.

Members of the Baersdorf battle group who received Iron Crosses for the "pacification" of Guta Penyatskaya (near Brody)

(The village of Guta Penyatska, destroyed by the Ukrainian SS of the SS-Galicia division. The village was burned on February 28, 1944 under the pretext of hiding Jews and quartering Soviet partisans there. At the same time, the vast majority of the Poles in the village were brutally killed. The ashes of 172 houses remained on the site, more than 1000 died civilians).

This was the first and last clash of the "spiritual value of the nation" with the Soviet troops. And it ended completely disgracefully.
A good tradition of Ukrainian nationalism is to honor scoundrels and losers, to celebrate only defeats.

Really interesting. If the fighters of "Galicia" stood to the last bullet, held onto the Ukrainian land with their teeth, thwarted the offensive of the Soviet army, or at least delayed it for a couple of days, then one could understand the current enthusiasm. Do not accept, do not justify, do not forgive, because the atrocities of the Nazis cannot be forgiven, but at least understood. Heroism remains heroism, even if it is done in the name of false and criminal ideals. But in reality, the "freedom fighters" put on their pants and fled after a couple of artillery salvos. What is there to admire?

The further combat path of the "glorious" division is also very remarkable. In August 1944, the division was reorganized. Volunteers were recruited, and a new command staff arrived from Germany. After that, the "bearers of spiritual values" had a chance to play heroics with might and main. The truth is already against the civilian population.
So Polish historians Richard Torchesi and Andrzej Zeba noted the participation of the division's units in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. Then the division is transferred to Slovakia, where the "Galician knights" also fight with barely armed rebels. The division, which has gained "combat experience", is transferred to Yugoslavia to fight Tito's partisans. In early May 1945, the entire division surrendered to American and British troops.

The Ukrainian soldiers of the division were separated from the Germans and placed in a camp in the vicinity of Rimini (Italy). Due to the intervention of the Vatican, which viewed the division's soldiers as "good Catholics and devoted anti-communists", their status was changed by the British from "prisoners of war" to "surrendered enemy personnel".

Since, during the surrender, the members of the division claimed that they were not Ukrainians, but Galicians , then this fact served as a formal reason for the refusal to extradite the "Ukrainian SS" despite repeated requests and demands from the Soviet side.

Already after the war, the Association of Former Members of the Galicia Division appeared in the American occupation zone of Germany (the prefix SS was prudently omitted). After several moves, the headquarters of the association finally settled in Toronto. Former SS-sheep engaged in the favorite business of real Ukrainian patriots: they began to glorify their non-existent exploits in magazines and books that they themselves published. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the attempts to rehabilitate "Galicia" in Ukraine.

We must remember that those who glorify the exploits of the SS "Galicia" take the side Nazi Germany and spits on the graves of millions of Ukrainians who became victims of countless Nazi crimes or laid down their lives so that these crimes would never be repeated in human history.

Source -

Today, one might say, is a holiday. Just on July 22, the operation ended, in which the SS division "Galicia" was defeated near Brody. I offer my publication about this momentous event.

The "internationality" of the event was illustrated by the presence of a Russian youth who portrayed a divisionalist. He explained his choice by the fact that he wanted to be on the side of the partisans (?!), who defend their homeland in the battle with the enemy. The plot about the Brodovsky cauldron ended with the pathetic words of the presenter that in the game, as in the real operation in July 1944, the soldiers of the SS division "Galicia" won.
Pantheon in the Zolochevsky district in honor of the SS men of the SS division "Galicia"

Game-replay of the battle near Brody on June 30 (which, for that matter, won Soviet troops) was preceded by other no less significant, but more semi-official events. Here is the "nationwide" celebration, accompanied by clashes in different regions of the country, the 100th anniversary of Hauptmann and part-time UPA commander-in-chief Roman Shukhevych. And the next date of the “People’s Assembly” on June 30, 1941, at which either the act of “reinventing Ukrainian statehood” was proclaimed, or the creation of the “Regional Administration of the Western Regions of Ukraine” with Yaroslav Stetsko at the head (his ideologist of Ukrainian integral nationalism Dmitry Dontsov called “ by the will of the faces of absurdity”).

Thus, it became absolutely obvious that after Estonia, Poland, Latvia, the baton for rewriting the results of World War II was taken over by Ukraine. Therefore, today it is important to turn again to the documents.

As you know, the creation of the SS division "Galicia" began after the Soviet Union inflicted a crushing defeat on the Germans near Stalingrad, which changed the entire course of hostilities on the Eastern Front. On February 6, 1943, with the blessing of Metropolitan A. Sheptytsky, Andriy Melnyk sent a message to the Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht High Command, Field Marshal V. Keitel: “... It seems the time has come to include Ukraine (i.e., Ukrainian nationalists. - Auth.) to the anti-Bolshevik front... It is necessary to form a combat-ready Ukrainian army... Unfortunately, over the past two years, many opportunities have been lost... It is necessary to transfer this issue to the sphere of practical actions without red tape and waste of time. I hope that the problems of the formation of the Ukrainian armed forces in the form in which we have outlined here will find in you, Mr. Field Marshal, proper understanding and attention ... Ukrainian loyal subjects and, above all, the military circles are ready to resolve this issue, which in the name of the victorious end of the struggle against Moscow, we attach great importance, strive to take part and place ourselves at the disposal of the high command of the armed forces. This initiative was supported by the governor of the Galicia district, SS Gruppenführer Otto Wächter.

Taras Hunchak writes in his book “At the Uniforms of the Enemy” that Wachter received permission to form a Ukrainian division that would become part of the SS troops from Himmler. “During a conversation on March 4, 1943, Wachter handed Himmler a letter with a proposal, if Himmler approves, to discuss with the Ukrainian “guides” the creation of a volunteer SS division “Galicia”. On March 28, 1943, Wächter informed Himmler that he generally supported the creation of a division. In order to enlist the support of influential SS officials, Wächter spoke with Kruger, an SS general, and two days later with Gruppenführer Berger, chief of the SS headquarters. Inspired by the success of these negotiations, on April 12, 1943, Wächter convened a meeting at which party leaders, senior functionaries from the SS police, were to express their opinion on the formation of the division ”(K., 1993, p. 142).

From this book we learn one interesting detail. The participants in the meeting, which was attended by ten Nazi leaders, agreed that "based on psychological and political considerations" the word "police" in the name of the formation should be avoided. That is, it was about the creation of a police "security", namely a punitive division in the SS troops, and this was precisely what had to be hidden. Himmler also imposed a ban on any mention of the word "Ukrainian" in the context of the formation of the division.

Its creation was formalized on April 28, 1943 by a special act of the Governor of Galicia Vechter. The text of the oath of the Galician SS men read: “I serve you, Adolf Hitler, as the Fuhrer and Chancellor of the German Reich, with loyalty and courage. I swear to you and I will submit to death. God help me” (Ukrainian Historian magazine, New York - Toronto - Munich, 1981, No. 1, p. 163).

On the day of the proclamation of the creation of the SS division "Galicia", Wächter issued a secret directive regarding the conduct of the draft, during which in no case should it give the impression that the Germans were counting on the help of the Ukrainians and that the Ukrainians were German allies. Conscription commissions should focus on the fact that "Ukrainians are actively involved in the fight against Bolshevism."

For the formation of the division, the Military (sometimes they write the Combat) Council was created, which included representatives of the Ukrainian Central Committee (UCC). It was headed by Colonel Alfred Bisantz.

The press bureau of the Central Committee, subordinate to the Department for cultural affairs headed by Mikhail Kushnir. The press bureau had writers and journalists on its staff who wrote articles and reports published mainly in the newspapers Krakivski Visti and Lvivski Visti. Representatives of the Military Council traveled around the cities and villages of Galicia with reports in which they convinced the audience "of the need to cooperate with the Germans" and "together with them fight against the Bolsheviks."

According to T. Hunchak, at the beginning of June 1943, 81,999 people signed up for the SS division "Galicia", 52,875 were accepted, 29,124 people were refused. However, the call did not stop there. The draft organization, headed by SS Hauptsturmführer K. Schulze, which turned the Military Council into its subsidiary body, continued mobilization until the end of the occupation period of Galicia, that is, until August 1944, but replenishment came until the beginning of spring 1945 at the expense of refugees from Galicia .

M. Czartoryski in his memoirs “Beating with a hammer and a sledgehammer” writes: “Mobilization into the SS division took place as if on the basis of “voluntariness”, and when this “voluntariness” turned out to be insufficient, then violence began: seizing, bail, arrests, removals, so that there was no longer any security at home, or outside the home, or at school, even from churches, the Germans began to fish out young people for “beautiful Germany” (New York, 1970).

Today Kulchitsky and Co. are fooling the people that SS stands for "Sich Riflemen". The author of the most notable book about the SS division "Galicia", its chief of staff, Major Gaike, wrote: "the official name of the division dated July 30, 1943: SS - Freiwilligen - Division - "Galizien" - SS - Volunteer Division "Galicia" and dated June 27, 1944 years: 14 SS - Freiwilligen - Grenadier - Division (14 SS Volunteer Grenadier Division (Galician No. 1). And then he adds: “However, Himmler clearly warned that in the division, from any point of view, one should not even think about the independence of Ukraine. Words "Ukraine", "Ukrainian", "Ukrainian" was forbidden to be used under threat of punishment. Warriors of the division should not be called "Ukrainians", but "Galicians" (Gayke V. D. Ukrainian division "Galicia". 1945. Toronto - Munich - Paris, 1970. - taken from the site "SS Division" Galicia ").

He notes that "they paid a great price of blood, which the German people should not forget" and "have obligations of gratitude towards Ukrainians." This backstory gives some veterans reason to think that this is why German ambassadors suddenly become advisers to President Yushchenko, and various German foundations sponsor orange-oriented Ukrainian non-governmental organizations. And if the “German people”, with whose army we fought during the Great Patriotic War, have “obligations of gratitude” towards the warriors of the SS division “Galicia”, then maybe it’s not the Ukrainian people who should call them heroes?

At first, the main part of the division was in the "Heidelager", and from the end of February 1944 - in a stationary military camp in Neugamer (Silesia, Germany).

And although on April 28, 1943, during the proclamation of the act on the creation of the SS division "Galicia", the division was presented as a volunteer unit of the SS troops, the Hitlerite command, or rather the administration of the SS troops, sent the first set of "volunteers" to the police units ("security" SS troops ). This is exactly what modern researchers of the history of the division are trying to hide.

“As soon as on July 18, 1943, the first group of “volunteers” left Lviv for the “high schools,” testifies V. Gaike, “they were first placed in the Gaidelager camp (near Debica), and then reorganized into the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th police regiments.

In early February 1944, the division received an urgent order from the Waffen-SS command to form a "combat group" on the basis of the division to fight Soviet and Polish partisans. A “battle group” consisting of one battalion and a battery of light guns was sent to the region of Chesanov, Lyubachev, Tarnograd, Belograi and Zamosc (Poland) within a day. A day later, a second "battle group" was sent to fight the Bolshevik partisans in the northwest of Lvov. Geike noted that both groups "acted quite successfully." The whole group fought in Guta-Penyatskaya, which is near Zolochev in the Lvov region, against the Polish population, Soviet and Polish partisans.

In the archives of the SS division “Galicia” captured by the Soviet troops, one can read the following entry about this bloody event: “The first battalion of the 4th regiment participated in the battle with the partisans ... From 8 to 12 of our SSes were wounded. The villages of Guta-Penyatskaya and Benyaki were burned and pacified. The villages of Guta-Penyatskaya and Benyaki were wiped off the face of the earth by the barbarians. More than 800 Polish peasants and partisans perished.”

Another record about the “exploits” of the SS in Ternopil: “When the Germans and our SSes recaptured the occupied part of the city from the Bolsheviks, then ours drove all the Poles to the church and exterminated them” (Maslovskiy V.I. Rocks of the Other World War - M., Slavyansky Dialogue, 1999, p. 91).

The archives dispassionately tell about how special teams of division officers in June 1944 in Lvov killed more than 1,500 civilians, shot Red Army prisoners of war in Zolochiv, razed the town of Olesko to the ground, destroying about 300 of its inhabitants, contributed to the deportation of Soviet people for hard labor in Germany ( Quoted from the book “Without the right to rehabilitation.” Doroshenko K. Monument "Fascist henchmen. - K., 2005, vol. 1, p. 156).

Only from March to July 1944, the 14th SS Grenadier Division "Galicia" was really a field and rifle division. In July of the same year, she was utterly defeated by Soviet troops in the Brodovsky cauldron. Already in the fall, on the basis of a reserve regiment, the remnants of the "Galicia" were again reorganized into an SS police division. In early October 1944, she was transferred in full force to Slovakia to suppress the anti-fascist uprising. After punitive actions against the Slovak rebels, the division was not sent to the front, which was rapidly approaching, but was transferred to Styria and Carinthia to fight against the Yugoslav partisans.

IN last days of the war, as Gaike recalled, the division left its combat positions against the Soviet troops (it was then on German territory) and rushed towards the British troops in order to surrender. In the town of Tamsweg, where the division column passed, the British set up a checkpoint where they detained all "foreign" and SS units. Upon learning of this, the division commander Fritz Freitag shot himself. It was headed by the former Petliura general and Polish colonel Pavel Shandruk, who by that time had become chairman of the so-called Ukrainian National Committee (UNK).

Rejecting the SS regalia, the division took an oath of "loyalty to the Ukrainian people." Having changed its former name to the First Ukrainian Division, it nevertheless did not fire a single shot at the enemy of the United Nations, did not annul its former oath of allegiance to Hitler and the Third Reich.

In Nuremberg, fascism was judged by mankind. The international tribunal condemned fascism as a misanthropic phenomenon, as a source of aggression, classifying the latter as a crime. He condemned the instruments of this aggression, separately singling out all the SS and SD formations as criminal organizations.

The decision to conduct the trial was made at the Yalta Conference of the leaders of the powers of the anti-Hitler coalition on February 4-11, 1945. The final communiqué of the conference spoke of the determination of its participants "to subject all war criminals to just and speedy punishment."

And, probably, it is deeply symbolic that attempts to rewrite the history and results of World War II are being made in Ukraine precisely at the time of the “new Yalta Conference” - the Yalta Summit of European Strategy, simultaneously with the start of building new dividing borders in Europe.

April 9th, 2014

“On June 22, 1944, the Red Army launched Operation Bagration. Army Group "Center" was bursting at the seams and falling apart under the blows of the 1st Belorussian Front, all the reserves of the German army were transferred to the central sector of the Eastern Front. At the same time, the Lvov-Sandomierz operation continued, the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Konev continued the offensive and more and more pushed the defense of the German troops to the east. On June 25, the division headquarters, led by SS-Sturmbannführer Heike, arrived at Model's headquarters, where he received an order to transfer the division to the XIII Army Corps of the 4th Panzer Army. Heike immediately reported to Freytag and notified Wächter of the change in the area of ​​operational deployment of the division. On June 28, 1944, units of the division began to be sent to the front. 4 echelons were sent per day.

The division was assigned a 12-kilometer zone in the second echelon of defense. In the ranks of the division on June 30, 1944, there were 346 officers (196 Germans and 150 Ukrainians), 1131 non-commissioned officers (439 Germans and 692 Ukrainians), 13,822 privates (382 Germans and 13,440 Ukrainians), total 15,299 people (1017 Germans and 14,282 Ukrainians). That is, the division experienced a clear shortage in officers (112 people) and non-commissioned officers (1300 people) and an overabundance of rank and file (2712 people).

…………….

On July 12, 1944, the division was located by Freytag on the front as follows (from north to south):

in the Turya area - the 31st SS regiment and the III division of the artillery regiment;

in the Sokolovka area - a sapper battalion;

in the Zabolottsy area - II division of the artillery regiment;

in the area of ​​​​Lugovoe (the former name of the Czechs) - the 30th SS regiment;

in the Chishkov area (formerly Chishki) - the headquarters of the artillery regiment;

in the area of ​​Luchkovtsy (the former name of Kadovbyshchi) - the IV division of the artillery regiment;

in the area south of Dubye - the 29th SS regiment and an anti-tank division;

in the area of ​​Ozhidov - the headquarters of the division and other divisional units;

in the area of ​​Bezbrody - a reserve battalion;

in the area of ​​​​Sukhodola - a reconnaissance battalion and the 1st division of the artillery regiment.

The reconnaissance battalion with the 1st division supporting it was advanced by Freytag 2 km east of the division's positions.

By a strange coincidence, the destroyed (“pacified”) Guta-Penyatska was located 4 kilometers northeast of the positions of the 29th SS regiment.

The Ukrainian population very happily greeted the Ukrainian SS, in addition, UPA units (two choty) operated in this area. The headquarters and headquarters company of the 29th SS regiment was located in Yasenov, where, with the tacit consent of Dern two Ukrainian scarführer began to train young UPA fighters(that is, fighters of the army, which "fought against both Nazi Berlin and Bolshevik Moscow").

On July 8, an extremely unpleasant incident occurred in the division - a machine-gun crew and part of a squad from the 7th company of the II battalion of the 29th SS regiment went to the UPA. As a result of the active actions of the Waffen-Obersturmführer Maletsky (he personally arrived at the UPA chota, where the Ukrainian SS men had gone, and negotiated a return), the "deserters" were returned. No disciplinary action was taken against them, although the Waffen-Hauptsturmführer Paliev reported to Freytag about the incident. There is unconfirmed evidence that it was Paliev who argued that any measures against “deserters” were inadmissible in order to prevent a decrease in the morale of Ukrainians. Freytag, apparently, accepted Paliev's arguments (and this is "a stupid martinet who hates everything Ukrainian"?). Explanatory conversations were held in the regiment with the personnel (which, remarkably, were conducted by Ukrainian officers) about the inadmissibility of such actions. As a result, it was possible to prevent the desertion of Ukrainian SS men into the forests.”

Now we go directly to the Brodovsky boiler itself. Here is how Marshal Konev wrote about it:

“We firmly planned to deliver two powerful blows and break through the enemy front in two directions, spaced one from the other at a distance of 60-70 km. The first strike was planned to be delivered from the area west of Lutsk to general direction on Sokal, Rava-Russkaya and the second blow - from the Tarnopol region to Lvov with the task of defeating the Lvov group of Germans and capturing the powerful Lvov defense center and the Przemysl fortress.

“... our offensive developed successfully. Here it is impossible not to dwell, at least briefly, on the encirclement of the enemy's Brod grouping and its destruction. The encirclement was completed on July 18 with the exit of the cavalry-mechanized group of V.K. Brod group Nazi German troops consisted of eight divisions, which occupied a relatively large area.

It was clear to us that the enemy no longer had reserves that could delay or stop the successful offensive of the troops of the front, since the nearest operational reserves of the Germans had already been used up and there were no other reserves nearby. Under these conditions, the resistance of the encircled troops could not last long. All attempts by the enemy to break out of the encirclement, as well as to liquidate our corridor with simultaneous counter attacks by infantry and tanks from the north and south, did not bring any success to the enemy.

In the "Koltuv corridor", against which continuous enemy attacks were carried out, there was an advanced command post of the commander of the 60th Army, Colonel-General P. A. Kurochkin, which had a positive effect on command and control.

General K. V. Krainyukov, a member of the Military Council of the Front, and I arrived at Colonel-General P. A. Kurochkin at the forward command post and watched how he skillfully led the reflection of enemy counterattacks.

The observation post was at the edge of the forest. At this time, our units combed the forest, clearing it of enemy submachine gunners. There was fierce machine gun fire, but this did not violate the control and management of the battle.

The enemy was especially active on the flanks of the 60th Army and counterattacked them from the north and south. The place chosen by the army commander was justified by the prevailing situation. There were many troops in the army, and he had to lead them, being at a close distance from them and, if possible, seeing the battlefield. In addition to units of the 60th Army, among which the 15th rifle corps(corps commander General P.V. Tertyshny), the 3rd Guards and 4th Tank Armies were already operating in this corridor, and also, on my order, the 4th Guards Tank Corps under the command of General P.P. 31st Tank Corps under the command of General V.E. Grigoriev.

The main factors that ensured the success and rapid encirclement and destruction of the Brod grouping were: the exit of the 1st and 3rd Guards tank armies and the horse-mechanized group of General V.K. Baranov deep behind enemy lines; rather fast advance of the 13th Army on the right flank; reliable support of the flanks of the corridor" by building up forces from the depths at the expense of the second echelons and reserves of the front armies; building up the strike force in depth; the successful development of the offensive in the Ravarus direction, which did not allow the enemy to maneuver with his own forces and reserves.

The situation for the enemy was difficult.

All enemy troops were pinned down and could not maneuver.

Surrounded by continuous air strikes, artillery fire, tank and infantry attacks German troops were disorganized.

At first, individual soldiers and small groups began to surrender, and then whole units.

By the end of July 22, the Brod grouping of the enemy had ceased to exist. Soviet troops destroyed more than 38 thousand Germans, captured large trophies, captured 17 thousand soldiers and officers, including the commander of the 13th Army Corps, General Gauffe with his headquarters, as well as division commanders, Generals Lindemann and Nedtwig .

As it turned out from the interrogation of the captured generals, they did not even imagine the danger that arose as a result of the encirclement of their group.

The defeat of the Brodsky enemy grouping within five days was of great operational importance. Now the troops of our Lvov shock group could fully deploy their forces for an attack on Lvov.

Konev "Notes of the Front Commander"

In the Brodovsky cauldron

What is the participation of parts of the SS division "Galicia" in all this?

You can read more about this in Beglyar Navruzov’s book “14th SS Grenadier Division “Galicia”, but I want to focus your attention on only one day from this battle - July 19, 1944.

“On this day, part of the personnel of all regiments of the division began to arbitrarily leave positions and leave the battlefield. This was mainly due to the death or injury of company and platoon commanders. The non-commissioned officers who had not been fired upon could not replace the commanders who were out of action and followed their squads. Moreover, even companies left their positions. For example, before his injury, on the morning of July 19, Dern included in his regiment some units of the 30th and even 31st SS regiment. This indicates the beginning of the disorganization of the Ukrainian SS (after all, from the positions of the 31st regiment to the positions of the 29th SS regiment - 5-6 km). The replacement of retired officers by staff officers was not successful, since in most cases newly appointed commanders could not take command due to the rapidly changing operational environment. The defense of the division broke into pockets.

On July 20, 1944, the commander of the XIII Army Corps, General Haufe, having assembled a strike group, began to break through in the direction of White Stone. It was this advance of the corps units through the battle formations of the SS "Galicia" that was perceived by many Ukrainian SS men as a flight. Howe himself, as mentioned earlier, was taken prisoner.

In the current situation, the commander of the SS division "Galicia" Fritz Freytag, in fact, lost control over it, and in the future, the division left the encirclement already in separate battle groups.

And now let's evaluate the losses of the division and their causes:

“The surviving members of the division were sent to Neuhammer:

- 1614 who left as part of various combat groups;

- 1193 who left as part of the Klyaynov group (reserve battalion, a number of rear units);

- 815 wounded and released as part of combat groups of other units of the XIII AK.

Total 3622 survivors . Including: 171 officers (55 Ukrainians and 116 Germans), 220 non-commissioned officers (208 Ukrainians and 12 Germans), 3232 privates (3229 Ukrainians and 2 Germans).

Official historiographers estimate the losses of the division at 6130 people, of which 28 officers, 62 non-commissioned officers, 199 privates were killed, 112 officers, 18 officials, 1008 non-commissioned officers, 4883 privates were missing, but this figure is doubtful. If we accept it, then it turns out that 9752 soldiers of the division arrived in Brody, and this is far from even the figure of 11,000 people, which is given by almost all sources.

About 900 people were taken prisoner, of which 11 officers and 73 non-commissioned officers. Ukrainian sources determine the number of people who left for the UPA at 3,000 people. This is a clear exaggeration, given that after the battles of the Brods, about 30 divisionmen became some kind of instructors, 2 chots were formed from divisions, and in 3-4 chots there were from 10 to 20 divisions; we can safely assume that about 300 divisions remained in the UPA , including 4 officers and 17 non-commissioned officers. Most likely, another 2,000 people arose taking into account deserters from police regiments, but even in this case the figure is clearly overestimated. In addition, there are two interesting points in the memoirs of Ukrainian SS men. In the first case, a group of Ukrainian SS men joined the UPA, but when the UPA attacked the German units, they went over to the side of the Germans. The second case - when trying to get out of the encirclement, a group of divisionists ran into the UPA, the divisionmen were asked to surrender, but, having learned that it was the Ukrainian SS men, they let them through, and along with the Ukrainians there were Germans in the group. So the divisional soldiers were not eager to join the UPA and they, the Ukrainian SS men, should not be equated with the UPA fighters. In fact, rejecting the opportunity to join the ranks of the Ukrainian army, albeit insurgent, and remaining in the ranks of the German armed forces (and to be meticulous, as part of the fighting party units that are called upon to protect a particular person), these people deleted themselves from the ranks of fighters for Independent Ukraine and put themselves in the position of foreign mercenaries.

So, how many divisional soldiers died? We know that the following were sent to the front: officers - 136 Ukrainians and 193 Germans, non-commissioned officers - 631 Ukrainians and 379 Germans, privates - 13,030 Ukrainians and 81 Germans.

It broke out of the boiler, was wounded, was captured and transferred to the UPA (in a word, survived): officers - 63 Ukrainians and 123 Germans, non-commissioned officers - 249 Ukrainians and 61 Germans, privates - 4324 Ukrainians and 22 Germans. Total: 4842 people, of which 186 officers, 310 non-commissioned officers, 4346 privates.

Consequently, the following perished: officers - 143 people (73 Ukrainians and 70 Germans), non-commissioned officers - 700 people (382 Ukrainians and 318 Germans), privates - 8781 people (8706 Ukrainians and 59 Germans). Thus, total deaths: 9608 people (9161 Ukrainians and 447 Germans) .

Summarize. The total losses of the division, including those killed, wounded, deserted to the UPA and captured, amounted to 11,643 people (11,088 Ukrainians and 555 Germans), including: officers - 212 people (112 Ukrainians and 100 Germans), non-commissioned officers - 873 people (499 Ukrainians and 374 Germans), privates - 10,558 people (10,477 Ukrainians and 81 Germans).

Senior Ukrainian officers died in the battles of Brod: Palienko, Paliev, Zhuk. Rembalovich got into the UPA. Among German commanders there were the following losses: Herms (commander of the 31st SS regiment) and Adlerkamp (commander of the II battalion of the 29th SS regiment) died, as well as Wagner (commander of the III division of the artillery regiment). Wounded were Schutetzenhofer (commander of the 2nd division of the artillery regiment) and Dern (commander of the 29th SS regiment), Wuttig (commander of the communications battalion).

On August 6, 1944, Freytag arrived to report to Himmler in Berlin. Himmler dismissed Freytag's accusations against the Ukrainians, as "the more experienced German formations were unable to resist the Soviets and suffered similar losses."

The reasons for the defeat of the division cannot be called the unsuccessful actions of the division commander or the cowardice of the soldiers, the "superiority" of the Red Army. All this did not happen, Freitag acted quickly and clearly, the Ukrainian SS fought selflessly and bravely, the forces of the Red Army were approximately equal to the German ones (though, due to concentration in narrow areas, an advantage was created).

- non-firing of the personnel of the division;

- the unwillingness of non-commissioned officers to take on the duties of officers who died during the fighting;

- unlike the German SS, Ukrainian units often left the battle, abandoning their flanks, while they were taken out of the battle by Ukrainian non-commissioned officers;

- incomplete non-commissioned officers;

- the death on July 17, 1944 of the communications battalion. Therefore, even if it is true that Freytag blamed the Ukrainians for all the troubles, then this is not far from the truth. They weren't cowards, they weren't badly trained, they simply were not mentally prepared for such heavy battles. It is impossible to write off the defeat on the Germans, because the main link of command - the company - was controlled by Ukrainian officers. In the 29th and 30th SS regiments, all companies were under the command of Ukrainian officers. In the 31st SS regiment, the situation was different: it had only 3 Ukrainian company commanders.

As you know, the 30th SS regiment was the first to be defeated. However, thanks to Freytag's quick "castling", the division held out for another 4 days, until the 31st SS regiment lost its commander. At the same time, responsibility cannot be removed from Kurzbach, who led the regiment, but did not take into account that the dead company commanders would be replaced by platoon commanders, and the dead platoon commanders would not be replaced by squad commanders. Then, on the same day, an artillery regiment was practically destroyed, which meant that the division was left without artillery cover, because the defense of Olesko pulled all the anti-tank units of the division to itself.

July 20, 1944 was the completion of the defeat of the division, the 29th SS regiment, deprived of artillery support (since after the death of the artillery regiment, all anti-tank units were deployed to repel the Soviet troops advancing from the west), began to fall apart. And it was the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 29th SS Regiment, the Waffen-Hauptsturmführer Brigider, who, following the lead of his officers, became the unwitting culprit of the collapse of the battalion and the destruction of the 2nd Battalion and the actual death of the regiment. Regimental Commander Dern, who had the power to stop this, was wounded and evacuated. Finally, the most weakened 30th SS Regiment was forced to "fight to the last", ensuring the exit from the battle of other parts of the division.

On September 1, 1944, promotions and awards were carried out in the division. Bristot, Kashner, Kleinov, Kurzhbakh and Podleshch received the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer, Beiersdorf - SS Standartenführer. The ranks of the division were awarded 101 Iron Cross II class (79 Germans and 22 Ukrainians), as well as 18 Iron Crosses of the 1st class (all to the Germans).

On September 17, 1944, additional awards were held, during which 1 more Ukrainian received the Iron Cross II class and 1 Ukrainian received the Iron Cross I class. In total, 280 people were awarded for Brody, of which only 57 were Ukrainians. On September 26, 1944, another 123 people were awarded the Second Class Military Merit Cross (of which 33 were Ukrainians). On September 30, 1944, the SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the SS Troops Fritz Freitag was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Concluding the topic of awards, I would like to note two facts: first, not a single German was awarded the Knight's Cross "just like that", therefore, Himmler rated Freytag's actions very highly; the second - SS-Sturmbannführer Heike was not awarded and was not promoted.

Meanwhile, the restoration of the division began.

As of September 4, 1944, the division had:

134 officers (96 Germans and 38 Ukrainians);

522 non-commissioned officers (329 Germans and 193 Ukrainians);

4419 privates (1063 Germans and 3356 Ukrainians).

Total: 5075 people (1488 Germans and 3356 Ukrainians) (against full-time 480 officers, 2587 non-commissioned officers, 11,622 privates)."

In preparing this post, fragments from Beglyar Navruzov's book “14th SS Grenadier Division “Galicia” were used

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PART 2. DIVISION IN PERSONS

From a dialogue from the beginning of perestroika: Why are the heroes of the Great Patriotic War not honored in Lviv? Our heroes lie under the Fords...

The origins of the formation of the Ukrainian formation of the SS troops are discovered in June 1941, when representatives of Ukrainian veteran organizations created an administrative and organizational core in Krakow for the subsequent creation of national military units in the ranks of the German army. Former officer of the Ukrainian Galician Army, Colonel Alfred Bizants (who was also an officer of the German military intelligence) notified his Berlin leadership of the interest in the creation of Ukrainian formations on the part of Generals Mikhail Omelyanovich-Pavlenko, M. Kapustyansky, Colonels R. Sushko, I. Stefanov, P. Dyachenko, Captain M. Khronovyat. All these Ukrainian officers had previously also served in the ranks of the Austro-Hungarian, Ukrainian Galician and the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, fought against the Soviets.

In July 1941, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Colonel Andriy Melnik, turned to Hitler with a request to create Ukrainian military formations as part of the German army. The colonel's request went unanswered. On July 7, 1941, Professor V. Kubiyovich, chairman of the Ukrainian Central Committee, addressed a letter to the Governor General of Galicia G. Frank, in which he asked the German leadership to create a Ukrainian military formation. In Galicia, rumors began to spread quickly about a positive solution to the issue. The first set of recruits was made successfully, but subsequently they were all distributed in small groups among the German units.

Until 1942, the Germans did not dare to start creating large Ukrainian military units. This continued until the catastrophe of the Wehrmacht near Stalingrad. After the defeat, due to a shortage of personnel, the command of the 1st Panzer Army issued an order dated February 19, 1942 on the recruitment of Ukrainian recruits into the German units.

Subsequently, Ukrainian groups of 50-60 people participated in combat operations as part of German units and were united under the command of the Foerster group.

After the defeat at Stalingrad, the SS Brigadeführer, Governor of Galicia, Dr. Wächter, arrived in Berlin to the SS Reichsfuehrer Himmler with a request to form a Ukrainian division. Himmler agreed, defining the status of a Ukrainian SS volunteer equal to that of a German soldier, with only one difference. it was allowed to have their own priests, which was not allowed in other formations of the SS troops.

In parallel with the issue of creating a Ukrainian military unit, the decision was made on the adoption of a law on private land ownership in Galicia. The desire of the local population to go to the Eastern Front completely depended on the solution of this problem. After the publication of the law, it was planned to launch an agitation campaign to involve young people in the formation.

In Berlin, Wächter held a meeting with SS General Walter Krüger, Chief of the General Government Security Police Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, and SS Gruppenfuehrer Gottlob Berger. It was decided to create a Ukrainian division within the framework of the SS troops, hereinafter referred to as the “SS Volunteer Division “Galicia”.

According to preliminary estimates, 600 officers, 2,000 non-commissioned officers, 50 doctors and 20 veterinarians were to serve in the division. It was decided to recruit into the division 300 former Ukrainian officers who had previously served in the army of Austria-Hungary, 100 Ukrainian officers from the Polish army and 100 from the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, from the same sources it was supposed to recruit non-commissioned officers. For the formation of the division, the Germans provided 600 of their officers. The uniform was supposed to be standard, on the right sleeve a shield-shaped patch with the image of a Galician lion and three crowns was to be placed.

The drawing with the trident was rejected, as the lion. the coat of arms of Galicia had the meaning of a symbol of the regional, and not the all-Ukrainian level. An agreement was also reached on the supply of wagons and horses to the division by the local population.

The creation of a military orchestra was envisaged.

The following requirements were presented to recruits: height. not less than 1 m. 65 cm, age. not less than 18, but not more than 35 years.

Members of the OUN S. Bandera were not subject to conscription into the division. On April 28, an act was proclaimed in Lvov on the creation of a Ukrainian division of the SS troops, which emphasized that the division was being created not for police purposes, but for operations at the front. Governor Wächter tacitly forbade any talk that the division was a military unit allied with the Germans, on the contrary, the fact of the existence of the division was seen as evidence of the Ukrainians' desire to fight for New Europe". The use of banners with the image of the Vladimir trident was prohibited, instead of it the same Galician lion was recommended.

To form the division, the Ukrainian Military Council was created, which included former officers of the Austro-Hungarian and Ukrainian armies and representatives of the Ukrainian Central Committee. the only civil-administrative structure recognized by the Germans.

Alfred Bizants, a former colonel of the UNR army, headed the Military Council. General of the Austro-Hungarian and Ukrainian Galician armies Viktor Kurmanovich was elected the honorary head of the Council. The politician and publicist Dmytro Paliev, who later died near Brody, became responsible for accounting and training Ukrainian officer cadres for the division. The Military Council also published a small-format 4.8-page newspaper “Do Peremogi”, which was edited by M. Ostroverha.

The Military Council has deployed a network of its recruiting centers in Galicia. Propaganda, which contributed to the influx of volunteers, claimed that the division was the successor of the "glorious traditions of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (OSS)". The villagers were told that the abbreviation "SS" in the name of the division stands for "Sich Riflemen". With the approach of the front, the Council was entrusted with the evacuation of the families of military personnel.

Until July 2, 1943, 53,000 recruits arrived at the recruiting stations, of which 27,000 were found fit, 19,000 of them were called up, and 13,000 arrived at the division’s assembly point.

Simultaneously with the recruitment of young people in the division, German recruiters, led by Hauptbannführer Nickel, recruited 15.17 year old teenagers of both sexes in Ukraine for service in the air defense forces. There was no question of voluntariness here, teenagers were forcibly mobilized. In the spring of 1943, Oberbannführer Haupt arrived in Galicia to conduct a re-recruitment. The Ukrainian Central Committee and the Military Council were sharply indignant at this form of work, but the German authorities turned a blind eye to this. “The recruitment methods were simple. children were simply driven into the army, ”said Zenon Zeleny, a member of the Council, at a meeting. The teenagers were supposed to serve in the air defense for 2 years, after which they were to be transferred to the Ukrainian division. In total, seven thousand lads and a thousand girls were mobilized from Galicia, the custody of which was entrusted to the Youth Department of the Council. In Germany, an additional group of Ukrainian air defense assistants "Reich" was created, a similar unit was organized in Bransdorf (Silesia).

The German-Ukrainian Youth Committee was located in Bratislava.

The administration successfully negotiated with Obersturmführer Schmukerlag to include 10,000 teenagers from the "Working Service" (Baudienst), stationed in the Drogobych region, into the division.

Metropolitan A. Sheptytsky blessed Father Vasily Laba, who served during the 1st World War in the Austrian army, and in 1919 as a priest in the Ukrainian Galician army, for the post of religious "commander" of the division.

The formation of the division did not go unnoticed by the OUN-UPA S. Bandera. Shukhevych suggested that the leadership of the OUN introduce members of the organization into the ranks of the division.

The proposal was accepted, and subsequently, each company of the division had one "Bandera" member. Thus, the OUN(B) was aware of everything that was happening in the division, formed through the efforts of its political opponents, the Melnikovites and the Germans. In July 1943, Shukhevych met with Liubomyr Makarushka, a liaison officer of Galicia, and at the meeting an agreement was reached that the OUN (B) would not boycott the creation of Galicia, but would not provide assistance either. Subsequently, the detachments of the UPA OUN (B) gladly accepted the soldiers of "Galicia" into their composition.

Near Tarnopol, a significant part of the personnel of the 3rd regiment went into the forest, then to become the basis for the formation military group UPA "Lison". During the battle near Brody, 3,000 divisional soldiers also went into the forest. Lieutenant Colonel Onufrik subsequently headed the Oleni UPA senior staff training school, Major M. Lukachevich led the Wolves group, centurion V. Goshka. Drohobych kuren UPA. The combat experience and training of these soldiers were highly valued in the UPA, and elite units of the Security Service were formed from them.

The first echelons with volunteers left for training in Brno (Czech Republic) and in Geidelager near Debica (Poland). In total, 14,689 people left for training. In Heidelager, the SS-Freiwilligen Ausbildung Batalion Z.b.V. was created from Ukrainians. which included 12 hundreds (mouth). On January 22, 1944, the personnel of the 204th Ukrainian battalion "Noise" was included in the division.

After graduation and taking the oath, the cadets were assigned to SS training units throughout the Reich. Officers were trained in the Czech Republic in the city of Posen-Treskau.

In accordance with the order of G. Himmler of July 5, 1943, 5 regiments No. 4.8 (Galizische SSFreiwillige Regiment. in some sources, these regiments appear as policemen) were formed, the training of whose personnel was carried out by the German police. These combat units were recruited and trained by the military police, which sought to compensate for their losses in personnel through the call of Ukrainian youth mobilized to work in Germany. The rivalry between the police and the SS reached the point that young men with a height of 160.164 cm were recruited into the regiments, obviously unsuitable for service in the SS troops. Thus, the police expected to keep these units, hoping for the SS to refuse to accept undersized soldiers. The 4th regiment was stationed in the Zabern-Saalraben-Trier region (commander Major Binz), subsequently guarding the rear of the German army in Ukraine in the Zolochev-Brody-Radekhov-Zbarazh area. In February 1944, a division of the regiment took part in a punitive expedition against the well-fortified Polish village of Guta-Penyatska, which was a large partisan base for Soviet and Polish partisans. 2 soldiers died in the battle, the village was destroyed along with the inhabitants. The 5th regiment was stationed in the Danzig-Langfurt region (commander Colonel Lechtgaller), later acted in anti-partisan actions in the regions of Lublin, Grubeshev and Kholm. Under the Hill, one of the units of the regiment went to the UPA. At the end of July 1944, the regiment defended the coast of the river. Bug. The 6th regiment in the Zyudaven-Graevo area (Colonel Kyun, 1800 people), was formed from the youth of Przemysl, Yaroslav, Lvov. Transferred 1200 people to the formation of the division.

7th. in France, Salier de Bern. Orthosis (Colonel G. Huber, 1671 people). This formation was not long located in France and in December 1943 transferred 745 people. from his personnel to Heidelager. The 8th regiment was planned to be deployed at the base of the "1st Armament School" in Dresden. Helleran, but the regiment was not formed, it included the remnants of the 6th and 7th regiments in the Pau and Tarbes region (Western France), subsequently a reserve battalion was created from them. In 1945, this battalion went over to the side of the French partisans with weapons and became a Ukrainian detachment under the command of Major Legrand. On April 22, 1944, the regiments received an order from the SS headquarters to transfer the 4th and 5th regiments to the emerging Galicia division. The police command ignored the order. The second order was received in a more categorical form, and it was reluctantly carried out when the division had already left for the front near Brody.

On July 30, 1943, the order for the formation of the division placed Brigadeführer and SS Major General Walter Schiemann in charge of the action. At the beginning of February 1944, Heidelager received an order to form a battle group from the 1st battalion, a light artillery battalion, and a sapper unit to participate in an anti-partisan operation. This was motivated by the presence of the order of G. Himmler.

The leadership of the emerging division refused to allocate a group, but a second order was received. Subsequently, it turned out that the Reichsfuehrer knew nothing about such an order.

A battle group was formed under the command of Colonel Baiersdorf, Chief of Staff Captain Kleinov.

The infantry battalions were led by Captain Brishtot (1st Battalion) and Lieutenant Colonel Rembalevich (2nd Battalion), Field Artillery Division. Major M. Palienko, intelligence unit. lieutenant colonel R. Dolinsky. A group of 2,000 people left in three trains for Galicia and Kholmshchina. Combat work was reduced to committing endless marches over rough terrain in search of partisans.

After wasting time to no avail, the group returned to Heidelager after 4 months.

At the end of 1943, the commander of the SS-Oberführer Fritz Freitag arrived in the emerging division. a stern and ambitious military bureaucrat. Wehrmacht major Wolf Dietrich Haike was appointed chief of staff of the division. During the period of formation, all three regiments of the division were commanded by Ukrainian officers: the 1st regiment. Major Evgeny Pobigushchiy, former officer of the Polish army, commander of the DUN "Roland" and the Ukrainian battalion "Noises". Subsequently, the regiment received No. 29 and a new commander. Lieutenant Colonel Deern. The 2nd Regiment (then renamed the 30th Regiment) was led by Major Boris Barvinsky, subsequently. Lieutenant Colonel Vorstroiter. The 3rd was commanded by Captain Stepan Kotil, then, when the regiment received No. 31, it was headed by Colonel Panir.

Colonel Bayersdorf was appointed commander of the artillery regiment. Captain Karl Brishtot took command of the infantry battalion. The remaining command positions were taken by Major Remberger (fusilier battalion), Major Küster (anti-aircraft division), Major Kleinov (reserve battalion).

Ukrainian officers got only three command posts: commander of the 3rd battalion of the 29th regiment. Mikhailo Brigider, commander of the 1st b-on the 29th regiment. Major Evgen Pobigushchy, commander of the heavy artillery battalion. Mykola Palienko.

The German leadership changed the official name of the division four times. Name "SS Volunteer Division. Galicia." in July 1944 it was replaced by the "14th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division (Galician No. 1)", on July 27 the division was already referred to as the "14th Waffengrenadier Division of the SS (Galician No. 1)".

In May 1944, the division completed its training. At the same time, Himmler visited the place of formation in Neuhammer with an inspection check. By that time, the division consisted of three infantry regiments (29th, 30th and 31st), an artillery regiment, a communications battalion, engineer and fusilier battalions, anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery battalions, a security battalion, a cavalry squadron, a field gendarmerie department ( after Brodov. hundred), musical company, 2 technical companies, a reserve battalion and a training regiment.

The division headquarters consisted of departments: 1a. tactical; 1 in. was responsible for weapons, transport and ammunition; 1s. intelligence service; 2a. file of officers; 2 in. card file of non-commissioned officers and privates; 3. field tribunal; 4a. was responsible for uniforms and food; 4th c. Sanitary provision; 4s. dental care; 5. convoy and mechanical unit.

The division was armed with German weapons, but after the fighting in Slovakia, it also received high-quality Czech-made weapons.

The infantry regiment of the division consisted of two battalions and the 13th and 14th companies, after the battle of Brody, these companies were converted into jaegers for reconnaissance. The battalion (kuren) consisted of three rifle companies armed with light weapons and 1 company of heavy weapons. A company (hundred) consisted of three platoons and one squad of grenade launchers. The platoon, in turn, included three squads (1 foreman and 9 archers in each) and was armed with an MG-38 or MG-42 machine gun, the shooters were armed with German Mauser rifles or carbines of the same name, the foreman had an MP-38 submachine gun and a pistol.

The heavy weapons company consisted of three platoons of heavy machine guns, a platoon of 80-mm mortars and consisted of 230 people and 57 horses.

In addition to 75 mm guns, the division was armed with batteries of 20 mm, 37 mm and 88 mm (FLAK) guns.

In June 1944, the division was included in the 13th Army Corps, General A. Hauffe, which was part of the 4th Panzer Army of the Western Ukraine Army Group. Realistically assessing its strength, the division "Galicia" could successfully defend the front with a width of 8.12 kilometers, and received a 36-kilometer section of the second front line. In addition, there was a shortage of tanks at the front, and there was no reliable air cover.

The German command hoped that the Soviet units would bypass the Brody area, but these hopes did not come true and on July 13, 1944, after massive artillery preparation, the Soviet troops launched an offensive on the right wing of the 13th Corps at the junction of the 4th and 1st German tank armies. From the beginning of the battle, the leadership of the 13th Corps was knocked out. a car with staff officers ran over a mine. Chaos began in the units, the Soviet tanks moved in two directions: Tarnopol. Lvov and west of Brody, as a result of which the 13th Corps was in pincers.

Instead of using the "Galicia" with a single fist, the German command preferred to throw it into battle in separate regiments. The regiments stood in front of the breaking through Soviet tank units in the valley of Sasov and Yasenov. Fierce battles unfolded for the villages of Penyaki, Guta Penyatskaya, Guta Verkhobuzskaya, and Sukhodoly. The ruins of an ancient castle in Podgortsy changed hands several times. On July 16, Zolochev fell, and the Soviet troops reached the Bug and closed the Brodsky ring. On the night of July 17-18, German and Ukrainian units made an attempt to break out of the ring and link up with the 8th Panzer Division, but the attempt ended in failure. On July 19, the city of Koltev was taken by the Soviet units and the encirclement was compressed. A cauldron measuring 9 by 8 kilometers was formed, in which 65 thousand people turned out.

During this tragic time for the division, Fritz Freitag refused to command the Ukrainians, and General Lindemann took command. The division's breakthrough was planned for the predawn hours, but the operation began in the afternoon, when the sun had already risen.

Those who broke through were met with fire from all types of weapons and tanks. General Hauffe and his chief of staff died, the 13th Corps ceased to exist. 800 Galicians escaped from the Brodsky cauldron. 30 thousand soldiers and officers died in the cauldron, 17 thousand were captured. With such results, the Lvov-Sandomierz military operation of the Red Army began.

The commander of "Galicia" and the chief of staff came out of the boiler, two Ukrainian officers M. Palienko and D. Paliyev were killed. The remnants of the division passed along the Striya route. Drohobych. Sambir. Saved. Uzhotsky pass and began to gather in the area of ​​the cities of Uzhgorod and Mukachevo. Wächter arrived to break through, to whom Freitag immediately complained that the Ukrainians ruined his career in the SS.

From Transcarpathia, the remnants of the division were transferred to Neuhammer for reorganization. The final count of losses showed that out of 11 thousand Ukrainians, 3 thousand left the Brodsky pocket, including a reserve battalion and a technical company (hundred). The reserve training regiment, which did not take part in the battle, retained its personnel. 8 thousand people. About 3,000 divisional soldiers joined the detachments of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Among them were Lieutenant Colonel B. Onufrik. later the head of the military school of the UPA "Deers", Major M. Lukachevich (led a hundred of the "Wolves" group), centurion V. Goshka. subsequently, the commander of the Drogobych kuren of the UPA and others. On September 5, 1944, an order was issued on the new formation of the division, in accordance with which it was to be prepared before December 31.

A thousand German officers and non-commissioned officers arrived in Neuhammer. teaching staff. The division sent its candidates for training in officer and non-commissioned officer schools.

From the training units arrived 200 company commanders and two battalions of rangers, consisting of Romanian Volksdeutsches. Despite the arrival of such reinforcements, there was a shortage of experienced instructors. Under Brody, the entire horse composition was also lost. the main draft force of the division. On August 30, 1944, an uprising began in Slovakia against the government of Josef Tiso. Part of the Slovak army, led by Minister of Defense F. Chatlosh, supported the rebels. On September 28, the SS High Command issued an order according to which "Galicia" was redeployed to Slovakia at the disposal of SS Obergruppenführer G. Berger. The division was instructed to guard the M. Zhilin area and continue training. The division arrived in Slovakia on 15 September 1944. The headquarters was located in the city of Zhilin, the regiments of the division were in the surrounding villages.

Soon an order came in ordering the creation of a battle group as part of the 1st battalion from the 29th regiment, a light artillery battalion, two anti-tank units and communications and support units. Lieutenant Colonel Karl Wildner, a native of Slovakia, was appointed commander of this battle group. The formation of the group began on September 19, and on the 28th the echelons left for Slovakia.

In the area designated for action, the group secured the Ružemberok railway line. Zhilin and industrial enterprises. After the arrival of the group within ten days, the area was completely cleared of partisans.

At the end of October 1944, the group took part in a counter-partisan operation in the area of ​​Banska Bystrica against the Red partisans and units of the insurgent Slovak army. Banska Bystrica fell on October 28, the Slovak units capitulated, the partisans retreated into the mountains. The 3rd Battalion of the 30th Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Wittenmeier, cut off their road from Ružemberok to the west. The operation ended successfully, the division replenished its stock of weapons at the expense of trophies.

In early December 1944, a combat group consisting of the 29th regiment and auxiliary units under the command of Colonel von Dern left for the front.

During their stay in Slovakia, "Galicia" received replenishment. As such, the Ukrainians arrived, previously sent after the battle of Brod for training in the 5th division of the SS troops "Viking". In the "Viking" Ukrainians were distributed among the regiments "Germany", "Westland" and other combat units. The military administration allocated a confessor for them. father Yulian Gabrusevich. The Ukrainians suffered the main losses (200 people) in the Modlin area. Legionovo, where they were opposed by units of the NKVD.

During other battles, 500 people survived, who, after the corresponding order of the SS-Hauptamt, returned to the division. At the ceremonial farewell, the commander of the Viking, Standartenführer Ulrich, read the transfer order and noted the excellent military qualities of Ukrainian soldiers.

The cadets of the Neuhammer camp (1000 people) who left in July 1944 for training in Hungary under the command of Lieutenant Frolyak were scattered among the SS units. The Ukrainians took part in the defense of Budapest and after heavy losses were returned to their division. Joined the division and a few dozen girls, a native of the Baltic States, mobilized by the Germans in the air defense service. In the UPA, 200 people deserted from the division. On January 25, 1945, the division received an order to relocate to the Styrian Steinmark area on the Austrian-Slovenian border. The part was divided into 3 marching groups and a month later arrived at a new place. On the way to Austria, another 100 people deserted to the UPA. By that time, "Galicia" itself numbered 22 thousand people.

In the new place, the Galicians acted against the Red partisans and the royal Chetniks (with the latter, however, they quickly concluded a truce) and in 10 days completely cleared the area, driving the enemy deep into the mountains.

In February 1945, the "Ukrainian Legion of Self-Defense" arrived in the division.

In April 1945, the existence of the Ukrainian division became known to Hitler, which led him into an indescribable rage. After some time, the division received an order from the command of Army Group West to disarm. On May 26, her guardian, Dr. Wächter, arrived at the unit and learned about the tragic situation. Having obtained a reception from the commander of the army group, Colonel-General A. Ler, he convinced him to cancel the order, and asked the commander-in-chief to send "Galicia" to the front, but the division remained in place.

Breakthrough of the Red Army in the area of ​​Gleichenberg.

Feldbach gave rise to panic and the retreat of the Hungarian units. The 14th Division retreated as part of the 2nd Army. On April 1, the division was left to plug the gaps in a front that was bursting at the seams.

In this most difficult position for the division, Freitag again showed dissatisfaction with his subordinates and asked the higher command for resignation, which he was denied. The division suffered significant losses; on one of the days of the fighting, only 729 were officially registered as killed.

In mid-April, the division received reinforcements in the form of 2,500 unarmed "Flakhilfers" from the air defense. 1,200 of them were sent to the reserve field battalion, the rest were armed and sent to the front line. Since March 1945, under the patronage of the TODT organization, a working battalion was created at the division, which was engaged in the construction of fortifications in the area of ​​Graz and Feldbach.

In Berlin, where one of the centers of Ukrainian emigration was located, activities were launched to form a single organizational center. Since February 1943, the Ukrainian National Central Committee was created. an organization authorized to solve administrative, cultural and economic problems and unite Ukrainians in a foreign land. The German leadership, foreseeing the collapse of the "Thousand-Year Reich", seized on the creation of a variety of national organizations that have their own citizens in Germany like a straw. all of them were considered as a certain reserve of the German army and the SS. On September 27, 1944 Ukrainian leaders S. Bandera, J. Stetsko, A. Melnyk were released from Sachsenhausen. At negotiations with representatives of the German authorities, it was decided to form a counterweight to the Vlasov KONR from the Ukrainian side. Despite the apparent success of the negotiations, the Germans could not agree with Bandera and Colonel Melnik. A compromise was reached with Andrei Levitsky. leader of part of the Ukrainian emigration. The latter recommended General Pavlo Shandruk for the post of head of the Ukrainian National Committee. Shandruk, who until that time had not taken an active part in the creation of any Ukrainian organizations and military units, was known for his diplomacy and patriotism. After being appointed to the post, Shandruk held a series of negotiations with Bandera, Melnik and the German command. Shandruk demanded from the Germans that all German commanders be removed from Galicia, replacing them with Ukrainian personnel, but Shandruk set the main condition for his cooperation with the German authorities to unite all Ukrainian units into a single army. The general appointed Vladimir Kubiyovich, General M. Omelyanovich Pavlenko as his deputy. Head of the Military Rada UNK. On March 30, 1945, Rosenberg addressed a letter to the new Ukrainian representation, in which he recognized the Committee with a wide range of powers, the main of which was the creation of its own army allied with Germany. After such recognition, the leadership of the UNC directed all its forces to unite disparate military units and subunits into the Ukrainian National Army (UNA), the core of which was the 14th division "Galicia". As conceived by the leadership, the main task of the new formation was the successful surrender to the troops of Great Britain or the United States, in order to continue the struggle for the freedom of Ukraine.

At this time, in the Berlin suburb of Niemeck, Colonel (soon Major General) Petr Dyachenko and Major Volodymyr Khladich begin to form the 2nd Ukrainian division (anti-tank brigade "Vilna Ukraine"). 1,900 people were recruited from among Soviet prisoners of war and Ostovtsy, who had previously served in the fire service. During the formation of this Ukrainian part, they also faced a lack of weapons and instructors. It was not possible to create a division, since the Red Army was already approaching the suburbs of Berlin. The concern of the commander of the 2nd division was caused by a group of members of the UPA (32 people) who later joined the division in the Glatz area.

"Vilna Ukraine" was thrown to the front, and then poured into the "Hermann Goering" corps. As part of the corps, the division fought near Bautzen for the Bautzen-Dresden highway, where it defeated units of the 7th Polish division of the Polish Army, capturing 300 people and commander Lilevskiy. By this time, the brigade was fully motorized and equipped. On May 5, 1945, she left the corps and went to connect with the 1st division of the UNA, but was surrounded along with the German units in the Sudetenland. An attempt to break into the territory occupied by the Allies was unsuccessful, only 30% of the personnel managed to break through, the rest were captured or died in battles with units of the Red Army.

In March - April 1945, the Ukrainian "Special Purpose Parachute Brigade" was also formed under the command of Colonel T. Borovets (2 battalions, 400 people) and transported to the Czech Republic for training.

The commander of the "Free Cossacks Brigade" Colonel P. Te373 (350 people) announced his submission to the command of the UNA. This unit was also redeployed to the Czech Republic.

The readiness to enter the UNA was reported by the commander of the 281st reserve brigade stationed in Denmark (5 thousand people), Colonel F. Gudima, the command of 2 security regiments (one thousand people each in Holland and Belgium), UVV (80 thousand people). Several Ukrainian air defense groups in the Berlin region (2.5 thousand people) also declared their subordination.

The unification of all these above-mentioned units and the UVV would have made it possible to deploy the 2nd Ukrainian division of the UNA under the command of P. Dyachenko, but the military-political situation was not in favor of the Ukrainian nationalists. On April 19, 1945, General Shandruk and the referent of the SS-Hauptamt, Dr. Fritz Arlt, arrived at the headquarters of the 14th division in the town of Selnica. Parts of the division were placed nearby: the 29th regiment. near Maribor, 30th regiment. Slovengradets, 31st. Drava Valley, Artillery Regiment. Slovenian Bystrica. The Ukrainian division at that time was operating in the area controlled by Tito's partisans. From April 8, the division took part in the anti-partisan operation Donnervetter. The operation ended in failure for the division. the partisans retreated into the mountains without loss, 1 person died in the division and several were wounded. On April 20, the division commander went to the headquarters of the Reichsführer SS in Salzburg, where he was given an order to disarm Galicia and transfer all weapons to the paratrooper division being formed. For a division completely surrounded by partisans, this was death, because advanced Soviet units were stationed 40 kilometers away. Freytag managed to convince his leader of the need to save the division. Such a situation was seen upon arrival at the Shandruk and Arlt division. At a meeting with Freitag, Shandruk informed him that he himself would be in command of the Ukrainian units within the framework of the Ukrainian National Army. The message shocked Freytag. Shandruk and Arlt visited all divisions of the division, took the oath of military personnel for allegiance to Ukraine and the people.

On April 30, the Red Army broke through the German front in the Feldbach area. Gleichenberg. The 29th and 30th regiments of the division were sent to patch up the breakthrough, the 31st regiment approached from Slovakia. From the very first minutes, the 29th regiment took part in a fierce battle near Gleichenberg, and the 31st in the Rokstraden area came under heavy artillery fire and was forced to retreat. The situation began to resemble Brody. On May 6, the commander of the 6th Army, General Hermann Balck, held a meeting with the commanders of the units entrusted to him and assigned roles in the upcoming breakthrough to the advanced American and British units. In accordance with the combat order, the units of the 4th SS Panzer Corps were the first to leave, the Galicia departed a day later. Even here the Germans framed the Ukrainians. non-motorized "Galicia" inevitably fell under the blow of superior Soviet units. Vechter's attempts to influence the fate of the division also did not bring results. The division was divided into 2 marching groups: 1st. had its own route from Sant Stefan. to Graz 2nd. from Feldbach to Gleisdorf and to Graz.

2 days before the surrender, Lieutenant Makarushka and Dr. Arlt went to the advanced units of the British army with a letter from General Shandruk. The march of the groups took place in constant rearguard battles with the partisans. General Freytag lagged behind his unit during the march and shot himself. According to unconfirmed reports, Obersturmbannführer Porfiry Zelenko took command of the division.

Subsequently, the groups united in Graz and followed as far as Twimburg. Judenburg. A small part of the divisional went south to Spital on the river. Drave, as a result of which she was in English captivity. Most of the division was disarmed by the Americans. This ended the existence of the 14th SS division "Galicia".

The regiments of the division (11.12 thousand people) were placed in camps near the towns of Klagenfurt, Feldkirch, Spital. After some time, all Ukrainians were taken from Austria to Italy to a prisoner of war camp between the cities of Rimini and Bellaria. The camp was commanded by General Mikhail Krat, who, like the commander of the "Russian Corps", arranged the lives of prisoners of war. In July, the camp was visited by the Soviet repatriation commission. The result of her work was the return of 1052 people to the USSR. All natives of Galicia and other regions of Western Ukraine until September 1939 were citizens of Poland, and were not going to return to the Land of Soviets.

The Soviet government demanded the extradition of the division, but the Galicians found intercessors. Representatives of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church turned to the Vatican for intercession. The Vatican petitioned the US government to keep the former employees of the division from being extradited to the USSR.

After the Soviet commission, a Polish commission arrived in the camp to recruit people into the 2nd Polish Corps of General Wladyslaw Anders. 176 people responded to her call.

Until the spring of 1947, the former divisionalists did not know how their fate would turn out, everyone heard the details of the extradition of the Cossacks to the USSR. The British government has decided to remove all Ukrainians from their camps to the territory of the United Kingdom. All of them were taken to the UK, where many remained to live. Some Ukrainians left England for the USA and Canada. It was very difficult to get a visa to Canada, besides, the Canadian Jewish Congress accused Ukrainians of exterminating Jews during the war years. The Department of Emigration of Canada demanded that the British government provide a detailed historical information about the path of the Ukrainian formation during the last war. Such a document was prepared and permission to enter was granted.

Subsequently, in exile, former officers and soldiers organized a partnership former soldiers 1st division of the UNA and a number of other veteran organizations.

Many units of Ukrainian volunteers were united in 1941 throughout Eastern Front under the name "Ukrainian Vizvolne Viysko" (UVV) or "Ukrainian Liberation Army". This propaganda action pursued certain goals, the main of which was the split of the Eastern volunteers along ethnic lines. The main support of the UVV was provided by General Kestring, under whom the UVV swelled and by the end of 1942 had 50 thousand people in its ranks. Under the influence of national propaganda, 200 cadets of the officer school in Saubersdorf left it, demonstrating a desire to serve not in the "eastern", but in the Ukrainian units.

In fact, the UVV was part of the Wehrmacht and included German officers, but at the same time, Colonel Pyotr Kruzhanovsky was the chief of staff of the UVV. a native of Eastern Ukraine, and his "trustee" General Mikhail Kapustyansky.

The distinctive sign of the military personnel of the UVV was a shield-shaped sleeve patch of yellow-black color with a trident embroidered with white thread and the letters "UVV". A similar symbol was applied to the side surface of the helmets.

By the end of the war, the UVV already had 80,000 "Viyskosluzhbovtsy" in its ranks. One of the UVV battalions was incorporated into the 2nd division of the UNA and several into the 14th division "Galicia" (1st UNA). In 1945, most of the UVV was transferred from Southern France to the Czech Republic and took part in battles with partisans and the advancing Soviet army.

Ukrainians who surrendered to the allies were repatriated to the USSR, some broke into France and entered the service of the French Foreign Legion.

A certain number of Ukrainians served in the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler division from the very first days of the war as translators at the division headquarters and at regimental headquarters.

Their service was also on the front line. So, "dolmetcher" Kost Bilyak was awarded the Iron Cross for participation in hostilities.

Ukrainians from among the captured Soviet tankers and students from Germany also served in the tank units. According to information from Ukrainian sources, they held positions from technicians to senior positions. During the period of operations of the 14th SS division "Galicia" in Austria, a tanker, Untersturmführer Olesnitsky delivered lectures to its personnel. The most famous is Obersturmführer Roman Klimkevich (from emigrants), who, as a student, volunteered for the SS at the age of 20. Klimkevich took part in the battles for Kyiv and Chernigov, fought in Belarus. In 1943-1944 he took part in the battles against Tito's partisans. In the summer of 1944, he was transferred to southern France, where he was wounded, captured by the Allies and kept in a prisoner of war camp until 1946.

In addition to the Galicia division, the Sumy division operated at the front. According to I.A. Dugas and F.Ya. Cherona, it numbered in its ranks 10 thousand former prisoners of war, fought on the German side near Kharkov and was completely defeated near Stalingrad in 1942. The division commanders were German officers, and the soldiers, apparently, were not only Ukrainians.

In addition to the ground Ukrainian units of the German army, a number of Ukrainians served in the Croatian Naval Legion (Hrvatska Pomorska Legia). The legion itself was created by order of the "leader" Ante Pavelic in July 1941 and was used on the Black Sea. Having established good neighborly relations with the local population, the commander of the legion, Lieutenant Stefan Rumenovich, decided to recruit local volunteers among the Ukrainians. The influx of those wishing was such that the legion (whose initial strength was only about 250 people) began to number up to a thousand military personnel in its ranks. The sailors of the legion took part in the trawling of coastal waters and occasionally entered into minor skirmishes with Soviet fleet. Thanks to the decisive actions of the legionnaires, the commander of the 11th Army, von Manstein, was rescued from a wrecked ship, and the commander of the legion, Edgar Angeli, noted that the Ukrainians had done a lot to defend the Sea of ​​Azov. At the end of 1942, the legion was recalled to Croatia for reorganization, and in October 1943. to Trieste, where his ranks were redistributed among the ships of the German fleet.