There is a widespread belief that all the peoples of the USSR in equally forged victory over fascism, and one cannot single out or belittle any individual of them.
However, without in any way questioning this principle, we note that it should not limit research public policy in relation to the nationalities of the USSR.
It was the Soviet state that divided peoples into more and less loyal to it, as well as into those more and less prepared for action in a modern war due to historically established stage-by-stage differences in their cultural development and level of civilization.
For fear of disloyalty towards the USSR, during the Great Patriotic War, citizens of the USSR of nationalities that had their own states besides the USSR (primarily states that fought with the USSR or potential opponents): Germans, Japanese, Romanians, Hungarians, Finns, Bulgarians, Turks. From them the rear units were formed, involved in various, mainly construction work military purposes.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and we couldn’t do without them here either. Representatives of these nationalities are found among those who fought and died on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, among those awarded orders and medals of the USSR. As a rule, these were volunteers accepted into the active army for reasons of confidence in their political loyalty (membership in the party, the Komsomol, etc.). 
It is curious that in this list there are no Slovaks, Croats and Italians, whose states also fought with the USSR, as well as Spaniards. The fact is that the first two nationalities were considered in the USSR as those whose states were occupied by the Nazis. In the USSR in 1942, the Czechoslovak Republic was formed military unit(first a brigade, at the end of the war - a corps). The Croats did not separate from the other Yugoslavs. The Italians and Spaniards who accepted citizenship of the USSR could only be convinced anti-fascists. There were especially many Spaniards in the USSR who emigrated after the defeat of the Republic in civil war 1936-1939 They were subject to conscription general principles; in addition, there was a very strong influx of volunteers among them. During the war, for the same reasons of political unreliability, as well as due to the insufficiently high combat effectiveness of the mass of conscripts as a whole, the conscription of representatives of a number of other nationalities was postponed. Thus, on October 13, 1943, the State Defense Committee (GKO) decided to exempt from the conscription of youth born in 1926, which began on November 15, 1943, representatives of indigenous nationalities of all the union republics of Transcaucasia and Central Asia, Kazakhstan, as well as all autonomous republics and autonomous regions North Caucasus. The next day, the State Defense Committee decided to begin their conscription from the following November, 1944, and into the reserve, and not into the active army.
Often these decisions are incorrectly interpreted as ending the conscription of these nationalities altogether. However, they clearly state that the deferment of conscription applies only to youth of the specified year of birth. It did not apply to all older ages.
In rather ambiguous conditions, conscription took place among the indigenous peoples of the Far North, Siberia and Far East. Before the adoption of the USSR law on universal military duty dated September 3, 1939, their representatives were not drafted into armed forces. In the fall of 1939, their first conscription took place. In some sources you can find statements that from the first days of the Great Patriotic War, representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North began to be called up to the front. This is contradicted by the decree of the State Defense Committee, issued in the first weeks after the start of the war, on the liberation of the indigenous peoples of these regions of the RSFSR from conscription. True, there are no exact indications of the date and number of such a resolution. Searching for it by name did not produce results. However, not all the names of the State Defense Committee resolutions for 1941 have been published.
The same authors report that in a number of cases, the conscription of the indigenous peoples of the North was approached formally, and there were numerous cases of desertion of conscripts. In addition, in January 1942, reindeer transport battalions were formed in the Nenets National District of the Arkhangelsk Region. There are indications of similar formations in other regions of the North. The names of many representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North who fought in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War and were awarded orders and medals of the USSR are known. Among them are infantrymen, snipers, pilots, etc. 
From all this it is legitimate to conclude that there is a general compulsory conscription into the active army among the small peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East - the Sami, Nenets, Khanty, Mansi, Evenks, Selkups, Dolgans, Evens, Chukchi, Koryaks, Yukaghirs, Nanais, Orochs and etc. - was not carried out (although amateur actions of this kind on the part of some local leaders cannot be ruled out). However, in a number of national districts, auxiliary rear units were formed from the indigenous population on the basis of compulsory conscription, such as the already mentioned reindeer transport battalions, which were used in the specific conditions of the theater of military operations - on the Karelian and Volkhov fronts. The absence of compulsory conscription was due, in addition to the insufficient level of education for modern warfare, to the nomadic lifestyle of these peoples and the difficulties of their military registration.
It was strongly encouraged volunteer movement among representatives of indigenous nationalities of the North. Volunteers were selected at military registration and enlistment offices before being sent to the front. Preference was given to those who met the following criteria: knowledge of the Russian language, presence of at least primary education, good health. Priority was also given to party and Komsomol activists from among the indigenous peoples. The sniper qualities of professional taiga hunters were highly valued. All this created a fairly powerful influx of this category of Soviet citizens into the active army, and especially into various auxiliary units, despite the fact that its representatives were not subject to mandatory sending to the front. 
© Yaroslav Butakov
There is a widespread belief that all the peoples of the USSR equally forged victory over fascism, and one cannot single out or belittle any individual of them. However, without in any way questioning this principle, we note that it should not limit studies of state policy regarding the nationalities of the USSR. It was the Soviet state that divided peoples into more and less loyal to it, as well as into those more and less prepared for action in a modern war due to historically established stage-by-stage differences in their cultural development and level of civilization.
For fear of disloyalty towards the USSR, during the Great Patriotic War, citizens of the USSR of nationalities that had their own states besides the USSR (primarily states that fought with the USSR or potential opponents): Germans, Japanese, Romanians, Hungarians, Finns, Bulgarians, Turks, as well as Greeks, Koreans, Chinese. From them, rear units were formed, involved in various, mainly construction work for military purposes.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and we couldn’t do without them here either. Representatives of these nationalities are found among those who fought and died on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, among those awarded orders and medals of the USSR. As a rule, these were volunteers accepted into the active army for reasons of confidence in their political loyalty (membership in the party, the Komsomol, etc.).
It is curious that this list does not include Slovaks, Croats and Italians, whose states also fought with the USSR, as well as the Spaniards. The fact is that the first two nationalities were considered in the USSR as those whose states were occupied by the Nazis. In the USSR in 1942, a Czechoslovak military unit was formed (first a brigade, at the end of the war - a corps). The Croats did not separate from the other Yugoslavs. The Italians and Spaniards who accepted citizenship of the USSR could only be convinced anti-fascists. There were especially many Spaniards in the USSR who emigrated after the defeat of the Republic in the civil war of 1936-1939. They were subject to conscription on a general basis; in addition, there was a very strong influx of volunteers among them.
During the war, for the same reasons of political unreliability, as well as due to the insufficiently high combat effectiveness of the mass of conscripts as a whole, the conscription of representatives of a number of other nationalities was postponed. Thus, on October 13, 1943, the State Defense Committee (GKO) decided to exempt from the conscription of youth born in 1926, which began on November 15, 1943, representatives of indigenous nationalities of all the union republics of Transcaucasia and Central Asia, Kazakhstan, as well as all autonomous republics and autonomous regions of the North Caucasus. The next day, the State Defense Committee decided to begin their conscription from the following November, 1944, and into the reserve, and not into the active army.
Often these decisions are incorrectly interpreted as ending the conscription of these nationalities altogether. However, they clearly state that the deferment of conscription applies only to youth of the specified year of birth. It did not apply to all older ages.
In rather ambiguous conditions, conscription took place among the indigenous peoples of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East. Before the adoption of the USSR law on universal conscription on September 3, 1939, their representatives were not conscripted into the armed forces. In the fall of 1939, their first conscription took place. In some sources you can find statements that from the first days of the Great Patriotic War, representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North began to be called up to the front. This is contradicted by the decree of the State Defense Committee, issued in the first weeks after the start of the war, on the liberation of the indigenous peoples of these regions of the RSFSR from conscription. True, there are no exact indications of the date and number of such a resolution. Searching for it by name did not produce results. However, not all the names of the State Defense Committee resolutions for 1941 have been published.
The same authors report that in a number of cases, the conscription of the indigenous peoples of the North was approached formally, and there were numerous cases of desertion of conscripts. In addition, in January 1942, reindeer transport battalions were formed in the Nenets National District of the Arkhangelsk Region. There are indications of similar formations in other regions of the North. The names of many representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North who fought in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War and were awarded orders and medals of the USSR are known. Among them are infantrymen, snipers, pilots, etc.
From all this it is legitimate to conclude that there is a general compulsory conscription into the active army among the small peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East - the Sami, Nenets, Khanty, Mansi, Evenks, Selkups, Dolgans, Evens, Chukchi, Koryaks, Yukaghirs, Nanais, Orochs and etc. - was not carried out (although amateur actions of this kind on the part of some local leaders cannot be ruled out). However, in a number of national districts, auxiliary rear units were formed from the indigenous population on the basis of compulsory conscription, such as the already mentioned reindeer transport battalions, which were used in the specific conditions of the theater of military operations - on the Karelian and Volkhov fronts. The absence of compulsory conscription was due, in addition to the insufficient level of education for modern warfare, to the nomadic lifestyle of these peoples and the difficulties of their military registration.
At the same time, the volunteer movement among representatives of the indigenous nationalities of the North was encouraged in every possible way. Volunteers were selected at military registration and enlistment offices before being sent to the front. Preference was given to those who met the following criteria: fluency in Russian, at least primary education, good health. Priority was also given to party and Komsomol activists from among the indigenous peoples. The sniper qualities of professional taiga hunters were highly valued. All this created a fairly powerful influx of this category of Soviet citizens into the active army, and especially into various auxiliary units, despite the fact that its representatives were not subject to mandatory sending to the front.
The celebration of the 71st anniversary has ended Great Victory over fascism. The significance of this Victory is invaluable for sensible humanity all over the world, but especially for the inhabitants former USSR.
The further the date of May 9, 1945 moves away from us in time, the more destructive forces appear that want to distort the significance, understanding and design of this Victory.
And it is not for nothing that the country’s leadership is vigilantly monitoring attempts to rethink and reformat the military and labor victories of the Soviet people.
But if the aspirations of the Western, Anglo-Saxon forces in their attempts to distort the greatness of the Victory are understandable, then the attempts of the former Soviet republics to join these forces are completely incomprehensible. Okay, let's say we close our eyes to the Baltic countries. But the attempts, albeit timid ones, of other former “ours” are not at all understandable. Either they change the name of the holiday, then they cancel parades, then something else... I don’t want to name these countries, in my opinion, everyone knows about them from media reports.
To understand this incomprehensible situation, I decided to look into the statistics; numbers do not lie, they always silently testify to the realities.
Let's take a look at them.
Tab. 1 Population of the USSR and union republics, thousand people.
Tab. 2 Peoples of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War
|
Tab. 3 Number of heroes per capita. Rating.
(Nations of more than 100,000 were taken into account)
Number of representatives of the people per hero of the Great Patriotic War:
1) Ossetians - 11088
2) Russians - 12204
3) Ukrainians - 13586
4) Belarusians - 17072
5) Bashkirs - 21632
6) Kabardians - 23455
7) Mordva - 23874
Armenians - 23920
9) Georgians - 24995
10) Tatars - 26791
11) Jews - 28042
12) Chuvash - 31126
13) Karelians - 31589
14) Kazakhs - 32301
15) Turkmens - 45133
16) Azerbaijanis - 51719
Tab. 3 National composition of Heroes of the USSR: people.
Russians - 8160
Ukrainians - 2069
Belarusians - 309
Tatars - 161
Jews - 108
Armenians - 106
Kazakhs - 96
Georgians - 90
Uzbeks - 69
Mordvin - 61
Chuvash - 44
Azerbaijanis - 43
Bashkir - 39
Ossetians - 32
Mari - 18
Turkmen - 18
Lithuanians - 15
Tajiks - 14
Latvians - 13
Kyrgyz - 12
Udmurts - 10
Karelians - 9
Estonians - 8
Kalmyks - 8
Kabardians - 7
Adyghe - 6
Abkhazians - 5
Yakuts - 3
Moldovans - 2
Tuvans - 1
These numbers tell any literate person a lot about who fought and how. I admit that I had no idea about such an achievement of the Ossetians. Modest, but so brave. There are many nations in the North Caucasus that proudly brandish their weapons as if they were an inseparable part of their bodies. And they (Ossetians) are silent, but look - what are the results on the battlefield!
And, of course, I can’t help but be proud and show off the main successes of the Armenian people (to which I myself belong) in achieving the Great Victory:
600 thousand went to the front.
Killed - 300 thousand.
In total, 66,802 people were awarded.
Of them are heroes Soviet Union- 106 people
- of them full gentlemen Order of Glory – 29 people.
National Armenian divisions - 309, 408, 409, 261, 76 and 89 Armenian Taman;
Ranks:
- marshals - 4 people.
- colonel generals - 8
- lieutenant generals - 31
- major generals - 109
- fleet admiral - 1
- vice admirals - 4
- rear admirals - 5
Hrachik Sarukhanyan
05/16/2016
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During the Second World War, the Nazi leadership created numerous military units and units based on nationality from representatives of those peoples who could fight on the side of Germany. The Nazis, like their opponents, sought to play the card of “national liberation” and “anti-colonialism” that was fashionable in the 20th century.
In the troops of the Third Reich there were formations from representatives of the Muslim nationalities of the USSR, Georgians, Armenians, Arabs, Indians, and Russians. SS units were even created from them, in which, in theory, only “true Aryans” could serve. But, as Reichsführer Himmler said, “in my department, only I decide who is Aryan and who is not.”
Troops from the Caucasian and Muslim peoples of the USSR
In the very first months of the war, hundreds of thousands of USSR citizens of various nationalities were captured by the Germans. After hesitation caused by a reluctance to share a “purely German” victory with anyone, Hitler in December 1941 agreed with the arguments for the creation of volunteer units from representatives of the Muslim and Caucasian peoples of the USSR. The so-called eastern legions began to form.
Initially there were four of them: Turkestan, Georgian, Armenian and Caucasian-Muslim. Later, the latter was divided into Azerbaijan and North Caucasus, and the Volga-Tatar Legion (or Idel-Ural Legion) was formed. In February 1942, the Command Headquarters of the Eastern Legions was created, uniting the leadership of all formations formed within the Wehrmacht from representatives of the peoples of the east and south of the USSR.
In total, the eastern legions included 86 battalions with a total number of about 100 thousand people. The Azerbaijani Legion turned out to be the most numerous - 40 thousand soldiers and officers, the rest ranged from 5 to 20 thousand. The first units of the legions took part in battles against Soviet troops already in the fall of 1942 in the North Caucasus.
The widespread combat use of the Eastern Legions was preceded by an OKW order in August 1942, in which the Caucasian and Muslim peoples of the USSR were called “allies” of the Reich. At the same time, Hitler noted that he fully trusted only Muslims from among the citizens of the USSR, but was wary of the creation of military units from Georgians and Armenians. In September 1943, all eastern legions were redeployed to the West.
In addition to the eastern legions, the Wehrmacht included the 162nd Infantry Division, which from the beginning of 1942 was replenished mainly by representatives of the Turkic peoples. The division fought in 1943-1945. on the Italian front. The Kalmyk cavalry “corps” (consisting of only 3,600 people) of the Wehrmacht, organized in the fall of 1942 and fought until the end of the war, can also be attributed to the eastern legions.
The Eastern legions are often and unreasonably classified as SS troops, where they were formally enrolled only at the end of 1944. Initially, the SS included only the Eastern Turkic formation of representatives of the eastern peoples of the USSR (number - 8,500 people).
Russian and Cossack SS troops
In August 1942, the Cossacks were officially named “allies of the Reich,” and in January 1943, the Nazis recognized both Cossacks and Russians as “Aryans.” The most numerous Russian SS formations were the 29th and 30th Waffen Grenadier Divisions and the 15th Cossack Cavalry Corps. Their formation dates back to the final period of the war. The 29th division was created from the collaborationist “Russian Liberation People's Army” of B.V. Kaminsky, which retreated from the Bryansk region. The division took part in battles against partisans in Eastern Europe. Moreover, during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, Kaminsky - such is the irony of fate - was shot by the SS men themselves for the atrocities (!) of his subordinates.
The 30th Division operated in France for a short time at the end of 1944, after which it was disbanded due to massive defections to the enemy. The 15th Cossack Corps was deployed from the 1st SS Cossack Division in early 1945 and took part in the final battles of World War II in Hungary and Austria.
SS Legion "Free Arabia"
For a long time, the Nazis were prevented from appealing to the Arabs to start an uprising against the British colonialists by the fact that the German ally Italy also owned the vast Arab country of Libya. But after the troops left the “Axis” of North Africa, the recruitment of Arabs into the Wehrmacht began. At that time, many Arabs lived in different countries of Southern Europe, and a number of them were among British and French prisoners of war.
The inspiration for the Arab Legion was the former Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini, expelled by the British in 1940. Previously, he met with Hitler, in whose person he greeted the “defender of Islam.” Al-Husseini helped staff Muslim units with Bosnians and Albanians, and on March 1, 1944, he called (via radio from Berlin) the entire Arab world to jihad on the side of the Third Reich against the Jews. The Arab Legion (numbering more than 20 thousand) was formed in the Balkans at the end of 1943. Until May 1945, he carried out occupation service and fought with partisans in Greece and Yugoslavia.
SS Indian Legion "Free India"
There were many Indians among the British prisoners of war in Germany. Even in the First World War, there were popular sentiments among some Indians to use an alliance with Germany to liberate themselves from British rule. During World War II, Indian leader Subhas Chandra Bose formed the Indian National Army in countries occupied by Japan. The Nazis also decided to play the Indian card.
In August 1942, the Indian Legion was formed in North Africa (since 1944 - the SS Free India Legion), which was joined by approximately three and a half thousand dark-skinned “true Aryans”. It is curious that the language of the military commands in the legion was English. His participation in military operations in the West and in Italy was limited. After his surrender to the Allies, several of his leaders were shot by the British for treason. Others were sent to prison in the Red Fort in Delhi, they were later convicted at the famous trial, but were soon released under the pressure of the Indian independence movement.
Dreams of British and American SS troops
Considering the British a “Nordic” people and a natural ally in the fight against Bolshevism, the Nazis announced the creation of the British Volunteer SS Corps. However, only... 27 people out of several hundred thousand British prisoners of war signed up. The plan to create Irish SS units against the British also failed.
At the beginning of 1943, the Germans had their first American prisoners of war. The SS leadership had a plan to create American volunteer divisions named after Confederate figures in the Civil War of 1861-1865. - Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.
However, there were not even one platoon of Americans willing to fight for Hitler.
All of Europe fought against us
The very first strategic counter-offensive of Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War revealed a very unpleasant circumstance for the USSR. Among the enemy troops captured near Moscow were many military units France, Poland, Holland, Finland, Austria, Norway and other countries. The output data of almost all major European companies was found on captured military equipment and shells. In general, as one could assume and as they thought in the Soviet Union, the European proletarians would never take up arms against the state of workers and peasants, that they would sabotage the production of weapons for Hitler.
But exactly the opposite happened. Our soldiers made a very characteristic discovery after the liberation of the Moscow region in the area of the historical Borodino Field - next to the French cemetery of 1812, they discovered fresh graves of Napoleon’s descendants. The Soviet 32nd Red Banner Rifle Division, Colonel V.I., fought here. Polosukhin, whose fighters could not even imagine that they were opposed "French allies".
A more or less complete picture of this battle was revealed only after the Victory. Chief of Staff of the German 4th Army G. Blumentritt published memoirs in which he wrote:
“The four battalions of French volunteers operating as part of the 4th Army turned out to be less resilient. At Borodin, Field Marshal von Kluge addressed them with a speech, recalling how, during the time of Napoleon, the French and Germans fought here side by side against a common enemy - Russia. The next day, the French boldly went into battle, but, unfortunately, they could not withstand either the powerful attack of the enemy or the severe frost and blizzard. They had never had to endure such trials before. The French legion was defeated, suffering heavy losses from enemy fire. A few days later he was taken to the rear and sent to the West..."
Here is an interesting archival document - a list of prisoners of war who surrendered to Soviet troops during the war. Let us remember that a prisoner of war is someone who fights in uniform with a weapon in his hands.
Hitler accepts the Wehrmacht parade, 1940 (megabook.ru)
So, Germans – 2 389 560, Hungarians – 513 767, Romanians – 187 370, Austrians – 156 682, Czechs And Slovaks – 69 977, Poles – 60 280, Italians – 48 957, French people – 23 136, Croats – 21 822, Moldovans – 14 129, Jews – 10 173, Dutch – 4 729, Finns – 2 377, Belgians – 2 010, Luxembourgers – 1652, Danes – 457, Spaniards – 452, gypsies – 383, Norse – 101, Swedes – 72.
And these are only those who survived and were captured. In reality, significantly more Europeans fought against us.
The ancient Roman senator Cato the Elder went down in history for always ending any of his public speeches on any topic with the words: "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam", which literally means: “Otherwise, I believe that Carthage should be destroyed.” (Carthage is a city-state hostile to Rome.) I am not ready to completely become like Senator Cato, but I will use any occasion to once again mention: in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the USSR, with its initial strength 190 million. man, did not fight with the 80 million Germans of that time. The Soviet Union practically fought from all over Europe, the number of which (with the exception of our allied England and partisan Serbia, which did not surrender to the Germans) was about 400 million. Human.
During the Great Patriotic War, 34,476.7 thousand people wore overcoats in the USSR, i.e. 17,8% population. And Germany mobilized as many as 21% from the population. It would seem that the Germans were more tense in their military efforts than the USSR. But women served in the Red Army in large numbers, both voluntarily and by conscription. There were a lot of purely female units and units (anti-aircraft, aviation, etc.). During a period of desperate situation, the State Defense Committee made a decision (remaining, however, on paper) to create women's rifle formations, in which only those loading heavy artillery guns would be men.
And among the Germans, even at the moment of their agony, women not only did not serve in the army, but there were very few of them in production. Why is that? Because in the USSR there was one man for every three women, and in Germany it was the other way around? No, that's not the point. In order to fight, you need not only soldiers, but also weapons and food. And their production also requires men, who cannot be replaced by women or teenagers. That's why the USSR was forced send women to the front instead of men.
The Germans did not have such a problem: all of Europe provided them with weapons and food. The French not only handed over all their tanks to the Germans, but also produced a huge amount of military equipment for them - from cars to optical rangefinders.
Czechs who have only one company "Skoda" produced more weapons than the entire pre-war Great Britain, built the entire fleet of German armored personnel carriers, a huge number of tanks, aircraft, small arms, artillery and ammunition.
The Poles built airplanes Polish Jews in Auschwitz they produced explosives, synthetic gasoline and rubber to kill Soviet citizens; the Swedes mined ore and supplied the Germans with components for military equipment (for example, bearings), the Norwegians supplied the Nazis with seafood, the Danes with oil... In short, all of Europe tried its best.
And she tried not only on the labor front. Only the elite troops of Nazi Germany - the SS troops - accepted into their ranks 400 thousand. “blond beasts” from other countries, but in total they joined Hitler’s army from all over Europe 1800 thousand. volunteers, forming 59 divisions, 23 brigades and several national regiments and legions.
The most elite of these divisions had not numbers, but proper names indicating national origin: “Valonia”, “Galicia”, “Bohemia and Moravia”, “Viking”, “Denemark”, “Gembez”, “Langemark”, “Nordland” ", "Netherlands", "Charlemagne", etc.
Europeans served as volunteers not only in national, but also in German divisions. So, let's say, an elite German division "Greater Germany". It would seem that, at least because of the name, it should have been staffed only by Germans. However, the Frenchman who served in it Guy Sayer recalls that on the eve of the Battle of Kursk, there were 9 Germans in his infantry squad of 11 people, and besides him, a Czech also poorly understood the German language. And all this in addition to the official allies of Germany, whose armies burned and plundered the Soviet Union shoulder to shoulder - Italians, Romanian, Hungarians, Finns, Croats, Slovaks, besides Bulgarians, who at that time burned and plundered partisan Serbia. Even officially neutral Spaniards sent their “Blue Division” to Leningrad!
In order to evaluate the national composition of all the European bastards who, in the hope of easy prey, came to us to kill Soviet and Russian people, I will give a table of that part of the foreign volunteers who guessed in time to surrender to us:
Germans – 2 389 560, Hungarians – 513 767, Romanians – 187 370, Austrians – 156 682, Czechs And Slovaks – 69 977, Poles – 60 280, Italians – 48 957, French people – 23 136, Croats – 21 822, Moldovans – 14 129, Jews – 10 173, Dutch – 4 729, Finns – 2 377, Belgians – 2 010, Luxembourgers – 1652, Danes – 457, Spaniards – 452, gypsies – 383, Norse – 101, Swedes – 72.
This table, first published at the end of 1990, should be repeated for the following reasons. After the reign of “democracy” on the territory of the USSR, the table was continuously “improved” in terms of “enlarging the rows”. As a result, in “serious” books by “professional historians” on the topic of war, say, in the statistical collection “Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the 20th Century” or in the reference book “The World of Russian History”, the data in this table are distorted. Some nationalities have disappeared from it.
The Jews disappeared first, which, as you can see from the original table, served Hitler as many as the Finns and the Dutch combined. But I, for example, don’t see why we should throw out the Jewish verses from this Hitler song.
By the way, the Poles today are trying to push Jews away from the position of “the main sufferers of the Second World War,” and there are more of them on the lists of prisoners than there are officially and actually Italians who fought with us.
But the presented table does not reflect the true quantitative and national composition of prisoners. First of all, it does not represent our domestic scum at all, who, either due to acquired idiocy, or because of cowardice and cowardice, served the Germans - from Bandera to Vlasov.
By the way, they were punished offensively easily. It would be good if a Vlasovite fell prisoner into the hands of front-line soldiers. Then, more often than not, he got what he deserved. But the traitors contrived to surrender to the rear units, dressed in civilian clothes, pretended to be Germans when surrendering, etc. In this case, the Soviet court literally almost patted them on the head.
At one time, domestic anti-Soviet activists published collections of their memoirs abroad. One of them describes the judicial “sufferings” of a Vlasovite who defended Berlin: he changed clothes... to the Soviet soldiers who captured him... he introduced himself as a Frenchman and thus got to the military tribunal. And then to read his boasting is insulting: “They gave me five years in distant camps - and that was lucky. In a hurry - they considered them to be small workers and peasants. Soldiers captured with weapons and officers were given a ten.” While being escorted to the camp, he fled to the West.
Five years for killing Soviet people and treason! What kind of punishment is this?! Well, at least 20, so that the mental wounds of widows and orphans will heal and it won’t be so offensive to look at these vile hari...
For the same reason they are not included in the lists of prisoners of war Crimean Tatars, who stormed Sevastopol for Manstein, Kalmyks and so on.
Not listed Estonians, Latvians And Lithuanians, who had their own national divisions as part of Hitler’s troops, but were considered Soviet citizens and therefore served their meager sentences in Gulag camps, and not in GUPVI camps. (GULAG - the main directorate of camps - was responsible for keeping criminals, and GUPVI - the main directorate for prisoners of war and internees - prisoners.) Meanwhile, not all prisoners ended up in GUPVI, since this department counted only those who ended up in its rear camps from front-line transfer points.
Estonian legionnaires of the Wehrmacht fought against the USSR with particular fury (ookaboo.com)
But since 1943, national divisions of Poles, Czechs, and Romanians began to be formed in the USSR to fight the Germans. And the prisoners of these nationalities were sent not to the GUPVI, but directly to the recruitment points of such formations - they fought together with the Germans, let them fight against them too! By the way, there were such 600 thousand. Even de Gaulle was sent to his army 1500 French.
Before the start of the war with the USSR Hitler appealed to Europeans to crusade against Bolshevism. Here's how they responded to it (data for June - October 1941, which does not take into account the huge military contingents Italy, Hungary, Romania and other allies of Hitler). From Spanish volunteers ( 18000 people) the 250th Infantry Division was formed in the Wehrmacht. In July, the personnel took the oath to Hitler and left for the Soviet-German front. During September-October 1941, from French volunteers (approx. 3000 people) the 638th Infantry Regiment was formed. In October, the regiment was sent to Smolensk and then to Moscow. From Belgians in July 1941 the 373rd Valonian battalion was formed (approximately 850 people), transferred to the subordination of the 97th Infantry Division of the 17th Army of the Wehrmacht.
From Croatian Volunteers were formed by the 369th Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment and the Croatian Legion as part of the Italian troops. Approximately 2000 Swedes signed up to volunteer in Finland. Of these, approximately 850 people took part in the fighting near Hanko, as part of a Swedish volunteer battalion.
By the end of June 1941 294 Norwegians already served in the SS regiment "Nordland". After the start of the war with the USSR, the volunteer legion “Norway” was created in Norway ( 1200 Human). After taking the oath to Hitler, he was sent to Leningrad. By the end of June 1941, the SS Viking division had 216 Danes. After the start of the war with the USSR, the Danish Volunteer Corps began to form.
Ours stand apart in aiding fascism Polish comrades. Immediately after the end of the German-Polish war, the Polish nationalist Wladyslaw Gisbert-Studnicki came up with the idea of creating a Polish army fighting on the side of Germany. He developed a project for building a Polish 12-15 million pro-German state. Gisbert-Studnicki proposed a plan to send Polish troops to the eastern front. Later the idea of a Polish-German alliance and 35 thousand Polish army supported by the Sword and Plow organization, associated with the Home Army.
In the first months of the war against the USSR, Polish soldiers in the fascist army had the so-called status HiWi (volunteer helpers). Later, Hitler gave special permission for Poles to serve in the Wehrmacht. After this, it was categorically forbidden to use the name in relation to Poles HiWi, because the Nazis treated them as full-fledged soldiers. Every Pole between the ages of 16 and 50 could become a volunteer; they only had to undergo a preliminary medical examination.
Poles were called upon, along with other European nations, to stand “in defense of Western civilization from Soviet barbarism.” Here is a quote from a fascist leaflet in Polish: “The German armed forces are leading the decisive struggle to protect Europe from Bolshevism. Any honest helper in this fight will be greeted as an ally..."
The text of the oath of the Polish soldiers read: “I swear before God with this sacred oath that in the fight for the future of Europe in the ranks of the German Wehrmacht I will be absolutely obedient to the Supreme Commander Adolf Hitler, and as a brave soldier I am ready at any time to devote my strength to fulfill this oath...”
It is amazing that even the strictest guardian of the Aryan gene pool Himmler allowed to form units from Poles SS. The first sign was the Goral Legion of the Waffen-SS. The Gorals are an ethnic group within the Polish nation. In 1942, the Nazis convened the Goral Committee in Zakopane. Was appointed "Goralenführer" Vaclav Krzeptovsky.
He and his inner circle made a series of trips to cities and villages, urging them to fight the worst enemy of civilization - Judeo-Bolshevism. It was decided to create a Goral volunteer legion of the Waffen-SS, adapted for operations in mountainous terrain. Krzeptovsky managed to collect 410 Highlanders But after a medical examination in the SS organs there remained 300 Human.
Another Polish SS Legion was formed in mid-July 1944. They joined it 1500 volunteers of Polish nationality. In October the legion was based in Rzechow, in December near Tomaszow. In January 1945, the legion was divided into two groups (1st Lieutenant Machnik, 2nd Lieutenant Errling) and sent to participate in anti-partisan operations in the Tuchola forests. In February, both groups were destroyed by the Soviet army.
President of the Academy of Military Sciences, Army General Makhmut Gareev gave the following assessment of the participation of a number of European countries in the fight against fascism: During the war, all of Europe fought against us. Three hundred and fifty million people, regardless of whether they fought with weapons in their hands, or stood at the machine, producing weapons for the Wehrmacht, did one thing.
During World War II, 20 thousand members of the French Resistance died. And 200 thousand French fought against us. We also captured 60 thousand Poles. 2 million European volunteers fought for Hitler against the USSR.
In this regard, the invitation of military personnel from a number of countries looks at least strange NATO to take part in the parade on Red Square in honor of the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory, says Colonel Yuri Rubtsov, member of the International Association of Historians of the Second World War, professor at the Military Humanitarian Academy. – This insults the memory of our defenders of the Fatherland, who died at the hands of numerous "European friends of Hitler".
Useful conclusion
During the Second World War against the Soviet Union, which had an initial population of just over 190 million. people, a European coalition of more than 400 million. people, and when we were not Russians, but Soviet citizens, we defeated this coalition.
All of Europe fought against us A
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