Obersturmführer Sergei Krotov (far left) among the servicemen of the SS division "Charlemagne" and the French Legion before being shot on May 8, 1945 (fragment, full photo by click)
While being treated in a German hospital in Bavaria after being wounded in the Battle of Berlin, 12 French volunteers were captured by the Americans on May 6 and were placed by them, along with other prisoners, in the barracks of the Alpine Riflemen in the city of Bad Reichenhall. Upon learning that the Americans were going to hand over the city to the French, they tried to escape, but were detained by an American patrol and issued to the 2nd Free French Armored Division of General Leclerc. To the question of the general about why they, being French, wear someone else's uniform, there was a well-known answer that he himself was wearing an American uniform. By order of Leclerc, all 12 prisoners were shot on May 8 without trial.
The moment of extradition - General Leclerc with his famous cane and an American sergeant
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9GMXndOo9c&feature=pla...
SS Standarten Oberjunker Sergei Protopopov (1923-1945)
Photo taken in February 1943 at the military school of the French Legion
Sergei Protopopov was born into a family of Russian white émigrés in France. In 1943, at the age of twenty, like many other Russians, he joined the French Anti-Bolshevik Legion and was trained at its military school in Montargis near Orleans. In September 1944, the French Anti-Bolshevik Legion was included in the SS, first as a brigade, and from February 1945 as a division, called Charlemagne (Charlemagne). In December 1944, Sergei Protopopov graduated from the SS officer school in Kinschlag.
In February-March 1945, the Charlemagne division lost most of its personnel in heavy battles with the advancing Red Army in Pomerania. In early April, only 700 people remained in its ranks, of which about 300 volunteered to go to the defense of Berlin. The assault battalion formed from them under the command of Hauptsturmführer Henri-Joseph Fene arrived in the besieged German capital on April 24, 1945. Sergei Protopopov was also part of it.
The Charlemagne battalion, attached to the SS Nordland division, was entrusted with the defense of Sector C. The French volunteers entered the first battle with the advancing Reds on April 26 near the Tempelhof airfield. On April 27, the fighting became especially fierce. During them, Sergei Protopopov personally knocked out five Soviet tanks with faustpatrons and shot down a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft from a MG 42 machine gun. On April 29, the detachment, which included the standard-oberjunker Protopopov, was covered by fire from Soviet mortars on Gendarmenmarkt Square. The Russian volunteer died from multiple shrapnel wounds and was posthumously awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his courage. His comrades-in-arms in the Charlemagne battalion turned out to be the last defenders of the Reich Chancellery bunker, the defense of which they held until May 2.
Interview with Christian de La Mazière and Henri-Joseph Fene and footage from Charlemagne photo chronicle
The glory of the "Normandie-Niemen" against the infamy of the SS division "Charlemagne"
Almost from childhood, we were accustomed to the idea that France was a victim of Germany in World War II, that she fought heroically against the Nazis since 1939, that the best sons of the French people went into partisans and underground. Again, we can recall the “Fighting France” of General de Gaulle and the legendary Normandie-Niemen air regiment ...
However, it would be naive to assume that in the Second World War, in which almost all of Europe fought against the USSR, France became an exception. Of course, one should not belittle the merits of the Normandie-Niemen and Fighting France, but long before the French pilots took the first battle, their compatriots, and in much larger numbers, had long fought on the Eastern Front. And at the same time they fought shoulder to shoulder not with the Soviets, but with German soldiers. And many fought voluntarily.
Banner of the air regiment "Normandie-Niemen" (ookaboo.com)
But how did the French get into the ranks of the Wehrmacht? After all, it is written in any history textbook that France was occupied by Germany in 1940, and many French subsequently died fighting for the independence of their homeland. So it is, but not entirely. At least no less, or even more, the French died and were captured, including the Soviet, fighting for the Third Reich. Some Frenchmen who served in the ranks of the Wehrmacht did not even hesitate to write their memoirs later.
Take, for example, one of the most famous works on this topic - "The Last Soldier of the Third Reich" (original title - " Forgotten Soldier"). It would seem that only a German could write a book with such a title. Well, at worst, an Austrian. But the fact is that the author of this book is the Frenchman Guy Sayer, who very colorfully described his "exploits" near Stalingrad, on Kursk Bulge, in the battles for Poland and East Prussia. This book is interesting not so much by the description of the battles as by Sayer's attitude. The most surprising thing, but even in 1943, he firmly believed that France would soon enter the war against the USSR, and did not find anything strange in this. And why should he be surprised when in his and in neighboring units, besides the Germans, there were many other Europeans - Czechs, Belgians, Poles, Croats, etc.? Not to mention the Italians, Romanians and Hungarians, who had their own "national" armies. The war on the Eastern Front was clearly perceived by Sayer (and not only by him) as a campaign of "united Europe" against Russia. Which, in fact, is completely true.
Postage stamp with "Legion of French Volunteers" (panzer4520.yuku.com)
Already in July 1941, the Legion of French Volunteers (LVF) began to be created in France, and in November 1941, near the village of Borodino, as in 1812, the Russians and the French again met in battle - the 32nd division of Colonel V. Polosukhin and 638th French infantry regiment. In 1942, the LVF, which suffered heavy losses in battles with units of the Red Army, was assigned to re-form, and then proceeded to punitive operations in the occupied territory of the USSR. After heavy fighting in the summer of 1944, the remnants of the LVF were transferred to the 8th SS Assault Brigade. But the 33rd SS Grenadier Brigade (later a division) "Charlemagne" won the greatest "fame" of the French volunteers. This combat formation had a very motley composition - former LVF soldiers and the 8th assault brigade Nazi accomplices who fled from the offensive of the Anglo-American troops, declassed elements, half-educated students, gendarmes and volunteers from the French colonies. The combat path of the division "Charlemagne" was short-lived, but bright. At the end of February 1945, the Wehrmacht command threw the French to plug a gap in the area of the Polish city of Charne, after which the division (or rather, what was left of it) was transferred to Berlin, where in May 1945 its combat path ended. At the same time, according to the memoirs of the Germans, the French fought to the last, defending the Reich Chancellery together with the Danes and Norwegians from the Nordland SS division.
Commander of the 32nd Red Banner Saratov rifle division Colonel Victor Polosukhin (kz44.narod.ru)
Even the pedantic Germans could not name the exact number of Frenchmen who fought in the ranks of the Wehrmacht, so it remains only to turn to the numbers of French citizens who were in Soviet captivity - 23,136 people. Some of the French who fought for the Third Reich were captured by their compatriots and the Anglo-American troops in 1944-45, or even simply returned home, as the aforementioned Guy Sayer did, who managed to still serve in the French army and even take part in the Paris parade of 1946.
Propaganda poster urging the French to enlist in the SS division (ww2-charlemagne-1945.webs.com)
Despite the fact that the exact figures will never be named, it can be said with full confidence that France took an active part in the Great Patriotic War. Not in the Second World War, where its role is very insignificant, but in the Great Patriotic War. After all, French volunteers already appeared in Russia in September 1941, and this does not count those Frenchmen who, like Guy Sayer, were drafted into the Wehrmacht and from the very beginning participated in the campaign to the East. Of course, no one will ever forget the feat of the French pilots from the Normandie-Niemen, but we must not forget about other "exploits" of the French - "brave" volunteers from the same SS division "Charlemagne", punishers from the LVF and from other French units fighting the Red Army. It can be absolutely unequivocally stated that French citizens very actively helped Hitler build " new order”, only everyone knows what a sad end both this “beginning” itself and its “builders” had.
Pilot Semyon Sibirin congratulates his French colleague Albert Littolf with another victory (waralbum.ru/1627)
SS - Instrument of Terror Williamson Gordon
THIRTY-THIRD SS GREAT DIVISION "CHARLEMAGN"
The predecessor of this division was the "Volunteer French Legion", created in 1941 under the control german army. Initially, it was called the 638th Army Infantry Regiment and first entered combat on the Eastern Front during the winter 1941/42 offensive against Moscow as part of the 7th infantry division. The French unit suffered heavy losses and was withdrawn from the front from the spring of 1942 to the autumn of 1943, after which it was used mainly for anti-partisan operations. At this stage, it was divided to conduct operations in the rear against partisans and was used in the form of units, in terms of their quantitative composition equal to a battalion.
In January 1944, another reorganization of the battalion took place, but it was still used to fight partisans.
In June 1944, the battalion returned to the central sector Eastern Front to participate in offensive operations against the Red Army. His actions were so impressive that Soviet command considered that he was dealing not with one, but with two French battalions, although in fact the number of legionnaires corresponded to about half the battalion.
In September 1944, French volunteers joined the Waffen-SS. In France, recruitment into the SS began in earnest only in 1943, in Paris. In August 1944, the first 300 volunteers were sent to Alsace for training as part of the French SS Volunteer Assault Brigade. In September 1943, about 30 French officers were sent to military school SS to the Bavarian city of Bad Tölze, and about a hundred non-commissioned officers to various schools for junior officers in order to raise their training to the level of Waffen-SS standard requirements. At this time, a group of French volunteers was on the Eastern Front as part of the 18th SS Volunteer Panzer-Grenadier Division Horst Wessel. After fierce battles with units of the Red Army, they were recalled to the rear for rest and reorganization. At this time, a decision was made - given the combat achievement list the French, to connect them with the remnants of the legion and detachments of the French militia to create a new division of the Waffen-SS.
This most unusual of all divisions also included a number of soldiers from the French colonies, including from French Indochina and even one Japanese. Eyewitnesses claim that several French Jews managed to escape Nazi persecution by hiding in the ranks of the Charlemagne division.
The division was formed in the winter of 1944/45 and sent to the front in Pomerania at the very beginning of 1945. Constant fierce battles against the numerically superior units of the Red Army badly battered the French division and split it into three parts. One of the groups, numbering a battalion, retreated to the Baltic states and evacuated to Denmark, after which it ended up in Neustrelitz, not far from Berlin.
The second group was completely exterminated by the furious volleys of Soviet artillery. The third managed to retreat to the west, where it was destroyed - its soldiers either died or were taken prisoner by the Russians. Those who remained in Neustrelitz were rounded up by the divisional commander, SS Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg, who released from the oath those who no longer wished to serve in the SS. Nevertheless, about 500 men voluntarily followed their commander to defend Berlin. Approximately 700 people remained in Neustrelitz. The 500 volunteers who participated in the defense of Berlin fought with exceptional integrity, despite the fact that they knew that the battle was lost. Their courage was awarded with three Knight's Crosses. One of them was awarded to SS Obersturmführer Wilhelm Weber, a German division officer, and two to French soldiers Unterscharführer Eugène Vallot and Oberscharführer Francois Apollo. All three awards were distinctions for personal bravery shown in the destruction of several Soviet tanks alone. Three days later, Vallo and Apollo were killed. Weber was lucky to survive the war.
Those members of the Charlemagne division who chose not to go to the front made their way to the west, where they voluntarily surrendered. They no doubt expected the Western Allies to treat them better than the Russians. Those of them who surrendered to their compatriots from the Free French army had to be very disappointed in their illusion. It is known that when they encountered the Free French soldiers, when asked by the latter why they wished to wear German uniforms, the French SS soldiers inquired about the uniforms of the American troops worn by the de Gaulles. Enraged by such a question, the commander of the de Gaulle troops on the spot, without any trial or investigation, shot his fellow SS men. As for the Free French, it is itself guilty of the most terrible war crimes. It makes no sense to say that the murderers of the French SS went unpunished. Ironically, the French SS men who took part in the brutal destruction of Oradour in 1944 were treated much more leniently. They were considered people subjected to forced mobilization and thus "victims". The French court acquitted them. The reason for this surprising verdict seems to be purely political. The French SS men who appeared before the court were from Alsace, which over the years of its history has repeatedly passed either to France or to Germany. There was an opinion that a guilty verdict against the perpetrators of the tragedy that broke out in Oradour could cause unrest in Alsace.
Thus, a situation arose in which the French SS men, who took part in the execution of a large number of French citizens, went unpunished, while members of the Charlemagne division, who fought with detachments of communist partisans in the East and against units of the Red Army, lost their lives after were taken prisoner.
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Never before in world history has such a powerful citadel been taken in such a short time: in just a week. The German command carefully thought out and perfectly prepared the city for defense. Six-story stone bunkers, pillboxes, bunkers, tanks dug into the ground, fortified houses in which “faustniks” settled down, representing a mortal danger to our tanks. The center of Berlin with the Spree River, cut by canals, was especially strongly fortified.
The Nazis sought to prevent the Red Army from seizing the capital, knowing that the Anglo-American troops were preparing an offensive in the direction of Berlin. However, the degree of preference for surrender to the Anglo-Americans, and not Soviet troops, was greatly exaggerated in Soviet times. On April 4, 1945, J. Goebbels wrote in his diary:
The main task of the press and radio is to explain to the German people that the Western enemy is hatching the same vile plans for the destruction of the nation as the Eastern one ... We must again and again point out that Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin will ruthlessly and regardless of anything carry out their deadly plans, as soon as the Germans show weakness and submit to the enemy ...».
Soldiers of the Eastern Front, if in the coming days and hours each of you fulfills his duty to the Fatherland, we will stop and defeat the Asian hordes at the gates of Berlin. We foresaw this blow and countered it with a front of unprecedented power... Berlin will remain German, Vienna will be German...».
Another thing is that the anti-Soviet propaganda among the Nazis was much more sophisticated than against the Anglo-Americans, and the local population of the eastern regions of Germany experienced panic at the approach of the Red Army, and Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were in a hurry to break through to the West to surrender there. Therefore, I.V. Stalin hurried the marshal Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov as soon as possible to begin the assault on Berlin. It began on the night of April 16 with the most powerful artillery preparation and the blinding of the enemy by a multitude of anti-aircraft searchlights. After long and stubborn battles, Zhukov's troops captured the Seelow Heights, the main German defensive point on the way to Berlin. Meanwhile, the tank army of Colonel-General P.S. Rybalko, having crossed the Spree, advanced on Berlin from the south. In the north, on April 21, the tankers of Lieutenant General S.M. Krivoshein were the first to break into the outskirts of the German capital.
The Berlin garrison fought with the desperation of the doomed. It was obvious that he could not resist the deadly fire of Soviet heavy 203 mm howitzers, nicknamed by the Germans "Stalin's sledgehammer", volleys of "Katyusha" and constant bombardment of aviation. Soviet troops acted on the streets of the city in the highest degree professionally: assault groups with the help of tanks they knocked out the enemy from fortified points. This allowed the Red Army to suffer relatively small losses. Step by step, Soviet troops approached the government center of the Third Reich. Krivoshein's tank corps successfully crossed the Spree and connected with units of the 1st Army advancing from the south. Ukrainian front, locking Berlin into a ring.
The captured defenders of Berlin are members of the Volksshurm (militia detachment). Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Who defended Berlin from the Soviet troops in May 1945? The Berlin Defense Headquarters urged the population to prepare for street fighting on the ground and underground, using the metro lines, sewer network and underground communications. 400 thousand Berliners were mobilized for the construction of fortifications. Goebbels began to form two hundred Volkssturm battalions and women's brigades. 900 square kilometers of city blocks turned into "impregnable fortress Berlin".
The most combat-ready divisions of the Waffen-SS fought in the southern and western directions. The newly formed XI Panzer Army under the command of SS-Oberstgruppenführer F. Steiner operated near Berlin, which included all the surviving SS units of the city garrison, reservists, teachers and cadets of the "SS Junker Schools", personnel of the Berlin headquarters and numerous SS departments.
However, in the course of fierce battles with the Soviet troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, Steiner's division suffered such heavy losses that he, in his own words, "remained a general without an army." Thus, the main part of the Berlin garrison was made up of all kinds of improvised battle groups, and not regular formations of the Wehrmacht. The largest division of the SS troops with which the Soviet troops had to fight was the SS division Nordland, its full name is the XI Volunteer SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland. It was recruited mainly from volunteers from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway. In 1945, the division included the Danmark and Norge grenadier regiments, Dutch volunteers were sent to the emerging SS Nederland division.
Berlin was also defended by the French SS division "Charlemagne" ("Charlemagne"), the Belgian divisions of the SS "Langemark" and "Wallonia". On April 29, 1945, for the destruction of several Soviet tanks, a young native of Paris from the SS Charlemagne division, Unterscharführer Eugene Valo, was awarded the order Knight's Cross, becoming one of his last gentlemen. On May 2, a month before his 22nd birthday, Vajo died on the streets of Berlin. The commander of the LVII battalion from the Charlemagne division, Haupsturmführer Henri Fene, wrote in his memoirs:
Berlin has a French street and a French church. They are named after the Huguenots, who fled from religious oppression and settled in Prussia at the beginningXVIIcentury, helping to build the capital. In the middle of the 20th century, other Frenchmen came to defend the capital that their ancestors had helped build.».
On May 1, the French continued to fight on Leipziger Strasse, around the Air Ministry and at Potsdamer Platz. The French SS "Charlemagne" became the last defenders of the Reichstag and the Reich Chancellery. For the day of fighting on April 28 from total number 108 Soviet tanks were shot down, the French "Charlemagne" destroyed 62. On the morning of May 2, following the announcement of the surrender of the capital of the III Reich, the last 30 Charlemagne fighters out of 300 who arrived in Berlin left the Reich Chancellery bunker, where, apart from them, no one was left alive . Along with the French, the Reichstag was defended by the Estonian SS. In addition, Lithuanians, Latvians, Spaniards and Hungarians took part in the defense of Berlin.
Members of the French SS division "Charlemagne" before being sent to the front. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Latvians in the 54th fighter squadron defended the Berlin sky from Soviet aviation. The Latvian legionnaires continued to fight for the Third Reich and the already dead Hitler even when the German Nazis stopped fighting. On May 1, a battalion of the XV SS Division under the command of Obersturmführer Neulands continued to defend the Reich Chancellery. The famous Russian historian V.M. Falin noted:
Berlin fell on May 2, and "local battles" ended in it ten days later ... In Berlin, SS units from 15 states resisted the Soviet troops. Along with the Germans, Norwegian, Danish, Belgian, Dutch, Luxembourg Nazis acted there».
According to the French SS man A. Fenier: “ All of Europe gathered here for the last meeting”, and, as always, against Russia.
Ukrainian nationalists also played their part in the defense of Berlin. September 25, 1944 S. Bandera, Ya. Stetsko, A. Melnik and 300 others Ukrainian nationalists were released by the Nazis from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin, where they were once placed by the Nazis for too zealous agitation for the creation of an “Independent Ukrainian State”. In 1945, Bandera and Melnyk were instructed by the Nazi leadership to gather all Ukrainian nationalists in the Berlin area and defend the city from the advancing Red Army units. Bandera created Ukrainian units as part of the Volkssturm, and he himself hid in Weimar. In addition, several Ukrainian air defense groups (2.5 thousand people) operated in the Berlin area. Half of the III company of the 87th SS Grenadier Regiment "Kurmark" were Ukrainians, reservists of the XIV Grenadier Division of the SS troops "Galicia".
However, not only Europeans took part in the Berlin battle on the side of Hitler. Researcher M. Demidenkov writes:
When in May 1945 our troops were fighting on the outskirts of the Reich Chancellery, they were surprised that they came across the corpses of Asians - Tibetans. This was written about in the 50s, however, briefly, and was mentioned as a curiosity. The Tibetans fought to the last bullet, shot their wounded, did not surrender. Not a single living Tibetan in the form of the SS left».
In the memoirs of veterans of the Great Patriotic War there is evidence that after the fall of Berlin, corpses were found in the Reich Chancellery in a rather strange form: the cut was everyday SS troops (not field), but the color was dark brown, and there were no runes in the buttonholes. Those killed were clearly Asians and pronounced Mongoloids with rather dark skin. They apparently died in battle.
It should be noted that the Nazis conducted several expeditions to Tibet along the Ahnenerbe line and established strong, friendly relations and a military alliance with the leadership of one of the largest religious movements in Tibet. Permanent radio communications and an air bridge were established between Tibet and Berlin; a small German mission and a guard company from the SS troops remained in Tibet.
In May 1945, our people crushed not just a military enemy, not just Nazi Germany. Nazi Europe was defeated, another European Union, previously created by Charles of Sweden and Napoleon. How can one not recall here the eternal lines of A.S. Pushkin?
The tribes went
Trouble Russia threatening;
Wasn't all of Europe here?
And whose star led her! ..
But we have become the fifth solid
And breast took the pressure
Tribes obedient to the will of the proud,
And it was an unequal dispute.
But no less relevant today is the following stanza from the same poem:
Your disastrous escape
Boasting, they have forgotten now;
Forgot Russian bayonet and snow
Buried their glory in the wilderness.
A familiar feast beckons them again
- The blood of the Slavs is intoxicating for them;
But it will be hard for them to hangover;
But the guests' sleep will be long
On a cramped, cold housewarming party,
Under the grass of the northern fields!
Standarten Oberjunker SS Sergei Protopopov (1923-1945)
Grandson of the last Minister of the Interior Russian Empire Alexander Protopopov, who was shot by the Bolsheviks in October 1918, Sergei Protopopov was born in France. In 1943, at the age of twenty, like many other Russians, he joined the French Anti-Bolshevik Legion and was trained at its military school in Montargis near Orleans. In September 1944, the French Anti-Bolshevik Legion was included in the SS, first as a brigade, and from February 1945 as a division, called Charlemagne (Charlemagne). In December 1944, Sergei Protopopov graduated from the SS officer school in Kinschlag.
In February-March 1945, the Charlemagne division lost most of its personnel in heavy fighting with the advancing Red Army in Pomerania. In early April, only 700 people remained in its ranks, of which about 300 volunteered to go to the defense of Berlin. The assault battalion formed from them under the command of Hauptsturmführer Henri-Joseph Fene arrived in the besieged German capital on April 24, 1945. Sergei Protopopov was also part of it.
The Charlemagne battalion, attached to the SS Nordland division, was entrusted with the defense of Sector C. The French volunteers entered the first battle with the advancing Reds on April 26 near the Tempelhof airfield. On April 27, the fighting became especially fierce. During them, Sergei Protopopov personally knocked out five Soviet tanks with faustpatrons and shot down a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft from a MG 42 machine gun. On April 29, the detachment, which included the standard-oberjunker Protopopov, was covered by fire from Soviet mortars on Gendarmenmarkt Square. The Russian volunteer died from multiple shrapnel wounds and was posthumously awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his courage. His comrades-in-arms in the Charlemagne battalion turned out to be the last defenders of the Reich Chancellery bunker, the defense of which they held until May 2.
Obersturmführer Sergei Krotov(far left) among the soldiers of the SS division "Charlemagne" and the French Legion before being shot on May 8, 1945
Far left Sergey Krotov
While being treated in a German hospital in Bavaria after being wounded in the Battle of Berlin, 12 French volunteers were captured by the Americans on May 6 and were placed by them, along with other prisoners, in the barracks of the Alpine Riflemen in the city of Bad Reichenhall. Upon learning that the Americans were going to hand over the city to the French, they tried to escape, but were detained by an American patrol and issued to the 2nd Free French Armored Division of General Leclerc. A general drove up to the place of transfer of prisoners of war.
Upon learning that the soldiers in German uniforms were French, he became indignant and began to vilify them in every possible way, calling them “Boches” and “traitors”. When he spoke the words:
How could you French wear a German uniform?
One of the prisoners could not stand it and boldly replied:
Just like you, General, you can wear an American one.
After these words, Leclerc exploded and ordered the prisoners to be shot. According to one version, the general gave the order, so cruel and contrary to the laws of the Geneva Convention, being under the painful impression of inspecting the death camp in Dachau, where Leclerc seemed to have been the day before. Be that as it may, the next day, May 8, 12 French SS-sheep were taken to be shot.
At their request, a Catholic priest spoke to them. Further, the condemned flatly refused to blindfold or “humanely” shoot them in the back. Immediately before the execution, they began to sing the Marseillaise and shout "long live France!", looking into the faces of the firing squad. Fierce by the "unrepentant" obstinate "Charlemagnes", the general ordered not to bury the bodies, but to leave them in the clearing. Only three days later, according to the local population, they were buried by the Americans.
In 1947, the Germans transferred the ashes to the monument. Several soldiers managed to find out the names. They were engraved on a granite board, which depicts one of the symbols of France, the “royal lily”, and the words “to the 12 brave sons of France” are written.
Here are the names of those whose documents were found:
SS Obersturmführer Serge Krotoff, (Serg Krotoff)
SS Untersturmführer Paul Briffaut
SS Untersturmführer Robert Doffat.
Grenadiers Jean Robert
and Raymond Pairas
Jacques Ponnau
Igor Knyazev. Appeal of Russian volunteers of the French SS division "Charlemagne", published in the Berlin newspaper "New Word" for October 31, 1943.
Russians in the Foreign Legion.
According to E. Nedzelsky, in 1924, 3,200 Russians were registered who passed through the base point of the Foreign Legion in Sidi Bel Abbes in Algeria, and of these, 70% were former officers, cadets and soldiers. In the third regiment, according to E. Nedzelsky, based in Morocco in 1924, out of 500 Russians, 2% were illiterate, 73% with incomplete secondary education, and 25% with secondary and higher education. Approximately the same ratio was maintained in the 2nd regiment. The oldest legionnaires were officers and soldiers expeditionary corps in France. They joined the legion back in 1918 and accounted for about 10% of the total number of Russian legionnaires. 25% accounted for those evacuated from Russia in 1919, 60% - for the ranks of the Russian army who left Russia in 1921, and 5% fell into the legion for various reasons, mainly from German captivity and tempted by "preferential" service19. After signing the contract, the volunteers were sent to the assembly camp for about a month, and then distributed in parts. So, out of 400 people who signed up for the legion at the same time as E. Giatsintov, 350 were sent to Syria, and the rest to Algeria. From the Syrian group, 90 people were later sent to Beirut to the 18th repair squadron of the 5th African Cavalry Chasseur Regiment (commander - Captain E. de Avaris), and 210 to the Mountain Company, formed in Damascus exclusively from Russian volunteers (commander — Captain Duval).
LIST OF RUSSIAN VOLUNTEERS,
DEAD IN THE RANKS OF THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION
From 1921 to 1945
Akimov - corporal of the 3rd company of the 2nd regiment. Died 11/13/1923 in Post Bader.
Alexandrov-Dolnik Vladimir Alexandrovich - lieutenant of the 2nd regiment. Killed 09/07/1932 in battle at Tazigzaout, Morocco.
- Andreev - legionnaire of the 12th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on April 20, 1921 in Kenara-Khenui.
-Andrienko - Corporal 5 S. Mont. 2nd regiment. He died on September 4, 1924 in Ishieraf.
-Antonov - legionnaire of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/21/1925 in Bab Taza.
-nfilov - sergeant of the 26th company of the 1st regiment. Died 09/10/1925 in Jebel ne Negir.
- Arkadiev is a legionnaire. Died in Morocco.
-Afanasiev - legionnaire of the 1st company of the 2nd regiment. He died on May 20, 1923 in Recife Bou Arfa.
-Baranov - legionnaire of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Berezin - legionnaire of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/04/1925 in Astar.
-Bobovsky - sergeant of the 7th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/14/1925 in Brikka.
-Bogdanchuk - sergeant of the 27th company of the 1st regiment. Died 08/17/1925 in Dzhebel Asdem .. Bondarev - legionary CM1 of the 1st regiment. He died on 07/14/1926 in Tizi N "Widei.
-Boritsky - legionnaire of the 9th company of the 2nd regiment. He died on 05/06/1922 in Tadu Skorra.
-Bubanov - legionnaire of the 1st battalion of the 4th regiment. He died on 10/19/1923 in Bu-Ishsamer.
-Bukovsky - corporal of the SMZ of the 2nd regiment. He died on 12/11/1926 in Jebel Ayad.
Bulyubash Vladimir - lieutenant of the 1st cavalry regiment - "an officer of exceptional courage." Died 11/28/1944
-Count Vorontsov-Dashkov Alexander is the grandson of the last Caucasian governor. Killed in Vietnam (?).
-Voroponov - legionnaire of the 9th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 06/24/1923 in El Mer.
Guyer is a legionnaire. He died on May 20, 1940 at Perron.
-Garbulenko - legionnaire of the 2nd company of the 3rd regiment. Died 10/27/1923 in El Mer.
- Geckner - sergeant. He died on 05/11/1943 in Tunisia. Gendrikson Vladimir - died on 07/06/1941 in Damascus in Syria.
-Glebov - legionary CM7 of the 1st regiment. He died on 09/10/1925 in Jebel Yei Negir.
-Gnutov - legionnaire of the 1st company of the 1st regiment. He died on May 25, 1925 in Biban.
-Goncharov - SM sergeant of the 4th regiment. Died 08/10/1933 in Ukzer
-Gorbachev - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Mikhail Gorodnichenko - sergeant of the 5th regiment. Died of wounds on 09/15/1945 in Indochina.
-Graev - legionnaire of the 28th company of the 1st regiment. Died 09/30/1925 in Kerkur.
-Gusarov Alexander - died in Tunisia.
-Grunenkov Mikhail Fedorovich — participant of the Civil War in the 1st Kornilov Regiment, 1st Kuban campaign. He was badly wounded. Centurion. Evacuated to Bizerte. In March 1922 he was in the command of the Kornilov regiment. Served in the French Foreign Legion. Killed.
-Damagalsky - legionnaire of the 7th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 07/24/1925 in Tamzimet.
-Danilov - legionnaire of the 3rd company of the 2nd regiment. He died on May 25, 1925 in Biban.
-Doroshenko - sergeant of the 3rd company of the 1st regiment. He died on 07/18/1925 in Sof-El-Kazbar.
- Evreinov - legionnaire of the 7th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 01/10/1924 in Meckx.
-Edelov - legionnaire of the 7th company of the 2nd regiment. He died on April 24, 1925 in Tamzimet.
-Enin is a legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Enoshin - legionnaire of the 1st cavalry regiment.
-Efremov - lieutenant. Zaloka Nikolay - was born on December 25, 1916. He died on January 13, 1943 in Pont du Fage, Tunisia.
-Zanfirov - legionnaire of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Zameshaev Ivan - buried at the military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
Z-emtsov Ivan - Lieutenant of the Russian Imperial Army. Sergeant-Chief of the French Foreign Legion. He died on 06/1/1942 in Bir Gaheim (Libya). He was awarded the Military Cross.
-Ivankovich - legionnaire of the 22nd company of the 1st regiment. Died 08/13/1923 in Tafgirt Airt.
-Ivanov - sergeant of the 22nd company of the 1st regiment. He died on May 22, 1925 in AedAmeam.
-Ivanov - sergeant of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/10/1925 in Mediun.
-Ivanov - legionnaire of the 8th company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/18/1925 in Terual.
-Ivanov - legionnaire of the 3rd battalion of the 4th regiment. He died on 07/12/1922 in Bou Drois de l "Hulges.
-Ivanov - legionnaire of the 1st cavalry regiment.
-Ivanov (pseudonym) - a former cadet of the Russian Corps in Versailles. Legionnaire of the Foreign Legion. Died 03/15/1945 in Ga Giang in Indochina.
- Ignatiev - legionnaire of the 3rd company of the 1st regiment. He died on 07/14/1926 in Tizi N "Widei.
-Izvarin - legionnaire of the 1st cavalry regiment. Kazarinov - sergeant of the 4th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/24/1923 in El Mers.
-Kalashnikov is a legionnaire of the 7th battalion of the 1st regiment. He died on 08/17/1926 in Jebel Galaza.
- Kalinishchev - trumpeter of the 9th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 05/06/1922 in Tadu Skorra.
-Karneri (pseudonym) - a native of Moldova, graduated from a Russian gymnasium. Trumpeter of the French Foreign Legion. 03/10/1945 was wounded and finished off with a bayonet during the Japanese attack on the garrison in Tang in Indochina.
-Karnovsky (Karpovsky) Alexander - lieutenant. Died 08/25/1944 in Tunis.
-Karpov - legionnaire of the 5th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 08/11/1923 in Jebel Idlan.
-Kowalsky - corporal of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Kodovsky Ivan - sergeant-chief. He died on 06/11/1942 in Bir-Gakom.
-Kozlov - a participant in the First World War and the Civil War. Colonel. Sergeant of the Foreign Legion. He died in 1923 (1926) in Morocco.
-Kolesnikov - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 17.09. 1925 at Massifray in Syria.
-Kolotilin - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Komarov Vladimir - former cadet Marine Corps. He emigrated to France, where in 1926 he graduated from a military school in Saint-Cyr. Captain, commander of the 6th company of the 2nd battalion of the 5th regiment of the Foreign Legion. He died on 04/01/1945 in Tuar Giao in Indochina.
-Konenko is a legionnaire. He died in 1926 in Morocco.
-Slanting - corporal-chief S. From. 1st regiment. Died 08/10/1933 in Kerduas.
- Kostrevsky Ivan - a former sailor. He died on 06/17/1941 in Damascus in Syria.
-Kostryukov - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Kostevich Vladimir - legionnaire. He died on December 11, 1944 in Vieux Tgann.
-Kosyanenko - legionnaire SM5 of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
- Kravchenkov Iosif Silych - died of wounds in 1943.
- Kreshenkov Joseph - was buried in a military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
-Kudryavtsev is a legionnaire of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/10/1925 in Mediun.
-Kuznetsov is a legionnaire of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/10/1925 in Mediun.
- Kuznetsov Gennady Dmitrievich - adjudan (ensign). E Morocco died.
-Kuydenko - corporal of the 3rd battalion of the 4th regiment. Died 09/20/1922 in Bin El-Uidanq.
-Daniil Kulish is a legionnaire. He died on December 9, 1944 in Tgann.
-Ladzin is a legionary of the Mining Company. Shot for trying to escape from the Foreign Legion.
-Lakovlev (Yakovlev?) - legionnaire of the 6th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on 06/19/1929 in Ait-Yakub.
-Larin is a legionnaire of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/10/1925 in Mediun.
-Larin is a legionary of the 6th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 07/24/1925 in Mediun.
-Larin is a legionary of the 6th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 07/24/1925 in Tamzimet.
- Levov - foreman of the 1st cavalry regiment. Lishaksky Alexander - lieutenant. Died of wounds in 1943.
-Lyubovitsky - foreman of the 3rd squadron of the 1st foreign cavalry regiment. He died on 07/03/1925 near Gersif.
- Lyashko - corporal of the 10th company of the 2nd regiment. He died on 07/23/1923 in Plateau d'Immuzert.
-Malev - legionnaire of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. Died 16.10. 1923 in Akurirt.
-Malevsky - legionnaire of the 1st company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/14/1926 in Tizi N Widei.
-Maleyko - legionnaire of the 1st company of the 2nd regiment. Died 09/10/1925 in Jebel Ayad.
-Margulies Albert - killed 06/05/1940 on the Somme.
-Markov - legionnaire of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/07/1925 in Sof-El-Kazbar.
-Markovich - SMM corporal of the 1st regiment. He died on February 28, 1933 in Jebel Sadgo.
-Masaev Vladimir - died on 06/08/1942 in Bir-Gasheim.
-Mausin is a legionnaire of the 4th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on 10/10/1923 in Tizi N "Zhuar.
-Mitriev - legionnaire of the 8th company of the 4th regiment. Died 04/25/1926 in Suida.
-Melnichuk Sergey - died on 12/10/1944 in Tgann.
Mishalsky is a legionnaire of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 7/10/1925 in Jebel Druz.
- Mukhin - sergeant S.M. 1st regiment. He died on 10/14/1929. in Zguilma Dzhigani.
-Nankov - buried in the military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
-Nikolaev - sergeant SM6 of the 1st regiment. He died on 10/16/1923 in Akurirt.
-Nikolov - legionnaire of the 12th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on October 27, 1922 in Ishieraf.
-Novarzin - legionnaire of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/04/1925 in Astar.
- Novikov - legionnaire of the 1st Cavalry Regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Ogarovich - buried in the military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
- Ogorodnoye - sergeant of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. He died on May 22, 1925 in Aed Amzam.
- Orlov - legionnaire of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/25/1925 in Jebel Asdem.
-Pavlovsky - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Pavlovsky Ivan - buried in a military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
-Petrov - legionnaire of the 6th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 11/17/1923 in Jebel Idlan.
-Pleshakov - legionnaire of the 27th company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/24/1925 in Jebel Asdem.
-Pokrovsky - sergeant of the 9th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 05/20/1927 in Oued Dessaya.
-Povolotsky - mareshal of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Popov - legionnaire of the 9th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 09/05/1922 in L "Aderzh.
-Popov - mareshal of the 4th squadron of the 4th cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Popov - legionnaire of the 1st cavalry regiment. Popov was born on August 25, 1905. in Moscow. Died of wounds on January 12, 1943.
- Punchin Georgiy - was born on February 11, 1905 in Kerch. Died of wounds on December 23, 1944.
-Raskin - legionnaire of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. Died 23.07. 1923 in Ain Tagzut.
-Regema is a lieutenant. Killed in 1925
-Reshetnikov - Legionnaire SM. 3rd regiment. Died 07/14/1926 in Jebel Taster.
-Romanov - Legionnaire SM. 2nd regiment. Died 06/09/1923 in Izuko.
-Sapronov - corporal of the 2nd company of the 2nd regiment. Died 10/10/1923 in Ponzegu.
-Safonov Nikolai (?) - died in Tunisia in 1943.
- Sidelnikov - sergeant SM. 3rd regiment. Died 07/14/1926 in Jebel Taster.
-Siz is a native of the Terek region. During the Civil War, he was a lieutenant of the 10th Ingrian Regiment. He went missing on March 26, 1945 in Son La in Indochina.
- Siyanin - legionnaire of the 22nd company of the 1st regiment. Died 05/04/1925 in Taunat.
-Soloviev - corporal of the 8th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/13/1925 in Sker.
- Magpie - Corporal SM. 1st regiment. He died on 10/14/1929 in Zguilma Dzhigani
- Staroselsky (Starozelsky?) - legionnaire of the 5th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 01/17/1923 in Naegllin.
- Sukov - corporal of the 21st company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/04/1925 in Astar.
-Tabunshchikov - legionnaire of the 26th company of the 1st regiment. He died on 09/10/1925 in Jebel Yei Negir.
- Tanas Igor - was born on 03/24/1921 in Constantinople. In March 1941, he signed up for the Foreign Legion. Fought in Senegal. He died on 04/25/1943. He was awarded the Military Cross.
-Taranuka - legionnaire of the 25th company of the 1st regiment. He died on 09/10/1925 in Jebel Yei Negir.
-Tishevsky - legionary of the 23rd company of the 1st regiment. He died on May 22, 1925 in Aed Amzam.
-Tkachenko - Kuban Cossack. He died in June 1925 in a battle near the Turkish village of Mussey-Frey, taking command of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment of the Foreign Legion.
-Trofimov Vyacheslav - buried in a military cemetery in Carthage in Tunisia.
- Tumanov - legionnaire of the 5th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on May 9, 1923 in Beni Buzert.
- Turutin - legionnaire of the 4th company of the 2nd regiment. He died on 07/01/1923 in El Mers.
-Prince Urusov Sergey - was born on 01/13/1916 in Moscow. St. George boarding school student. Killed in Africa in the ranks of the Foreign Legion.
- Utkin - corporal of the 25th company of the 1st regiment. Died 07/25/1925 in Jebel Asdem.
-Utcharenko - corporal of the 5th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on May 9, 1923 in Beni Buzert.
- Fedorov is a legionnaire. He died in 1926 in Morocco.
- Fedortsev Nikolai - died on 01/28/1944 in a hospital in Tunisia.
-Fomin - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Kharitonov - legionnaire of the 24th company of the 1st regiment. Died 06/04/1925 in Astar.
-Hotcharenko - legionnaire of the 7th company of the 2nd regiment. Died 07/25/1925 in Tamzimet.
-Chernenko - legionnaire of the 4th squadron of the 1st cavalry regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Shamalov - legionnaire of the 10th company of the 3rd regiment. Died 01/17/1923 in Naegllin.
-Sharev is a legionnaire of the 19th company of the 4th regiment. Died 09/17/1925 in Massifre in Syria.
-Shillo - legionnaire of the 5th company of the 3rd regiment. He died on October 27, 1924 in P. Anuai.
-Shumeyko Dmitry - buried at the military cemetery in Maps in Tunisia.
-Yakov - Corporal S.M. 1st regiment. He died on 10/14/1929 in Zguilma Dzhigani.
-Yakushov - legionnaire of the 26th company of the 1st regiment. He died on 09/10/1925 in Jebel Yei Negir.
- Yasinsky Victor - died on 01/25/1945 in Syria.
The famous French military museum in the Palais des Invalides in Paris has a special Russian section, "which stores the memory of the valiant sons of Russia, who managed to achieve glory for their homeland abroad."
And about one more interesting historical event, with which the Russian military in the Foreign Legion were associated. It refers to civil war in Spain 1936-1938
"On August 1, 1936, the Harbin newspaper" Our Way "published an interview with the Spanish professor E. Afenicio under the heading "The Spanish uprising was raised by Russian emigrants, ranks of the Foreign Legion in Morocco." As you know, the north of Morocco was under a special occupation regime due to the restless nature of the local tribes The Foreign Legion controlled the situation in these places, "where the Russians make up the largest percentage, both soldiers and officers.
... The first events began in Melilla and Ceuta, the garrisons ... where units were stationed exclusively consisting of Russian emigrants ... Therefore, I am convinced that the uprising in Morocco, which has now spread to the continent, is the work of your compatriots, who were the first to put their the real strength of the regiments ... of the Foreign Legion, "wrote the Spanish professor.
Russian emigrants, as opposed to the international brigades, fought on the side of Franco in Spain. One cannot deny the possible connection between the actions of emigrants from the Russian All-Military Union and the Russians from the French Foreign Legion. The version about the coordinated actions of two streams of Russian emigration, who decided to help the Spanish rebels who opposed the communist regime, is quite likely.
As you know, France entered the war with Germany on September 3, 1939. Military operations then affected the territory North Africa. The Foreign Legion participated in the battles against the Nazis in Morocco. By the way, the fighting here continued for another two months after the surrender of France on June 22, 1940.
Some commanders of the Legion, including Zinovy Peshkov, refused to recognize the shameful truce for France. After the defeat of 1940, he escaped by night on a steamboat and was one of the first to arrive in London. He responded to the call of Charles de Gaulle and became one of his closest associates, and in this capacity returned to North Africa.
The Foreign Legion again took part in the hostilities against the German army, this time as component formations of General de Gaulle. Many Russian legionnaires were awarded military decorations for their merits in the battles against the Nazis. The "Cross of Liberation" was awarded to Lieutenant Colonel D. Amilakhvari, who died in 1942 in Egypt; N. Rumyantsev, commander of the 1st Moroccan cavalry regiment; Captain A. Ter-Sarkisov.
V. Kolupaev's study reports the names of a number of Russian officers and soldiers who died in battle: Vashchenko, Gomberg, Zolotarev, Popov, Regema, Rothstein, Prince Urusov; Zemtsov, who was awarded two Military Crosses, the second cross - posthumously.