May 28, 1945

[Martin Antonenko]

The End of the "German" Cossacks...


On May 28, 1945 the British extradited to the Soviet Union prisoners of war Cossacks who had stood and fought on the German side during the Second World War!

For reasons of space, I will concentrate on the two largest groups here and other formations, such as the
"Ukrainian Liberation Army" (UPA = Ukraiinske Wyswolne Wijsko as well as the "Vlasov Army" (ROA = Russkaja Oswoboditel'naja Armija) and the so-called "Eastern Legions", in whose ranks also Cossacks fought.

How many Cossacks fought for the Germans in total?

Based on the sources, this question can only be answered very vaguely.
Soviet figures from the post-war period speak of 250,000. This number appears to me
strongly exaggerated for propaganda purposes.

Other sources estimate (!) The number of Cossacks with "about 100,000", or between 100,000 and 115,000 (Longworth).

All in all, these are estimates, although it remains to be seen whether only combatants or their civilian relatives are included here.

Most authors circumvent this question more or less elegantly and speak of
"Tens of thousands".

But how did it happen...?

In 1942 the Cossack population on the Don greeted the Germans with open arms.

This is to be understood against the background that the Cossacks suffered more than any other ethnic group in the Soviet Union during the Russian civil war and Stalin's terrorist measures.

Now they hoped the Germans would reverse the forced collectivization and grant them Cossack autonomy, which they had had since ancient times.

Some German stage commanders began to keep their own Cossack bodyguards. That could well be whole hundreds. With sabers drawn, these parade Cossacks then put guard in front of the quarters of German village and city commanders .

Also the German "Oberbefehlshaber Süd", Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein ...

... put on such a cossack guard ...:

But it did not stop!

A Cossack colonel named S. V. Pavlow ...

... occupied the residence of the ataman in Novocherkassk and set up the first police unit from around 200 collaborators.

Towards the end of the year, the population of at least 200 villages elected him the "President" of an association called "Krug" and the ataman of the Don region.

Pavlov then asked the Germans for support in setting up an army against the Soviets.

The local German authorities refused to do so. His "police" were allowed to continue working under German orders.

It was different with a Cossack major (later colonel) named Ivan Kononow:

Kononov had graduated from the most important military school in the USSR ("Frunze Academy"), had deserted from the Red Army with a large part of his (Cossack) unit on May 22, 1941, and successfully tried to obtain permission from the Germans to form a unit to be formed from Cossack defectors and prisoners of war.

His people swore to "rid the Russian earth from the worst enemy of humanity, communism".

The unit was named "Cossack Department 600" and immediately sent to combat operations, especially to catch "tongues", ie Red Army soldiers who could give the most precise information possible.

Furthermore, a propaganda “war” was carried out with loudspeakers across the lines. Kononov was one of the main "carriers" of the rumors of autonomy and the abolition of collective farms.

Although the Germans were surprised at the enthusiasm of the Cossacks, they remained suspicious to negative.

The "Reichsführer SS", Himmler, did not want to know anything about Cossacks and Cossack autonomy
and Alfred Rosenberg's East Ministry classified Cossacks - like all peoples of the Soviet Union - as "subhuman".

Hitler himself could finally bring himself to the establishment of purely Cossack formations - under German orders of course - under the impression of the looming Stalingrad defeat - on January 13, 1943! - approve. Such plans had been accepted since the summer of 1942.

The local Wehrmacht acted a little more pragmatically:
In October 1942 she agreed to the establishment of a small autonomous Cossack district in the Kuban area, which of course was under strict German sovereignty.

One even considered whether to actually abolish the kolkhozes there.

This German propaganda poster reads: "Under German protection into a happy future!"

The defected Cossacks did not find themselves in independent units (and equated with the Germans as comrades in arms), as they had hoped, but became
Security divisions assigned to the rear of the front and deployed against partisans (some of them against their Cossack brothers fighting on the side of the Red Army).

The Cossacks in German service initially wore normal Wehrmacht uniforms (with Cossack badges):

In the meantime the hour of the emigrants struck.

The ex-ataman, civil war fighter and former tsarist general Pjotr Krasnow, living in exile in Berlin, who rose to be the leader of all "German" Cossacks (with German approval) ...

... at first tellingly did not care about military questions, but spent a lot of time convincing the German "racial hygienists" that the Cossacks were not "Slavic subhumans".

In the photo above, Krasnow is wearing a German general's uniform, but with the old tsarist general's insignia.

Krasnow's good contacts with the Nazi leadership paid off:

In the autumn of 1942 it was officially determined that the Cossacks, according to “the latest research
Descendants of people of the Nordic (...) race ”and“ have strong blood ties to theirs
originally preserved Germanic homeland ”.

A book called "The History of the Cossacks" made a significant contribution to this ...



... and in whose constitution the head of the German Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, Reinhard Heydrich...

... himself had a hand.

The book was classified as "For official use only" - and aimed in particular at promoting the idea of cossacks in German uniforms to Hitler!

The Cossacks as descendants of the Goths - you could laugh if it weren't so sad ...!
Then Krasnow set about reactivating the old guard of "white" Cossack leaders from the civil war.

Generals Schkuro came among others (the picture shows him next to General von Pannwitz, who we will talk about later) ...

…and General Wjatscheslaw Grigorjewitsch Naumenko…

... who had himself appointed by the Germans as the "Ataman of the Kuban region".

The Germans had these - and other - ex-Cossack generals donate flags and icons and give fiery speeches, but they were careful not to give them any military power.

In the meantime, Krasnov set about setting up plans for an independent Cossack state.

According to his plans, as a German puppet or vassal state, this "Greater Kosakia" should extend from the Ukraine to the Samara River, so it should actually be quite large.

But the Germans were no longer kidding and only approved a cautious expansion of the already existing semi-autonomous district on the Kuban.

**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Part II


But all these plans were thwarted by the German defeat at Stalingrad (which also included Cossacks in the ranks of the Red Army!) And the subsequent near collapse of the German southern front.

The Germans had to retreat to Stalingrad piece by piece - initially from the Kuban, and the collaborating Cossacks and their "ataman" Naumenko had no choice but to follow the retreating German troops with their families and all their belongings.

In February 1943 the Don region was also hit. The local "ataman" Pavlov also had to flee with his followers - Pavlov himself fell in battle with partisans.

His successor was the later General Timofej Domanow ...:

In the meantime, the German high command had decided to combine these numerous and fragmented Cossack associations, which were mostly led at division level, into a single association, the "Cossack Cavalry Division", which was set up at the beach town of Mlawa (Mielau).

The command of this later “1. Cossack Division "was given to Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Helmut von Pannwitz, who came from the Baltic States ...:


The core of this troop were the Cossack detachments of the former Soviet major Kononov, whom we already met above.

Overall, the unit initially consisted of two Don...

... and two Kuban regiments...

... a Terek regiment, a Siberian and a mixed reserve regiment.

Each regiment consisted of 2,000 men, plus 160 Germans as so-called "framework personnel".

By the end of 1944 the unit had been upgraded to 2 divisions and was now called “XV. Cossack Cavalry Corps ”. Von Pannwitz, who was promoted to general, became or remained the commander.

The strength of the corps was - at least nominally - 50,000 Cossacks. According to the sources, whether it was ever achieved is controversial!

This corps finally consisted of the “1. Cossack Cavalry Division ”(Commander Colonel von Baath),Hier bei einer Vereidigung in der Mitte...

... the 2nd Cossack Cavalry Division (Commander Colonel Hans-Joachim von Schultz)...

... the original troops of Kononov (the so-called“ Plastunbrigade ”- infantry!), Commander Colonel Ivan Kononov (left)...

... and other smaller support units (staffs, communications engineering, supply, etc.).

A third division was only partially set up due to the later war situation.

Colonel (later General) Kononov provided the "Plastun Brigade" mentioned above as the core of this third division.

Since it was no longer possible to recruit in the Cossack areas at that time, the teams (and supplements) were hired in prisoner-of-war camps.

One can really speculate about the motives of the Cossacks to go with the Germans now.

My view is:

Some will certainly have come from “anti-communist convictions”, the belief in the “German final victory” or the desire for a better life.
The crowd, however, will have seen an opportunity above all, the well-known miserable one
Conditions to escape the "Russian camp".

The units were always followed by the civilian members of the Cossacks along with their "economy".

The Germans ostensibly fulfilled one of the Cossacks' wishes for the security of their families, but on the other hand they also secured hostages for their loyalty.

As already mentioned, fighters initially wore mostly German uniforms with Cossack badges, although - on ceremonial occasions - Germans could also appear in Cherkesska, like General von Pannwitz, who did this more often.

The next picture shows him with the already mentioned Cossack leaders Schkuro (left) and Naumenko (2nd from left) ...:

But, as I said, there was a second larger Cossack group:

It was about the 3,000-strong troop that General Domanow...

... had “inherited” from “Ataman” Pavlov.

We shouldn't imagine the group as a military unit, although they are also fighters
included. These fighters - all of them Don Cossacks - were described as "quite rickety" in a contemporary German report.

In terms of numbers, Domanov's "troops" are said to have comprised three (according to other sources up to five) "regiments", which were called in for local security and "police" tasks when necessary and were particularly noticeable through murder, robbery, rape, pillage and looting.

We do not have to imagine this Domanov group as a military unit, but rather as a "wandering Cossack area" that wandered through Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and later through Poland - and the Germans retreating with men, women, children and the elderly as a kind of caravan followed.

They stopped somewhere, built a makeshift village (or confiscated
existing), took care of "security" in the vicinity - and went back to the Hike when the Germans withdrew.

The Domanow group called itself "Kasatschij Stan", and it was subordinate to neither the Wehrmacht nor the SS, but Krasnow's "Cossack Directorate" in Berlin.

"Kasatschij Stan" means something like "Cossack family" and Krasnov had chosen it as the nucleus of his utopian "Cossack".

It is said that there were a total of 15,950 people (about half of them able-bodied Cossacks) with 14,000 horses and almost as many cattle.

The route of this "wandering Cossack area" led from the Don via the southern Ukraine, first to Kamenz-Podolsk, then via Sandomir to Novogrudok in Belarus and then to the Warsaw area.

The “value” of this Domanov group was seen less militarily than politically - for Krasnov and the other Cossack leaders. So it was able to demonstrate that they had “their own Cossack forces”.

Ultimately, however, the Germans pulled the strings here too - because both Krasnow's “Directory” and the “Kasatschij Stan” group were made up of Alfred Rosenberg's ...

... “Reich Ministry for the occupied eastern territories ”(RMO or RMfdbO). Responsible for this was the (Russian-speaking) Dr. Nikolaus Himpel.

First of all, an attempt was made to find the "Kasatschij Stan" in Belarus (Nowogrudek) in 1944
to settle, which failed due to the war situation.

Then Domanov's "rickety regiments" became in August 1944 (under SS command and with
Krasnow's approval) against the insurgents of the Polish Home Army in Warsaw used.

We will meet her again later in Northern Italy.

The fighting morale of the Cossack units - including the Pannwitz troops - was in general to this
Extremely bad timing.

Most of them were beginning to realize they had made a big mistake in joining the Germans.

There were attempts to desert on the Soviet side, but the Soviets had no mercy on the "back-defectors".

For better or worse, the Cossacks had to continue to make common cause with the Germans.

Krasnow and the other “white” figureheads did their best to get the troops up again, but with little success.

The Cossacks called Krasnov "Grandpa" and the now clearly frail old man who walked with a stick aroused more pity than trust in them.

Finally, the Cossacks from Pannwitz 'in 1944 - along with their civilian appendix - were transferred to Yugoslavia to fight partisans.

Originally the Germans had considered using the units after the Allied landing in France, but Krasnow and von Pannwitz had successfully protested!

One wanted to fight against "communists" and not against the Americans and the British!
I think it has never otherwise happened that the German high command changed the operational area of ​​an entire army corps due to letters of protest. Krasnow's good connections to the Nazis proved once again - the next picture shows Cossack leaders, including Shkuro (left), in conversation with Joseph Goebbels at Berlin ...:

Now with the defeat in mind and desperately looking for further resources
Efforts were made on the part of the Germans to somehow raise the morale of the Cossacks at the last minute.

**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Part III


The XV. Cossack cavalry corps with new uniforms.

New trousers with colorful stripes, new boots and Cossack fur hats were issued for a jacket of the German Wehrmacht (with Cossack insignia).

In addition, the Cossacks were officially promised that after the "final victory" they would again tolerate Cossack autonomy and provide economic aid.

Since the Germans no longer occupied a single piece of Cossack earth at this point in time, the Cossacks were now offered the prospect of a "state" outside the Russian Cossack territories - an idea that Krasnow and "Ataman" Naumenko in particular enthusiastically support!

In return, the Cossacks had to fight “faithfully and obediently for the new Europe” (under German leadership, of course!), As it was said.

The Germans allowed the formation of a "Directory of the Cossack Armed Forces", which included von Pannwitz, Domanow and Naumenko, among others.

The "chair" of this board of directors took over - who else? - Krasnov.

While the Cossacks of Pannwitz ’in the Balkans waged the desolate and cruel partisan war - mainly against Tito's men - (and committed a number of war crimes!)...

... Krasnow's“ Directory ”unfolded hectic activities.

Besides a Cossack “bank” and a “court of justice” there were other institutions
created to prepare the new state "Kosakia" in the emigration.

The only thing was that you didn't have people yet.

But now Domanov's "Kasachy Stan" group came back into play:
Domanov's group hurriedly moved from Warsaw to the Friuli region in late autumn 1944
Brought to northern Italy and really settled there.

They should form the nucleus of the new "Kosakia" state.

“Kosakia” in Northern Italy - you actually read that right!

In February 1945 Krasnow, Domanow, Naumenko and others appeared in the Friuli region to officially start the establishment of "Kosakia".

The localities of Tolmezzo, Alesso, the area around Nimis, Cavazzo Carnico, Gemona, the area Osoppo, Tarcento, Amaro and a few other smaller villages became Cossack centers.

The village of Alesso was completely left to the Cossacks and a kind of Cossack government in exile was established there. But Alesso also became a suitable place for trade and commerce.

It was given the new place name "Novotscherkask", after the old Cossack capital on the Don.

The Italian population was not taken into account. Land and houses were simply confiscated.

The able-bodied men of the "Kasatschij Stan" were used to "fight gangs", as it was called euphemistically at the time.

In truth, however, it was more likely to have been about fending off the angry Italians who had simply been chased away from their homes.

But back to Pannwitz ’XV. Cossack cavalry corps that still fought in Yugoslavia:

First, Helmut von Pannwitz was appointed by Krasnow's “Cossack government in exile” as the “supreme field ataman of all Cossack armies”.

This rank used to be reserved exclusively for the Russian tsar, but at that time it was no longer worth much!

The picture shows von Pannwitz and Krasnow at this ceremony, directly behind Pannnwitz's back you can see the mustached face of General Kononow in the background ...:

And the SS also began to be interested in von Pannwitz and his people:
Himmler's Waffen SS planned at least to take over all Pannwitz’s Cossack units in their inventory.

Whether this really still happened is somewhat controversial.

Several sources claim that there was at least a nominal takeover of the Pannwitz Cossacks into the SS and that the Cossack associations would then have been renamed “XV. SS Cossack Cavalry Corps ”, but would have retained their previous uniforms and badges.

The fact is that there was a discussion on this question on August 26, 1944, in which, in addition to von Pannwitz, SS Chief Himmler, SS Obersturmbannführer Grothmann and Colonel von Schultz, the commander of the 2nd Cossack Cavalry Division, also took part to have.

Some sources say that von Pannwitz was not enthusiastic about the Waffen SS option, but ultimately agreed to it in the hope of better food and a better supply of weapons.

In some sources, von Pannwitz is then listed as "SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the WaffenSS"

Other sources say that von Pannwitz vigorously resisted the SS plans, but the Pannwitz-Himmler conversation is also confirmed there,

It is also a fact that there are entries in the war diaries of (Wehrmacht) members of the XV. Cossack cavalry corps, but all of them only speak of the "imminent integration into the Waffen-SS".

According to the overall source situation, it remained either with appropriate planning or with organizational processes that were just beginning at the end of the war to take over the Cossacks into the Waffen-SS.

It will certainly never be able to be clarified - for the sake of completeness I only wanted to mention it here.

In reality, this episode no longer played a role.

On the other hand, there were certainly Cossacks in SS uniform.

This also included the Cossacks who fought as part of the 29th Waffen SS Grenadier Division.

The troop was also called "RONA" (Russkaja oswoboditelnaja narodnaja armija = "Russian People's Liberation Army").

She was also used to put down the Warsaw Uprising - and did it so well there, even by SS standards, that her commander Bronislaw Kaminski ...

... was shot dead on the orders of the SS. This unit was then dissolved or incorporated into the "Vlasov Army.

The Cossack in the next picture is also wearing a uniform with SS crew collar tabs, albeit without a German national badge ...:

The illustration comes from a uniforms book and the photo was taken
Recorded around the turn of the year 1944/45 in "Kosakia", in the small town of Carnia, not far from Tolmezzo.

So it is one of Domanov's "Kasatschij-Stan" people, who in turn is known as
Member of the Cossack "security police" was active.

The rider will have got the SS-outfit when Domanov's “rickety regiments” were deployed against the Warsaw rebels under the orders of SS-Obergruppenführer (and general of the police) Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski.

The British submachine gun carried by the rider is believed to have come from these battles. The Polish “Home Army” was among other things. equipped with a number of British weapons.

However, I am not assuming that the Domanov warriors will be in uniform uniformity.

At least that is nowhere proven.

So we fade back to "Kosakia" in Friuli:

More and more Cossacks and Cossack civilians gathered in the Friuli region - but the clock was running out.

Our next picture shows a "German" Cossack with his wife and his "economy" these days ...:

But British troops moved in to do what the Western allies had expressly allowed Stalin to do in Yalta:

All Cossacks on the German side along with their relatives should be extradited to the Soviet Union after the victory!

In March 1945, Krasnow decided to move to Austria (then called "Ostmark") with all of his people, including Domanov's "Kasatschij Stan".

The Kafkaesque "Kosakia" in Italy was finally dead!

Like a medieval army worm, the Cossack caravan moved towards East Tyrol and reached Lienz on May 4, 1945.

This town in the Drau Valley in the Dolomites was assigned to them as a place of residence by SS-Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik.

The last Cossack units still fighting in Yugoslavia under von Pannwitz also withdrew into the Drautal valley under constant skirmishes with Tito's people and the Red Army.

Von Pannwitz offered to surrender to the British if “the corps for the future battle with the Soviet Union was preserved”.

The British, who had their Yalta directives, coolly declined the offer.

Then came the German surrender.

Von Pannwitz ignored the Yugoslav partisans' call to surrender, retired fighting (! After the surrender!) To Austrian territory and surrendered with the rest of his men on May 12, 1945 in the Klagenfurt (Carinthia) area of ​​the 2nd British Armored Division.

The Pannwitz troops are said to have had a total of around 18,000 combat-capable Cossacks.

The British spoke of "interning" the Cossacks - an unclear term in this situation.

On the next day, von Pannwitz had a regular parade of his units take place,
immediately afterwards the troops were disarmed and in camps initially near Neumarkt,
Feldkirchen and Althofen interned.

The civilian relatives came to the nearby Lienz to join the people already interned there
"Kasachy Stan".

In and around Lienz alone, over 25,000 Cossacks and countless civilians (their
Relatives and those of the Pannwitz troops) with 14,000 horses left in the open field.

Many forward-looking people took this last opportunity to break away and immerse themselves in the stream of refugees.

Then the British set about implementing the Yalta accords.

On May 28, 1945 General von Pannwitz was arrested along with his most important officers.

They were Germans and Russians - Kononov among them.

The British transported them by truck to the town of Judenburg. There, on the other side of the Mur river, the soviet sphere of influence began.

The Soviets were already waiting for the "traitors" on the bridge. The English handed them over without much ado.

There exitst some a picture of the delivery ...:

On the same day, Krasnow, Shkuro, Domanow and the other leaders "Kosakias" and "Kasatschij Stan" were upset:

The British, who had previously treated the Cossacks politely and correctly, invited them to a "conference" at their headquarters in Spittal.

This meeting on May 28, 1945 turned out to be a trap!

The Cossack leaders were immediately arrested, immediately afterwards loaded onto trucks, also taken to Judenburg and handed over to the Soviets.

But even the Soviet envoys were amazed at who was giving them all of the
Was handed over to the English!

More than two thirds of the transferred Cossack leaders had never been citizens of the Soviet Union before and came from exile in the West, where they had fled after the Russian civil war. Or were German citizens.

If you take international law as a basis, you shouldn't have extradited them! But what was international law in these times ...!

On May 28, 1945, the British delivered a total of 35 Cossack generals and about 2,000 other officers!

A day later, the now leaderless Cossacks in the camps in the Drautal were attacked.

British units surrounded their camps and told them that they were going to the
Soviet Union would be extradited.

Hundreds of Cossacks in the Lienz camp, including women and children, then stormed the Drava
Bridge in Lienz and rushed from the bridge into the river.

Eyewitnesses later reported that groups of Cossacks tied the heavy saddles on their horses and committed suicide collectively. Hundreds of bodies were found in the Lienz area even days later.

Only a few managed to escape. British troops then organized regular hunts for the Cossack refugees.

Almost 1,400 Cossacks were captured throughout June, almost 1,000 of whom the British handed over to the Soviets.

It was not until June 4 that the British began to check the citizenship of the prisoners in accordance with international law. From then on, Russians in exile were no longer extradited.

But it was not until the end of June 1945 that the British ended all deliveries.

The "Drama of Lienz" is immortalized in a famous painting:

The British extradited a total of around 50,000 men and around 11,000 women to Judenburg - including the bulk of Pannwitz's XV. Cossack Cavalry Corps.

Churchill wrote about it succinctly: "... and the Highlanders of Argyll and Sutherland captured a number of beautiful Cossack horses."

Many of the Cossacks who died in these actions are lying in a Russian cemetery in the Lienz district of Peggetz, which is financially supported by emigrants.

Only one of the prominent Cossack leaders got away!

“Kuban-Ataman” Naumenko smelled the roast in good time and somehow managed to escape from the Drau Valley, first to France, then to the USA, where he lived in New York and died there on October 30, 1979.

He wrote a gloomy book about the extradition of the Cossacks in Lienz (original title "Great Betrayal", published in New York, 1962) and was a guest at many events by Cossack families.

Our picture shows him in New York on October 24, 1954:

The bulk of the extradited Cossacks were taken to the prison camp and had to do eight years of forced labor, which in view of the miserable conditions there cost many their lives.

Winston Churchill described their fate in his memoirs (for which he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953!) "Inescapable and not unjust".

The members of the "German support staff" of the Pannwitz Corps were sentenced to 25 years of forced labor for "war crimes". Higher ranks ("from the regime adjutant upwards," as one source says) received double the sentence, twice 25 years.

The survivors were among the last to be repatriated in 1955.

Russian Cossack officers who had been on the German side expected nothing but death!

In January 1947 the ex-general Krasnow was finally sentenced to death in Moscow after a public trial together with the ex-generals Shkuro, Domanow, von Pannwitz and others.

The Cossacks were condemned as "German spies" and "war criminals", Pannwitz only as "war criminals".

Our picture (from "Prawda") shows von Pannwitz (left), Krasnow (front center), Schkuro (in Cherkesska) and Domanov, during the trial ...:

On January 16, 1947, the convicts were executed in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison.

According to some sources, they were shot, other - more credible - sources speak of the fact that they were denied "soldier death" and that the Cossack leaders all ended up on the gallows.

For the thesis that they were brought to the gallows, it seems to me that the leader of the "Russian Liberation Army", General Vlasov and his closest colleagues were also hanged on August 2, 1946.

Nevertheless: A residual uncertainty remains here as well - at least until one day all Russian archives of science are open.

And finally:

In 1996, a memorial stone for those who were executed in 1947 was erected on the grounds of the Moscow All Saints Church.

At the top is the name "Ataman Krasnow". Below are "Shkuro" and "Domanow". The name "von Pannwitz" in the fourth row, on the right. In the fifth row, on the far left, we find the name "Kononow":

I leave out the other names because they didn't appear in this story either.

Since January 2008, on the initiative of the Russian Duma (= parliamentary) deputy Viktor Vodolatskij, who is also the "Ataman of the Don Cossacks", a procedure has been running that aims to rehabilitate Krasnov.

Open end…

It should also be added that after years of efforts by the family members of General von Pannwitz, the Soviet military prosecutor rehabilitated Pannwitz on April 23, 1966, or respectively overturned the death sentence of January 1947.

However, this decision was revoked on June 28, 2001 by the Supreme Military Prosecutor of the Russian Federation. The original 1947 ruling was described as "lawful and well-founded" and reinstated.

 

[Nap]

Hi Martin

Cossacks .......your specialist subject and boy does this thread show it

Thank you for taking what must have been a long time to write

Packed with information , written well and good pics as well

Cheers

Nap

 

[Airkid]

A sad end to what was a proud and honest hope - freedom. We (Britain) don't come out well in this story, and as for WSC - history will judge him.
A fine post Martin

Phil