1. Summary
The 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Russian) was a military unit made up of Soviet citizens that fought on the side of Nazi Germany during World War II. The division was led by SS Brigadeführer Bronislav Kaminski and was formed in 1942. It was made up mostly of Soviet prisoners of war and Russian collaborators. The division was involved in various operations on the Eastern Front, including the Battle of Kursk and the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, many of its members were tried and convicted of war crimes.
2. Creation
The 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Russian) was formed in 1942 under the leadership of SS Brigadeführer Bronislav Kaminski. The division was created out of a Russian collaborationist unit known as the "Russian National Socialist Party" (RONA) which had been formed by Kaminski in 1941. The RONA was made up of Soviet prisoners of war and Russian collaborators who had been captured by the Germans. Kaminski, a former Soviet citizen himself, was appointed as the leader of the RONA by the Germans and he was tasked with forming a military unit out of the RONA's members. The division was officially named the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Russian) and it was under the direct control of the SS and the German Army. The division was formed with the idea of creating a Russian force that would fight against the Red Army on the Eastern Front, and it was made up mostly of Soviet prisoners of war and Russian collaborators who had been captured by the Germans. The division was trained and equipped by the Germans, and it was eventually sent to the Eastern Front to fight against the Red Army.
3. Golden Age Of Kaminski Brigade
The farmers who came to own land, grain, and livestock soon changed their attitude and began to support the German army. Not only did they dissolve the collective farms that were immediately targets of their hatred, but also, under the responsibility of Kaminski, who had seized administrative power, they were granted autonomy to the residents. This is why the German soldiers in this region were not able to arbitrarily exploit or massacre the residents as they did in other areas. The role of the German army in this region was completely limited to military needs.
East of the railway line that goes from Breslau to Legnica, the area under Kaminski's control was mostly flat and easy to secure, but on the western side, the forests made it difficult for the German army to operate. Before Kaminski arrived, partisans looking for food would take the property of collective farms, but the farmers would just look on. But now the situation had changed. The newly appointed landlords of this region were now able to defend their own property and pursue the partisans.
As a result, many young people joined the Kaminski Militia, and the landlords supported them in every way possible. In the summer of 1942, due to the actions of the Kaminski Militia, the landlords of this region no longer had to worry about the raids of the partisan groups, and leaving the forests, where the partisans hid, meant bloody clashes and a lack of food. As SS-Brigadeführer Kaminski, it was a very satisfying situation that everything was going according to plan, that the Russians were killing each other without any hatred towards Germany.
Furthermore, this Militia did not receive a single bullet from the German army. When the German army did not provide equipment, they collected and used weapons left behind by the retreating Soviet army, and even managed to repair heavy equipment such as tanks, anti-tank guns, mortars, artillery, and machine guns. As a result, this Militia grew to the size of a regiment, with a strength of 500 to 600 people(Including 36 artilleries, 24 T-34-76s).
With the Kaminski Militia having such a large number of troops, there was no longer a need to worry about partisan attacks on villages or cities, and now it was possible to launch counterattacks. In fact, in the spring of 1943, with the support of small German army units, they conducted raids and completely eliminated the partisans in the areas between Dzierzoniow, Dzietrzkowice, Sosnica, and Rokitnica.
They also pushed the partisans out of the liberated areas, which were about 10 to 15km northwest of Rokitnica and about 7km southwest of the Breslau-Legnica railway.
All of this was achieved without receiving any support from the German authorities, not a single bullet or gun, and if they had more time, Kaminski would have been able to completely clean up all the areas under his control of partisans. Of course, in the summer of 1943, there were several attempts by the Soviet side to assassinate Kaminski. Fortunately, Kaminski narrowly escaped death several times, and even managed to discover and eliminate the Soviet agents who had infiltrated his Militia.
4.Beggining of downfall
However, the problem was that, separate from the abilities of the Kaminiski Brigade, the German army that had supported them had to retreat to the west due to the defeat in the Kurusk battle. It was clear that when the Soviet army came in, the fate of the Kaminiski Brigade's soldiers would be sealed, and ultimately they had no choice but to retreat with their families along with the German army, and this number was 30,000.
In the midst of the confusion of the retreat to the west, the number of deserters increased, and the partisans offered to lead the forces to rebel against Kaminski, but Kaminski firmly refused. In any case, it was clear to everyone that at this point, even if they rebelled, they would face execution after the war ended. So instead of joining the rebellion, Kaminski arrested the 2nd regiment commander who tried to lead the entire troops to the partisans, and had him executed in front of the troops. He then dealt with his subordinates strictly and was able to maintain control of the division even amidst the surging deserters.
The problem was that none of this helped the brigade. Originally a militia, as they moved away from their homeland, morale continued to drop and the reason to fight was already gone. The command system that had been maintained until then collapsed as they officially joined the German army and with the influx of new personnel through various means such as the belarus police force, Soviet prisoners of war, and criminals, even the camaraderie among the brigade members of similar backgrounds disappeared.
They would either plunder civilians, engage in fights with German soldiers, or fight among themselves, and in the end, they became a band of thieves who refused to perform their combat duties. This was most evident in the Battle of warsaw.
5.warsaw uprising
Upon receiving Heinrich Himmler's order to support the friendly security forces in charge of suppressing the Warsaw Uprising, Kaminski formed one Battalion with 4 T-34 tanks and 1 SU-76M self-propelled gun, along with 1700 soldiers led by his deputy, Yuri Frolov. The deputy allowed the soldiers to engage in unlimited rape and looting and most of the soldiers happily carried out these orders.
In reality, the Kaminski Brigade did not have any fighting spirit, and even the brigade leader Kaminski himself was seen looting from civilians. Here, Kaminski's subordinates killed around 10,000 civilians. Despite this, they killed less people than the Dirlewanger Brigade, which was because they would frequently stop their advance due to getting drunk from a distillery in their area. The Deputy, Yuri Frolov who ordered the atrocities, later died in battle from a flamethrower. The Polish Underground Army, outraged by the atrocities, immediately captured and executed all SS soldiers, including the Kaminski Brigade, and especially the members of the Dirlewanger Brigade.
The behavior of the Kaminski Brigade seen in Warsaw was truly disastrous. Despite not fighting very much, they still lost over 500 soldiers. However, they were better than the Dirlewanger Brigade. Initially, they had 881 soldiers, including 16 officers, but they all died during the siege, and later they received an additional 2,500 soldiers, but by the end of the defense, losses reached 2,733.
In the end, even as a german command, they could not be ignored and the Kaminski Brigade and command were tried and executed as criminals for stealing state property. The accusations that the Kaminski Brigade's subordinates raped and killed two German girls from the "Strength through Joy" organization was also one of the factors that led to Kaminski's execution.
6.Downfall
After Kaminski's execution, his subordinates wanted to express their desire to return to their liberated homeland and thought of it as their own share and planned to collect "Russian Liberation Funds" from the proceeds of their looting. But all the looted goods were sent to the Germans. Kaminski's subordinates were told that he had died as a hero in the Polish guerrilla attack, but when they did not believe the story, the Gestapo staged a fake attack scene by putting Kaminski's car in a ditch, shooting it with machine guns and spreading pig's blood. Only then did the Kaminski Brigade, believing in the death of their commander, move north to engage in no more guerrilla activities.
After that, the SS Division number '29' that Kaminski Brigade received was revoked and given to "Italian 1st Unit". The remaining forces of the brigade were planned to be incorporated into Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army (ROA), but Vlasov rejected it saying "You want me to accept those garbage-like mercenaries into my unit? No way!"
Vlasov ultimately only accepted around 2,000 people who passed his thorough test into his unit. At that time, the civilians who had followed them and the soldiers who failed the test were sent to the construction of the Eastern front Defence Line as laborers. Thus, the Kaminski Brigade was dissolved. Later, the remaining forces were absorbed into the Russian Liberation Army, and those who participated in it were arrested and punished as traitors in the Soviet Union, and people who became laborers also suffered from the harsh treatment of the German army and were punished as traitors after the war, except for a few people who were lucky enough to escape and hide their identities.