Bronislaw Kaminski
Encyclopedia
Bronislav Vladislavovich Kaminski ' onMouseout='HidePop("77812")' href="/topics/Vitebsk">Vitebsk
- August 28, 1944, Litzmannstadt) was the commander of the S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A.
(also known as Kaminski Brigade and earlier as the Russian National Liberation Army - Russkaya Osvoboditelnaya Narodnaya Armiya, RONA), an anti-partisan formation made up of people from the so-called Lokot Autonomy territory in the Nazi Germany
occupied areas of Russia
, which was later incorporated into the Waffen-SS
as the S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A.
, on the base of which the Germans planned to create the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS RONA (1st Russian). However, during the Warsaw Uprising
, where one mixed regiment of the brigade was engaged, German commanders decided that the brigade was too undisciplined and unreliable. Kaminski was called to Łódź to attend a leadership conference. He never reached it; officially, Polish partisans were blamed for an alleged ambush in which Kaminski and a few RONA officials (including brigade chief-of-staff Waffen-Obersturmbannführer Ilya Shavykin) were killed. Some sources say he was placed in front of a military tribunal and then executed by firing squad, others that he was shot when he was captured by the Gestapo.
, Russian Empire
, to a Polish
father and German
mother. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University
then served in the Red Army
during the Russian Civil War
. After demobilization he returned to the Institute, and after graduation worked at a chemical plant.
During the Great Purge
, Kaminski was accused of "belonging to a counter-revolutionary group" and arrested and imprisoned in 1937, serving his sentence at a Sharashka
-network -distillery in the Bryansk
region of Russia, near Belarus
. He was released from prison in 1941 and sent to the Lokot area - specially designated for persons after incarceration with no right to return to their previous places of living in major cities of the Soviet Union
.
military advance
into the Soviet Union
had reached the area of Lokot near the city of Bryansk
, which was captured by German forces on October 6, 1941.
In November 1941, Bronislav Kaminski, then an engineer at a local alcohol plant, along with a local technical school teacher Konstantin Voskoboinik
, approached the German military administration with a proposal to assist the Germans in establishing a civil administration and local police. Voskoboinik was designated by the Germans as the Starosta
of the “Lokot volost
” and the head of the German-controlled local militia. Kaminsky became Voskoboinik's assistant.
Initially the militia headed by Voskoboinik numbered no more than 200 men and was confined to assisting the Germans in conducting their different activities, including numerous murders of the civil population, loyal or accused of loyalty to the Soviet authorities or to Soviet partisans
. The militia grew rapidly and by January 1942 its personnel was increased to 400-500.
During a targeted partisan attack headed by Alexander Saburov
on January 8, 1942, Voskoboinik was mortally wounded. After his death, Kaminski took over command of the expanding militia.
In co-operation with German forces, the militia began anti-partisan operations and by spring 1942 it had increased to 1.4 thousand armed personnel. The number of soviet partisan in this area has been estimated as high as twenty thousand, with effective control over almost the entire rear area of Army Group Center’s area of operations.
In mid March 1942, Kaminski’s representative at the German Second Panzer Army at Orel
assured the commanders that Kaminski’s unit was “ready to actively fight the guerillas” as well as to carry on a propaganda campaign against “Jewish Bolshevism
” and Soviet partisans. Soon thereafter the commander of the 2nd Army Generaloberst, Rudolf Schmidt
, appointed Kaminski mayor of the Army Rear Area 532, centered on the town of Lokot. On 19 July 1942, after approval by the Commander of Army Group Centre
, Field Marshal Günther von Kluge
, Schmidt and the 532 Area commander, Kaminski received a degree of autonomy and nominal self-governing authority, under the supervision of major von Veltheim and colonel Rübsam.
Kaminski was appointed the chief major of the Autonomous Administration of Lokot, and brigade commander of the local militia. He administered the local government and established his own courts, jails and newspaper. Private enterprise was encouraged and collective farming
abolished.
From June 1942, Kaminski’s militia took part in the major action codenamed Operation Vogelsang, as a part of Generalleutnant Werner Freiherr von und zu Gilsa
's Kampfgruppe (taskforce) Gilsa II.
In autumn 1942, Kaminski ordered a compulsory draft into the militia of able-bodied man in the area. Units were also reinforced with “volunteers” drafted from amongst soviet POWs at nearby Nazi concentration camps. Kaminski ordered the collection of abandoned (usually because of minor mechanical failures, or lack of fuel) Soviet tanks and armored cars. By November 1942, his unit was in possession at least two BT-7
tanks and one 76 mm artillery piece.
Owing to its lack of military dress and boots, the Germans provided for Kaminskis brigade enough used uniforms to outfit four battalions. However, by late 1942, the militia of the Lokot Autonomy had expanded to the size of a 14-battalion
s brigade
, around 8,000 men under arms.
By January 1943 the brigade had 9828 men, including an armored unit with one heavy KV-II, two medium T-34, 3 BT-7 and 2 BT-5 light tanks and three armoured cars (BA-10, 2 BA-20).
The brigade's structure was reorganized in the spring of 1943. After the reorganization, the brigade consisted of 5 regiments with 3 battalions each, an anti-aircraft battalion (3 AAA guns and 4 heavy machine guns) and an armored unit. A separate “guard” battalion was also created, bringing the total brigade strength up to an estimated 12 thousand men.
The brigade took part, alongside other German units, in the May–June 1943 Operation Zigeunerbaron ("Gypsy Baron"). Following this operation, the brigade was part of Operation Citadel, the massive offensive to destroy the Kursk
salient
.
These operation were followed by similar operations - Freischütz and Tannhaüser, where the brigade together with other units under German command was involved in action against partisans and also took part in reprisal
operations against the civilian population.
In the summer of 1943, the brigade began to suffer major desertions, due in part to the recent Soviet victories, but also due in part to the efforts of the partisans to "turn" as many of Kaminski's troops as possible. As a part of these efforts, several attempts on Kaminski's life were carried out. Each time, Kaminski narrowly avoided death and punished any captured conspirators with execution. Several German officers passing through Lokot reported seeing bodies hanging from gallows
outside Kaminski's headquarters. Fearing a breakdown in command, a German liaison staff was attached to Kaminski's HQ to restructure the brigade and return stability to the unit.
After the failure of the German Operation Citadel, the Soviet counter offensives forced the brigade, along with the their families, to flee with the retreating Germans. On July 29 1943, Kaminski issued orders for the evacuation of the property and families of the RONA brigade and the Lokot authorities. Up to 30 thousand persons (10-11 thousand of them were brigade members) were transferred by the Germans to the Lepel area of Vitebsk
in Belarus by the end of August 1943.
According to post-war soviet estimates, up to 10,000 civilians were killed during the existence of the Kaminski formation.
. This area was overrun by partisans, and the brigade was involved in heavy combat in this area for the rest of the year.
During the retreat, desertions from the brigade increased greatly, and the entire formation seemed close to disintegration. When the commander of the Second Regiment, Major Tarasov, decided to join the partisans with all his regiment (he was offered amnesty if his entire regiment joined the partisans), Kaminski flew to his headquarters and according to one account, strangled him and eight others in front of his men. Despite this, up to 200 persons deserted within the following two days.
By the beginning of October 1943, the brigade had lost two thirds of its personnel, while still in possession of 12 tanks (8 of them T-34s), one 122-mm, 3– 76 mm and 8 45 mm artillery pieces.
On January 27 1944, Himmler rewarded Kaminski's “achievements” by decorating him with the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, and on the same day with the Iron Cross, 1st Class.
On February 15 1944, Kaminski issued an order to relocate the brigade and Lokot administration further west to the Dzyatlava area in West Belarus.
At this point, the brigade's ranks were replenished by the addition of police forces from Belarus.
In March 1944, the brigade was renamed Volksheer-Brigade Kaminski. From 11 April 1944, it was attached to SS-Kampfgruppe von Gottberg
, which also included the notorious Dirlewanger unit and participated in a series of anti-partisan operations: Regenschauer (up to 7.000 partisans reported as killed), Frühlingsfest (7.011 partisans reported as killed and 1.065 weapons captured) and Kormoran (7.697 partisans reported as killed and 325 weapons captured. During these operations, local civilians were shot as “suspected partisans” or deported as slave laborers, their villages burnt down.
and renamed Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA, with Kaminski being given the rank of Waffen-Brigadeführer der SS, the only man with such rank.
As the result of Operation Bagration, the anti-partisan activities of the brigade were halted and its personnel (6 -7 thousand persons - some sources give 3-4 thousand) was collected at SS training camp Neuhammer . Plans were made for a non-German SS Division, and the structure was laid down for the 29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr.1) on the base of the brigade by an order issued August 1 1944. On the same day, Kaminski received a new rank - Waffen-Brigadeführer and General-Major of the Waffen-SS.
started on 1 August 1944 and changed Himmler’s plans. On August 4 1944, a combat-ready regiment of the brigade was ordered to assist in crushing the rebellion. SS-Gruppenführer
Heinz Reinfarth was placed in charge of Kampfgruppe Reinfarth, a pacification unit which consisted of the Kaminski along with the Dirlewanger and several other Ordnungspolizei
and SS rear area units. Himmler personally requested Kaminski's assistance, and the latter obliged by gathering a task force of 1,700 unmarried men and sending them (some sources mentioned that they had four T-34 tanks, one SU-76
and few artillery pieces) to Warsaw
as a mixed regiment under field command of Kaminski's brigade chief-of-staff, SS-Sturmbannführer
Yuri Frolov. Frolov stated that in 1945 the regiment had up to 1600 men and had 7 artillery pieces and 4 mortars.
Frolov noted in 1945 that Kaminski gave his men permission to loot
- and many did. Kaminski's brigade soon lost any combat worthiness and Kaminski himself focused entirely on collecting valuables stolen from civilian homes. Perhaps 10,000 residents of Warsaw were killed in the Ochota massacre
, most murdered by Kaminski's men.
used the misconduct of the Warsaw group as a pretext for having Kaminski and his leadership executed after trial by court martial in Litzmannstadt (Łódź). They were tried for stealing the property of the Reich, as the stolen property was to have been delivered to Himmler, but Kaminski and his men had attempted to keep it for themselves. Also executed with Kaminski was brigade chief-of-staff Waffen-Obersturmbannführer Ilya Shavykin.
The men of RONA were given a false explanation: that Kaminski had been killed by Polish partisans
. When Kaminski's men rejected this explanation, the Gestapo
took Kaminski's car, pushed it into a ditch, shot it up with a machine gun
, and smeared goose blood all over it — offering that as evidence. The demoralized unit was soon moved out of town and stationed to the north of it, far from any partisan activity.
The death of Kaminski and the unreliability of his troops as a combat unit brought the plans to expand the Kaminski Brigade to a division to an end. After Kaminski's death his unit was placed under the command of SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor der Polizei Christoph Diehm.
Vitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
- August 28, 1944, Litzmannstadt) was the commander of the S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A.
S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A.
S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A. was an anti-partisan formation composed of people from the so-called Lokot Autonomy territory in the Nazi Germany-occupied areas of Russia during World War II....
(also known as Kaminski Brigade and earlier as the Russian National Liberation Army - Russkaya Osvoboditelnaya Narodnaya Armiya, RONA), an anti-partisan formation made up of people from the so-called Lokot Autonomy territory in the Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
occupied areas of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, which was later incorporated into the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
as the S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A.
S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A.
S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A. was an anti-partisan formation composed of people from the so-called Lokot Autonomy territory in the Nazi Germany-occupied areas of Russia during World War II....
, on the base of which the Germans planned to create the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS RONA (1st Russian). However, during the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
, where one mixed regiment of the brigade was engaged, German commanders decided that the brigade was too undisciplined and unreliable. Kaminski was called to Łódź to attend a leadership conference. He never reached it; officially, Polish partisans were blamed for an alleged ambush in which Kaminski and a few RONA officials (including brigade chief-of-staff Waffen-Obersturmbannführer Ilya Shavykin) were killed. Some sources say he was placed in front of a military tribunal and then executed by firing squad, others that he was shot when he was captured by the Gestapo.
Birth and early life
Bronislav (also spelled "Bronislaw") Kaminski was born in VitebskVitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, to a Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
father and German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
mother. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University
Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University
Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University is a major Russian technical university situated in Saint Petersburg. Previously it was known as the Peter the Great Polytechnical Institute and Kalinin Polytechnical Institute .-Imperial Russia:...
then served in the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. After demobilization he returned to the Institute, and after graduation worked at a chemical plant.
During the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
, Kaminski was accused of "belonging to a counter-revolutionary group" and arrested and imprisoned in 1937, serving his sentence at a Sharashka
Sharashka
Sharashka was an informal name for secret research and development laboratories in the Soviet Gulag labor camp system...
-network -distillery in the Bryansk
Bryansk
Bryansk is a city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, located southwest of Moscow. Population: -History:The first written mention of Bryansk was in 1146, in the Hypatian Codex, as Debryansk...
region of Russia, near Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. He was released from prison in 1941 and sent to the Lokot area - specially designated for persons after incarceration with no right to return to their previous places of living in major cities of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Lokot Autonomy militia and civil administration leader
By October 1941, the GermanNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
military advance
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
into the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
had reached the area of Lokot near the city of Bryansk
Bryansk
Bryansk is a city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, located southwest of Moscow. Population: -History:The first written mention of Bryansk was in 1146, in the Hypatian Codex, as Debryansk...
, which was captured by German forces on October 6, 1941.
In November 1941, Bronislav Kaminski, then an engineer at a local alcohol plant, along with a local technical school teacher Konstantin Voskoboinik
Konstantin Voskoboinik
Konstantin Voskoboynik was a Soviet Nazi collaborator. From November 1941 till 8 January 1942 former local technical school teacher Voskoboynik was appointed by Germans as a starosta of the “Lokot volost”...
, approached the German military administration with a proposal to assist the Germans in establishing a civil administration and local police. Voskoboinik was designated by the Germans as the Starosta
Starosta
Starost is a title for an official or unofficial position of leadership that has been used in various contexts through most of Slavic history. It can be translated as "elder"...
of the “Lokot volost
Volost
Volost was a traditional administrative subdivision in Eastern Europe.In earlier East Slavic history, volost was a name for the territory ruled by the knyaz, a principality; either as an absolute ruler or with varying degree of autonomy from the Velikiy Knyaz...
” and the head of the German-controlled local militia. Kaminsky became Voskoboinik's assistant.
Initially the militia headed by Voskoboinik numbered no more than 200 men and was confined to assisting the Germans in conducting their different activities, including numerous murders of the civil population, loyal or accused of loyalty to the Soviet authorities or to Soviet partisans
Soviet partisans
The Soviet partisans were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II....
. The militia grew rapidly and by January 1942 its personnel was increased to 400-500.
During a targeted partisan attack headed by Alexander Saburov
Alexander Saburov
Alexander Nikolayevich Saburov , one of the leaders of Soviet partisan movement in Ukraine and western Russia during the German-Soviet War.Born near the city of Izhevsk in central Russia, Saburov joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1933 and the NKVD in 1938.Few months after the German...
on January 8, 1942, Voskoboinik was mortally wounded. After his death, Kaminski took over command of the expanding militia.
In co-operation with German forces, the militia began anti-partisan operations and by spring 1942 it had increased to 1.4 thousand armed personnel. The number of soviet partisan in this area has been estimated as high as twenty thousand, with effective control over almost the entire rear area of Army Group Center’s area of operations.
In mid March 1942, Kaminski’s representative at the German Second Panzer Army at Orel
Oryol
Oryol or Orel is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow...
assured the commanders that Kaminski’s unit was “ready to actively fight the guerillas” as well as to carry on a propaganda campaign against “Jewish Bolshevism
Jewish Bolshevism
Jewish Bolshevism, Judeo-Bolshevism, and known as Żydokomuna in Poland, is an antisemitic stereotype based on the claim that Jews have been the driving force behind or are disproportionately involved in the modern Communist movement, or sometimes more specifically Russian Bolshevism.The expression...
” and Soviet partisans. Soon thereafter the commander of the 2nd Army Generaloberst, Rudolf Schmidt
Rudolf Schmidt
Rudolf Schmidt was a Panzer General in the German army during World War II who served as the Commander of the 2nd Panzer Army which was a huge armoured formation that operated on the Eastern Front. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
, appointed Kaminski mayor of the Army Rear Area 532, centered on the town of Lokot. On 19 July 1942, after approval by the Commander of Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre was the name of two distinct German strategic army groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union...
, Field Marshal Günther von Kluge
Günther von Kluge
Günther Adolf Ferdinand “Hans” von Kluge was a German military leader. He was born in Posen into a Prussian military family. Kluge rose to the rank of Field Marshal in the Wehrmacht. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
, Schmidt and the 532 Area commander, Kaminski received a degree of autonomy and nominal self-governing authority, under the supervision of major von Veltheim and colonel Rübsam.
Kaminski was appointed the chief major of the Autonomous Administration of Lokot, and brigade commander of the local militia. He administered the local government and established his own courts, jails and newspaper. Private enterprise was encouraged and collective farming
Collective farming
Collective farming and communal farming are types of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise...
abolished.
From June 1942, Kaminski’s militia took part in the major action codenamed Operation Vogelsang, as a part of Generalleutnant Werner Freiherr von und zu Gilsa
Werner von Gilsa
Werner Albrecht Freiherr von und zu Gilsa was a German officer and General of Infantry, whose last assignment was as Wehrmacht commandant of Dresden...
's Kampfgruppe (taskforce) Gilsa II.
In autumn 1942, Kaminski ordered a compulsory draft into the militia of able-bodied man in the area. Units were also reinforced with “volunteers” drafted from amongst soviet POWs at nearby Nazi concentration camps. Kaminski ordered the collection of abandoned (usually because of minor mechanical failures, or lack of fuel) Soviet tanks and armored cars. By November 1942, his unit was in possession at least two BT-7
BT-7
The BT-7 was the last of the BT tank series of Soviet cavalry tanks that were produced in large numbers between 1935 and 1940. They were lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for their time, and had much better mobility than other contemporary tank designs...
tanks and one 76 mm artillery piece.
Owing to its lack of military dress and boots, the Germans provided for Kaminskis brigade enough used uniforms to outfit four battalions. However, by late 1942, the militia of the Lokot Autonomy had expanded to the size of a 14-battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
s brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
, around 8,000 men under arms.
By January 1943 the brigade had 9828 men, including an armored unit with one heavy KV-II, two medium T-34, 3 BT-7 and 2 BT-5 light tanks and three armoured cars (BA-10, 2 BA-20).
The brigade's structure was reorganized in the spring of 1943. After the reorganization, the brigade consisted of 5 regiments with 3 battalions each, an anti-aircraft battalion (3 AAA guns and 4 heavy machine guns) and an armored unit. A separate “guard” battalion was also created, bringing the total brigade strength up to an estimated 12 thousand men.
The brigade took part, alongside other German units, in the May–June 1943 Operation Zigeunerbaron ("Gypsy Baron"). Following this operation, the brigade was part of Operation Citadel, the massive offensive to destroy the Kursk
Kursk
Kursk is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym Rivers. The area around Kursk was site of a turning point in the Russian-German struggle during World War II and the site of the largest tank battle in history...
salient
Salients, re-entrants and pockets
A salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. The salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops occupying the salient vulnerable. The enemy's line facing a salient is referred to as a re-entrant...
.
These operation were followed by similar operations - Freischütz and Tannhaüser, where the brigade together with other units under German command was involved in action against partisans and also took part in reprisal
Reprisal
In international law, a reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them. Reprisals in the laws of war are extremely limited, as they commonly breached the rights of civilians, an action outlawed by the Geneva...
operations against the civilian population.
In the summer of 1943, the brigade began to suffer major desertions, due in part to the recent Soviet victories, but also due in part to the efforts of the partisans to "turn" as many of Kaminski's troops as possible. As a part of these efforts, several attempts on Kaminski's life were carried out. Each time, Kaminski narrowly avoided death and punished any captured conspirators with execution. Several German officers passing through Lokot reported seeing bodies hanging from gallows
Gallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...
outside Kaminski's headquarters. Fearing a breakdown in command, a German liaison staff was attached to Kaminski's HQ to restructure the brigade and return stability to the unit.
After the failure of the German Operation Citadel, the Soviet counter offensives forced the brigade, along with the their families, to flee with the retreating Germans. On July 29 1943, Kaminski issued orders for the evacuation of the property and families of the RONA brigade and the Lokot authorities. Up to 30 thousand persons (10-11 thousand of them were brigade members) were transferred by the Germans to the Lepel area of Vitebsk
Vitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
in Belarus by the end of August 1943.
According to post-war soviet estimates, up to 10,000 civilians were killed during the existence of the Kaminski formation.
In Belarus
The brigade, together with "evacuated" civilians, finally settled in the Lepel area of VitebskVitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
. This area was overrun by partisans, and the brigade was involved in heavy combat in this area for the rest of the year.
During the retreat, desertions from the brigade increased greatly, and the entire formation seemed close to disintegration. When the commander of the Second Regiment, Major Tarasov, decided to join the partisans with all his regiment (he was offered amnesty if his entire regiment joined the partisans), Kaminski flew to his headquarters and according to one account, strangled him and eight others in front of his men. Despite this, up to 200 persons deserted within the following two days.
By the beginning of October 1943, the brigade had lost two thirds of its personnel, while still in possession of 12 tanks (8 of them T-34s), one 122-mm, 3– 76 mm and 8 45 mm artillery pieces.
On January 27 1944, Himmler rewarded Kaminski's “achievements” by decorating him with the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, and on the same day with the Iron Cross, 1st Class.
On February 15 1944, Kaminski issued an order to relocate the brigade and Lokot administration further west to the Dzyatlava area in West Belarus.
At this point, the brigade's ranks were replenished by the addition of police forces from Belarus.
In March 1944, the brigade was renamed Volksheer-Brigade Kaminski. From 11 April 1944, it was attached to SS-Kampfgruppe von Gottberg
Curt von Gottberg
Curt von Gottberg was a Nazi official and military commander. Beginning in October 1942, within a few years he had personally combined the highest civil and military powers in occupied Belarus: from March 1943 as representative of the HSSPF for central Russia, and from October 1943 as the acting...
, which also included the notorious Dirlewanger unit and participated in a series of anti-partisan operations: Regenschauer (up to 7.000 partisans reported as killed), Frühlingsfest (7.011 partisans reported as killed and 1.065 weapons captured) and Kormoran (7.697 partisans reported as killed and 325 weapons captured. During these operations, local civilians were shot as “suspected partisans” or deported as slave laborers, their villages burnt down.
In the SS
In June 1944, the brigade was absorbed as a part of the Waffen-SSWaffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
and renamed Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA, with Kaminski being given the rank of Waffen-Brigadeführer der SS, the only man with such rank.
As the result of Operation Bagration, the anti-partisan activities of the brigade were halted and its personnel (6 -7 thousand persons - some sources give 3-4 thousand) was collected at SS training camp Neuhammer . Plans were made for a non-German SS Division, and the structure was laid down for the 29.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr.1) on the base of the brigade by an order issued August 1 1944. On the same day, Kaminski received a new rank - Waffen-Brigadeführer and General-Major of the Waffen-SS.
In Warsaw
The Warsaw UprisingWarsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
started on 1 August 1944 and changed Himmler’s plans. On August 4 1944, a combat-ready regiment of the brigade was ordered to assist in crushing the rebellion. SS-Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
Heinz Reinfarth was placed in charge of Kampfgruppe Reinfarth, a pacification unit which consisted of the Kaminski along with the Dirlewanger and several other Ordnungspolizei
Ordnungspolizei
The Ordnungspolizei or Orpo were the uniformed regular police force in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1945. It was increasingly absorbed into the Nazi police system. Owing to their green uniforms, they were also referred to as Grüne Polizei...
and SS rear area units. Himmler personally requested Kaminski's assistance, and the latter obliged by gathering a task force of 1,700 unmarried men and sending them (some sources mentioned that they had four T-34 tanks, one SU-76
SU-76
The SU-76 was a Soviet self-propelled gun used during and after World War II.- History :The SU-76 was based on a lengthened and widened version of the T-70 tank chassis...
and few artillery pieces) to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
as a mixed regiment under field command of Kaminski's brigade chief-of-staff, SS-Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer
Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
Yuri Frolov. Frolov stated that in 1945 the regiment had up to 1600 men and had 7 artillery pieces and 4 mortars.
Looting
Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
- and many did. Kaminski's brigade soon lost any combat worthiness and Kaminski himself focused entirely on collecting valuables stolen from civilian homes. Perhaps 10,000 residents of Warsaw were killed in the Ochota massacre
Ochota massacre
Ochota Massacre - a wave of mass murders, robbery, looting, arson, and rape, which swept across the Warsaw district Ochota during August 4–25, 1944. The gravest crimes were committed in Ochota hospitals, in the Radium Institute, Kolonia Staszica and the concentration camp called "Zieleniak"...
, most murdered by Kaminski's men.
Death
Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
used the misconduct of the Warsaw group as a pretext for having Kaminski and his leadership executed after trial by court martial in Litzmannstadt (Łódź). They were tried for stealing the property of the Reich, as the stolen property was to have been delivered to Himmler, but Kaminski and his men had attempted to keep it for themselves. Also executed with Kaminski was brigade chief-of-staff Waffen-Obersturmbannführer Ilya Shavykin.
The men of RONA were given a false explanation: that Kaminski had been killed by Polish partisans
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
. When Kaminski's men rejected this explanation, the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
took Kaminski's car, pushed it into a ditch, shot it up with a machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
, and smeared goose blood all over it — offering that as evidence. The demoralized unit was soon moved out of town and stationed to the north of it, far from any partisan activity.
The death of Kaminski and the unreliability of his troops as a combat unit brought the plans to expand the Kaminski Brigade to a division to an end. After Kaminski's death his unit was placed under the command of SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor der Polizei Christoph Diehm.
Decorations received by Bronislav Kaminski
- Iron Cross 1st Class (27 Jan 1944)
- Iron Cross 2nd Class (27 Jan 1944)
- Anti-Partisan Badge (31 July 1944)
- Ostvolk Medal 1st Class (1944)
- Ostvolk Medal 2nd Class (1944)
- Wound Badge in Black