Other Forces

Vlasov.

Unknown author/Government of the Russian Federation.

Major-General Andrei Andreyevich Vlasov, formal studio portrait, probably late-1930s. Vlasov was a highly-regarded Soviet commander, decorated for his role in the defence of Moscow in 1941-'42. His Red Army career came to an end when his Second Shock Army was encircled by the Germans in the course of an attempt by the Volkhov Front to break the siege of Leningrad. The remnants of the Army were forced to surrender in June, 1942. One possible reason contributing to his subsequent actions was his apparent belief that the destruction of 2nd Shock Army was due to the incompetence of STAVKA and the commanders of supporting units which failed to exploit gains made by 2nd Shock which left it stranded ahead of the Soviet line and exposed to encirclement. For whatever reasons, Vlasov, in German captivity, quickly agreed to work with the Germans. He began a campaign to persuade the Germans to raise anti-Soviet units to fight alongside the Wehrmacht against the Red Army. This idea may have had potential - but adopting it, in particular, if the resulting force was to be under Russian (that is, Vlasov's) command was vetoed by Hitler, who was firmly against the creation of Russian armed units fighting on the German side. It would be tedious here to go through the convolutions of Vlasov's determined lobbying campaign. It did eventually win the support of Himmler and the SS (!) but, by that time (1944), it was probably too late. While a substantial pool of recruits apparently existed (Soviet prisoners, White Russian loyalists, local volunteers in the still-occupied western Soviet Union, non-combatant "hiwis" already in German service) it proved impossible to put a coherent force together. The increasingly obvious faltering of the Wehrmacht in the East must have been a major factor in this, as well as the general chaos into which the German Eastern Front descended as the Soviet "Operation Bagration" rolled out in mid-1944. In the end, while some of the "independent" units theoretically incorporated in the Free Russian Army ("Vlasov Army"), such as the Heer's Cossacks, performed valuable service for the Wehrmacht, overall, the "Vlasov Army" was a complete failure. Apart from some minor engagements with the Red Army, the only notable combat activity of the "Army" as such was the assistance they provided to Czech resistants in the "Prague Uprising" - by which time Vlasov and his generals (obviously) had renounced their allegiance to the Third Reich. Vlasov, at this stage, seems to have hoped to surrender to the western Allies, and preserve his "Army" for an inevitable future war between West and East. Like German generals with similar ideas, he does not appear to have appreciated the fact that the western Allies, as democracies, were incapable of doing such a volte-face, even if they wanted to. They were chained to "Uncle Joe" until the Germans were thoroughly defeated, and (at least for a short time) beyond. Vlasov, along with the majority of his men captured by the western Allies, were handed over to Stalin. The lucky ones went to the Gulag; many were simply eliminated. Vlasov himself, along with a number of his senior commanders, were indicted for treason under the Soviet legal code (along with a number of "lesser" charges), convicted by summary process, and hanged at Moscow on 2 August, 1946. Best regards, JR.