I'm researching the 45th Garrison Regiment / 603rd Regt RA (formerly 45th LAA), as my gt grandfather was in the REME workshop of that unit, and I've come across mentions of Russian POWs in the war diary. The regiment was guarding POW camps near Taranto I believe ("St. Andrews" is also mentioned") and it also appears that they were tasked with dealing with Russian POWs. I can't find anything anywhere to do with Russian POWs in Italy on the internet, and I'm not sure what they were doing there (and I lack any in-depth knowledge, so I apologise if the answer is obvious) so any help would be appreciated to add to the context of the diary. Postimage.org — free image hosting / image upload In the link, I have included all mentions of Russians from the diary and appendices which include some rather interesting, or shocking behaviour of the POWs.
OK well I will try but it all gets a bit mixed up at this point in the war. Germany when taking over land/people needed to bolster its numbers of troops and to do this they 'enlisted' various nations personnel into their own army, Poles, Czechs, Baltic countries, Romanians, Hungarians, Ukranians etc etc When it was looking as though the end of the war was coming there was a massive push by Russia to grab as much territory as possible (this also meant grabbing as many people as possible). Russia also wanted to install its own regime into many countries that it liberated (thats one word for it). Now as far as Russia was concerned it wanted all its own citizens back - even those from its new acquired lands, as they were all deemed to be Soviets. There was also 'missions' set up both ways i.e Russian, British, American and other has officers in small groups that would go to each others countries and make sure the repatriation of its own countries troops would happen. Hence when you read through the documents you have posted there are 'Russian' POW's and yet they are also having to deal with the personnel from the Russian Mission. Naples and Marsielles were the two common ports used in transferring POW's, many, if not all the ships that left Odessa went to them for example. It must be remembered that many of these ships were also carrying 'Russians' back to Russia (via Odessa which at that time was under Soviet control) TD
With Italian troops supporting the Germans in Russia, some Russians were bound to have been captured by the Italians. They would have been shipped back to Italy as labour. A single Russian soldier is buried in the CWGC cemetery at Cassino. Regards Frank
There's some useful basic info here re Italy and the Eastern Front - Italian participation in the Eastern Front - Wikipedia during which they will presumably have taken Russian prisoners TD edited to add It seems the reverse was true a well - Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union - Wikipedia "A list of the soldiers’ names, in Cyrillic, including date and place of death was yielded by the Russian authorities after 1989 (Italian Ministry of Defence, 1996). 10,085 prisoners were repatriated between 1945 and 1954"
I think that these Russians would be those of the Red Army who were captured on the Eastern Front and became Hilfswillige (Hiwis) when they served in the Wehrmacht either willingly or impressed in the various European battlefields. The role was one of "helpers" who manned Ack Ack and undertook non combatant duties.Some served as occupation troops in France with German officers.They deserted to the likes of the Resistance and SAS when Germany entered a perilous state. In one case in Burgundy,they murdered their German officers and surrendered to clandestine forces. It has been recorded that 100000 Russian POWs served in the Wehrmacht.......apparently Hitler disproved of the policy but did not turn down the initiative that was first raised by Himmler.Later on Hitler promised those foreign nationalities who served Germany that on victory they would be rewarded with citizenship of the Third Reich. The Hiwis saw their salvation as to accompany German forces westward when the Red Army steamroller offensives started,the alternative would have been to face Soviet justice.The outcome was when the Western Allies met with Stalin at at a big three Yalta Conference,I think it was,was that these renegades and such as Cossacks would be repatriated to the Soviet Union...became a controversial policy. There were also Poles in France as part of the occupation forces who had been impressed into Wehrmacht after the German authorities deemed them to be Germans and whose behaviour to their German officers was similar to the Hiwis. A comparison in Western France.....a Russian who had deserted the Wehrmatcht is buried in the French Military Cemetery at Auray near Vannes as "dying for his country" which would indicate he had died while serving with the Resistance forces.Then in the German Military Cemetery at Pornichet,adjacent to La Baule,there is a Russian buried under a German tombstone slab with "rank" inscribed as "Hiwi"
Thanks, that's added some context into the situation, I was previously unaware of any Russian presence in Italy.
In Italy the SAS/partisan Operation TOMBOLA of March 1945 included a largish number of Russians in the partisan forces; they are variously described as "escaped" and/or "deserters from the Germans". Quite likely all were in fact Hiwis who had taken to the hills and joined up with the partisans. Cheers, Pat.
This is an extract from a paper I have Between September and October of that of these three groups it was made a clean sweep, to benefit the people and the newly-formed brigade Garibaldi: the first was commanded by Russian Nicola Pankov, who was killed in the valley of Lembrio 18/09/1944 Trevor
I've compiled this piece from various local sources: 22 -year-old Vassili Billof (Belof) from Rostov, a pilot in the Russian air force, had baled out of his damaged plane over Germany and had been taken prisoner. Destined for Italy, where he was to work as forced labour constructing the Gustav Line, he escaped whilst his train was stationary at Terontola near Cortona and joined a group of partisans. Following on from an action they carried out against the German headquarters at nearby Montanare during which a German soldier was killed, very early on the morning of 8 June 1944 several partisans were captured whilst sleeping in a barn, Belof included. The Germans took him by lorry to an area called La Dogana at the very moment in which the faithful were returning home after Mass. They strung him up on a pine tree and killed him with two shots to the nape of his neck. His corpse was left there as a sad spectacle for whoever went past until the following morning, when he was taken down from the tree and buried in the local cemetery without a coffin. His grave is still there today. One Russian soldier is buried in the War Cemetery at Arezzo. I'll look him up. Vitellino
Here's the Russian in Arezzo War Cemetery. From CWGC website: M. Egeasaroff, Soldier Date of Death: 27/06/1945 Regiment/Service: Russian Army Grave Reference: Plot 6 Row E Grave 30 I would like to know why his date of death is June 1945 and why he is where he is today.
The soldier buried at Cassino CWGC: Casualty Details LUKIANENKO PANTELLEI Rank:Soldier Regiment/Service:Russian Army Grave Reference:XIV. B. 22. Cemetery:CASSINO WAR CEMETERY
Just found this. There's a wealth of material about Russian partisans in Italian on the net: Fyodor Andrianovič Poletaev (Ryazan 14 May 1909 Russia - Cantalupo Ligure, Italy, February 2, 1945) was a Soviet partisan who fought in Italy. Born in Katino near Ryazan, son a farm worker, he was initially employed in a factory before being called up 1931, enlisting in the Artillery Regiment of the 'Fusiliers of Moscow Division' of the Red Army. In 1933 he was discharged, after which he married one of his contemporaries and had three children. He returned to work in a 'kolkhoz' on agricultural machines. In 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was called up to fight in the Red Army in the 280 Artillery Regiment attached to the 780 Division of Fusiliers, which later changed its name to the 90th Division "Fusiliers of the Guard". On 26 November 1941 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant by means of a decree issued by the People's Commissar. In June 1942, he was captured by the Germans and taken to a concentration camp at Vyazma. From there he was interned in Perticev, then in occupied Poland, after which he was transferred to Italy. In July 1944, while he was interned in a concentration camp near Tortona, he contacted some members of the Resistance and fled with other Soviet prisoners from the prison camp, reaching a band of mixed Italian and Russian partisans (into which he was incorporated) in the Ligurian Apennines. In October, on the orders of the Zone VI Command, the Brigade was disbanded and the men were sent to fight in the 580 Brigade "Orestes" , part of the Communist Garibaldi Division "Cichero". On 8 October 1944, on the orders of the brigade commander, Poletaev left the band to head up in a new detachment known as "Nino Franchi." On 27 October 1944 his detachment moved to in Roccaforte Ligure in Val Borbera. Shortly afterwards it became a battalion and moved close to the Pertuso Gorges, still in the same area. After having avoided being captured by the Nazis during the winter round-ups of 1944-1945, he was killed in the Battle of Cantalupo on 2 February, 1945 whilst covering the temporary retreat of some comrades. He received a medal as a Hero of the Soviet Union (see stamp in his honour, below) and is one of the few cases in Italy of foreigners being awarded the gold medal for military valour. Three other Soviet partisans were posthumously decorated with the gold medal for valor: Nikolaj Bujanov, who fought near Arezzo, Fore Mosulishvili, who fell near Novara and Daniil Avdeev, (Captain Daniel), the commander of a battalion of partisans, killed in Friuli. Avdeev had brought together in a single brigade some of the Soviets who had fled the Nazi-Fascists, and had been given the command of the Garibaldi Brigade in Friuli. Over over 5000 Russians fought in the Italian resistance of whom 717 were in Piedmont, mostly in the provinces of Turin, Cuneo, and Novara. Poletaev is buried in Staglieno cemetery, Genoa. Vitellino
