fighting beyond May 45

[moonmulligan]

Hi folks,

hope someone can help me.

Resently a friend of mine told me a story from his days in the Bundeswehr back in the sixties. There was an old NCO.
This NCO fought way back in the WW2 with some “special units” (Maybe Waffen-SS). When the war was over in may 45 this guy fought for more than 4 Month in the Ukraine his personal war against the Russians.
So I cant believe this story, there should be for all that a little truth in it.
Does anybody know such stories, or has anybody even a proof for such story?


Best Regards

[haen2]

You better believe it; there were indeed a number of units, or self proclaimed kampfgruppen who kept on going after the capitulation of the Reich.
Some groups in Eastern Europe as in the Baltic states as well as Russian territories kept going for they felt they had nothing to lose. Any 'foreigner" attached to, or belonging to these units automatically fought with his comrades.
Keep in mind, that although no longer bound to their oath to Adolf Hitler, most of us still felt very much bound by our motto 'Meine Ehre Heisst Treue" towards our comrades and the unit.
HN

[Mansal D]

Especially some of the Cossak division members who knew they would be killed by the Soviets anyway.

[sniper1shot]

So then my question is....were they just fighting to get back to their lines....or I guess where they percieved their lines to be and then surrender?
OR maybe they knew they wouldn't ever make it back and just fought to kill as many of the "enemy" as they could.

I have heard about, though never read, about Ukranian units fighting on in the Ukraine as "partisans/rebels?" and then ultimately being destroyed by the Soviet forces in the late '40's early '50's.

[Mansal D]

Yes I'm sure they knew there were no lines to retreat to. They would have been executed and they thought to at least die for the cause they believed in.

[TPMM]

These Ukrainians were also quite active in Poland.
Another active unit was Polish AK - they knew that they would have been executed by Soviets as "reactive element", so they kept fighting... to the bitter end.

[DennisH]

When I was in high school, 1970 I believe, I remember reading a book called "The Devils Brigade" (I believe that was the title) about an SS Battalion in Austria at the end of the war. They surrendered to the French and were basically given a choice - join the French Foreign Legion for service in Indo-China, or be tried as war criminals. They were apparently allowed to remain together as an organization with their own leadership in command. They were also allowed to retain their own gear and insignia, despite being members of the FFL. They basically kept the Viet Minh at bay from 1947 until just before Dien Bien Phu in 1954, until attrition took its toll on their effectiveness. They managed to survive by turning the tables against the Viet Minh. For example, whenever a convoy had to go through enemy territory, they simply rounded up all the women and children, put them on top of the convoy trucks, and drove through unmolested through the most contested areas. The Viet Minh greatly feared this group from what I was able to deduce. Does anybody in the forum have any knowledge of or information about this group? I'm trying to get a copy of that book from Amazon, as it was published in 1967.

[pzrmeyer2]

When I was in high school, 1970 I believe, I remember reading a book called "The Devils Brigade" (I believe that was the title) about an SS Battalion in Austria at the end of the war. They surrendered to the French and were basically given a choice - join the French Foreign Legion for service in Indo-China, or be tried as war criminals. They were apparently allowed to remain together as an organization with their own leadership in command. They were also allowed to retain their own gear and insignia, despite being members of the FFL. They basically kept the Viet Minh at bay from 1947 until just before Dien Bien Phu in 1954, until attrition took its toll on their effectiveness. They managed to survive by turning the tables against the Viet Minh. For example, whenever a convoy had to go through enemy territory, they simply rounded up all the women and children, put them on top of the convoy trucks, and drove through unmolested through the most contested areas. The Viet Minh greatly feared this group from what I was able to deduce. Does anybody in the forum have any knowledge of or information about this group? I'm trying to get a copy of that book from Amazon, as it was published in 1967.

The book you are referring to is "The Devil's Guard" by George Robert Elford, and the officer in charge used the pseudonym Hans Josef Wagemuller. There are some doubts to its honesty, but the first book is said to be non-fiction while the following ones are novels. Good luck finding it at Amazon. Copies of it run into the hundreds of dollars if you can locate one. A better option is to Google the title and download the entire book.

[Alpino]

The insurgency in Ukraine lasted until the very early 50s.Kruschev was sent to Ukraine by Stalin because it was so bad into the late 40s.He talks about it in his memoirs,also my wife is from Ukraine and taught history she told me much about this period.Obviously it was propagandized by the Soviets to non existent levels while hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops and resources were poured into the effort.

[Alpino]

My Father was with the US Army of occupation in 46.One morning he and other troops were alerted to be ready to escort some "friendlies",they were close to the Czech border.After arriving at dark once the sun came up out acrosds a barren field from the woods came a decimated SS battalion from the Eastern front.He said these soldiers were so tough looking he was in awe,they did not relieve them of thier weapons out of courtesy.They were processed and sent home.

[sniper1shot]

Now that would be an interesting story to find more out about.
What unit?
Where were they since May '45?
How did they end up where they did?
How many? etc etc etc

[phylo_roadking]

they did not relieve them of thier weapons out of courtesy.They were processed and sent home.

Weapons and all???

[sniper1shot]

I would assume until they made it across the border and well into the US occupied zone where they could be demobilized. Not right away. This is where they would of turned in their weapons etc.
I have read of a US unit that occupied a certain area that had to be turned over to a Russian. The US and all the German soldiers they captured loaded up into trucks and drove through the Soviet position. Russians were not too happy and threatened to fire but both the Germans and US forces still had their weapons. Remember, I only read this story.

[Georg-Helmut]

A Russian general was ambushed and killed in the Ukranie by these gallant fighters.

[Alpino]

I only know what I was told by my Father who passed in 82.I am assuming out of respect the men were allowed to keep thier weapons on thier persons until processed back at a Kaserne.You can also imagine this is not something the Army would publicise due to the Soviets insisting they be turned over for execution.My Father said the tension was apparent between the Soviet and US sides at that point and that any sense of being allies was past it's usefullness over.My Dad often drank and socialized with German veterans in Augsburg when he was stationed at Flak Kaserne through the late 40s,he enjoyed thier company very much and had great respect for them.