Whilst browsing the 56 Recce war diaries yesterday, this sad account caught my eye: From 56 Recce War Diary Appendices Account by O.C. Sqn. escorting Cossacks and Causcasian Officers from Spittal to Judenburg including handing-over to the Soviet Army 28/29 May 1945 On arrival at Spittal these officers were informed that they were being handed over to the Russians. Before then they had no idea that they had been called for any other purposes than a conference. Two officers committed suicide during the night by hanging themselves on lavatory chains. The following morning all refused to board the transport provided for their conveyance. The senior officers were roughly man-handled and eventually disposed aboard their vehicles by force. The junior officers then sullenly complied with the order to enbus, without force having to be employed. En route to Judenburg one officer tried to escape, but a burst of T.S.M.G. made him change his mind. On arrival at Judenburg one officer leapt over a hundred foot precipice, but was recovered and handed over mangled and dying to the Soviet forces. As the officers were being debussed, and just after the Soviet guard had taken them over, one officer cut his throat with a razor blade and slumped dying across my feet. The Soviet guard used no force in my presence to the prisoners. The Soviet officers were delighted to get custody of these prisoners, and one woman officer informed me that the senior officers would be re-educated and that the junior ones would be set to work on reconstruction work in destroyed Soviet towns. All the prisoners requested frequently to be shot whilst in our custody, rather than be handed over to the Soviets. No prisoners escaped, and the bodies of the suicides were handed over. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paragraphs from “Battleaxe Division” by Ken Ford “...the Soviets were calling for the immediate repatriation of all Russian citizens, requests which became official and urgent as members of the Red Army toured the sector looking for their nationals. Gen. Arbuthnott later wrote of the repatriation: On May 23rd it was learned that the Caucasian and Cossack Divisions, together with their families and transport, were to be handed over to the Russians. The concentration and dispatch of these unfortunate people took place early in June. It was a most distasteful task which was performed with firmness, but as humanely as possible. At first there was a good deal of resistance, but when it became apparent that the British troops were determined to execute their orders there was little further trouble, though a good many individuals escaped into the forests on the mountainsides. As the General said, the process of delivering these people into the hands of their enemies was a “distasteful task”, for the Cossacks were under no illusion as to the reception they would receive in Russia. They had strong anti-Soviet ideals and had fought with the Germans against communists and partisans with barbaric zeal. None the less, it was not easy for the troops of the division to dispatch these men, women and children to their uncertain fate, and so it was extremely sad that soldiers who had spent almost four years fighting with determined gallantry and self-sacrifice should be given such a squalid task to perform. But the job had to be done and so it was…..” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The reason this account attracted my attention is because I have been listening (and transcribing) the IWM interview with John Gowan, a Trooper with 56 Recce, C Sqn. In his interview he mentions the above events: “We were rounding up Cossacks who had been fighting for the Germans and sending them back to the Russian side, not knowing they were being slaughtered, being killed. We didn’t know that-we were told that they were being sent home.” Lesley
Not a happy time...for anyone. Croats, Bulgarians, Yugoslavs.. Russians, Cossacks were in the vicinity. The scene of a column of Croat prisoners, which included some Germans, being escorted across the Drau bridge was recalled by Lieut Colin Gunner: " A Yugoslav officer, complete with whip, clattered up on his pony and screamed at the resting Germans...He made the mistake of screaming at Lieut Bob Hogan and brandished his whip. Hogan spoke to the gunner beside the Vickers, 'If this xxxxxxxx lifts that whip, blow him out of that xxxxxxxx saddle.' The gunner elevated the Vickers to aim square at the man's belly and put his thumbs on the triggers. More hysterical screams, then the Yugoslav turned his horse. Neither Hogan nor he had understood a word of either's language but a machine gun at a range of 10 feet needed no interpreter." My Dad also remembered that time: “That morning, I had driven to the POW camp to issue rations. The sergeant told me he had put the former camp commander under guard. He asked me to inspect his quarters and to be strictly regimental. I entered the room and the unfortunate man was ordered to stand rigidly to attention. The sergeant treated the prisoner harshly as he had a bad report about the commander from the former inmates. To my disgust, he had given the German a tin of bully beef but no opener. The English prisoners were allowed relative freedom until they could be transported back to England as were the French and others. The Russian POWs were kept under close guard. They would remain so until an exchange could be effected for the many thousands of British and Commonwealth prisoners in Russian hands. A Russian commission turned up and were negotiating conditions for the swap. It was said that the Russian officers behaved abominably.” Clearly my Dad was understating the issue. Major Brian Clark recalled (as quoted in "Clear the Way!"): "We, in the Irish Fusiliers, did not have the...disgusting task of forcibly repatriating the Cossacks, Indeed, General von Pannwitz made a special journey to St Andrae where I received his thanks for the chivalrous manner in which the Royal Irish Fusiliers had accepted the surrender of the Cossacks. He voluntarily expatriated himself to stay with his men and was hanged on Red Square."
It was later in 1945 when the 26th AB of 6th Armoured Div was detailed to guard and deliver to the Russians at Judenberg - all we were told was that we had to travel from Knittelfeld which was close to Judenburg in our Shermans to guard a bunch of people who were trying to get to the initial Israel - we thought it odd that we had NO officers above 2nd Lt's that had anything to do with this action but were told that they were all at a big meeting In the North of Italy…. our " B" Squadron of 16/5th Lancers did our 36 hours then it was back to Knittelfeld…..after watching hundreds of people loaded onto Bedford three tonners and taken over the border into the Russian sector…..as the only cinema in the area was at Judenburg - we had the opportunity to learn that these people were shot and buried some five miles North of Judenburg - but nothing official until 1976 when it was finally released that 8th Army had "ASSISTED" in the collection of the " Russian deserters et al "owing to Stalin's request at Yalta - 8th Army was not proud of that action as many more including a whole division of Cossack Russians were handed over at Graz by the 46th Division including women and children while their horses were 'liberated' by Ron's 4th Hussars and a few appeared in the ranks of the 16/5th Lancers….see my article in the BBC war series below at Strassburg…#3... Cheers
This is what Ron Tee had to say about the Cossacks Rounding up the Cossacks From here we moved into a beautiful Austrian valley where we started to round up a Regiment of Cossacks. Yes, these were Russian troops who, during the war, had moved over to fight for the Germans. They probably thought the Germans were going to win at one time. Anyway, they were in a pretty bad shape because our job was to round them up, get them on the trucks and take them to the Russians. Well of course you can imagine what would happen to them. Matter of fact, some of our boys were driving the trucks that were taking them and I think there were at least twelve suicides on the way. When they were gone, the valley was full of their horses and so we thought we'd take up riding . But not for long! I got on a horse and he went his way,...not my way! He went straight for a tree where I grabbed an overhanging branch and was hanging there and he went on. Go to this web page A Cossack Homage http://www.cossacks-lienz.net/homage.html Cheers Paul
Before anyone accepts the link from Recce Mitch as gospel in that the British were to blame for the various atrocities - I would remind all that the suggestion to hand back ALL Russians to Stalin was slipped in during the meeting of the big three at Yalta - when FDR was dying - Churchill was bankrupt and - could not argue against Stalin who promised to repatriate any Allied prisoners he had consequently the British Army carried out the orders of their seniors to round up all Russian deserters they could find- and hand them over to Stalin's men at two locations of Graz and Judenburg - where sometimes anger predominated and people were hurt- the irony was that the Russians carried off their victims in British Bedford three tonners- which our Merchant Navy carried to Russia under extremely harsh conditions - without thanks…that was galling to watch... Cheers
Basically I think the 8th army were put in an impossible situation , they were ordered to hand over the cossacks to the russians and had to obey orders . If they hadnt the already extremely volatile situation would have been a whole lot worse with the cossacks , croats , yugoslavs , germans all in the same area . The first priority was the safety of the british troops and what would have been the russian reaction at the failure to hand over the cossacks . The allied prisoners in russia would not have been handed over and the cossacks did choose to fight with the germans for their own reasons and as has been said would have profited from a german victory . it is just unfortunate that the 78th division had to perform this horrible task after fighting for so long.
Sanchez " It was indeed unfortunate that 78th Div had to perform this horrible task- after fighting so long " - IF I MAY point out that both 6th Armoured and 46th Divisions were also involved having fought for an equal time with 78 th Division- WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF A MONTH LONG RESPITE IN EGYPT FOR 6th AD please don't forget that contrary to what you might infer from others on the forum - 78th Div - DID NOT WIN THE WAR BY THEMSELVES any more than another division or corps……I understood that we were all in it together - especially in Italy with Poles - Canadians - Americans - French - British - Brazillian even - Kiwis - Sth Africans - Japanese - it was along list of which 78th were a part… Cheers
Not a very acceptable situation in our very near recent history and, one nationally that we can not be very proud of, but there was a lot at stake .One l consider to be part of our blackest decisions. This only describes, i'm sure, part of what went on then and since. Decisions were made, decisions had to be made. I'm sure they would have loved to be in a position to make a different decision. Those involved were in a worst position not knowing why. Nick
tom it was not my intention to slur any other regt or division who also had to perform the horrible task .it was just that the original post came about from the diaries of the 56th recce so I mentioned the 78th division as a result . I don't think anyone thinks that the 78th won the war alone its just that there are a lot of regular contributors on this site who have connections to that division so their exploits get mentioned a lot on this forum . every regt every division every army , navy , air force and everyone who had anything to do with helping the war effort from all the allied countries won the war. cheers dave
Sanchez Pleased to note that you do understand the difference of having many contributors from one section or the other - and I must admit that the RTR and RAC are a badly placed with only two members who appear to have actually fought Tank to Tank on the forum - the 78th Div probably have as few who actually fought in that Division but have "connections" to same… Cheers
BBC Radio 4 - Drama, The Song of the Cossacks “The Cossacks could have lynched me. Instead they didn’t want to believe me. They continued trusting me. That was horrible. I remember all of it with true horror. It was truly a diabolical plan.” (Rusty Davies, British Liaison Officer for the Cossacks in 1945) At the end of the war in 1945, the Yalta agreement provided that Prisoners of War were returned to their home country. The Cossacks, bitterly opposed to Stalin, had joined the German forces to fight against Stalin. Stalin insisted they be returned to their “homeland” in the USSR. All parties knew this would mean certain death. In this fictional dramatisation of true events, Major Christopher Graham and Sergeant Wilson are in charge of a Cossack prisoner of war camp. The prisoners comprise whole families including women, children and young babies. The two officers, struggling with a lack of resources and manpower, work with the Cossack generals to run an orderly camp. The Cossack generals believe the British to be trustworthy and, although deeply concerned at the prospect of a forced return to the Soviet Union, accept the two officers’ assurances that this will not happen. When the British government acceded to Stalin’s demands, the army felt obliged to break it’s word and organise the enforced repatriation to the Soviet Union. Jean Binnie’s original stage-play, dramatised for radio by Stephen Wyatt, examines the dilemma of ordinary army officers ordered to betray the people whose trust they had gained and whose welfare they had been in charge of. Running through this play is the 2022 testimony of survivors of these events, voiced by actors from the Teatr Napadoli in Kyiv, and the testimony provided to the subsequent enquiry by Major Rusty Davies, the British Liaison office of the time. Cast Major Christopher Graham: Finlay Robertson Sergeant Wilson: Phil Carriera Sir William Temple: David Acton John Pelham: Lawrence Russell Colonel Wensley: Jonathan Keeble General Dorov: Christopher Douglas General Skiro: Geoffrey Kirkness Captain Andrei Rostov: Ivantiy Novak Katya Dorov: Amrita Acharia And Mikhaila Rostov: Jilly Bond. The testimony of Rusty Davies performed by Christopher Ettridge Verbatim testimonies performed by actors from Teatr Napodoli, Kyiv Drramatised for radio by Stephen Wyatt from an original stage-play by Jean Binnie and with additional material by Kit Hesketh Harvey Recorded in London and Kyiv, and on location Sound Design: David Thomas Director: Jonathan Banatvala. Producers: Jonathan Banatvala and Melanie Nock An International Arts Partnership for BBC Radio 4
I recall reading the allegations by Count Tolstoy and the ensuing libel case now many years ago. If you need a reminder consider: Nikolai Tolstoy - Wikipedia A simple search here with Cossacks found a plethora of threads. Most refer to the actions taken in Austria, returning Cossacks etc to the USSR and Yugoslavia. One thread indicates there was an enforced return at Magdeburg, an area under the control of the American 12th Army Group. See: Soviet PoWs captured later in the war. It is strange that years later the focus was on a fraction of the returnees, from Austria by British troops. Has the issue ever been raised in the USA?
