"Heroes" from the SS: how the Red Army disgraced the Galicia division

Last week, the Lviv Regional Council, by an absolute majority of its deputies, made a decision to officially appeal to the Parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with an urgent request: "to recognize, at the national level, fighters for independence, worthy of social guarantees, benefits and honoring their memory" soldier from the 14th SS Rifle Division "Galicia". This is not the first time that attempts of this kind have been undertaken in the “nezalezhnoy” and in the context of the current policy Kiev, sooner or later, will surely be crowned with success.

There is nothing to be surprised at, but taking into account how many open lies heaped up around this truly infamous formation by Ukrainian “historians” and politicians of the “national-patriotic” persuasion, it is worth putting an end to all the discussions that concern it once and for all. It is very simple to do this - you just need to turn to historical, not ideological materials and remember how everything really happened. This is what we are going to do now.

The most obedient untermensch

To begin with, let me still quote one of the most zealous and consistent defenders and rehabilitators of the Galician SS men in modern Ukraine - the former director of the Institute of National Remembrance there, and now the deputy of parliament, Vladimir Vyatrovich. This figure, who, as he would like, can be called a historian with exactly the same reason that Andrei Chikatilo is a humanist, is trying to prove that her warriors were involved in the ranks of the SS "by force or by deception" and at the same time "they did not at all understand that they are fighting for German interests, not Ukrainian ones ”. In this formulation, every word is blatant lies or complete nonsense, beginning with the hilarious assertion that the rabble we are talking about "fought". In fact, it was not at all like that. To stand up "under the banner of the victorious Fuhrer" Ukrainian nationalists, who acted under the strict leadership of the German Abwehr since the days when the Nazis were not even close to power, were eager for a long time.

Berlin was thrown by despatches of the appropriate content with such frequency that the Germans did not have enough trash cans to dispose of the ravings of Bandera, Melnik and others, who imagined that the "Aryans" would allow Slavic Untermensches to create some of their own " independent powers ". In 1941, these figures added to the idea that they proposed to create some "Ukrainian armed forces", which (estimate the breadth of scope!) "Together with the allied Wehrmacht will establish a new order in Europe." It is clear that such projects, without exception, caused the most negative reaction in all Nazi bosses. The maximum that they allowed the nationalists who climbed out of their skin was participation in all kinds of police and punitive formations for the execution of the most bloody and dirty deeds, about which the "Aryans" did not want to dirty their sleek hands.

Everything changed in 1942-43, when the dreams of a "blitzkrieg" finally collapsed in the snow-covered fields near Stalingrad, and the myth of the "invincibility" of the Reich and the Wehrmacht was buried under the rubble of a warrior city along with a million "Aryan" carcasses. A terrible shortage of personnel arose not only in the army, but also in the SS troops. The elite organization, which at one time did not take XNUMX% Germans with a filling in the tooth, began to greedily devour all kinds of trash (from the point of view of the racial doctrine of the NSDAP). Well, only Volksdeutsche from all over Europe and the "relatively Nordic" Scandinavians would go into action. For lack of ... Then you know. The turn came first to the inhibited non-Aryans from the Baltic states, and then it was the turn of the Galicians. Moreover, the territory of the present Lvov, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions was not even part of the "Reichskommissariat Ukraine" created in the occupied territory. The funniest thing is that we have to admit: unlike many Soviet statesmen and politicians of the current "non-Zalezhnaya" Germans, they understood perfectly well that Galicia and, in fact, Ukraine are two completely different concepts.

Geographically, historically, ethnically and civilizationally. "District Galicia" was, one might say, an exemplary region of the empire cobbled together by Hitler. Such zealous, loyal, obedient and efficient lackeys, as its inhabitants could still be looked for! And the widespread anti-Semitism and Russophobia of the population of this region completely delighted the Nazis. Punishers that had gathered earlier in these parts proved to be the best - they committed atrocities in such a way that the German officers became ill. That is why in the winter of 1943, SS Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler quite favorably accepted the proposal of the governor of the Galicia district, SS Brigadefuehrer Otto Gustav Wächter to form a full-blooded unit from natives accountable to him. He grimaced for sure, but with a wave of his hand he allowed ...

"I'm lazy to work, I'm afraid to steal - I'll go to Lviv, I'll be hired in the SS ..."

It was this "concept" that guided the volunteers who literally rushed to the city of Lemberg from all over Galicia, as soon as the recruitment to the SS division was officially announced. Those, according to various estimates, have accumulated from 82 to 84 thousand individuals. The recruiting station was literally stormed, they climbed into its doors over each other's heads ... Who were these individuals? "Broad nationalists" who firmly believed that "Galicia" in the future "will become the nucleus of the Ukrainian army", and then, you look, and the basis for an "independent state"? Nothing of the kind. Such a category in Ukraine has always been called (and still is called to this day) with the contemptuous word "Selyuki". It was the natives of beggars and downtrodden villages who were eager to put on an SS uniform, since they were promised a lot of zemli. The Germans, do not be fools, did not dissolve most of the collective farms after the occupation, knowing full well that local "field workers" would work for them on an individual basis, but simply renamed them "labor associations for cultivating the land." Now, every potential soldier of the division was promised this very land almost ten hectares per nose.

Oh, and then the Herrs officers laughed, to whom after some time the subordinate Galicians began to stick with questions: "So when will they give the allotments?" At the same time, they, laughing heartily, promised the lop-eared Untermensch that they would soon get the lands above their heads ... We must pay tribute - they did not deceive in the least. Speaking about the recruitment to "Galicia", one cannot ignore one more detail - the ministers of the so-called Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church played a huge role in this process, actively campaigning and generously blessing parishioners to join the SS. Moreover, two dozen of these, God forgive me, "holy fathers" asceticised in the ranks of the division as chaplains. Then the UGCC will be very offended for the fact that after the Great Patriotic War, you see, it was "persecuted" - in contrast to the canonical Orthodox Church, which Stalin strongly supported.

Based on the above, everyone can easily imagine what kind of "army" as a result received Herr Himmler and his subordinates, who cursed the "replenishment" that had fallen on their heads. From a certain point, the link to "Galicia" was considered by the Germans a cleaner punishment than a penal battalion. "Vile rabble" and "stupid herd" are the mildest epithets of German officers regarding the personnel of "Galicia", preserved thanks to memoirs and diary entries. Most of the definitions are purely unprintable. For a long time, the semi-savage villagers did not understand at all and did not want to understand the concepts of "Ordung" and subordination, which constituted the backbone of the German army. I will give a couple of examples: the carters attached to the horse-drawn transport division sent for training (someone would have given them trucks!) Immediately began to have problems - no one knew where the horse harness disappeared.


As it turned out in the course of the investigation carried out by the Germans, the recruits of "Galicia" could not cope with the uniform suspenders issued to them and began to steal the thongs and halters in order to build belts for the falling pants. Do you know what kind of death the very first fighter of this division, who went to the next world, Evgen Burlak, took? He simply decided to "play a trick" on a fellow villager who had become a non-commissioned officer by throwing a blanket over his head. The business took place in public, and the Germans, who had seen what they saw, immediately gave the order to shoot the idiot. The "warrior" who had sent the nuns at the wall kept repeating something and the officer in charge of the execution demanded to translate - that he was mumbling there. Hearing that Burlak repeats: "I wanted to fight for Ukraine," the Herr officer unloaded his Walter into him with the words: "You have to fight for the Fuehrer, Schweine!" In a very short time, several more Galicians were allowed to spend for the favorite, perhaps, the occupation of all "Ukrainian warriors" - looting. Seeing the bombed train, they cheerfully and naturally rushed to rummage through the belongings of the victims. The command reacted accordingly. It was then that the first cases of desertion began in the division.

"Warriors", what to look for

The "combat training" of the rabble recruited in Lemberg was quite consistent with his mental level and "fighting spirit." The language of command in the unit, for the most part staffed with leading personnel of exclusively Aryan origin, was, of course, German. To understand it, the natives of the downtrodden villages, for the most part who did not even have a complete elementary education and who were all suffering from linguistic cretinism, were unable in principle. The thought of switching over to their dialect would not knock on German heads even after a severe concussion. By the way, there was no question of any "Ukrainian" language in principle - the division's documents indicated "Galician". Himmler himself strictly forbade mentioning Ukraine in connection with the division. No, for example, the German officers and non-commissioned officers were allowed to sing songs in their native language to their own subordinates - but only and exclusively during marches and ... wearing gas masks!

Generally speaking, the "training" of the division's personnel most often resembled outright mockery - they ran with backpacks full of sand, then they crawled through puddles, then they dragged heavy weapons on themselves - on the sand, again. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that initially no one was going to use this unit on the front line - only as punitive forces. However, later, when the holes in the crumbling Eastern Front had to be plugged with anything and anyone, this naturally "backfired" on the Germans themselves. The only real "military use" against the Red Army "Galicia" can not even be called a shame. There are simply no words for the degree of absolute unfitness for war that the division demonstrated at Brody.

"Galicia" was simply reeled on the tracks of the tanks of the 1st Ukrainian Front (what an evil irony of fate!). The way her soldiers tried to stop our T-34s is another story altogether. A certain private Vovk, for example, armed with a faustpatron, took an excellent, from his point of view, position - at the thick brick wall of the nearest barn. Seeing a Soviet car with the hated red stars on the tower, he blurted out - and successfully self-destructed by means of a jet stream that burned it. The tank remained unharmed. True, this moment pales before the actions of the artillery division of the 30th regiment of the division, which, after long attempts to take at least some acceptable position, decided to take refuge amongst the picturesquely scattered haystacks. As soon as the guns were ready to fire, it turned out that in each of the stacks a Soviet tank was hidden. You can imagine the result of the "battle" yourself ... The highest level of combat training, which is really there!

It is not surprising that the German officers began to scatter from the location of "Galicia" in all directions on the third or fourth day of the Red Army's offensive. By the way, the first to give it to the commander - General Fritz Freitag, who said that he refused to lead a "completely uncontrollable unit" and left home. In the process of battles near Brody, according to various estimates, from 75 to 80% of the division's personnel were destroyed. The fact that today's Ukrainian "historians" are trying to tell about some "breakthroughs" by her warriors from the environment is a lie of the purest water. A certain number of nedobitki from the ring, of course, crawled out, but as a military unit "Galicia", in fact, ceased to exist. However, this vileness was revived quite quickly - fortunately, with the influx of volunteers I mentioned above, this was not a problem. From those who rushed to "serve the Fuhrer" in 1943, the Galicians were then formed a mass of police units - on the basis of their personnel, "Galicia" was restored.


It is quite natural that after the disgrace at Brody they did not even try to transfer these "warriors" to the front, but were used for their intended purpose - in punitive and anti-partisan actions. Here "Galicia" and showed itself "in all its glory." It must be said that its units acted as punishers even before the defeat of the division. It was then that the SS "Galicia" was destroyed - burned along with hundreds of thousands of residents, the village of Guta Penyatskaya, which many call "Polish Khatyn". Subsequently, there were many such villages - in Galicia itself, in Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, in other parts of Yugoslavia, in France ... By the way, a characteristic moment - even during the formation of the division, a significant part of its officers and non-commissioned officers were "trained" and trained not anywhere, but in Dachau. Says a lot, you know.

The "Galicia" division is a typical formation of the SS, to which the lines that do not admit double interpretation of the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal, which recognized the entire organization, from the first to the last member, criminal, are in full measure. There is no talk of any "compromises" and "discussions" regarding this grave national disgrace of Ukraine and can never be.