Roland Battalion

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The Roland Battalion was one of the first Foreign Legions in the Wehrmacht. It was made up of ethnic Ukrainians and existed only briefly from March to August 1941.

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[edit] Formation

The Battalion was set up by the Abwehr and organized by Richard Yary of the OUN(b) in March 1941, prior the German invasion to Soviet Union. Its members had originally volunteered for duty in the Nachtigall Battalion, but after training, members who could not meet the high expectations of the more exclusive commando unit were transferred into separate entity which became the Roland Battalion. Ex-Brandenburger Oberleutenant Dr. Hanz-Albrecht Herzner was placed in military command of the Battalion.

Although approximately 700 soldiers initially signed up to fight in the original commando unit, after selection, about 330 soldiers were transferred into the Roland Battalion. As previously agreed upon, the volunteers did not take the German military oath but swore allegiance to an "Independent United Ukrainian State". Their activity was to be confined to the Eastern Front.[1]

The Ukrainian historian V. Kosyk wrote: "Each side attempted to get advantage of the situation. The Ukrainians needed people with military training. The Germans relied more on the result of the propaganda generated by having a small Ukrainian Legion"[2].

The Roland Battalion was one of the first foreign legions of the Wehrmacht. Along with the Nachtigall Battalion it was one of two military units formed in Germany prior to the outbreak of conflict with the Soviet Union and manned by Ukrainian nationals the Germans had released from Polish prison camps. Both the Legion Nachtigall and Legion Roland were the only Eastern European volunteers to actually participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union with the German Army from very beginning of the campaign.

Many of the Ukrainian soldiers had enlisted into the battalion specifically in the hope of being helpful to the struggle for Ukraine's liberation from the Soviets.

[edit] Training

The training began in May 1941, and was done in complete secrecy in the castle Saubersdorf near Vienna in Austria. Altogether 350 volunteers completed their training.

Supplied with the German instructors, the Legion was trained very harshly, spending much of the time in the Alps. From Ukrainian side the commander of the Legion was Yevhen Pobihuschy (formerly an officer in the Polish Army) and from German side captain Novak.

In comparison to Nachtigall, the Roland Battalion was outfitted quite poorly in the old Czech and West-Ukrainian Army Uniforms from the First World War. Some uniforms had a blue and yellow, or just yellow ribbon on one of the shoulders. They were given Austrian helmets from WWI. The German members of the Battalion however wore Wehrmacht uniforms[3]. The volunteers were also given inferior weapons.

The Roland Battalion followed the German and Romanian Armies into the Southern Ukraine, around the Black Sea to Odessa. On July 7, 1941 they arrived in the Bukovynian town of Kimpolung (now in Romania) directly from Vienna and there joined the German 11th Army. On July 27 they were commanded to support the German forces at the river Prut and given the tasks of cleaning road and transportation corridors, organize groups of Ukrainian home guard, guard transportation of food, help with the evacuation of POW's and to guard strategic objects. All of July they spent in Romania under the command of leutnant Siebert. On July 26th the Roland Battalion was transferred to the command of the 54th army corps and guarded roads and the Dniester river. At that time the Battalion had 9 officers and 260 soldiers. In time the Battalion was topped up with another 150 Ukrainian volunteers from the occupied areas[4].

[edit] Arms

The Battalion had arms consisting of 6 light machine guns of Czech manufacture and Soviet rifles which they had seized.

[edit] Dissolution

From July 29 the Battalion operated in the area around Kishinev, and then crossed the Dniester at Dubossari and headed to Odessa. At that time the Command of the 11th Army received a telegram: "After consultations with the Reichsminister of the occupied territories of the East, the Roland organization is to be excluded from further battle because of political reasons"[5] As a result of the telegram the 150 additional volunteers returned home, 50 of the original Roland soldiers became translators in local agencies for the economic service of the Reich. They were restricted however, from political activity, and in time they were all relieved of duty. The rest of the Battalion returned to Kishinev by foot on August 26, 1941 where they were relieved of their weapons. They were then transported to the town of Majerling near Vienna. On August 16 the Gestapo arrested captains Barabash and L. Ortynsky and two other officers of the Battalion[6].

Later the Unit was transferred to Frankfurt am Oder where it was merged with the remnants of the Nachtigall Battalion to form the 201st Police battalion.

[edit] References

  1. ^ * RUSSIAN:Chuyev, Sergei Ukrainskyj Legion - Moskva, 2006 p. 176
  2. ^ * RUSSIAN:Chuyev, Sergei Ukrainskyj Legion - Moskva, 2006 p. 177
  3. ^ * RUSSIAN:Chuyev, Sergei Ukrainskyj Legion - Moskva, 2006 p. 177
  4. ^ * RUSSIAN:Chuyev, Sergei Ukrainskyj Legion - Moskva, 2006 p. 178
  5. ^ * RUSSIAN:Chuyev, Sergei Ukrainskyj Legion - Moskva, 2006 p. 178
  6. ^ * RUSSIAN:Chuyev, Sergei Ukrainskyj Legion - Moskva, 2006 p. 179

[edit] Sources