Reichskommissariat Moskau

The Reichskommissariat Moskau was the proposed Nazi civilian regime in central and northern European Russia, during World War II, established, by Führer Decree dated 17 July 1941, as an administrative unit of the "Großdeutsches Reich" (Greater Germany).

History

German forces occupied large areas of Soviet territory and, as the campaign moved eastwards, these were to be transferred from military to civilian administration. They were to be divided into four "Reichskommissariaten", under the supervision of Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg, "Minister fur die besetzten Ostgebiete" (Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories).

This article describes the German plans for the absorption of northwestern Russia, including Moscow, as "Reichskommissariat Moskowien". These included all of European Russia between the Urals and the boundaries with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine (except Pskov, included in the Reichskommissariat Ostland).

The plans were never fulfilled. The German military operation to capture Moscow and central Russia (Fall Taifun) failed and marked the high-water point of German success in the region. The transfer of conquered territories to Nazi civilian rule was never completed.

At first, the plans had assumed an eastern boundary at a notional line between Arkhangelsk and Astrakhan, including Saransk and Gorki in the south east and Kostroma, Vologda, and Arkhangelsk in the north east.

Within the boundary with Reichskommissariat Ukraine were Orel (Oryol), Lipetsk and parts of Tambov and Penza.

Within the boundary with Reichskomissariat Ostland were Briansk and Smolensk, in the southwest; Kalinin (Tver), Novgorod and Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), to the northwest, and Petrozavodsk and Murmansk in the north.

The administrative capital was to be Moscow, with subordinate districts based upon Kaluga, Tula, Riazan, Orekhovo, Ivanovo and Yaroslav.

For strategic and security reasons, the proposed eastern frontier of the "Reichskommissariat Moskowien" was extended to the Ural Mountains. The new frontier included Ulianovsk, Cheboksary, Kuybyshev (Samara), Kazan, Orenburg, Ufa, Izhevsk, Perm and Southwest Urals, in the south east; Kirov, Siktivkar, Naryan-Mar and the Urals in the north east.

These eastern districts were thought to be the most sensitive to administer of the conquered territories. As a consequence, they would be managed from the regional capital and direct from the Reich Ministry (for the Occupied Eastern Territories) in Berlin. German settlement would be encouraged (Generalplan Ost).

The Germans intended to destroy Russia permanently, irrespective of whether it was capitalist, communist or tsarist. Adolf Hitler's Lebensraum policy, expressed in "Mein Kampf", was to dispossess the Russians - as was to happen with other Slavs in Poland- and expel most of them beyond the Urals. As this was the principal war aim, Hitler suggested the construction of a great war memorial (designed by Architect Wilhelm Kreis) to remember all "Aryans" falling in the line of duty during the "anti-bolshevik crusade" in Russia.

To implement these plans, Alfred Rosenberg organized special administrative measures for the province, and Hermann Göring made plans for their economic exploitation.

During a conference on July 16, 1941, Hitler had proposed the division of the eastern territories of Galicia into one "Reichsgebiet" (Reich Territory), the Baltic states would become an integral part of "Grossdeutschland" "Greater Germany"; Ukraine, including Crimea, would become the granary for the Reich; and European Russia, including Moscow, the Urals and the former Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Baku (Azerbaijan) and the rest of the Caucasus were to be converted into other Reichsgebieten.

The Wehrmacht proposed that, if Japanese forces invaded the Soviet Far East, then both Armies should meet in the West Siberian area, and finally complete military actions in Russia. In practice, this was not likely: Japan considered the Baikal region as a potential target, for its resources, but after its defeat at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, it committed their forces southwards, towards the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese and the Soviet Union maintained a de facto armistice until 1945.

German Army intelligence units related with the Russian cause

*"Fremde Heere Ost" Intelligence Section
*"Wehrmacht Propaganda IV" or "WPrIV"

German Commanders linked with Russian units

*SS-Brigadeführer Christoph Diehm
*SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans Siegling
*SS-Hauptsturmführer Albert Löffler
*SS-Sturmbannführer Franz Henningfeld
*SS-Brigadeführer Peter Hansen
*SS-Standartenführer Gustav Lombard
*SS-Oberführer Constantin Heldmann

Russian antisoviet leaders and Commanders

European front

*Major Ivan K. Voskoboynikov
*Waffen-Brigadefuhrer der SS Bronislav Vladislavovich Kaminski
*General Andrei Andreivich Vlasov
*General Grigorii Meandrov
*Generalmajor Sergei Kuzmich Bunyachenko
*Generalmajor Georgi A. Zverev
*Officer Major Kostyenko
*Officer Colonel Sakharov
*Sonderfuhrer K-officer (later Major-General of Wehrmacht) Boris Alekseyevich Smyslovsky, a.k.a. Artur Holmston
*Company Commander General Bredow
*Regimental Commander General Zinkevich
*Regimental Commander General Shatilov
*Staff Commander General Gontarev
*Officer Cadet Vasiliev
*General M.F. Skorodumov
*General Boris A. Shteyfon
*General Anatoliy I. Rogozhin
*SS Commander General Frolov

Russian political leaders

*Georg Liebbrandt
*Otto Brautigam
*Ivan K. Voskoboinikov
*Bronislaw Kaminski
*Andrey Vlasov
*Konstantin Rodzaevsky
*General Kislistin

Decorations received by Bronislav Kaminski

*Iron Cross 1st Class (27 Jan 1944)
*Iron Cross 2nd Class (27 Jan 1944)
*Anti-Partisan Badge (31 July 1944)
*Ostvolk Medal 1st Class (1944)
*Ostvolk Medal 2nd Class (1944)
*Wound Badge in Black

Pacific War front

*Ataman Kossack General Semenov
*Ataman Kossack General Kalmikov
*"Vozhd" (Führer-type national leader) Konstantin Rodzaevsky
*General Kislistin
*General Vrashevsky
*General Lushkov
*General Anyekov
*General Baschich
*General Novikov

Russian volunteers in German Army forces

*"Hilfswillige" or "Hiwi" Russians
*"Osttruppen" Russian Security forces
*"Ostlegionen"(Russian sections)
*29. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr. 1)
*29. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (italienische Nr. 1) (Russian volunteers unit)
*30. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (russische Nr. 2)
*Russkaya Osvoboditelnaya Narodnaya Armiya (RONA)
*Waffen-Sturm-Brigade Kaminski
*Kaminski Brigade
*Volksheer-Brigade Kaminski
*Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA
*Russkaia Osvoboditelnaya Armiya (ROA)
*Guard Corps Brigade of ROA
*"Schutzmannschaft-Brigade Siegling" or "SS-Polizei-Bataillon-Siegling"
*2nd KNOR Division (600. (Russische) Infanterie-Division)
*1st KNOR Division (650. (Russische) Infanterie-Division)
*3rd KNOR Division (in development still at the end of the war)
*Freiwilligen-Stamm-Regiment 3 (Russians & Ukrainians)
*Freiwilligen-Stamm-Regiment 4 (Russians & Ukrainians)
*Freiwillige SS reg. "Warager" (Wrangel SS Regiment)
*1st Russian National People Army (1st RNA, also known as "Boyarski Brigade")
*"Sonderheadquarters R" (special headquarters Russia)
*"Special division R" (12 training reconnaissance battalions)
*1064th Russian Grenadier Regiment of 599 Russian Brigade
*1st Russian National SS brigade "Drushina"
*Russkiy Okhranniy Korpus
*Otdel'niy Russkiy Korpus
*Russisches Schutzkorps or Russisches Schutzkorps Serbien (Russian Units in Balkans area)
*Russian fighter volunteers in "Fehrbellin Platz", Berlin

Russian volunteers in the German Air Force

They were equipped with German and captured Soviet aircraft including: Arado Ar 66C, Gotha Go 145C, Polikarpov U-2 VS(Po-2) or Yakovlev Yak UT-2 (AIR-20) among other types for making night land attacks against Red Army lines on the Eastern front. Their command HQ was detached in Minsk, Belarus.

*1.Ostfl.St.(Russische) (Eastern volunteers Sqdn.) (Minsk)
*1/NSGr.1 (Russische) (Kovno)
*2/NSGr.1 (Russische) (Kovno)
*Stab I./Eins.Gr.Fl.Sch.Div. (Russische) (Borisov)
*Russisch Lehr Fl. Div. (Air Training operative Div). (Borisov)
*2/Eins.Gr.Fl.Sch Div. (Russische) (Borisov)
*3/Eins.Gr.Fl.Sch.Div. (Russische) (Borisov)
*1/Eins.Gr.Fl.Sch.Div. (Russische) (Dubinskaya)

Russian volunteers in Japanese forces

*"Asano Division" unit in Kwantung Army
*"Russian Fascist Party Guards"
*"Russian Monarquic Party Corps"
*"Russian agents at service of Japanese and Manchu secret service in Manchukuo"

Russen (Russia) propaganda news
*"Dobrovoletz"("Der Freiwillige") - Russian volunteer units
*"Novoye Slovo" Official political news of Andrei Vlasov, in Berlin

Loyalty Pledge of the Osten (Slav) volunteers
*"Ostlegionäre der Wehrmacht" "Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, dass ich im Kampf gegen die bolschewistischen Feinde meiner Heimat dem Obersten Befehlshaber der Deutschen Wehrmacht, Adolf Hitler, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen"."

Russian right parties

European front

*"Narodnaya Socialisticheskaya Partiya" (Russian National Socialist Party), later renamed "Nacional-Socialisticheskaya Rabochaya Partiya Rossiya" (National-Socialist Labour Party of Russia) with first led by Ivan K.Voskobinkov, later for Bronislav Kaminski, in Lokot Republic.
*Russian National Committee ("Narodnaya Rossiya Komite") and Committee for The liberation of Peoples of Russia ("Komite Osvobozhyeniya Narodov Rossi") (KNOR), movements lead by General Andrei A. Vlasov

Pacific front

*"Russian Fascist Party", led by Konstantin Rodzaevsky in exile from Manchukuo (Japanese satellite Chinese 'empire' in Manchuria).
*"Monarchist Party", led by General Kislistin, in Manchukuo.

Russian right political organizations

European front

*"NSP" or "NSRPR" Party
*"Russian National Committee"
*"Committee of Liberation of Russian People (KONR)"
*"Smolensk Manifesto"
*"Prague Manifesto" also "Hdraschin Manifesto"
*"Russian Propaganda Schools"

Pacific War front

*"Russian Fascist Organization"
*"Russian Fascist Party"
*"Monarchist Party"

ee also

*Lokot Autonomy- a Russian autonomous administrative are under direct German control