Stalin's Nemesis

by Michael James Melnyk

  Passing through towns, villages and small hamlets Austrian women and children stood beside the roads offering food and water to the troops whilst occasionally forworn women in the doorways of houses held photos of their husbands, and asking if anyone had seen them.106 The Austrian farmers sympathised with the plight of the Ukrainians as many had sons who were serving soldiers and almost always provided food and a place to sleep, and told the soldiers about the advances of the Soviet tanks and which villages they had already occupied, saving many from capture.107

  At Graz on the west bank of the Mur, both the Division’s main columns converged and as planned began to retire along the Packerstrasse with the majority of 6 Army’s units towards Twimberg.

  The Division’s staff proceeded towards the front of the marching column in an attempt to direct and retain control of it. Initially, SS-Brigadeführer Freitag and his staff were still able to issue orders to the motorised and horse drawn elements but very soon this became impossible as the troops spread out over a wide area and became intermingled with a variety of units. Under these conditions its larger units began to disperse as march discipline was lost. The cavalry and motorised formations on its left and right flanks were fortunate in that they were able to retain a certain amount of cohesion because they had transport and enough field radios.

  Since radio contact had been lost with the Training and Reserve Regiment on 7 May the chief Liaison Officer SS-Obersturmführer Rudolph Michel was despatched ahead to report the arrival of the rest of the Division in its district.108 He later sent notification that he had not found English formations in the area around Völkermarkt, which was infested with partisans. On his own initiative he therefore intercepted the Division’s units at the crossroads north of Wolfsberg and redirected them away from the danger to the north—Twimberg–Judenburg–Marua–Mauterndorf– Radstädter Tauern and Radstädt.

  Meanwhile many of the soldiers of the Reserve Regiment who had been deployed in remote areas, now found themselves completely cut off from their command and unaware that the war was now over, some faced continued pitched battles with Tito’s partisans. After beating off one such attack, it was only when his company left its isolated location for the assumed safety of a nearby hamlet that Waffen-Sturmmann Michael Paziuk discovered that the war was over. His company commander Waffen-Untersturmführer Stephan Shuhan then addressed his soldiers:

  […] Well boys, as all of you have already realised by the very unusual conditions around us, the war is over. It is true. I am sure that everyone of you is glad but there will be no cheers, no shouts of delight or warm embrace on our part. Just the sadness in our hearts as we remember all our friends who laid down their lives for an abominable dream which each one of us was led to believe was possible, the freedom of our country. It was the wrong time and the wrong place and most of all the odds were far, far too great. Now we have an even bigger fight on our hands and will have to try and prove to the British and American forces that we had no quarrel with them and we never fought against them. So maybe, just maybe they will understand. As you will now realise we will all have to pay the price rightly or wrongly as being soldiers we will become prisoners of war hopefully under British protection. For they are a great democracy and have freedom of speech. We will have to pay the price of no freedom for a few years but for our countrymen it will be much harder.

  On no account must we surrender to either the partisans or the Red Army. We will stay together and in this way protect ourselves from anyone who might try and change our minds or prevent us from reaching our goal. I guess it will be a couple of days before we reach the British.

  In the meantime I ask everyone to conduct themselves sensibly and do not let anyone provoke you into doing something which we all may regret. There will be some abuse shouted at you now and later on. Just be patient and the truth will eventually surface.109

  A colossal jam soon developed on the Packerstrasse causing longs delays for the retreating troops as trucks, cars (both military and civilian), motorcycles, horse drawn carriages, horses and bicycles were mixed with the majority who made their way on foot, slowing all movement. Anything that was not absolutely essential was soon discarded. En route, the 14.Feld Ersatz Bataillon deposited all its medical supplies for local use in the village of Hitzendorf south west of Graz.110

  Having arrived in Judenburg, ahead of the main column, Shandruk met Lieutenant Fediv, Colonel Krat’s Liaison Officer and gave him a note appointing Krat as the Divisional commander.111 Here, Dr Wächter rejoined the Division’s staff having been to Graz to obtain recent information about Soviet movements and warned that tanks from an armoured unit were advancing rapidly along the main road from Bruck to Judenburg. This unit later reached Judenburg where its tanks intercepted the Division’s column, cutting off the main retreat path and in so doing, several horse drawn supply wagons complete with their contents and many personal effects were abandoned in the rush to escape.112 At the same time some unfortunate Ukrainian soldiers were captured in these chaotic conditions. Waffen-Grenadier Ivan Melnyk 7./II./3 Rgt. was one of them:

  Our column was cut off by Soviets [at Judenburg]. They came with tanks and told us to lay down our arms. They knew we were Ukrainian by the lion on our collars. They didn’t shoot us straight away just told us to get in line and disarmed us. Together with four friends I took the first opportunity to escape through the houses down a side street and into the mountains.113

  On hearing rumours that the Soviets had occupied Judenburg, those further to the rear of the retreating column scattered into the surrounding mountains with most losing their few remaining personal belongings in their haste to get away. The remnants later reassembled and started on a route from St Veit to Feldkirchen. Volodymyr Keczun continues:

  […] Just before we reached the town of Judenburg everything came to a halt. It looked like a battlefield. Cars and other transport abandoned, some overturned. Ziemba found an abandoned motorbike with some petrol in it and with Szeremeta drove to Judenburg to find out what was happening. Lischynsky ordered us to look in the abandoned transport for food in case we found ourselves in a dire situation. We found a few tins of what we thought to be pork meat, some biscuits and some packets of dried minced beef. Later we found out that it tasted awful when not properly cooked and unsalted.

  After a while Cossacks on horses galloped by from the direction of Judenburg, shouting that the Red Army had occupied Judenburg and they are picking up all stray German soldiers. Panic everywhere. Lischynsky gave the order to find some food and pack our truck and with our trusty horse and depleted group, we took to the narrow lanes up the mountain. As we had two very light carts and a young strong horse, we decided to escape, running back like the Cossacks did, but taking the road to the left which went up the mountain to some houses. From there we would try to find some way to get to the other side of the mountain and by so doing bypass Judenburg.

  When we reached the houses the road changed to a footpath running diagonally up to the right. The gradient was steep but although we still had our mortar, MG and ammunition, we managed to get them up. Progress was very slow. About half way up we met some soldiers that had lost all their possessions. They tried to drive a large, heavily laden wagon up the same path we were taking. It started skidding and then the wagon overturned and together with the horse rolled down the mountain. By the time we reached the top it had started getting dark but we noticed a dirt track running down the other side. We followed it and saw some lights at the foot of the mountain.

  Before we reached the settlement we noticed a building that probably was a flour mill because we could gradually see what looked like a large turning wheel. We decided to spend the night in the settlement. Once we got among the houses, people came out and informed us that few hours ago a Soviet patrol had visited the village. They were patrolling the main road between Judenburg and Salzburg. They advised us that if we want to avoid them, when we came to a ‘T’ junction instead of turning right, turn left (south) to Feldki
rchen.

  Our group numbered about 20 and we took the turning to the left as the villagers advised and marched nearly all night. We did not bother where we were going as long as we kept a good distance from the Soviets. Early morning we arrived at a crossroad and turned right. In the next small village we rested for a while. Before we left, villagers informed us that further on up the road there were some armed men asking for weapons. They advised us not to aggravate them because from now on we would be going through very wild and inhospitable mountainous territory and it would be a shame to get killed when the war was over.

  When we reached that place there was only one armed civilian man, unless the others were hiding. We gave him some guns and ammunition, including the anti-aircraft heavy gun we got in Slovakia. We still believed that the Soviet heavy-handedness might aggravate the Allies and if it came to a conflict, we might yet fight Soviets on the Allies side.[…]114

  Waffen-Untersturmführer Julian Chornij also encountered one such group of armed civilians:

  […] While retreating I was riding a horse with a few of our soldiers. While approaching the town of Judenburg on the River Mur my horse was frightened by the sudden appearance of a motorcycle and started to run very fast for about a mile without any reaction to my efforts to stop him.

  My horse stopped just before the Mur River because the road was crowded with German soldiers and two trucks. Next to the truck was a small group of heavily armed civilians speaking to each other in Russian. They were former slave workers from Russia taken during the war by the Nazis to work in Germany. They were searching the German soldiers taking away any valuables and weapons if found. I still had my pistol hidden under a raincoat lying in front of my saddle. I looked at one of the trucks and saw a few German officers sitting with their heads down, looking depressed. I was happy to still have my pistol and decided not to surrender to the armed civilians.

  While I was sitting on my horse when one of my soldiers approached not knowing that we were stopped by the armed Russian civilians seeking revenge. One of my soldiers came close to me and asked in Ukrainian ‘Lieutenant, what are we going to do now?’ I almost froze. I looked at the Russian boys to see if any of them had heard the question. I only had time to whisper to him ‘run away in any possible direction’. At the same time I grabbed my pistol and fired it upwards through my raincoat in order to scare the horse. Again my horse instantly started to run like crazy along the river bank. The Russians were surprised by my hasty run. They fired a few shots in my direction from their machine pistols without success.[…]115

  5

  The Legacy

  Sanctuary: The British or the Americans?

  On the afternoon of 10 May the Division’s HQ was in Tamsweg and on the evening of the same day moved three kms north to the village of St Andrä.1 Dr Wächter’s aide-de-camp SS-Obersturmführer Viktor Stiastny delivered news that the Western Allies were interning all foreign and Waffen-SS units in Tamsweg so as an army officer, Major Heike left the group to explore the possibility of by-passing the road block and to reconnoitre an alternative route. General Shandruk, Freitag and Dr Wächter remained behind.

  After long delays caused by the heavy traffic of the stalled column of troops and vehicles on the overcrowded road, Heike finally returned to Mauterndorf with a new route. Here he met a few of the Division’s German staff officers, among them the commander of the Pioneer Battalion SS-Sturmbannführer Remberger from whom he learned that the Division’s headquarters group had already dispersed and that SS-Brigadeführer Freitag had proposed a plan to abscond with them into the mountains. When his suggestion was rejected he became depressed and shot himself in the village of St Andrä where his body was discovered a few days later by the British field security forces, along with his identity papers.2

  Shortly thereafter General Shandruk, Dr Makarushka and Dr Arlt left to seek out the higher American military command hoping to enjoy a more understanding reception from a country with an ethnic Ukrainian population of over one million.3 Shandruk eventually did make contact with the Americans and having done so, surprisingly was not interned but allowed to remain at liberty. Consequently in the months that followed his primary concerns were evading capture by the Soviets and agitating on behalf of the interned Ukrainians for their release.4

  Due to his rank and high profile within the German administration in the General Government, SS-Gruppenführer Dr Wächter was under no illusions as to his fate if captured by the Soviets.5 Having made no escape plans or preparations, as did the vast majority of the senior Nazi officials, it is testimony to the strength of his character that he remained loyal to the Division that he had created, until the very end. In Heike’s absence, he took his leave near Tamsweg in the Salzburg mountain district to avoid being taken prisoner and extradited to the Soviet Union and disappeared into the Alps where together with Burkhard Rathmann a young former member of the 24 Waffen-Gebirgs-(Karstjäger) Division der Waffen-SS, he successfully hid for four years. Moving from house to house, occasionally stealing food he was primarily sustained by his wife who supplied both men with food and equipment from secret pick-up points.6 In the spring of 1949 Wächter crossed the border to Italy where he later died of jaundice on 14 July 1949.7

  Under the circumstances, with its remaining leadership scattered, Heike established contact with an English brigade and reported a number of the Division’s units to its command who assigned a large field near Tamsweg as the mustering point for the Ukrainian units which arrived in the area. Heike stayed at the headquarters of the 1 Cavalry Corps but continued to visit the soldiers at Tamsweg until the entire camp was moved to Spittal on der Drau. Eventually, Major Heike himself, was taken to a separate POW camp where he too was held by British forces.8

  The overwhelming majority of the officers and other ranks preferred however, to stay together and as per Shandruk’s original instructions, they capitulated to units of the British 5 Corps9 (in Carinthia, which identified them prior to 26 May as ‘German mercenaries’ serving variously with the ‘14 SS Ukrainian Div.’, or ‘14 SS Galizien’ amongst other titles.10

  The bulk of the dispersed Ukrainian units therefore rallied at three different points in close proximity; at the city of Spittal upon the Drava River, at Feldkirchen and at Klagenfurt.

  Waffen-Grenadier Volodymyr Keczun continues:

  […] After nearly a days march we turned right again and shortly met a large group of our soldiers camped and eating. They were well equipped with wagons and horses. Our spirits lifted. Safety at last. Lischynsky went to the commander to ask permission to join in. The commander agreed we could join, but first we had to give him our big young horse so he could ride it. When asked what would happen to our carts and weapons, Lischynsky was told that the war was over and we would not need them. When we learned about it, we refused. We felt that without our carts and weapons, we would feel more like bums than soldiers, so we left them. Later in Italy some of them were helping to run our camp.

  The tins of meat [we had found earlier] turned out to be pure pork lard with few crackling like bits on the bottom. When you are starved, you can’t eat lard on its own without impunity, so we managed to barter some of them for some potatoes and a small loaf of bread. The dried minced beef should have been soaked in boiling water for a time before cooking. We had no boiling water or time.

  It looked like we were completely lost in the mountains. And then when we were really low in spirits, we heard from a passer-by that a British check point was only 2 kilometres ahead of us. Once we heard that our spirits lifted. First thing I did was to take my private small pistol to bits and throw parts into the field as we walked. It was my personal memento from Slovakia and I decided that nobody else was going to use it.

  I remember being on a field with our nearly empty carts and our faithful horse. There was fairly large gathering of former soldiers on that field. Lischynsky went to find out what was going on. When he came back he told us not to stay because today we would be marching to join our d
ivisional comrades that are camping near a lake close to Spittal.

  Soon we were called to order and asked to form a column because an important visitor was coming to speak to us. When we were formed up, through a gate into the field rode an imposing older officer on a horse and halted in front of us. Somebody said that was Colonel Krat. When he began his speech his first word sent shivers down my spine and I will always remember that feeling. His intention was good but he shouted ‘Kazaki’ (Russian pronunciation), instead of Ukrainian ‘Kozaky’. After running for so long from the Soviets, it sounded like they had caught up with us. He said that the time would come when we would fight the Soviets again but at present we must prepare because shortly we would be marching to rejoin our Division.

  Soon after we set off. Colonel Krat was riding at the head of our column. For a soldier that carried a rifle for 21 months, transition from soldier to POW status is not easy. What was our fate going to be? Would the British hand us over to Soviets? If they did, we knew it meant Siberia for all of us, if we survived long enough to get there.[…]11

  With the dissolution of the Division’s command, each man was left to his own discretion as to the course of action he should take so that almost everyone experienced the act of surrender differently. In the prevailing chaos and uncertainty, rumours circulated about the fate that awaited the former Waffen-SS personnel who fell into Allied hands. From their insignia and personal paperwork, it was not immediately apparent to the uninitiated Allied soldiers that the Ukrainians had formerly been a part of a Waffen-SS unit as Theo Andruszko later wrote:

  […] I always carried my Soldbuch in my top jacket pocket and never gave a thought to discarding it. It proved useful when we went through a British stop over. We had to show our Soldbuch—those with SS were directed one way, those without—the other. Our Soldbuch did not carry SS insignia.12