Kaminski Brigade

(To Mario Veronesi)
26/07/18

Bronislaw Kaminski (1899-1944) son of a Polish father and a German mother. Arrested in July of the 1935 by the "NKWD", Stalin's political police as a spy, is sentenced to ten years of gulag. Released after five, he moved to the city of Lokot, in the Kursk-Orel region. Region occupied by the Germans in October of the 1941.

Kaminski constitutes the local militia, strong of over 10.000 men. Its soldiers assume the name "National Liberation Army", or "RONA", in Russian Cyrillic alphabet "POHA". The brigade participates in various anti-partisan operations in the Orrel region and in Belarus. In March 1944, for a short time the brigade was renamed "Volksheer-Brigade Kaminski", then absorbed in June 1944 in the Waffen-SS. With this transfer the brigade comes renamed "Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA", and Kaminski named SS Brigadefuhrer. During this period, the brigade is incorporated, from the "Kampfgruppe von Gottberg", an anti-partisan training, which also contemplated the infamous "SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger".

The brigade participates in various anti-partisan operations and commits numerous atrocities against the civilian population. At the beginning of August 1944, 1.700 soldiers under the command of Major Yurii Frolov were sent to participate in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. In Warsaw, the "RONA" commits many atrocities, earning a reputation as robbers, rapists and murderers. As more units become available, Kaminski is replaced, having lost around 500 men in combat in Warsaw, including his commander Frolov.

The "RONA" brigade, at the time of the Warsaw uprising, was largely composed of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. cossacks, kalmucchi and azerbaijanis. Now decimated and declared "infamous" even by the SS, the brigade is assigned to block the road to bring aid to Warsaw.

Attacked by Polish partisans while stationed in the village of Truskaw, according to some sources, 250 soldiers of the "RONA" were killed along with 100 others in the village of Marianów. Some report that in order to support General Andrey Vlasov Himmler decided to eliminate Kaminski. Who was called to Lodz to attend a conference. Kaminski never reached the Polish city, officially killed by Polish partisans, more likely by the "Gestapo".

With Kaminski's death, the rest of his men move, in part to the "29th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division" and into General Andrey Vlasov's liberation army.