 | It has been suggested that this article be merged with Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. (Discuss) Proposed since August 2024. |
| Russian Liberation Army | |
|---|---|
 General Vlasov and soldiers of the ROA | |
| Active | 1943 (as Osttruppen) / 1944 (officially)[a] – 1945 |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany (until January 1945) Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (since November 1944) |
| Type | Infantry Air force |
| Size | 125,000 troops (1945) |
| Nickname(s) | Vlasovites ("Vlasovtsy") |
| March | We Are Marching in Wide Fields |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Andrey Vlasov (since January 1945) Sergei Bunyachenko Mikhail Meandrov |
| Insignia | |
| Badge |  |
| Flags of the KONR and ROA |  .svg)
 |
The Russian Liberation Army (German: Russische Befreiungsarmee; Russian: Русская освободительная армия, Russkaya osvoboditel'naya armiya, abbreviated as РОА, ROA, also known as the Vlasov army (Власовская армия, Vlasovskaya armiya) was a collaborationist formation, primarily composed of Russians, that fought under German command during World War II. Since January 1945, the army was led by Andrey Vlasov, a Red Army general who had defected, and members of the army are often referred to as Vlasovtsy (Власовцы). In 1944, it became known as the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (Вооружённые силы Комитета освобождения народов России, Vooruzhonnyye sily Komiteta osvobozhdeniya narodov Rossii, abbreviated as ВС КОНР, VS KONR).[1]
Vlasov agreed to collaborate with Nazi Germany after having been captured on the Eastern Front. The soldiers of the ROA command were mostly former Soviet prisoners of war but also included some White Russian émigrés, some of whom were veterans of the anti-communist White Army from the Russian Civil War (1917–23). The political platform of the ROA was formulated mainly by Vlasov and his associates, who were products of Soviet society, so the declared principles of the Vlasovites were anti-capitalism, right of the nations to self-determination and devotion to the ideals of the Russian Revolution of 1917, while they tried to avoid Nazi antisemitism and chauvinism and form a political movement independent of the Nazi control.[2] Robert Conquest described their political program as "democratic" while the Nazis called it an "infusion of liberal and Bolshevik ideologies".
The ROA existed only in Nazi propaganda until November 1944, while the Osttruppen referred to as "ROA" by the Nazi propaganda served directly under German command and were not formalized as separate units, while the image of Vlasov was a mere propaganda weapon.[2] On 14 November 1944, it was officially formed as the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, with the KONR being formed as a political body to which the army pledged loyalty. On 28 January 1945, it was officially declared that the Russian divisions no longer form part of the German Army, but would directly be under the command of KONR, and Vlasov became the commander in chief of the ROA. In May 1945, the 1st division of the ROA, while being the only completed division of the existing three, switched sides and joined the anti-Nazi Prague uprising.[2]
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- ^ Grasmeder, Elizabeth M.F. (2021). "Leaning on Legionnaires: Why Modern States Recruit Foreign Soldiers". International Security. 46 (1): 147–195. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00411. S2CID 236094319. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
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