Part One: The Unification of West Russia (1962-1966)
Flag of the Provisional Commissariat of Western Russia
The year of 1962 was more of the same for the Russian warlord statelet of the KONR, also known as Samara. The Luftwaffe bombing raids continued like clockwork and the lives of the average people did not really change or improve for the better. In the statelet, the most important event that year came on October 28, when General Vlasov officially named his right-hand man and second highest ranking general in the ROA, Sergei Kuzmich Bunyachenko, to be his successor upon his death. The year of 1963 started out as another one of these years. That is until October 16, 1963 when Adolf Hitler died at the age of 74 after years of suffering from dementia and a host of other health problems, leading to the start of the German Civil War. Over the rest of October and into November, the “Neueordung” of the German Reich and the Einheitspakt seemed to be completely collapsing. Most importantly for the people of Western Russia, and Samara, the Luftwaffe bombing raids suddenly ceased, bringing them a sense of immense relief.
Generals and officers of the ROA outside of Samara, winter 1963-1964.
With the end of the bombings, the ROA began to make preparations for a series of military campaigns against the other warlord states of Russia. For almost a decade, the ROA high command had created a number of battle plans against the neighboring Russian warlord states, and now the ROA High Command would begin preparing to put these plans into action. The first plan that General Vlasov, the KONR and the ROA High Command agreed to prepare for was the invasion plan against the separatist Republic of Tartarstan. After six months of preparation, on May 10, 1964, the KONR declared war on and invaded the Republic of Tartarstan, with the KONR claiming that they were doing so “in order to protect the rights of the Russian citizens of Tartstan.” Ten days later, on May 20, the ROA captured the Tartar capital of Kazan after a brief skirmish with the underequipped garrison. After that, the Tartar armies continued to suffer defeat after defeat at the hands of the ROA. On June 6, 1964, the Republic of Tartarsran finally capitulated. Vlasov promised the Tartars that under the KONR they would be equal under the law and that the Muslim religion would be respected. In spite of this, the KONR completely integrated the Tartar lands into their state without any autonomy and arrested any Tartar separatists who spoke out against the government in Samara.
ROA soldiers in combat against the Tartar Republican Army, May, 1964.
Over the next few months, while consolidating their new conquests, the ROA High Command was preparing for an invasion of the Principality of Vyatka. In spite of the fact that Samara and Vyatka had somewhat decent relations, Vlasov and his inner circle were not monarchists at all and saw the Russian monarchy and Tsardom as an antiquated institution that only brought ruin to Russia. Thus, there could be no Tsar in Vlasov’s vision of Russia. In the meantime, on September 23, 1964, the KONR declared war on the Gorky, a small state led by the remnants of the Soviet tankists, which capitulated after on six days on September 29, 1964, giving the KONR access to the rich tank arsenals of the city state.
By the end of October, 1964, the Principality of Vyatka had conquered their former puppet state of Berezniki and the hated Aryan Brotherhood, and the KONR and ROA High Command decided that with the Vyatkan armies worn down after months of warfare, it was the perfect time to begin to put their plans into motion. On January 3, 1965, the KONR declared war on the Principality of Vyatka, which caught Tsar Vladimir III and his government somewhat off-guard, but not completely unprepared, as a significant garrison of armies had been stationed along the Samara-Vyatka border.
An ROA soldier outside of Vyatka, 1965.
The first month of the war was mostly a stalemate between the mostly evenly matched armies. All of this began to change on February 8 when ROA soldiers began to advance in the south of the Principality, and on February 21, 1965, the capital of Vyatka finally fell after a week-long battle which ended with the Imperial Armies retreating to try and recuperate their loses. Meanwhile, before the fall of Vyatka, Tsarina Leonida Bagration of Mukhrani and Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna fled via plane to Switzerland, while the rest of the Imperial government fled via motorized caravan to the city of Perm, temporarily using the same abandoned government buildings once used by the hated Brotherhood. At first, the high command of the Imperial Vyatkan Army, led by Field Marshal Evgeny Messner, believed that the situation could be salvaged and that the ROA could be defeated by the end of the year. However, the ROA continued to advance through the north and center of the Principality, and with a massive offensive taking place at the start of March. With the better equipped and better prepared ROA advancing at a rapid pace, the city of Perm finally fell to the ROA on March 13, 1965 after an almost day-long battle. After that, the Imperial armies began to collapse, often fleeing from or immediately surrendering to the Samaran armies. Five days later, on March 18, 1965, the government Principality of Vyatka surrendered to the KONR, with Tsar Vladimir III being placed under arrest by the ROA. After a brief show trial in Vyatka on March 30, the former Tsar, now referred to as Vladimir Kirillovich Romanov, was sentenced to death for “Crimes against the Russian people” and “for upholding the antiquated institution which led Russia to ruin some fifty years ago.” On April 5, 1965, Vladimir Kirillovich Romanov was executed by hanging in the main prison in Vyatka. His body was then cremated and scattered in an unknown location.
With the monarchists taken care of, Vlasov, the KONR and the ROA High Command decided to go after a smaller target, the separatist Republic of Bashkiria. On July 5, 1965, the KONR declared war on Baskiria, once again using the justification of “protecting the Russian population.” After five days of battle over the Baskir capital of Ufa, the city finally fell to the ROA and the government of the Bashkiria finally surrendered to the KONR on July 10. Once again, General Vlasov promised the Bashkirs that they would be equal under the law and that the Muslim religion would be respected. In spite of this, the KONR completely integrated the Bashkir lands into their state without any autonomy and arrested any separatists who spoke out against the government.
After July, 1965, only two warlord states were left to contest the rule over Western Russia; the KONR under General Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov and the West Russian Revolutionary Front under Field Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, which had already conquered the state of Volgoda and the politically unstable and failing democracy of the Republic of Komi. General Vlasov, as well as his inner circle of generals, bureaucrats and politicians, knew that fighting the Red Army would be their greatest challenge. As a result, the ROA spend to the next five months vigorously preparing for the inevitable war that was to come.
In the government of the KONR and the high command of the ROA, there was some debate over whether the ROA should wait for an attack from the Red Army or if the ROA should strike first. Vlasov decided that the ROA should attack the Red Army first and then strike a series of decisive blows against the Red Army. Vlasov and his inner circle of generals decided to attack on New Year’s Eve and into New Year’s Day, when many of the officers of the Red Army would be celebrating the arrival of the New Year and more distracted as a result.
The armies of the ROA shortly before the attack on the Red Army, 1965.
On the night of December 31, 1965, the KONR declared a surprise war on the WRRF with the ROA attacking positions of the Red Army over the border, with the officers and soldiers of the Red Army almost completely caught off guard by the sudden attack of the Vlasovite armies. The war for the fate of Western Russia had begun. On the next day, January 1, 1966, the armies of ROA began to advance into the territory of the WRRF. In spite of this surprise attack, Field Marshall Zhukov was confident, in his words, that “the fascist and collaborationist scum will be beat back by the might of the Red Army.” Yet, this was not to be. On January 9, the old Komi capital of Syktyvkar fell to the ROA. Yet, the Red Army high command in Archangel remained optimistic. Nevertheless, for the rest of January and into February, the ROA continued to advance across the frigid lands of northern Russia, capturing city after city through many fiercely fought and bloody battles in the unforgiving Russian winter, the Red Army making sure the hated ROA paid for every inch of land in blood.
Armies of the ROA outside of of Syktyvkar, 1966.
In spite of the élan of the men of the Red Army, it was not enough to stop the advance of the ROA, which concentrated much of their forces in the west in attempt to reach the WRRF capital of Arkhangelsk. After a long and bloody siege and battle that began on February 11, the city of Arkhangelsk fell to the ROA on February 23, while the strategically important city of Uhkta fell on two days earlier on February 21. With the ROA in control of all of the important cities in the WRRF, with most of the remaining armies of the Red Army in confusion over the fall of Arkhangelsk and with Field Marshall Zhukov forced to evacuate his ravaged and depleted army from the city, he had no choice. On the morning February 24, 1966, outside of Arkhangelsk, Field Marshall Zhukov and General Alexander Altunin surrendered their forces to General Andrey Vlasov and General Sergei Bunychenko. The war was over, and the KONR has unified Western Russia. There are many reasons as to why the WRRF lost the war, but the main reasons were the fact that the armies of the WRRF were severely weakened as a result of both the Great Patriotic War and the First West Russian War and the continued to use most of the same tactics used in the previous conflicts. The ROA, on the other hand, had grown to become a strategically and technologically innovative army, with new strategies developed during the campaigns of 1964 and 1965 and with the creative reverse-engineering and modification of the weapons of the German Wehrmacht.
On the evening of that same day, February 24, 1966, General Vlasov and the government of the KONR proclaimed the establishment of the Provisional Commissariat of Western Russia (Временный комиссариат Западной России/Vremennyy komissariat Zapadnoy Rossii). With the unification of Western Russia and the foundation of the PCWR, reactions from the international community where mixed. The government of the United States of America under President Wallace F. Bennett remained cautiously optimistic about the new West Russian government, but preferred to maintain relations with the Central Siberian Republic under President Andrei Sakharov, as it was a truly Democratic Russian nation without the baggage of having collaborated with the German Reich. The newly re-unified German Reich under Führer Martin Bormann remained radio silent on the matter, but privately Bormann and his government were very worried about a resurgent Russian state on their borders. The Empire of Japan under Prime Minister Masanosuke Ikeda saw a potential ally in the new Russian state and became the first nation to diplomatically recognize the PCWR. Whatever the case, it was clear that a new era in Russian history had begun.
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