| 600th (Russian) Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
| German: 600. (russische) Infanterie-Division | |
 RLA chevron | |
| Active | December 1944 – May 1945 |
| Country |  Nazi Germany |
| Branch |  Heer (Wehrmacht) |
| Role | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Engagements | World War II |
The 600th (Russian) Infantry Division was a military division that was formed by the German Army during the World War II. It drew its men from Russian prisoners of war and forced laborers.
The division was established on 1 December 1944 and was also known as the 1st Infantry Division of the Russian Liberation Army. The division was built up in Münsingen and was formally part of the Ersatzheer, the reserve army of the Wehrmacht, during the build-up period. On 28 January 1945, when construction was completed, the command was handed over to the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR), which was granted the status of ally. In Andrey Vlasov, the army of the KONR, the VS KONR, had its own commander-in-chief and thus an independent position with regard to the Wehrmacht.
At the beginning of May the division stopped in the Czech village of Kozojedy, about 50 kilometres east of Prague. Here, Bunyachenko was approached by representatives of the Czech resistance, who prepared an uprising in Prague to expel the Germans from the city. The uprising broke out on May 5 and was assisted by the 1st Division the next day without the knowledge of Vlasov. In the fighting with German troops, around 300 soldiers from the division were killed. Although thanks to the Russians most of the city could be freed, their help aroused the anger of the Czech Communists, who demanded that they surrender to the Red Army.
On 7 May, the division withdrew westward from Prague. The next day Germany capitulated. The division finally tried to surrender to the Americans, who, in spite of international law, extradited the Russians to the Soviet Union, where the soldiers ended up in Gulag camps. Bunyachenko was hanged after a trial, just like the other KONR leaders, on 1 August 1946.
Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov was a Soviet Russian Red Army general. During the Axis-Soviet campaigns of World War II he fought (1941–1942) against the Wehrmacht in the Battle of Moscow and later was captured attempting to lift the siege of Leningrad. After his capture, he defected to the Third Reich and nominally headed the collaborationist Russian Liberation Army, also becoming the political leader of the Russian collaborationist anti-Soviet movement. Initially this army existed only on paper and was used by Germans to goad Red Army troops to surrender, while any political and military activities were officially forbidden to him by the Nazis after his visits to the occupied territory; only in November 1944 did Heinrich Himmler, aware of Germany's shortage of manpower, arrange for Vlasov formations composed of Soviet prisoners of war as armed forces of Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, a political organisation headed by Vlasov. While for the Nazis the ROA was a mere propaganda weapon, Vlasov and his associates attempted to create an armed political movement independent of the Nazi control that would present an anti-Stalinist program described by Robert Conquest as "democratic" while attempting to avoid Nazi antisemitism and chauvinism, with "completing the Revolution" of 1917 being the ultimate goal of the movement. In January 1945, Vlasov headed the army as it was declared that it would be no longer a part of Wehrmacht. At the war's end, the 1st division of ROA aided the May 1945 Prague uprising against the Germans. Vlasov and the ROA were captured by Soviet forces with the United States' assistance. Vlasov was tortured, and hanged for treason after a secret trial.
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 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. In 1944, it became known as the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia.
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