page_title: Bronislav Kaminski
section_title: In Belarus
hierarchical_section_title: Bronislav Kaminski / In Belarus
context_page_description: Bronislav Vladislavovich Stroganof Kaminski was a Russian anti-communist collaborationist and the commander of the S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A., an anti-partisan formation made up of people from the so-called Lokot Autonomy territory in the Nazi Germany occupied areas of Russia, which was later incorporated into the Waffen-SS as the S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A.. Older publications mistakenly give his first name as Mieczyslaw.
context_section_description: After the failure of the German Operation Citadel, Soviet counter offensives forced the brigade to retreat. On July 29, 1943, Kaminski issued orders for the evacuation of the property and families of the RONA brigade and the Lokot authorities. Up to 30 thousand persons (10-11 thousand of them were brigade members) were transferred by the Germans to the Lepel area of Vitebsk in Belarus by the end of August 1943.  The brigade, together with "evacuated" civilians, finally settled in the Lepel area of Vitebsk. This area had active partisans, and the brigade was involved in heavy combat for the rest of the year.
  During the retreat, desertions from the brigade increased greatly, and the entire formation seemed close to disintegration. When the commander of the Second Regiment, Major Tarasov, decided to join the Soviet partisans with all his regiment (he was offered amnesty if his entire regiment joined the partisans), Kaminski flew to his headquarters and according to one account, strangled him and eight others in front of his men. Despite this, up to 200 people deserted within the following two days. By the beginning of October 1943, the brigade had lost two thirds of its personnel, while still in possession of 12 tanks (8 of them T-34s), one 122 mm, three 76 mm and eight 45 mm artillery pieces.
  At the end of 1943, after German withdrawal from Russia to Belarus, local Belarus police, Soviet prisoners of war and convicts freed from prison were incorporated into the brigade. The force became part of the Waffen-SS and was formed as Stormtroopers Brigade "Kaminski". On 27 January 1944, Himmler rewarded Kaminski's "achievements" by decorating him with the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, and on the same day with the Iron Cross, 1st Class.
  On 15 February 1944, Kaminski issued an order for the brigade and Lokot administration to retreat further west to the Dzyatlava area in western Belarus. At this point, the brigade's ranks were replenished by the addition of police forces from Belarus. In March 1944, the brigade was renamed Volksheer-Brigade Kaminski. From 11 April 1944, it was attached to SS-Kampfgruppe von Gottberg, which also included the notorious Dirlewanger unit, and participated in a mass murder and security operations: Regenschauer (up to 7,000 "bandits" reported as killed), Frühlingsfest (7,011 "bandits" reported as killed and 1,065 weapons captured) and Kormoran (7,697 "bandits" reported as killed and 325 weapons captured). During these operations, local civilians were murdered as "suspected partisans" or deported as slave laborers, their villages burnt down.
caption: German operation against Soviet partisans in March 1944
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