White cotton backing, printed shield of green, red, with the blue cross of St. George with swords and “POHA” in yellow lettering.
Unissued and eceedindly rare.
The Russian Liberation People’s Army (Русская освободительная народная армия, Ruskaya osvoboditelnaya narodnaya armiya, abbreviated as RONA) was established in late 1941 as an auxiliary police force with around 200 personnel. By mid-1943, it had expanded to 10,000–12,000 men, equipped with Soviet tanks and artillery captured by the Germans. Led by Bronislav Kaminski, the unit was initially called the Russian People’s Liberation Army (Русская освободительная народная армия), and it became a semi-independent militia. In 1942, Kaminski enforced a forced mobilization of local civilians into his militia, transforming it into a regular fighting force within the Lokot Autonomy, a self-proclaimed “republic” under Nazi control, and a private army that answered directly to him.
After the German defeat at the Battle of Kursk in August 1943, RONA retreated to the Byelorussian region, particularly around the Lepel area in Vitebsk. There, they participated in security operations alongside German forces, committing numerous atrocities against the local civilian population. In June 1944, RONA was formally incorporated into the Waffen-SS. Following the Soviet counteroffensive in Operation Bagration (June to August 1944), the remnants of the Kaminski unit retreated further west. By the end of July 1944, between 3,000 and 4,000 men (some sources estimate up to 6,000 or 7,000) regrouped at the SS training camp at Neuhammer (now Świętoszów). Using the Kaminski unit as a base, SS leaders planned to form the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS RONA (1st Russian).