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Hitler'S Turkestani Soldiers - A History of the 162nd (Turkistan) Infantry Division (Hardcover)
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Hitler'S Turkestani Soldiers - A History of the 162nd (Turkistan) Infantry Division (Hardcover)
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This is the story of the 162nd (Turkistan) Infantry Division, a
World War II German division composed of Central Asian Turkistanis.
The book covers the political background (pan-Turkism) of the
founders of this unit in German service, debunks some historical
myths surrounding it (the 'Nazi Mysteries') and focuses on the most
crucial events in the history of the division, the Gottschee battle
(Slovenia) and the 'great winter mopping up' (northern Italy).
Pan-Turkish activists were prime movers in organizing Turkistani
military units in German uniform. These men were completely
unrelated to the occultist/esoteric beliefs, followed by some top
Nazi leaders such as Heinrich Himmler or Alfred Rosenberg. The
Pan-Turkish activists recruited the soldiers from Soviet POWs in
Hitler's hands. Not all of the former prisoners were volunteers,
some were forced to join, while a huge number of Soviet soldiers
enlisted in order to survive German captivity (where a large number
of their comrades had died because of ill treatment or starvation.)
Another huge problem was that Pan-Turkism is something different
from Kemalism (Turkish-Anatolian secular and Jacobin nationalism),
the former being the political movement aiming at the political
union of all Turkic-speaking populations. This is why the German
ambassador to Ankara reported that he thought that the Turkish
Government might even be embarrassed by open Pan-Turk propaganda
from Berlin. Despite this, four main Turkish or partially Turkish
units in German uniform were formed. These units were part of
the'Eastern Troops', whose Soviet personnel (Baltics, Slavs,
Caucasians, Turkmen etc) were integrated into the German forces. It
seems that the largest formation of the Eastern Troops in German
service was the 162nd (Turkistan) Infantry Division. The most
crucial event in the history of this formation was the 'great
winter mopping up' (November 1944-January 1945). This operation
(the clearing of Italian partisan independent republics which had
been set up in the Northern Apennine mountains) was the greatest
German anti-partisan action in Western Europe and one of the
greatest anti-partisan operations of World War II. The author
undertook a massive field investigation to determine what happened
in the mountains. He reached the conclusion that the Turkistani
soldiers were victims twice over: as Easterners they were regarded
as inferior beings by their Nazi masters, as non-Communists, they
were regarded as traitors by the Allies. All of this explains why
the life and the fate of these Turkmen was absolutely tragic. The
author presents a detailed textual history accompanied by over 200
rare photographs, including a large number that are previously
unpublished.
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