Our Notes & References

First book edition of these essays, some of which had previously appeared in the ‘Suvorovets’ periodical.

Boris Smyslovskii (sometimes with the pseudonym Arthur Kholmston; 1897-1988) was a Russian-Finnish general, freemason and active anti-communist. He commanded the eastern battalion of the Russian All-Military Union in Warsaw and, in July 1941, formed an Abwehr Training Battalion (a German military-intelligence service) for anti-partisan and warfare duties under the Wehrmacht Army Group North. However, he soon realised that Nazi ideology clashed with his views on the intelligent use of Russian anti-Bolshevik forces and established contacts with Liechtenstein in case he needed asylum at the war’s end.

In March 1945, Smyslovskii’s army was eventually elevated to the 1st Russian National Army, an independent Axis army (headed by Evgenii Messner in the propaganda department). They remained in Liechtenstein, but due to repatriation pressure from the Soviet government, Smyslovskii and many others moved to Argentina. There, he advised President Juan Peron on anti-guerrilla and counter-terrorism operations; he also established the Suvorov Union, an organisation of Russian war veterans for the “deployment of the national struggle”.

This volume mostly focuses on the Union’s activities and develops Smyslovskii’s thoughts on warfare. It also includes memories about Andrei Vlasov, an important Soviet Red Army general, head of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), initially pro-Nazi before eventually turning against. Smyslovskii wasn’t particularly close to Vlasov, but they met a couple of times.

A 14-pp. booklet titled ‘Razbor tragicheskogo manevra’ was published separately the same year and presented as an addendum to this volume.

Provenance

Suvorov Union (ie. the author’s own organisation; ink stamp to second title) ; Avenir Nizoff (a pianist in the second half of the 20th century, living in Edmonton, Canada, who gathered a very large library of Russian works of all kinds, with a strong representation of émigré works).

Bibliography

Andre Savin 30408.