HIGH HOPES

After his capture and preliminary interrogations, Vlasov was sent to a special prisoner-of-war camp, at Vinnitsa in the Ukraine, which held other Soviet commanders. Here, Vlasov immediately became involved in political activity.

The Vlasov-Boyarsky Memorandum

As a result of discussions with captured compatriots on the possibility of change within the Soviet Union, Vlasov and Colonel Boyarsky, who had been involved in the Osintorf Brigade and was later to become one of Vlasov's commanders in the Russian Liberation Movement, wrote a memorandum to the German High Command. The Memorandum discussed the situation within the USSR and German attitudes towards the Soviet Union and proposed the formation of a National Russian Army. Dated 3 August 1942, it was written a bare two weeks after Vlasov's arrival at Vinnitsa. The speed of composition undoubtedly reflects the urgency with which the Russians viewed the situation. Every minute was of importance. The letter appears to have taken a further five-and-a-half weeks to pass through the wheels of the German military bureaucracy. This document consists of two pages, approximately 600 words altogether. Its particular interest lies in its being the only extant record containing an accurate, as far as can be ascertained, reflection of Vlasov's own views. All later leaflets, proclamations and appeals were larded with the ideas and advice of others. Since Vlasov was the senior officer, it is more likely that he composed the greater part of the letter.