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[BF] Russian Liberation Army

The Russian Liberation Army (ROA) was a Russian unit serving under German command led by Andrey Vlasov. These men mostly consisted of POWs with a smaller amount being made up of people who emigrated from White Russian terrortory including some who participated in the Russian Civil War. This unit shouldn't be confused with Hiwis, who were volunteers from the "Eastern" Regions who were serving in various units in the German army. The ROA did not officially exist until late 1944 after years of pleading by Vlasov and his few supporters in the German military. In Janurary 1945 they were recognized as not being apart of the German military and considered a sepearte force under the command of Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. On Feburary 9th, a small unit of ROA members enganged in combat against Soviet units for the first real time in the units history. However, it wasn't until April 11th that at the insistence of Heinrich Himmler they were deployed en masse at the Oder River as a test of their combat capability. After 3 days the unit was forced to retreat and being so late in the war they were never used by Germans again. While Marching south they decided to assist the Czech partisans during the Prauge uprising, although, Vlasov wasn't totally in favor of it but ultimately went with General Bunyachenko's decision. Along with the Partisans they held off against an SS units assault who were sent there to destroy the city. After this they attempted to surrender to the US army who had zero interest in helping them in any way. The over 1,000 man strong unit that was taken into custody by the US army were handed over to the Soviets with only some exceptions being made as certain officers sympathetic to them allowed small groups to escape. In the end, any ROA member taken into custody were considered traitors and tried as such. Most members were sent to prison camps with Vlasov and his cohorts being hanged. The unit had very little effect on the outcome of the war but is a great example of the morally grey zone a lot foreign units shared who fought for Germany. They fought for and with an evil nation who violated their own home yet were at the same time fighting against an arguably equally evil goverment who violated their homes as well. Their actions can not be condoned, however to some they can't be condemned completely. Hence is the nature of war.

Note: there isn't much reference photos to go off of nor could I find information on their equipment. Being so late in the war and relatively small they were most likely poorly equipped relative to normal German units. Since most of the pictures are propaganda photos which are unreliable to say the least, look at the official footage of German tanks like the king tiger it makes it seem as if there were armies worth of them. I based the loadouts off of photos I consider to be reliable such as reenactors and educational illustrations. There is both a blufor and an Independent verision of the faction so you can recreate both the defense of the Oder or the defense of Prauge with the Czech insurgents against the SS. There will be no vehicles or artillery added in the forseeable future as I would like to focus on other projects and you can just use empty trucks and artillery if you really wanna use vehicles. Please dont turn the comment section into a political debate. im depressed as is, pls dont