Cossacks

Cossack and His Horse

Between October 1944 and April 1945, about 38,000 Cossacks, together with their families — a total of approximately 50,000 people — were transferred by the Nazis to the Friuli Region by train. This territory, intended to become Kosakenland in Nord Italien, had been assigned to them by the Commander of the Wehrmacht, Wilhelm Keitel, in exchange for their assistance in repressing the increasingly strong partisan guerrilla activity against the Third Reich.

The Cossacks, together with other ethnic groups from the USSR, had collaborated with the Nazis during their war of occupation of the Soviet Union (1941–1943) in the fight against Bolshevism. Having opposed Stalin, they were compelled to follow the retreating German army and were incorporated into two divisions of the Wehrmacht.

As a reward for their support, they were promised land elsewhere in Europe, outside Germany. This promise was formally fulfilled on 10 November 1943.

In 1944, two areas of north-eastern Italy — Eastern Friuli (Friuli Orientale), including Nimis, Attimis and Faedis, and the Friulian Alps, known as Carnia — had been proclaimed free zones by partisan guerrillas. Consequently, four Cossack regiments, one of which was based in Tarcento, were deployed in these areas to combat the resistance.

A major problem for the Nazi High Commissioner of the Adriatic Littoral, Odilo Globocnik, was that the Cossack units stationed in Friuli were not as well equipped for modern warfare as expected. While some wore German uniforms with Cossack variations and were adequately armed, many others still donned old Tsarist cavalry uniforms, complete with large busby hats, antiquated pistols, crossed ammunition belts, swords and daggers.

Their arrival was accompanied by long caravans of wagons, following the horses, carrying women, children and the elderly, along with livestock such as cows, goats and even camels. Lacking basic supplies, the Cossacks frequently resorted to looting and pillaging the local population, including the impoverished peasants of villages such as Ravosa.

Kosak Camp in Friulian Farmyard

By 5 May 1945, with Italy occupied by the Allied forces, all Cossacks had fled to the Austrian region of Carinthia. From there, they were forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union and sent to concentration camps in Siberia. Many chose to end their lives by drowning themselves together with their horses in the Drava River rather than face return to Soviet captivity.