Sergei Bunyachenko
Quick Facts
Biography
Sergei Kuzmich Bunyachenko (Russian: Серге́й Кузьмич Буняченко, Ukrainian: Сергій Кузьмич Буняченко; October 5, 1902, Korovyakovka, Kursk Governorate – August 2, 1946, Moscow) was a Soviet Red Army defector to the German side during World War II and a major general in the anti-communist Russian Liberation Army (ROA) movement.
Red Army soldier since 1918 (at the age of 15), Bunyachenko fought during the Russian Civil War in Ukraine, the Basmachi Revolt in Central Asia, and the Soviet-Japanese Border Wars in the Far East. In 1942, during World War II, he was captured in North Caucasus by Romanians. He had the rank of Colonel (Polkovnik) in the Red Army.
In 1943 Bunyachenko agreed to collaborate with the Germans against the Soviet Union, but in May 1945, at the end of the war, he again changed sides and participated in the Prague uprising on the side of Czech resistance. Bunyachenko was captured 40 km south-east of Plzeň by the Soviet 25th Tank Corps and later was hanged for treason along with the other ROA leaders.