Vlasovites all anti-Soviet collaborator troops Vlasov was captured by American troops near Pilsen on May 12, 1945 He was handed over to the Soviets and was hanged in Moscow in August 1946 More is made of General Vlasov in the West than is warranted by the facts of his post–Red Army activities He was far more important in the story of the war before his defection to the Axis side than he was after it See also Hiwis; Osttruppen; Russian Liberation Army; Vlasovites VLASOVITES A Soviet term—notably employed by Smersh—for members of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), but sweeping in members of all collaborationist bands used by the Germans in antipartisan activity In fact, most accused “Vlasovites” had nothing to with General Andrei A Vlasov, whose ROA was redeployed to Western Europe in mid-1943, before returning to the east in late 1944 Vlasovites were usually members of criminal gangs or local nationalists opposed to Soviet rule who collaborated with the Germans Some came from small guerrilla bands who sought independence from either side by living an anarchic, but free, life in the woods or swamps of the western Soviet Union Some were still active in the woods and mountains long after the official end of the war VLR (VERY LONG RANGE) AIRCRAFT VLR aircraft equipped with radar were developed by the Western Allies and helped make operations very difficult for U-boats previously immune to aircraft attack in the Atlantic air gaps Western leaders at the Casablanca Conference (January 14–24, 1943) made a firm commitment of VLR aircraft to the Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945), with new production of B-24s dedicated in the first instance to naval needs By the end of 1943 the RAF, RCAF, USN, and USAAF were each operating B-24 VLR squadrons over the Atlantic The United States operated other VLF squadrons in the Pacific, though more against the Imperial Japanese Navy’s surface ships and the Japanese merchant marine than against IJN submarines See also anti-submarine warfare; Black Pitt VOIVODINA Once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this small region was ceded to Yugoslavia in the Treaty of Trianon (1919) It was attached to Serbia as an “autonomous region” in prewar Yugoslavia During the war Hungary occupied and annexed Voivodina It was returned to Yugoslavia at the end of the war VOLGA GERMANS Ethnic Germans who lived for centuries in the territory of Imperial Russia, then of the Soviet Union before World War II Joseph Stalin condemned them collectively as a suspect population Over million were internally deported from August to October 1941 They were the first of many non-Russian ethnic groups to be treated that way VOLGA LINE A deep rear “strategic echelon,” or line of defense Joseph Stalin ordered its preparation during the catastrophic twin defeats of the Red Army 1144