One of the forms of armed struggle of the Soviet people against the enemy was the partisan movement. The program for its deployment was contained in the directive of the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated June 29, 1941. Soon, on July 18, the Central Committee adopted a special resolution “On the organization of the fight in the rear of German troops.” These documents gave instructions on the preparation of the party underground, on the organization, recruitment and arming of partisan detachments, and also formulated the tasks of the movement.
The scope of the partisan struggle was largely predetermined by the scale of the occupied territory of the USSR. Despite the measures taken to evacuate the population to the eastern regions of the country, over 60 million people, or about 33% of the pre-war population, were forced to remain in territory occupied by the enemy.
Initially, the Soviet leadership (L.P. Beria) relied on regular partisan formations, formed with the participation and under the leadership of the NKVD. The most famous was the “Winners” detachment, commander D.N. Medvedev. He operated in the Smolensk, Oryol and Mogilev regions, and then in Western Ukraine. The detachment included athletes, NKVD workers (including intelligence officers), proven local personnel. Member of the squad, scout N.I. Kuznetsov, fluent in German language, with documents addressed to Oberleutnant Paul Sieber, conducted intelligence activities in Rivne: he obtained valuable intelligence information, destroyed the chief judge of Ukraine Funk, the imperial adviser to the Reichskommissariat of Ukraine Gell and his secretary, the vice-governor of Galicia Bauer.
At the head of the local partisan movement were, as a rule, the chairmen of the regional, city and district executive committees of the party, as well as the secretaries of the regional, city and district Komsomol committees. General strategic leadership of the partisan movement was carried out by the Supreme Command Headquarters. Direct interaction with detachments on the ground is the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (TSSHPD). It was created by the decision of the State Defense Committee on May 30, 1942, and operated until January 1944. The head of the Central Shpd was P.K. Ponomarenko, who had been the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus since 1938. The TsShPD was supposed to establish contact with partisan formations, direct and coordinate their actions, supply weapons, ammunition, medicines, train personnel and carry out interaction between the partisans and units of the regular army.
Of particular importance among the headquarters of the partisan movement was the Ukrainian headquarters, which since 1943 was directly subordinate to the Supreme Command Headquarters. In Ukraine, even before the occupation of its territory by the Nazis, 883 detachments and over 1,700 sabotage and reconnaissance groups were prepared for the deployment of the partisan movement. The center of concentration of the partisan forces of Ukraine was the Spadshchansky forest, where the Putivl detachment under the command of S. A. Kovpak was based. During the war years, he covered over 10 thousand km in raids, defeating enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. At the same time, Kovpak’s detachment absorbed a number of other partisan groups, for example, the 2nd Putivl detachment under the command of S.V. Rudneva. In 1941, over 28 thousand fighters fought in partisan detachments in Ukraine. On May 1, 1942, the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine had information about 766 partisan formations and 613 sabotage and reconnaissance groups. The Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, created in 1942, was headed by T.A. Strokam, who held the position of Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR from March 1941, and then led the formation of destruction battalions. By the end of 1943 the total number of partisans in the republic was about 300 thousand people, and by the end of the war, according to official data, it reached the figure of 500 thousand people. Among the leaders of the partisan movement in Ukraine, in addition to S.A. Kovpak and S.V. Rudneva, A.F. stood out. Fedorov (since 1938, he was the first secretary of the Chernigov regional committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine) and P.P. Vershigora. The fight against the Nazis also gained wide scope on the territory of Belarus, where it was led by V.Z. Korzh, T.P. Bumazhkov, F.I. Pavlovsky and other famous party workers.
In total, during the war, there were more than 6 thousand partisan detachments behind enemy lines, in which over 1 million people fought. During the operations, the partisans destroyed, captured and wounded 1 million fascists, disabled 4 thousand tanks and armored vehicles, 65 thousand cars, 1100 aircraft, destroyed and damaged 1600 railway bridges, derailed 20 thousand trains.
A meeting of senior officials of the People's Commissariat of Defense and the Central Shpd with representatives of underground party bodies, commanders and commissars of large partisan formations played a major role in the development of the partisan movement. The meeting was held on behalf of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks at the end of August and beginning of September 1942. Based on its results, the order of the People's Commissar of Defense Stalin dated September 5, 1942 “On the tasks of the partisan movement” was formulated.
The main target of the partisans' combat activities were communications, especially railways. For the first time in the history of wars, a number of large operations were carried out centrally to disable enemy communications over a large territory, which were closely related to the actions of regular army units. From August 3 to September 15, 1943, Operation Rail War was carried out in the occupied territory of the RSFSR, Belarus and part of Ukraine to assist units of the Soviet Army in completing the defeat of German troops in the Battle of Kursk. On the ground, areas and objects of action were assigned to each of the 167 partisan formations planned for this. The partisans were provided with explosives, mine-detonating equipment, and demolition specialists were sent to them. The partisans of Belarus derailed 761 enemy trains, Ukraine - 349, Smolensk region - 102. As a result of the operation, the Mogilev-Krichev, Polotsk-Dvinsk, Mogilev-Zhlobin highways were not operational throughout August. On other railways, traffic was often delayed for 3-15 days. The actions of the partisans significantly complicated the regrouping and supply of retreating enemy troops.
The experience of the "Rail War" was used in another operation, code-named "Concert", carried out from September 19 to the end of October 1943. 193 partisan formations from Belarus, the Baltic states, Leningrad and Kalinin regions took part in it. The length of the operation along the front was about 900 km, and in depth 400 km. Its implementation was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and the battle for the Dnieper.
As a result of partisan operations in 1943 throughput railways decreased by 35-40%, which led to the disruption of the enemy’s plans to accumulate material resources and concentrate troops. In addition, the Germans were forced to use large forces to protect the railways, and their length in the occupied territory of the USSR was 37 thousand km. In the summer campaign of 1942 alone, partisan actions were distracted by 24 enemy divisions, 15 of which were constantly engaged in protecting communications.
During the war years, partisan regions and zones were created in the occupied territory of the USSR - territories in the rear of German troops, where the organs of Soviet power were restored, collective farms, local industrial enterprises, cultural, social, medical and other institutions were recreated. Such regions and zones existed in Kalinin, Smolensk and other regions of the RSFSR, in Belarus, and in the north-west of Ukraine. In the spring of 1942 there were 11 of them, and later this number constantly increased. In the partisan region in the Bryansk region, there were up to 21 thousand partisans.
The partisans actively prevented large groups of the population from being sent to Germany for forced labor. In the Leningrad region alone, attempts to hijack 400 thousand Soviet citizens were prevented. It is no coincidence that the Nazi authorities in the occupied territory, as well as the military command, waged an active fight against the partisans. Thus, in one of the districts of the Leningrad region, for the capture of the “partisan leader” Mikhail Romanov, the fascist authorities set a reward of “6 cows or 6 hectares of arable land, or half of both.” In addition to this, the local commandant promised “30 packs of shag and 10 liters of vodka.” For the dead partisan, “half the specified reward” was promised.
Village residents who knew about the whereabouts of the partisans and did not report it were threatened with charges of “banditry” and execution. In a number of cases, the Nazis tried to create “self-defense units” from peasants, which were supposed to, armed with axes, knives and clubs, “destroy the attacking gangs,” that is, partisans.
The interaction of the partisans with units of the regular army was extremely important. In 1941, during the defensive battles of the Red Army, this was expressed mainly in reconnaissance. However, in the spring of 1943, the systematic development of plans using partisan forces began. The most striking example of effective interaction between partisans and units of the Soviet Army was the Belarusian operation of 1944, codenamed “Bagration”. In it, a powerful group of Belarusian partisans was, in essence, one of the fronts, coordinating its actions with four other advancing fronts of the regular army.
The activities of the partisans during the Great Patriotic War were highly appreciated. More than 127 thousand of them were awarded the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" of the 1st and 2nd degree; over 184 thousand were awarded other medals and orders, and 249 people became Heroes Soviet Union, and S.A. Kovpak and A.F. Fedorov - twice.
). The republican and regional headquarters of the partisan movement, which were headed by secretaries or members of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the republics, regional committees and regional committees, were operationally subordinate to the central headquarters. The creation of headquarters of the partisan movement with clear functions and improved communications with the “Mainland” gave the partisan movement an increasingly organized character, ensured greater coordination of the actions of the partisan forces and contributed to improving their interaction with the troops.
The composition and organization of partisan formations, despite their diversity, had many similarities. The main tactical unit was a detachment, usually numbering several dozen people (mostly NKVD employees), and later up to 200 or more fighters. During the war, many detachments were united into formations (brigades) numbering from several hundred to several thousand people. Light weapons predominated in armament (machine guns, light machine guns, rifles, carbines, grenades), but many detachments and formations had mortars and heavy machine guns, and some had artillery. All persons who joined partisan formations took the partisan oath; Strict military discipline was established in the detachments.
In 1941-1942, the mortality rate among groups abandoned by the NKVD behind enemy lines was 93%. For example, in Ukraine, from the beginning of the war until the summer of 1942, the NKVD prepared and left 2 partisan regiments, 1,565 partisan detachments and groups with a total number of 34,979 people for operations in the rear, and by June 10, 1942, only 100 groups remained in contact. Which showed the ineffectiveness of the work of large units, especially in the steppe zone. By the end of the war, the mortality rate in partisan detachments was about 10%.
The forms of organization of partisan forces and the methods of their actions were influenced by physical and geographical conditions. Vast forests, swamps, and mountains were the main basing areas for partisan forces. Here partisan regions and zones arose where they could be widely used various ways struggle, including open battles with the enemy. In the steppe regions, large formations operated successfully only during raids. The small detachments and groups that were constantly stationed here usually avoided open clashes with the enemy and caused damage to him mainly through sabotage.
The most important directions of the struggle behind enemy lines were formulated in the order of the People's Commissar of Defense I.V. Stalin dated September 5, 1942 “On the tasks of the partisan movement.”
Elements of guerrilla warfare
Poster from 1941
In the tactics of partisan actions during the Great Patriotic War, the following elements can be distinguished:
- Sabotage activities, destruction of the enemy’s infrastructure in any form (rail war, destruction of communication lines, high-voltage lines, poisoning and destruction of water pipelines, wells, etc.).
- Intelligence activities, including undercover activities.
- Political activity and Bolshevik propaganda.
- Combat assistance.
- Destruction of enemy personnel.
- Elimination of collaborators and heads of the Nazi administration.
- Restoration and preservation of elements of Soviet power in the occupied territories.
- Mobilization of the combat-ready population remaining in the occupied territory and the unification of the remnants of the encircled military units.
Territory of Belarus
From the very beginning, the Soviet government attaches exceptional importance to Belarus for the implementation and development of guerrilla warfare. The main factors contributing to this are geographical position republic, with its forest wilds and swamps, and strategic location to the West of Moscow.
Territory of Ukraine
Following Belarus, Ukraine is the first and most affected republic after the invasion of the USSR in the summer - autumn of 1941. The consequences for Ukraine and for the population that remained under occupation for a long time were devastating. The Nazi regime is making attempts to exploit anti-Soviet sentiments among Ukrainians. Despite the fact that initially some Ukrainians welcomed the Germans, the Nazi leadership took harsh measures against the population: they systematically deported the local population to Germany as forced labor and pursued a policy of genocide against the Jews. Under these conditions, the overwhelming majority of the population, having changed their views, was opposed to the Nazis, and therefore the partisan movement developed in the occupied territories, which in many places, however, was not pro-Soviet.
Territory of Russia
In the Bryansk region, Soviet partisans controlled vast territories in the German rear. In the summer of 1942, they actually exercised control over a territory of over 14,000 square kilometers. The Bryansk Partisan Republic was formed. The main struggle in this area was waged by the partisans not against the German occupiers, but against the anti-Bolshevik-minded population of the Lokot Republic. The detachments of Soviet partisans with a total number of more than 60,000 people in the region were led by Alexey Fedorov, Alexander Saburov and others. In the Belgorod, Oryol, Kursk, Novgorod, Leningrad, Pskov and Smolensk regions there was also active partisan activity during the occupation. In the Oryol and Smolensk regions, partisan detachments were led by Dmitry Medvedev. In 1943, after the Red Army began liberating western Russia and northeastern Ukraine, many partisan units, including units led by Fedorov, Medvedev and Saburov, were ordered to continue their operations in the territory of central and western Ukraine, which still remained occupied by the Nazis.
Baltic territory
Soviet partisans also operated in the Baltic states. In Estonia - under the leadership of Nikolai Karotamma. The detachments and groups that operated in Estonia were very small. In Latvia, partisan detachments were initially subordinated to the commanders of Russian and Belarusian detachments, and from January 1943, directly to the center in Moscow under the leadership of Arthur Sprogis. Another prominent partisan commander was Vilis Samson. The detachments he led, numbering about 3,000 people, were responsible for the destruction of about 130 German trains.
Jewish partisan units
On the territory of the Soviet Union, over fifteen thousand Jews fought against the Nazis in underground organizations and partisan detachments. Jewish partisan units were created by those Jews who fled ghettos and camps to escape extermination by the Nazis. Many of the organizers of the Jewish detachments had previously been members of underground organizations in the ghetto.
One of the main goals that the Jewish partisans set for themselves was to save the remnants of the Jewish population. Family camps were often created near partisan bases, in which refugees from the ghetto, including women, old people and children, found refuge. Many Jewish units fought for months, suffered heavy losses, but were eventually destroyed along with the neighboring family camps.
Jewish partisans could not, if necessary, mix with the surrounding population and take advantage of their support. Jewish partisans could not receive support from the Jewish population locked in the ghetto.
Some Jewish detachments became part of the partisan formations. Among the detachments of Jewish partisans created by members of underground organizations and fugitives from the ghettos and camps of Lithuania, the most successful were those from the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas. Jewish partisans under the command of A. Kovner took part in the liberation of Vilnius from Nazi occupation (July 1944). One of the leaders of the partisan movement in Lithuania was G. Zimanas (Jurgis, 1910–85).
In the forests of Belarus, as part of the general partisan movement, separate Jewish detachments operated, but over time they partially turned into detachments of mixed national composition. The Jewish partisan detachment named after Kalinin, created by the Belsky brothers, is known. There were 1.2 thousand people in the Belsky camp, mainly those who fled from the Novogrudok region. A group of fugitives from the Minsk ghetto led by Sh. Zorin (1902–74) created another family camp (detachment No. 106), numbering about 800 Jews. In the Derechin area, a detachment was formed under the command of Doctor I. Atlas, in the Slonim area - the Shchors 51 detachment; in the Kopyl area, Jews who fled from the Nesvizh ghetto and two other ghettos created a detachment “Zhukov”, Jews from the Dyatlovo area - a detachment under the command of Ts. Kaplinsky (1910–42). Fighters from the Bialystok ghetto and underground fighters from surrounding cities and towns created the Jewish partisan detachment “Kadima” and several other small partisan groups.
In Western Ukraine, during the mass extermination of the Jewish population in the summer of 1942, numerous armed groups of Jewish youth were formed, hiding in the forests and mountains of Volyn. 35–40 such groups (about one thousand fighters) independently fought against the occupiers until they joined the Soviet partisan movement at the end of 1942. M. Gildenman (“Uncle Misha”, died in 1958) formed a Jewish detachment in partisan unit A Saburova; Jewish groups “Sofievka” and “Kolki” joined S. Kovpak’s union; several Jewish detachments joined the partisan formations of V. Begma. In total, about 1.9 thousand Jews took part in the partisan movement in Volyn.
It is known that Jewish partisan groups operated in the areas of the cities of Tarnopol, Borshchev, Chortkov, Skalat, Bolekhov, Tlumach and others. In the partisan unit of S. Kovpak, during his raid in the Carpathians (late summer 1943), a Jewish detachment was created, commanded by Jews from the Sofievka and Kolki groups.
Relations with civilians
The civilian population and partisans often provided assistance to each other. The attitude of the local population towards Soviet partisans in different regions was one of the main factors in the success of the partisans.
However, in a number of cases, the partisans used violence against the local population.
In the course of working on the book-document “I am from the burning sky...”, Belarusian writers and publicists Ales Adamovich, Yanka Bryl and Vladimir Kolesnik, during a survey, received testimony from Vera Petrovna Sloboda, a teacher from the village of Dubrovy near the village of Osveya, Vitebsk region, about punitive actions of a partisan detachment under the command of Kalaijan Vagram Pogosovich, during which civilians who did not want to leave the village before the arrival of German troops were killed. Eighty people were killed and the village was burned.
On April 14, 1943, partisans attacked the village of Drazhno in the Starodorozhsky district of Belarus. The village was burned almost completely, most of the inhabitants were killed. . According to other sources, a large German garrison was located in Drazhno, which was destroyed during a partisan operation.
On May 8, 1943, partisans attacked the stronghold of the city of Naliboki, 120 km from Minsk. They killed 127 civilians, including children, burned buildings and stole almost 100 cows and 70 horses.
Bogdan Musial, writing in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, claimed that according to a report from “a high-ranking Red Army officer” made in June 1943, near Minsk, the civilian population was terrorized by Bati’s partisan detachment. In particular, on April 11, 1943 they
“They shot innocent families of partisans in the village of Sokochi: a woman with a 12-year-old son, whose second partisan son died earlier, as well as the wife of one partisan and her two children - two and five years old.”
In addition, according to Musial, partisans of the Frunze detachment, operating north of Minsk, carried out a punitive operation, during which they shot 57 people, including infants.
False partisans
There were cases when the Nazis, in order to discredit the partisan movement, created punitive detachments (usually from Russian collaborators), who pretended to be Soviet partisans and committed murders of civilians.
In June 1943, Ponomarenko ordered the partisans to stop negotiating with the AK and quietly liquidate the AK leaders or hand them over to the Germans. He ordered: “You don’t have to be shy in your choice of means. The operation must be carried out widely and smoothly.”
In December 1943 and February 1944, Captain Adolf Pilch (pseudonym “Gura”), commander of one of the AK detachments, met in Stolbtsy with SD and Wehrmacht officers asking for urgent assistance. He was allocated 18 thousand units of ammunition, food and uniforms. In September 1943 - August 1944, the "Gury" detachment did not conduct a single battle with the Germans, while it fought 32 battles with the Belarusian partisans. His example was followed by Andrzej Kutzner (“Maly”), until, by order of the AK district headquarters, he was transferred to the Oshmyany district. In February 1944, SS Obersturmbannführer Strauch reported in his report: “The collaboration with the Belopol bandits continues. A detachment of 300 people. in Rakov and Ivenets he turned out to be very useful. Negotiations with Ragner's (Stefan Zajonczkowski) gang of one thousand people have been completed. Ragner's gang pacifies the territory between the Neman and the Volkovysk-Molodechno railway, between Mosty and Ivye. Contacts have been established with other Polish gangs.”
The commander of the Nadnemansky unit of the Lida district of the AK, Lieutenant Yuzev Svida (Vileyka region), also collaborated with the occupiers. In the summer of 1944, in the Shchuchin region, Polish legionnaires took control of the towns of Zheludok and Vasilishki, where they replaced German garrisons. For the needs of fighting partisans, the Germans provided them with 4 cars and 300 thousand cartridges.
Some AK units showed great cruelty towards the civilian population, who were suspected of sympathizing with the partisans. Legionnaires burned their houses, stole livestock, robbed and killed the families of the partisans. In January 1944, they shot the wife and child of partisan N. Filipovich, killed and burned the remains of six members of the D. Velichko family in the Ivenets district.
In 1943, in the Ivenets region, a detachment of the 27th Lancer regiment of the Stolbtsy AK unit of the AK Zdislav Nurkevich (pseudonym “Night”), which numbered 250 people, terrorized civilians and attacked partisans. The commander of the partisan detachment named after them was killed. Frunze I.G. Ivanov, head of the special department P.N. Guba, several soldiers and the commissar of the detachment named after. Furmanova P.P. Danilin, three partisans of the brigade named after. Zhukova and others. In November 1943, 10 Jewish partisans from Sholom Zorin’s detachment became victims of the conflict between Soviet partisans and Nurkevich’s lancers. On the night of November 18, they prepared food for the partisans in the village of Sovkovshchizna, Ivenetsky district. One of the peasants complained to Nurkevich that “the Jews are robbing.” AK soldiers surrounded the partisans and opened fire, after which they took away 6 horses and 4 carts of the partisans. The partisans who tried to return the property to the peasants were disarmed and, after bullying, were shot. In response, on December 1, 1943, the partisans disarmed Nurkevich’s detachment. Soviet troops decided to disarm the Kmitsa detachment (400 people) and avenge Zorin.
In 1943, an AK detachment operated against partisans in the area of Nalibokskaya Pushcha. During night checks of farmsteads by partisans, it turned out that male Poles were often absent. The commander of the partisan brigade, Frol Zaitsev, said that if, during the repeated check, the Polish men were away from their families, the partisans would regard this as an attempt at resistance. The threat did not help and farms near the villages of Nikolaevo, Malaya and Bolshaya Chapun in the Ivenets district were burned by partisans.
In the Vilna region in 1943, the partisans lost 150 people in clashes with the AK. killed and wounded, and 100 people. missing.
A telegram dated July 4, 1944 from London indicated that as the front approached, AK commanders were obliged to offer military cooperation to the Soviet side. In the summer of 1944, AK units began asking partisans for a truce and reported their readiness to turn their weapons against the Germans. However, the partisans did not believe them and viewed this as a military trick. Nevertheless, these proposals sounded more and more insistent. On June 27, the commander of the Iskra partisan detachment in the Baranovichi region reported to the command of his brigade that he had received an appeal from the AK from Novogrudok, which, in particular, said that the Poles always wanted to be in friendship with the “blooded and large Slavic people”, which was “mutually the shed blood shows us the way to mutual agreement." In the Lida region, the proposal for a military alliance was transferred to the command of the brigade named after. Kirov, in the Bialystok region, to the secretary of the underground regional committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) Samutin.
The first meeting took place on September 1-3, 1942 in the village of Staraya Guta, Ludviopol district. From the detachment of NKVD Colonel D.N. Medvedev, 5 officers arrived at the meeting, led by Colonel Lukin and Captain Brezhnev, who were guarded by 15 machine gunners. From the other side, 5 people also arrived: Bulba-Borovets, Shcherbatyuk, Baranivsky, Rybachok and Pilipchuk.
Colonel Lukin conveyed greetings from the Soviet government and, in particular, the government of the Ukrainian SSR. He spoke approvingly of the already well-known actions of the UPA-Bulba against Hitler, and emphasized that the actions could be more effective if they were coordinated with the General Staff of the USSR. Specifically it was proposed:
- Amnesty for all participants of the Ukrainian formations of T. Bulba-Borovets.
- Stop mutual clashes.
- Coordinate military actions with Headquarters in Moscow.
- Political issues will be resolved in further negotiations.
- Undertake a general armed uprising against the Germans in the rear. To begin with, carry out a series of actions against German high ranks with the aim of destroying them, in particular organizing the murder of Koch, which would be a signal for a general uprising.
Bulba-Borovets and his delegation promised to consider the proposals and give a response soon. Colonel Lukin was pleased with the meeting. However, from the very beginning, both sides understood that the negotiations had little chance of success due to the complexity of the issues involved and especially political contradictions, because like the OUN, Bulba-Borovets stood for the complete independence of Ukraine, which was categorically unacceptable for Moscow.
Topic: Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War
Introduction
1. Organization of the partisan movement
2. Activities of partisan detachments
3. Methods of waging guerrilla warfare
4. Intelligence activities of partisans
4.1. Combat activities of the underground
5. War “for life and death”
5.1. Berdsk residents who participated in the partisan movement
Conclusion
Literature
INTRODUCTION
The Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany went down in history as a heroic feat of the entire Soviet people.
From the very first days of the war, partisan detachments and subversive groups of Soviet patriots arose on the territory of the USSR temporarily occupied by the enemy. These were commanders, political workers and soldiers of the Soviet Army who were surrounded and did not make it through the front line to their troops, or Soviet soldiers who escaped from captivity. Thousands of workers, collective farmers and office workers joined the partisan detachments. The people's war against Hitler's barbarians expanded.
History has never known such a scale of a nationwide movement. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet people took part in this movement in Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, Oryol, Smolensk, Kaliningrad, Leningrad and other regions. By the end of 1943, over a million Soviet people were engaged in partisan warfare against the Nazi occupiers.
The people's war against the fascists developed in a wide variety of forms. The partisans disrupted the activities carried out by the invaders to procure agricultural products, prevented the invaders from restoring and opening factories, and did not allow the fascists to drive Soviet people into slavery. The people's avengers attacked enemy garrisons, exterminated occupiers, traitors to the people, accomplices and henchmen of the enemy. They blew up bridges, trains and bridges, damaged communications, destroyed military bases and warehouses with weapons and ammunition, demoralized the enemy rear and pinned down large forces of the invaders.
One of the characteristic features of the partisan movement in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. - this is his national character.
1. Organization of the partisan movement
The partisan struggle began from the very first days of the attack of Nazi Germany on our country. June 29, 1941 The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks sent a directive to the party and Soviet organizations of the front-line regions, which, along with the general tasks of the Soviet government in the Great Patriotic War, contained a specific program for the deployment of partisan warfare. “In areas occupied by the enemy,” the directive said, “to create partisan detachments and sabotage groups to fight units of the enemy army, to incite partisan warfare, to blow up bridges, roads, damage telephone and telegraph communications, set fire to warehouses, etc.” This document gave instructions on the preparation of the party underground, the organization, recruitment and arming of partisan detachments, and determined the main tasks of the partisan movement. “The task is,” it said, “to create unbearable conditions for the German interventionists... to disrupt all their activities.” The Central Committee of the Party demanded that “this entire struggle receive the scope of direct, broad and heroic support of the Red Army fighting German fascism at the front.”
During 1941 In the territory captured by the enemy, 18 underground regional committees, more than 260 district committees, city committees, district committees and other underground party bodies, a large number of primary party organizations and groups, launched their work. Under their leadership, the process of creating and strengthening partisan forces took place.
The main form of struggle of the Russian people against the fascist invaders in the temporarily occupied territory of the USSR was the armed actions of partisans and underground fighters. The partisan movement unfolded throughout the occupied territory and had a scale and effectiveness unprecedented in history. During the war, over 1 million partisans and an army of thousands of underground fighters operated behind enemy lines. They were actively supported by tens of millions of Soviet patriots. Workers, peasants and intellectuals, people of different ages, men and women, representatives of various nationalities of the USSR and some other countries took part in the partisan movement. Soviet partisans and underground fighters destroyed, wounded and captured about 1 million fascists and their accomplices, disabled over 4 thousand tanks and armored vehicles, destroyed and damaged 1,600 railway bridges, and caused over 20 thousand train crashes.
The overall strategic leadership of the armed struggle of the partisan forces was carried out by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, which determined the main tasks of the partisans at each stage of the war and in individual strategic operations and organized the interaction of the partisans with Soviet Army. Direct strategic management of the combat activities of the partisans was carried out by the Center, the headquarters of the partisan movement created on May 30, 1942. and existed until the beginning of 1944.
The central headquarters was operationally subordinate to the republican and regional headquarters, which were headed by secretaries or members of the communist parties of the republics, regional committees and regional committees: in Ukraine - T. A. Strokach, in Belarus - P. Z. Kalinin, in Lithuania - A. Yu. Snechkus, in Latvia - A.K. Sprogis, in Estonia - N.G. Karotamm, in Karelia - S.Ya. Vershinin, in the Leningrad region - M.N. Nikitin, in the Oryol region - A.P. Matveev, in In the Smolensk region - D. M. Popov, in the Stavropol Territory - M. A. Suslov, in the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - V. S. Bulatov and others. The headquarters of the P. D. were also subordinate to the Military Councils of the corresponding fronts. In cases where several fronts operated on the territory of a republic or region, representative offices or operational groups of republican and regional headquarters were created under their Military Councils, which, while supervising the combat activities of the partisans in the zone of a given front, were subordinate to the corresponding headquarters of the partisan movement and the Military Council of the front. Strengthening the leadership of the partisan movement went along the lines of improving communications between the partisans and the “Mainland”, improving the forms of operational and strategic leadership, and improving the planning of combat activities. If in the summer of 1942. Only about 30% of the partisan detachments registered at the headquarters of the partisan movement had radio contact with the “Mainland”, then in November 1943. almost 94% of the detachments maintained radio contact with the leadership. The creation of headquarters of the partisan movement with clear functions and improved communications with the “Mainland” gave the partisan movement an increasingly organized character, ensured greater coordination of the actions of the partisan forces and contributed to improving their interaction with the troops.
Much attention was paid to the systematic supply of partisans with weapons, ammunition, mine-explosive equipment, medicines, etc., and the evacuation by air of the seriously wounded and sick to the “Mainland”. In 1943 Long-range aviation and the Civil Air Fleet alone carried out over 12 thousand sorties behind enemy lines (half of them with landings at partisan airfields and sites).
The high saturation of the Nazi armies with military equipment and their great maneuverability made it difficult for the party to conduct open battles. This prompted the development of means that made it possible to disable enemy targets without engaging in a collision with him. Various methods and forms of guerrilla warfare emerged, including sabotage actions that acquired particular importance.
The forms of organization of partisan forces and the methods of their actions were influenced by physical and geographical conditions. Vast forests, swamps, and mountains were the main basing areas for partisan forces. Here partisan regions and zones arose where various methods of struggle could be widely used, including open battles with the enemy.
In a number of regions of the Baltic states, Moldova, the southern part of Western Ukraine, which only in 1939-40. became part of the USSR, the Nazis managed, through bourgeois nationalists, to spread their influence over certain segments of the population. Therefore, large partisan formations could not be based in one area for a long time and acted mainly in raids. The small partisan detachments and underground organizations that existed here carried out mainly sabotage and reconnaissance actions and political work.
Guerrilla detachments and groups, depending on the situation, were organized both before the enemy occupied a certain area and during the occupation. Often, destroyer battalions, created in front-line areas to destroy spies and saboteurs abandoned by the enemy, took over the position of partisan detachments. Often, partisan formations were grouped from military personnel and security officers with a wide influx of local population into their ranks. During the war, it was widely practiced to send organizing groups behind enemy lines, on the basis of which partisan detachments and even large formations were created. Such groups played a particularly important role in the western regions of the country, where, due to the surprise of the enemy’s attack and its rapid advance deep into our territory, local party bodies did not have time to complete the necessary work to develop the partisan movement.
2. Activities of partisan detachments
When determining the main object of combat activity of the partisans, the Supreme High Command took into account the great importance of vehicles and communications in the war. The enormous length of communication routes and the difficulty of protecting them made it possible for partisans to disrupt the enemy’s railway, water, and road transport. Communications, especially railways, became the main object of partisan combat activity, which in its scope acquired strategic importance. For the first time in the history of wars, the partisans carried out, according to a single plan, a series of large operations to disable enemy railway communications over a large territory, which were closely related in time and turnover to the actions of the Soviet Armed Forces and reduced the throughput railway by 35-40%. This thwarted the enemy’s plans to accumulate material resources and concentrate troops and seriously hampered regroupings.
The enemy was forced to divert large forces to guard the railway, the length of which in the occupied territory was 37 thousand km. As the experience of the war has shown, to organize even weak security of a railway, 1 battalion is needed for every 100 km, for strong security - 1 regiment, and sometimes (for example, in the summer of 1943 in the Leningrad region), the Nazis were forced, due to the active actions of partisans, to allocate for the protection of each 100 km up to 2 regiments.
During the war, partisan attacks constantly intensified not only against communications, but also against garrisons, commandant's offices, police institutions, rear units and enemy units. So, if in 1942 Leningrad partisans carried out 8 attacks on garrisons and 50 on enemy warehouses, then in 1943. they destroyed 94 garrisons and 111 warehouses. Ukrainian partisans in 1943 defeated 292 enemy garrisons (8 times more than in 1942) and 506 warehouses (4.5 times more).
In Belarus, in the Bryansk forests, in Leningrad and other regions, “partisan regions” were created, which were support bases for formations of people’s avengers.
At the height of the Soviet offensive in the summer of 1943, partisans launched the so-called “rail” war, disabling railway lines behind enemy lines.
The partisan forces have increased so much that they have already begun to carry out raids on large enemy garrisons. So, at the end of August 1942. Belarusian partisans captured and held the city of Mozyr in their hands for more than two days; in September they liberated the regional center of the Vitebsk region, Rossony. In 1943 Crimean partisans defeated a large enemy garrison in the city of Old Crimea, numbering up to 1,300 people. In 1943 The partisans often carried out simultaneous attacks on several populated areas with large forces consisting of several detachments and formations. Such operations dispersed enemy forces, increased the effectiveness of raids and had a great impact on the morale of the Nazis.
Let us first give a list of the largest partisan formations and their leaders. Here is the list:
Sumy partisan unit. Major General S.A. Kovpak
Chernigov-Volyn partisan formation Major General A.F. Fedorov
Gomel partisan unit Major General I.P. Kozhar
partisan unit Major General V.Z. Korzh
partisan unit Major General M.I. Naumov
partisan unit Major General A.N. Saburov
partisan brigade Major General M.I.Duka
Ukrainian partisan division Major General P.P. Vershigora
Rivne partisan unit Colonel V.A. Begma
Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, Major General V.A. Andreev
In this work we will limit ourselves to considering the action of some of them.
5.1 Sumy partisan unit. Major General S.A. Kovpak
Leader of the Kovpak movement, Soviet statesman and public figure, one of the organizers of the partisan movement, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (18.5.1942 and 4.1.1944), major general (1943). Member of the CPSU since 1919. Born into the family of a poor peasant. Participant Civil War 1918-20: led a partisan detachment that fought in Ukraine against the German occupiers together with the detachments of A. Ya. Parkhomenko, fought against Denikin; participated in battles on the Eastern Front as part of the 25th Chapaev Division and on the Southern Front - against Wrangel's troops. In 1921-26 he was a military commissar in a number of cities in the Ekaterinoslav province. In 1937-41, chairman of the Putivl city executive committee of the Sumy region. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Kovpak was the commander of the Putivl partisan detachment, then a formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region, a member of the illegal Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine. In 1941-42, Kovpak’s unit carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, in 1942-43 - a raid from the Bryansk forests on Right Bank Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kiev regions; in 1943 - Carpathian raid. The Sumy partisan unit under the command of Kovpak fought in the rear of the Nazi troops for more than 10 thousand km, defeated enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. Kovpak's raids played a big role in the development of the partisan movement against the Nazi occupiers. In January 1944, the Sumy unit was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division named after Kovpak. Awarded 4 Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov 1st degree, Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st degree, orders of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and Poland, as well as medals.
At the beginning of July 1941, the formation of partisan detachments and underground groups began in Putivl. One partisan detachment under the command of S.A. Kovpak was supposed to operate in the Spadshchansky forest, another, commanded by S.V. Rudnev, in the Novoslobodsky forest, the third, led by S.F. Kirilenko, in the Maritsa tract. In October of the same year, at a general detachment meeting, it was decided to unite into a single Putivl partisan detachment. The commander of the united detachment was S.A. Kovpak, the commissar was S.V. Rudnev, and the chief of staff was G.Ya. Bazyma. By the end of 1941, there were only 73 people in the detachment, and by mid-1942 there were already more than a thousand. Small and large partisan detachments from other places came to Kovpak. Gradually, a union of people's avengers of the Sumy region was born.
On May 26, 1942, the Kovpaks liberated Putivl and held it for two days. And in October, having broken through the enemy blockade created around the Bryansk Forest, a formation of partisan detachments launched a raid on the right bank of the Dnieper. In a month, the Kovpakov soldiers covered 750 km. Behind enemy lines through Sumy, Chernigov, Gomel, Kyiv, Zhitomir regions. 26 bridges, 2 trains with fascist manpower and equipment were blown up, 5 armored cars and 17 vehicles were destroyed.
During the period of its second raid - from July to October 1943 - the formation of partisan detachments covered four thousand kilometers in battle. The partisans disabled the main oil refineries, oil storage facilities, oil rigs and oil pipelines located in the area of Drohobych and Ivano-Frankivsk.
The newspaper “Pravda Ukrainy” wrote: “Telegrams were flying from Germany: catch Kovpak, lock his troops in the mountains. Twenty-five times a ring of punitive forces closed around the areas occupied by the partisan general, and the same number of times he escaped unharmed.”
Being in a difficult situation and waging fierce battles, the Kovpakovites fought their way out of their last encirclement shortly before the liberation of Ukraine.
A significant contribution to the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany was made by partisan detachments operating behind enemy lines from Leningrad to Odessa. They were led not only by career military personnel, but also by people of peaceful professions. Real heroes.
Old Man Minai
At the beginning of the war, Minai Filipovich Shmyrev was the director of the Pudot Cardboard Factory (Belarus). The 51-year-old director had a military background: he was awarded three Crosses of St. George in World War I, and fought against banditry during the Civil War.
In July 1941, in the village of Pudot, Shmyrev formed a partisan detachment from factory workers. In two months, the partisans engaged the enemy 27 times, destroyed 14 vehicles, 18 fuel tanks, blew up 8 bridges, and defeated the German district government in Surazh.
In the spring of 1942, Shmyrev, by order of the Central Committee of Belarus, united with three partisan detachments and headed the First Belarusian Partisan Brigade. The partisans drove the fascists out of 15 villages and created the Surazh partisan region. Here, before the arrival of the Red Army, it was restored Soviet authority. On the Usvyaty-Tarasenki section, the “Surazh Gate” existed for six months - a 40-kilometer zone through which the partisans were supplied with weapons and food.
All of Father Minai’s relatives: four small children, a sister and mother-in-law were shot by the Nazis.
In the fall of 1942, Shmyrev was transferred to the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. In 1944 he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
After the war, Shmyrev returned to farm work.
Son of the kulak "Uncle Kostya"
Konstantin Sergeevich Zaslonov was born in the city of Ostashkov, Tver province. In the thirties, his family was dispossessed and exiled to the Kola Peninsula in Khibinogorsk.
After school, Zaslonov became a railway worker, by 1941 he worked as the head of a locomotive depot in Orsha (Belarus) and was evacuated to Moscow, but voluntarily went back.
He served under the pseudonym “Uncle Kostya” and created an underground that, with the help of mines disguised as coal, derailed 93 fascist trains in three months.
In the spring of 1942, Zaslonov organized a partisan detachment. The detachment fought with the Germans and lured 5 garrisons of the Russian National People's Army to its side.
Zaslonov died in a battle with the RNNA punitive forces, who came to the partisans under the guise of defectors. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
NKVD officer Dmitry Medvedev
A native of the Oryol province, Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev was an NKVD officer.
He was fired twice - either because of his brother - “an enemy of the people”, or “for the unreasonable termination of criminal cases.” In the summer of 1941 he was reinstated into the ranks.
He headed the reconnaissance and sabotage task force "Mitya", which conducted more than 50 operations in the Smolensk, Mogilev and Bryansk regions.
In the summer of 1942, he led the “Winners” special detachment and conducted more than 120 successful operations. 11 generals, 2,000 soldiers, 6,000 Bandera supporters were killed, and 81 echelons were blown up.
In 1944, Medvedev was transferred to staff work, but in 1945 he traveled to Lithuania to fight the Forest Brothers gang. He retired with the rank of colonel. Hero of the Soviet Union.
Saboteur Molodtsov-Badaev
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Molodtsov worked in a mine from the age of 16. He worked his way up from a trolley racer to a deputy director. In 1934 he was sent to the Central School of the NKVD.
In July 1941 he arrived in Odessa for reconnaissance and sabotage work. He worked under the pseudonym Pavel Badaev.
Badaev's troops hid in the Odessa catacombs, fought with the Romanians, broke communication lines, carried out sabotage in the port, and carried out reconnaissance. The commandant's office with 149 officers was blown up. At the Zastava station, a train with the administration for occupied Odessa was destroyed.
The Nazis sent 16,000 people to liquidate the detachment. They released gas into the catacombs, poisoned the water, mined the passages. In February 1942, Molodtsov and his contacts were captured. Molodtsov was executed on July 12, 1942.
Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.
Desperate partisan "Mikhailo"
Azerbaijani Mehdi Ganifa-ogly Huseyn-zade was drafted into the Red Army from his student days. Participant Battle of Stalingrad. He was seriously wounded, captured and taken to Italy. He escaped at the beginning of 1944, joined the partisans and became a commissar of a company of Soviet partisans. He was engaged in reconnaissance and sabotage, blew up bridges and airfields, and executed Gestapo men. For his desperate courage he received the nickname “partisan Mikhailo.”
A detachment under his command raided the prison, freeing 700 prisoners of war.
He was captured near the village of Vitovlje. Mehdi shot back to the end and then committed suicide.
They learned about his exploits after the war. In 1957 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
OGPU employee Naumov
A native of the Perm region, Mikhail Ivanovich Naumov, was an employee of the OGPU at the beginning of the war. Shell-shocked while crossing the Dniester, was surrounded, went out to the partisans and soon led a detachment. In the fall of 1942 he became the chief of staff of partisan detachments in the Sumy region, and in January 1943 he headed a cavalry unit.
In the spring of 1943, Naumov conducted the legendary Steppe Raid, 2,379 kilometers long, behind Nazi lines. For this operation, the captain was awarded the rank of major general, which is a unique event, and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In total, Naumov conducted three large-scale raids behind enemy lines.
After the war he continued to serve in the ranks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Kovpak
Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak became a legend during his lifetime. Born in Poltava into a poor peasant family. During World War I he received the St. George Cross from the hands of Nicholas II. During the Civil War he was a partisan against the Germans and fought with the whites.
Since 1937, he was chairman of the Putivl City Executive Committee of the Sumy Region.
In the fall of 1941, he led the Putivl partisan detachment, and then a formation of detachments in the Sumy region. The partisans carried out military raids behind enemy lines. Their total length was more than 10,000 kilometers. 39 enemy garrisons were defeated.
On August 31, 1942, Kovpak participated in a meeting of partisan commanders in Moscow, was received by Stalin and Voroshilov, after which he carried out a raid beyond the Dnieper. At this moment, Kovpak’s detachment had 2000 soldiers, 130 machine guns, 9 guns.
In April 1943, he was awarded the rank of major general.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union.