Each generation has its own perception of the past war, the place and significance of which in the life of the peoples of our country turned out to be so significant that it went down in their history as the Great Patriotic War. The dates June 22, 1941 and May 9, 1945 will forever remain in the memory of the peoples of Russia. 60 years after the Great Patriotic War Russians can be proud that their contribution to the Victory was enormous and irreplaceable. The most important component of the struggle of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany during the Great Patriotic War was the partisan movement, which was the most active form of participation of the broad masses in the temporarily occupied Soviet territory in the fight against the enemy.
In the occupied territory " new order“- a regime of violence and bloody terror, designed to perpetuate German domination and turn the occupied lands into an agricultural and raw material appendage of the German monopolies. All this met with fierce resistance from the majority of the population living in the occupied territory, who rose up to fight.
It was truly a nationwide movement, generated by the just nature of the war, the desire to defend the honor and independence of the Motherland. That is why in the program of combating the Nazi invaders such an important place was given to the partisan movement in enemy-occupied areas. The party called on the Soviet people remaining behind enemy lines to create partisan detachments and sabotage groups, incite partisan warfare everywhere, blow up bridges, spoil the enemy's telegraph and telephone communications, set fire to warehouses, create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue and destroy them in every step, disrupt all their activities.
Soviet people who found themselves in territory occupied by the enemy, as well as soldiers, commanders and political workers of the Red Army and Navy who were surrounded, began to fight the Nazi occupiers. They tried with all their might and means to help the Soviet troops fighting at the front and resisted the Nazis. And already these first actions against Hitlerism bore the character of a guerrilla war. In a special resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) dated July 18, 1941, “On the organization of the fight behind enemy lines,” the party called on the republican, regional, regional and district party organizations to lead the organization of partisan formations and the underground, “to assist in every possible way in the creation of mounted and foot partisan detachments, sabotage destruction groups, deploy a network of our Bolshevik underground organizations in the occupied territory to lead all actions against the fascist occupiers" in the war (June 1941–1945).
The struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders in temporarily occupied territory Soviet Union became an integral part of the Great Patriotic War. It acquired a nationwide character, becoming a qualitatively new phenomenon in the history of the struggle against foreign invaders. The most important of its manifestations was the partisan movement behind enemy lines. Thanks to the actions of the partisans, the German fascist invaders developed a constant sense of danger and threat in their rear, which had a significant moral impact on the Nazis. And this was a real danger, because fighting The partisans caused enormous damage to enemy personnel and equipment.
Group portrait of fighters of the Zvezda partisan detachment
It is characteristic that the idea of organizing a partisan and underground movement in territory captured by the enemy appeared only after the start of the Great Patriotic War and the first defeats of the Red Army. This is explained by the fact that in the 20s - early 30s, the Soviet military leadership quite reasonably believed that in the event of an enemy invasion it was really necessary to launch a guerrilla war behind enemy lines, and for this purpose they were already training organizers partisan movement, certain funds were allocated for waging guerrilla warfare. However, during the mass repressions of the second half of the 30s, such precautions began to be seen as a manifestation of defeatism, and almost all those who were involved in this work were repressed. If we follow the then concept of defense, which consisted of defeating the enemy “with little blood and on his territory,” the systematic preparation of the organizers of the partisan movement, in the opinion of Stalin and his entourage, could morally disarm the Soviet people and sow defeatist sentiments. In this situation, it is impossible to exclude Stalin’s painful suspicion of the potentially clearly organized structure of the underground resistance apparatus, which, as he believed, the “oppositionists” could use for their own purposes.
It is usually believed that by the end of 1941 the number of active partisans reached 90 thousand people, and partisan detachments - more than 2 thousand. Thus, at first, the partisan detachments themselves were not very numerous - their number did not exceed several dozen fighters. The difficult winter period of 1941-1942, the lack of reliably equipped bases for partisan detachments, the lack of weapons and ammunition, poor weapons and food supplies, as well as the lack of professional doctors and medicines significantly complicated the effective actions of the partisans, reducing them to sabotage on transport routes, the destruction of small groups of invaders, the destruction of their locations, the destruction of policemen - local residents who agreed to cooperate with the invaders. Nevertheless, the partisan and underground movement behind enemy lines still took place. Many detachments operated in Smolensk, Moscow, Oryol, Bryansk and a number of other regions of the country that fell under the heel of the Nazi occupiers.
S. Kovpak's detachment
The partisan movement was and remains one of the most effective and universal forms of revolutionary struggle. It allows small forces to successfully fight against an enemy superior in numbers and weapons. Guerrilla detachments are a springboard, an organizing core for strengthening and developing revolutionary forces. For these reasons, the historical experience of the partisan movement of the twentieth century seems to us to be extremely important, and when considering it, one cannot help but touch upon the legendary name of Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak, the founder of the practice of partisan raids. This outstanding Ukrainian, people's partisan commander, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, who received the rank of major general in 1943, plays a special role in the development of the theory and practice of the partisan movement of modern times. Sidor Kovpak was born into the family of a poor peasant from Poltava. His further fate with its intensity of struggle and its unexpected turns quite typical for that revolutionary era. Kovpak began to fight back in the First World War, a war on the blood of the poor - as a scout-plastun, who earned two brass St. George's crosses and numerous wounds, and already in 1918, after the German occupation of revolutionary Ukraine, he independently organized and led a red partisan detachment - one of the first in Ukraine. He fought against Denikin’s troops together with Father Parkhomenko’s troops, participated in battles on the Eastern Front as part of the legendary 25th Chapaev Division, then fought in the South against Wrangel’s troops, and took part in the liquidation of Makhno’s gangs. After the victory of the revolution, Sidor Kovpak, who became a member of the RCP (b) in 1919, was engaged in economic work, being especially successful in road construction, which he proudly called his favorite thing. Since 1937, this administrator, famous for his decency and hard work, exceptional even for that era of defense labor, served as chairman of the Putivl city executive committee of the Sumy region. It was in this purely peaceful position that the war found him.
In August 1941, the party organization of Putivl, almost in its entirety - excluding its previously mobilized members - turned into a partisan detachment. This was one of many partisan groups created in the wooded triangle of Sumy, Bryansk, Oryol and Kursk regions, convenient for partisan warfare, which became the base for the entire future partisan movement. However, the Putivl detachment quickly stood out among the many forest units with its particularly bold and at the same time measured and prudent actions. Kovpak partisans avoided long stays within any specific area. They carried out constant long-term maneuvers behind enemy lines, exposing remote German garrisons to unexpected blows. Thus was born the famous raid tactics of partisan warfare, in which the traditions and techniques of the revolutionary war of 1918-21 were easily discerned - techniques revived and developed by commander Kovpak. Already at the very beginning of the formation of the Soviet partisan movement, he became its most famous and prominent figure.
At the same time, Father Kovpak himself did not at all differ in any special brave military appearance. According to his comrades, the outstanding partisan general was more like an elderly peasant in civilian clothes, carefully looking after his large and complex farm. This is precisely the impression he made on his future intelligence chief, Pyotr Vershigora, a former film director, and later a famous partisan writer, who spoke in his books about the raids of the Kovpakov detachments. Kovpak was indeed an unusual commander - he skillfully combined his vast experience as a soldier and business worker with innovative courage in the development of tactics and strategy of partisan warfare. “He is quite modest, he did not so much teach others as he studied himself, he knew how to admit his mistakes, thereby not exacerbating them,” Alexander Dovzhenko wrote about Kovpak. Kovpak was simple, even deliberately simple-minded in his communication, humane in his treatment of his soldiers, and with the help of the continuous political and ideological training of his detachment, carried out under the leadership of his closest comrade, the legendary Commissar Rudnev, he was able to achieve from them a high level of communist consciousness and discipline.
Partisan detachment of Hero of the Soviet Union S.A. Kovpaka walks along the street of a Ukrainian village during a military campaign
This feature - the clear organization of all spheres of partisan life in the extremely difficult, unpredictable conditions of war behind enemy lines - made it possible to carry out the most complex operations, unprecedented in their courage and scope. Among the Kovpakov commanders were teachers, workers, engineers, and peasants.
People of peaceful professions, they acted in a coordinated and organized manner, based on the system of organizing combat and peaceful life detachment established by Kovpak. “The master’s eye, the confident, calm rhythm of camp life and the hum of voices in the thicket of the forest, a leisurely, but not slow life confident people working with feeling self-esteem“This is my first impression of Kovpak’s detachment,” Vershigora later wrote. Already in 1941–42, Sidor Kovpak, under whose leadership by this time there was an entire formation of partisan detachments, undertook his first raids - long military campaigns into territory not yet covered by the partisan movement - his detachments passed through the territories of Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, as a result of which Kovpak fighters, together with Belarusian and Bryansk partisans, created the famous Partisan Region, cleared of Nazi troops and police administration - a prototype of the future liberated territories of Latin America. In 1942–43, Kovpaks carried out a raid from the Bryansk forests on the Right Bank of Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kiev regions - an unexpected appearance deep behind enemy lines made it possible to destroy a huge number of enemy military communications, while simultaneously collecting and transmitting the most important intelligence information to Headquarters .
By this time, Kovpak’s raid tactics had received universal recognition, and its experience was widely disseminated and implemented by the partisan command of various regions.
The famous meeting of the leaders of the Soviet partisan movement, who arrived through the front in Moscow in early September 1942, fully approved of the raid tactics of Kovpak, who was also present there - by that time already a Hero of the Soviet Union and a member of the illegal Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks). Its essence was fast, maneuverable, secretive movement behind enemy lines with the further creation of new centers of the partisan movement. Such raids, in addition to causing significant damage to enemy troops and collecting important intelligence information, had a huge propaganda effect. “The partisans brought the war closer and closer to Germany,” said Marshal Vasilevsky, Chief of the Red Army General Staff, on this occasion. Guerrilla raids raised huge masses of enslaved people to fight, armed them and taught them the practice of fighting.
In the summer of 1943, on the eve of the Battle of Kursk, the Sumy partisan unit of Sidor Kovpak, by order of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement, began its famous Carpathian raid, the path of which passed through the deepest rear of the enemy. The peculiarity of this legendary raid was that here the Kovpakov partisans had to regularly make marches through open, treeless territory, at a great distance from their bases, without any hope of outside support and help.
Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of the Sumy partisan unit Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak (sitting in the center, with the Hero's star on his chest) surrounded by his comrades. To the left of Kovpak is the secretary of the party organization of the Sumy partisan unit Ya.G. Panin, to the right of Kovpak - assistant commander for reconnaissance P.P. Vershigora
During the Carpathian raid, the Sumy partisan unit covered over 10 thousand km in continuous battles, defeating German garrisons and Bandera detachments in forty settlements of Western Ukraine, including the territory of the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. By destroying transport communications, the Kovpakovites were able to block for a long time important routes for the supply of Nazi troops and military equipment to the fronts of the Kursk Bulge. The Nazis, who sent elite SS units and front-line aviation to destroy Kovpak's formation, failed to destroy the partisan column - finding themselves surrounded, Kovpak made an unexpected decision for the enemy to divide the formation into a number of small groups, and break through with a simultaneous "fan" strike in various directions back to the Polesie forests. This tactical move brilliantly justified itself - all the disparate groups survived, once again uniting into one formidable force - the Kovpakovsky formation. In January 1944, it was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division, which received the name of its commander, Sidor Kovpak.
The tactics of Kovpakov raids became widespread in the anti-fascist movement in Europe, and after the war it was taught to young partisans of Rhodesia, Angola and Mozambique, Vietnamese commanders and revolutionaries of Latin American countries.
Leadership of the partisan movement
May 30, 1942 State Committee Defense at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was formed, the head of which was appointed the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus (Bolsheviks) P.K. Ponomarenko. At the same time, partisan headquarters were also created under the military councils of the front-line war of the Soviet Union. On September 6, 1942, the State Defense Committee established the post of commander-in-chief of the partisan movement. He became Marshal K.E. Voroshilov. Thus, the fragmentation and lack of coordination of actions that reigned at first in the partisan movement was overcome, and bodies appeared to coordinate their sabotage activities. It was the disorganization of the enemy rear that became the main task of the Soviet partisans. The composition and organization of partisan formations, despite their diversity, still had much in common. The main tactical unit was a detachment, which at the beginning of the war numbered several dozen soldiers, and later up to 200 or more people. During the war, many units united into larger formations (partisan brigades) numbering from several hundred to several thousand people. Their armament was dominated by light small arms, but many detachments and partisan brigades already had heavy machine guns and mortars, and in some cases artillery. Everyone who joined the partisan detachments took the partisan oath, and strict military discipline was established in the detachments.
There were various forms of organization of partisan forces - small and large formations, regional (local) and non-regional. Regional detachments and formations were constantly based in one area and were responsible for protecting its population and fighting the invaders in this particular territory. Non-regional partisan formations and detachments carried out missions in different areas, carrying out long raids, being essentially mobile reserves, by maneuvering which the leadership of the partisan movement could concentrate efforts on the main direction of the planned attacks in order to deliver the most powerful blows to the enemy.
Detachment of the 3rd Leningrad Partisan Brigade on a campaign, 1943
In the area of extensive forests, in mountainous and swampy areas, there were the main bases and locations of partisan formations. Here partisan regions arose, where various methods of struggle could be used, including direct, open clashes with the enemy. In the steppe regions, large partisan detachments could operate successfully during raids. The small detachments and groups of partisans who were constantly stationed here usually avoided open clashes with the enemy, causing damage to him, as a rule, with unexpected raids and sabotage. In August-September 1942, the central headquarters of the partisan movement held a meeting of the commanders of the Belarusian, Ukrainian, Bryansk and Smolensk partisan detachments. On September 5, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief signed an order “On the tasks of the partisan movement,” which indicated the need to coordinate the actions of the partisans with the operations of the regular army. The center of gravity of the partisans' fighting had to be shifted to enemy communications.
Intensification of guerrilla activities in railways the occupiers immediately felt it. In August 1942, they recorded almost 150 train crashes, in September - 152, in October - 210, in November - almost 240. Partisan attacks on German convoys became common. The highways that crossed the partisan regions and zones turned out to be practically closed to the occupiers. On many roads, transportation was possible only under heavy security.
The formation of large partisan formations and the coordination of their actions by the central headquarters made it possible to launch a systematic struggle against the strongholds of the Nazi occupiers. Destroying enemy garrisons in regional centers and other villages, partisan detachments increasingly expanded the boundaries of the zones and territories they controlled. Entire occupied areas were liberated from the invaders. Already in the summer and autumn of 1942, the partisans pinned down 22-24 enemy divisions, thereby providing significant assistance to the troops of the fighting Soviet Army. By the beginning of 1943, the partisan regions covered a significant part of Vitebsk, Leningrad, Mogilev and a number of other regions temporarily occupied by the enemy. In the same year, an even larger number of Nazi troops were diverted from the front to fight the partisans.
It was in 1943 that the peak of the actions of the Soviet partisans occurred, whose struggle resulted in a nationwide partisan movement. By the end of 1943, the number of its participants had grown to 250 thousand armed fighters. At this time, for example, Belarusian partisans controlled almost 60% of the occupied territory of the republic (109 thousand sq. km.), and on an area of 38 thousand sq. km. the occupiers were completely expelled. In 1943, the struggle of Soviet partisans behind enemy lines spread to Right Bank and Western Ukraine and the western regions of Belarus.
Rail War
The scope of the partisan movement is evidenced by a number of major operations carried out jointly with the Red Army. One of them was called “Rail War”. It was carried out in August-September 1943 on the enemy-occupied territory of the RSFSR, the Belarusian and part of the Ukrainian SSR with the aim of disabling the railway communications of the Nazi troops. This operation was connected with the plans of the Headquarters to complete the defeat of the Nazis on the Kursk Bulge, conduct the Smolensk operation and an offensive to liberate Left Bank Ukraine. The TsShPD also attracted Leningrad, Smolensk, and Oryol partisans to carry out the operation. The order for Operation Rail War was given on June 14, 1943. Local partisan headquarters and their representatives at the fronts assigned areas and objects of action to each partisan formation. The partisans were supplied with " Mainland» explosives, fuses, reconnaissance was actively carried out on enemy railway communications. The operation began on the night of August 3 and continued until mid-September. The fighting behind enemy lines took place over an area of about 1,000 km along the front and 750 km in depth; about 100 thousand partisans took part in them with the active support of the local population.
A powerful blow to the railways in territory occupied by the enemy came as a complete surprise to him. For a long time, the Nazis were unable to counteract the partisans in an organized manner. During Operation Rail War, over 215 thousand railway rails were blown up, many trains with Nazi personnel and military equipment were derailed, railway bridges and station structures were blown up. Bandwidth railways decreased by 35-40%, which thwarted the Nazis’ plans to accumulate material resources and concentrate troops, and seriously hampered the regrouping of enemy forces.
The partisan operation codenamed “Concert” was subordinated to the same goals, but already during the upcoming offensive of Soviet troops in the Smolensk, Gomel directions and the battle for the Dnieper. It was carried out from September 19 to November 1, 1943 on the fascist-occupied territory of Belarus Karelia, in the Leningrad and Kalinin regions, in the territory of Latvia, Estonia, Crimea, covering a front of about 900 km and a depth of over 400 km.
Partisans mine the railway track
It was a planned continuation of Operation Rail War; it was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and during the Battle of the Dnieper. 193 partisan detachments (groups) from Belarus, the Baltic states, Karelia, Crimea, Leningrad and Kalinin regions (over 120 thousand people) were involved in the operation, which were supposed to undermine more than 272 thousand rails.
On the territory of Belarus, more than 90 thousand partisans took part in the operation; they had to blow up 140 thousand rails. The Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement planned to throw 120 tons of explosives and other cargo to the Belarusian partisans, and 20 tons to the Kaliningrad and Leningrad partisans.
Due to the sharp deterioration of weather conditions, by the start of the operation it was possible to transfer only about half of the planned amount of cargo to the partisans, so it was decided to begin mass sabotage on September 25. However, some of the detachments that had already reached the initial lines could not take into account the changes in the timing of the operation and began to implement it on September 19. On the night of September 25, simultaneous actions were carried out according to the plan of Operation Concert on a front of about 900 km (excluding Karelia and Crimea) and in a depth of over 400 km.
Local headquarters of the partisan movement and their representation at the fronts assigned areas and objects of action to each partisan formation. The partisans were provided with explosives and fuses, mine-explosive classes were held at “forest courses”, metal was mined from captured shells and bombs at local “factories”, and fastenings for metal bombs to rails were made in workshops and forges. Reconnaissance was actively carried out on the railways. The operation began on the night of August 3 and continued until mid-September. The actions took place on an area with a length of about 1000 km along the front and 750 km in depth, about 100 thousand partisans took part in them, who were helped by the local population. A powerful blow to the railway. lines was unexpected for the enemy, who for some time could not counteract the partisans in an organized manner. During the operation, about 215 thousand rails were blown up, many trains were derailed, railway bridges and station buildings were blown up. The massive disruption of enemy communications significantly complicated the regrouping of retreating enemy troops, complicated their supply, and thereby contributed to the successful offensive of the Red Army.
Partisan bombers of the Transcarpathian partisan detachment Grachev and Utenkov at the airfield
The objective of Operation Concert was to disable large sections of railway lines in order to disrupt enemy transport. The bulk of the partisan formations began hostilities on the night of September 25, 1943. During Operation Concert, Belarusian partisans alone blew up about 90 thousand rails, derailed 1041 enemy trains, destroyed 72 railway bridges, and defeated 58 invader garrisons. Operation Concert caused serious difficulties in the transportation of Nazi troops. Railway capacity has decreased by more than three times. This made it very difficult for the Hitlerite command to maneuver their forces and provided enormous assistance to the advancing Red Army troops.
It is impossible to list here all the partisan heroes whose contribution to the victory over the enemy was so noticeable in the common struggle of the Soviet people over the Nazi invaders. During the war, wonderful partisan command cadres grew up - S.A. Kovpak, A.F. Fedorov, A.N. Saburov, V.A. Begma, N.N. Popudrenko and many others. In terms of its scale, political and military results, the nationwide struggle of the Soviet people in the territories occupied by Hitler's troops acquired the significance of an important military-political factor in the defeat of fascism. The selfless activities of the partisans and underground fighters received national recognition and high praise from the state. More than 300 thousand partisans and underground fighters were awarded orders and medals, including over 127 thousand - the medal “Partisan of the Great Patriotic War” 1st and 2nd degree, 248 were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Pinsk detachment
In Belarus, one of the most famous partisan detachments was the Pinsk partisan detachment under the command of V.Z. Korzh. Korzh Vasily Zakharovich (1899–1967), Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General. Born on January 1, 1899 in the village of Khvorostovo, Solitorsky district. Since 1925 - chairman of the commune, then of the collective farm in the Starobinsky district of the Minsk region. Since 1931 he worked in the Slutsk district department of the NKVD. From 1936 to 1938 he fought in Spain. Upon returning to his homeland, he was arrested, but released a few months later. He worked as the director of a state farm in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Since 1940 - financial sector of the Pinsk regional party committee. In the first days of the Great Patriotic War he created the Pinsk partisan detachment. The Komarov detachment (partisan pseudonym V.Z. Korzha) fought in the Pinsk, Brest and Volyn regions. In 1944 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Since 1943 - Major General. In 1946-1948 he graduated from the Military Academy General Staff. From 1949 to 1953 – Deputy Minister of Forestry of the BSSR. In 1953-1963 - chairman of the collective farm "Partizansky Krai" in Pinsk and then Minsk regions. Streets in Pinsk, Minsk and Soligorsk, the collective farm “Partizansky Krai”, and a secondary school in Pinsk are named after him. Pinsk partisans operated at the junction of Minsk, Polesie, Baranovichi, Brest, Rivne and Volyn regions. The German occupation administration divided the territory into commissariats subordinate to different Gauleiters - in Rivne and Minsk. Sometimes the partisans found themselves “drawn”. While the Germans were figuring out which of them should send troops, the partisans continued to operate.
In the spring of 1942, the partisan movement received a new impetus and began to acquire new organizational forms. A centralized leadership appeared in Moscow. Radio communication with the Center has been established.
With the organization of new detachments and the growth of their numbers, the Pinsk underground regional committee of the CP(b)B began to unite them into brigades in the spring of 1943. A total of 7 brigades were created: named after S.M. Budyonny, named after V.I. Lenin, named after V.M. Molotov, named after S.M. Kirov, named after V. Kuibyshev, Pinskaya, “Soviet Belarus”. The Pinsk formation included separate detachments - headquarters and named after I.I. Chuklaya. There were 8,431 partisans (on the payroll) operating in the ranks of the formation. The Pinsk partisan unit was led by V.Z. Korzh, A.E. Kleshchev (May-September 1943), chief of staff - N.S. Fedotov. V.Z. Korzhu and A.E. Kleshchev was awarded the military rank of “Major General” and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. As a result of unification, the actions of disparate detachments began to obey a single plan, became purposeful, and were subordinate to the actions of the front or army. And in 1944, interaction was possible even with divisions.
Portrait of 14-year-old partisan reconnaissance Mikhail Khavdey from the Chernigov-Volynsky formation, Major General A.F. Fedorov
In 1942, the Pinsk partisans became so strong that they were already destroying garrisons in the regional centers of Lenino, Starobin, Krasnaya Sloboda, and Lyubeshov. In 1943, the partisans of M.I. Gerasimov, after the defeat of the garrison, occupied the city of Lyubeshov for several months. On October 30, 1942, partisan detachments named after Kirov and named after N. Shish defeated the German garrison at the Sinkevichi station, destroyed the railway bridge, station facilities and destroyed a train with ammunition (48 cars). The Germans lost 74 people killed and 14 wounded. Railway traffic on the Brest-Gomel-Bryansk line was interrupted for 21 days.
Sabotage on communications was the basis of the partisans' combat activities. They were carried out in different ways over different periods, from improvised explosive devices to Colonel Starinov's improved mines. From the explosion of water pumps and switches to a large-scale “rail war”. During all three years, the partisans destroyed communication lines.
In 1943, the partisan brigades named after Molotov (M.I. Gerasimov) and Pinskaya (I.G. Shubitidze) completely disabled the Dnieper-Bug Canal, an important link in the Dnieper-Pripyat-Bug-Vistula waterway. They were supported on the left flank by the Brest partisans. The Germans tried to restore this convenient waterway. Stubborn fighting lasted 42 days. First, a Hungarian division was thrown against the partisans, then parts of a German division and a Vlasov regiment. Artillery, armored vehicles and aircraft were thrown against the partisans. The partisans suffered losses, but held firm. On March 30, 1944, they retreated to the front line, where they were given a defensive sector and fought together with front-line units. As a result of the heroic battles of the partisans, the waterway to the west was blocked. 185 river vessels remained in Pinsk.
The command of the 1st Belorussian Front attached particular importance to the capture of watercraft in the port of Pinsk, since in conditions of heavily swampy terrain and in the absence of good highways, these watercraft could successfully resolve the issue of transferring the rear of the front. The task was completed by the partisans six months before the liberation of the regional center of Pinsk.
In June-July 1944, Pinsk partisans helped units of Belov’s 61st Army liberate the cities and villages of the region. From June 1941 to July 1944, Pinsk partisans inflicted great losses on the Nazi occupiers: they lost 26,616 people in killed alone and 422 people were captured. They defeated more than 60 large enemy garrisons, 5 railway stations and 10 trains with military equipment and ammunition located there.
468 trains with manpower and equipment were derailed, 219 military trains were shelled and 23,616 railway rails were destroyed. 770 cars, 86 tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed on highways and dirt roads. 3 aircraft were shot down by machine gun fire. 62 railway bridges and about 900 on highways and dirt roads were blown up. This is an incomplete list of the partisans’ military affairs.
Partisan-scout of the Chernigov formation “For the Motherland” Vasily Borovik
After the liberation of the Pinsk region from the Nazi invaders, most of the partisans joined the ranks of the front-line soldiers and continued to fight until complete victory.
The most important forms of partisan struggle during the Patriotic War were such as the armed struggle of partisan formations, underground groups and organizations created in cities and large settlements, and mass resistance of the population to the activities of the occupiers. All these forms of struggle were closely interconnected, conditioning and complementing one another. Armed partisan units widely used underground methods and forces for combat operations. In turn, underground combat groups and organizations, depending on the situation, often switched to open guerrilla forms of struggle. The partisans also established contact with escapees from concentration camps and provided support with weapons and food.
The joint efforts of partisans and underground fighters crowned the nation-wide war in the rear of the occupiers. They were the decisive force in the fight against the Nazi invaders. If the resistance movement had not been accompanied by an armed uprising of partisans and underground organizations, then the popular resistance to the Nazi invaders would not have had the strength and mass scale that it acquired during the years of the last war. The resistance of the occupied population was often accompanied by sabotage activities inherent in partisans and underground fighters. The massive resistance of Soviet citizens to fascism and its occupation regime was aimed at providing assistance to the partisan movement and creating the most favorable conditions for the struggle of the armed part of the Soviet people.
D. Medvedev's squad
Medvedev’s squad that fought in Ukraine enjoyed great fame and elusiveness. D. N. Medvedev was born in August 1898 in the town of Bezhitsa, Bryansk district, Oryol province. Dmitry's father was a qualified steel worker. In December 1917, after graduating from high school, Dmitry Nikolaevich worked as secretary of one of the departments of the Bryansk district Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. In 1918-1920 he fought on various fronts civil war. In 1920, D.N. Medvedev joined the party, and the party sent him to work in the Cheka. Dmitry Nikolaevich worked in the bodies of the Cheka - OGPU - NKVD until October 1939 and, for health reasons, retired. From the very beginning of the war, he volunteered to fight against the fascist occupiers... In the summer camp of the Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the NKVD, formed from volunteers by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs and the Central Committee of the Komsomol, Medvedev selected three dozen reliable guys into his squad. On August 22, 1941, a group of 33 volunteer partisans under the leadership of Medvedev crossed the front line and found themselves in occupied territory. Medvedev’s detachment operated on Bryansk land for about five months and carried out over 50 military operations.
Partisan reconnaissance officers planted explosives under the rails and tore up enemy trains, fired from ambushes at convoys on the highway, went on the air day and night and reported to Moscow more and more information about the movements of German military units... Medvedev’s detachment served as the nucleus for the creation of an entire partisan force in the Bryansk region the edges. Over time, new special tasks were assigned to it, and it was already included in the plans of the Supreme High Command as an important bridgehead behind enemy lines.
At the beginning of 1942, D. N. Medvedev was recalled to Moscow and here he worked on the formation and training of volunteer sabotage groups transferred to enemy lines. Together with one of these groups in June 1942, he again found himself behind the front line.
In the summer of 1942, Medvedev’s detachment became the center of resistance in a vast region of the occupied territory of Ukraine. The party underground in Rovno, Lutsk, Zdolbunov, Vinnitsa, hundreds and hundreds of patriots act in concert with partisan intelligence officers. In Medvedev’s detachment, the legendary intelligence officer Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov became famous, who for a long time operated in Rovno under the guise of Hitler’s officer Paul Siebert...
Over the course of 22 months, the detachment carried out dozens of important reconnaissance operations. Suffice it to mention the messages transmitted by Medvedev to Moscow about the preparation by the Nazis of an assassination attempt on the participants of the historical meeting in Tehran - Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, about the placement of Hitler's headquarters near Vinnitsa, about the preparation of the German offensive on the Kursk Bulge, the most important data about military garrisons received from the commander of these garrisons of General Ilgen.
Partisans with a Maxim machine gun in battle
The unit carried out 83 military operations, in which many hundreds of Nazi soldiers and officers, and many senior military and Nazi leaders were killed. Much military equipment was destroyed by partisan mines. Dmitry Nikolaevich was wounded and shell-shocked twice while behind enemy lines. He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, and military medals. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 5, 1944, State Security Colonel Medvedev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1946, Medvedev resigned and until the last days of his life he was engaged in literary work.
D. N. Medvedev dedicated his books “It Was Near Rovno” to the military affairs of Soviet patriots during the war deep behind enemy lines. Strong-willed", "On the banks of the Southern Bug". During the activity of the detachment, a lot of valuable information was transmitted to the command about the work of railway roads, about the movements of enemy headquarters, about the transfer of troops and equipment, about the activities of the occupation authorities, about the situation in the temporarily occupied territory. In battles and skirmishes, up to 12 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. The detachment's losses were 110 killed and 230 wounded.
The final stage
The daily attention and enormous organizational work of the Central Party Committee and local party organs ensured the involvement of the broad masses of the population in the partisan movement. The guerrilla war behind enemy lines flared up with enormous force and merged with the heroic struggle of the Red Army on the fronts of the Patriotic War. The actions of the partisans took on a particularly large scale in the nationwide struggle against the invaders in 1943-1944. If from 1941 to mid-1942, in the conditions of the most difficult stage of the war, the partisan movement experienced the initial period of its development and formation, then in 1943, during the period of a radical turning point in the course of the war, the mass partisan movement resulted in the form of a nationwide war of the Soviet people against occupiers. This stage is characterized by the most complete expression of all forms of partisan struggle, an increase in the numerical and combat strength of partisan detachments, and an expansion of their connections with brigades and formations of partisans. It was at this stage that vast partisan regions and zones inaccessible to the enemy were created, and experience was accumulated in the fight against the invaders. During the winter of 1943 and during 1944, when the enemy was defeated and completely expelled from Soviet soil, the partisan movement rose to a new, even higher level. At this stage, on an even wider scale, the interaction of partisans with underground organizations and the advancing troops of the Red Army took place, as well as the connection of many partisan detachments and brigades with units of the Red Army. Characteristic of the partisans’ activities at this stage is the partisans’ attacks on the enemy’s most important communications, primarily on the railways, with the aim of disrupting the transport of troops, weapons, ammunition and food of the enemy, and preventing the removal of looted property and Soviet people to Germany. The falsifiers of history declared the guerrilla war illegal, barbaric, and reduced it to the desire of the Soviet people to take revenge on the occupiers for their atrocities. But life refuted their assertions and speculations and showed its true character and goals. The partisan movement is brought to life by “powerful economic and political reasons.” The desire of the Soviet people to take revenge on the occupiers for violence and cruelty was only additional factor in partisan warfare. The nationality of the partisan movement, its regularity, arising from the essence of the Patriotic War, its just, liberating nature, were the most important factor in the victory of the Soviet people over fascism. The main source of strength of the partisan movement was the Soviet socialist system, the love of the Soviet people for the Motherland, devotion to the Leninist party, which called on the people to defend the socialist Fatherland.
Partisans - father and son, 1943
The year 1944 went down in the history of the partisan movement as the year of widespread interaction between partisans and units of the Soviet Army. The Soviet command put forward tasks to the partisan leadership in advance, which allowed the headquarters of the partisan movement to plan the combined actions of the partisan forces. The actions of raiding partisan formations have gained significant scope this year. For example, the Ukrainian partisan division under the command of P.P. From January 5 to April 1, 1944, Vershigory fought almost 2,100 km across the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.
During the period of the mass expulsion of fascists from the USSR, partisan formations solved another important task - they saved the population of the occupied areas from being deported to Germany, and preserved the people's property from destruction and plunder by the invaders. They hid hundreds of thousands of local residents in the forests in the territories they controlled, and even before the arrival of Soviet units they captured many populated areas.
Unified leadership of the combat activities of the partisans with stable communication between the headquarters of the partisan movement and partisan formations, their interaction with units of the Red Army in tactical and even strategic operation, the conduct of large independent operations by partisan groups, the widespread use of mine-blasting equipment, the supply of partisan detachments and formations from the rear of the warring country, the evacuation of the sick and wounded from the enemy rear to the “Mainland” - all these features of the partisan movement in the Great Patriotic War significantly enriched the theory and the practice of partisan warfare as one of the forms of armed struggle against Nazi troops during the Second World War.
The actions of armed partisan formations were one of the most decisive and effective forms of struggle of Soviet partisans against the occupiers. The performances of the armed forces of the partisans in Belarus, Crimea, the Oryol, Smolensk, Kalinin, Leningrad regions and Krasnodar region, i.e. where there were the most favorable natural conditions. In the named areas of the partisan movement, 193,798 partisans fought. The name of Moscow Komsomol member Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who was awarded high rank Hero of the Soviet Union. The country learned about the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya during the difficult months of the battle near Moscow. On November 29, 1941, Zoya died with the words on her lips: “It’s happiness to die for your people!”
Olga Fedorovna Shcherbatsevich, an employee of the 3rd Soviet Hospital, who cared for captured wounded soldiers and officers of the Red Army. Hanged by the Germans in Aleksandrovsky Square in Minsk on October 26, 1941. The inscription on the shield, in Russian and German languages- “We are partisans who shot at German soldiers.”
From the memoirs of an execution witness, Vyacheslav Kovalevich, in 1941 he was 14 years old: “I went to the Surazh market. At the Central cinema I saw a column of Germans moving along Sovetskaya Street, and in the center were three civilians with their hands tied behind them. Among them is Aunt Olya, mother of Volodya Shcherbatsevich. They were brought to the park opposite the House of Officers. There was a summer cafe there. Before the war they began to repair it. They made a fence, put up pillars, and nailed boards on them. Aunt Olya and two men were brought to this fence and they began to hang her on it. The men were hanged first. When they were hanging Aunt Olya, the rope broke. Two fascists ran up and grabbed me, and the third secured the rope. She remained hanging there.”
In difficult days for the country, when the enemy was rushing towards Moscow, Zoya’s feat was similar to the feat of the legendary Danko, who tore out his burning heart and led people, illuminating their path in difficult times. The feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was repeated by many girls - partisans and underground fighters who stood up to defend the Motherland. Going to execution, they did not ask for mercy and did not bow their heads before the executioners. Soviet patriots firmly believed in the inevitable victory over the enemy, in the triumph of the cause for which they fought and gave their lives.
June 29 is the day of partisan glory and underground fighters
Partisans and underground fighters from the Second World War are remembered on June 29 because it was on this day of the tragic 1941 that the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks issued a Directive addressed to party and Soviet organizations operating in the front-line regions of the country on the need to create an organized partisan resistance. The directive prescribed: “to create partisan detachments and sabotage groups to fight units of the enemy army in the areas occupied by them..., create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue them at every step and destroy them, disrupt any of their activities.”
The contribution of partisan detachments - “fighters of the invisible front”, operating underground, literally under the nose of a cunning and bloodthirsty enemy, to the Victory won by our people cannot be overestimated. Thanks to the selfless actions of the Soviet partisans, the Nazis literally burned under their feet. From the very beginning of the war against our country, the invader, unpunished and insolent from his European successes, could not feel safe either day or night. Neither in the forest, nor in the field, nor in an occupied large city, nor in a small village in the deep rear - everywhere the smug peace of the Nazis was violated by the noble revenge of the Soviet partisans, instilling in them fear and awe of the unbending Russian spirit. The colossal material damage inflicted on the enemy by the actions of the Soviet partisans, coupled with the strongest moral pressure exerted on the enemy’s rear, brought the day of the Great Victory closer.
All of Belarus, the Bryansk region, the Smolensk and Oryol regions, many regions of Ukraine, the Crimea and the southern regions of the RSFSR were engulfed in well-organized partisan warfare. Grateful descendants will forever remember the names of twice heroes of the Soviet Union, leaders of the partisan movement Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak and Alexei Fedorovich Fedorov, hundreds of heroes who died in battle and were torn to pieces in fascist dungeons, thousands of brothers, sons, husbands and fathers who laid down their lives for the Fatherland and for their friends in the forests and swamps of Belarus, in the Kuban estuaries, Donetsk steppes and on the hills of Crimea.
Eternal memory to the fallen partisan heroes! Good health and good spirits to the living participants of the heroic struggle!
Chernihiv region, 14 districts of Zhitomir region and Belarus became a real partisan region. Party and Soviet bodies operated openly in them, economic work was carried out, and postal and telegraph communications were established. During the Great Patriotic War, 46 partisan formations, 1,993 partisan reconnaissance and sabotage detachments, and more than 500 Komsomol, pioneer and youth underground organizations and groups operated on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR during the Great Patriotic War. In total, more than 2 million people took part in the nationwide struggle in the enemy-occupied territories of the Ukrainian SSR.
The people's avengers killed 465 thousand German soldiers and officers, destroyed 790 guns, 915 ammunition depots, 248 communication centers, 5019 trains, 1566 tanks and armored vehicles, 211 aircraft, 13 thousand 535 vehicles, 44 railway junctions, 467 enemy garrisons, 29 boats were sunk , 22 ships, more than 50 barges.
This photo album visibly shows who are the true sons and patriots of the Ukrainian people, and who are collaborators and traitors.
Those who want to know the truth about our recent past - the Great Patriotic War of 1941-9145, those who are not indifferent to the fate of our Motherland today and in the future, leafing through the pages of the “Album”, have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the true history of the partisan movement in the territories of the Ukrainian SSR and European states occupied by the Nazis.
Such heroes, and not Bandera’s followers, fought the Nazis in Western Ukraine. The veteran army intelligence officer who spoke today told how the partisans helped the Soviet army in crossing the Dnieper. They helped in establishing 25 crossings during the creation of the Bukrinsky and Lyutezhsky bridgeheads. He received the order for blowing up a bridge in the Khmelnytsky region; several of his comrades were killed by Bandera’s supporters, who tried to prevent Soviet soldiers from blowing up the bridge, which was so necessary for the retreating Germans. And after the war, his cousin-teacher was killed by a Bandera member. He came home, put him up against the wall and hacked his wife to death...
Good day to all site regulars! The main regular on the line is Andrei Puchkov 🙂 (just kidding). Today we will reveal a new extremely useful topic for preparing for the Unified State Exam in history: we will talk about the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. At the end of the article you will find a test on this topic.
What is the partisan movement and how was it formed in the USSR?
Guerrilla movement is a type of action by military formations behind enemy lines to strike enemy communications, infrastructure facilities and rear enemy formations to disorganize enemy military formations.
In the Soviet Union in the 1920s, the partisan movement began to form on the basis of the concept of waging war on its own territory. Therefore, shelters and secret strongholds were created in the border strips for the deployment of the partisan movement in them in the future.
In the 1930s, this strategy was revised. According to the position of I.V. Stalin, the Soviet army will conduct military operations in a future war on enemy territory with little bloodshed. Therefore, the creation of secret partisan bases was suspended.
Only in July 1941, when the enemy was rapidly advancing and the battle of Smolensk was in full swing, did the Central Committee of the Party (VKP (b)) release detailed instructions creating a partisan movement for local party organizations in the already occupied territory. In fact, at first the partisan movement consisted of local residents and units of the Soviet army that had escaped from the “cauldrons”.
In parallel with this, the NKVD (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs) began to form destruction battalions. These battalions were supposed to cover units of the Red Army during the retreat, disrupt attacks by saboteurs and enemy military parachute forces. These battalions also joined the partisan movement in the occupied territories.
In July 1941, the NKVD also organized the Special Motorized Rifle Brigade for Special Purposes (OMBSON). These brigades were recruited from first-class military personnel with excellent physical training capable of conducting effective combat operations on enemy territory in difficult conditions with a minimum amount of food and ammunition.
However, initially the OMBSON brigades were supposed to defend the capital.
Stages of the formation of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War
- June 1941 - May 1942 - spontaneous formation of the partisan movement. Mainly in the enemy-occupied territories of Ukraine and Belarus.
- May 1942-July-August 1943 - from the creation of the Main Headquarters of the partisan movement in Moscow on May 30, 1942 to systematic large-scale operations of Soviet partisans.
- September 1943-July 1944 - the final stage of the partisan movement, when the main units of the partisans merged with the advancing Soviet army. On July 17, 1944, partisan units parade through liberated Minsk. Partisan units formed from local residents begin to demobilize, and their fighters are drafted into the Red Army.
Functions of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War
- Collection of intelligence data on the deployment of Nazi military formations, the military equipment and military contingent at their disposal, etc.
- Commit sabotage: disrupt the transfer of enemy units, kill the most important commanders and officers, cause irreparable damage to enemy infrastructure, etc.
- Form new partisan detachments.
- Work with the local population in the occupied territories: convince them of the assistance of the Red Army, convince them that the Red Army will soon liberate their territories from the Nazi occupiers, etc.
- Disorganize the enemy's economy by buying goods with counterfeit German money.
The main figures and heroes of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War
Despite the fact that there were a lot of partisan detachments and each had its own commander, we will list only those that may appear in the Unified State Exam tests. Meanwhile, the other commanders deserve no less attention
People's memory, because they gave their lives for our relatively serene life.
Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev (1898 - 1954)
He was one of the key figures in the formation of the Soviet partisan movement during the war. Before the war he served in the Kharkov branch of the NKVD. In 1937, he was fired for maintaining contact with his older brother, who became an enemy of the people. Miraculously escaped execution. When the war began, the NKVD remembered this man and sent him to Smolensk to form a partisan movement. The group of partisans led by Medvedev was called “Mitya”. The detachment was later renamed “Winners”. From 1942 to 1944, Medvedev’s detachment carried out about 120 operations.
Dmitry Nikolaevich himself was an extremely charismatic and ambitious commander. Discipline in his squad was the highest. The requirements for fighters exceeded the requirements of the NKVD. So at the beginning of 1942, the NKVD sent 480 volunteers from OMBSON units to the “Winners” detachment. And only 80 of them passed the selection.
One of these operations was the elimination of the Reich Commissioner of Ukraine Erich Koch. Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov arrived from Moscow to complete the task. However, after a while it became clear that it was impossible to eliminate the Reich Commissioner. Therefore, in Moscow the task was revised: it was ordered to destroy the head of the Reichskommissariat department, Paul Dargel. This was done only on the second attempt.
Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov himself carried out numerous operations and died on March 9, 1944 in a shootout with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Posthumously, Nikolai Kuznetsov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak (1887 - 1967)
Sidor Artemyevich went through several wars. Participated in the Brusilov breakthrough in 1916. Before that, he lived in Putivl and was an active politician. At the start of the war, Sidor Kovpak was already 55 years old. In the very first clashes, Kovpak’s partisans managed to capture 3 German tanks. Kovpak's partisans lived in the Spadshchansky forest. On December 1, the Nazis launched an attack on this forest with the support of artillery and aviation. However, all enemy attacks were repulsed. In this battle, the Nazis lost 200 fighters.
In the spring of 1942, Sidor Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, as well as a personal audience with Stalin.
However, there were also failures.
So in 1943, the operation “Carpathian Raid” ended with the losses of about 400 partisans.
In January 1944, Kovpak was awarded the second title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1944
The reorganized troops of S. Kovpak were renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division named after
twice Hero of the Soviet Union S.A. Kovpaka
Later we will post biographies of several more legendary commanders of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. So subscribe to new articles site.
Despite the fact that Soviet partisans carried out numerous operations during the war, only the two largest of them appear in the tests.
Operation Rail War. The order to begin this operation was given on June 14, 1943. It was supposed to paralyze railway traffic on enemy territory during the Kursk offensive operation. For this purpose, significant ammunition was transferred to the partisans. About 100 thousand partisans were involved in participation. As a result, traffic on enemy railways was reduced by 30-40%.
Operation Concert was carried out from September 19 to November 1, 1943 in the territory of occupied Karelia, Belarus, Leningrad region, Kalinin region, Latvia, Estonia and Crimea.
The goal was the same: destroying enemy cargo and blocking railway transport.
I think from all of the above, the role of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War becomes clear. It became an integral part of military operations by units of the Red Army. The partisans performed their functions excellently. Meanwhile, in real life there were a lot of difficulties: starting from how Moscow could determine which units were partisans and which were false partisans, and ending with how to transfer weapons and ammunition to enemy territory.
The Soviet army suffered huge losses during the Great Patriotic War. And it’s scary to imagine how many more people would have died without the help of the partisans, many of whom risked not only themselves, but also the lives of loved ones for the sake of victory in the bloody war.
According to some estimates, from 1941 to 1944, about 6.2 thousand partisan detachments, numbering more than 1 million people, operated behind enemy lines. During the war years, they inflicted serious damage on the enemy: 20 thousand train crashes, 2.5 thousand destroyed steam locomotives, 42 thousand blown up cars, 12 thousand bridges, 6 thousand tanks and armored vehicles withdrawn and put into service, 1.1 thousand blown up planes and about 600 thousand killed soldiers and officers.
On the Day of Partisans and Underground Workers, we decided to remember the names of people who influenced the outcome of the Great Patriotic War.
"Red October"
Tikhon Pimenovich Bumazhkov
Tikhon Pimenovich Bumazhkov is considered the organizer of one of the first partisan detachments. In June 1941, a meeting was convened in the Oktyabrsky district committee of the Belarusian SSR, at which Bumazhkov reported on the German attack and called on citizens to join forces to repel the enemy. At the same time, a “fighter squad” was formed, called “Red October”.
Bumazhkov’s memoirs indicate that the group initially consisted of 80 fighters. Having broken up into platoons, they began military training: they learned camouflage and weapons use, acquired “the necessary sapper knowledge,” stocked up on bottles of fuel to destroy tanks, mined bridges and dug trenches.
Interacting with the Red Army, they struck at the enemy’s rear. One of the most memorable operations was the battle of Bobruisk. The target of Red October was the enemy headquarters located in the village of Ozemlya. The plan was as follows: open fire from the armored train and at the same time block all roads from the village so that the enemy could not escape. Operation was successfully completed. The partisans captured prisoners, two radio stations, important documents, and about a hundred pieces of equipment. Unfortunately, Bumazhkov died a few months after this operation. He died in November 1941, breaking out of encirclement near the village of Orzhitsa.
Kovpakovtsy
Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak
There is hardly a commander of a partisan detachment whom the Germans feared as much as Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak. The bravery of the military was noted during the First World War. For his participation in the Brusilov breakthrough, Emperor Nicholas II awarded him two Crosses of St. George. Nevertheless, in 1917, Kovpak chose the other side and joined the Red Army.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Kovpak led the Putivl partisan detachment, which instilled fear in the ranks of the enemy. One of the first clashes with the Germans took place in the Spadshchansky forest. After the loss of three tanks, which were captured by Kovpak’s group, almost 3 thousand German soldiers, supported by artillery, went on the offensive. The battle lasted a day, but the Soviet partisans, despite superior enemy forces, repulsed all attacks. The Germans retreated, leaving Kovpak with weapons and machine guns as trophies.
The most famous campaign of the Kovpakovites took place in June 1943. The Carpathian raid took place in difficult conditions: the detachment, finding itself behind enemy lines, was forced to move across open terrain without cover and support. During the raid, the partisans covered about 2 thousand km. Almost 4 thousand Germans were wounded or killed, and 19 trains, over 50 bridges and warehouses were blown up. The Kovpakov campaign greatly helped the troops fighting on the Kursk Bulge. Thanks to the partisan operation, the Germans lost supplies of equipment and troops, which provided our troops with an advantage in the battle.
During the Carpathian raid, Kovpak was wounded in the leg. The USSR authorities decided not to risk the health of the commander, and he no longer participated in hostilities. For his service, he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and became one of two partisans to receive this award twice.
"Kovel Knot"
Alexey Fedorovich Fedorov
The second commander of the partisan detachment, twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, was Alexey Fedorov. By March 1942, his group had fought 16 battles, during which about a thousand Germans, several dozen bridges, five echelons were destroyed, five warehouses were blown up and two factories were captured. Thanks to these merits, in May of the same year, Fedorov was awarded the first title of Hero of the USSR, and at the beginning of 1943, under his leadership there were already 12 partisan detachments, numbering over 5 thousand people.
One of the most important partisan operations during the war was the Kovel Knot mission. In eight months, Fedorov’s detachment managed to destroy 549 enemy trains with ammunition, fuel, and equipment on the lines of the Kovel railway junction and thus deprive the enemy of reinforcements.
In 1994, Fedorov was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR for the second time. In total, he took part in 158 battles, destroyed over 650 trains, eight armored trains, 60 warehouses with fuel and ammunition.
Juvenile partisan
Monument to Leonid Golikov
At the start of the war, Leonid Golikov was only 15 years old. A thin boy, who many were not even 14 years old, walked around the villages, collected information about the location of the Germans and passed it on to the partisans. A year later, he himself joined the detachment. In total, Golikov took part in 27 combat operations, destroyed 78 Germans, 12 highway bridges and blew up nine cars with ammunition.
Golikov's most famous feat was accomplished on August 13, 1942. Together with other partisans, he blew up a car in which German Major General Richard Wirtz was sitting. The documents found in the car were transferred to the Soviet headquarters: they contained diagrams of minefields, reports from Wirtz and other important papers.
However, Golikov did not live to see the end of the war. In January 1943, the detachment in which the young man was a member was hiding from German troops. They found shelter in the village of Ostraya Luka, located not far from the German garrison. Not wanting to attract attention, the partisans did not post sentries. But among the residents there was a traitor who revealed the location of the detachment to the enemy. Some of the fighters managed to escape from the encirclement, but Golikov was not among them.
Sabotage in a cinema
Photo: Wikipedia.org/Sharphead archive
Konstantin Aleksandrovich Chekhovich
Konstantin Chekhovich became the author of one of the largest acts of sabotage carried out during the war. In August 1941, he and four comrades went behind enemy lines. However, the operation failed: four were killed, and Chekhovich was captured. Nevertheless, he managed to escape and contact the Soviet command, which instructed him to infiltrate the Germans in the occupied city of Porkhov.
There he met his future wife, who bore him a son. At first, Chekhovich repaired watches, then got a job as an electrician at a local power plant, and later received a position as an administrator at a local cinema. The famous sabotage occurred in November 1943 during a screening of the film “Circus Artists.” On that day, the cinema was visited by 700 Germans, among whom were two generals. None of them suspected that the load-bearing columns and roof of the building were mined. Few people survived the explosion. For carrying out this operation, Chekhovich was nominated for the title of Hero of the USSR.
The tragedy of Old Man Minai
Minay Filippovich Shmyrev
In July 1941, Minai Filippovich Shmyrev, who at that time headed the Pudot Cardboard Factory, formed a partisan detachment from workers. Over the course of a few months, they engaged the enemy 27 times and caused significant damage to enemy troops. But the main exploits followed a year later, when Shmyrev, known by the nickname Old Man Minai, together with the partisans knocked out the Germans from 15 villages. Around the same time, under his command, the so-called Surazh Gate was created, which was a 40-kilometer zone through which weapons and food passed.
In February 1942, Shmyrev experienced a personal tragedy. The Germans captured the commander's sister, mother-in-law (his wife died before the war) and four young children, promising to leave them alive if he surrendered. Shmyrev was in despair: the settlement in which his relatives were kept was fortified, so he could not go on an assault. And even if he decided to take such a step, there was a great risk that his relatives would still be executed.
The prisoners did not hope that the occupiers would keep their word, so they prepared for the worst. Shmyrev’s eldest daughter wrote a note and, with the help of a security guard, gave it to her father. “Dad, worry about us, don’t listen to anyone, don’t go to the Germans. If you are killed, then we are powerless and will not avenge you. And if they kill us, dad, then you will avenge us,” wrote a 14-year-old girl.
Shmyrev failed to save his loved ones - the Germans carried out their threat.
MORE ON THE TOPIC