Guerrilla warfare in WWII. Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Posted on http://www.allbest.ru/

On the topic: “Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War»

1. The struggle of the people's avengers

2. Methods of guerrilla warfare

2.1 Intelligence activities

2.2 Political activity

2.3 Combat assistance

2.4 Guerrilla raids

2.5 Sabotage

Conclusion

sabotage guerrilla fighting war

1. The struggle of the people's avengers

1.1 Beginning of the organization of the partisan movement

The beginning of the war was tragic for the Soviet Union. The result of Germany's treacherous attack was terrible. Hundreds of thousands of killed, wounded, missing Red Army soldiers and civilians. By July 10, German troops had captured the Baltic states, Belarus, Moldova, and a significant part of Ukraine. During three weeks of the war, Soviet troops lost 3,500 aircraft, 6,000 tanks, 20 thousand guns and mortars. More than 100 divisions of V.V. Karpov suffered heavy defeat. Dictionary-reference book of the Great Patriotic War, M., Nauka publishing house, 1985, p.54.

The situation was catastrophic... The main goal was to disunite the people and destroy the Russians as a nation. The Nazis understood that, in achieving their goal, they would encounter resistance from the Soviet people. That is why they considered mass terror the most effective weapon for suppressing the peoples of the USSR and developed methods for its implementation. A network of concentration camps was created in the occupied territory, and punitive operations were carried out. Thus, the very misanthropic policy of the occupiers, their brutal regime established in the occupied territories, contributed to the emergence and emergence of organizations of Russian patriots - partisan movements.

Popular resistance to the invaders arose from the first days of the Nazi occupation. At the beginning, it manifested itself mainly in the sabotage of the enemy’s economic enterprises, hoarding food, hiding Jews, evading the census, that is, in passive forms.

Meanwhile, the deployment of the partisan movement begins at the direction of the central and party Soviet bodies. Along with local party and Soviet bodies, employees of state security agencies, the NKVD and military intelligence officers were involved in its organization.

The most important documents on the organization of the partisan movement and underground struggle were the directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated June 29, 1941, and the secret resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated July 18, 1941 “On the organization of the struggle in the rear of German troops.” They set the main goal of partisan warfare - to create unbearable conditions for the Nazis and their accomplices in the occupied territory, to destroy them at every step, and to help the Red Army with all our might.

The organization of partisan detachments progressed very quickly. On July 5, 1941, a special group was created under the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, one of whose tasks was to organize the fight behind enemy lines.

The NKVD also controlled hundreds of thousands of people's militias, fighters of volunteer extermination battalions formed directly in factories and enterprises. They were created to protect cities and regions from fires, to destroy saboteurs and enemy landings. At the same time, they were trained in guerrilla warfare. And when the front line approached the areas where the fighters were operating, the battalions were reorganized into partisan detachments and went to previously prepared areas to fight the Nazis in the rear.

In September 1941, a separate special purpose motorized rifle brigade (OMSBON) was created in Moscow to carry out special tasks and promote the development of the people's struggle behind enemy lines, conduct reconnaissance, and disorganize the enemy's rear. During the war, she sent 212 behind the front line special units and groups total number 7316 people Balashov A.I., Rudakov G.P. History of the Great Patriotic War. - St. Petersburg, publishing house "Peter", 2006, p. 405..

Having established connections with local partisans and underground fighters, relying on the help and support of the local population, many special groups quickly grew into large detachments and even formations.

Popular support played an important role in the partisan movement. Entire villages became reliable bases for armed struggle. They created armed self-defense groups that controlled significant territories behind enemy lines. City residents refused to work in factories owned by the Nazis, burned bridges, destroyed communication lines, fired at groups of motorcyclists from ambush, evaded the population census, and sheltered Jews, wounded and encircled Red Army soldiers. Risking their lives, the patriots listened to radio broadcasts from Moscow, read newspapers and leaflets. Schools operated in partisan zones. Failure of fascist plans to use human and material resources occupied areas is one of the most important achievements of the partisans.

Those underground committees and militant organizations who, out of necessity, remained in populated areas. They have accumulated combat experience and learned to carefully secrecy through a system of messengers. In fact, these combat formations were partisan groups and detachments that were in a legal position. During the day, underground fighters worked in the fields, worked at enemy enterprises, and at night they went out on combat missions, destroying the invaders and their objects.

The underground also carried out mass political work among the population, supported the people's firm confidence in victory over the enemy and exposed his false propaganda, supplied the partisans with material resources and replenished their ranks, organized the population's sabotage of the activities of the invaders, and destroyed representatives of the German authorities.

In Russia, the largest number of partisan formations was created in the northwestern regions: Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov. A particularly important role here was played by the 2nd partisan brigade N.G. Vasilyeva, who created the first partisan region in the North-West. In the central regions of Russia, one of the first partisan formations was a detachment under the command of N.Z. Carols. In the Bryansk forests, from among the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army who were encircled, detachments “For the Motherland”, “Death to the German Occupiers”, named after Chapaev, etc. appeared. By December 1941, the number of partisans in this area exceeded 4 thousand people Balashov A. I., Rudakov G.P. History of the Great Patriotic War. - St. Petersburg, publishing house "Peter", 2006, p.403. . In total, during the war years, Balashov A.I., Rudakov G.P. fought with over 1 million partisans behind enemy lines. History of the Great Patriotic War. - St. Petersburg, publishing house "Peter", 2006, p.404.

1.2 Composition and organization of squads

Over time, the partisan movement becomes more and more numerous. The ranks of the partisans were replenished by:

former prisoners of war who escaped from Nazi camps, soldiers and commanders who found themselves surrounded behind enemy lines (60%);

peasants from whom the Germans confiscated all their property, dooming them to starvation. Often entire families and even villages joined the partisans;

townspeople, teachers and workers who did not want to submit to the occupation regime and work for the enemy;

refugees from war zones, people trying to avoid deportation to work in Germany;

Thousands of state security officers and border guards voluntarily joined the detachments;

In other words, everyone was a partisan: adults, old people, children.

As a rule, the personnel of the partisan detachments took the oath. The oath, the text of which was developed by the fighters themselves, further disciplined the partisans and strengthened their responsibility for the tasks performed and the fate of the country. All formations were based on strict military discipline. They were headed by commanders and commissars, various services were created, party and Komsomol organizations. They did a lot of political work among the partisans and the population.

In 1943, partisans were considered equal to military personnel. The command staff began to be awarded officer ranks, and the most outstanding of them - generals.

It is interesting that already in the first months of the war, the partisans even invented a kind of uniform, something between army uniforms and civilian clothing, although for the most part they made do with ordinary local ones. A Gestapo report dated July 31, 1942 stated: “While one group is dressed in light fur coats and a special kind of felt boots, other groups wear gray shirts, black and white striped, green or gray cotton-lined trousers, green or gray jackets , fur hats without Soviet stars, brown overcoats, rubber or leather boots. In winter, they wear white camouflage coats over their uniforms and civilian clothes. The strategy of Nazi Germany in the war against the USSR. Documents and materials. - M., publishing house "Iris", 2001, p. 210.. Unit commanders even encouraged wearing enemy uniforms. Disguised partisans attacked entire villages, plundered them and killed village elders, collective farm chairmen and other people friendly to the Germans.

1.3 Creation of the Central Headquarters

In 1942, the struggle in the rear acquired enormous proportions, and the partisans inflicted significant damage on the enemy. But, unfortunately, in the first year of the war the partisans did not have a central leadership, and the key role at first was played by the NKVD, which relied on small groups. Nevertheless, the partisans inflicted more and more significant blows on the enemy, and it was difficult not to notice their tenacity and heroism shown in the struggle. Centralization has simply become a burning necessity. Notable initiatives came from P. Ponomarenko (first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus in 1938-42). He advocated a broad partisan movement from the very beginning and ultimately convinced Stalin.

On May 31, 1942, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was formed, and P. Ponomarenko was appointed its head. By November 1942, the number of partisans had increased to 90 thousand people, in January 1943 it had already reached over 100 thousand people, and a year later - 200 thousand. Most of them operated in Belarus. Balashov A.I., Rudakov G.P. History of the Great Patriotic War. - St. Petersburg, publishing house "Peter", 2006, p. 409

Much attention was paid to the uninterrupted supply of partisans with weapons, ammunition, mine-explosive equipment, medicines, and the evacuation by plane of the seriously wounded and sick to the mainland. All this invaluable cargo was delivered to the partisans by air by planes and gliders, as well as by land through gaps in the front line.

Serious attention was paid to training specialists for the partisan movement. At the beginning of the war, they trained on short-term courses (5-10 days), which, of course, was not enough. From the end of 1941, the training process was transferred to special schools deployed both in the front-line rear and in large partisan formations, and the training time in them was increased to several months.

Centralized leadership of the partisan struggle allowed:

Coordinate the actions of the partisans in accordance with the plans of the Headquarters, plan entire combat operations with the participation of the partisans

Establish contact with partisan formations

Supply the partisans with weapons, ammunition, medicines,

The results of these active actions to create a headquarters exceeded all expectations! Never before has there been such a close connection between the actions of partisans and the operations of regular troops as there was in the Great Patriotic War. The popular movement became a serious force opposing the German invaders.

2. Methods of guerrilla warfare

2.1 Intelligence activities

One of the main activities of the partisans was reconnaissance. By the beginning of 1943, work on the organizational strengthening of the network of intelligence agencies in partisan formations was completed. The local population actively helped the partisans in collecting intelligence information, as a result of which, perhaps, not a single major enemy event went unnoticed. Intelligence carried out work to identify the size and combat effectiveness of enemy garrisons, recruit soldiers and officers, identify weak links in enemy communications, and warn about maneuvers. Agents had to constantly work in direct contact with the enemy, often under the guise of a traitor to the Motherland, hated by the local population. Over time, the partisans managed to create a powerful, extensive network of agents. Strictly secret lists of agents were compiled, their instructions and communication points were organized ("mailboxes", safe houses).

Partisan intelligence obtained and promptly reported to the Center extremely important information of a military and political nature, collected data on the deployment and strength of enemy units, headquarters and airfields, and on enemy movements along railways and highways. Using disguise, the partisans penetrated enemy intelligence agencies and schools, various levels of the occupation administration, and identified spies, saboteurs and terrorists.

Chekist partisans often carried out actions to capture or liquidate enemy intelligence officers, holders of secrets, and leaders of occupation authorities.

2.2 Political activity

Partisan formations also carried out a number of special political tasks. Misinforming the fascist leadership, disintegrating the apparatus of the enemy's military-political administration and its military formations, eliminating representatives of the enemy's occupation institutions and intelligence services, hiding the true intentions of the partisan command and the Center - this is not a complete list of the tasks being performed. Enormous political work was carried out among the population. As in the previous period, it aimed to strengthen the Soviet people who found themselves in occupied territory, faith in the inevitability of victory, to help every person find their place in the fight against the enemy, to cultivate burning hatred of foreign enslavers, to propagate among the masses the heroic deeds of partisans and underground fighters, to expose false fascist propaganda, to acquaint people with the main events in Soviet rear and front.

Propaganda contributed to the activation of popular resistance. The inextricable unity of the Soviet people behind enemy lines was an insurmountable obstacle for the occupiers in their attempts to use the economic and human resources of the occupied territory. All these heroic efforts contributed to the disruption of fascist plans to use the human and material resources of the occupied areas and turn Soviet territory into a desert during the withdrawal of troops. But the partisans not only misinformed the enemy, but also obtained the necessary and useful information. It was they who informed the population about the true situation of the Red Army at the fronts and distributed leaflets and newspapers. From December 1942 to March 1943 alone, more than 6 million copies of leaflets and brochures V.V. Karpov were sent for distribution behind enemy lines. Dictionary-reference book of the Great Patriotic War. - M., publishing house "Science", 1985, p. 172. .

2.3 Combat assistance

As mentioned above, in no other war, except for the Great Patriotic War, did partisan actions provide such enormous assistance to the regular army or make such a large contribution to the defeat of the enemy.

At the beginning of the war, interaction with troops was expressed mainly in conducting reconnaissance in the interests of Soviet troops and carrying out minor sabotage behind enemy lines. During the winter offensive of the Red Army of 1941-42. interaction between partisans and regular troops expanded. The partisans attacked communications, enemy headquarters and warehouses, participated in the liberation of populated areas, directed Soviet aircraft at enemy targets, and assisted in airborne assaults.

Gradually, the role of partisans in the conduct of hostilities begins to increase, they carry out more and more responsible and complex operations. In the summer campaign of 1942, they, for example, solved the following important tasks: making it difficult to regroup enemy troops, destroying enemy manpower, military equipment and disrupting its supplies, diverting enemy forces to guard the rear, reconnaissance, guiding Soviet aircraft to targets, freeing Soviet prisoners of war .

The Red Army's offensive in 1944 was carried out in close cooperation with the partisans, who actively participated in almost all strategic operations. They disrupted enemy troop transfers, disrupted their organized withdrawal, struck the enemy from the rear and helped break through his defenses, assisted Soviet troops in capturing populated areas, captured river crossings, liberated individual populated areas, road junctions and held them until the advance units arrived. All this contributed to the advance of Soviet troops at a high pace.

2.4 Guerrilla raids

Raids regularly carried out by partisan formations also brought significant results, when partisan detachments and formations left their base areas for a time or left them altogether.

In the first period, the most important tasks of the raids were organizing the partisan movement in new areas, establishing contacts with local partisans, raising the spirit of the population, and mobilizing them to actively fight the enemy. Meetings and rallies were held in the villages, reports were made, and conversations were organized. After such events, many residents joined partisan detachments. Some raids by partisan formations were aimed at providing assistance to the defending Soviet troops.

2.5 Sabotage

It was very difficult for the partisans to resist the Germans. The fascist armies were motorized and well armed. The partisans could not boast good weapons, and there was no opportunity to widely use automobile transport for maneuver behind enemy lines.

In this situation, sabotage became the favorite method in the partisans' arsenal. Their advantage was that they made it possible to deliver effective blows to the enemy and suffer virtually no losses. In addition, the success of military operations on the fronts depended on the timely replenishment of troops with personnel, weapons, military equipment, fuel and many other types of material. The partisans were well aware of this and sought to deliver the most powerful blows on the roads.

The partisans carried out active combat activities not only on railways, but also on highways, dirt roads, and on enemy water communications.

The combat activities of the partisans along communications often thwarted the enemy’s plans to accumulate material resources and concentrate troops for operations. In a number of cases, vehicles (carts, cars, railcars, rafts, etc.) with explosive charges installed on them were used to disable an object without entering it.

The creation of a supply department for the partisan movement in 1942 played a major role. Radio stations and special mine-explosive weapons appeared in the arsenal of partisan detachments. This allowed a sharp increase in the number of sabotages. Before this, the partisans were forced to collect weapons on the fields of past battles in order to somehow provide for themselves.

3. The largest partisan operations

By the end of 1942, the heroic struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines acquired a massive character and became truly national. Hundreds of thousands of patriots fought against the invaders as part of partisan formations, underground organizations and groups, and actively participated in disrupting the economic, political and military activities of the occupiers. Communications, especially railways, became the main object of partisan combat activity, which in its scope acquired strategic importance.

Grandiose in its scale, in the number of forces involved and achieved results there was a partisan operation that went down in history under the name “Rail War” (August 3, 1943). It was planned by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement, was prepared for a long time and comprehensively and was designed to assist the Red Army’s offensive on the Kursk Bulge. The main goal of the operation was to paralyze the transportation of the Nazis along the railways. Partisans from the Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk, Oryol regions, Belarus and part of Ukraine were involved in this operation. Balashov A.I., Rudakov G.P. History of the Great Patriotic War. - St. Petersburg, publishing house “Peter”, 2006, p.407.

Another operation, codenamed "Concert". This operation was closely connected with the Soviet offensive in Ukraine. Attacks on railways were combined with attacks on individual garrisons and enemy units, with ambushes on highways and dirt roads, as well as with disruption of river transport by the Nazis. Drobov M.A. Small war (partisanship and sabotage). - M., publishing house "Enlightenment", 1996, p. 153

The powerful attacks of the partisans along the entire line of the Soviet-German front shocked the enemy. Soviet patriots not only caused great damage to the enemy, disorganized and paralyzed railway traffic, but also demoralized the occupation apparatus.

4. Soviet partisans abroad

When units of the Red Army liberated the territory of the Soviet Union, the foreign campaign of Soviet troops began. Along with the troops, partisan detachments also move abroad. Now they helped local anti-fascist organizations in developing and intensifying the partisan struggle. Detachments were active in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. The deployment of task forces behind enemy lines continued until the end of the war.

5. The effectiveness of the partisan movement during the war

We examined the stages of the formation and development of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. Typically, in the eyes of people, the partisan movement is a massive manifestation of heroism that has delighted and inspired people for several generations. But it's not that simple. In the history of the partisan movement there are many “blank” spots, omissions and reservations, information that cannot be found in reference books and history textbooks. Not everyone knows, for example, that the preparation of partisan formations had been going on since 1932, and if it had not been stopped, then perhaps the beginning of the war would not have been so tragic and the partisans would have provided active assistance to the troops.

If we try to assess the real scope of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War, not based on the total number of partisan formations that usually appeared in reports and happily migrated to monographs, then it turns out that the share of actively operating partisan detachments, regiments and brigades will not exceed 15%. ..

Why did this happen?

The plan to repel aggression in the early 1930s provided for the sudden deployment of partisan warfare behind enemy lines from the first days of the war, and, above all, outside the Soviet Union. The scope of preparations for conducting guerrilla warfare outside the country in the event of an enemy attack can be judged from the following data.

There is every reason to believe that if all the preparations for partisan warfare had been preserved at the beginning of the war, then even with a sudden attack by Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union, enemy troops, approaching Minsk and Kiev, would have been left without ammunition and fuel and lubricants. The occupiers would not have been able to use the captured railways.

What are the reasons for such a low effectiveness of the partisan movement? What prevented him from developing to his full potential?

1. First of all - repression. Many General Staff employees, regional committee secretaries, and Red Army commanders who had special training were repressed; partisan schools and hiding places intended for partisan forces were liquidated.

2. The “scorched earth” tactics, which alienated local residents, had a negative impact on the effectiveness of the partisan movement at the beginning of the war. We are talking, first of all, about an order drawn up personally by Stalin. He, in particular, demanded:

1. Destroy and burn to the ground all populated areas in the rear of German troops at a distance of 40-60 km in depth from the front line and 20-30 km from the roads.

2. Create teams of hunters in each regiment to blow up and burn settlements in which enemy troops are located.

3. In the event of a forced withdrawal of our units in one area or another, take the Soviet population with us and be sure to destroy all populated areas without exception so that the enemy cannot use them Communist Party in the Second World War (June 1941 - 1945) Documents and materials. - M., publishing house "Literature", 2000, p. 76.

It is not surprising that in a number of cases, peasants, in order to protect themselves from “arsonists,” instead of helping the partisans in every possible way in their fight, guarded their homes themselves, participated in the capture of saboteurs and handed them over to the occupiers.

3. The construction of partisan formations was carried out on a territorial basis. It was started only after the start of the war, in extreme conditions. The lack of a preparatory phase of guerrilla warfare and the reliance on short-term partisan actions in the enemy’s immediate front-line rear, saturated with troops, determined the low vital activity of partisan formations. This led to the fact that in the first year of the war the vast majority of them ceased to exist shortly after their creation.

4. Neglect of one’s own prisoners. For some reason, no one called on our troops, who found themselves behind enemy lines and did not have the opportunity to break through to their own, to switch to partisan actions.

6. Ineffective actions to undermine communications. Throughout the Great Patriotic War, partisan formations experienced an acute shortage of military specialists, explosives, and mine-blasting equipment. All this reduced the effectiveness of sabotage. But the main mistake was that the partisans blew up the rails instead of organizing train crashes. The undermining of the rails caused an interruption in traffic only for the time necessary to replace them (several hours).

Conclusion

During the Great Patriotic War, partisans were called “people’s avengers.” This title contains special meaning. If for the whole world partisans are members of irregular paramilitary forces that attack civilians and representatives of the current government, then in Russia, since the Patriotic War of 1812, partisans have gained a reputation as bearers of the club of popular anger. An enemy who has come under the blow of this club must remember that by entering foreign land, he has placed himself outside the law, and no one will fight him according to the rules. The Nazis fully appreciated this ancient Russian tradition: if at the beginning of the war they looked at the partisans as ordinary bandits, then later they began to consider them sworn enemies.

The partisans made an invaluable contribution to the fight against Nazi Germany. The war clearly demonstrated the high moral and political qualities of the Soviet people, their fearlessness and selflessness. It was the clearest manifestation of the selfless devotion of the Soviet people to their socialist Motherland, their unbending will in the name of victory over fascism.

The movement was massive, everyone rose up to fight - from young to old, trouble did not spare anyone, everyone united in the face of a merciless enemy. The more brutal the actions of the fascists became, the more the desire for revenge intensified, the more the patriotic movement strengthened.

It is also important that the nationwide partisan movement that unfolded in the occupied territory undermined the morale of Hitler’s troops. The partisans were able to act boldly and improvisationally, which often shocked the disciplined German armies. Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were losing faith in the success of their inglorious campaign against the USSR.

The main thing in war is, of course, the people to whose heroism we owe our lives. At the head of many partisan formations were genuine geniuses who acted actively, selectively, and knew how to unite and lead the people. History will never forget the legendary partisan commanders A.N. Saburova, S.A. Kovpaka, A.F. Fedorova, M.I. Naumova, Ya.I. Melnik, P.P. Vershigor, V.P. Chepigi, M.I. Shukaeva.

The heroic efforts of the Soviet partisans, their dedication and willingness to fight for the freedom of the country to the last drop of blood did not go unnoticed. 248 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 20 commanders of partisan formations received general's shoulder straps. In addition, a special award was established for those who, during the war, made the most significant contribution to partisan warfare behind enemy lines. The medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" was established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on February 2, 1943. In total, during the war years, 127 thousand people were awarded medals of the 1st and 2nd degrees.

The exploits of the Soviet partisans remained forever in the memory of the people and left a bright mark on folk culture, literature and art. How many poems are dedicated to partisans, what expressive words the exploits of heroes are sung in songs famous composers and musicians! Already during the war years, numerous posters appeared reflecting the courage and desire of patriots to give their lives for their Motherland.

I believe that the goal I set when writing the essay has been achieved. I was able to study the nature of the partisan movement during the war and explore its effectiveness.

List of used literature

1. Balashov A.I., Rudakov G.P. History of the Great Patriotic War. - St. Petersburg, publishing house "Peter", 2006

2. Boyarsky V. Guerrilla warfare: myths and lessons. - Article from the newspaper "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", No. 17, 20.05. 2005. URL: http://nvo. ng. ru/spforces/2005-05-20/7_war. html

3. Drobov M.A. Small war (partisanship and sabotage). - M., publishing house "Enlightenment", 1996.

4. Karamaev S. People's Avengers behind enemy lines. - // Duel, No. 46, 2004 URL: http: // vip. lenta. ru/topic/victory/partizanen. html

5. Karpov V.V. Dictionary-reference book of the Great Patriotic War - M., publishing house "Science", 1985.

6. Knyazkov A. Historical meaning partisan movement 1941-1945 and his role in the defeat of Nazi Germany. // "Landmark", No. 4, 2007

7. The Communist Party in the Second World War (June 1941 - 1945). Documents and materials. - M., publishing house "Literature", 2000.

8. Mertsalov A.N. WWII in the historiography of Germany. - M., publishing house "Science", 1997

9. The strategy of Nazi Germany in the war against the USSR. Documents and materials. - M., publishing house "Iris", 2001.

Posted on Allbest.ru

S. Kovpak's detachment

The partisan movement was and remains one of the most effective and universal forms 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, is quite characteristic of 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, especially succeeding in road construction, which he proudly called his favorite work. 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 was not at all distinguished by any special bravery 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 dealings with 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 get them to high level 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 for organizing the combat and peaceful life of the 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, the unhurried but not slow life of 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, the Kovpaks carried out a raid from Bryansk forests to Right Bank 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 - 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 Battle of Kursk, The Sumy partisan unit of Sidor Kovpak, by order of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement, begins 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 managed to long time block 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 with a simultaneous “fan” strike in various directions break through 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

On May 30, 1942, the State Defense Committee at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command established the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement, 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 fighters, 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. Light weapons predominated in their weapons weapon, 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 shapes organizations 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.

The occupiers immediately felt the intensification of partisan actions on the railways. 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. The capacity of the 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. 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 Nazi 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 of the 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”, high school in Pinsk.

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 connection included separate units- 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 gave special attention to important capture of watercraft in the port of Pinsk, since in conditions of heavily swampy terrain, in the absence of good highways, these watercraft could successfully solve 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 of the 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 combat operations.

Reconnaissance partisans planted explosives under the rails and tore up enemy trains, fired from ambushes at convoys on the highway, went on air day and night and reported to Moscow more and more information about the movements of German troops. military units... Medvedev’s detachment served as the nucleus for the creation of an entire partisan region in the Bryansk region. 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 sent by Medvedev to Moscow about the Nazis preparing an assassination attempt on the participants 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 information about military garrisons received from the commander of these garrisons, 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, Colonel state security Medvedev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1946, Medvedev resigned and until last days throughout 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 occupiers.

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 an additional factor in the partisan struggle. 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 operations, the conduct of large independent operations by partisan groups, the widespread use of mine-blasting equipment, supplying partisan detachments and formations from the rear a warring country, the evacuation of the sick and wounded from enemy lines to the “Mainland” - all these features of the partisan movement in the Great Patriotic War significantly enriched the theory and 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, 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, awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union, became a symbol of fearlessness and courage of partisan intelligence officers. 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.

What price did its defenders, who fought behind enemy lines, pay for the liberation of the Motherland?

This is rarely remembered, but during the war years there was a joke that sounded with a tinge of pride: “Why should we wait until the Allies open a second front? It's been open for a long time! It’s called the Partisan Front.” If there is an exaggeration in this, it is a small one. The partisans of the Great Patriotic War really were a real second front for the Nazis.

To imagine the scale of guerrilla warfare, it is enough to provide a few figures. By 1944, about 1.1 million people fought in partisan detachments and formations. The losses of the German side from the actions of the partisans amounted to several hundred thousand people - this number includes Wehrmacht soldiers and officers (at least 40,000 people even according to the meager data of the German side), and all sorts of collaborators such as Vlasovites, police officers, colonists, and so on. Among those destroyed by the people's avengers were 67 German generals; five more were taken alive and transported to the mainland. Finally, the effectiveness of the partisan movement can be judged by this fact: the Germans had to divert every tenth soldier of the ground forces to fight the enemy in their own rear!

It is clear that such successes came at a high price for the partisans themselves. In the ceremonial reports of that time, everything looks beautiful: they destroyed 150 enemy soldiers and lost two partisans killed. In reality, partisan losses were much higher, and even today their final figure is unknown. But the losses were probably no less than those of the enemy. Hundreds of thousands of partisans and underground fighters gave their lives for the liberation of their homeland.

How many partisan heroes do we have?

Just one figure speaks very clearly about the severity of losses among partisans and underground participants: out of 250 Heroes of the Soviet Union who fought in the German rear, 124 people - every second! - received this high title posthumously. And this despite the fact that during the Great Patriotic War, a total of 11,657 people were awarded the country’s highest award, 3,051 of them posthumously. That is, every fourth...

Among the 250 partisans and underground fighters - Heroes of the Soviet Union, two were awarded the high title twice. These are the commanders of the partisan units Sidor Kovpak and Alexey Fedorov. What is noteworthy: both partisan commanders were awarded at the same time each time, by the same decree. For the first time - on May 18, 1942, together with partisan Ivan Kopenkin, who received the title posthumously. The second time - on January 4, 1944, together with 13 more partisans: this was one of the most massive simultaneous awards to partisans with the highest ranks.

Sidor Kovpak. Reproduction: TASS

Two more partisans - Hero of the Soviet Union wore on their chests not only the sign of this highest rank, but also the Gold Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor: the commissar of the partisan brigade named after K.K. Rokossovsky Pyotr Masherov and the commander of the partisan detachment “Falcons” Kirill Orlovsky. Pyotr Masherov received his first title in August 1944, the second in 1978 for his success in the party field. Kirill Orlovsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in September 1943, and Hero of Socialist Labor in 1958: the Rassvet collective farm he headed became the first millionaire collective farm in the USSR.

The first Heroes of the Soviet Union from among the partisans were the leaders of the Red October partisan detachment operating on the territory of Belarus: the detachment's commissar Tikhon Bumazhkov and commander Fyodor Pavlovsky. And this happened during the most difficult period at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War - August 6, 1941! Alas, only one of them lived to see the Victory: the commissar of the Red October detachment, Tikhon Bumazhkov, who managed to receive his award in Moscow, died in December of the same year, leaving the German encirclement.

Belarusian partisans on Lenin Square in Minsk, after the liberation of the city from the Nazi invaders. Photo: Vladimir Lupeiko / RIA

Chronicle of partisan heroism

In total, in the first year and a half of the war, 21 partisans and underground fighters received the highest award, 12 of them received the title posthumously. In total, by the end of 1942, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued nine decrees conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on partisans, five of them were group, four were individual. Among them was a decree on awarding the legendary partisan Lisa Chaikina dated March 6, 1942. And on September 1 of the same year, the highest award was awarded to nine participants in the partisan movement, two of whom received it posthumously.

The year 1943 turned out to be just as stingy in terms of top awards for partisans: only 24 awarded. But in the next year, 1944, when the entire territory of the USSR was liberated from the fascist yoke and the partisans found themselves on their side of the front line, 111 people received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union at once, including two - Sidor Kovpak and Alexey Fedorov - in the second once. And in the victorious year of 1945, another 29 people were added to the number of partisans - Heroes of the Soviet Union.

But many were among the partisans and those whose exploits the country fully appreciated only many years after the Victory. A total of 65 Heroes of the Soviet Union from among those who fought behind enemy lines were awarded this high title after 1945. Most of the awards found their heroes in the year of the 20th anniversary of the Victory - by decree of May 8, 1965, the country's highest award was awarded to 46 partisans. And the last time the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded on May 5, 1990, to the partisan in Italy, Fora Mosulishvili, and the leader of the Young Guard, Ivan Turkenich. Both received the award posthumously.

What else can you add when talking about partisan heroes? Every ninth person who fought in a partisan detachment or underground and earned the title of Hero of the Soviet Union is a woman! But here the sad statistics are even more inexorable: only five out of 28 partisans received this title during their lifetime, the rest - posthumously. Among them were the first woman, Hero of the Soviet Union Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, and members of the underground organization “Young Guard” Ulyana Gromova and Lyuba Shevtsova. In addition, among the partisans - Heroes of the Soviet Union there were two Germans: intelligence officer Fritz Schmenkel, awarded posthumously in 1964, and reconnaissance company commander Robert Klein, awarded in 1944. And also Slovakian Jan Nalepka, commander of a partisan detachment, awarded posthumously in 1945.

It only remains to add that after the collapse of the USSR, the title of Hero Russian Federation 9 more partisans were awarded, including three posthumously (one of the awarded was intelligence officer Vera Voloshina). The medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War” was awarded to a total of 127,875 men and women (1st degree - 56,883 people, 2nd degree - 70,992 people): organizers and leaders of the partisan movement, commanders of partisan detachments and particularly distinguished partisans. The very first of the medals “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree, was received in June 1943 by the commander of a demolition group, Efim Osipenko. He was awarded the award for his feat in the fall of 1941, when he had to detonate a failed mine literally by hand. As a result, the train with tanks and food collapsed from the road, and the detachment managed to pull out the shell-shocked and blinded commander and transport him to the mainland.

Partisans by call of heart and duty of service

The fact that the Soviet government would rely on partisan warfare in the event of a major war on the western borders was clear back in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was then that the OGPU employees and the partisans they recruited were veterans Civil War developed plans for organizing the structure of future partisan detachments, laid hidden bases and caches with ammunition and equipment. But, alas, shortly before the start of the war, as veterans recall, these bases began to be opened and liquidated, and the built warning system and organization of partisan detachments began to be broken. Nevertheless, when the first bombs fell on Soviet soil on June 22, many local party workers remembered these pre-war plans and began to form the backbone of future detachments.

But not all groups arose this way. There were also many who appeared spontaneously - from soldiers and officers who were unable to break through the front line, who were surrounded by units, specialists who did not have time to evacuate, conscripts who did not reach their units, and the like. Moreover, this process was uncontrollable, and the number of such detachments was small. According to some reports, in the winter of 1941-1942, over 2 thousand partisan detachments operated in the German rear, their total number was 90 thousand fighters. It turns out that on average there were up to fifty fighters in each detachment, more often one or two dozen. By the way, as eyewitnesses recall, local residents did not begin to actively join partisan detachments immediately, but only in the spring of 1942, when the “new order” showed itself in a nightmare, and the opportunity to survive in the forest became real.

In turn, the detachments that arose under the command of people who were preparing partisan actions even before the war were more numerous. Such were, for example, the detachments of Sidor Kovpak and Alexei Fedorov. The basis of such formations were employees of party and Soviet bodies, headed by future partisan generals. This is how the legendary partisan detachment “Red October” arose: the basis for it was the fighter battalion formed by Tikhon Bumazhkov (a volunteer armed formation in the first months of the war, involved in the anti-sabotage fight in the front line), which was then “overgrown” with local residents and encirclement. In exactly the same way, the famous Pinsk partisan detachment arose, which later grew into a formation - on the basis of a destroyer battalion created by Vasily Korzh, a career NKVD employee, who 20 years earlier was involved in preparing partisan warfare. By the way, his first battle, which the detachment fought on June 28, 1941, is considered by many historians to be the first battle of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War.

In addition, there were partisan detachments that were formed in the Soviet rear, after which they were transferred across the front line to the German rear - for example, Dmitry Medvedev’s legendary “Winners” detachment. The basis of such detachments were soldiers and commanders of NKVD units and professional intelligence officers and saboteurs. In particular, the Soviet “saboteur number one” Ilya Starinov was involved in the training of such units (as well as in the retraining of ordinary partisans). And she oversaw the activities of such detachments Special group under the NKVD under the leadership of Pavel Sudoplatov, which later became the 4th Directorate of the People's Commissariat.

The commander of the partisan detachment “Winners”, writer Dmitry Medvedev, during the Great Patriotic War. Photo: Leonid Korobov / RIA Novosti

The commanders of such special detachments were given more serious and difficult tasks than ordinary partisans. Often they had to conduct large-scale rear reconnaissance, develop and carry out penetration operations and liquidation actions. One can again cite as an example the same detachment of Dmitry Medvedev “Winners”: it was he who provided support and supplies for the famous Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov, who was responsible for the liquidation of several major officials of the occupation administration and several major successes in human intelligence.

Insomnia and the rail war

But still, the main task of the partisan movement, which since May 1942 was led from Moscow by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement (and from September to November also by the Commander-in-Chief of the partisan movement, whose post was occupied by the “first red marshal” Kliment Voroshilov for three months), was different. Not allowing the invaders to gain a foothold on the occupied land, inflicting constant harassing attacks on them, disrupting rear communications and transport links - this is what the mainland expected and demanded from the partisans.

True, the partisans, one might say, learned that they had some kind of global goal only after the appearance of the Central Headquarters. And the point here is not at all that previously there was no one to give orders; there was no way to convey them to the performers. From the autumn of 1941 until the spring of 1942, while the front was moving east at tremendous speed and the country was making titanic efforts to stop this movement, the partisan detachments mostly acted at their own peril and risk. Left to their own devices, with virtually no support from behind the front line, they were forced to focus more on survival than on inflicting significant damage on the enemy. Few could boast of communication with the mainland, and even then mainly those who were organizedly thrown into the German rear, equipped with both a walkie-talkie and radio operators.

But after the appearance of the headquarters, the partisans began to be centrally provided with communications (in particular, regular graduations of partisan radio operators from schools began), to establish coordination between units and formations, and to use the gradually emerging partisan regions as a base for air supply. By that time, the basic tactics of guerrilla warfare had also been formed. The actions of the detachments, as a rule, came down to one of two methods: harassing strikes at the place of deployment or long raids on the enemy’s rear. Supporters and active implementers of raid tactics were the partisan commanders Kovpak and Vershigora, while the “Winners” detachment rather demonstrated harassment.

But what almost all partisan detachments, without exception, did was disrupt German communications. And it doesn’t matter whether this was done as part of a raid or harassing tactics: attacks were carried out on railways (primarily) and roads. Those who could not boast of a large number of troops and special skills focused on blowing up rails and bridges. Larger detachments, which had subdivisions of demolitions, reconnaissance and saboteurs and special means, could count on larger targets: large bridges, junction stations, railway infrastructure.

Partisans mine railway tracks near Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti

The largest coordinated actions were two sabotage operations - “Rail War” and “Concert”. Both were carried out by partisans on the orders of the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement and the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and were coordinated with the offensives of the Red Army in the late summer and autumn of 1943. The result of the “Rail War” was a reduction in the operational transportation of the Germans by 40%, and the result of the “Concert” - by 35%. This had a tangible impact on providing the active Wehrmacht units with reinforcements and equipment, although some experts in the field of sabotage warfare believed that the partisan capabilities could have been managed differently. For example, it was necessary to strive to disable not so much railway tracks as equipment, which is much more difficult to restore. It was for this purpose that a device like an overhead rail was invented at the Higher Operational School for Special Purposes, which literally threw trains off the track. But still, for the majority of partisan detachments, the most accessible method of rail warfare was precisely the demolition of the track, and even such assistance to the front turned out to be pointless.

A feat that cannot be undone

Today's view of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War is seriously different from what existed in society 30 years ago. Many details became known that eyewitnesses had accidentally or deliberately kept silent about, testimonies appeared from those who never romanticized the activities of the partisans, and even from those who had a death view against the partisans of the Great Patriotic War. And in many now independent former Soviet republics, they completely swapped the plus and minus positions, writing the partisans as enemies, and the policemen as the saviors of the homeland.

But all these events cannot detract from the main thing - the incredible, unique feat of the people who, deep behind enemy lines, did everything to defend their Motherland. Albeit by touch, without any idea of tactics and strategy, with only rifles and grenades, but these people fought for their freedom. And the best monument to them can and will be the memory of the feat of the partisans - the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, which cannot be canceled or downplayed by any effort.

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3

Chapter 1. Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

Organization of the partisan movement……………………………………………………………..4

Organization of a nationwide struggle behind enemy lines…………………………………….7

Operation “Rail War” and “Concert”……………………………………………11

How the partisans carried out work behind enemy lines……………………………………………..12

Chapter 2. Carrying out armed struggle of partisans and underground ...14

Fighting the enemy underground…………………………………………………………………...21

Conclusions and results…………………………………………………………………………………..28

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………33

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….35

Introduction.

Treacherously fascist Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The purpose of this attack is the destruction of the Soviet system, the seizure of Soviet lands, the enslavement of the people of the Soviet Union, the robbery of our country, the seizure of our bread and oil, the restoration of the power of landowners and capitalists. The enemy has already invaded Soviet soil, captured most of Lithuania with the cities of Kaunas and Vilnius, captured part of Latvia, the Brest, Bialystok, Vileika regions of Soviet Belarus and several regions of Western Ukraine. Danger looms over some other areas. German aviation is expanding its bombing area, bombing the cities of Riga, Minsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Smolensk, Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol, Murmansk.

Due to the war imposed on us, our country entered into a mortal battle with its dangerous and insidious enemy - German fascism. Our troops are heroically fighting an enemy armed to the teeth with tanks and aircraft. The Red Army, overcoming numerous difficulties, selflessly fights for every inch of Soviet land.

The reasons that prompted me to address this problem are the following: relevance and sufficient popularity.

The purpose of this course work is:

· research and comparative characteristics;

In accordance with this goal, I set the following tasks:

· study scientific literature on this issue;

· determine the significance of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War;

· identify features;

summarize and systematize conclusions about the partisan movement;

The following research methods were used in this work:

· description;

· comparison of material with subsequent generalization of the results obtained;

This work consists of an introduction, a main part devoted to the subject of the study, a conclusion summarizing the results of the study, a list of references and an appendix.

Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

Organization of the partisan movement.

Immediately after the invasion of fascist troops on Soviet territory, small partisan detachments and resistance groups began to spontaneously appear everywhere. They included soldiers who found themselves surrounded, who lost their units or escaped from captivity, patriots who did not have time to join the army but wanted to fight the enemy, party and Komsomol activists, and youth. Until the end of 1941, the partisan detachments grew stronger and gained strength. By the beginning of 1942, the partisan struggle had acquired well-defined forms and a clear organization, the detachments had grown, strengthened, and communication with the mainland had been established. Central and Republican headquarters of the partisan movement were created.

The partisan movement had a high degree of organization. In accordance with the Directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated June 29, 1941, it said, in particular: “in territories occupied by the enemy, create partisan detachments and sabotage groups to fight units of the enemy army, to incite partisan struggle everywhere and everywhere, for explosions of bridges, roads, damage to telephone and telegraph communications, arson of communications, etc.” and by the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated July 18, 1941 “On the organization of the struggle in the rear of German troops,” the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (TSSHPD) was organized at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, headed by the 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus P.K. Ponomarenko, and on the periphery - regional and republican headquarters of the partisan movement and their representation at the fronts (Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, Leningrad, Bryansk, etc.). These documents gave instructions on the preparation of the party underground, on the organization, recruitment and arming of partisan detachments, the tasks of the partisan movement were determined.

Already in 1941, 18 underground regional committees, over 260 district committees, city committees, district committees and other bodies operated in the occupied territories, a large number of primary party organizations and groups, in which there were 65.5 thousand communists. The struggle of Soviet patriots was led by 565 secretaries of regional, city and district party committees, 204 chairmen of regional, city and district executive committees of workers' deputies, 104 secretaries of regional, city and district Komsomol committees, as well as hundreds of other leaders. In the fall of 1943, 24 regional committees, over 370 district committees, city committees, district committees and other party bodies operated behind enemy lines. As a result of the organizational work of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the combat effectiveness of partisan detachments increased, their zones of action expanded and

the effectiveness of the struggle, in which the broad masses of the population were involved, close interaction was established with the Soviet troops.

Now both the spontaneous and organized partisan movement have merged into one common flow, not only inspired by hatred of the enemy, but also supported from the Center by weapons, ammunition, medicine, radio communications, and a cadre of experienced commanders. The intelligence agencies of the Western Front alone July August In 1941, about 500 reconnaissance officers, 29 reconnaissance and sabotage groups, and 17 partisan detachments were trained and sent behind enemy lines. The tasks of reconnaissance and sabotage groups were to collect information about enemy troops, commit sabotage at military installations and communications, etc. Carrying out these tasks, such groups became involved in the partisan movement and soon grew into large detachments and even formations.

Our people have never submitted to the enemy. We remember the name of Ivan Susanin from history, we remember the glorious partisans from the detachment of Denis Davydov, Alexander Fignev, Gerasim Kurin.

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.¹

In 1941-1942, the mortality rate among groups abandoned by the NKVD behind enemy lines was 93%. For example, in Ukraine from the beginning

¹V.S. Yarovikov.1418 days of war.M1990 p.89

war and 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 touch, which showed the ineffectiveness of the work of large units, especially V steppe zone. By the end of the war, the mortality rate in partisan detachments was about 10%. By the end of 1941, over 2 thousand partisan detachments were operating in the occupied territory, in which up to 90 thousand people fought. In total, during the war, there were more than 6 thousand partisan detachments behind enemy lines, in which they fought with over 1 million 150 thousand partisans.

In 1941 - 1944 fought in the ranks of Soviet partisans in the occupied territory of the USSR:

RSFSR (occupied regions) - 250 thousand people.

Lithuanian SSR -10 thousand people.

Ukrainian SSR – 501,750 people.

Byelorussian SSR – 373,942 people.

Latvian SSR – 12,000 people.

Estonian SSR – 2000 people.

Moldavian SSR – 3500 people.

Karelo - Finnish SSR - 5500 people.

By the beginning of 1944, they included: workers - 30.1%, peasants - 40.5%, employees - 29.4%. 90.7% of the partisans were men, 9.3% were women. In many detachments, communists accounted for up to 20%; about 30% of all partisans were Komsomol members. Representatives of most nationalities of the USSR fought in the ranks of the Soviet partisans. The partisans destroyed, wounded and captured over a million fascists and their accomplices, destroyed more than 4 thousand tanks and armored vehicles, 65 thousand motor vehicles, 1100 aircraft, destroyed and damaged 1600 railway bridges, derailed over 20 thousand railway trains. Partisan detachments or groups were organized not only in the occupied territory. Their formation in unoccupied territory was combined with the training of personnel in special partisan schools. The units that underwent training and preparation either remained in the designated areas before their occupation, or were transferred behind enemy lines. In a number of cases, formations were created from military personnel. During the war, it was practiced to send organizing groups behind enemy lines, on the basis of which partisan detachments and even formations were created. Such groups played a particularly important role in the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, in the Baltic states, where, due to the rapid advance of Nazi troops, many regional and district party committees did not have time to organize the work of developing the partisan movement. The eastern regions of Ukraine and Belarus, and the western regions of the RSFSR, were characterized by advance preparation for guerrilla warfare. In the Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk, Oryol, Moscow and Tula regions, in the Crimea, the formation base was fighter battalions, which included about 25,500 fighters. Base areas for partisan detachments and material warehouses were created in advance. Characteristic feature The partisan movement in the Smolensk, Oryol regions and in the Crimea was attended by a significant number of Red Army soldiers who were surrounded or escaped captivity, which significantly increased the combat effectiveness of the partisan forces.

Guerrilla warfare in WWII. Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Similar documents

S. Kovpak's detachment

Leadership of the partisan movement

Rail War

Pinsk detachment

D. Medvedev's squad

The final stage

Fleet patrol ships - classification and purpose See what "Passault ship" is in other dictionaries

History of samurai in Japan Samurai school in Japan

History of samurai in Japan Types of Japanese warriors

Categories

Latest articles

Thrush eggs, chicks and nests

And Kuprin is a wonderful doctor summary

Basic concepts of the sphere of methodological activity of hoopoe

Presentation "Teaching literacy (writing) L

Developing a one-year-old child

Recipes for cottage cheese dishes with photos - what can be prepared cold or hot at home

Kohlrabi cabbage: what is useful, how to store, what can be done

Urgent cash loans on the day of application Mos Express Bank loan online application

Is it possible to sell a mortgaged apartment?

Advertising

Guerrilla warfare in WWII. Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Similar documents

S. Kovpak's detachment

Leadership of the partisan movement

Rail War

Pinsk detachment

D. Medvedev's squad

The final stage

You might be interested:

Categories

Latest articles

Advertising