Thanks to the actions of the Soviet partisans, the Nazis were forced. "Long arm": how Soviet partisans fought in the Great Patriotic War & nbsp

The day of partisans and underground fighters appeared in the calendar of memorable dates relatively recently. This year, the partisans and underground fighters who defended the Fatherland during the Great Patriotic War will be remembered separately only for the fourth time *.

* In accordance with the changes made by the President of the Russian Federation to Article 11 of the Federal Law "On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia" on April 11, 2009, the Day of Partisans and Underground Fighters was included in the list of memorable dates and received official status.

Partisans and underground fighters during the Second World War are remembered on June 29 because it was on this day of the tragic 1941 Soviet People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) issued a Directive addressed to the party and Soviet organizations operating in the front-line regions of the country on the need to create an organized partisan resistance. The directive prescribed: "create partisan detachments and sabotage groups to fight parts of the enemy army in the areas occupied by him ..., create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue them at every step and destroy, disrupt any of their activities."

The contribution of partisan detachments - “fighters of the invisible front”, operating underground, literally under the nose of a cunning and bloodthirsty enemy, to the Victory won by our people cannot be overestimated. Thanks to the selfless actions of the Soviet partisans, the Nazis literally burned the ground under their feet. From the very beginning of the war against our country before that, the invader, who was insolent from his European successes, could not feel safe either day or night. Neither in the forest, nor in the field, nor in an occupied large city, nor in a small village deep in the rear - everywhere the smug calmness of the Nazis was violated by the noble revenge of the Soviet partisans, inspiring them with fear and awe before the unyielding Russian spirit. The colossal material damage inflicted on the enemy by the actions of the Soviet partisans, coupled with the strongest moral pressure exerted on the enemy's rear, brought the Great Victory Day closer.

All of Belarus, Bryansk, Smolensk and Oryol regions, many regions of Ukraine, Crimea and the southern regions of the RSFSR were engulfed in a well-organized partisan struggle. Grateful descendants will forever remember the names of the twice heroes of the Soviet Union, the leaders of the partisan movement Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak and Alexei Fedorovich Fedorov, hundreds of heroes who died in battle and torn to pieces in fascist dungeons, thousands of brothers, sons, husbands and fathers who laid down their heads for the Fatherland and for their friends in the forests and swamps of Belarus, in the Kuban estuaries, Donetsk steppes and on the hills of the Crimea.

Eternal memory to the fallen heroes-partisans! Good health and good spirits to the living participants of the heroic struggle!

War does not know half-measures. Any nation whose freedom has been encroached upon will take revenge on its invaders for the atrocities of the enemy. And this revenge will be cruel. Blood for blood is the motto of guerrilla warfare. Constant raids carried out by the fascists forced the partisans to constantly change their places of deployment, and there was no way to take prisoners with them.

The captured could escape and hand over the detachment to the Germans. Organizing security for them was also problematic, because every fighter was important for conducting a battle or raids. The guerrillas must be mobile and move quickly and silently, and the prisoners, especially the wounded, created a serious obstacle to this.

The writer N. Sheremet in his memo to Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) U, wrote in 1943: “The Germans are destroyed by partisans on the spot. Some other nationalities are killed, and some are set free to tell the truth about the partisans. The guerrillas forgive the policemen who, with weapons in their hands, go over to our side and give them the opportunity to wash the stain off themselves in a fair fight. A significant part of the defectors have shown themselves to be exemplary partisans and already have awards. "

What were the partisans like?

The guerrilla can be conditionally divided into organized and spontaneous. The detachments of the first consisted of members of the party and the Komsomol, who deliberately went underground. They also include soldiers and officers, whose tasks were to conduct sabotage and reconnaissance work, and prepare for the army's offensive. Strict discipline reigned here, subordination was observed and the attitude towards the prisoners was relatively humane.

Wild partisan detachments consisted of those who fled from the plundered villages and villages from the Nazis. Such formations included a small number of people. Their goal was survival at any cost. It was in such detachments that a particularly cruel attitude towards prisoners was observed.

In the same memo of Sheremet it is said: “Policemen, chiefs, burgomasters who resist, partisans, before being shot, will be well 'taught a lesson.' Partisans of Fedorov were especially brutal. I witnessed how the policemen were beaten to blood, cut with knives, set fire to the hair on their heads, tied them by the legs and dragged them through the forest on a lasso with a horse, scalded them with hot tea, and cut their genitals. In Kovpak's detachments, enemies are not tortured like Fedorov's - once or twice a partisan will hit a policeman in the face, put a yushka out of the nose, and then shoot him. " [C-BLOCK]

The partisans motivated their particular cruelty with revenge for their murdered relatives and acquaintances. They believed that execution was not an easy enough punishment for those who dared to betray their people. This feeling of hatred and desire for revenge is fully justified if you know what the Germans and those who voluntarily went into the service of the Nazis were doing in the occupied territories.

A typical example of the cruel treatment of prisoners is the incident in the village of Kurilovo. The guerrillas entered it when the police were on assignment. When the Nazis returned, they learned that the village had been visited by "people's avengers" and immediately set off in pursuit. The partisans could not be taken by surprise. A well-organized ambush allowed them to win and capture some of the policemen. The partisans forced them to run across the mined field until the last of them was killed by a mine.

Often there were cases when even in organized partisan detachments, cruel treatment of prisoners reigned. In the diary of G. Balitsky, the commander of the partisan detachment. Stalin, it is written: “At the headquarters of the formation he baptized one spy who was brought in early in the morning. After my “baptism”, the partisans who fled with sticks destroyed this bastard, beat, pushed, batons and even poured boiling water over me. Before lunch with the commissar, I went to Miller's compound in order to get two pairs of soles for boots. I took out the sole, but at that time they brought in the burgomaster (a faithful servant of the Germans). In the evening he was brought to the headquarters of the formation, here he was finished by a partisan hand. They beat this bastard with whatever they could, except that they poured boiling water over it. "

To discourage

In his book Forest Soldiers, historian Vladimir Spiridonenkov talks about the use of prisoners by partisans to intimidate residents. A typical example of such a method is an incident that occurred in one of the villages of the Dolgoselchansky village council. Here the partisans captured a group of fascists and their henchmen. The prisoners were shot, but they did not stop there.

On the sleigh, which was taken as a trophy, a gallows was installed, on which the corpses were hung. The reproductive organs of the deceased were cut off and tied to the muzzles of horses. Mustard was smeared under the tails of the animals. The horses, distraught with pain, galloped across the entire village of Idritsa. After this act of intimidation, there were no more people who wanted to go to the service of the Nazis among the local residents. Moreover, many began to ask to be accepted as volunteers in a partisan detachment.

The same book mentions a case when in the village of Glusha partisans captured 23 policemen - a whole barracks. It turned out to be too dangerous to lead the convoy into the forest - fascist planes came out on its trail and began to drop bombs. Then the partisans informed the Germans that they would only take half of them with them, and locked them all in a barn where there were logs. The policemen began to kill each other, and the partisans themselves finished off the survivors. Such incidents forced those who thought to defect to reconsider their decision. And thanks to this brutality, many other lives were saved.

No matter how inhuman all these cases may seem, they were caused by the harsh military realities and cannot be compared with the atrocities of the fascists.

The partisan movement has repeatedly proved its effectiveness during the wars. The Germans were afraid of the Soviet partisans. "People's avengers" destroyed communications, blew up bridges, took "tongues" and even made weapons themselves.

History of the concept

Partizan is a word that came into Russian from the Italian language, in which the word partigiano denotes a member of an irregular military detachment enjoying the support of the population and politicians. Guerrillas fight using specific means: war behind enemy lines, sabotage or sabotage. A distinctive feature of guerrilla tactics is covert movement in enemy territory and a good knowledge of the terrain. In Russia and the USSR, this tactic has been practiced from time immemorial. Suffice it to recall the war of 1812.

In the 1930s, in the USSR, the word "partisan" acquired a positive connotation - this was the name given only to partisans fighting for the Red Army. Since then, in Russia, this word is extremely positive and is almost never used in relation to enemy guerrilla groups - they are called terrorists or illegal military formations.

Soviet partisans

Soviet partisans during the Great Patriotic War were controlled by the authorities and performed tasks similar to those of the army. But if the army fought at the front, then the partisans had to destroy enemy routes of communication and means of communication.

During the war years, 6,200 partisan detachments worked in the occupied lands of the USSR, in which about a million people took part. They were managed by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement, developing coordinated tactics and directing them towards common goals to the disparate partisan associations.

In 1942, Marshal of the USSR Kliment Voroshilov was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the partisan movement, and they were asked to create a partisan army in the rear of the enemy - German troops. Although the guerrillas are often thought of as indiscriminately organized groups of the local population, the "people's avengers" behaved in accordance with the rules of strict military discipline and took the oath of allegiance as real soldiers - otherwise they would not have survived in the brutal conditions of war.

Life of the partisan

The worst of all was for the Soviet partisans, who were forced to hide in the forests and mountains, in winter. Before that, not a single partisan movement in the world had faced the problem of cold - in addition to the difficulties of survival, the problem of camouflage was added. The partisans left footprints in the snow, and the vegetation no longer hid their refuge. Winter dwellings often impaired the mobility of the partisans: in the Crimea, they built mainly terrestrial dwellings like wigwams. In other areas, dugouts prevailed.

Many partisan headquarters had a radio station, with the help of which they communicated with Moscow and transmitted news to the local population in the occupied territories. With the help of the radio, the command gave orders to the partisans, who, in turn, coordinated airstrikes and provided intelligence information. [C-BLOCK]

There were also women among the partisans - if for the Germans, who thought of a woman only in the kitchen, this was unacceptable, then the Soviets in every possible way agitated the weaker sex to participate in the partisan war. Women scouts did not fall under suspicion of enemies, women doctors and radio operators helped in sabotage, and some brave women even took part in hostilities. It is also known about the officer's privileges - if there was a woman in the detachment, she often became the "field wife" of the commanders. Sometimes everything happened the other way around and wives instead of husbands gave orders and intervened in military issues - such a mess the higher authorities tried to suppress.

Partisan tactics

The basis of the "long arm" tactics (as the Soviet leadership called the partisans) was the implementation of reconnaissance and sabotage - they destroyed the railways along which the Germans delivered trains with weapons and food, broke high-voltage lines, poisoned water pipes or wells behind enemy lines.

Thanks to these actions, it was possible to disorganize the enemy's rear and demoralize him. A great advantage of the partisans was also the fact that all of the above did not require large human resources: sometimes even a small detachment could implement subversive plans, and sometimes even one person. When the Red Army advanced, the partisans attacked from the rear, breaking through the defenses, and unexpectedly thwarted an enemy regrouping or retreat. Prior to this, the forces of partisan detachments were hiding in forests, mountains and swamps - in the steppe regions, the activities of partisans were ineffective.

Partisan warfare was especially successful in Belarus - forests and swamps hid the "second front" and contributed to their success. Therefore, the exploits of the partisans are still remembered in Belarus: it is worth remembering at least the name of the Minsk football club of the same name. With the help of propaganda in the occupied territories, the "people's avengers" could replenish the fighting ranks. However, partisan detachments were recruited unevenly - part of the population in the occupied territories kept their nose to the wind and waited, while other people familiar with the terror of the German invaders were more willing to join the partisans

Rail war

The "second front", as the German invaders called the partisans, played a huge role in the destruction of the enemy. In Belarus in 1943 there was a decree "On the destruction of enemy railway communications by the method of rail war" - the partisans had to wage the so-called rail war, undermining trains, bridges and damaging enemy tracks in every possible way.

During the operations "Rail War" and "Concert" in Belarus, train traffic was stopped for 15-30 days, and the army and equipment of the enemy were also destroyed. Undermining enemy trains, even in the absence of explosives, the partisans destroyed more than 70 bridges and killed 30 thousand German soldiers. On the first night of Operation Rail War alone, 42,000 rails were destroyed. It is believed that over the entire period of the war, the partisans destroyed about 18 thousand enemy formations, which is a truly colossal figure.

In many ways, these achievements became a reality thanks to the invention of the partisan craftsman T.E. Shavgulidze - in field conditions he built a special wedge that derailed trains: the train ran into a wedge, which was attached to the tracks in a few minutes, then the wheel was moved from the inside to the outside rail, and the train was completely destroyed, which did not happen even after the mine explosions.

Guerrilla gunsmiths

Partisan brigades were mainly armed with light machine guns, machine guns and carbines. However, there were detachments with mortars or artillery. The partisans armed themselves with Soviets and often with captured weapons, but this was not enough in the conditions of war behind enemy lines.

The partisans launched a large-scale production of handicraft weapons and even tanks. Local workers created special secret workshops - with primitive equipment and a small set of tools, however, engineers and amateur technicians managed to create excellent samples of parts for weapons from scrap metal and improvised parts. [C-BLOCK]

In addition to repairs, the partisans were also engaged in design work: “A large number of self-made mines, machine guns and partisan grenades have an original solution both for the entire structure as a whole and its individual units. Not limiting themselves to inventions of a “local” nature, the partisans sent a large number of inventions and rationalization proposals to the mainland. "

The most popular handicraft weapons were homemade submachine guns PPSh - the first of them was made in the Razgrom partisan brigade near Minsk in 1942. The partisans also made "surprises" with explosives and unexpected types of mines with a special detonator, the secret of which only their own knew. "People's Avengers" easily repaired even blown up German tanks and even organized artillery battalions from repaired mortars. Partisan engineers even made grenade launchers.

Each generation has its own perception of the past war, the place and significance of which in the life of the peoples of our country turned out to be so significant that it entered their history as the Great Patriotic War. The dates June 22, 1941 and May 9, 1945 will forever remain in the memory of the peoples of Russia. 60 years after the Great Patriotic War, Russians can be proud that their contribution to the Victory was enormous and irreplaceable. The most important component of the struggle of the Soviet people against Hitlerite Germany during the Great Patriotic War was the partisan movement, which was the most active form of participation of broad popular masses in the temporarily occupied Soviet territory in the struggle against the enemy.

A "new order" was established in the occupied territory - a regime of violence and bloody terror, designed to perpetuate German domination and turn the occupied lands into an agrarian and raw material appendage of the German monopolies. All this met with fierce resistance from the majority of the population living in the occupied territory, which rose to fight.

It was a truly nationwide movement, engendered by the just nature of the war, by the desire to defend the honor and independence of the Motherland. That is why the partisan movement in the areas occupied by the enemy was given such an important place in the program of the struggle against the German fascist invaders. The party called on the Soviet people who remained behind enemy lines to create partisan detachments and sabotage groups, incite partisan war everywhere and everywhere, blow up bridges, spoil the enemy's telegraph and telephone communications, set fire to warehouses, create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue and destroy them on every step, disrupt all their activities.

The Soviet people who found themselves in the territory occupied by the enemy, as well as the soldiers, commanders and political workers of the Red Army and the Navy, who were surrounded, fought against the German fascist invaders. They tried with all their strength and means to help the Soviet troops fighting at the front, resisted the Nazis. And already these first actions against Hitlerism bore the character of a partisan war. In a special decree of the Central Committee of the Central Committee of the Commissioners (Bolsheviks) of July 18, 1941, "On organizing the struggle behind enemy lines," the party called on the republican, regional, territorial and district party organizations to lead the organization of partisan formations and the underground, "to help in every possible way the creation of mounted and foot guerrilla detachments, sabotage extermination groups, to deploy a network of our Bolshevik underground organizations in the occupied territory to lead all actions against the fascist occupiers "war (June 1941 - 1945).

The struggle of the Soviet people against the German fascist invaders in the temporarily occupied territory of the Soviet Union became an integral part of the Great Patriotic War. It acquired a national character, becoming a qualitatively new phenomenon in the history of the struggle against foreign invaders. The most important of its manifestations was the partisan movement behind enemy lines. Thanks to the actions of the partisans, a constant sense of danger and threat spread among the German fascist invaders in their rear, which had a significant moral impact on the Nazis. And this was a real danger, since the combat operations of the partisans inflicted enormous damage on the enemy's manpower and equipment.

Group portrait of the soldiers of the Zvezda partisan detachment
It is characteristic that the idea of ​​organizing a partisan and underground movement in the territory occupied by the enemy appeared only after the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and the first defeats of the Red Army. This is due to the fact that in the 1920s and early 1930s, the Soviet military leadership quite reasonably believed that in the event of an enemy invasion, it was really necessary to launch a guerrilla war behind enemy lines, and for this purpose they were already preparing the organizers of the partisan movement, certain means for guerrilla warfare. However, during the massive repressions of the second half of the 1930s, this precaution came to be seen as a manifestation of defeatism, and almost all those who were involved in this work were repressed. If we follow the then concept of defense, which consisted in the victory over the enemy "with little blood and on its territory," the systematic preparation of the organizers of the partisan movement, in the opinion of Stalin and his entourage, could morally disarm the Soviet people and sow defeatist sentiments. In this situation, one cannot exclude Stalin's painful suspicion of the potentially well-organized structure of the underground resistance apparatus, which, he believed, could be used by the "oppositionists" for their own purposes.

It is generally 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, a lack of weapons and ammunition, poor weapons and food supplies, as well as a lack of professional doctors and medicines, greatly complicated the effective actions of partisans, reducing them to sabotage along 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 did take place. Many detachments operated in Smolensk, Moscow, Oryol, Bryansk and in a number of other regions of the country that fell under the heel of the German fascist invaders.

Detachment S. Kovpak

The partisan movement was and remains one of the most effective and universal forms of revolutionary struggle. It allows small forces to successfully fight against a superior enemy in numbers and weapons. Partisan detachments are a bridgehead, an organizing nucleus for strengthening and developing revolutionary forces. For these reasons, the historical experience of the partisan movement of the 20th century seems to us extremely important, and considering it, one cannot 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, has 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 richness of struggle and its unexpected turns, is quite characteristic of that revolutionary era. Kovpak began to fight back in the First World War, in the war on the blood of the poor - a scout-scout who deserved 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 the in Ukraine. He fought against Denikin's troops together with the troops of Father Parkhomenko, took part in battles on the Eastern Front as part of the legendary 25th Chapaevsk division, then fought in the South against Wrangel's troops, and took part in the elimination of Makhno's bands. 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 business. Since 1937, this administrator, famous for his decency and hard work, exceptional even for that era of labor for defense, 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 Putivl party organization practically in its entirety - excluding its previously mobilized members - turned into a partisan detachment. It was one of the many partisan groups created in the wooded triangle of Sumy, Bryansk, Oryol and Kursk regions, convenient for partisan struggle, which became the base of the entire future partisan movement. However, the Putivl detachment quickly stood out among the many forest units with its especially bold and at the same time verified and prudent actions. The Kovpak partisans avoided long-term stay in any particular area. They made constant long maneuvers in the enemy's rear, exposing distant German garrisons to unexpected blows. This is how the famous raiding tactics of partisan struggle was born, in which the traditions and methods of the revolutionary war of 1918-21 were easily guessed - the methods 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, Batko Kovpak himself did not at all differ in any special gallant military appearance. According to his associates, the outstanding partisan general was more like an elderly peasant in civilian clothes, caring for his large and complex farm. This is exactly the impression he made on his future intelligence chief Pyotr Vershigora, in the past - a film director, and later - a famous partisan writer, who told in his books about the raids of Kovpakov's detachments. Kovpak was indeed an unusual commander - he skillfully combined his vast experience as a soldier and housekeeper with innovative courage in the development of tactics and strategy of guerrilla warfare. “He is quite modest, not so much teaching others as learning himself, he knew how to admit his mistakes, thereby not aggravating them,” wrote Alexander Dovzhenko about Kovpak. Kovpak was simple, even deliberately simple in communication, humane in his treatment of his fighters and, with the help of continuous political and ideological training of his detachment, carried out under the leadership of his closest associate, the legendary commissar Rudnev, was able to achieve from them a high level of communist consciousness and discipline.

Partisan detachment of the Hero of the Soviet Union S.A. Kovpaka walks along the street of a Ukrainian village during a military campaign
This feature - a clear organization of all spheres of partisan life in 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 Kovpak commanders were teachers, workers, engineers, peasants.

People of peaceful professions, they acted in a well-coordinated and organized manner, proceeding from the system of organizing the combat and peaceful life of the detachment, established by Kovpak. “The master's eye, the confident, calm rhythm of the field life and the hum of voices in the thicket of the forest, the unhurried but not slow life of confident people working with dignity — this is my first impression of Kovpak's detachment,” Vershigora later wrote. Already in 1941-42, Sidor Kovpak, under whose leadership by that time there was a whole unit of partisan detachments, undertook his first raids - long military campaigns on the territory not yet covered by the partisan movement - his detachments passed through the territories of Sumy, Kursk, Orel and Bryansk regions, as a result of which Kovpak's fighters, together with Belarusian and Bryansk partisans, created the famous Partisan Territory, cleared of Nazi troops and the police administration - a prototype of the future liberated territories of Latin America. In 1942–43, the Kovpakovites raid from the Bryansk forests to the Right-Bank Ukraine across the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kiev regions - the unexpected appearance in the deep rear of the enemy made it possible to destroy a huge number of enemy military communications, at the same time collecting and transferring to the Headquarters the most important intelligence information ...

By this time, Kovpak's raiding tactics had received universal recognition, and her 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 across the front in Moscow in early September 1942, fully approved the raid tactics of Kovpak, who was present there - by that time already a Hero of the Soviet Union and a member of the illegal Central Committee of the CP (b) U. Its essence consisted in a fast, maneuverable, covert movement in the enemy's rear with the further creation of new centers of the partisan movement. Such raids, in addition to significant damage to enemy troops and the collection of important intelligence information, had a huge propaganda effect. “The partisans moved the war closer and closer to Germany,” said Marshal Vasilevsky, chief of the General Staff of the Red Army. Partisan raids raised huge masses of enslaved people to fight, armed and taught them the practice of fighting.

In the summer of 1943, on the eve of the Battle of Kursk, the Sumy partisan unit of Sidor Kovpak, by order of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement, begins its famous Carpathian raid, which traveled along the deepest rear of the enemy. A feature of this legendary raid was that here the Kovpakov partisans had to regularly march across an open, treeless territory, at a great distance from their bases, without any hope of outside support and assistance.

Hero of the Soviet Union, the commander of the Sumy partisan formation Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak (sitting in the center, on the chest with the Hero's star), surrounded by comrades-in-arms. To the left of Kovpak is the secretary of the party organization of the Sumy partisan formation Ya.G. Panin, to the right of Kovpak - assistant commander for reconnaissance P.P. Vershigora
During the Carpathian raid, the Sumy partisan formation passed over 10 thousand km in continuous battles, defeating German garrisons and Bandera detachments in forty settlements of Western Ukraine, including the territory of Lvov and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. Destroying transport communications, the Kovpakovites managed for a long time to block important routes for the delivery of Nazi troops and military equipment to the fronts of the Kursk Bulge. The Nazis, who threw elite SS units and front-line aviation to destroy Kovpak's compound, did not manage to destroy the partisan column - being surrounded, Kovpak makes a decision, unexpected for the enemy, to divide the compound into a number of small groups, and simultaneously break through with a "fan" blow in different directions back to the woods of Polissya. This tactical move brilliantly justified itself - all the scattered groups survived, reuniting into one formidable force - the Kovpak formation. In January 1944 it was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division, named after its commander, Sidor Kovpak.

The tactics of Kovpak raids became widespread in the anti-fascist movement in Europe, and after the war, young partisans of Rhodesia, Angola and Mozambique, Vietnamese commanders and revolutionaries of Latin American countries were trained in it.

Guerrilla leadership

On May 30, 1942, the State Defense Committee at the Headquarters of the Supreme Command established the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement, the head of which was appointed the first secretary of the Central Committee of the CP (b) of Belarus 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. It was Marshal K.E. Voroshilov. Thus, the fragmentation and inconsistency of actions that prevailed at first in the partisan movement were overcome, bodies appeared to coordinate their sabotage activities. It was the disorganization of the enemy's rear that became the main task of the Soviet partisans. The composition and organization of the partisan formations, despite their diversity, still had a lot in common. The main tactical unit was a detachment, which at the beginning of the war consisted of several dozen fighters, and later up to 200 or more people. During the course of the war, many detachments united into larger formations (partisan brigades), numbering from several hundred to several thousand people. Their armament was dominated by small arms, but many detachments and partisan brigades already had heavy machine guns and mortars, in some cases, and artillery. All who joined the partisan detachments took the partisan oath, and strict military discipline was established in the detachments.

There were various forms of organization of partisan forces - small and large formations, regional (local) and non-regional. Regional detachments and formations were permanently based in one area and were responsible for protecting its population and fighting the occupiers in this very territory. Non-regional partisan formations and detachments carried out missions in different areas, making long raids, being in fact mobile reserves, by maneuvering which the leadership of the partisan movement could focus on the main direction of the planned attacks to deliver the most powerful blows to the enemy.

Detachment of the 3rd Leningrad partisan brigade on a campaign, 1943
In the zone of vast forests, in mountainous and swampy areas, the main bases and places of deployment of partisan formations were located. Here partisan lands 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 located here usually avoided open clashes with the enemy, causing damage, as a rule, by 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' combat operations was to be shifted to enemy communications.

The invaders immediately felt the intensification of partisan actions on the railways. In August 1942, they registered almost 150 train wrecks, in September - 152, in October - 210, in November - almost 240. Partisan attacks on German convoys became common. The highways crossing the partisan territories and zones turned out to be practically closed to the invaders. On many roads, transportation was only possible under heavy guard.

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 German fascist invaders. 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, providing this significant assistance to the troops of the fighting Soviet Army. By the beginning of 1943, the partisan territories had 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 took place, whose struggle resulted in the national partisan movement. The number of its participants by the end of 1943 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 square kilometers), and on an area of ​​38 thousand square kilometers. the occupiers were completely driven out. In 1943, the struggle of Soviet partisans behind enemy lines spread to the 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 troops of the Red Army. One of them was named "Rail War". It was held in August-September 1943 on the enemy-occupied territory of the RSFSR, the Byelorussian and part of the Ukrainian SSR with the aim of disabling the railway communications of the Nazi troops. This operation was associated with the plans of the Headquarters to complete the defeat of the Nazis at the Kursk Bulge, to carry out the Smolensk operation and an offensive with the aim of liberating the Left-Bank Ukraine. To carry out the operation, the TSSHPD also attracted the Leningrad, Smolensk, Oryol partisans.

The order to conduct Operation Rail War was issued on June 14, 1943. Local partisan headquarters and their representatives on the fronts assigned areas and targets for each partisan formation. The partisans were supplied from the "Big Land" with explosives, fuses, reconnaissance was actively carried out on the enemy's railway communications. The operation began on the night of August 3 and lasted until mid-September. Fighting behind enemy lines unfolded on an area about 1000 km long along the front and 750 km deep, about 100 thousand partisans took part in them with the active support of the local population.

A powerful blow to the railways in the territory occupied by the enemy came as a complete surprise to him. For a long time, the Nazis could not organize themselves against the partisans. In the course of Operation Rail War, over 215,000 railroad tracks were blown up, many echelons with Nazi personnel and military equipment were derailed, railway bridges and station facilities were blown up. The throughput of the railways decreased by 35-40%, which thwarted the Nazis' plans to accumulate material resources and concentrate troops, and seriously hampered the redeployment of enemy forces.

The same goals, but already during the upcoming Soviet offensive in the Smolensk and Gomel areas and the battle for the Dnieper, was subordinated to the operation of the partisans, code-named "Concert". It was held on September 19 - November 1, 1943 in the territory of Belarus, Karelia, occupied by the Nazis, in the Leningrad and Kalinin regions, in the territory of Latvia, Estonia, Crimea, covering about 900 km along the front and over 400 km in depth.

Partisans mine the railroad tracks
It was a planned continuation of the operation "Rail War", it was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and during the battle for the Dnieper. 193 partisan detachments (groups) of Belarus, the Baltic States, Karelia, Crimea, Leningrad and Kalinin regions (over 120 thousand people) were involved in the operation, which were to blow up more than 272 thousand rails.

More than 90 thousand partisans took part in the operation on the territory of Belarus; they had to blow up 140 thousand rails. The Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement was supposed to throw 120 tons of explosives and other cargo to the Belarusian partisans, and 20 tons to the Kaliningrad and Leningrad partisans.

Due to a sharp deterioration in weather conditions, by the beginning of the operation, the partisans managed to transfer only about half of the planned amount of cargo, so it was decided to start massive sabotage on September 25. However, some of the detachments that had already reached the starting lines could not take into account the changes in the timing of the operation and on September 19 began to implement it. 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.

The local headquarters of the partisan movement and their representations at the fronts have identified areas and targets for each partisan formation. The partisans were provided with explosives, fuses, mine blasting classes were held at the "forest courses", at the local "factories" they mined only from trophy shells and bombs; Reconnaissance was actively carried out on the railways. The operation began on the night of August 3 and lasted until mid-September. Actions unfolded on an area about 1000 km long along the front and 750 km deep, about 100 thousand partisans participated in them, helped by the local population. A powerful blow to the railway. lines was unexpected for the enemy, who for some time could not organizely oppose the partisans. During the operation, about 215 thousand rails were blown up, many trains derailed, railway bridges and station facilities were blown up. The massive disruption of enemy communications made it much more difficult to regroup the retreating enemy forces, complicate their supply, and thereby contributed to the successful offensive of the Red Army.

Partisans-demolitionists of the Transcarpathian partisan detachment Grachev and Utenkov at the airfield
The mission of Operation Concert was to disable large sections of railway lines in order to disrupt enemy traffic. The bulk of the partisan formations began hostilities on the night of September 25, 1943. During Operation Concert, only Belarusian partisans blew up about 90,000 rails, derailed 1,041 enemy trains, destroyed 72 railway bridges, and crushed 58 invaders' garrisons. Operation "Concert" caused serious difficulties in the transport of Nazi troops. The capacity of the railways has decreased by more than three times. This made it very difficult for the Hitlerite command to maneuver their forces and provided enormous assistance to the advancing troops of the Red Army.

It is impossible to list here all the partisan heroes whose contribution to the victory over the enemy was so tangible in the common struggle of the Soviet people over the German fascist invaders. During the war, remarkable command partisan 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 Nazi troops acquired the importance of an important military-political factor in the defeat of fascism. The selfless activity of partisans and underground fighters received nationwide recognition and high appraisal of 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" 1 and 2 degrees, 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 Hvorostovo, Solitorsky district. Since 1925 - chairman of a commune, then a collective farm in the Starobinsky district of the Minsk region. From 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 a director of a state farm in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Since 1940 - the financial sector of the Pinsk regional party committee. In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, he created the Pinsk partisan detachment. Detachment "Komarov" (partisan pseudonym VZ Korzh) fought in the areas of 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" of Pinsk and then Minsk regions. Streets in Pinsk, Minsk and Soligorsk, the Partizansky Krai collective farm, and a secondary school in Pinsk are named after him.

The Pinsk partisans operated at the junction of the Minsk, Polessye, Baranovichi, Brest, Rovno and Volyn regions. The German occupation administration divided the territory into commissariats subordinate to different Gauleiters - in Rivne and Minsk. Sometimes the partisans turned out to be "no-man's". 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 was established.

With the organization of new detachments and an increase in their numerical strength, the Pinsk Underground Regional Committee of the CP (b) B in the spring of 1943 began to unite them into brigades. In total, 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 compound included separate detachments - the headquarters and the name of I.I. Chuklaya. There were 8431 partisans in the ranks of the compound (payroll). The Pinsk partisan formation was led by V.Z. Korzh, A.E. Kleschev (May-September 1943), Chief of Staff - N.S. Fedotov. V.Z. Korzhu and A.E. Kleschev was awarded the military rank "Major General" and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. As a result of the unification, the actions of the scattered detachments began to obey a single plan, became purposeful, and obey the actions of the front or army. And in 1944, interaction was obtained even with divisions.

Portrait of 14-year-old partisan intelligence officer Mikhail Khavdei from the Chernigov-Volyn unit of Major General A.F. Fedorova
In 1942, the Pinsk partisans became so strong that they had already smashed the garrisons in the regional centers of Lenino, Starobin, Krasnaya Sloboda, Lyubeshov. In 1943, the partisans of MI Gerasimov, after the defeat of the garrison, occupied the city of Lyubeshov for several months. The partisan detachments named after Kirov, named after N. Shish defeated the German garrison at the Sinkevichi station on October 30, 1942, destroyed the railway bridge, station facilities and destroyed a train with ammunition (48 cars). The Germans lost 74 people killed, 14 wounded. Railway traffic on the Brest - Gomel - Bryansk line was interrupted for 21 days.

Sabotage of communications was the basis of the combat activities of the partisans. At different times, they were carried out in different ways, from improvised explosive devices to the improved mines of Colonel Starinov. From the explosion of water pumps and arrows - to a large-scale "rail war". All three years, 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. On the left flank, they were supported by the Brest partisans. The Germans tried to restore this convenient waterway. Stubborn battles lasted 42 days. First the Hungarian division was thrown against the partisans, then parts of the German division and the Vlasov regiment. Artillery, armored vehicles and aviation were thrown against the partisans. The partisans suffered losses, but held on firmly. On March 30, 1944, they withdrew to the front line, where they were assigned a section of defense and they fought along with the front-line units. As a result of the heroic battles of the partisans, the waterway to the west was blocked. 185 river ships remained in Pinsk.

The command of the 1st Belorussian Front attached particular importance to the seizure of watercraft in the Pinsk port, since in the conditions of a very swampy area, in the absence of good highways, these boats 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, the Pinsk partisans helped units of Belov's 61st army to liberate the cities and villages of the region. From June 1941 to July 1944, the Pinsk partisans inflicted great damage on the German fascist invaders: they lost 26,616 people in killed alone and 422 people were taken prisoner. More than 60 large enemy garrisons, 5 railway stations and 10 echelons with military equipment and ammunition located there were defeated.

Derailed 468 trains with manpower and equipment, fired at 219 military trains and destroyed 23,616 railroad tracks. 770 cars, 86 tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed on highways and dirt roads. 3 aircraft were shot down by rifle and machine-gun fire. 62 railway bridges and about 900 on highways and dirt roads were blown up. This is an incomplete list of the combat affairs of the partisans.

Partisan reconnaissance officer 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 the mass resistance of the population to the actions of the occupiers. All these forms of struggle were closely related to each other, conditioned and complemented one another. The armed guerrilla groups made extensive use of the working methods and forces of the underground for the fighting. In turn, clandestine combat groups and organizations, depending on the situation, often switched to open guerrilla forms of struggle. The partisans also established contact with fugitives from concentration camps, provided support with weapons and food.

The joint efforts of partisans and underground fighters crowned a nationwide war in the rear of the occupiers. They were the decisive force in the struggle against the German fascist invaders. If the resistance movement had not been accompanied by an armed uprising of partisans and underground organizations, the popular resistance to the German fascist invaders would not have had the strength and mass character 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 helping the partisan movement, to create the most favorable conditions for the struggle of the armed part of the Soviet people.

Detachment D. Medvedev

Medvedev's detachment 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 skilled steelworker. In December 1917, after graduating from the gymnasium, Dmitry Nikolaevich worked as a 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, DN Medvedev joined the party, and the party sent him to work in the Cheka. In the organs of the Cheka - OGPU - NKVD Dmitry Nikolayevich worked until October 1939 and retired for health reasons.

From the very beginning of the war, he volunteered to fight against the fascist invaders ... In the summer camp of the NKVD Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, formed from volunteers by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs and the Central Committee of the Komsomol, Medvedev selected thirty reliable guys for his detachment. On August 22, 1941, a group of 33 volunteer partisans led by Medvedev crossed the front line and ended up in the occupied territory. For about five months, Medvedev's detachment operated on the Bryansk land and carried out over 50 military operations.

Reconnaissance guerrillas planted explosives under the rails and tore apart enemy trains, fired at convoys on the highway from ambush, went on the air day and night and reported to Moscow more and more new information about the movement of German military units ... the edges. Over time, new special tasks were assigned to him, and he was already included in the plans of the Supreme High Command as an important foothold 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 the rear of the enemy. 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 huge area of ​​the occupied territory of Ukraine. The party underground in Rovno, Lutsk, Zdolbunov, Vinnitsa, hundreds and hundreds of patriots are working with the partisans-scouts at the same time. In Medvedev's detachment, the legendary scout Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov became famous, who for a long time operated in Rovno under the guise of Hitler's officer Paul Siebert ...

For 22 months, the detachment carried out dozens of the most important reconnaissance operations. Suffice it to mention the messages transmitted by Medvedev to Moscow about the preparation by the Nazis of an attempt on the life of the participants in the historic conference 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 of General Ilgen.

Partisans with the Maxim machine gun in battle
The unit conducted 83 military operations, in which many hundreds of Nazi soldiers and officers, many senior military and Nazi leaders were destroyed. A lot of military equipment was destroyed by partisan mines. Dmitry Nikolaevich, while in the enemy rear, was twice wounded and contused. He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, and battle medals. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 5, 1944, Colonel of State Security Medvedev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1946, Medvedev retired and was engaged in literary work until the last days of his life.

DN Medvedev devoted his books to the military affairs of Soviet patriots in the deep rear of the enemy during the war years "It was near Rovno", "Strong in spirit", "On the banks of the Southern Bug". During the activity of the detachment, a lot of valuable information was transferred to the command about the work of the railways, 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

Everyday attention and tremendous organizational work of the Central Committee of the Party and local party organs ensured the involvement of broad masses of the population in the partisan movement. The partisan war in the rear of the enemy flared up with tremendous force, merged with the heroic struggle of the Red Army on the fronts of the Patriotic War. Partisans' actions took on a particularly large scale in the nationwide struggle against the occupiers in 1943-1944. If from 1941 to mid-1942, under 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 a radical turning point in the course of the war, the mass partisan movement took 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 warfare, an increase in the number and combat strength of partisan detachments, and an expansion of their ties with the partisan brigades and formations. It was at this stage that vast partisan territories and zones were created, inaccessible to the enemy, 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. On this stage, the interaction of partisans with underground organizations and the advancing troops of the Red Army was carried out on an even wider scale, as well as the connection of many partisan detachments and brigades with units of the Red Army. Characteristic in the activities of partisans at this stage is the delivery of strikes by partisans to the most important communications of the enemy, primarily by railways, in order to disrupt the transport of troops, weapons, ammunition and food of the enemy, to prevent the removal of looted property and Soviet people to Germany. The falsifiers of history declared the partisan war illegal, barbaric, and reduced it to the desire of the Soviet people to take revenge on the invaders for their atrocities. But life has refuted their statements and speculations, showed its true nature and goals. The guerrilla movement is brought into being by "powerful economic and political causes." The desire of the Soviet people to take revenge on the invaders for their 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 the strength of the partisan movement was the Soviet socialist system, the love of the Soviet people for the Motherland, loyalty to the Leninist party, which called on the people to defend the socialist Motherland.

Partisans - father and son, 1943
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 set tasks in advance for the partisan leadership, which allowed the headquarters of the partisan movement to plan the joint actions of the partisan forces. The actions of the raiding partisan formations received a significant scale this year. For example, the Ukrainian partisan division under the command of P.P. Vershigory from January 5 to April 1, 1944, fought almost 2,100 km through the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.

During the period of the mass expulsion of the fascists from the USSR, partisan formations solved another important task - they saved the population of the occupied regions from being deported to Germany, preserved the people's property from destruction and plunder by the invaders. They sheltered hundreds of thousands of local residents in the forests in the territories they controlled; even before the arrival of Soviet units, they seized many settlements.

Unified management of the combat activities of the partisans with a stable connection 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 and subversive equipment, the supply of partisan detachments and formations from the rear a warring country, the evacuation of the sick and wounded from the enemy rear to the "mainland" - all these features of the partisan movement in the Great Patriotic War significantly enriched the theory and practice of partisan warfare as one of the forms of armed struggle against Nazi troops during the Second World War.

The actions of the armed partisan formations were one of the most decisive and effective forms of the struggle of the Soviet partisans against the invaders. The actions of the armed forces of partisans in Belarus, Crimea, in the Oryol, Smolensk, Kalinin, Leningrad regions and Krasnodar Territory, that is, where there were the most favorable natural conditions, became widespread. 193 798 partisans fought in the named areas of the partisan movement. The name of the 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 is happiness to die for your people!"

Olga Fedorovna Shcherbatsevich, an employee of the 3rd Soviet Hospital, who looked after the captured wounded soldiers and officers of the Red Army. Hanged by the Germans in the Aleksandrovsky Park in Minsk on October 26, 1941. The inscription on the shield, in Russian and German, reads "We are partisans who fired at German soldiers."

From the memoirs of a witness to the execution - Vyacheslav Kovalevich, in 1941 he was 14 years old: “I went to the Surazh market. At the cinema "Central" saw that a column of Germans was moving along Sovetskaya Street, and in the center were three civilians with their hands tied behind. Among them are aunt Olya, mother of Volodya Shcherbatsevich. They were brought to the square opposite the Officers' House. There was a summer cafe there. Before the war, they began to repair it. They made a fence, put up poles, and boards were nailed onto them. Aunt Olya with two men was brought to this fence and they began to hang on it. The men were hanged first. When they hung up Aunt Olya, the rope broke. Two fascists ran up - they picked up, and the third secured the rope. She remained hanging. "
In difficult days for the country, when the enemy was striving for Moscow, the feat of Zoya was similar to the feat of the legendary Danko, who tore out his burning heart and led the people behind him, 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.

Good day to all the regulars of the site! The most important regular on the line is Andrey Puchkov 🙂 (just kidding). Today we will reveal a new extremely useful topic for preparing for the exam in history: we will talk about the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. At the end of the article, you will find a test on this topic.

What is a partisan movement and how was it formed in the USSR?

A guerrilla movement is a type of actions by military formations behind enemy lines to strike enemy communications, infrastructure and rear enemy formations to disorganize enemy military formations.

In the Soviet Union, in the 1920s, the partisan movement began to form on the basis of the concept of waging war on its territory. Therefore, in the border areas, shelters and secret strongholds were created for the deployment of a partisan movement in them in the future.

In the 1930s, this strategy was revised. According to the position of I.V. Stalin, the Soviet army will conduct military operations in a future war on enemy territory with little blood. Therefore, the creation of secret partisan support bases was suspended.

Only in July 1941, when the enemy was rapidly advancing and the battle of Smolensk was in full swing, the Central Committee of the Party (VKP (b)) issued detailed instructions for the creation of a partisan movement for local party organizations in the already occupied territory. In fact, at first, the partisan movement consisted of local residents and units of the Soviet army that got out of the "boilers".

In parallel with this, the NKVD (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs) began to form destroyer battalions. These battalions were supposed to cover parts of the red army during the retreat, to thwart attacks by saboteurs and military parachute forces of the enemy. Also, these battalions joined the partisan movement in the occupied territories.

In July 1941, the NKVD also organized a Special Motorized Rifle Brigade for special purposes (OMBSON). These brigades were recruited from first-class military personnel with excellent physical training capable of conducting effective combat operations in enemy territory in the most difficult conditions with a minimum amount of food and ammunition.

However, initially the OMBSON brigades were supposed to defend the capital.

Stages of the formation of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

1. June 1941 - May 1942 - the spontaneous formation of the partisan movement. Mainly in the territories of Ukraine and Belarus occupied by the enemy.
2. May 1942 — July — August 1943 - from the creation of the General Staff of the Partisan Movement in Moscow on May 30, 1942 to the systematic large-scale operations of the Soviet partisans.
3. September 1943-July 1944 - the final stage of the partisan movement, when the main parts of the partisans merge with the advancing Soviet army. On July 17, 1944, partisan units parade across liberated Minsk. Partisan units formed from local residents begin to demobilize, and their fighters are drafted into the Red Army.

Functions of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

• Collecting intelligence data on the deployment of Nazi military formations, on the military equipment and military contingent at their disposal, etc.
• Commit sabotage: disrupt the transfer of enemy units, kill the most important commanders and officers, cause irreparable damage to enemy infrastructure, etc.
• Form new guerrilla units.
• To work with the local population in the occupied territories: to convince of the assistance of the Red Army, to convince that the Red Army will soon liberate their territories from the Nazi occupiers, etc.
• Disorganize the enemy's economy by buying goods with counterfeit German money.

The main figures and heroes of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

Despite the fact that there were a lot of partisan detachments and each had its own commander, we will list only those that can be found in the USE tests. Meanwhile, the rest of the commanders deserve no less attention.

People's memory, because they gave their lives for our relatively serene life.

Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev (1898 - 1954)

Was one of the key figures in the formation of the Soviet partisan movement during the war. Before the war he served in the Kharkov branch of the NKVD. In 1937 he was fired for keeping in touch with his older brother, who became an enemy of the people. Miraculously escaped being shot. When the war began, the NKVD remembered this man and sent him to Smolensk to form a partisan movement. The group of partisans led by Medvedev was called Mitya. Later the detachment was renamed "Winners". From 1942 to 1944, Medvedev's detachment performed about 120 operations.

Dmitry Nikolaevich himself was an extremely charismatic and ambitious commander. The discipline in his unit was the highest. The requirements for the fighters exceeded those of the NKVD. So at the beginning of 1942, the NKVD sent 480 volunteers from the OMBSON units to the Pobediteli detachment. And only 80 of them were selected.

One of these operations was the elimination of the Reichskommissar of Ukraine Erich Koch. To complete the assignment, Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov arrived in the detachment from Moscow. However, a little later it became clear that it was impossible to liquidate the Reichskommissar. Therefore, Moscow revised the task: it was instructed to destroy the head of the Reichskommissariat Paul Dargel. It was possible to do this only on the second attempt.

Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov himself conducted numerous operations and died on March 9, 1944 in a shootout with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Nikolai Kuznetsov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak (1887 - 1967)

Sidor Artemyevich went through several wars. Participated in the Brusilov Breakthrough in 1916. Prior to the beginning, he lived in Putivl, was an active politician. At the start of the war, Sidor Kovpak was already 55 years old. In the very first clashes, Kovpak's partisans managed to capture 3 German tanks. Kovpak's partisans lived in the Spadshchansky forest. On December 1, the Nazis launched an offensive on this forest with the support of artillery and aviation. However, all enemy attacks were repulsed. In this battle, the Nazis lost 200 soldiers.

In the spring of 1942, Sidor Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, as well as a personal audience with Stalin.

However, there were also setbacks.

So in 1943, the operation "Carpathian raid" ended with the loss of about 400 partisans.

In January 1944, Kovpak was awarded the second title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1944

The reorganized troops of S. Kovpak were renamed into the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division named after

twice Hero of the Soviet Union S.A. Kovpaka

Later we will post the biographies of several more legendary commanders of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. So subscribe to new articles site.

Despite the fact that numerous operations were carried out by Soviet partisans during the war years, only two of the largest of them appear in the tests.

Operation "Rail War". The order to start this operation was issued on June 14, 1943. It was supposed to paralyze railway traffic on enemy territory during the Kursk offensive operation. For this, significant ammunition was transferred to the partisans. About 100 thousand partisans were involved in the participation. As a result, traffic on enemy railways was reduced by 30-40%.

Operation "Concert" was carried out from September 19 to November 1, 1943 on the territory of occupied Karelia, Belarus, Leningrad region, Kalinin region, Latvia, Estonia and Crimea.

The goal was the same: destruction of enemy cargo and blocking of railway transport.

I think from all of the above, the role of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War becomes clear. It became an integral part of the conduct of military operations by units of the red army. The partisans performed their functions admirably. Meanwhile, in real life there were a lot of difficulties: from how Moscow can determine which units are partisan and which are pseudo-partisan, and ending with how to transfer weapons and ammunition to enemy territory.