Stages of the partisan movement in the years of the Second World War. Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War
Introduction
Every year we celebrate Victory Day. Fireworks are thundering, people with gray hair on their temples and only orders on their chests are walking through the streets of cities - mute witnesses of what they had to endure. Every year there are fewer of them - veterans of the Great Patriotic War. And yet they are alive, and with them the memories of that most terrible bloodshed in the history of the world are alive. Each such anniversary is a new immersion in history, in memory.
The most important component of the struggle of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany was the partisan movement, which unfolded in the occupied territories and became truly universal.
By its nature, scope and losses inflicted on the invaders, the struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines was unparalleled in history. By the spring of 1942, it covered a vast territory - from the forests of Karelia to the Crimea and Moldova. By the end of 1943, there were over a million armed partisans and underground fighters. The composition of the partisan detachments clearly reflected the nationwide nature of the partisan movement: more than 30% were workers, about 41% were collective farmers, and over 29% were employees. Representatives of all nationalities fought in partisan formations Soviet Union. Firmly believing in victory over the enemy, millions of people who found themselves in the occupied territory showed selflessness and will in the struggle to expel the invaders. The scope of the popular movement, the feats and self-sacrifices for the sake of a great victory performed by ordinary people, the willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the freedom of other people delighted and amazed me. This was the reason for choosing the topic of my essay.
In my work, I set myself the goal of studying the history and nature of the partisan movement and investigating the problem of the effectiveness of the people's struggle.
The question of the efficiency of movement interested me because it is usually not covered in reference books and textbooks. Could the partisan movement have been more effective? Why was there so little attention paid to the struggle of the people in the rear in the early stages of the war? Why weren't all reserves used? I will try to answer these questions in Chapter IV of the abstract.
The significant contribution of the partisans to Great Victory over a cruel enemy has long been recognized. studying this question, I came across different points of view, sometimes polar to many facts of partisan struggle. So in the historical, memoir documentation of the 70s and 80s, one can trace an undeniable point of view that interprets the unambiguously positive role of partisans during the war years. The role of the party in the organization of partisan detachments and their activities is emphasized. More historically reliable, in my opinion, are the sources of information of the 90s, where the history of the front behind enemy lines is revealed in many ways, where a person with his sometimes dramatic fate is not lost behind festivity and heroism. For myself, for the first time, I learned about the shady, sometimes not personal aspects of the life of partisans, about some facts of the preparation of the partisan movement before the war, which are usually not mentioned in textbooks.
The main source for writing my essay was the book by M.A. Drobov "Small war (partisanship and sabotage)", from which I learned about the nature of the activities of partisans, the composition of partisan detachments, the first decrees on the organization of war behind enemy lines. Among the literature that has become the subject of my study, I would especially like to mention the Dictionary-Reference Book of the Great Patriotic War, edited by V.V. Karpov, who served me as a source of information about the partisan regions and the names of prominent and famous partisans. The book of Balashov A.I., Rudakov G.P. served as a valuable source. "History of the Great Patriotic War", which told me about the first partisan detachments, their base areas and major operations. Interesting information about the measures of the struggle of the Germans with the partisans was provided to me by the book of Mertsalov A.N. "WWII in the historiography of Germany". The material for the 4th chapter of the abstract was taken by me from the articles, the authors of which are Candidates of Historical Sciences A.S. Knyazkov, V. Boyarsky and K. Kolontaev, published in the newspapers "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" and "Duel", In them the authors note some miscalculations and failures in the organization of the struggle, analyze the mistakes and give their assessment of the effectiveness of the guerrilla war.
Guerrilla war 1941-1945
The partisan movement (partisan war of 1941 - 1945) is one of the sides of the USSR resistance to the fascist troops of Germany and the allies during the Great Patriotic War.
The partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War was very large-scale and, most importantly, well organized. It differed from other popular uprisings in that it had a clear command system, was legalized and was subject to Soviet power. The partisans were controlled by special bodies, their activities were spelled out in several legislative acts and had goals described personally by Stalin. The number of partisans during the Great Patriotic War amounted to about a million people, more than six thousand various underground detachments were formed, which included all categories of citizens.
Target guerrilla war 1941-1945 - the destruction of the infrastructure of the German army, the disruption of the supply of food and weapons, the destabilization of the entire fascist machine.
The beginning of the guerrilla war and the formation of partisan detachments
Guerrilla warfare is an integral part of any protracted military conflict, and quite often the order to start partisan movement comes directly from the leadership of the country. So it was in the case of the USSR. Immediately after the start of the war, two directives were issued “To the Party and Soviet organizations of the front-line regions” and “On the organization of the struggle in the rear of the German troops”, which spoke of the need to create popular resistance to help the regular army.
The main tasks of the partisans were: disruption of enemy communications, liberation of regions (territories) and their retention, reconnaissance, assistance to the Red Army troops in their offensive and defensive battles and operations. Since the end of 1942, when the mass expulsion of German troops from the territory of our Motherland began, the partisans, along with the previous ones, carried out the tasks of saving Soviet people from deportation into fascist slavery, prevented the destruction of industrial enterprises and residential buildings by the Nazis during their departure, prevented the export to Germany material values. These tasks stemmed from the decisions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, local party bodies, decrees of the State Defense Committee, directives of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, and orders of the people's commissar of defense. Especially great importance had an order of the NPO of the USSR "On the tasks of the partisan movement" dated September 5, 1942, in which an important social goal was set: to turn the partisan movement into a nationwide one. This task has been largely completed. Resistance to the invaders acquired an unprecedented mass scale. According to incomplete data, 6,200 partisan detachments and groups operated on Soviet territory occupied by the enemy during the Great Patriotic War. More than 1,300 patriots fought in them, of which up to 80% were from 18 to 45 years old, that is, the most mature and combat-ready part of the population. There were many women among the partisans; in separate detachments they made up 10-25% of the personnel. More than 220 thousand underground workers fought in cities and towns. Partisans and underground workers7 were supported in every possible way by the many millions of people who ended up in the territory occupied by the enemy. It supplied them with food, clothes, shoes, treated the sick and wounded, reported information about the enemy, and provided liaisons and guides. Only in the organized partisan reserves, there were more than 1.5 million people.
An important factor for the emergence of partisan resistance was the formation of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD, in the ranks of which special groups were created that were engaged in subversive work and intelligence.
On May 30, 1942, the partisan movement was legalized - the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was created, to which local headquarters in the regions were subordinate, headed, for the most part, by the heads of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. The creation of a single administrative body served as impetus for the development of a large-scale guerrilla war, which was well organized, had a clear structure and subordination system. All this significantly increased the efficiency of the partisan detachments.
The main activities of the partisan movement
sabotage activity. The partisans tried with all their might to destroy the supply of food, weapons and manpower to the headquarters of the German army, very often pogroms were carried out in the camps in order to deprive the Germans of sources fresh water and kick out.
Intelligence service. An equally important part of the underground activity was intelligence, both on the territory of the USSR and in Germany. The partisans tried to steal or find out the secret plans of the German attack and transfer them to the headquarters so that the Soviet army was prepared for the attack.
Bolshevik propaganda. An effective fight against the enemy is impossible if the people do not believe in the state and do not follow common goals, so the partisans actively worked with the population, especially in the occupied territories.
Combat actions. Armed clashes happened quite rarely, but still the partisan detachments entered into open confrontation with the German army.
Control of the entire partisan movement.
Restoration of Soviet power in the occupied territories. The partisans tried to raise an uprising among Soviet citizens who were under the yoke of the Germans.
Life of partisans
The worst of all for the Soviet partisans, who were forced to hide in the forests and mountains, was 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. In the snow, the partisans left traces, and the vegetation no longer hid their shelters. Winter dwellings often harmed the mobility of partisans: in the Crimea, they built mostly ground dwellings like wigwams. In other areas, dugouts predominated. Many partisan headquarters had a radio station, through which he contacted Moscow and transmitted news to the local population in the occupied territories. With the help of radio, the command ordered the partisans, and they, in turn, coordinated air strikes and provided intelligence information. 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. Female scouts did not fall under the suspicion of enemies, female doctors and radio operators helped with sabotage, and some brave women even took part in hostilities. It is also known about officer privileges - if there was a woman in the detachment, she often became the “camping wife” of the commanders. Sometimes everything happened the other way around and wives instead of husbands commanded and intervened in military matters - such a mess the higher authorities tried to stop.
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 the enemy’s railway communications by the method of rail warfare” - the partisans were supposed to wage the so-called rail war, undermining trains, bridges and spoiling enemy tracks in every possible way. During the operations "Rail War" and "Concert" in Belarus, the movement of trains was stopped for 15-30 days, and the army and equipment of the enemy were also destroyed. Undermining enemy formations even in the face of a shortage of explosives, the partisans destroyed more than 70 bridges and killed 30,000 German fighters. 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 units, 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 of the rail, and the train was completely destroyed, which did not happen even after mine explosions .
Guerrilla gunsmiths
Partisan Armourers The partisan brigades were mainly armed with light machine guns, machine guns and carbines. However, there were detachments with mortars or artillery. The partisans were armed with Soviets and often 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, amateur engineers and technicians managed to create excellent examples of parts for weapons from scrap metal and improvised parts.
In addition to repairs, the partisans were also engaged in design work: “A large number of improvised mines, machine guns and partisan grenades have an original solution for both the entire structure as a whole and its individual components. Not limited 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 PPSh submachine guns - the first of them was made in the Razgrom partisan brigade near Minsk in 1942.
The partisans also made "surprises" with explosives and unexpected varieties of mines with a special detonator, the secret of which was known only to their own. "People's Avengers" easily repaired even undermined German tanks and even organized artillery battalions from repaired mortars. Partisan engineers even made grenade launchers.
Partisan detachments
By the middle of the war, large and small partisan detachments existed in almost the entire territory of the USSR, including the occupied lands of Ukraine and the Baltic states. However, it should be noted that in some territories the partisans did not support the Bolsheviks, they tried to defend the independence of their region, both from the Germans and from the Soviet Union.
An ordinary partisan detachment consisted of several dozen people, however, with the growth of the partisan movement, detachments began to consist of several hundred, although this did not happen often. On average, one detachment included about 100-150 people. In some cases, detachments were combined into brigades in order to put up serious resistance to the Germans. The partisans were usually armed with light rifles, grenades and carbines, but sometimes large brigades had mortars and artillery weapons. The equipment depended on the region and the purpose of the detachment. All members of the partisan detachment took the oath.
In 1942, the post of Commander-in-Chief of the partisan movement was created, which was occupied by Marshal Voroshilov, but soon the post was abolished and the partisans were subordinate to the military Commander-in-Chief.
There were also special Jewish partisan detachments, which consisted of Jews who remained in the USSR. The main purpose of such detachments was to protect the Jewish population, which was subjected to special persecution by the Germans. Unfortunately, very often Jewish partisans faced serious problems, since many Soviet detachments were dominated by anti-Semitic sentiments and they rarely came to the aid of Jewish detachments. By the end of the war, the Jewish detachments mixed with the Soviet ones.
According to various sources, up to several tens of thousands of minors took part in the hostilities during the Great Patriotic War. "Sons of the regiment", pioneer heroes - they fought and died on a par with adults. For military merits, they were awarded orders and medals. The images of some of them were used in Soviet propaganda as symbols of courage and loyalty to the motherland.
Five underage fighters of the Great Patriotic War were awarded the highest award - the title of Hero of the USSR. All - posthumously, remaining in textbooks and books as children and adolescents. All Soviet schoolchildren knew these heroes by name.
Member of the partisan detachment named after the 25th anniversary of October, intelligence officer of the headquarters of the 200th partisan brigade named after Rokossovsky in the occupied territory of the Byelorussian SSR.
Marat was born in 1929 in the village of Stankovo, Minsk Region, Belarus, and managed to finish the 4th grade of a rural school. Before the war, his parents were arrested on charges of sabotage and "Trotskyism", numerous children were "scattered" among their grandparents. But the Kazeev family did not become angry with the Soviet authorities: In 1941, when Belarus became an occupied territory, Anna Kazei, the wife of the “enemy of the people” and the mother of little Marat and Ariadne, hid wounded partisans in her place, for which she was executed by the Germans. And the brother and sister went to the partisans. Ariadne was subsequently evacuated, but Marat remained in the detachment.
Along with his senior comrades, he went to reconnaissance - both alone and with a group. Participated in raids. Undermined the echelons. For the battle in January 1943, when, wounded, he raised his comrades to attack and made his way through the enemy ring, Marat received the medal "For Courage".
And in May 1944, while performing another assignment near the village of Khoromitsky, Minsk Region, a 14-year-old soldier died. Returning from a mission together with the intelligence commander, they stumbled upon the Germans. The commander was killed immediately, and Marat, firing back, lay down in a hollow. There was nowhere to leave in an open field, and there was no opportunity - the teenager was seriously wounded in the arm. While there were cartridges, he kept the defense, and when the store was empty, he took the last weapon - two grenades from his belt. He threw one at the Germans immediately, and waited with the second: when the enemies came very close, he blew himself up along with them.
In 1965, Marat Kazei was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR.
Partisan scout in the Karmelyuk detachment, the youngest Hero of the USSR.
Valya was born in 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Kamenetz-Podolsk region of Ukraine. Before the war he completed five classes. In a village occupied by German troops, the boy secretly collected weapons and ammunition and handed them over to the partisans. And he waged his own little war, as he understood it: he drew and pasted caricatures of the Nazis in prominent places.
Since 1942, he contacted the Shepetovskaya underground party organization and carried out her intelligence assignments. And in the fall of the same year, Valya and his fellow boys received their first real combat mission: to eliminate the head of the field gendarmerie.
"The roar of the engines grew louder - the cars were approaching. The faces of the soldiers were already clearly visible. Sweat dripped from their foreheads, half-covered with green helmets. Some soldiers carelessly took off their helmets. The front car caught up with the bushes behind which the boys hid. Valya half stood up, counting the seconds to himself "The car drove past, an armored car was already against him. Then he rose to his full height and, shouting "Fire!", threw two grenades one after the other ... Simultaneously, explosions sounded from the left and right. Both cars stopped, the front one caught fire. The soldiers quickly jumped to the ground , rushed into the ditch and from there opened indiscriminate fire from machine guns, "- this is how the Soviet textbook describes this first battle. Valya then fulfilled the task of the partisans: the head of the gendarmerie, Lieutenant Franz Koenig and seven German soldiers died. About 30 people were injured.
In October 1943, the young fighter reconnoitered the location of the underground telephone cable of the Nazi headquarters, which was soon blown up. Valya also participated in the destruction of six railway echelons and a warehouse.
On October 29, 1943, while on duty, Valya noticed that the punishers had raided the detachment. Having killed a fascist officer with a pistol, the teenager raised the alarm, and the partisans had time to prepare for battle. On February 16, 1944, 5 days after his 14th birthday, in the battle for the city of Izyaslav Kamenetz-Podolsk, now Khmelnitsky region, the scout was mortally wounded and died the next day.
In 1958, Valentin Kotik was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Lenya Golikov, 16 years old
Scout of the 67th detachment of the 4th Leningrad partisan brigade.
Born in 1926 in the village of Lukino, Parfinsky District, Novgorod Region. When the war began, he got a rifle and joined the partisans. Thin, small in stature, he looked even younger than all 14 years old. Under the guise of a beggar, Lenya walked around the villages, collecting the necessary data on the location of the fascist troops and the number of their military equipment, and then passed this information on to the partisans.
In 1942 he joined the detachment. “Participated in 27 combat operations, exterminated 78 German soldiers and officers, blew up 2 railway and 12 highway bridges, blew up 9 vehicles with ammunition ... troops Richard Wirtz, heading from Pskov to Luga, "- such data is contained in his award leaflet.
In the regional military archive, Golikov's original report with a story about the circumstances of this battle has been preserved:
"In the evening of 08/12/42, we, 6 partisans, got out on the Pskov-Luga highway and lay down not far from the village of Varnitsa. There was no movement at night. we were, the car was quieter. Partizan Vasiliev threw an anti-tank grenade, but missed. The second grenade was thrown by Alexander Petrov from a ditch, hit a beam. The car did not immediately stop, but went another 20 meters and almost caught up with us. Two officers jumped out of the car. I fired a burst from a machine gun. Did not hit. The officer sitting at the wheel ran across the ditch towards the forest. I fired several bursts from my PPSh. Hit the enemy in the neck and back. Petrov began to shoot at the second officer, who kept looking back, shouting and fired back. Petrov killed this officer with a rifle. Then the two of them ran to the first wounded officer. They tore off their shoulder straps, took a briefcase, documents. There was still a heavy suitcase in the car. We barely dragged it into the bushes (150 meters from the highway). not at the car, we heard an alarm, ringing, screaming in a neighboring village. Grabbing a briefcase, shoulder straps and three trophy pistols, we ran to our own ... ".
For this feat, Lenya was presented with the highest government award - the Gold Star medal and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But I didn't manage to get them. From December 1942 to January 1943, the partisan detachment, in which Golikov was located, left the encirclement with fierce battles. Only a few managed to survive, but Leni was not among them: he died in a battle with a Nazi punitive detachment on January 24, 1943 near the village of Ostraya Luka, Pskov Region, before he was 17 years old.
Sasha Chekalin, 16 years old
Member of the partisan detachment "Forward" of the Tula region.
Born in 1925 in the village of Peskovatskoye, now the Suvorov district of the Tula region. Before the start of the war, he graduated from 8 classes. After the occupation of his native village by Nazi troops in October 1941, he joined the fighter partisan detachment "Forward", where he managed to serve for just over a month.
By November 1941, the partisan detachment had inflicted significant damage on the Nazis: warehouses were burning, vehicles were exploding on mines, enemy trains were derailed, sentries and patrols disappeared without a trace. Once a group of partisans, including Sasha Chekalin, ambushed the road to the town of Likhvin (Tula region). A car appeared in the distance. A minute passed - and the explosion blew the car apart. Behind her passed and exploded several more cars. One of them, crowded with soldiers, tried to slip through. But the grenade thrown by Sasha Chekalin destroyed her too.
In early November 1941, Sasha caught a cold and fell ill. The commissioner allowed him to lie down with a trusted person in the nearest village. But there was a traitor who betrayed him. At night, the Nazis broke into the house where the sick partisan lay. Chekalin managed to grab the prepared grenade and throw it, but it did not explode ... After several days of torture, the Nazis hanged the teenager on the central square of Likhvin and for more than 20 days did not allow him to remove his corpse from the gallows. And only when the city was liberated from the invaders, the combat associates of the partisan Chekalin buried him with military honors.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Chekalin was awarded in 1942.
Zina Portnova, 17 years old
Member of the underground Komsomol youth organization "Young Avengers", scout of the Voroshilov partisan detachment on the territory of the Byelorussian SSR.
Born in 1926 in Leningrad, she graduated from 7 classes there and summer holidays went to rest with relatives in the village of Zuya, Vitebsk region of Belarus. There she found the war.
In 1942, she joined the Obol underground Komsomol youth organization "Young Avengers" and actively participated in the distribution of leaflets among the population and sabotage against the invaders.
Since August 1943, Zina has been a scout of the Voroshilov partisan detachment. In December 1943, she was given the task of identifying the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization and establishing contact with the underground. But upon returning to the detachment, Zina was arrested.
During the interrogation, the girl grabbed the pistol of the Nazi investigator from the table, shot him and two other Nazis, tried to escape, but was captured.
From the book "Zina Portnova" by the Soviet writer Vasily Smirnov: "The most sophisticated executioners in cruel tortures interrogated her .... She was promised to save her life if only the young partisan confessed everything, named the names of all the underground and partisans known to her. And again the Gestapo met with the astonishing their unshakable firmness of this stubborn girl, who in their protocols was called “Soviet bandit.” Zina, exhausted by torture, refused to answer questions, hoping that she would be killed faster in this way. was taken to the next interrogation-torture, threw herself under the wheels of a passing truck, but the car was stopped, the girl was pulled out from under the wheels and again taken for interrogation ... ".
Let us first give a list of the largest partisan formations and their leaders. Here is the list:
Sumy partisan formation. Major General S.A. Kovpak
Chernihiv-Volyn partisan unit Major General A.F. Fedorov
Gomel partisan formation Major General I.P. Kozhar
partisan unit Major General V.Z. Korzh
partisan unit Major General M.I. Naumov
partisan unit Major General A.N. Saburov
partisan brigade Major General M.I.Duka
Ukrainian Partisan Division Major General P.P. Vershigora
Rivne partisan unit Colonel V.A. Begma
Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, Major General V.A.Andreev
In this paper, we will confine ourselves to considering the effects of some of them.
5.1 Sumy partisan formation. Major General S.A. Kovpak
Head of the Kovpak movement, Soviet state and public figure, one of the organizers of the partisan movement, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (18/5/1942 and 4/1/1944), major general (1943). Member of the CPSU since 1919. Born into the family of a poor peasant. Participant civil war 1918-20: led a partisan detachment that fought in Ukraine against the German invaders together with the detachments of A. Ya. Parkhomenko, fought against Denikin; participated in the battles Eastern Front as part of the 25th Chapaev division and on the Southern Front - against Wrangel's troops. In 1921-26 he was a military commissar in a number of cities in the Yekaterinoslav province. In 1937-41 he was chairman of the Putivl city executive committee of the Sumy region. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Kovpak was the commander of the Putivl partisan detachment, then the formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region, a member of the illegal Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine. In 1941-42, Kovpak's formation carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, in 1942-43 - a raid from the Bryansk forests on the Right-Bank Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr and Kiev regions; in 1943 - Carpathian raid. The Sumy partisan formation under the command of Kovpak fought over 10,000 km in the rear of the Nazi troops, defeated the enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. Kovpak's raids played a big role in the deployment of the partisan movement against the Nazi occupiers. In January 1944, the Sumy formation was renamed the 1st Ukrainian partisan division named after Kovpak. He was awarded 4 Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov 1st degree, the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st degree, the Orders of Czechoslovakia and Poland, as well as medals.
In early July 1941, the formation of partisan detachments and underground groups began in Putivl. One partisan detachment under the command of S.A. Kovpak was supposed to operate in the Spadshchansky forest, another, commanded by S.V. Rudnev, in the Novoslobodsky forest, and the third, led by S.F. Kirilenko, in the Maritsa tract. In October of the same year, at a general detachment meeting, it was decided to unite into a single Putivl partisan detachment. S.A. Kovpak became the commander of the united detachment, S.V. Rudnev became the commissar, and G.Ya. Bazyma became the chief of staff. By the end of 1941, there were only 73 people in the detachment, and by the middle of 1942 - already more than a thousand. Small and large partisan units from other places came to Kovpak. Gradually, a union of people's avengers of the Sumy region was born.
On May 26, 1942, the Kovpak people liberated Putivl and held it for two days. And in October, having broken through the enemy blockade created around the Bryansk Forest, a formation of partisan detachments launched a raid on the right bank of the Dnieper. For a month, the Kovpakovites traveled 750 km. Along the rear of the enemy through the Sumy, Chernihiv, Gomel, Kiev, Zhytomyr regions. 26 bridges were blown up, 2 echelons with manpower and equipment of the Nazis, 5 armored cars and 17 vehicles were destroyed.
During the period of its second raid - from July to October 1943 - the connection of partisan detachments fought four thousand kilometers. The partisans put out of action the main oil refineries, oil storage facilities, oil rigs and oil pipelines located in the region of Drogobych and Ivano-Frankivsk.
The Pravda Ukrainy newspaper wrote: “Telegrams flew from Germany: to catch Kovpak, to lock up his troops in the mountains. Twenty-five times the ring of punishers closed around the areas occupied by the partisan general, and the same number of times he left unharmed.
Being in a difficult situation and fighting fierce battles, the Kovpak people made their way out of their last encirclement shortly before the liberation of Ukraine.
People's war in the form of a partisan and underground movement in the rear of the German troops under the most severe occupation regime during the Great Patriotic War.
It was a phenomenon that, in its scope and effectiveness, turned out to be unexpected both for the leadership of their own country and for the enemy. In the USSR, there was neither a concept of partisan and underground struggle developed in advance, nor personnel trained for its conduct. According to Soviet pre-war doctrine, in the event of aggression, the enemy was to be defeated in the course of a decisive counteroffensive on his own territory. Many military leaders who dealt with the issue of interaction between regular troops and partisans in the 1930s. were unreasonably repressed, and the hidden bases that were created in western regions USSR for the organization in case of war of the partisan movement, liquidated. The German command assumed the likelihood of resistance by the Soviet people in the territory occupied by the Wehrmacht, but only on an insignificant, limited scale. However, already a week after the start of Operation Barbarossa, it began to realize that in order to solve the “problem of pacifying the rear area”, security divisions alone would not be enough and would have to be removed from the front combat divisions. Berlin hoped that by intensifying terror it would be possible to nip the resistance movement in the occupied Soviet lands in the bud. On September 16, 1941, the Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht, Field Marshal W. Keitel, issued an order according to which, for an attempt on one German, it was ordered to take hostages and destroy in a way that increased the “intimidating effect”, from 50 to 100 men and women from among the local residents. At the same time, the invaders, who used the “carrot and stick method”, carefully concealed their villainous plans to turn the territory of the USSR into a colony of the “Third Reich” and mass exterminate its population, and propagated that Germany was waging war against the USSR, allegedly for “liberation purposes” (see. occupation regime). This propaganda had its effect on some citizens. To the beginning In 1942, more than 60.4 thousand people entered the service of the invaders as policemen, village elders, petty officials of the German administration. Many Soviet patriots died at their hands. At the beginning of the occupation, the possibilities for resisting the enemy were extremely insignificant - people simply did not have weapons. In addition, the majority of the population under the yoke of the invaders were women, children, adolescents and elderly men who, by age, were not subject to conscription into the army. In order to survive, they were forced to submit to the invaders and their accomplices. Part of the population joined the underground organizations created by the communists in cities and towns or, having obtained weapons, went to the partisans, trying to continue the struggle against the inhuman Nazi “new order”. A significant role in the development of resistance was played by the desire of people to protect their relatives from the atrocities of the invaders or to take revenge on the invaders for the tortured and killed. The motives were different, but the guerrilla war soon turned into real fact, which began to greatly disturb the German command. An important role in organizing the partisan and underground movement was played by the directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of June 29, 1941 to the Soviet and party organizations of the front-line regions, as well as the decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of July 18, 1941 on the deployment of the struggle in the rear enemy. However, these documents were secret, their content was known only to a narrow circle of party and Soviet workers, who were mainly in the rear. The bulk of the population of the occupied territories did not know about them. In their actions and behavior, they were guided primarily by the awareness of personal responsibility for protecting their homes, cities, villages and the country as a whole from foreign invaders. In July 1941, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the General Line of partisan formations were played by Soviet servicemen who found themselves encircled during the retreat, but escaped capture. In 1941, their number among the partisans of the Leningrad region was 18%, the Oryol region - 10%, in Lithuania - 22%, in Belarus - 10%. They brought discipline, knowledge of weapons and military equipment to partisan detachments. During the Battle of Moscow, partisans actually disrupted the supply of the German Army Group Center, destroying areas in its rear railways, bridges and arranging blockages on the railway tracks. In January-February 1942, the partisans of the Smolensk region liberated 40 villages and villages in the rear of Army Group Center, where Soviet troops landed. They recaptured Dorogobuzh from the enemy and united with the Red Army units that raided the rear of the German troops. During this raid, approx. 10 thousand km2. German command was forced to throw against them 7 divisions. In the Battle of Moscow, the partisans interacted with the special detachments of the NKVD, which also actively operated behind enemy lines, destroying its garrisons, destroying the equipment and personnel of the Wehrmacht formations. On May 30, 1942, the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (TSSHPD) was created at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. This headquarters was headed by a prominent state and political figure P.K. Ponamorenko, whose deputies were approved by representatives of the General Staff and the NKVD. TsSHPD, reporting to the Headquarters, which carried out the overall leadership of the partisan movement, worked in close contact with General Staff, military councils of fronts and armies, heads of party bodies of republics and regions. He performed a wide range of tasks in organizing, planning and directing the fighting of the partisans, establishing contacts with the underground and partisan formations, their material support with big land, training of personnel and specialists, organization of intelligence. In active fronts with similar functions, republican and regional partisan headquarters were created, which were operationally subordinate to the TsSHPD, and in the armies - operational groups of these headquarters. Their chiefs were included in the military councils of the fronts and armies. The activities of the headquarters of the partisan movement and the patriotic upsurge caused by the defeat of the Germans near Moscow among the population of the occupied regions had a great influence on the growth of resistance behind enemy lines and the effectiveness of partisan operations. From May 1942, the number of partisan detachments and groups began to grow. If in May 1942 there were 500 partisan detachments operating behind enemy lines, which included 72 thousand people, then by mid-November 1942 there were already 1770 detachments in which 125 thousand partisans fought, and by the beginning. In 1944 their number doubled and amounted to 250 thousand people. In this case, we are talking only about those partisans with whom the TsSHPD maintained contact. The number of partisans began to grow especially rapidly in 1944, when there was a struggle for the complete liberation of the country from the invaders. In total, during the years of the war, over 6 thousand partisan detachments operated behind enemy lines, in which there were 1 million people. The activity of the partisans was multifaceted. They destroyed enemy communications, carried out deep raids behind enemy lines, provided the Soviet command with valuable intelligence information, etc. The largest in 1943 was Operation Rail War carried out by partisans. In its course, 215 thousand rails were blown up, which amounted to 1342 km of a single-track railway track. In Belarus alone, 836 echelons and 3 armored trains were derailed. Some railway lines were put out of action, which created a lot of problems for the German troops. Evidence of the strength and scope of the people's war were partisan territories - large territories conquered from the invaders and held by partisans in the Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk and Kursk regions, in Belarus, in northern Ukraine, in the Crimea, etc. In the summer of 1943, the partisans became full owners in one sixth (over 200 thousand km2) of the entire occupied territory. Here they worked and fought in the name of victory over the enemy approx. 4 million people. These edges limited the enemy's retreat lines, made it difficult to maneuver and regroup his troops, reserves, supply bases and command posts. The partisans did a lot to prevent the mass deportation of Soviet people for forced labor in Germany. In con. 1943beginning 1944 up to 40% of the citizens forcibly taken out by the invaders were liberated by the partisans and the advancing Red Army. The underground movement also gained momentum in the enemy's rear. Its participants distributed newspapers and leaflets among the population, which they received from behind the front line or published themselves, provided the partisans with intelligence data, supplied them with medicines, destroyed the most cruel representatives of the German administration and traitors, organized sabotage at industrial enterprises captured by the Germans, etc. Massive sabotage by the population of the activities of the occupying authorities, the actions of armed partisan formations and underground organizations - all this turned the occupied territory into the arena of a fierce battle with the invaders. The partisan and underground movement was of great military, economic and political importance. The partisan movement was taken into account in the preparation Soviet command strategic operations. Partisan formations in this case were given specific combat missions. During the war, the partisans diverted up to 10% of the German troops operating against the USSR. They derailed 20,000 military echelons, blew up 120 armored trains, disabled 17,000 locomotives and 171,000 wagons, blew up 12,000 bridges on railways and highways, destroyed and seized 65,000 vehicles. Thousands fought together with Soviet partisans and underground workers in the temporarily occupied territory of the USSR. foreign citizens- Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Spaniards, Yugoslavs, etc. At the same time, up to 40 thousand Soviet citizens who found themselves outside their homeland participated in the European resistance movement. The temporarily occupied Soviet territory did not become a secure and calm rear for the invaders. Their calculations to force the citizens of the USSR to work meekly for Germany did not materialize. And this was a considerable merit of the partisans and underground fighters, highly appreciated by the state. More than 300 thousand partisans were awarded orders and medals, 249 partisans were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, and two leaders of the partisan movement - S. A. Kovpak and A. F. Fedorov - were awarded this high rank twice.
Historical sources:
All-People's Partisan Movement in Belarus during the Great Patriotic War (June 1941 - July 1944). Documents and materials. T. 1-2. Book. 1. Minsk, 1967-73;
Party and Soviet organizations of the front-line regions. From the directive of the Council of People's Commissars USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on June 29, 1941, in the book: CPSU on the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. Documentation. 1917-1968. M., 1969, S. 299-301.
Hello dear readers!
Ivan Nekrasov is with you. Today we will try to highlight a sensitive topic that reveals patriotism and popular mobilization that the citizens of the USSR faced during the occupation period. How developed was the partisan movement during the Second World War and what fruits did it bring in the common cause of victory? How were the detachments formed and were they spontaneous? We will reveal to you the secret facts of the organization and management of the large-scale and unprecedented partisan movement of 1941-1945.
Few people know that the underground movement was founded from the first days of the German occupation and had a clear structure and leadership. It is generally accepted that the detachments were formed spontaneously, from local residents hiding in the forests and quarries, citizens who were not drafted into the ranks of the army and teenagers, for whom the road to the front was closed due to their age. But what do we know about the organization and structure of the movement itself, which inflicted significant damage on the enemy? We will try to summarize the publicly available facts.
The principles of the organization of the partisan movement
Directive issued on June 29, 1941 on behalf of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks under the patronage of the Council People's Commissars and the Supreme High Command, the Headquarters of the partisan movement was founded, headed by P.K. Ponomarenko, 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus. The directive recommended organizing detachments and groups of sabotage in the territories occupied by the enemy, whose task was to subvert and prevent enemy actions.
The directive issued on 07/18/1941 developed the direction of the underground movement, the basic principles of subversion. So the partisans were charged with the duty to disrupt the supply of weapons to the German army, break any connection between the detachments and the General Staff, prevent the supply of food for the army and destabilize the situation on the fronts.
On the periphery, the command of the movement was entrusted to the chairmen of regional committees and district committees. In order to correct the underground workers, the district committees were also involved in management, and by 1942 the scale and commonality of the partisan detachments had increased a hundredfold. Partisan resistance was an example of nationwide rallying against the German army, a vivid example of the organization of the movement can be seen in the table:
The partisans in 1942 had a clear leadership for action, a powerful administrative apparatus throughout the country and a morally strong staff, the basis of which were soldiers who were surrounded, later supplemented by commanders specially trained in partisan schools and citizens coming from the civilian population into the ranks of the resistance.
The total number of detachments during the Second World War amounted to more than 6 thousand on the territory of the USSR, as well as several hundred sabotage groups conducting subversive activities abroad. The approximate number of underground workers and partisans during the war years stepped over well over a million people.
Types of activities of partisan detachments
- Sabotage. The basis of the resistance was underground activity to destabilize the enemy, disrupt the supply of weapons and food, destroy communication facilities and communications.
- Intelligence service. The support and assistance of the army in combat operations was the study and fixation for further sending to the Headquarters of the enemy's deployment, his strength, equipment with weapons and, if possible, the seizure of documents.
- Propaganda. An important component in the fight against fascism was propaganda activities carried out by distributing leaflets, creating underground meetings in the occupied territories and recruiting new members into the ranks of partisans.
- fighting. The direct participation of the underground movement in the battles was not required, but if necessary, the partisan detachments took active assistance to the army in the liberation of the territories.
- Identification of saboteurs. One of the tasks of the underground movement was to identify false partisans and saboteurs, capture them and transfer them to the Headquarters.
- Internal work to establish Soviet power. In the territories occupied by the Germans, active propaganda and an internal war were carried out to restore power, the mobilization of the civilian population, and the involvement of resistance in activities.
Achievements of the Popular Front
During the Second World War, more than a million Wehrmacht soldiers and saboteurs were captured, wounded and destroyed by the efforts of partisan detachments, more than 1,100 aircraft, 4,000 armored vehicles and tanks, 65,000 vehicles were blown up. The underground movement organized the undermining and damage of 1600 railway crossings and bridges and more than 2 thousand kilometers of single-track rails, more than 20 thousand German trains were derailed.
The activities of the underground movement were characterized by a clear organization, due to which a number of organized operations were carried out to destabilize enemy forces, such as the "Rail War" and "Concert".
Through the efforts of nationwide formations, the location of 165 enemy divisions, the concentration of 177 regiments and more than 130 separate battalions was established. Partisan reconnaissance:
- revealed data on 33 headquarters, including names commanders and number,
- discovered 30 airfields,
- 70 food and weapons warehouses,
- 900 garrisons,
- 240 enemy units,
- 1642 echelons, with information about the nature of the transported goods and the direction of movement.
It is worth noting that the Nazis sent more than 50 divisions to fight the underground, which is approximately 20% of the enemy troops stationed in the occupied territory of the USSR. On the other fronts, only 6% of the Wehrmacht troops participated in the hostilities.
The unity and heroism of the underground and partisans became the decisive factor in victory. There were in the ranks of partisan formations and their heroes, and outstanding commanders. Photos of underground detachments can still be seen in museums and on the pages of documentary books about the Second World War.
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). The central headquarters were operationally subordinate to the republican and regional headquarters of the partisan movement, which were headed by secretaries or members of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the republics, regional committees and regional committees. The creation of the headquarters of the partisan movement with clear functions and the improvement of communications with the “mainland” gave the partisan movement an increasingly organized character, ensured greater coordination of the actions of the partisan forces and contributed to the improvement of their interaction with the troops.
The composition and organization of partisan formations, despite their diversity, had much in common. The main tactical unit was a detachment, which usually numbered several dozen people (mainly NKVD employees), and later - up to 200 or more fighters. During the course of the war, many detachments united into formations (brigades) numbering from several hundred to several thousand people. The armament was dominated by light weapons (automatic rifles, light machine guns, rifles, carbines, grenades), but many detachments and formations had mortars and heavy machine guns, and some had artillery. All persons who joined partisan formations took the partisan oath; strict military discipline was established in the detachments.
In 1941-1942, the mortality rate among groups abandoned by the NKVD behind enemy lines was 93%. For example, in Ukraine, from the beginning of the war until the summer of 1942, the NKVD prepared and left for operations in the rear 2 partisan regiments, 1565 partisan detachments and groups with a total number of 34,979 people, and by June 10, 1942 only 100 groups remained in touch. That showed the inefficiency of the work of large units, especially in the steppe zone. By the end of the war, the death rate in partisan detachments was about 10%.
Physical and geographical conditions influenced the forms of organization of partisan forces and the methods of their actions. Vast forests, swamps, mountains were the main bases for partisan forces. Partisan territories and zones arose here, where various methods of struggle could be widely used, including open battles with the enemy. In the steppe regions, however, large formations operated successfully only during raids. The small detachments and groups that were constantly here usually avoided open clashes with the enemy and inflicted damage on him mainly by sabotage.
The most important directions of the struggle behind enemy lines were formulated in the order of the People's Commissar of Defense I. V. Stalin of September 5, 1942 "On the tasks of the partisan movement."
Elements of guerrilla warfare
1941 poster
In the tactics of partisan actions during the Great Patriotic War, the following elements can be distinguished:
- Subversive activities, destruction of enemy infrastructure in any form (rail war, destruction of communication lines, high-voltage lines, poisoning and destruction of water pipes, wells, etc.).
- Intelligence activities, including undercover.
- Political activity and Bolshevik propaganda.
- Combat Assistance.
- Destruction of the manpower of the enemy.
- Elimination of collaborators and heads of the Nazi administration.
- Restoring and saving items Soviet power in the occupied territories.
- Mobilization of the combat-ready population remaining in the occupied territory, and unification of the remnants of the encircled military units.
Territory of Belarus
From the very beginning, the Soviet government has attached exceptional importance to Belarus for the implementation and development of guerrilla warfare. The main factors contributing to this are geographical position republics, with its forest wilds and swamps, and strategic location from the West from Moscow.
Territory of Ukraine
Following Belarus, Ukraine is the first and most affected republic after the invasion of the USSR in the summer and autumn of 1941. The consequences for Ukraine and for the population that remained under occupation for a long time were devastating. The Nazi regime is making attempts to exploit anti-Soviet sentiments among Ukrainians. Despite the fact that initially some of the Ukrainians welcomed the Germans, the Nazi leadership took harsh measures against the population: the local population was systematically deported to Germany as forced labor and a policy of genocide against the Jews was carried out. Under these conditions, the overwhelming majority of the population, having changed their views, was opposed to the Nazis, in connection with which the partisan movement developed in the occupied territories, which in many places, however, was not pro-Soviet.
Territory of Russia
In the Bryansk region, Soviet partisans controlled vast territories in the German rear. In the summer of 1942, they actually exercised control over a territory of over 14,000 square kilometers. The Bryansk partisan republic was formed. The partisans fought the main fight in this area not with the German invaders, but with the anti-Bolshevik population of the Lokot Republic. Detachments of Soviet partisans with a total number of more than 60,000 people in the region were led by Alexei Fedorov, Alexander Saburov and others. In the Belgorod, Orel, Kursk, Novgorod, Leningrad, Pskov and Smolensk regions, active partisan activity was also carried out during the period of occupation. In the Oryol and Smolensk regions, partisan detachments were led by Dmitry Medvedev. In 1943, after the Red Army began the liberation of western Russia and northeastern Ukraine, many partisan detachments, including units led by Fedorov, Medvedev and Saburov, were ordered to continue their operations in the territory of Central and Western Ukraine, which still remained occupied by the Nazis.
Territory of the Baltic
Soviet partisans also operated in the Baltics. In Estonia - under the leadership of Nikolai Karotamma. The detachments and groups that operated in Estonia were very small. In Latvia, partisan detachments were at first subordinate to the commanders of Russian and Belarusian detachments, and from January 1943, directly to the center in Moscow under the leadership of Artur Sprogis. Another prominent partisan commander was Vilis Samson. On account of the detachments led by him, numbering about 3,000 people, were the destruction of about 130 German trains.
Jewish partisan detachments
On the territory of the Soviet Union, more than fifteen thousand Jews fought against the Nazis in underground organizations and partisan detachments. Jewish partisan detachments were created by those Jews who fled from the ghettos and camps to escape the annihilation by the Nazis. Many of the organizers of the Jewish detachments were previously members of underground organizations in the ghetto.
One of the main goals that the Jewish partisans set themselves was to save the remnants of the Jewish population. Family camps were often created near partisan bases, in which fugitives from the ghetto, including women, old people and children, found refuge. Many Jewish detachments fought for months, carried big losses, but in the end they were destroyed along with neighboring family camps.
The Jewish partisans could not, if necessary, mix with the surrounding population and take advantage of its support. The Jewish partisans could not get support from the Jewish population locked up in the ghetto.
Some Jewish detachments became part of partisan formations. Among the detachments of Jewish partisans created by members of underground organizations and fugitives from the ghettos and camps of Lithuania, the detachments of people from the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas fought most successfully. Jewish partisans under the command of A. Kovner participated in the liberation of Vilnius from the Nazi occupation (July 1944). One of the leaders of the partisan movement in Lithuania was G. Zimanas (Yurgis, 1910–85).
In the forests of Belarus, as part of the general partisan movement, separate Jewish detachments operated, but over time they partially turned into mixed detachments. national composition. The Jewish partisan detachment named after Kalinin, created by the Belsky brothers, is known. In the Belsky camp, there were 1.2 thousand people, mainly those who fled from the Novogrudok region. A group of fugitives from the Minsk ghetto, led by Sh. Zorin (1902–74), created another family camp (detachment No. 106), numbering about 800 Jews. In the Derechin area, a detachment was formed under the command of Dr. I. Atlas, in the Slonim area - the Shchors 51 detachment; in the Kopyl area, Jews who fled from the Nesvizh ghetto and two other ghettos created the Zhukov detachment, Jews from the Dyatlovo area - a detachment under the command of Ts. Kaplinsky (1910–42). The fighters of the Bialystok ghetto and underground fighters from the cities and towns adjacent to it created the Jewish partisan detachment "Kadima" and several other small partisan groups.
In Western Ukraine, during the mass extermination of the Jewish population in the summer of 1942, numerous armed groups of Jewish youth were formed, hiding in the forests and mountains of Volhynia. 35–40 such groups (about one thousand fighters) independently fought against the invaders until they joined the Soviet partisan movement at the end of 1942. M. Gildenman (“Uncle Misha”, died in 1958) formed a Jewish detachment in partisan formation A .Saburova; the Jewish groups "Sofiyivka" and "Kolki" joined S. Kovpak's compound; several Jewish detachments joined the partisan formations of V. Begma. In total, about 1.9 thousand Jews participated in the partisan movement in Volhynia.
It is known that Jewish partisan groups operated in the areas of the cities of Tarnopol, Borshchev, Chortkiv, Skalat, Bolekhiv, Tlumach and others. In the partisan unit of S. Kovpak during his raid in the Carpathians (late summer 1943), a Jewish detachment was created, commanded by Jews from the Sofiyivka and Kolki groups.
Relations with the civilian population
The civilian population and partisans often helped each other. The attitude of the local population towards the Soviet partisans in different regions was one of the main factors in the success of the partisans.
However, in a number of cases, the partisans used violence against the local population.
In the course of work on the book-document “I'm a fiery weight ...”, Belarusian writers and publicists Ales Adamovich, Yanka Bryl and Vladimir Kolesnik, during the interrogation, received testimonies from Vera Petrovna Sloboda, a teacher from the village of Dubrova near the village of Osveya, Vitebsk region, about punitive actions of a partisan detachment under the command of Kalaijan Vagram Pogosovich, during which civilians who did not want to leave the village before the arrival of German troops were killed. Eighty people were killed, the village was burned.
On April 14, 1943, partisans attacked the village of Drazhno in the Starodorozhsky district of Belarus. The village was almost completely burned most of residents were killed. . According to other sources, a large German garrison was stationed in Drazhno, which was destroyed during a partisan operation.
On May 8, 1943, partisans attacked the stronghold of the city of Naliboki, 120 km from Minsk. They killed 127 civilians, including children, burned down buildings and stole nearly 100 cows and 70 horses.
Bogdan Musial, in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, claimed that according to the report of "one high-ranking officer of the Red Army", made in June 1943, not far from Minsk, the civilian population was terrorized by the Bata partisan detachment. In particular, on April 11, 1943 they
"they shot innocent families of partisans in the village of Sokochi: a woman with a 12-year-old son, whose second partisan son died earlier, as well as the wife of one partisan and her two children - two and five years old."
In addition, according to Musial, the partisans of the Frunze detachment, operating north of Minsk, carried out a punitive operation, during which 57 people were shot, including babies.
False partisans
There were cases when the Nazis, in order to discredit the partisan movement, created punitive detachments (usually from Russian collaborators), who pretended to be Soviet partisans and committed murders of civilians.
In June 1943, Ponomarenko ordered to stop negotiations between the partisans and the AK and quietly liquidate the leaders of the AK or hand them over to the Germans. He ordered: “You can not be shy about choosing means. The operation must be carried out widely and smoothly.
In December 1943 and February 1944, Captain Adolf Pilch (pseudonym "Gura"), the commander of one of the AK detachments, met in Stolbtsy with SD and Wehrmacht officers and asked for urgent assistance. He was allocated 18 thousand units of ammunition, food and uniforms. In September 1943 - August 1944, the "Gura" detachment did not conduct a single battle with the Germans, while with the Belarusian partisans - 32 battles. Andrzej Kutsner (“Small”) followed his example, until, by order of the headquarters of the AK district, he was transferred to the Oshmyany district. In February 1944, SS Obersturmbannführer Strauch reported in his report: “Commonwealth with the White Pole bandits continues. Detachment of 300 people. in Rakov and Ivenets was very useful. Negotiations with the gang of Ragner (Stefan Zayonchkovsky) of one thousand people are over. The Ragner gang pacifies the territory between the Neman and the Volkovysk-Molodechno railway, between Mosty and Ivye. Contact has been established with other Polish gangs.”
Collaborated with the occupiers was the commander of the Nadnemansky formation of the Lida district of the AK lieutenant Yuzev Svida (Vileika region). In the summer of 1944, in the Shchuchinsky region, Polish legionnaires took control of the towns of Zheludok and Vasilishki, where they replaced the German garrisons. For the needs of the fight against the partisans, the Germans provided them with 4 cars and 300 thousand rounds of ammunition.
Separate units of the AK showed great cruelty towards the civilian population, who were suspected of sympathizing with the partisans. Legionnaires burned their houses, stole cattle, robbed and killed families of partisans. In January 1944, they shot the wife and child of the partisan N. Filipovich, killed and burned the remains of six members of the D. Velichko family in the Ivenets region.
In 1943, in the Ivenets region, a detachment of the 27th lancer regiment of the Stolbtsy AK formation Zdzislav Nurkevich (pseudonym "Night"), which numbered 250 people, terrorized civilians and attacked partisans. The commander of the partisan detachment was killed. Frunze I.G. Ivanov, head of the special department P.N. Guba, several fighters and the commissar of the detachment. Furmanova P.P. Danilin, three partisans of the Brigade. Zhukova and others. In November 1943, 10 Jewish partisans from Sholom Zorin's detachment became victims of a conflict between Soviet partisans and Nurkevich's uhlans. On the night of November 18, they prepared food for the partisans in the village of Sovkovshchizna, Ivenets district. One of the peasants complained to Nurkevich that "the Jews are robbing". The AK fighters surrounded the partisans and opened fire, after which they took away 6 horses and 4 carts of the partisans. The partisans, who tried to return the property to the peasants, were disarmed and after bullying they were shot. In response, on December 1, 1943, the partisans disarmed Nurkevich's detachment. The Soviet detachments decided to disarm the Kmitsa detachment (400 people) and avenge Zorin.
In 1943, an AK detachment acted against the partisans in the area of Nalibokskaya Pushcha. During the night checks of the farms by the partisans, it turned out that often Poles-men were absent. The commander of the partisan brigade, Frol Zaitsev, said that if, during the second check, the Pole men were outside their families, the partisans would regard this as an attempt at resistance. The threat did not help, and the farms near the villages of Nikolaevo, Malaya and Bolshaya Chapun of the Ivenets region were burned by partisans.
In the Vilna region in 1943, partisans lost 150 people in clashes with AK. killed and wounded, and 100 people. missing.
A telegram dated July 4, 1944 from London indicated that as the front approached, AK commanders were obliged to offer military cooperation the Soviet side. In the summer of 1944, detachments of the AK began to ask the partisans for a truce, reported their readiness to turn their weapons against the Germans. However, the partisans did not believe them and viewed this as a military ruse. However, these proposals sounded more insistent. On June 27, the commander of the Iskra partisan detachment in the Baranovichi region reported to the command of his brigade that he had received an appeal from the AK from Novogrudok, which, in particular, said that the Poles always wanted to be on friendly terms with the "blooded and great Slavic people", which "mutually shed blood shows us the way to mutual agreement." In the Lida region, the proposal for a military alliance was handed over to the command of the brigade. Kirov, in the Bialystok region - to the secretary of the underground regional committee of the CP (b) B Samutin.
The first meeting took place on September 1-3, 1942 on a farm in the village of Staraya Guta, Ludviopolsky district. From the detachment of NKVD Colonel D. N. Medvedev, 5 officers arrived at the meeting, led by Colonel Lukin and Captain Brezhnev, who were guarded by 15 machine gunners. On the other hand, 5 people also arrived: Bulba-Borovets, Shcherbatyuk, Baranivsky, Rybachok and Pilipchuk.
Colonel Lukin conveyed greetings from the Soviet government and in particular the government of the Ukrainian SSR. He spoke approvingly about the already widely known actions of the UPA-Bulba against Hitler, stressed that the actions could be more effective if they were coordinated with the USSR General Staff. Specifically, it was suggested:
- Amnesty to all members of the Ukrainian formations of T. Bulba-Borovets.
- Stop mutual clashes.
- Coordinate military operations with Headquarters in Moscow.
- Political issues to be resolved in further negotiations.
- Undertake a general armed uprising against the Germans in the rear. To begin with, carry out a series of actions against the German higher ranks in order to destroy them, in particular to organize the murder of Koch, which would be a signal for a general uprising.
Bulba-Borovets and his delegation promised to consider the proposals and give an answer soon. Colonel Lukin was satisfied with the meeting. However, from the very beginning, both sides understood that the negotiations had little chance of success due to the complexity of the issues involved and especially the political contradictions, since. like the OUN, Bulba-Borovets stood for the complete independence of Ukraine, which was categorically unacceptable for Moscow.
