Partisan detachments of the Second World War. Partisans in WWII

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

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

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

How many partisan heroes do we have?

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

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

Sidor Kovpak. Reproduction: TASS

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

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

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

Chronicle of partisan heroism

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

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

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

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

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

Partisans by call of heart and duty of service

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

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

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

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

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

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

Insomnia and the rail war

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

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

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

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

Partisans mine railway tracks near Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti

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

A feat that cannot be undone

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

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

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

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

Sidor Kovpak. Reproduction: TASS

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

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

Chronicle of partisan heroism

Partisans by call of heart and duty of service

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

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

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

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

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

Insomnia and the rail war

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

Partisans mine railway tracks near Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti

1941 - 1945 - this is part of the Resistance movement, which was designed to destroy the German support system (undermining provisions, ammunition, roads, etc.). As you know, the fascist invaders were very afraid of this organization, so they treated its members very cruelly.

RSFSR

The main points of the tasks of the partisan movement were formulated back in the directive of 1941. More details necessary actions were described in Stalin's order of 1942.

The basis of the partisan detachments were ordinary residents, mainly of occupied territories, that is, those who knew life under the fascist sight and power. Similar organizations began to appear from the first days of the war. Old people, women, men who for some reason were not taken to the front, and even children and pioneers entered there.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 carried out sabotage activities, engaged in reconnaissance (even undercover intelligence), propaganda, provided combat assistance to the USSR army, and directly destroyed the enemy.

Countless detachments, sabotage groups, and formations (about 250 thousand people) operated on the territory of the RSFSR, each of which brought enormous benefits to achieving victory. Many names remain forever in the annals of history.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who became a symbol of heroism, was thrown into the German rear to set fire to the village of Petrishchevo, where the German regiment was located. Naturally, she was not alone, but, by coincidence, their group partially dispersed after setting three houses on fire. Zoya decided to return there alone and finish what she started. But the residents were already on their guard and Zoya was captured. She had to go through terrible torture and humiliation (including from her compatriots), but she did not give up a single name. The Nazis hanged the girl, but even during the execution she did not lose courage and called on the Soviet people to resist the German invaders. She was the first woman to be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Byelorussian SSR

On the territory of Belarus lasted from 1941 to 1944. During this time, many decisions were made strategic objectives, the main one of which was the disabling of German trains and the railway tracks along which they moved.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 provided invaluable assistance in the fight against the invaders. 87 of them received the highest military award of the Soviet Union. Among them was Marat Kazei, a sixteen-year-old boy whose mother was executed by the Germans. He came to the partisan detachment to defend his right to freedom and a happy life. He performed tasks just like adults.

Marat did not live exactly a year before victory. He died in May 1944. Every death in war is tragic in itself, but when a child dies it becomes a thousand times more painful.

Marat and his commander were returning to headquarters. By chance they met German punitive forces. The commander was killed immediately, the boy was only wounded. Firing back, he disappeared into the forest, but the Germans pursued him. Until the bullets ran out, Marat escaped the chase. And then he made an important decision for himself. The boy had two grenades. He immediately threw one into a group of Germans, and held the second tightly in his hand until he was surrounded. Then he blew it up, taking German soldiers with him to the next world.

Ukrainian SSR

During the Great Patriotic War, partisans on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR united into 53 formations, 2,145 detachments and 1,807 groups, with a total number of about 220 thousand people.

Among the main command of the partisan movement in Ukraine, one can single out K. I. Pogorelov, M. I. Karnaukhov, S. A. Kovpak, S. V. Rudnev, A. F. Fedorov and others.

Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak, on Stalin’s orders, was engaged in propaganda in Right Bank Ukraine, which was practically inactive. It was for the Carpathian raid that he was awarded one of the awards.

Mikhail Karnaukhov led the movement in Donbass. His subordinates and local residents nicknamed him “father” for his warm human relations. Dad was killed by the Germans in 1943. Secretly, residents of local occupied villages gathered at night to bury the commander and pay him due respect.

The partisan heroes of the Great Patriotic War were later reburied. Karnaukhov rests in Slavyansk, where his remains were transferred in 1944, when the territories were liberated from the German invaders.

During the operation of Karnaukhov’s detachment, 1,304 fascists were destroyed (out of 12 were officers).

Estonian SSR

Already in July 1941, an order was given to form a partisan detachment on the territory of Estonia. His command included B. G. Kumm, N. G. Karotamm, J. H. Lauristin.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 faced an almost insurmountable obstacle in Estonia. Large quantity local residents were friendly towards the occupying Germans and even rejoiced at this coincidence of circumstances.

That is why underground organizations and sabotage groups had great power in this territory, which had to think through their moves even more carefully, since betrayal could be expected from anywhere.

They became Lehen Kuhlman (shot by the Germans in 1943 as a Soviet intelligence officer) and Vladimir Fedorov.

Latvian SSR

Until 1942, the activities of the partisans in Latvia were not going well. This was due to the fact that most activists and party leaders were killed at the very beginning of the war, people were poorly prepared both physically and financially. Thanks to the denunciations of local residents, not a single underground organization was destroyed by the Nazis. Some hero-partisans of the Great Patriotic War died nameless, so as not to betray or compromise their comrades.

After 1942, the movement intensified, people began to come to the detachments with a desire to help and free themselves, since the German occupiers sent hundreds of Estonians to Germany for hard work.

Among the leaders of the Estonian partisan movement was Arthur Sprogis, under whom Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya studied. He is also mentioned in Hemingway's book For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Lithuanian SSR

On Lithuanian territory, the partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 carried out hundreds of acts of sabotage, as a result of which almost 10 thousand Germans were killed.

With a total number of partisans of 9,187 people (only identified by name), seven are Heroes of the Soviet Union:

Yu. Yu. Alexonis. An underground radio operator, he died in an unequal battle, surrounded by the Germans, in 1944.
S. P. Apivala. Personally destroyed seven trains with enemy ammunition.
G.I. Boris. The commander of a special sabotage group, died at the hands of the Gestapo after being captured in 1944.
A. M. Cheponis. A radio operator who died in 1944 in a single battle against a German unit. At the same time he killed 20 fascists.
M.I. Melnikaite. She was captured, spent a whole week in torture, without saying a word to the Nazis, but she was able to slap one of the Wehrmacht officers in the face. Shot in 1943.
B.V. Urbanavichus. He led a subversive group of partisans.
Yu. T. Vitas. Leader of the Lithuanian partisan underground. He was captured and shot by the Nazis after denunciation by a traitor in 1943.

Heroes-partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 fought in Lithuania not only against the fascist invaders, but also against the Lithuanian liberation army, which did not exterminate the Germans, but sought to destroy Soviet and Polish soldiers.

Moldavian SSR

During the four years of operation of partisan detachments on the territory of Moldova, about 27 thousand fascists and their accomplices were destroyed. They are also responsible for the destruction of a huge amount of military equipment, ammunition, and kilometers of communication lines. Heroes-partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 were engaged in the production of leaflets and information reports in order to maintain good spirits and faith in victory among the population.

Two are Heroes of the Soviet Union - V.I. Timoshchuk (commander of the First Moldavian formation) and N.M. Frolov (under his leadership 14 German trains were blown up).

Jewish resistance

There were 70 purely Jewish liberation detachments operating on the territory of the USSR. Their goal was to save the remaining Jewish population.

Unfortunately, Jewish units had to deal with anti-Semitic sentiments even among Soviet partisans. Most of them did not want to provide any support to these people and were reluctant to accept Jewish youth into their units.

Most Jews were refugees from the ghetto. There were often children among them.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 did a lot of work and provided invaluable assistance to the Red Army in liberating territories and defeating the German fascists.

Each generation has its own perception of the past war, the place and significance of which in the life of the peoples of our country turned out to be so significant that it went down in their history as the Great Patriotic War. The dates June 22, 1941 and May 9, 1945 will forever remain in the memory of the peoples of Russia. 60 years after the Great Patriotic War, Russians can be proud that their contribution to the Victory was enormous and irreplaceable. The most important integral part the struggle of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany during the Great Patriotic War was a partisan movement, which was the most active form participation of the broad masses of the temporarily occupied Soviet territory in the fight 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 agricultural and raw materials appendage of the German monopolies. All this met with fierce resistance from the majority of the population living in the occupied territory, who rose up to fight.

It was truly a nationwide movement, generated by the just nature of the war, the desire to defend the honor and independence of the Motherland. That is why in the program of combating the Nazi invaders such an important place was given to the partisan movement in enemy-occupied areas. The party called on those remaining behind enemy lines Soviet people create partisan detachments and sabotage groups, incite partisan warfare anywhere 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 at every step, disrupt all their activities.

Soviet people who found themselves in territory occupied by the enemy, as well as soldiers, commanders and political workers of the Red Army and Navy who were surrounded, began to fight the Nazi occupiers. They tried with all their might and means to help the Soviet troops fighting at the front and resisted the Nazis. And already these first actions against Hitlerism bore the character of a guerrilla war. In a special resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) dated July 18, 1941, “On the organization of struggle behind enemy lines,” the party called on the republican, regional, regional and district party organizations to lead the organization of partisan formations and the underground, “to assist in every possible way in the creation of mounted and foot partisan detachments, sabotage destruction groups, deploy a network of our Bolshevik underground organizations in the occupied territory to lead all actions against the fascist occupiers” in the war (June 1941–1945).

The struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders in the temporarily occupied territory of the Soviet Union became an integral part of the Great Patriotic War. It acquired a nationwide character, becoming a qualitatively new phenomenon in the history of the struggle against foreign invaders. The most important of its manifestations was the partisan movement behind enemy lines. Thanks to the actions of the partisans, the Nazi invaders in their rear spread a constant feeling of danger and threat, which had a significant moral impact on the Nazis. And it was real danger, since the fighting of the partisans caused enormous damage to enemy manpower and equipment.

Group portrait of fighters of the Zvezda partisan detachment
It is characteristic that the idea of organizing a partisan and underground movement in territory captured by the enemy appeared only after the start of the Great Patriotic War and the first defeats of the Red Army. This is explained by the fact that in the 20s - early 30s, the Soviet military leadership quite reasonably believed that in the event of an enemy invasion it was really necessary to launch a guerrilla war behind enemy lines, and for this purpose they were already training the organizers of the partisan movement, certain means for waging guerrilla warfare. However, during the mass repressions of the second half of the 30s, such precautions began to be seen as a manifestation of defeatism, and almost all those who were involved in this work were repressed. If we follow the then concept of defense, which consisted of defeating the enemy “with little blood and on his territory,” the systematic preparation of the organizers of the partisan movement, in the opinion of Stalin and his entourage, could morally disarm the Soviet people and sow defeatist sentiments. In this situation, it is impossible to exclude Stalin’s painful suspicion of the potentially clearly organized structure of the underground resistance apparatus, which, as he believed, the “oppositionists” could use for their own purposes.

It is usually believed that by the end of 1941 the number of active partisans reached 90 thousand people, and partisan detachments - more than 2 thousand. Thus, at first, the partisan detachments themselves were not very numerous - their number did not exceed several dozen fighters. The difficult winter period of 1941-1942, the lack of reliably equipped bases for partisan detachments, the lack of weapons and ammunition, poor weapons and food supplies, as well as the lack of professional doctors and medicines greatly complicated effective actions partisans, reducing them to sabotage on transport routes, the destruction of small groups of invaders, the destruction of their locations, and the destruction of policemen - local residents who agreed to cooperate with the invaders. Nevertheless, the partisan and underground movement behind enemy lines still took place. Many detachments operated in Smolensk, Moscow, Oryol, Bryansk and a number of other regions of the country that fell under the heel of the Nazi occupiers.

S. Kovpak's detachment

The partisan movement was and remains one of the most effective and universal forms revolutionary struggle. It allows small forces to successfully fight against an enemy superior in numbers and weapons. Guerrilla detachments are a springboard, an organizing core for strengthening and developing revolutionary forces. For these reasons, the historical experience of the partisan movement of the twentieth century seems to us to be extremely important, and when considering it, one cannot help but touch upon the legendary name of Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak, the founder of the practice of partisan raids. This outstanding Ukrainian, people's partisan commander, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, who received the rank of major general in 1943, plays a special role in the development of the theory and practice of the partisan movement of modern times.

Sidor Kovpak was born into the family of a poor peasant from Poltava. His further fate, with its intensity of struggle and its unexpected turns, is quite characteristic of that revolutionary era. Kovpak began to fight back in the First World War, in a war on the blood of the poor - as a scout-plastun, who earned two brass crosses of St. George and numerous wounds, and already in 1918, after the German occupation of revolutionary Ukraine, he independently organized and led a red partisan detachment - one of the first in Ukraine. He fought against Denikin’s troops together with the troops of Father Parkhomenko, participated in battles on the Eastern Front as part of the legendary 25th Chapaev Division, then fought in the South against Wrangel’s troops, and took part in the liquidation of Makhno’s gangs. After the victory of the revolution, Sidor Kovpak, who became a member of the RCP (b) in 1919, was engaged in economic work, especially succeeding in road construction, which he proudly called his favorite work. Since 1937, this administrator, famous for his decency and hard work, exceptional even for that era of defense labor, served as chairman of the Putivl city executive committee of the Sumy region. It was in this purely peaceful position that the war found him.

In August 1941, the party organization of Putivl was almost completely in full force- excluding its previously mobilized members - turned into a partisan detachment. It was one of many partisan groups created in the wooded triangle of Sumy, Bryansk, Oryol and Kursk regions, which became the basis for the entire future partisan movement. However, the Putivl detachment quickly stood out among the many forest units with its particularly bold and at the same time measured and prudent actions. Kovpak partisans avoided long stays within any specific area. They carried out constant long-term maneuvers behind enemy lines, exposing remote German garrisons to unexpected blows. Thus was born the famous raid tactics of partisan warfare, in which the traditions and techniques of the revolutionary war of 1918-21 were easily discerned - techniques revived and developed by commander Kovpak. Already at the very beginning of the formation of the Soviet partisan movement, he became its most famous and prominent figure.

At the same time, Father Kovpak himself did not at all differ in any special brave military appearance. According to his comrades, the outstanding partisan general was more like an elderly peasant in civilian clothes, carefully looking after his large and complex farm. This is exactly the impression he made on his future intelligence chief, Pyotr Vershigora, a former film director, and later a famous partisan writer, who spoke in his books about the raids of the Kovpakov detachments. Kovpak was indeed an unusual commander - he skillfully combined his vast experience as a soldier and business worker with innovative courage in the development of tactics and strategy of partisan warfare. “He is quite modest, he did not so much teach others as he studied himself, he knew how to admit his mistakes, thereby not exacerbating them,” Alexander Dovzhenko wrote about Kovpak. Kovpak was simple, even deliberately simple-minded in his communication, humane in his dealings with his soldiers, and with the help of the continuous political and ideological training of his detachment, carried out under the leadership of his closest comrade, the legendary commissar Rudnev, he was able to get them to high level communist consciousness and discipline.

Partisan detachment of Hero of the Soviet Union S.A. Kovpaka walks along the street of a Ukrainian village during a military campaign
This feature - the clear organization of all spheres of partisan life in the extremely difficult, unpredictable conditions of war behind enemy lines - made it possible to carry out the most complex operations, unprecedented in their courage and scope. Among the Kovpakov commanders were teachers, workers, engineers, and peasants.

People of peaceful professions, they acted in a coordinated and organized manner, based on the system of organizing combat and peaceful life detachment established by Kovpak. “The master’s eye, the confident, calm rhythm of camp life and the hum of voices in the thicket of the forest, the leisurely but not slow life of confident people working with self-esteem - this is my first impression of Kovpak’s detachment,” Vershigora later wrote. Already in 1941–42, Sidor Kovpak, under whose leadership by this time there was an entire formation of partisan detachments, undertook his first raids - long military campaigns in territory not yet covered by the partisan movement - his detachments passed through the territories of Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, as a result of which Kovpak fighters, together with Belarusian and Bryansk partisans, created the famous Partisan Region, cleared of Nazi troops and police administration - a prototype of the future liberated territories of Latin America. In 1942–43, Kovpaks carried out a raid from the Bryansk forests on the Right Bank of Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kyiv regions - an unexpected appearance deep behind enemy lines made it possible to destroy a huge number of enemy military communications, while simultaneously collecting and transmitting the most important intelligence information to Headquarters .

By this time, Kovpak’s raid tactics had received universal recognition, and its experience was widely disseminated and implemented by the partisan command of various regions.

The famous meeting of the leaders of the Soviet partisan movement, who arrived through the front in Moscow in early September 1942, fully approved the raid tactics of Kovpak, who was also present there - by that time already a Hero of the Soviet Union and a member of the illegal Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks). Its essence was fast, maneuverable, secretive movement behind enemy lines with the further creation of new centers of the partisan movement. Such raids, in addition to causing significant damage to enemy troops and collecting important intelligence information, had a huge propaganda effect. “The partisans brought the war closer and closer to Germany,” said Marshal Vasilevsky, Chief of the Red Army General Staff, on this occasion. Guerrilla raids raised huge masses of enslaved people to fight, armed them and taught them the practice of fighting.

In the summer of 1943, on the eve of the Battle of Kursk, the Sumy partisan unit of Sidor Kovpak, by order of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement, began its famous Carpathian raid, the path of which passed through the deepest rear of the enemy. The peculiarity of this legendary raid was that here the Kovpakov partisans had to regularly make marches through open, treeless territory, at a great distance from their bases, without any hope of outside support and help.

Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of the Sumy partisan unit Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak (sitting in the center, with the Hero's star on his chest) surrounded by his comrades. To the left of Kovpak is the secretary of the party organization of the Sumy partisan unit Ya.G. Panin, to the right of Kovpak - assistant commander for reconnaissance P.P. Vershigora
During the Carpathian raid, the Sumy partisan unit covered over 10 thousand km in continuous battles, defeating German garrisons and Bandera detachments in forty settlements of Western Ukraine, including the territory of the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. By destroying transport communications, the Kovpakovites managed to long time block important routes for the supply of Nazi troops and military equipment to the fronts of the Kursk Bulge. The Nazis, who sent elite SS units and front-line aviation to destroy Kovpak’s formation, failed to destroy the partisan column - finding themselves surrounded, Kovpak made an unexpected decision for the enemy to divide the formation into a number of small groups, and with a simultaneous “fan” strike in various directions to break through back to the Polesie forests. This tactical move brilliantly justified itself - all the disparate groups survived, once again uniting into one formidable force - the Kovpakovsky formation. In January 1944, it was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division, which received the name of its commander, Sidor Kovpak.

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

Leadership of the partisan movement

May 30, 1942 by the State Defense Committee at Headquarters Supreme High Command The Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was formed, the head of which was appointed the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus (Bolsheviks) P.K. Ponomarenko. At the same time, partisan headquarters were created under the military councils of the front-line war of the Soviet Union.

On September 6, 1942, the State Defense Committee established the post of commander-in-chief of the partisan movement. He became Marshal K.E. Voroshilov. Thus, the fragmentation and lack of coordination of actions that reigned at first in the partisan movement was overcome, and bodies appeared to coordinate their sabotage activities. It was the disorganization of the enemy rear that became the main task of the Soviet partisans. The composition and organization of partisan formations, despite their diversity, still had much in common. The main tactical unit was a detachment, which at the beginning of the war numbered several dozen soldiers, and later up to 200 or more people. During the war, many units united into larger formations (partisan brigades) numbering from several hundred to several thousand people. Their armament was dominated by light small arms, but many detachments and partisan brigades already had heavy machine guns and mortars, and in some cases artillery. Everyone who joined the partisan detachments took the partisan oath, and strict military discipline was established in the detachments.

There were various shapes organizations of partisan forces - small and large formations, regional (local) and non-regional. Regional detachments and formations were constantly based in one area and were responsible for protecting its population and fighting the invaders in this particular territory. Non-regional partisan formations and detachments carried out missions in different areas, carrying out long raids, being essentially mobile reserves, by maneuvering which the leadership of the partisan movement could concentrate efforts on the main direction of the planned attacks in order to deliver the most powerful blows to the enemy.

Detachment of the 3rd Leningrad Partisan Brigade on a campaign, 1943
In the area of vast forests, in mountainous and swampy areas, there were the main bases and locations of partisan formations. Partisan regions arose here, where they could use various ways struggle, 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 to him, as a rule, with unexpected raids and sabotage. In August-September 1942, the central headquarters of the partisan movement held a meeting of the commanders of the Belarusian, Ukrainian, Bryansk and Smolensk partisan detachments. On September 5, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief signed an order “On the tasks of the partisan movement,” which indicated the need to coordinate the actions of the partisans with the operations of the regular army. The center of gravity of the partisans' fighting had to be shifted to enemy communications.

The occupiers immediately felt the intensification of partisan actions on the railways. In August 1942, they recorded almost 150 train crashes, in September - 152, in October - 210, in November - almost 240. Partisan attacks on German convoys became common. The highways that crossed the partisan regions and zones turned out to be practically closed to the occupiers. On many roads, transportation was possible only under heavy security.

The formation of large partisan formations and the coordination of their actions by the central headquarters made it possible to launch a systematic struggle against the strongholds of the Nazi occupiers. Destroying enemy garrisons in regional centers and other villages, partisan detachments increasingly expanded the boundaries of the zones and territories they controlled. Entire occupied areas were liberated from the invaders. Already in the summer and autumn of 1942, the partisans pinned down 22-24 enemy divisions, thereby providing significant assistance to the troops of the fighting Soviet Army. By the beginning of 1943, the partisan regions covered a significant part of Vitebsk, Leningrad, Mogilev and a number of other regions temporarily occupied by the enemy. In the same year, an even larger number of Nazi troops were diverted from the front to fight the partisans.

It was in 1943 that the peak of the actions of the Soviet partisans occurred, whose struggle resulted in a nationwide partisan movement. By the end of 1943, the number of its participants had grown to 250 thousand armed fighters. At this time, for example, Belarusian partisans controlled almost 60% of the occupied territory of the republic (109 thousand sq. km.), and on an area of 38 thousand sq. km. the occupiers were completely expelled. In 1943, the struggle of Soviet partisans behind enemy lines spread to Right Bank and Western Ukraine and the western regions of Belarus.

Rail War

The scope of the partisan movement is evidenced by a number of major operations carried out jointly with the troops of the Red Army. One of them was called “Rail War”. It was carried out in August-September 1943 on the enemy-occupied territory of the RSFSR, the Belarusian and part of the Ukrainian SSR with the aim of disabling the railway communications of the Nazi troops. This operation was connected with the plans of the Headquarters to complete the defeat of the Nazis on the Kursk Bulge, conduct the Smolensk operation and an offensive to liberate Left Bank Ukraine. The TsShPD also attracted Leningrad, Smolensk, and Oryol partisans to carry out the operation.

The order for Operation Rail War was given on June 14, 1943. Local partisan headquarters and their representatives at the fronts assigned areas and objects of action to each partisan formation. The partisans were supplied with " Mainland» explosives, fuses, reconnaissance was actively carried out on the enemy’s railway communications. The operation began on the night of August 3 and continued until mid-September. The fighting behind enemy lines took place over an area of about 1,000 km along the front and 750 km in depth; about 100 thousand partisans took part in them with the active support of the local population.

Powerful blow to railways on territory occupied by the enemy turned out to be a complete surprise to him. For a long time, the Nazis were unable to counteract the partisans in an organized manner. During Operation Rail War, over 215 thousand railway rails were blown up, many trains with Nazi personnel and military equipment were derailed, railway bridges and station structures were blown up. Bandwidth railways decreased by 35-40%, which thwarted the Nazis’ plans to accumulate material resources and concentration of troops, seriously hampered the regrouping of enemy forces.

The partisan operation codenamed “Concert” was subordinated to the same goals, but already during the upcoming offensive of Soviet troops in the Smolensk, Gomel directions and the battle for the Dnieper. It was carried out from September 19 to November 1, 1943 on the fascist-occupied territory of Belarus Karelia, in the Leningrad and Kalinin regions, in the territory of Latvia, Estonia, Crimea, covering a front of about 900 km and a depth of over 400 km.

Partisans mine the railway track
It was a planned continuation of Operation Rail War; it was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and during the Battle of the Dnieper. 193 partisan detachments (groups) from Belarus, the Baltic states, Karelia, Crimea, Leningrad and Kalinin regions (over 120 thousand people) were involved in the operation, which were supposed to undermine more than 272 thousand rails.

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

Due to the sharp deterioration of weather conditions, by the start of the operation it was possible to transfer only about half of the planned amount of cargo to the partisans, so it was decided to begin mass sabotage on September 25. However, some of the detachments that had already reached the initial lines could not take into account the changes in the timing of the operation and began to implement it on September 19. On the night of September 25, simultaneous actions were carried out according to the plan of Operation Concert on a front of about 900 km (excluding Karelia and Crimea) and in a depth of over 400 km.

Local headquarters of the partisan movement and their representation at the fronts assigned areas and objects of action to each partisan formation. The partisans were provided with explosives and fuses, mine-explosive classes were held at “forest courses”, metal from captured shells and bombs was mined at local “factories”, and fastenings for metal bombs to rails were made in workshops and forges. Reconnaissance was actively carried out on the railways. The operation began on the night of August 3 and continued until mid-September. The actions took place on an area with a length of about 1000 km along the front and 750 km in depth, about 100 thousand partisans took part in them, who were helped by the local population. A powerful blow to the railway. lines was unexpected for the enemy, who for some time could not counteract the partisans in an organized manner. During the operation, about 215 thousand rails were blown up, many trains were derailed, railway bridges and station buildings were blown up. The massive disruption of enemy communications significantly complicated the regrouping of retreating enemy troops, complicated their supply, and thereby contributed to the successful offensive of the Red Army.

Partisan bombers of the Transcarpathian partisan detachment Grachev and Utenkov at the airfield
The objective of Operation Concert was to disable large sections of railway lines in order to disrupt enemy transport. The bulk of the partisan formations began hostilities on the night of September 25, 1943. During Operation Concert, Belarusian partisans alone blew up about 90 thousand rails, derailed 1041 enemy trains, destroyed 72 railway bridges, and defeated 58 invader garrisons. Operation Concert caused serious difficulties in the transportation of Nazi troops. Railway capacity has decreased by more than three times. This made it very difficult for the Nazi command to maneuver their forces and provided enormous assistance to the advancing Red Army troops.

It is impossible to list here all the partisan heroes whose contribution to the victory over the enemy was so noticeable in the common struggle of the Soviet people over the Nazi invaders. During the war, wonderful partisan command cadres grew up - S.A. Kovpak, A.F. Fedorov, A.N. Saburov, V.A. Begma, N.N. Popudrenko and many others. In terms of its scale, political and military results, the nationwide struggle of the Soviet people in the territories occupied by Hitler's troops acquired the significance of an important military-political factor in the defeat of fascism. The selfless activities of the partisans and underground fighters received national recognition and high praise from the state. More than 300 thousand partisans and underground fighters were awarded orders and medals, including over 127 thousand - the medal “Partisan of the Great Patriotic War” 1st and 2nd degree, 248 were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Pinsk detachment

In Belarus, one of the most famous partisan detachments was the Pinsk partisan detachment under the command of V.Z. Korzh. Korzh Vasily Zakharovich (1899–1967), Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General. Born on January 1, 1899 in the village of Khvorostovo, Solitorsky district. Since 1925 - chairman of the commune, then of the collective farm in the Starobinsky district of the Minsk region. Since 1931 he worked in the Slutsk district department of the NKVD. From 1936 to 1938 he fought in Spain. Upon returning to his homeland, he was arrested, but released a few months later. He worked as the director of a state farm in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Since 1940 - financial sector of the Pinsk regional party committee. In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, he created the Pinsk partisan detachment. The Komarov detachment (partisan pseudonym V.Z. Korzha) fought in the Pinsk, Brest and Volyn regions. In 1944 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Since 1943 - Major General. In 1946-1948 he graduated Military Academy General Staff. From 1949 to 1953 – Deputy Minister of Forestry of the BSSR. In 1953-1963 - chairman of the collective farm "Partizansky Krai" in Pinsk and then Minsk regions. Streets in Pinsk, Minsk and Soligorsk, the collective farm “Partizansky Krai”, and a secondary school in Pinsk are named after him.

Pinsk partisans operated at the junction of Minsk, Polesie, Baranovichi, Brest, Rivne and Volyn regions. The German occupation administration divided the territory into commissariats subordinate to different Gauleiters - in Rivne and Minsk. Sometimes the partisans found themselves “drawn”. While the Germans were figuring out which of them should send troops, the partisans continued to act.

In the spring of 1942, the partisan movement received a new impetus and began to acquire new organizational forms. A centralized leadership appeared in Moscow. Radio communication with the Center has been established.

With the organization of new detachments and the growth of their numbers, the Pinsk underground regional committee of the CP(b)B began to unite them into brigades in the spring of 1943. A total of 7 brigades were created: named after S.M. Budyonny, named after V.I. Lenin, named after V.M. Molotov, named after S.M. Kirov, named after V. Kuibyshev, Pinskaya, “Soviet Belarus”. The Pinsk formation included separate detachments - headquarters and named after I.I. Chuklaya. There were 8,431 partisans (on the payroll) operating in the ranks of the unit. The Pinsk partisan unit was led by V.Z. Korzh, A.E. Kleshchev (May-September 1943), chief of staff - N.S. Fedotov. V.Z. Korzhu and A.E. Kleshchev was awarded the military rank of “Major General” and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. As a result of unification, the actions of disparate detachments began to obey a single plan, became purposeful, and were subordinate to the actions of the front or army. And in 1944, interaction was possible even with divisions.

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

Sabotage on communications was the basis of the partisans' combat activities. They were carried out in different ways over different periods, from improvised explosive devices to Colonel Starinov's improved mines. From the explosion of water pumps and switches to a large-scale “rail war”. All three years the partisans destroyed communication lines.

In 1943, the partisan brigades named after Molotov (M.I. Gerasimov) and Pinskaya (I.G. Shubitidze) completely disabled the Dnieper-Bug Canal, an important link in the Dnieper-Pripyat-Bug-Vistula waterway. They were supported on the left flank by the Brest partisans. The Germans tried to restore this convenient waterway. Stubborn fighting lasted 42 days. First, a Hungarian division was thrown against the partisans, then parts of a German division and a Vlasov regiment. Artillery, armored vehicles and aircraft were thrown against the partisans. The partisans suffered losses, but held firm. On March 30, 1944, they retreated to the front line, where they were given a defensive sector and fought together with front-line units. As a result of the heroic battles of the partisans, the waterway to the west was blocked. 185 river vessels remained in Pinsk.

The command of the 1st Belorussian Front gave special attention to important capture of watercraft in the port of Pinsk, since in conditions of heavily swampy terrain, in the absence of good highways, these watercraft could successfully solve the issue of transferring the rear of the front. The task was completed by the partisans six months before the liberation of the regional center of Pinsk.

In June-July 1944, Pinsk partisans helped units of Belov’s 61st Army liberate the cities and villages of the region. From June 1941 to July 1944, Pinsk partisans inflicted great losses on the Nazi occupiers: they lost 26,616 people in killed alone and 422 people were captured. They defeated more than 60 large enemy garrisons, 5 railway stations and 10 trains with military equipment and ammunition located there.

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

Partisan-scout of the Chernigov formation “For the Motherland” Vasily Borovik
After the liberation of the Pinsk region from the Nazi invaders, most of the partisans joined the ranks of the front-line soldiers and continued to fight until complete victory.

The most important forms of partisan struggle during the Patriotic War were such as the armed struggle of partisan formations, underground groups and organizations created in cities and large settlements, and mass resistance of the population to the activities of the occupiers. All these forms of struggle were closely interconnected, conditioning and complementing one another. Armed partisan units widely used underground methods and forces for combat operations. In turn, underground combat groups and organizations, depending on the situation, often switched to open guerrilla forms of struggle. The partisans also established contact with escapees from concentration camps and provided support with weapons and food.

The joint efforts of partisans and underground fighters crowned the nation-wide war in the rear of the occupiers. They were the decisive force in the fight against the Nazi invaders. If the resistance movement had not been accompanied by an armed uprising of partisans and underground organizations, then the popular resistance to the Nazi invaders would not have had the strength and mass scale that it acquired during the years of the last war. The resistance of the occupied population was often accompanied by sabotage activities inherent in partisans and underground fighters. The massive resistance of Soviet citizens to fascism and its occupation regime was aimed at providing assistance to the partisan movement and creating the most favorable conditions for the struggle of the armed part of the Soviet people.

D. Medvedev's squad

Medvedev’s squad that fought in Ukraine enjoyed great fame and elusiveness. D. N. Medvedev was born in August 1898 in the town of Bezhitsa, Bryansk district, Oryol province. Dmitry's father was a qualified steel worker. In December 1917, after graduating from high school, Dmitry Nikolaevich worked as secretary of one of the departments of the Bryansk district Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. In 1918-1920 he fought on various fronts of the civil war. In 1920, D.N. Medvedev joined the party, and the party sent him to work in the Cheka. Dmitry Nikolaevich worked in the bodies of the Cheka - OGPU - NKVD until October 1939 and, for health reasons, retired.

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

Reconnaissance partisans planted explosives under the rails and tore up enemy trains, fired from ambushes at convoys on the highway, went on air day and night and reported to Moscow more and more information about the movements of German troops. military units... Medvedev’s detachment served as the nucleus for the creation of an entire partisan region in the Bryansk region. Over time, new special tasks were assigned to it, and it was already included in the plans of the Supreme High Command as an important bridgehead behind enemy lines.

At the beginning of 1942, D. N. Medvedev was recalled to Moscow and here he worked on the formation and training of volunteer sabotage groups transferred to enemy lines. Together with one of these groups in June 1942, he again found himself behind the front line.

In the summer of 1942, Medvedev’s detachment became the center of resistance in a vast region of the occupied territory of Ukraine. The party underground in Rovno, Lutsk, Zdolbunov, Vinnitsa, hundreds and hundreds of patriots act in concert with partisan intelligence officers. In Medvedev’s detachment, the legendary intelligence officer Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov became famous, who for a long time acted in Rivne under the guise of Nazi officer Paul Siebert...

Over the course of 22 months, the detachment carried out dozens of important reconnaissance operations. Suffice it to mention the messages transmitted by Medvedev to Moscow about the preparation by the Nazis of an assassination attempt on the participants of the historical meeting in Tehran - Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, about the placement of Hitler's headquarters near Vinnitsa, about the preparation of the German offensive on the Kursk Bulge, the most important data about military garrisons received from the commander of these garrisons of General Ilgen.

Partisans with a Maxim machine gun in battle
The unit carried out 83 military operations, in which many hundreds of Nazi soldiers and officers, and many senior military and Nazi leaders were killed. Much military equipment was destroyed by partisan mines. Dmitry Nikolaevich was wounded and shell-shocked twice while behind enemy lines. He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, and military medals. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 5, 1944, Colonel state security Medvedev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1946, Medvedev resigned and until last days throughout his life he was engaged in literary work.

D. N. Medvedev dedicated his books “It Was Near Rovno”, “Strong in Spirit”, “On the Banks of the Southern Bug” to the military affairs of Soviet patriots during the war years deep behind enemy lines. During the activity of the detachment, a lot of valuable information was transmitted to the command about the work of railway roads, about the movements of enemy headquarters, about the transfer of troops and equipment, about the activities of the occupation authorities, about the situation in the temporarily occupied territory. In battles and skirmishes, up to 12 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed. The detachment's losses were 110 killed and 230 wounded.

Final stage

The daily attention and enormous organizational work of the Central Party Committee and local party organs ensured the involvement of the broad masses of the population in the partisan movement. The guerrilla war behind enemy lines flared up with enormous force and merged with the heroic struggle of the Red Army on the fronts of the Patriotic War. The actions of the partisans took on a particularly large scale in the nationwide struggle against the invaders in 1943-1944. If from 1941 to mid-1942, in the conditions of the most difficult stage of the war, the partisan movement experienced the initial period of its development and formation, then in 1943, during a radical turning point in the course of the war, the mass partisan movement resulted in the form of a nationwide war of the Soviet people against occupiers. This stage is characterized by the most complete expression of all forms of partisan struggle, an increase in the numerical and combat strength of partisan detachments, and an expansion of their connections with brigades and formations of partisans. It was at this stage that vast partisan regions and zones inaccessible to the enemy were created, and experience was accumulated in the fight against the invaders.

During the winter of 1943 and during 1944, when the enemy was defeated and completely expelled from Soviet soil, the partisan movement rose to a new, even higher level. At this stage, on an even wider scale, the interaction of partisans with underground organizations and the advancing troops of the Red Army took place, as well as the connection of many partisan detachments and brigades with units of the Red Army. Characteristic of the partisans’ activities at this stage is the partisans’ attacks on the enemy’s most important communications, primarily on the railways, with the aim of disrupting the transport of troops, weapons, ammunition and food of the enemy, and preventing the removal of looted property and Soviet people to Germany. The falsifiers of history declared the guerrilla war illegal, barbaric, and reduced it to the desire of the Soviet people to take revenge on the occupiers for their atrocities. But life refuted their assertions and speculations and showed its true character and goals. The partisan movement is brought to life by “powerful economic and political reasons" The desire of the Soviet people to take revenge on the occupiers for violence and cruelty was only an additional factor in the partisan struggle. The nationality of the partisan movement, its regularity, arising from the essence of the Patriotic War, its just, liberating nature, were the most important factor in the victory of the Soviet people over fascism. The main source of strength of the partisan movement was the Soviet socialist system, the love of the Soviet people for the Motherland, devotion to the Leninist party, which called on the people to defend the socialist Fatherland.

Partisans - father and son, 1943
The year 1944 went down in the history of the partisan movement as the year of widespread interaction between partisans and units of the Soviet Army. The Soviet command put forward tasks to the partisan leadership in advance, which allowed the headquarters of the partisan movement to plan the combined actions of the partisan forces. The actions of raiding partisan formations have gained significant scope this year. For example, the Ukrainian partisan division under the command of P.P. From January 5 to April 1, 1944, Vershigory fought almost 2,100 km across the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.

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

Unified leadership of the combat activities of the partisans with stable communication between the headquarters of the partisan movement and partisan formations, their interaction with units of the Red Army in tactical and even strategic operation, carrying out large independent operations by partisan groups, wide application mine-blasting equipment, supplying partisan detachments and formations from the rear of the warring country, evacuation of the sick and wounded from 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 armed partisan formations were one of the most decisive and effective forms of struggle of Soviet partisans against the occupiers. The performances of armed partisan forces in Belarus, Crimea, the Oryol, Smolensk, Kalinin, Leningrad regions and the Krasnodar Territory became widespread, i.e., where there were the most favorable natural conditions. In the named areas of the partisan movement, 193,798 partisans fought. The name of Moscow Komsomol member Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union, became a symbol of fearlessness and courage of partisan intelligence officers. The country learned about the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya during the difficult months of the battle near Moscow. On November 29, 1941, Zoya died with the words on her lips: “It’s happiness to die for your people!”

Olga Fedorovna Shcherbatsevich, an employee of the 3rd Soviet Hospital, who cared for captured wounded soldiers and officers of the Red Army. Hanged by the Germans in Aleksandrovsky Square in Minsk on October 26, 1941. The inscription on the shield, in Russian and German, reads: “We are partisans who shot at German soldiers.”

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

Let us first give a list of the largest partisan formations and their leaders. Here is the list:

Chernigov-Volyn partisan formation Major General A.F. Fedorov

Gomel partisan unit Major General I.P. Kozhar

partisan unit Major General V.Z. Korzh

partisan unit Major General M.I. Naumov

partisan unit Major General A.N. Saburov

partisan brigade Major General M.I.Duka

Ukrainian partisan division Major General P.P. Vershigora

Rivne partisan unit Colonel V.A. Begma

Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, Major General V.A. Andreev

In this work we will limit ourselves to considering the action of some of them.

Sumy partisan unit. Major General S.A. Kovpak

Leader of the Kovpak movement, Soviet statesman and public figure, one of the organizers of the partisan movement, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (18.5.1942 and 4.1.1944), major general (1943). Member of the CPSU since 1919. Born into the family of a poor peasant. Participant in the Civil War 1918-20: led a partisan detachment that fought in Ukraine against the German occupiers together with the detachments of A. Ya. Parkhomenko, fought against Denikin’s troops; participated in battles on the Eastern Front as part of the 25th Chapaev Division and on the Southern Front - against Wrangel's troops. In 1921-26 he was a military commissar in a number of cities in the Ekaterinoslav province. In 1937-41 he was the chairman of the Putivl city executive committee of the Sumy region. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Kovpak was the commander of the Putivl partisan detachment, then a formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region, a member of the illegal Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine. In 1941-42, Kovpak's unit carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, in 1942-43 - a raid from the Bryansk forests on Right Bank Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kyiv regions ; in 1943 - Carpathian raid. The Sumy partisan unit under the command of Kovpak fought in the rear of the Nazi troops for more than 10 thousand km. , defeated enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. Kovpak's raids played a big role in the development of the partisan movement against the Nazi occupiers. In January 1944, the Sumy unit was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division named after Kovpak. Awarded 4 Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov 1st degree, Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st degree, orders of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and Poland, as well as medals.

At the beginning of July 1941, the formation of partisan detachments and underground groups began in Putivl. One partisan detachment under the command of S.A. Kovpak was supposed to operate in the Spadshchansky forest, another, commanded by S.V. Rudnev, in the Novoslobodsky forest, the third, led by S.F. Kirilenko, in the Maritsa tract. In October of the same year, at a general detachment meeting, it was decided to unite into a single Putivl partisan detachment. The commander of the united detachment was S.A. Kovpak, the commissar was S.V. Rudnev, and the chief of staff was G.Ya. Bazyma. By the end of 1941, there were only 73 people in the detachment, and by mid-1942 there were already more than a thousand. Small and large partisan detachments from other places came to Kovpak. Gradually, a union of people's avengers of the Sumy region was born. On May 26, 1942, the Kovpaks liberated Putivl and held it for two days. And in October, having broken through the enemy blockade created around the Bryansk Forest, a formation of partisan detachments launched a raid on the right bank of the Dnieper. In a month, the Kovpakov soldiers covered 750 km. Behind enemy lines through Sumy, Chernigov, Gomel, Kyiv, Zhitomir regions. 26 bridges, 2 trains with fascist manpower and equipment were blown up, 5 armored cars and 17 vehicles were destroyed. During the period of its second raid - from July to October 1943 - the formation of partisan detachments covered four thousand kilometers in battle. The partisans disabled the main oil refineries, oil storage facilities, oil rigs and oil pipelines located in the area of Drohobych and Ivano-Frankivsk. The newspaper “Pravda Ukrainy” wrote: “Telegrams were flying from Germany: catch Kovpak, lock his troops in the mountains. Twenty-five times a ring of punitive forces closed around the areas occupied by the partisan general, and the same number of times he escaped unharmed.”

Being in a difficult situation and waging fierce battles, the Kovpakovites fought their way out of their last encirclement shortly before the liberation of Ukraine.

4 .2 Chernigov-Volyn partisan formation Major General A.F. Fedorov

This year, Ukraine at the state level celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary partisan commander, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General Alexei Fedorovich Fedorov.

Alexey Fedorov, a native of the Ekaterinoslav region (now Dnepropetrovsk region), in Civil War served in the red cavalry, took part in battles with Tyutyunnyk’s gang. Then he received his education and worked in trade union and party bodies in Ukraine.

The Great Patriotic War found A.F. Fedorov in the post of first secretary of the Chernigov regional committee of the CP(b)U. After the occupation of the Chernigov region by the Germans, the regional committee continued its work underground, and the first secretary headed the headquarters of the partisan movement. On the initiative of Alexei Fedorov, five partisan detachments based in the north of the Chernihiv region were united into a single regional detachment.

Over time, the famous Chernigov-Volyn unit grew out of it, whose bold actions became one of the brightest pages of the partisan movement. In the early spring of 1943, by order of the Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, Major General Fedorov led his formation on a raid on Volyn. Thus began Operation Kovel Knot, which military historians call “the pinnacle of General Fedorov’s partisan art.”

Soviet intelligence established that for the summer campaign of 1943 the Germans were preparing a powerful offensive operation"Citadel". In order to disrupt the supply routes for the Nazi troops, the Soviet command decided to launch a large-scale “rail war” behind enemy lines.

A.F. Fedorov’s partisan unit was given the task of operating in the area of the Kovel railway junction, through which a significant part of the cargo for the German Army Group Center was transported.

In July 1943, five sabotage battalions began fighting enemy trains on the routes leaving Kovel.

On some days, the formation's demolitions destroyed two or three enemy echelons. The strategic node was paralyzed.

During the ten months of the Kovel operation, the partisans under the command of A.F. Fedorov derailed 549 trains with ammunition, fuel, military equipment and manpower of the enemy, while destroying about ten thousand invaders. For the operation "Kovel Knot" Alexey Fedorov received a second Gold Star Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war, A.F. Fedorov headed the Izmail, Kherson and Zhitomir regional party committees, worked as the Minister of Social Security of the Ukrainian SSR, and was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR and the USSR.