Partisan detachments in 1941-1945. Partisan and underground movement

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

This is rarely remembered, but during the war years there was such a joke that sounded with a touch of pride: “Why should we wait until the Allies open a second front? We have been open for a long time! It's called the Partisan Front. If there is an exaggeration in this, it is a slight 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 cite 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 soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht (at least 40,000 people, even according to the scanty data of the German side), and all kinds of collaborators such as Vlasov, police, colonists and so on. Among those killed by the people's avengers are 67 German generals, five more were taken alive and transported to the mainland. Finally, the effectiveness of the partisan movement can be judged by the following 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 the partisans themselves have come at a high price for such successes. In the parade reports of that time, everything looks beautiful: they destroyed 150 enemy soldiers - they lost two partisans killed. In reality, partisan losses were much higher, and even today their final figure is unknown. But the losses were certainly not less than those of the enemy. Hundreds of thousands of partisans and underground fighters gave their lives for the liberation of the Motherland.

How many partisan heroes do we have

Only one figure speaks very clearly about the severity of losses among the partisans and members of the underground: 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 years of the Great Patriotic War, the country's highest award was awarded to 11,657 people, of which 3,051 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 partisan formations Sidor Kovpak and Aleksey Fedorov. What is remarkable: both partisan commanders each time were awarded at the same 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: it was one of the most massive simultaneous awards of 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 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 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 commissar of the detachment Tikhon Bumazhkov and commander Fyodor Pavlovsky. And this happened in the most difficult period at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War - August 6, 1941! Alas, only one of them survived to the Victory: the commissar of the Red October detachment, Tikhon Bumazhkov, who managed to receive his award in Moscow, died in December of the same year, leaving the German encirclement.

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

Chronicle of partisan heroism

In total, in the first year and a half of the war, 21 partisans and underground workers received the highest award, 12 of them received the title posthumously. In total, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR by the end of 1942 issued nine decrees on 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 immediately awarded to nine participants in the partisan movement, two of whom received it posthumously.

The year 1943 turned out to be just as stingy with the highest awards for the partisans: only 24 were awarded. But in the following 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 Alexei Fedorov - in the second once. And in the victorious 1945, 29 more people were added to the number of partisans - Heroes of the Soviet Union.

But there were many 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 for the last time, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded on May 5, 1990 to Fore Mosulishvili, who was a partisan in Italy, and the head of the Young Guard, Ivan Turkenich. Both received the award posthumously.

What else can be added, speaking of partisan heroes? Every ninth 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 is 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" Uliana Gromova and Lyuba Shevtsova. In addition, among the partisans - Heroes of the Soviet Union were two Germans: the intelligence officer Fritz Schmenkel, who was awarded posthumously in 1964, and the reconnaissance company commander Robert Klein, who was awarded in 1944. And also the Slovak Jan Nalepka, the commander of a partisan detachment, awarded posthumously in 1945.

It remains only to add that after the collapse of the USSR, the title of Hero of the Russian Federation was awarded to 9 more partisans, including three posthumously (one of the awarded was scout 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" of the 1st degree in June 1943 was received by the commander of the demolition group Yefim Osipenko. He was awarded the award for his feat in the fall of 1941, when he had to undermine a mine that did not work literally by hand. As a result, the echelon with tanks and food collapsed from the canvas, and the detachment managed to pull out the shell-shocked and blinded commander and transport him to the mainland.

Partisans at the call of the heart and duty

The fact that the Soviet government would rely on guerrilla 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 employees of the OGPU and the partisans attracted by them - veterans of the Civil War developed plans for organizing the structure of future partisan detachments, laid hidden bases and caches with ammunition and equipment. But, alas, shortly before the start of the war, as veterans recall, these bases began to be opened and liquidated, and the built-in warning system and organization of partisan detachments were broken. Nevertheless, when the first bombs fell on Soviet soil on June 22, many party workers in the field remembered these pre-war plans and began to form the backbone of future detachments.

But this is not the case for all groups. There were a lot of those who appeared spontaneously - from soldiers and officers who could not break through the front line, who were surrounded by units, who did not have time to evacuate specialists, who did not reach their units, conscripts and the like contingent. Moreover, this process was uncontrolled, and the number of such units was small. According to some reports, in the winter of 1941-1942, more than 2 thousand partisan detachments operated in the rear of the Germans, 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 began to actively join partisan detachments not immediately, but only by the spring of 1942, when the “new order” manifested itself 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 engaged in the preparation of 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 was the employees of the party and Soviet bodies, headed by their 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 of the first months of the war, involved in anti-sabotage struggle in the front line), which was then “overgrown” with local residents and encircled. In the same way, the famous Pinsk partisan detachment, which later grew into a formation, arose on the basis of a fighter battalion created by Vasily Korzh, a career employee of the NKVD, who 20 years earlier was engaged in the preparation of partisan struggle. By the way, his first battle, which the detachment gave 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 units 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 unit "Winners". The basis of such detachments were fighters and commanders of the NKVD units and professional intelligence officers and saboteurs. In the preparation of such units (as, indeed, in the retraining of ordinary partisans), in particular, the Soviet "saboteur number one" Ilya Starinov was involved. And the activities of such detachments were supervised by the 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 conduct infiltration operations and liquidation actions. One can again cite as an example the same detachment of Dmitry Medvedev's "Winners": it was he who provided support and supplies for the famous Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov, who accounted for the elimination of several major officials of the occupation administration and several major successes in undercover intelligence.

Insomnia and rail war

But still, the main task of the partisan movement, which from 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 held by the “first red marshal” Kliment Voroshilov for three months), was different. Do not allow the invaders to gain a foothold on the occupied land, inflict constant harassing blows on them, disrupt rear communications and transport links - this is what the mainland expected and demanded from the partisans.

True, the fact that they have some kind of global goal, the partisans, one might say, learned only after the appearance of the Central Headquarters. And the point here is not at all that earlier 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 rolling eastward with great speed and the country was making titanic efforts to stop this movement, the partisan detachments basically acted at their own peril and risk. Left to their own devices, with little to no support from behind the front lines, they were forced to focus more on survival than on inflicting significant damage on the enemy. Few could boast of a connection with the mainland, and even then mainly those who were organized in an organized manner thrown into the German rear, equipped with both a walkie-talkie and radio operators.

But after the appearance of the headquarters of the partisans, they began to centrally provide communications (in particular, regular graduates from schools of partisan radio operators 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 main tactics of guerrilla warfare had also been formed. The actions of the detachments, as a rule, were reduced to one of two methods: harassing strikes at the place of deployment or lengthy raids on the rear of the enemy. Partisan commanders Kovpak and Vershigora were supporters and active performers of the raid tactics, while the “Winners” detachment rather demonstrated a disturbing one.

But what almost all partisan detachments, without exception, did was to disrupt German communications. And it doesn't matter whether this was done as part of raiding or harassing tactics: strikes were made on railway (primarily) and highways. Those who could not boast of a large number of units and special skills focused on undermining rails and bridges. Larger detachments, which had divisions of demolition, reconnaissance and saboteurs and special means, could count on larger targets: large bridges, junction stations, railway infrastructure.

Partisans mine the railway tracks near Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti

The most large-scale 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 transport of Germans by 40%, and the result of the "Concert" - by 35%. This had a tangible impact on the provision of reinforcements and equipment to the active parts of the Wehrmacht, although some experts in the field of sabotage warfare believed that partisan capabilities could have been disposed of differently. For example, it was necessary to strive to disable not so much the railway tracks as equipment, which is much more difficult to restore. It was for this purpose that a device such as an overhead rail was invented at the Higher Operational School for Special Purposes, which literally threw trains off the canvas. But still, for the majority of partisan detachments, the most accessible way of rail warfare remained precisely undermining the canvas, and even such assistance to the front turned out to be senseless.

A move 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 accidentally or deliberately kept silent about, there were testimonies of those who had never romanticized the activities of the partisans, and even those who had a death account with the partisans of the Great Patriotic War. And in many now independent former Soviet republics, plus and minus were completely reversed, writing the partisans as enemies, and the policemen as saviors of the motherland.

But all these events cannot belittle the main thing - the incredible, unique feat of people who, deep behind enemy lines, did everything to protect their homeland. Let 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 underestimated by any efforts.

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

RSFSR

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

The basis of the partisan detachments were ordinary residents, mainly of the 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, pioneers, entered there.

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

On the territory of the RSFSR, there were countless detachments, sabotage groups, formations (about 250 thousand people), each of which was of great benefit to achieve victory. Many names have forever remained 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 fire to three houses. Zoya decided to go back there alone and finish what she started. But the inhabitants were already on their guard and Zoya was seized. She had to go through terrible torture and humiliation (including from her compatriots), but she did not give out a single name. The Nazis hanged the girl, but even during the execution she did not lose her 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 strategic tasks were solved, the main of which was the decommissioning of the German echelons and the railway tracks themselves, 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. Along with adults, he performed tasks.

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

Marat, together with his commander, returned to headquarters. By chance they met the Germans-punishers. The commander was killed immediately, the boy could only be wounded. Shooting back, he hid in the forest, but the Germans pursued him. Until the bullets ran out, Marat left the chase. And then he made an important decision for himself. The boy had two grenades. He immediately threw one at a group of Germans, and held the second firmly in his hand until he was surrounded. Then he blew it up, taking German soldiers with him to the next world.

Ukrainian SSR

Partisans during the Great Patriotic War on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR united in 53 formations, 2145 detachments and 1807 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 the orders of Stalin, 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 the Donbass. Subordinates and local residents nicknamed him "dad" for warm human relations. Batya was killed by the Germans in 1943. Secretly, the inhabitants of the local occupied villages gathered at night to bury the commander and pay him due honors.

Heroes-partisans 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 the Karnaukhov detachment, 1304 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. A large number of local residents were friendly towards the occupying Germans and even rejoiced at such a combination 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 were Leen Kulman (shot by the Germans in 1943 as a Soviet intelligence officer) and Vladimir Fedorov.

Latvian SSR

Until 1942, partisan activities in Latvia did not go well. This was due to the fact that most of the 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 partisan heroes of the Great Patriotic War died nameless, so as not to betray and 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 the hardest work.

Among the leaders of the Estonian partisan movement was Arthur Sprogis, who trained Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. It is also mentioned in Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Lithuanian SSR

On Lithuanian territory, partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 carried out hundreds of acts of sabotage, as a result of which almost 10,000 Germans were killed.

With a total number of partisans in 9187 people (only named by name), seven are Heroes of the Soviet Union:

Yu. Yu. Alexonis. Underground radio operator, died in an unequal battle, surrounded by the Germans, in 1944.
S. P. Apivala. He personally destroyed seven echelons 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. Killed 20 fascists.
M. I. Melnikayte. 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. Head of the partisan underground in Lithuania. He was captured and shot by the Nazis, after a denunciation of 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 the Soviet and Polish soldiers.

Moldavian SSR

During the four years of partisan detachments on the territory of Moldova, about 27 thousand fascists and their accomplices were destroyed. On their account, they also destroyed a huge amount of military equipment, ammunition, 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 - Heroes of the Soviet Union - V. I. Timoshchuk (commander of the First Moldavian formation) and N. M. Frolov (14 German echelons were blown up under his leadership).

Jewish resistance

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

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

Most of the Jews were refugees from the ghetto. Often there were children among them.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 did a great job, provided invaluable assistance to the Red Army in the liberation of the territories and the victory over the German fascists.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. in the rear of the German troops, under the conditions of the most brutal occupation regime, a people's war unfolded and was waged in the form of a partisan and underground movement. It was a unique occurrence. In its scope and effectiveness, it 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 a decisive counter-offensive on his own territory. Many military leaders who dealt with the issue of interaction between regular troops and partisans were unreasonably repressed in the 1930s, and hidden bases that had been created in advance in the western regions of the USSR to organize a partisan movement in case of war were 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 it had miscalculated, and to solve the “problem of pacifying the rear area”, security divisions alone would not be enough and combat divisions would have to be removed from the front.

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 carried out propaganda that Germany was waging war against the USSR, allegedly for some “liberation purposes”. This propaganda had its effect on some citizens. By the beginning of 1942, more than 60.4 thousand people entered the service of the invaders as policemen, village elders, petty officials of the German administration. A large number of patriots died at their hands. The majority of the population despised the traitors from among their fellow citizens and treated them the same way as the invaders.

But 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 remaining under the yoke of the invaders were women, children, adolescents and elderly men who, by age, were not subject to conscription into the army. But their hatred for the enemy was no less than that of the Soviet people who were at the front or in the Soviet rear. Part of the population joined the underground organizations created by the communists in cities and towns or, having obtained weapons, went into the forests to become partisans. Many people did this on the basis of their moral and political convictions, seeking to fulfill their patriotic duty to the Motherland and continue the struggle against the inhuman Nazi "new order". Not the last role in the development of the resistance movement was played by the desire to protect their relatives from the atrocities of the invaders, or to take revenge on the invaders for the ruined lives of their loved ones. The motives were different, but the guerrilla war soon turned into a real fact, which became very disturbing to the German command.

An important role in the deployment of the Soviet 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 rear of the enemy. However, both of these documents were secret. Their content was known only to a narrow circle of party and Soviet workers, who were mainly in the Soviet rear. The bulk of the population of the occupied territories did not know about them. In their actions and behavior, they were guided, first of all, by a measure of awareness of personal responsibility for protecting their homes, cities, villages and the country as a whole from the invasion of foreign invaders.

July 3, 1941 from the speech of I.V. Stalin, sounded on the radio, the calls of the party and government to deploy partisan and sabotage activities behind enemy lines became known. However, neither the secret directives nor Stalin's speech touched upon the issues of the practical organization of the partisan movement, the provision of the fight behind enemy lines with weapons, means of communication, the interaction of the partisan and underground movement with the Red Army. Real support for the partisans at that time could only be provided by the NKVD, which threw their special units behind enemy lines, engaged in sabotage activities against enemy forces. But most of the partisans acted independently at this stage of the war. The bulk of the detachments arose spontaneously. In the future, the number of partisan formations grew due primarily to the support of the local population.

In July 1941, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the General Staff, the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army ordered the military councils and political departments of the fronts to provide all possible support to the republican and regional committees of the party in the creation, arming and training of partisan detachments and groups, as well as their transfer behind enemy lines. At the end of 1941, 3,500 partisan detachments and groups, in which there were about 90 thousand people, managed to gain a foothold in the occupied territory. An important role in the organization and formation of partisan formations was played by Soviet servicemen who, during the retreat, were surrounded, but escaped capture. Among the partisans of the Leningrad region, their number in 1941 was 18%, the Oryol region - 10%, in the Lithuanian SSR - 22%, in Belarus - 10%. They brought discipline, knowledge of weapons and military equipment to partisan detachments. Based on their combat experience, the partisans more confidently solved their tasks. During the Battle of Moscow, they actually disrupted the supplies of the German Army Group Center, destroying sections of railways, bridges in its rear 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 formations, which made a raid behind German troops. During this raid, about 10 thousand square meters were liberated. km. The German command was forced to throw 7 divisions against them. 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.

May 30, 1942 I.V. Stalin ordered the creation of the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (TSSHPD) 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 the General Staff, military councils of fronts and armies, and leaders of party bodies of the republics and regions. He performed a wide range of tasks in organizing, planning and directing the fighting of partisans, establishing contacts with the underground and partisan formations, providing them with material support from the mainland, training personnel and specialists, and organizing intelligence. In active fronts with similar functions, republican and regional partisan headquarters began to operate, 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. The heavy losses of the partisans during the armed struggle in the winter of 1941/42 were quickly restored. 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 11,770 detachments in which 125 thousand partisans fought, and by the beginning of 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 disrupted enemy communications, carried out deep raids behind enemy lines, provided the Soviet command with valuable intelligence information, and so on. The largest in 1943 was the Operation Rail War carried out by the partisans, which was an integral part of the Battle of Kursk. During the operation, 215 thousand rails were blown up, which amounted to 1342 km of 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 recaptured 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 masters of one-sixth (over 200 thousand square kilometers) of the entire occupied territory. About 4 million people worked and fought here in the name of victory over the enemy. 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 by the occupiers for forced labor in Germany. In late 1943 - early 1944, up to 40% of the citizens forcibly taken out by the invaders were liberated by 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 them 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. d.

Mass 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 of strategic operations by the Soviet command. Partisan formations in this case were assigned specific combat missions.

During the war, partisans diverted up to 10% of the German troops operating against the USSR. They frustrated the plans of the Nazi leadership to use the material and natural resources of the occupied territory to provide for Germany and its armed forces, and inflicted great damage on the enemy. They derailed 20,000 military echelons, blew up 120 armored trains, disabled 17,000 steam locomotives and 171,000 wagons, blew up 12,000 bridges on railways and highways, destroyed and seized 65,000 vehicles.

Together with Soviet partisans and underground fighters, thousands of foreign citizens fought in the temporarily occupied territory of the USSR - Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Spaniards, Yugoslavs and others. 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. It was, first of all, the merit of the partisans and underground fighters, which was highly appreciated by the state. More than 300 thousand partisans were awarded orders and medals. 249 partisans were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and two leaders of the partisan movement S.A. Kovpak and A.F. Fedorov were awarded this high title twice.

Kulkov Evgeny Nikolaevich,

Ph.D., military historian

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 of the Soviet Union fought in partisan formations. 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 partisans to the Great Victory over a cruel enemy has long been recognized. Studying this issue, 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, an undeniable point of view is traced by anyone, interpreting 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.

When the Great Patriotic War broke out, the press of the Land of Soviets gave rise to a completely new expression - "people's avengers." They were called Soviet partisans. This movement was very large-scale and brilliantly organized. In addition, it was officially legalized. The goal of the avengers was to destroy the infrastructure of the enemy army, disrupt food and weapons supplies and destabilize the operation of the entire fascist machine. The German commander Guderian admitted that the actions of the partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (the names of some will be presented to your attention in the article) became a real curse for the Nazi troops and greatly influenced the morale of the "liberators".

Legalization of the partisan movement

The process of forming partisan detachments in the territories occupied by the Nazis began immediately after Germany attacked Soviet cities. Thus, the government of the USSR published two relevant directives. The documents reported that it was necessary to create resistance among the people in order to help the Red Army. In short, the Soviet Union approved the formation of partisan groups.

One year later, this process was already in full swing. It was then that Stalin issued a special order. It reported the methods and main activities of the underground.

And at the end of the spring of 1942, the partisan detachments decided to legalize them altogether. In any case, the government formed the so-called. The central headquarters of this movement. And all regional organizations began to obey only him.

In addition, the post of Commander-in-Chief of the movement appeared. This position was taken by Marshal Kliment Voroshilov. True, he led him only for two months, because the post was abolished. From now on, the "people's avengers" reported directly to the military Commander-in-Chief.

Geography and scale of movement

During the first six months of the war, eighteen underground regional committees worked. There were also more than 260 city committees, district committees, district committees and other party groups and organizations.

Exactly one year later, a third of the formations of the partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the list of whose names is very long, could already go on the air via radio communication with the Center. And in 1943, almost 95 percent of the detachments could support the mainland through walkie-talkies.

In general, during the war there were almost six thousand partisan formations numbering over one million people.

Partisan detachments

These detachments existed in almost all occupied territories. True, it happened that the partisans did not support anyone - neither the Nazis nor the Bolsheviks. They were simply defending the independence of their own separate region of their own.

Usually in one partisan formation there were several dozen fighters. But over time, detachments appeared, in which there were several hundred people. To be honest, there were very few such groups.

The detachments united in the so-called. brigades. The purpose of such a merger was one - to provide effective resistance to the Nazis.

The guerrillas mainly used light weapons. This refers to machine guns, rifles, light machine guns, carbines and grenades. A number of formations were armed with mortars, heavy machine guns and even artillery. When people join the detachments, they must take the oath of partisans. Of course, strict military discipline was also observed.

Note that such groups were formed not only behind enemy lines. Repeatedly, the future "avengers" were officially trained in special partisan schools. After that, they were transferred to the occupied territories and formed not only partisan detachments, but also formations. Often these groups were staffed by military personnel.

Sign operations

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 successfully managed to carry out several major operations in conjunction with the Red Army. The largest campaign in terms of results and the number of participants was Operation Rail War. The Central Staff had to prepare it for quite a long time and carefully. The developers planned to undermine the rails in some of the occupied territories in order to paralyze traffic on the railways. The partisans of the Oryol, Smolensk, Kalinin, Leningrad regions, as well as Ukraine and Belarus, participated in the operation. In general, about 170 partisan formations were involved in the "rail war".

On an August night in 1943, the operation began. In the very first hours, the "people's avengers" managed to blow up almost 42 thousand rails. Such sabotage continued until September inclusive. In one month, the number of explosions increased 30 times!

Another famous operation of the partisans was called "Concert". In fact, it was a continuation of the "rail battles", since Crimea, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Karelia joined the explosions on the railway. Almost 200 partisan formations participated in the Concert, which was unexpected for the Nazis!

Legendary Kovpak and "Mikhailo" from Azerbaijan

Over time, the names of some partisans of the Great Patriotic War and the exploits of these people became known to everyone. Thus, Mehdi Hanifa-ogly Huseynzade from Azerbaijan was a partisan in Italy. In the detachment, he was simply called "Mikhailo".

He was mobilized into the Red Army from his student days. He had to take part in the legendary Battle of Stalingrad, where he was wounded. He was captured and sent to a camp in Italy. After some time, in 1944, he managed to escape. There he ran into partisans. In the detachment "Mikhailo" he was the commissar of a company of Soviet fighters.

He learned intelligence, engaged in sabotage, blowing up enemy airfields and bridges. And once his company raided the prison. As a result, 700 captured soldiers were released.

"Mikhailo" died during one of the raids. He defended himself to the end, after which he shot himself. Unfortunately, his daring exploits became known only in the post-war period.

But the famous Sidor Kovpak became a legend during his lifetime. He was born and raised in Poltava in a poor peasant family. During the First World War, he was awarded the St. George Cross. Moreover, the Russian autocrat himself awarded him.

During the Civil War, he fought the Germans and the whites.

Since 1937, he was appointed head of the city executive committee of Putivl, in the Sumy region. When the war began, he led the partisan group in the city, and later - the formation of the detachments of the Sumy region.

Members of its formation literally continuously carried out military raids on the occupied territories. The total length of the raids is more than 10 thousand km. In addition, almost forty enemy garrisons were destroyed.

In the second half of 1942, Kovpak's detachments made a raid across the Dnieper. By this time, the organization had two thousand fighters.

Partisan medal

In the middle of the winter of 1943, a corresponding medal was established. It was called "Partisan of the Patriotic War." Over the following years, she was awarded almost 150 thousand partisans of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). The exploits of these people are forever included in our history.

One of the winners of the award was Matvey Kuzmin. By the way, he was the oldest partisan. When the war began, he was already in his ninth decade.

Kuzmin was born in 1858 in the Pskov region. He lived apart, was never a member of the collective farm, was engaged in fishing and hunting. In addition, he knew his area very well.

During the war, he was occupied. The Nazis even occupied his house. A German officer began to live there, who led one of the battalions.

In the middle of the winter of 1942, Kuzmin had to become a conductor. He must lead the battalion to the village occupied by Soviet troops. But before that, the old man managed to send his grandson in order to warn the Red Army.

As a result, Kuzmin led the frozen Nazis through the forest for a long time and only in the morning led them out, but not to the desired point, but to the ambush set up by the Soviet soldiers. The invaders came under fire. Unfortunately, the hero guide also died in this skirmish. He was 83.

Children partisans of the Great Patriotic War (1941 - 1945)

When the war was going on, a real army of children fought along with the soldiers. They were participants in this general resistance from the very beginning of the occupation. According to some reports, several tens of thousands of minors took part in it. It was an amazing "movement"!

For military merit, teenagers were awarded military orders and medals. So, several underage partisans received the highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, basically, all of them were honored with them posthumously.

Their names have been known for a long time - Valya Kotik, Lenya Golikov, Marat Kazei .... But there were other little heroes whose exploits were not so widely reported in the press ...

"Baby"

"Baby" was called Alyosha Vyalov. He enjoyed special sympathy among the local avengers. He was eleven when the war broke out.

He began to partisan with his older sisters. This family group succeeded in setting fire to the Vitebsk railway station three times. They also set off an explosion at the police station. On occasion, they were liaison and helped to distribute relevant leaflets.

The partisans found out about the existence of Vyalov in an unexpected way. The soldiers were in great need of gun oil. The “kid” was already aware of this and, on his own initiative, brought a couple of liters of the required liquid.

Lesha died after the war from tuberculosis.

Young "Susanin"

Tikhon Baran from the Brest region began to fight when he was nine. So, in the summer of 1941, underground workers equipped a secret printing house in their parents' house. Members of the organization printed leaflets with front-line reports, and the boy distributed them.

For two years he continued to do this, but the Nazis got on the trail of the underground. Tikhon's mother and sisters managed to hide with their relatives, and the young avenger went into the forest and joined the partisan formation.

One day he was visiting relatives. At the same time, the Nazis arrived in the village, who shot all the inhabitants. And Tikhon was offered to save his life if he showed the way to the detachment.

As a result, the boy led the enemies into a marshy swamp. Punishers killed him, but not everyone got out of this quagmire themselves ...

Instead of an epilogue

Soviet partisan heroes of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) became one of the main forces that offered real resistance to the enemies. By and large, it was the Avengers who helped decide the outcome of this terrible war. They fought on a par with regular combat units. It is not for nothing that the Germans called the "second front" not only the allied units in Europe, but also partisan detachments in the territories of the USSR occupied by the Nazis. And this is probably an important circumstance ... List partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 is huge, and each of them deserves attention and memory ... We present to your attention only a small list of people who left their mark on history:

Biseniek Anastasia Alexandrovna.
Vasiliev Nikolai Grigorievich
Vinokurov Alexander Arkhipovich.
Herman Alexander Viktorovich
Golikov Leonid Alexandrovich.
Grigoriev Alexander Grigorievich
Grigoriev Grigory Petrovich.
Egorov Vladimir Vasilievich
Zinoviev Vasily Ivanovich.
Karitsky Konstantin Dionisevich.
Kuzmin Matvey Kuzmich.
Nazarova Claudia Ivanovna
Nikitin Ivan Nikitich.
Petrova Antonina Vasilievna
Bad Vasily Pavlovich.
Sergunin Ivan Ivanovich
Sokolov Dmitry I.
Tarakanov Alexey Fedorovich.
Kharchenko Mikhail Semyonovich.

Of course, there are many more of these heroes, and each of them contributed to the cause of the great Victory...