Rail War. Operation "Concert"
THE BEGINNING OF THE OPERATION OF THE SOVIET PARTISANS "CONCERT". On September 19, 1943, the largest operation of the Soviet partisans in the Great Patriotic War, code-named "Concert", began to disable railway communications behind enemy lines. The operation was carried out according to plan and under the leadership of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement at the Supreme High Command and was linked with the upcoming offensive of the Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and the crossing of the Dnieper River.It was attended by 193 partisan detachments and groups (over 210 thousand people). in the Leningrad and Kalinin regions, on the territory of Latvia, Estonia, Crimea, covering about 900 km along the front and over 400 km in depth. It was a planned continuation of the Rail War operation, it was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and during the battle for the Dnieper. 193 partisan detachments (groups) from Belarus, the Baltic States, Karelia, Crimea, Leningrad and Kalinin regions (over 120 thousand people) were involved, which were supposed to undermine more than 272 thousand rails. On the territory of Belarus, more than 90 thousand partisans participated in the operation; they were to blow up 140,000 rails. The Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement planned to throw 120 tons of explosives and other cargoes to the Belarusian partisans, 20 tons to the Kaliningrad and Leningrad partisans. Due to the sharp deterioration in weather conditions, by the beginning of the operation, the partisans managed to transfer only about half of the planned amount of cargo, so it was decided to start mass sabotage on September 25th. However, part of the detachments that had already reached their starting lines could not take into account the changes in the timing of the operation and on September 19 began to carry it out. On the night of September 25, simultaneous actions were carried out according to the plan of operation "Concert" at a front of about 900 km (excluding Karelia and the Crimea) and at a depth of more than 400 km. The guerrillas were provided with explosives, fuses, mine-blasting classes were held at the “forest courses”, local “factories” mined tol from captured shells and bombs, fasteners of tol pieces to the rails were made in workshops and forges. Exploration was actively carried out on the railways. The operation began on the night of August 3 and continued until mid-September. The actions unfolded on the ground with a length of about 1000 km along the front and 750 km in depth, about 100 thousand partisans, who were helped by the local population, took part in them. A powerful blow to the railway. lines was unexpected for the enemy, who for some time could not resist the partisans in an organized manner. During the operation, about 215 thousand rails were blown up, many echelons were derailed, railway bridges and station buildings were blown up. The massive disruption of enemy communications greatly hampered the regrouping of the retreating enemy troops, complicated their supply, and thereby contributed to the successful offensive of the Red Army. The task of Operation Concert was to disable large sections of railway lines in order to disrupt enemy transportation. The bulk of the partisan formations began hostilities on the night of September 25, 1943. During the operation "Concert" only Belarusian partisans blew up about 90 thousand rails, derailed 1041 enemy echelons, destroyed 72 railway bridges, defeated 58 invaders' garrisons. Operation "Concert" caused serious difficulties in the transportation of Nazi troops. The capacity of railways has decreased by more than three times. This made it very difficult for the Hitlerite command to carry out the maneuver of its forces and provided enormous assistance to the advancing troops of the Red Army. It is impossible to list here all the partisan heroes whose contribution to the victory over the enemy was so tangible in the general struggle of the Soviet people over the Nazi invaders. During the war, remarkable command partisan cadres grew up - S.A. Kovpak, A.F. Fedorov, A.N. Saburov, V.A. Begma, N.N. Popudrenko and many others. In terms of its scale, political and military results, the nationwide struggle of the Soviet people in the territories occupied by the Nazi troops has acquired the importance of an important military-political factor in the defeat of fascism. The selfless activity of partisans and underground workers received nationwide recognition and high praise from the state. More than 300 thousand partisans and underground workers were awarded orders and medals, including over 127 thousand - the medal "Partisan of the Great Patriotic War" 1st and 2nd degrees, 248 were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. It is impossible to list here all the partisan heroes whose contribution to victory over the enemy was so tangible in the common struggle of the Soviet people over the Nazi invaders. During the war, remarkable 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 the Nazi troops has acquired the importance of an important military-political factor in the defeat of fascism. The selfless activity of partisans and underground workers received nationwide 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 degrees, 248 were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
and Kalinin region
Operation goals achieved
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Operation "Concert"- the code name of the operation of the Soviet partisans, carried out from September 19 to the end of October of the year, the continuation of Operation Rail War.
Geography of the operation
The operation involved 193 partisan formations (over 120 thousand people) from Belarus, the Baltic States, Karelia, Crimea, Leningrad and Kalinin regions. The length of the operation along the front is about 900 kilometers (excluding Karelia and the Crimea) and over 400 kilometers in depth. This operation was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of the Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and the Battle of the Dnieper. The leadership was carried out by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement.
The purpose of the operation
Disabling large sections of railway tracks in order to disrupt enemy military transportation.
Operation preparation
Each partisan formation received a specific combat mission. Mass training of partisans in mine-subversive work was established. Due to the worsening weather conditions, Soviet aviation delivered only 50 percent of the planned cargo to the partisans by September 19, so the start date of the operation was postponed to September 25.
Operation progress
Part of the partisan brigades reached their starting lines and on the night of September 19 struck at the railway communications. The bulk of the partisan formations began hostilities on the night of September 25 . The fascist command made efforts to restore traffic by rail: new railway restoration battalions were transferred to Belarus, and the local population was driven to repair work. Rails and sleepers were delivered from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, but the partisans again disabled the repaired sections. The operation was abandoned due to lack of explosives.
Operation results
During the operation, about 150 thousand rails were blown up (out of 11 million that were in the occupied territory on January 1, 1943). Only Belarusian partisans blew up about 90 thousand rails, 1041 echelons, blew up 72 railway bridges, defeated 58 garrisons. As a result of partisan actions, the capacity of the railways decreased by 35-40 percent, which greatly hampered the regrouping of fascist troops and provided great assistance to the advancing Red Army.
As noted by the famous Soviet saboteur Ilya Starinov, switching the main efforts of the partisans to the destruction of rails with a lack of explosives (due to which the winter stage of the operation had to be canceled) led to a reduction in train crashes and ultimately contributed to an increase in road capacity, but made it difficult for the Red Army to restore them in the course of the offensive.
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Notes
Literature
- "Concert" // / ed. M. M. Kozlova. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1985. - S. 367. - 500,000 copies.
- Rail war // Railway transport: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. N. S. Konarev. - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1994. - S. 363. - ISBN 5-85270-115-7.
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An excerpt characterizing Operation "Concert"
- Please help me…And, although she did not open her mouth, I heard the words very clearly, they just sounded a little different, the sound was soft and rustling. And then I realized that she was talking to me in exactly the same way as I had heard before - the voice sounded only in my head (which, as I later found out, was telepathy).
“Help me…” it whispered softly again.
- How can I help you? I asked.
- You hear me, you can talk to her ... - the stranger answered.
- Who should I talk to? I asked.
“With my baby,” was the answer.
Her name was Veronica. And, as it turned out, this sad and such a beautiful woman died of cancer almost a year ago, when she was only thirty years old, and her little six-year-old daughter, who thought that her mother had left her, did not want to forgive her for this and is still very deeply suffered from it. Veronica's son was too small when she died and did not understand that his mother would never return again ... and that at night now other people's hands would always lay him down, and some stranger would sing his favorite lullaby to him ... But he was still too young and had no idea how much pain such a cruel loss could bring. But with his six-year-old sister, things were completely different ... That's why this sweet woman could not calm down and just leave while her little daughter suffered so unchildishly and deeply ...
– How can I find it? I asked.
"I'll take you," whispered the reply.
Only then did I suddenly notice that when she moved, her body easily seeped through furniture and other solid objects, as if it was woven from a dense fog ... I asked if it was difficult for her to be here? She said - yes, because it was high time for her to leave ... I also asked if it was scary to die? She said that it’s not scary to die, it’s more scary to watch those you leave behind, because there is so much more you want to tell them, but, unfortunately, nothing can be changed ... I felt very sorry for her, so sweet, but helpless, and so unfortunate... And I really wanted to help her, but, unfortunately, I didn't know how?
The next day, I calmly returned home from my girlfriend, with whom we usually played the piano together (since I didn’t have my own at that time). Suddenly, feeling some strange internal push, I, for no apparent reason, turned in the opposite direction and walked along a completely unfamiliar street ... I didn’t walk for long until I stopped at a very pleasant house, completely surrounded by a flower garden. There, inside the yard, on a small playground, sat a sad, completely tiny girl. She looked more like a miniature doll than a living child. Only this “doll” for some reason was infinitely sad... She sat completely still and looked indifferent to everything, as if at that moment the world around her simply did not exist.
“Her name is Alina,” a familiar voice whispered inside me, “please talk to her…
I went to the gate and tried to open it. The feeling was not pleasant - as if I forcibly broke into someone's life without asking permission. But then I thought about how unhappy poor Veronica must have been and decided to take a chance. The little girl looked up at me with her huge, sky-blue eyes and I saw that they were filled with such a deep longing that this tiny child simply should not have had yet. I approached her very carefully, afraid to frighten her away, but the girl was not going to be frightened at all, she only looked at me with surprise, as if asking what I needed from her.
I sat next to her on the edge of the wooden partition and asked why she was so sad. She did not answer for a long time, and then finally whispered through her tears:
- My mother left me, but I love her so much ... Probably, I was very bad and now she will not return.
I got lost. And what could I tell her? How to explain? I felt that Veronica is with me. Her pain literally twisted me into a hard burning pain lump and burned so hard that it became hard to breathe. I so wanted to help both of them that I decided - come what may, but without trying, I will not leave. I hugged the girl by her fragile shoulders, and said as softly as possible:
Partisan operation "Concert"
Partisans - people who voluntarily fight as part of the armed organized partisan forces in the territory occupied by the enemy - sabotage brigades behind enemy lines. Russian partisans terrified the invaders at all times. During the Great Patriotic War, the mass resistance of the population to the Nazis, the combat and sabotage actions of the partisans were of great importance: the partisans destroyed large Nazi garrisons, mined the rails and undermined the bridges and warehouses of the Nazis.
The year 1943 went down in the history of partisan struggle as the year of massive strikes against the railway communications of the Nazi troops.
The partisans actively participated in major operations on enemy communications - "Rail War" and "Concert".
"Concert" is the code name for the operation of the Soviet partisans in the fall of 1943.
193 partisan formations (brigades and detached detachments, in total over 120 thousand people) participated in the operation. The leadership was carried out by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement.
The task of the operation "Concert" was to put out of action large sections of the railway tracks in order to disrupt the enemy's military transportation.
193 partisan formations participated in the "Concert" - in total over 120 thousand people! The leadership was carried out by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement.
Each partisan formation received a specific combat mission, which included blowing up rails, organizing the collapse of enemy military echelons, destroying road structures, disabling communications, water supply systems, etc.
Detailed plans for combat operations were developed and mass training of partisans in the production of subversive work was organized.
Partisan formations in the fall of 1943 literally fell upon the enemy's railway communications.
The bulk of the partisan formations began hostilities on the night of September 25, having defeated the enemy's guards and having mastered the railway lines, they proceeded to massive destruction and mining of the railway track.
The command of the German troops, shocked by the scale of the partisan operation "Concert", made tremendous efforts to restore traffic on the railways.
The Nazis hastily transferred new railway reconstruction battalions from Germany and even from the front line, and the local population was driven to repair work. Rails and sleepers were delivered from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany, but the partisans again and again undermined the repaired sections.
During the operation "Concert" in only one Belarusian direction, the partisans blew up about 90 thousand rails, derailedmore than 1000 enemy echelons destroyed 72 railway bridges. All this caused a serious complication in the transport of Nazi troops.
“Concert” is the code name for the operation of Soviet partisans on September 19 - November 1, 1943. The operation was carried out on the territory of Belarus, Karelia, Leningrad and Kalinin regions, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Crimea occupied by Nazi troops, covering about 900 km along the front ( excluding Karelia and Crimea) and to a depth of over 400 km. It was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of the Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and the battle for the Dnieper. 193 partisan formations (brigades and separate detachments, in total over 120 thousand people) participated in the operation; leadership was carried out by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. The task of the operation "Concert" was to put out of action large sections of the railway tracks in order to disrupt the enemy's military transportation. Based on the general plan of the operation, each partisan formation received a specific combat mission, which included blowing up rails, organizing the collapse of enemy military echelons, destroying road structures, disabling communications, water supply systems, etc. Detailed plans for combat operations were developed and mass training of personnel in the production of demolition work.
The success of the partisans in the rear, on the communications of the Nazi armies depended on their timely supply with the necessary amount of ammunition and subversive means. The State Defense Committee entrusted this work, in addition to Aeroflot and the Air Force, to long-range aviation. The commander of the ADD allocated three air regiments flying on Li - 2 to provide the partisans.
Since January 1943, by order of the commander of the ADD, all data on communications with partisans and signals that were supposed to indicate partisan sites converged to the headquarters of the 101st - GO aviation regiment (chief of staff, Major A. M. Verkhozin). Here, in the 101st regiment, there were representatives of all the republican headquarters of the partisan movement with their loading teams and cargo prepared for landing.
At that time, most partisan formations and many large detachments already had radio stations, with the help of which they maintained contact with the mainland. But these radio stations were, unfortunately, shortwave and low power. We could not search for partisan detachments lost in the forests with their help: the radio compasses and radio semi-compasses installed on the aircraft received signals only in the wavelength range of 200 - 2000 meters. Therefore, partisan detachments and formations used only light signaling. Fires lit in a predetermined order were arranged in the form of triangles, squares, rhombuses, envelopes or in a line - three, four, five, sometimes more. Bonfires were often supplemented with rockets, bat lanterns, and bonfires laid out away from the main identification signals. Additional signals were needed: the enemy carried out intensified reconnaissance of partisan areas from the air and often discovered detachment sites by light signals. German pilots either bombed these points or reported to their command post about their location and appearance. And the Germans laid out the same signals not far from the partisan ones - in order to disorientate our pilots. Sometimes they succeeded. Having found several identical light signals in a given area, our pilots were forced to return to their airfield without completing their tasks. To prevent this from happening, the partisans reported in advance about additional signals or changes in the location of the main fires. As soon as partisan observation posts saw their aircraft approaching the landing site, they lit or extinguished one of the main fires or gave the agreed signal with rockets. Simple additions to the signaling system made it impossible for the enemy to mislead our aircraft.
Due to the deterioration of meteorological conditions, by September 19, Soviet aviation delivered only 50% of the planned combat cargo to the partisans, so the start date of the operation was postponed to September 25. However, part of the partisan brigades had already left their base areas for their starting lines and, on the night of September 19, struck at enemy communications. The bulk of the partisan formations began hostilities on the night of September 25th. Having defeated the enemy's guards and having mastered the railway lines, they proceeded to massive destruction and mining of the railway track. The fascist German command made efforts to restore railway traffic: new railway restoration battalions were transferred to Belarus, the local population was driven to repair work, rails and sleepers were delivered from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany. But the partisans again undermined the repaired areas. During the "Concert" only Belarusian partisans blew up about 90 thousand rails, derailed 1041 enemy echelons, destroyed 72 railroads. bridge, defeated 58 enemy garrisons, killed and wounded over 53 thousand Nazis, Operation Concert caused serious complications in the transportation of Nazi troops; the capacity of railways decreased by 35-40%. This made it much more difficult for the fascist German command to carry out maneuvers on its own and provided great assistance to the advancing Soviet troops. Operation "Concert" intensified the struggle of the Soviet people against the fascist invaders in the occupied territory; in its course, the influx of the local population into partisan detachments increased.
Each new generation of Russian people will have their own point of view about the armed conflict that will remain in history and our memory as the Second World War (Great Patriotic War). Dates such as the beginning and end of this bloody and senselessly cruel war will never be erased from the memory of a Russian person. And one of the most important parts that fettered the victory of the fraternal peoples of the USSR over the Nazi invaders is the partisan movement.
In the territories occupied by the German troops, the Nazis established the so-called new order. And this new regime led to massive and brutal resistance of the indigenous people of the occupied territories. In all territories occupied by the enemy, guerrilla and sabotage warfare grew.
The struggle of partisan detachments and formations against those captured by the Nazi troops became an integral part of the Great Patriotic War. The actions of the partisans in the occupied territories oppressed the German troops morally and physically, they felt that they were in constant expectation of sabotage. And these sabotage was not a fictional, but a real danger, because of them the Germans had numerous casualties and a huge loss of military equipment.
There is a lot of evidence of the conduct of complex and dangerous operations with the participation of the Soviet army about the scale of the conduct of the guerrilla war. One of these operations was carried out from August to September 1943 on the lands of Ukraine and Belarus occupied by the enemy. The purpose of this operation was to destroy part of the railway communications. The operation received the secret name "Rail War". Leningrad, Smolensk, Orel partisans were involved in this operation.
The order to start Operation Rail War was signed by the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement on June 14, 1943. All areas falling under the operation of the TsSHPD were divided between partisan groups. The reconnaissance of the partisans regularly monitored the objects on which sabotage was to be carried out. The "rail war" began from the second to the third of August and lasted almost until the end of September. Sabotage and sorties behind enemy lines unfolded throughout the entire territory of the operation, which is about one thousand eight hundred kilometers. Almost one hundred thousand people participated in the operation, with the mass support of local residents.
The sabotage strikes inflicted by partisans on railways, railway bridges and stations were unexpected for the Nazi troops. After committing acts of sabotage, the fascist invaders for a very long time could not recover and organize systematic and effective counter-partisan actions. During the operation "Rail War" a huge number of railway tracks (about two hundred and fifteen thousand rails), bridges were blown up, and echelons with equipment and personnel were derailed. Also, sabotage reduced the frequency of movement of echelons by almost forty percent, which greatly slowed down the movement of the Germans.
Operation "Concert" pursued similar goals and was, as it were, the second part of the operation "Rail War". It was necessary to destroy as many railway communications under the control of the Germans as possible in a short period of time, since a large-scale offensive of Soviet troops on the Dnieper was planned. More than one hundred and ninety-three partisan groups and sabotage detachments, and more than one hundred and twenty thousand people, were involved in it. Operation "Concert" was to begin on September 19 and last until November 1, 1943. But due to the fact that the weather conditions worsened, it was decided to postpone the start of the operation to September 25. And the Soviet aviation simply did not have time to transport all the explosives, but transported only half. However, part of the sabotage groups had already advanced to the points, and could not receive an order to postpone the start of the operation, and began sabotage from September 19th.
On the night of September 24-25, railway tracks and bridges were simultaneously blown up at a distance of nine hundred kilometers. During the sabotage operation, about one thousand trains were derailed, seventy bridges were blown up, and sixty outposts of the Germans were defeated. The operation had to be ended, due to the mistakes of the developers of the operation itself, since the partisan groups ran out of prepared explosives. The Nazi invaders spared no effort, continuously, in several shifts, carried out repair work, but still did not have time. You can also name one minus of the operation, this is that the railway itself was subjected to sabotage, which later also slowed down the offensive of the Soviet troops. It was much more effective to disable the enemy's echelons themselves.
The objectives of the operation "Concert" were similar to the objectives of the operation "Rail War", to reduce the speed of movement of enemy echelons, and this goal was achieved. The partisan formations flawlessly completed the task before them, and all the shortcomings remained on the conscience of the headquarters authorities. That rendered all possible assistance in the defeat of the Nazi invaders in Ukraine, Belarus, Karelia and Crimea.
This "concert" shown by the Russian partisan formations, the Nazi troops could not erase from their memory for a long time.
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