The Soviet army suffered huge losses during the Great Patriotic War. And it’s scary to imagine how many more people would have died without the help of the partisans, many of whom risked not only themselves, but also the lives of loved ones for the sake of victory in the bloody war.
According to some estimates, from 1941 to 1944, about 6.2 thousand partisan detachments, numbering more than 1 million people, operated behind enemy lines. During the war years, they inflicted serious damage on the enemy: 20 thousand train crashes, 2.5 thousand destroyed steam locomotives, 42 thousand blown up cars, 12 thousand bridges, 6 thousand tanks and armored vehicles withdrawn and put into service, 1.1 thousand blown up planes and about 600 thousand killed soldiers and officers.
On the Day of Partisans and Underground Workers, we decided to remember the names of people who influenced the outcome of the Great Patriotic War.
"Red October"
Tikhon Pimenovich Bumazhkov is considered the organizer of one of the first partisan detachments. In June 1941, a meeting was convened in the Oktyabrsky district committee of the Belarusian SSR, at which Bumazhkov reported on the German attack and called on citizens to join forces to repel the enemy. At the same time, a “fighter squad” was formed, called “Red October”.
Bumazhkov’s memoirs indicate that the group initially consisted of 80 fighters. Having broken up into platoons, they began military training: they learned camouflage and weapons use, acquired “the necessary sapper knowledge,” stocked up on bottles of fuel to destroy tanks, mined bridges and dug trenches.
Interacting with the Red Army, they struck at the enemy’s rear. One of the most memorable operations was the battle of Bobruisk. The target of Red October was the enemy headquarters located in the village of Ozemlya. The plan was as follows: open fire from the armored train and at the same time block all roads from the village so that the enemy could not escape. Operation was successfully completed. The partisans captured prisoners, two radio stations, important documents, and about a hundred pieces of equipment. Unfortunately, Bumazhkov died a few months after this operation. He died in November 1941, breaking out of encirclement near the village of Orzhitsa.
Kovpakovtsy
There is hardly a commander of a partisan detachment whom the Germans feared as much as Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak. The bravery of the military was noted during the First World War. For his participation in the Brusilov breakthrough, Emperor Nicholas II awarded him two Crosses of St. George. Nevertheless, in 1917, Kovpak chose the other side and joined the Red Army.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Kovpak led the Putivl partisan detachment, which instilled fear in the ranks of the enemy. One of the first clashes with the Germans took place in the Spadshchansky forest. After the loss of three tanks, which were captured by Kovpak’s group, almost 3 thousand German soldiers, supported by artillery, went on the offensive. The battle lasted a day, but the Soviet partisans, despite superior enemy forces, repulsed all attacks. The Germans retreated, leaving Kovpak with weapons and machine guns as trophies.
The most famous campaign of the Kovpakovites took place in June 1943. The Carpathian raid took place in difficult conditions: the detachment, finding itself behind enemy lines, was forced to move across open terrain without cover and support. During the raid, the partisans covered about 2 thousand km. Almost 4 thousand Germans were wounded or killed, and 19 trains, over 50 bridges and warehouses were blown up. The Kovpakov campaign greatly helped the troops fighting on the Kursk Bulge. Thanks to the partisan operation, the Germans lost supplies of equipment and troops, which provided our troops with an advantage in the battle.
During the Carpathian raid, Kovpak was wounded in the leg. The USSR authorities decided not to risk the health of the commander, and he no longer participated in hostilities. For his service, he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and became one of two partisans to receive this award twice.
"Kovel Knot"
The second commander of the partisan detachment, twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, was Alexey Fedorov. By March 1942, his group had fought 16 battles, during which about a thousand Germans, several dozen bridges, five echelons were destroyed, five warehouses were blown up and two factories were captured. Thanks to these merits, in May of the same year, Fedorov was awarded the first title of Hero of the USSR, and at the beginning of 1943, under his leadership there were already 12 partisan detachments, numbering over 5 thousand people.
One of the most important partisan operations during the war was the Kovel Knot mission. In eight months, Fedorov’s detachment managed to destroy 549 enemy trains with ammunition, fuel, and equipment on the lines of the Kovel railway junction and thus deprive the enemy of reinforcements.
In 1994, Fedorov was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR for the second time. In total, he took part in 158 battles, destroyed over 650 trains, eight armored trains, 60 warehouses with fuel and ammunition.
Juvenile partisan
At the start of the war, Leonid Golikov was only 15 years old. A thin boy, who many were not even 14 years old, walked around the villages, collected information about the location of the Germans and passed it on to the partisans. A year later, he himself joined the detachment. In total, Golikov took part in 27 combat operations, destroyed 78 Germans, 12 highway bridges and blew up nine cars with ammunition.
Golikov's most famous feat was accomplished on August 13, 1942. Together with other partisans, he blew up a car in which German Major General Richard Wirtz was sitting. The documents found in the car were transferred to the Soviet headquarters: they contained diagrams of minefields, reports from Wirtz and other important papers.
However, Golikov did not live to see the end of the war. In January 1943, the detachment in which the young man was a member was hiding from German troops. They found shelter in the village of Ostraya Luka, located not far from the German garrison. Not wanting to attract attention, the partisans did not post sentries. But among the residents there was a traitor who revealed the location of the detachment to the enemy. Some of the fighters managed to escape from the encirclement, but Golikov was not among them.
Sabotage in a cinema
Konstantin Chekhovich became the author of one of the largest acts of sabotage carried out during the war. In August 1941, he and four comrades went behind enemy lines. However, the operation failed: four were killed, and Chekhovich was captured. Nevertheless, he managed to escape and contact the Soviet command, which instructed him to infiltrate the Germans in the occupied city of Porkhov.
There he met his future wife, who bore him a son. At first, Chekhovich repaired watches, then got a job as an electrician at a local power plant, and later received a position as an administrator at a local cinema. The famous sabotage occurred in November 1943 during a screening of the film “Circus Artists.” On that day, the cinema was visited by 700 Germans, among whom were two generals. None of them suspected that the load-bearing columns and roof of the building were mined. Few people survived the explosion. For carrying out this operation, Chekhovich was nominated for the title of Hero of the USSR.
The tragedy of Old Man Minai
In July 1941, Minai Filippovich Shmyrev, who at that time headed the Pudot Cardboard Factory, formed a partisan detachment from workers. Over the course of a few months, they engaged the enemy 27 times and caused significant damage to enemy troops. But the main exploits followed a year later, when Shmyrev, known by the nickname Old Man Minai, together with the partisans knocked out the Germans from 15 villages. Around the same time, under his command, the so-called Surazh Gate was created, which was a 40-kilometer zone through which weapons and food passed.
In February 1942, Shmyrev experienced a personal tragedy. The Germans captured the commander's sister, mother-in-law (his wife died before the war) and four young children, promising to leave them alive if he surrendered. Shmyrev was in despair: the settlement in which his relatives were kept was fortified, so he could not go on an assault. And even if he decided to take such a step, there was a great risk that his relatives would still be executed.
The prisoners did not hope that the occupiers would keep their word, so they prepared for the worst. Shmyrev’s eldest daughter wrote a note and, with the help of a security guard, gave it to her father. “Dad, worry about us, don’t listen to anyone, don’t go to the Germans. If you are killed, then we are powerless and will not avenge you. And if they kill us, dad, then you will avenge us,” wrote a 14-year-old girl.
Shmyrev failed to save his loved ones - the Germans carried out their threat.
Guerrilla war 1941-1945 (partisan movement) - one of the components of the USSR's resistance to the fascist troops of Germany and the Allies during the Great Patriotic War.
The movement of Soviet partisans during the Great Patriotic War was very large-scale and differed from other popular movements in the highest degree of organization and efficiency. The partisans were controlled by the Soviet authorities; the movement had not only its own detachments, but also headquarters and commanders. In total, during the war there were more than 7 thousand partisan detachments operating on the territory of the USSR, and several hundred more working abroad. The approximate number of all partisans and underground workers was 1 million people.
The goal of the partisan movement is to destroy the support system of the German front. The partisans were supposed to disrupt the supply of weapons and food, break communication channels with the General Staff and in every possible way destabilize the work of the German fascist machine.
The emergence of partisan detachments
On June 29, 1941, a directive was issued “to Party and Soviet organizations in front-line regions,” which served as an incentive for the formation of a nationwide partisan movement. On July 18, another directive was issued - “On the organization of the fight in the rear of German troops.” In these documents, the USSR government formulated the main directions of the Soviet Union’s struggle against the Germans, including the need to wage an underground war. On September 5, 1942, Stalin issued an order “On the tasks of the partisan movement,” which officially consolidated the partisan detachments already actively working by that time.
Another important prerequisite for the creation of an official partisan movement in the Great Patriotic War was the creation of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD, which began to form special detachments designed to wage subversive warfare.
On May 30, 1942, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was created, to which local regional headquarters, headed mainly by the heads of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties, were subordinate. It was the creation of headquarters that served as a serious impetus for the development of guerrilla warfare, since a unified and clear system of control and communication with the center significantly increased the effectiveness of guerrilla warfare. The partisans were no longer chaotic formations, they had a clear structure, like the official army.
The partisan detachments included citizens of different ages, genders and financial status. Most of the population not directly involved in military operations was related to the partisan movement.
Main activities of the partisan movement
The main activities of partisan detachments during the Great Patriotic War boiled down to several main points:
- sabotage activities: destruction of enemy infrastructure - disruption of food supplies, communications, destruction of water pipes and wells, sometimes explosions in camps;
- intelligence activities: there was a very extensive and powerful network of agents who were engaged in reconnaissance in the enemy’s camp on the territory of the USSR and beyond;
- Bolshevik propaganda: in order to win the war and avoid internal unrest, it was necessary to convince citizens of the power and greatness of power;
- direct combat operations: partisans rarely acted openly, but battles still occurred; in addition, one of the main tasks of the partisan movement was to destroy the vital forces of the enemy;
- the destruction of false partisans and strict control over the entire partisan movement;
- restoration of Soviet power in the occupied territories: this was carried out mainly through propaganda and mobilization of the local Soviet population remaining in the territories occupied by the Germans; the partisans wanted to reconquer these lands “from within.”
Partisan units
Partisan detachments existed almost throughout the entire territory of the USSR, including the Baltic states and Ukraine, but it is worth noting that in a number of regions captured by the Germans, the partisan movement existed, but did not support Soviet power. Local partisans fought only for their own independence.
Usually the partisan detachment consisted of several dozen people. By the end of the war, their number had increased to several hundred, but in most cases a standard partisan detachment consisted of 150-200 people. During the war, if necessary, units were united into brigades. Such brigades were usually armed with light weapons - grenades, hand rifles, carbines, but many of them also had heavier equipment - mortars, artillery weapons. Equipment depended on the region and the tasks of the partisans. All citizens who joined the detachments took an oath, and the detachment itself lived according to strict discipline.
In 1942, the post of commander-in-chief of the partisan movement was proclaimed, which was taken by Marshal Voroshilov, but then this post was abolished.
Particularly noteworthy are the Jewish partisan detachments, which were formed from the Jews who remained in the USSR and managed to escape from the ghetto camp. Their main goal was to save the Jewish people, who were particularly persecuted by the Germans. The work of such detachments was complicated by the fact that even among Soviet partisans anti-Semitic sentiments often reigned and there was nowhere for Jews to get help from. By the end of the war, many Jewish units mixed with the Soviet ones.
Results and significance of guerrilla warfare
Partisan movement in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. was one of the main resistance forces along with the regular army. Thanks to a clear structure, support from the population, competent leadership and good equipment of the partisans, their sabotage and reconnaissance activities often played a decisive role in the war of the Russian army with the Germans. Without partisans, the USSR could have lost the war.
Soviet partisans are an integral part of the anti-fascist movement of the Soviet people, who fought using guerrilla warfare methods against Germany and its allies in the temporarily occupied territories of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War.
From the very first days of the war, the Communist Party gave the partisan movement a focused and organized character. The directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated June 29, 1941 required: “In areas occupied by the enemy, create partisan detachments and sabotage groups to fight units of the enemy army, to incite partisan war everywhere, to blow up bridges, roads, damage telephone and telegraph communications, arson of warehouses, etc. “. The main goal of the partisan war was to undermine the front in the German rear - disruption of communications and communications, the work of its road and railway communications, set out in
Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of July 18, 1941 “On the organization of the struggle in the rear of German troops.”
Considering the development of the partisan movement to be one of the most important conditions for the defeat of the fascist invaders, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks obliged the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the republics, regional, regional and district party committees to lead the organization of the partisan struggle. To lead the partisan masses in the occupied areas, it was proposed to select experienced, combative, completely devoted to the party and proven comrades. The struggle of Soviet patriots was led by 565 secretaries of regional, city and district party committees, 204 chairmen of regional, city and district executive committees of workers' deputies, 104 secretaries of regional, city and district Komsomol committees, as well as hundreds of other leaders. Already in 1941, the struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines was led by 18 underground regional committees, more than 260 district committees, city committees, district committees and other underground organizations and groups, in which there were 65,500 communists.
The 4th Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR, created in 1941 under the leadership of P. Sudoplatov, played an important role in the development of the partisan movement. Subordinate to him was the Separate Special Purpose Motorized Rifle Brigade of the NKVD of the USSR, from which reconnaissance and sabotage detachments were formed and sent behind enemy lines. As a rule, they then turned into large partisan detachments. By the end of 1941, more than 2,000 partisan detachments and sabotage groups, with a total number of over 90,000 partisans, were operating in enemy-occupied territories. In order to coordinate the combat activities of the partisans and organize their interaction with the Red Army troops, special bodies were created.
P.A. Sudoplatov
A striking example of the actions of special forces groups was the destruction of the headquarters of the 59th Wehrmacht division along with the head of the Kharkov garrison, Lieutenant General Georg von Braun. Mansion at st. Dzerzhinsky No. 17 was mined with a radio-controlled landmine by a group under the command of I.G. Starinov and detonated by radio signal in October 1941. Later, Lieutenant General Beinecker was also destroyed by a mine. . I.G. Starinov
Mines and non-recoverable landmines designed by I.G. Starinova were widely used for sabotage operations during the Second World War.
radio-controlled mine I.G. Starinova
To lead the partisan war, republican, regional and regional headquarters of the partisan movement were created. They were headed by secretaries or members of the Central Committee of the communist parties of the union republics, regional committees and regional committees: Ukrainian headquarters - T.A. Strokach, Belorussky - P.Z. Kalinin, Litovsky - A.Yu. Snechkus, Latvian - A.K. Sprogis, Estonian - N.T. Karotamm, Karelsky - S.Ya. Vershinin, Leningradsky - M.N. Nikitin. The Oryol Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was headed by A.P. Matveev, Smolensky - D.M. Popov, Krasnodar - P.I. Seleznev, Stavropolsky - M.A. Suslov, Krymsky - V.S. Bulatov. The Komsomol made a great contribution to the organization of partisan warfare. Its governing bodies in the occupied territory included M.V. Zimyanin, K.T. Mazurov, P.M. Masherov and others.
By the Decree of the State Defense Committee of May 30, 1942, the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (TsShPD, Chief of Staff - Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus (Bolsheviks) P.K. Ponomarenko) was organized at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command.
.jpg)
The activities carried out by the party made it possible to significantly improve the leadership of partisan detachments, supply them with the necessary material resources, and ensure clearer interaction between the partisans and the Red Army.
at a partisan airfield.
Z and during its existence, the TsShPD sent to partisan detachments 59,960 rifles and carbines, 34,320 machine guns, 4,210 light machine guns, 2,556 anti-tank rifles, 2,184 50-mm and 82-mm mortars, 539,570 hand-held anti-personnel and anti-tank grenades, a large amount of ammunition, explosives, medicines, food and other necessary property. The central and republican schools of the partisan movement trained and sent more than 22,000 various specialists behind enemy lines, including 75% demolitions, 9% organizers of the underground and partisan movement, 8% radio operators, 7% intelligence officers.
The main organizational and combat unit of the partisan forces was a detachment, which usually consisted of squads, platoons and companies, numbering several dozen people, and later up to 200 or more fighters. During the war, many units united into partisan brigades and partisan divisions numbering up to several thousand fighters. Light weapons predominated in armament (both Soviet and captured), but many detachments and formations had mortars, and some had artillery. All persons who joined partisan formations took the partisan oath; as a rule, strict military discipline was established in the detachments. Party and Komsomol organizations were created in the detachments. The actions of the partisans were combined with other forms of national struggle behind enemy lines - the actions of underground fighters in cities and towns, sabotage of enterprises and transport, disruption of political and military events carried out by the enemy.
at the headquarters of the partisan brigade
group of partisans
partisan with a machine gun
The forms of organization of partisan forces and the methods of their actions were influenced by physical and geographical conditions. Vast forests, swamps, and mountains were the main basing areas for partisan forces. Here partisan regions and zones arose where various methods of struggle could be widely used, including open battles with the enemy. In the steppe regions, large formations operated successfully only during raids. The small detachments and groups that were constantly stationed here usually avoided open clashes with the enemy and caused damage to him mainly through sabotage.
The following elements can be distinguished in guerrilla tactics:
Sabotage activities, destruction of enemy infrastructure in any form (rail war, destruction of communication lines, high-voltage lines, destruction of bridges, water pipelines, etc.);
Intelligence activities, including undercover activities;
Political activity and Bolshevik propaganda;
Destruction of fascist manpower and equipment;
Elimination of collaborators and heads of the Nazi administration;
Restoration and preservation of elements of Soviet power in the occupied territory;
Mobilization of the combat-ready population remaining in the occupied territories and the unification of surrounded military units.
V.Z. Korzh
On June 28, 1941, in the area of the village of Posenichi, the first battle of a partisan detachment under the command of V.Z. Korzha. To protect the city of Pinsk from the northern side, a group of partisans was deployed on the Pinsk-Logoshin road. The partisan detachment commanded by Korzh was ambushed by 2 German tanks with motorcyclists. This was reconnaissance from the 293rd Wehrmacht Infantry Division. The partisans opened fire and destroyed one tank. During the battle, the partisans captured two Nazis. This was the first partisan battle of the first partisan detachment in the history of the Great Patriotic War!
On July 4, 1941, Korzh’s detachment met a German cavalry squadron 4 km from Pinsk. The partisans let the Germans close and opened accurate fire. Dozens of fascist cavalrymen died on the battlefield. In total, by June 1944, the Pinsk partisan unit under the command of V.Z Korzh had defeated 60 German garrisons in battles, derailed 478 railway trains, and blown up 62 railways. bridge, destroyed 86 tanks, 29 guns, and disabled 519 km of communication lines. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 15, 1944, for the exemplary performance of command assignments in the fight against the Nazi invaders behind enemy lines and the courage and heroism displayed, Vasily Zakharovich Korzh was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold medal Star “for No. 4448.
In August 1941, 231 partisan detachments were already operating on the territory of Belarus. Leaders of the Belarusian partisan detachment
“Red October” - commander Fyodor Pavlovsky and commissar Tikhon Bumazhkov - on August 6, 1941, the first partisans were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the Bryansk region, Soviet partisans controlled vast territories in the German rear. In the summer of 1942, they actually controlled an area of 14,000 square kilometers. The Bryansk Partisan Republic was formed.
guerrilla ambush
In the second period of the Second World War (autumn 1942 - end of 1943), the partisan movement deep behind enemy lines expanded. Shifting their base from the Bryansk forests to the west, the partisan formations crossed the Desna, Sozh, Dnieper, and Pripyat rivers and began to strike at the enemy’s most important communications in his rear. The partisan attacks provided enormous assistance to the Red Army, diverting large fascist forces to themselves. At the height of the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943, the actions of partisan detachments and formations significantly disrupted the supply of enemy reserves and military equipment to the front. The actions of the partisans turned out to be so effective that the fascist German command sent against them in the summer and autumn of 1942 144 police battalions, 27 police regiments, 8 infantry regiments, 10 SS security police and punitive divisions, 2 security corps, 72 special units, up to 15 infantry German and 5 infantry divisions of their satellites, thereby weakening their forces at the front. Despite this, the partisans managed to organize more than 3,000 crashes of enemy trains during this period, blew up 3,500 railway and highway bridges, destroyed 15,000 vehicles, about 900 bases and warehouses with ammunition and weapons, up to 1,200 tanks, 467 aircraft, 378 guns.
punitive officers and policemen
partisan region
partisans on the march
By the end of the summer of 1942, the partisan movement had become a significant force, and organizational work was completed. The total number of partisans was up to 200,000 people. In August 1942, the most famous of the partisan commanders were summoned to Moscow to participate in a general meeting.
Commanders of partisan formations: M.I. Duca, M.P. Voloshin, D.V. Emlyutin, S.A. Kovpak, A.N. Saburov
(from left to right)
Thanks to the efforts of the Soviet leadership, the partisan movement turned into a carefully organized, well-controlled military and political force united by a single command. Head of the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement at Headquarters, Lieutenant General P.K. Ponomarenko became a member of the General Staff Red Army.
PC. Ponomarenko
TsShPD - on the left P.K. Ponomarenko
The partisan detachments operating in the front line came under direct subordination to the command of the corresponding army occupying this section of the front. The detachments operating in the deep rear of the German troops were subordinate to headquarters in Moscow. Officers and enlisted personnel of the regular army were sent to partisan units as instructors for the training of specialists.
guerrilla movement control structure
In August - September 1943, according to the TsShPD plan, 541 detachments of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian partisans simultaneously took part in the first operation to destroy the enemy’s railway communications in“Rail War”.
The purpose of the operation was to disrupt the work of the railway by massive and simultaneous destruction of rails. transport, thereby disrupting the supply of German troops, evacuation and regrouping and thus assisting the Red Army in completing the defeat of the enemy in the Battle of Kursk in 1943 and the deployment of a general offensive on the Soviet-German front. The leadership of the “rail war” was carried out by the TsShPD at the Supreme Command Headquarters. The plan called for the destruction of 200,000 rails in the rear areas of Army Groups Center and North. To carry out the operation, 167 partisan detachments from Belarus, Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk, and Orel regions, numbering up to 100,000 people, were involved.
The operation was preceded by careful preparation. The sections of the railway designated for destruction were distributed among partisan formations and detachments. Only from June 15 to July 1, 1943, aviation dropped 150 tons of special profile bombs, 156,000 m of fuse cord, 28,000 m of hemp wick, 595,000 detonator caps, 35,000 fuses, a lot of weapons, ammunition and medicines at partisan bases. Mining instructors were sent to the partisan detachments.
railway alignment canvases
The “Rail War” began on the night of August 3, just at a time when the enemy was forced to intensively maneuver its reserves in connection with the unfolding counter-offensive of the Soviet troops and its development into a general offensive along the entire front. In one night, over a vast area of 1000 km along the front and from the front line to the western borders of the USSR, more than 42,000 rails were blown up in depth. Simultaneously with the “Rail War,” active operations on enemy communications were launched by Ukrainian partisans, who, according to the plan for the spring-summer period of 1943, were tasked with paralyzing the work of the 26 largest railways. nodes in the rear of Army Group “South”, including Shepetovsky, Kovelsky, Zdolbunovsky, Korostensky, Sarnensky.
attack on the railway station
In the following days, the partisans' actions in the operation intensified even more. By September 15, 215,000 rails had been destroyed, which amounted to 1,342 km of single-track railway. ways. On some railways On the roads, traffic was delayed for 3-15 days, and the Mogilev-Krichev, Polotsk-Dvinsk, Mogilev-Zhlobin highways did not work during August 1943. During the operation, Belarusian partisans alone blew up 836 military trains, including 3 armored trains, disabled 690 steam locomotives, 6,343 wagons and platforms, 18 water pumps, and destroyed 184 railways. bridges and 556 bridges on dirt and highway roads, destroyed 119 tanks and 1,429 vehicles, and defeated 44 German garrisons. The experience of the “Rail War” was used by the headquarters of the partisan movement in the autumn-winter period of 1943/1944 in the “Concert” operations and in the summer of 1944 during the offensive of the Red Army in Belarus.
blown up railway compound
Operation Concert was carried out by Soviet partisans from September 19 to the end of October 1943. The purpose of the operation was to hamper the operational transportation of fascist German troops by massively disabling large sections of railways; was a continuation of Operation Rail War; was carried out according to the TsShPD plan at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and the battle for the Dnieper. 293 partisan formations and detachments from Belarus, the Baltic states, Karelia, Crimea, Leningrad and Kalinin regions, totaling over 120,000 partisans, were involved in the operation; it was planned to undermine more than 272,000 rails. In Belarus, 90,000 partisans were involved in the operation; they had to blow up 140,000 rails. The TsShPD intended to throw 120 tons of explosives and other cargo to the partisans of Belarus, and 20 tons each to the Kalinin and Leningrad partisans. Due to sharply deteriorating weather conditions at the start of the operation, only 50% of what was planned was transferred to the partisans, and therefore it was decided to begin mass sabotage on September 25. However, some of the partisan detachments that had reached the initial lines according to the previous order could no longer 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, widespread actions were carried out according to plan“Concert”, covering 900 km along the front and 400 km in depth. On the night of September 19, Belarusian partisans blew up 19,903 rails and on the night of September 25, another 15,809 rails. As a result, 148,557 rails were undermined. Operation Concert intensified the struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders in the occupied territories. During the war, the influx of local population into partisan detachments increased.
partisan operation “Concert” 
An important form of partisan action was the raids of partisan formations on the rear of the fascist invaders. The main goal of these raids was to increase the scope and activity of popular resistance to the occupiers in new areas, as well as to strike major railways. nodes and important military-industrial facilities of the enemy, reconnaissance, providing fraternal assistance to the peoples of neighboring countries in their liberation struggle against fascism. Only on instructions from the headquarters of the partisan movement, more than 40 raids were carried out, in which over 100 large partisan formations took part. In 1944, 7 formations and 26 separate large detachments of Soviet partisans operated in the occupied territory of Poland, and 20 formations and detachments in Czechoslovakia. The raids of partisan formations under the command of V.A. had a great influence on the scope of the partisan struggle and increased its effectiveness. Andreeva, I.N. Banova, P.P. Vershigory, A.V. Germana, S.V. Grishina, F.F. Cabbages, V.A. Karaseva, S.A. Kovpaka, V.I. Kozlova, V.Z. Korzha, M.I. Naumova, N.A. Prokopyuk, V.V. Razumova, A.N. Saburova, V.P. Samson, A.F. Fedorova, A.K. Flegontova, V.P. Chepigi, M.I. Shukaeva and others.
The Putivl partisan detachment (commander S.A. Kovpvk, commissar S.V. Rudnev, chief of staff G.Ya. Bazyma), operating in the occupied territory of several regions of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus in 1941-1944, was created on October 18, 1941 in Spadshchansky forest, Sumy region. During the first weeks of the occupation, the detachments of Kovpak and Rudnev, numbering two to three dozen people each, acted independently and had no communication with each other. By the beginning of autumn, Rudnev, following Kovpak’s first sabotages, was on his trail, met with him and offered to merge both detachments. Already on October 19-20, 1941, the detachment repelled the offensive of a punitive battalion with 5 tanks, on November 18-19 - the second punitive offensive, and on December 1, it broke through the blockade ring around the Spadshchansky forest and made the first raid into the Khinel forests. By this time, the combined detachment had already grown to 500 people.
Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak
Semyon Vasilievich Rudnev
In February 1942, a detachment of S.A. Kovpaka, transformed into the Sumy Partisan Unit (Union of Partisan Detachments of the Sumy Region), returned to Spadshchansky Forest and from here undertook a series of raids, as a result of which a vast partisan region was created in the northern regions of the Sumy Region and in the adjacent territory of the RSFSR and BSSR. By the summer of 1942, 24 detachments and 127 groups (about 18,000 partisans) were operating on its territory.
dugout at a partisan base
Interior view of the dugout
The Sumy partisan unit included four detachments: Putivlsky, Glukhovsky, Shalyginsky and Krolevetsky (based on the names of the districts of the Sumy region where they were organized). For secrecy, the formation was called military unit 00117, and the detachments were called battalions. Historically, the units had unequal numbers. As of January 1943, while based in Polesie, the first battalion(Putivl detachment) numbered up to 800 partisans, the other three had 250-300 partisans each. The first battalion consisted of ten companies, the rest - 3-4 companies each. The companies did not arise immediately, but were formed gradually, like partisan groups, and often arose along territorial lines. Gradually, with the departure from their native places, the groups grew into companies and acquired a new character. During the raid, companies were no longer distributed on a territorial basis, but according to military expediency. So in the first battalion there were several rifle companies, two companies of machine gunners, two companies of heavy weapons (with 45-mm anti-tank guns, heavy machine guns, battalion mortars), a reconnaissance company, a company of miners, a platoon of sappers, a communications center and the main utility unit.
partisan cart
In 1941-1942, Kovpak's unit carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, and in 1942-1943 - a raid from the Bryansk forests to Right Bank Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kiev regions. The Sumy partisan unit under the command of Kovpak fought through the rear of the fascist German troops for more than 10,000 km, defeating enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. Raids S.A. Kovpak played a big role in the development of the partisan movement against the German occupiers.
partisan raid
“Partisan Bears”
On June 12, 1943, the partisan unit S.A. Kovpak set out on a military campaign in the Carpathian region. By the time they reached the Carpathian roadstead, the formation consisted of 2,000 partisans. It was armed with 130 machine guns, 380 machine guns, 9 guns, 30 mortars, 30 anti-tank rifles. During the raid, the partisans fought 2,000 km, destroyed 3,800 Nazis, blew up 19 military trains, 52 bridges, 51 warehouses with property and weapons, disabled power plants and oil fields near Bitkov and Yablonov. By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR datedOn January 4, 1944, for the successful implementation of the Carpathian raid, Major General Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich was awarded the second Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
Partisans took part in the liberation of the cities of Vileika, Yelsk, Znamenka, Luninets, Pavlograd, Rechitsa, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol, Stavropol, Cherkassy, Yalta and many others.
The activities of clandestine combat groups in cities and towns caused great damage to the enemy. Underground groups and organizations in Minsk, Kiev, Mogilev, Odessa, Vitebsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Smolensk, Kaunas, Krasnodar, Krasnodon, Pskov, Gomel, Orsha, as well as other cities and towns showed examples of selfless struggle against the fascist invaders. Sabotage, a hidden struggle to disrupt the enemy's political, economic and military activities, were the most common forms of mass resistance to the occupiers of millions of Soviet people.
Soviet intelligence officers and underground fighters committed hundreds of acts of sabotage, the targets of which were representatives of the German occupation authorities. Only with the direct participation of special detachments of the NKVD, 87 acts of retaliation were carried out against Hitler’s executioners responsible for carrying out the extermination policy in the east. On February 17, 1943, security officers killed the regional Gebitsk Commissioner Friedrich Fenz. In July of the same year, intelligence officers eliminated Gebietskommissar Ludwig Ehrenleitner. The most famous and significant of them is rightfully considered the liquidation of the Commissioner General of Belarus, Wilhelm Kube. In July 1941, Cuba was appointed General Commissioner of Belarus. Gauleiter Kube was particularly cruel. On the direct orders of the Gauleiter, a Jewish ghetto was created in Minsk and a concentration camp in the village of Trostenets, where 206,500 people were exterminated. For the first time, fighters from the NKGB sabotage and reconnaissance group of Kirill Orlovsky tried to destroy him. Having received information that Kube was going to hunt on February 17, 1943 in the Mashukovsky forests, Orlovsky organized an ambush. In a hot and fleeting battle, the scouts destroyed Gebietskommissar Fenz, 10 officers and 30 SS soldiers. But Kube was not among the dead (at the last moment he did not go hunting). And yet, on September 22, 1943, at 4.00 am, the underground fighters managed to destroy the General Commissioner of Belarus, Wilhelm Kube, with a bomb explosion (the bomb was planted under Kube’s bed by the Soviet underground worker Elena Grigorievna Mazanik).
E.G. Mazanik
The legendary career intelligence officer Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov (pseudonym - Grachev) with the beginning of the Second World War, at his personal request, was enrolled in the Special Group of the NKVD. In August 1942, N.I. Kuznetsov was sent behind enemy lines to the “Winners” partisan detachment (commander D.M. Medvedev), which operated on the territory of Ukraine. Appearing in the occupied city of Rivne under the guise of a German officer - Chief Lieutenant Paul Siebert, Kuznetsov was able to quickly make the necessary contacts.
N.I. Kuznetsov N.I. Kuznetsov - Paul Siebert
Using the trust of fascist officers, he learned the locations of enemy units and the directions of their movement. He managed to obtain information about the German V-1 and V-2 missiles, reveal the location of A. Hitler’s headquarters “Werewolf” (“Werewolf”) near the city of Vinnitsa, and warn the Soviet command about the upcoming offensive of Hitler’s troops in the Kursk region (operation “Citadel”), about the impending assassination attempt on the heads of government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain (J.V. Stalin, D. Roosevelt, W. Churchill) in Tehran. In the fight against the Nazi invaders N.I. Kuznetsov showed extraordinary courage and ingenuity. He acted as a people's avenger. He committed acts of retaliation against many fascist generals and senior officers endowed with great powers of the Third Reich. He destroyed the chief judge of Ukraine Funk, the imperial adviser to the Reichskommissariat of Ukraine Gall and his secretary Winter, the vice-governor of Galicia Bauer, generals Knut and Dargel, kidnapped and took to the partisan detachment the commander of the punitive forces in Ukraine, General Ilgen. March 9, 1944 N.I. Kuznetsov died when he was surrounded by Ukrainian nationalists-Bendera in the village of Boryatin, Brodovsego district, Lviv region. Seeing that he couldn’t break through, he used the last grenade to blow himself up and the Benderites who surrounded him. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated November 5, 1944, Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for exceptional courage and bravery in carrying out command assignments..jpg)
monument to N.I. Kuznetsov
grave of N.I. Kuznetsova
The underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”, which operated during the Second World War in the city of Krasnodon, Voroshilovgrad region of Ukraine, temporarily occupied by Nazi troops, will forever remain in the memory of the Soviet people (there is no need to identify it with the modern “well done” from “M.G.”, who have nothing in common with the dead heroes). The “Young Guard” was created under the leadership of the party underground led by F.P. Lyutikov. After the occupation of Krasnodon (July 20, 1942), several anti-fascist groups arose in the city and its environs, led by Komsomol members I.V. Turkevich (commander), I.A. Zemnukhov, O.V. Koshevoy (commissioner), V.I. Levashov, S.G. Tyulenev, A.Z. Eliseenko, V.A. Zhdanov, N.S. Sumskoy, U.M. Gromova, L.G. Shevtsova, A.V. Popov, M.K. Petlivanova.
young guards
In total, more than 100 underground workers united in the underground organization, 20 of them were communists. Despite the harsh terror, the “Young Guard” created an extensive network of combat groups and cells throughout the Krasnodon region. The Young Guards issued 5,000 anti-fascist leaflets of 30 titles; liberated about 100 prisoners of war who were in a concentration camp; burned the labor exchange, where lists of people scheduled for export to Germany were kept, as a result of which 2,000 Krasnodon residents were saved from being taken into fascist slavery, destroyed vehicles with soldiers, ammunition, fuel and food, prepared an uprising with the aim of defeating the German garrison and moving towards the attackers units of the Red Army. But the betrayal of the provocateur G. Pochentsov interrupted this preparation. At the beginning of January 1943, arrests of members of the Young Guard began. They bravely withstood all the torture in fascist dungeons. During January 15, 16, and 31, the Nazis threw 71 people alive and dead into the pit of coal mine No. 5, 53 m deep. On February 9, 1943, O.V. Koshevoy, L.G. Shevtsova, S.M. Ostapenko, D.U. Ogurtsov, V.F. Subbotin, after brutal torture, was shot in the Thunderous Forest near the city of Rovenka. Only 11 underground fighters managed to escape from pursuit by the gendarmerie. By decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of September 13, 1943, U.M. Gromova, M.A. Zemnukhov, O.V. Koshevoy, S, G. Tyulenev and L.G. Shevtsova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
monument to the Young Guards
The list of heroes of the partisan struggle and the partisan underground is endless, so on the night of June 30, 1943, underground Komsomol member F. Krylovich blew up the Osipovichi railway station. train with fuel. As a result of the explosion and resulting fire, four military trains were destroyed, including a train with Tiger tanks. The occupiers lost that night at the station. Osipovichi 30 “Tigers”.
monument to underground fighters in Melitopol
The selfless and selfless activities of the partisans and underground fighters received national recognition and high praise from the CPSU and the Soviet government. More than 127,000 partisans were awarded the medal“Partisan of the Patriotic War” 1st and 2nd degree. Over 184,000 partisans and underground fighters were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union, and 248 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”
The first days of the Great Patriotic War were catastrophic for the Soviet Union: the surprise attack on June 22, 1941 allowed Hitler's army to gain significant advantages. Many border outposts and formations that took the brunt of the enemy’s first strike were killed. Wehrmacht troops advanced at high speed deep into Soviet territory. In a short time, 3.8 million soldiers and commanders of the Red Army were captured. But, despite the most difficult conditions of military operations, the defenders of the Fatherland from the very first days of the war showed courage and heroism. A striking example of heroism was the creation, in the first days of the war, in the occupied territory of the first partisan detachment under the command of Korzh Vasily Zakharovich.
Korzh Vasily Zakharovich- commander of the Pinsk partisan unit, member of the Pinsk underground regional party committee, major general. Born on January 1 (13), 1899 in the village of Khorostov, now Soligorsk district, Minsk region, in a peasant family. Belarusian. Member of the CPSU since 1929. He graduated from a rural school. In 1921–1925, V.Z. Korzh fought in the partisan detachment K.P. Orlovsky, who operated in Western Belarus. In 1925 he moved across the border to Soviet Belarus. Since 1925, he was the chairman of collective farms in the regions of the Minsk District. In 1931–1936 he worked in the bodies of the GPU NKVD of the BSSR. In 1936–1937, through the NKVD, Korzh participated as an adviser in the revolutionary war of the Spanish people and was the commander of an international partisan detachment. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he formed and led a fighter battalion, which grew into the first partisan detachment in Belarus. The detachment included 60 people. The detachment was divided into 3 rifle squads of 20 soldiers each. We armed ourselves with rifles and received 90 rounds of ammunition and one grenade. On June 28, 1941, in the area of the village of Posenichi, the first battle of a partisan detachment under the command of V.Z. Korzha. To guard the city from the northern side, a group of partisans was placed on the Pinsk Logishin road.
The partisan detachment commanded by Korzh was ambushed by 2 German tanks. This was reconnaissance from the 293rd Wehrmacht Infantry Division. The partisans opened fire and knocked out one tank. As a result of this operation, they managed to capture 2 Nazis. This was the first partisan battle of the first partisan detachment in the history of the Great Patriotic War. On July 4, 1941, the detachment met enemy cavalry squadrons 4 kilometers from the city. Korzh quickly “deployed” the firepower of his detachment, and dozens of fascist cavalrymen died on the battlefield. The front moved to the east, and the partisans had more to do every day. They set up ambushes on the roads and destroyed enemy vehicles with infantry, equipment, ammunition, food, and intercepted motorcyclists. With the first mine Korzh personally made from explosives, used before the war to move tree stumps, the partisans blew up the first armored train. The squad's combat score grew.
But there was no connection with the mainland. Then Korzh sent a man behind the front line. The liaison officer was the famous Belarusian underground worker Vera Khoruzhaya. And she managed to get to Moscow. In the winter of 1941/42, it was possible to establish contact with the Minsk underground regional party committee, which deployed its headquarters in the Lyuban region. We jointly organized a sleigh ride in the Minsk and Polesie regions. Along the way, they “smoked out” uninvited foreign guests and gave them a “try” of partisan bullets. During the raid, the detachment was replenished thoroughly. Guerrilla warfare flared up. By November 1942, 7 impressively powerful detachments merged together and formed a partisan formation. Korzh took command over him. In addition, 11 underground district party committees, the Pinsk city committee, and about 40 primary organizations began to operate in the region. They even managed to “recruit” to their side an entire Cossack regiment formed by the Nazis from prisoners of war! By the winter of 1942/43, the Korzh union had restored Soviet power in a significant part of the Luninets, Zhitkovichi, Starobinsky, Ivanovo, Drogichinsky, Leninsky, Telekhansky, and Gantsevichi districts. Communication with the mainland has been established. Planes landed at the partisan airfield and brought ammunition, medicine, and walkie-talkies.
The partisans reliably controlled a huge section of the Brest-Gomel railway, the Baranovichi-Luninets section, and the enemy echelons went downhill according to a strict partisan schedule. The Dnieper-Bug Canal was almost completely paralyzed. In February 1943, the Nazi command attempted to put an end to the Korzh partisans. Regular units with artillery, aviation, and tanks were advancing. On February 15, the encirclement closed. The partisan zone turned into a continuous battlefield. Korzh himself led the column to break through. He personally led the shock troops to break through the ring, then the defense of the neck of the breakthrough, while convoys with civilians, wounded and property crossed the gap, and, finally, the rearguard group covering the pursuit. And so that the Nazis did not think that they had won, Korzh attacked a large garrison in the village of Svyatoy Volya. The battle lasted 7 hours, in which the partisans were victorious. Until the summer of 1943, the Nazis threw part after part against the Korzh formation.
And each time the partisans broke through the encirclement. Finally, they finally escaped from the cauldron to the area of Lake Vygonovskoye. . By Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated September 16, 1943 No. 1000 - one of the ten commanders of the partisan formations of the Belarusian SSR - V.Z. Korzh was awarded the military rank of “Major General”. Throughout the summer and autumn of 1943, the “rail war” thundered in Belarus, proclaimed by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. The Korzh compound made a significant contribution to this grandiose “event.” In 1944, several operations that were brilliant in concept and organization upset all the Nazis’ plans for a systematic, well-thought-out withdrawal of their units to the west.
The partisans destroyed railway arteries (on July 20, 21 and 22, 1944 alone, demolitionists blew up 5 thousand rails!), tightly closed the Dnieper-Bug Canal, and thwarted the enemy’s attempts to establish crossings across the Sluch River. Hundreds of Aryan warriors, together with the commander of the group, General Miller, surrendered to the Korzh partisans. And a few days later the war left the Pinsk region... In total, by July 1944, the Pinsk partisan unit under the command of Korzh in battles defeated 60 German garrisons, derailed 478 enemy trains, blew up 62 railway bridges, destroyed 86 tanks and armored vehicles, 29 guns, 519 kilometers of communication lines are out of order. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 15, 1944, for the exemplary performance of command assignments in the fight against the Nazi invaders behind enemy lines and the courage and heroism shown, Vasily Zakharovich Korzh was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. "(No. 4448). In 1946 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1946, Major General Korzh V.Z. in reserve. In 1949–1953 he worked as Deputy Minister of Forestry of the Belarusian SSR. In 1953–1963 he was chairman of the collective farm “Partizansky Krai” in the Soligorsk district of the Minsk region. In the last years of his life he lived in Minsk. Died May 5, 1967. He was buried at the Eastern (Moscow) cemetery in Minsk. Awarded 2 Orders of Lenin, 2 Orders of the Red Banner, Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree, Red Star, medals. A monument to the Hero was erected in the village of Khorostov, memorial plaques in the cities of Minsk and Soligorsk. The collective farm “Partizansky Krai”, streets in the cities of Minsk, Pinsk, Soligorsk, as well as a school in the city of Pinsk are named after him.
Sources and literature.
1. Ioffe E.G. The Higher Partisan Command of Belarus 1941-1944 // Directory. – Minsk, 2009. – P. 23.
2. Kolpakidi A., Sever A. GRU Special Forces. – M.: “YAUZA”, ESKMO, 2012. – P. 45.
The medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" was established in the USSR on February 2, 1943. Over the following years, about 150 thousand heroes were awarded it. This material tells about five people's militias who, by their example, showed how to defend the Motherland.
Efim Ilyich Osipenko
An experienced commander who fought during the Civil War, a true leader, Efim Ilyich became the commander of a partisan detachment in the fall of 1941. Although a detachment is too strong a word: together with the commander there were only six of them. There were practically no weapons and ammunition, winter was approaching, and endless groups of the German army were already approaching Moscow.
Realizing that as much time as possible was needed to prepare the defense of the capital, the partisans decided to blow up a strategically important section of the railway near Myshbor station. There were few explosives, there were no detonators at all, but Osipenko decided to detonate the bomb with a grenade. Silently and unnoticed, the group moved close to the railway tracks and planted explosives. Having sent his friends back and being left alone, the commander saw the train approaching, threw a grenade and fell into the snow. But for some reason the explosion did not happen, then Efim Ilyich himself hit the bomb with a pole from a railway sign. There was an explosion and a long train with food and tanks went downhill. The partisan himself miraculously survived, although he completely lost his sight and was severely shell-shocked. On April 4, 1942, he was the first in the country to be awarded the “Partisan of the Great Patriotic War” medal for No. 000001.
Konstantin Chekhovich
Konstantin Chekhovich - organizer and performer of one of the largest partisan sabotage acts of the Great Patriotic War.
The future hero was born in 1919 in Odessa, almost immediately after graduating from the Industrial Institute he was drafted into the Red Army, and already in August 1941, as part of a sabotage group, he was sent behind enemy lines. While crossing the front line, the group was ambushed, and of the five people, only Chekhovich survived, and he had nowhere to take much optimism - the Germans, after checking the bodies, were convinced that he only had a shell shock and Konstantin Aleksandrovich was captured. He managed to escape from it two weeks later, and after another week he already got in touch with the partisans of the 7th Leningrad Brigade, where he received the task of infiltrating the Germans in the city of Porkhov for sabotage work.
Having achieved some favor with the Nazis, Chekhovich received the position of administrator at a local cinema, which he planned to blow up. He involved Evgenia Vasilyeva in the case - his wife’s sister was employed as a cleaner at the cinema. Every day she carried several briquettes in buckets with dirty water and a rag. This cinema became a mass grave for 760 German soldiers and officers - an inconspicuous “administrator” installed bombs on the supporting columns and roof, so that during the explosion the entire structure collapsed like a house of cards.
Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin
The oldest recipient of the "Partisan of the Patriotic War" and "Hero of the Soviet Union" awards. He was awarded both awards posthumously, and at the time of his feat he was 83 years old.
The future partisan was born back in 1858, 3 years before the abolition of serfdom, in the Pskov province. He spent his entire life isolated (he was not a member of the collective farm), but by no means lonely - Matvey Kuzmich had 8 children from two different wives. He was engaged in hunting and fishing, and knew the area remarkably well.
The Germans who came to the village occupied his house, and later the battalion commander himself settled in it. At the beginning of February 1942, this German commander asked Kuzmin to be a guide and lead the German unit to the village of Pershino occupied by the Red Army, in return he offered almost unlimited food. Kuzmin agreed. However, having seen the route of movement on the map, he sent his grandson Vasily to the destination in advance to warn the Soviet troops. Matvey Kuzmich himself led the frozen Germans through the forest for a long time and confusedly and only in the morning led them out, but not to the desired village, but to an ambush, where the Red Army soldiers had already taken positions. The invaders came under fire from machine gun crews and lost up to 80 people captured and killed, but the hero-guide himself also died.
Leonid Golikov
He was one of many teenage partisans of the Great Patriotic War, a Hero of the Soviet Union. Brigade scout of the Leningrad partisan brigade, spreading panic and chaos in German units in the Novgorod and Pskov regions. Despite his young age - Leonid was born in 1926, at the start of the war he was 15 years old - he was distinguished by his sharp mind and military courage. In just a year and a half of partisan activity, he destroyed 78 Germans, 2 railway and 12 highway bridges, 2 food warehouses and 10 wagons with ammunition. Guarded and accompanied a food convoy to besieged Leningrad.
This is what Lenya Golikov himself wrote about his main feat in a report: “On the evening of August 12, 1942, we, 6 partisans, got out onto the Pskov-Luga highway and lay down near the village of Varnitsa. There was no movement at night. It was dawn. From Pskov 13 August, a small passenger car appeared. It was going fast, but near the bridge where we were, the car went quieter. Partisan Vasiliev threw an anti-tank grenade, but missed. Alexander Petrov threw the second grenade from the ditch, hit the beam. The car didn’t stop immediately, but went further 20 meters and almost caught up with us (we were lying behind a pile of stones). Two officers jumped out of the car. I fired a burst from a machine gun. I didn’t hit. The officer who was driving ran through the ditch towards the forest. I fired several bursts from my PPSh . Hit the enemy in the neck and back. Petrov began shooting at the second officer, who kept looking around, shouting and firing back. Petrov killed this officer with a rifle. Then the two of them ran to the first wounded officer. They tore off their shoulder straps, took a briefcase, documents, it turned out to be the general from the infantry of the special weapons troops, that is, the engineering troops, Richard Wirtz, who was returning from a meeting from Konigsberg to his corps in Luga. There was still a heavy suitcase in the car. We barely managed to drag him into the bushes (150 meters from the highway). While we were still at the car, we heard an alarm, a ringing sound, and a scream in the neighboring village. Grabbing a briefcase, shoulder straps and three captured pistols, we ran to our....”.
As it turned out, the teenager took out extremely important drawings and descriptions of new examples of German mines, maps of minefields, and inspection reports to higher command. For this, Golikov was nominated for the Golden Star and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
He received the title posthumously. Defending himself in a village house from a German punitive detachment, the hero died along with the partisan headquarters on January 24, 1943, before he turned 17 years old.
Tikhon Pimenovich Bumazhkov
Coming from a poor peasant family, Hero of the Soviet Union, Tikhon Pimenovich was already the director of the plant at the age of 26, but the onset of the war did not take him by surprise. Bumazhkov is considered by historians to be one of the first organizers of partisan detachments during the Great Patriotic War. In the summer of 1941, he became one of the leaders and organizers of the extermination squad, which later became known as “Red October”.
In collaboration with units of the Red Army, the partisans destroyed several dozen bridges and enemy headquarters. In just less than 6 months of guerrilla warfare, Bumazhkov’s detachment destroyed up to two hundred enemy vehicles and motorcycles, up to 20 warehouses with fodder and food were blown up or captured, and the number of captured officers and soldiers is estimated at several thousand. Bumazhkov died a heroic death while escaping from encirclement near the village of Orzhitsa, Poltava region.