1941. Deployment of partisan-sabotage warfare in the occupied territory
The actions of Soviet patriots in the rear of the Nazi troops, which began from the first days of the enemy’s invasion of the territory of the USSR, became an integral part of the struggle of the Soviet people against the aggressor. Its general tasks were formulated in 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. This document also determined the most appropriate forms of organizing partisan forces, means and methods of action against the invaders. The resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated July 18, 1941 identified the specific tasks of this struggle and ways to solve them.
The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) obliged the central committees of the communist parties of Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the regional, regional and district party committees of these republics and the RSFSR to lead the people's struggle behind enemy lines, to give it wide scope and military activity. Thousands of party, Soviet and Komsomol activists were left to work underground and in partisan detachments. To areas where this could not be done in advance, they were transferred across the front line.
The initiative and creativity of the masses gave rise to various forms of popular struggle aimed at undermining the occupation regime, exposing propaganda, and providing assistance to the Armed Forces. The main ones were the fighting of partisan formations, the activities of underground fighters, sabotage by the population of the enemy’s political, economic and military activities. All these forms were closely intertwined with each other, mutually complemented each other and constituted a single phenomenon - the nationwide struggle against the fascist occupiers.
Republican and regional party committees, departments and departments of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, military councils and headquarters of fronts and armies energetically implemented the decisions of the party and government to launch nationwide resistance to the invaders. In some republics and regions, operational groups were created that directly supervised the underground and partisan struggle behind enemy lines. By decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, in August - September 1941, departments were created in the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army and the political departments of the fronts, and departments were created in the political departments of the armies to head party political work among the population, partisans and units of the Soviet army operating in the territory occupied by the enemy. At the headquarters of some fronts, special departments were created to manage the operational activities of partisan formations. These bodies worked closely with republican and regional party committees.
The main link in the system of party leadership of the struggle of Soviet people in enemy-occupied territory were regional, city and district underground party committees.
During the first months of the war, great difficulties had to be overcome in this most important work. In many regions of Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic republics, due to the rapid advance of enemy troops, it was not possible to create a party underground and partisan detachments in advance, and where they succeeded, due to brutal repression, they were unable to gain a foothold and develop their activities.
Despite these serious difficulties, in 1941, 18 underground regional committees, more than 260 district committees, city committees, district committees and other party bodies, and a large number of primary party organizations and groups began working on Soviet territory temporarily occupied by the enemy. The Komsomol underground was created everywhere.
Underground party and Komsomol committees and organizations began their activities with mass political work among the population and partisans. They exposed fascist ideology and propaganda and disseminated information about events on the Soviet-German front. This helped to strengthen the party’s connection with the Soviet people behind enemy lines and instilled in them confidence in the inevitability of the defeat of the aggressor and in the victory of the Soviet Union.
Along with propaganda work, large-scale sabotage was organized. Thus, on September 19-25, 1941, Kyiv underground fighters destroyed the building of the Kiev-Tovarnaya station, the main workshops of the Kiev Locomotive Plant, the main railway workshops, the Andreev depot, blew up and burned the factories named after Rosa Luxemburg and named after Gorky. Patriots thwarted the restoration by the Nazis of the Bolshevik and Leninskaya Kuznitsa factories.
When organizing the struggle of Soviet people behind enemy lines, party organs paid special attention to the deployment of partisan formations. The majority of partisan detachments and groups were Soviet people who found themselves in enemy-occupied territory. They voluntarily united patriots who were eager to assist the Soviet army in the speedy defeat and expulsion of the Nazi invaders from their native land.
When partisan detachments and groups were formed in advance, their backbone often served as destruction battalions. The detachments were created on a territorial basis - in each district.
Those partisan detachments and groups that consisted primarily of communists, Komsomol members and Soviet activists were considered by party committees and army headquarters as the basis for the widespread deployment of a nationwide struggle behind enemy lines.
The partisan detachments included fighters and commanders of units that were surrounded. For example, at the end of 1941, 1,315 soldiers joined the Crimean detachments (about 35 percent of the total number of partisans on the peninsula), and about 10 thousand joined the Oryol region detachments. This significantly increased the combat effectiveness of the detachments. The military personnel brought a spirit of discipline and organization into the ranks of the partisans, helping them master weapons, tactics and techniques of fighting behind enemy lines.
The Central Committee of the Party drew attention to the need to attract to work behind enemy lines people with experience in partisan warfare accumulated during the Civil War, old Bolsheviks, security officers, and party workers. In Belarus, major leaders of the partisan movement were S. A. Vaupshasov, V. Z. Korzh, K. P. Orlovsky, M. F. Shmyrev, who already had experience in this struggle; in Ukraine - M. I. Karnaukhov, S. A. Kovpak , I. G. Chaplin, in the Russian Federation - D. V. Emlyutin, N. Z. Kolyada, D. N. Medvedev, A. V. Mokrousov, S. A. Orlov and others.
The partisan movement acquired a wide scope in the southern regions of the Leningrad region, in the Kalinin, Smolensk, and Orel regions, in the western regions of the Moscow, Vitebsk, Minsk, Mogilev, Sumy, Chernigov, Kharkov and Stalin (Donetsk) regions.
The partisan formations were very diverse in their structure, numbers and weapons. Some of them were divided into groups and squads, others into companies and platoons. There were united detachments, battalions, regiments, and brigades.
The partisan detachments created in the front-line areas during the pre-occupation period were similar in organization to military units, divided into companies, platoons, squads and had communications, reconnaissance and support groups. Their average number did not exceed 50-75 people. The detachment's leadership consisted of a commander, a commissar and a chief of staff.
By the end of 1941, more than 2 thousand detachments with a total number of over 90 thousand people were functioning in enemy-occupied territory.
The partisans committed sabotage, set up ambushes, attacked enemy garrisons, destroyed railways, blew up railway bridges, destroyed traitors and traitors to the Motherland, conducted reconnaissance, and interacted with units of the Soviet army.
About 20 thousand Leningrad and Baltic partisans operated in the rear of the Nazi Army Group North, which was rushing towards Leningrad. The commander of the 16th German Army already on July 19, 1941 was forced to issue a special order to fight them. With undisguised concern, he noted the increased activity of Soviet partisans and pointed out that their actions “must be taken into account.” Very indicative are the warnings from the command of Army Group North, given to the troops on November 11, that “only the Pskov - Maslogostitsy - Yamm - Gdov road should be considered the connecting route from Pskov to Gdov. The connection through Novoselye - Strugi-Krasnye is interrupted and leads through dangerous territory where the partisans are located.”
Up to 900 partisan detachments and groups with a total number of more than 40 thousand people took part in attacks on the rear of Army Group Center during the summer and autumn of 1941. The partisans destroyed railway tracks and communication lines in the battle areas, created blockages on the roads, disrupting the work of enemy communications. One of the orders of the commander of the 4th German Army, Kluge, said: “On November 5, on the Maloyaroslavets-Bashkino section, rails were blown up in many places, and on November 6, on the Kirov-Vyazma section, switches were blown up.” According to the commander of the 2nd German Tank Army, in mid-November 1941, due to a lack of steam locomotives and due to destruction on the railways committed by partisans, Army Group Center, instead of 70 trains, which constituted the daily requirement for material resources, received only 23. According to Hitler’s command, from the beginning of the war to September 16, 447 railway bridges were destroyed in the rear of the Nazi troops, including 117 in the rear of Army Group Center and 141 in Army Group South.
On the southern section of the Soviet-German front in the rear of Army Group South in the summer and autumn of 1941, 883 partisan detachments and 1,700 small groups with a total number of about 35 thousand people operated. Of these, 165 detachments interacted with the troops of the Southwestern and Southern Fronts.
In the battles near Kiev, the 1st Kiev Partisan Regiment courageously fought with the enemy. In the Kirovograd region, the partisan detachment named after K. E. Voroshilov (commander A. S. Kutsenko) fought 50 battles with the invaders in the period from September 3 to October 15. The partisans of the Chernigov region alone in the second half of September 1941 destroyed 11 bridges, 19 tanks, 6 armored vehicles, several guns, 2 ammunition depots, killed and wounded over 450 German soldiers and officers.
The determination with which the Soviet people waged an irreconcilable struggle against the occupiers caused constant concern among the Nazi leadership. Already on July 25, 1941, the high command of the German army prepared the first report on the actions of the partisans. It drew attention to the serious danger of the partisan movement for the German rear and its communications. The order of the Chief of Staff of the High Command of the Armed Forces of Hitler's Germany, Keitel, dated September 16, 1941, noted:
“Since the beginning of the war against Soviet Russia, a communist insurgency has broken out everywhere in the territories occupied by Germany. Forms of action range from propaganda activities and attacks on individual Wehrmacht soldiers to open uprisings and widespread war...”
The enemy took vigorous measures to protect communications routes in the occupied territory. The OKH instructions of October 25, 1941 on combating partisans indicated that on average, for every 100 km of railways it is necessary to have about a guard battalion.
According to the German General Staff, on November 30, 1941, that is, during a period of particularly intense fighting near Moscow, when the Nazis experienced an acute shortage of people, the Nazi command was forced to allocate almost 300 thousand people to protect communications and fight partisans. from regular troops, security units and other formations.
The movement to disrupt the political, economic and military activities of the occupiers gained wide momentum behind enemy lines. The Nazis hoped to use the industrial, raw materials and human resources of the captured regions to their advantage. They planned to receive coal from Donbass, iron ore from Krivoy Rog, and export grain and other products from the agricultural regions of the Soviet Union.
To thwart the enemy's predatory plans, Soviet people refused to go to work under various pretexts, evaded registering at labor exchanges, and hid their professions. They rendered useless or reliably hid the remaining equipment of industrial enterprises and raw materials.
In the Dzerzhinsky district of the Smolensk region, for example, in November 1941, the occupiers tried to restore the Kondrovskaya, Troitskaya and Polotnyano-Zavodskaya paper mills. Specialists arrived from Germany, but the workers, on instructions from an underground organization, hid valuable equipment. Despite the strictest orders from the German commandant's office, not a single part was returned. The factories were never restored.
In September 1941, at the Krichevsky cement plant in Belarus, workers on instructions from an underground organization disabled electric motors and transmissions of grinding furnaces brought from Germany. As a result, the Nazis had to abandon their attempt to put the plant into operation. In Kharkov, during the first three months of the occupation, they failed to restore a single enterprise.
Collective farmers hid supplies of grain and fodder, stole and hid livestock in the forests, and disabled agricultural equipment. For example, in the fall of 1941, the Nazis expected to procure more than 600 tons of bread, about 3 thousand tons of potatoes and other products in the Kletnyansky district of the Oryol region. However, the peasants did not transport a single kilogram of grain and potatoes to procurement points. The entire harvest of 1941 was distributed among collective farmers and safely hidden.
The German occupation authorities encountered acts of sabotage almost everywhere. In October 1941, the head of the Wehrmacht sabotage service on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front, T. Oberlander, reported to Berlin: “A much greater danger than the active resistance of the partisans here is passive resistance - labor sabotage, in overcoming which we have even less chance of success".
These and many other similar facts clearly refute the fictions of bourgeois authors about the loyal attitude of the Soviet people towards the invaders in the occupied territory. And although the people's struggle behind enemy lines was just unfolding, Soviet patriots were already inflicting tangible blows on the enemy and providing the Soviet army with considerable assistance in thwarting the plans of the Nazi command.
One of the important conditions that ensured victory in the Great Patriotic War was resistance to the invaders in the occupied territories. It was caused, firstly, by the deep patriotism and sense of national identity of the Soviet people. Secondly, the country's leadership took targeted actions to support and organize this movement. Thirdly, natural protest was caused by the fascist idea of the inferiority of the Slavic and other peoples of the USSR, economic robbery and pumping out of human resources. Germany's Ostpolitik, designed to address popular dissatisfaction with the Bolshevik regime and national contradictions, was a complete failure. The cruel attitude of the German command towards Soviet prisoners of war, extreme anti-Semitism, the mass extermination of Jews and other peoples, the execution of ordinary communists and party and government officials of any rank - all this exacerbated the hatred of the Soviet people towards the invaders. Only a small part of the population (especially in territories forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union before the war) cooperated with the occupiers.
Resistance unfolded in various forms: special groups of the NKVD operating behind enemy lines, partisan detachments, underground organizations in captured cities, etc. Many of them were led by underground regional and district committees of the CPSU (b). They were faced with the tasks of maintaining faith in the inviolability of Soviet power, strengthening the morale of the people and intensifying the struggle in the occupied territories.
At the end of June - beginning of July 1941, the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted resolutions on organizing the struggle in the rear of German troops. By the end of 1941, more than 2 thousand partisan detachments, numbering more than 100 thousand people, operated in the territory captured by Nazi troops, in extremely difficult conditions, without experience in underground struggle.
To coordinate the actions of partisan detachments, deliver them weapons, ammunition, food and medicine, organize the transportation of the sick and wounded to the mainland, in May 1942, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was created at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, headed by P. K. Ponomarenko. The commanders of the active army provided significant assistance to the partisan detachments. As a result, vast territories were liberated behind enemy lines and partisan regions were created (in Belarus and the Russian Federation). The Nazi command was forced to send 22 divisions to suppress the partisans.
The partisan movement reached its highest level in 1943. Its peculiarity was the consolidation of partisan formations (into regiments, brigades) and coordination of actions with the general plans of the Soviet command. In August - September 1943, with operations "Rail War" and "Concert", the partisans disabled for a long time more than 2 thousand km of communication routes, bridges and various types of railway equipment behind enemy lines. This provided significant assistance to Soviet troops during the battles near Kursk, Orel and Kharkov. At the same time, a Carpathian raid was carried out behind enemy lines under the command of S. A. Kovpak, which was of great importance in the general patriotic upsurge of the population in the western parts of Ukraine.
In 1944, the partisan movement played an important role in the liberation of Belarus and Right Bank Ukraine. As the territory of the Soviet Union was liberated, partisan detachments joined the active army. Some of the partisan formations were relocated to Poland and Slovakia.
The selfless struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines was one of the important factors that ensured the victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War.
From the first days of the war, resistance to the occupiers began in the territory occupied by the enemy. It was caused by deep patriotism and a sense of national identity. Mass repressions and extermination of the population, brutal exploitation and robbery - all this exacerbated the hatred of the Soviet people towards the invaders. The total number of victims of the occupation regime exceeded 14 million people. About 4.8 million people were taken to slave labor in Germany. Jews and Gypsies were subjected to wholesale extermination.
Only a small part of the population (especially in the territories annexed by the Soviet Union before the war) cooperated with the occupiers.
Already on June 29, 1941, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, in their Directive, obliged party, Soviet, trade union and Komsomol organizations to mobilize all the forces of the people to defeat the enemy. One of the paragraphs of the directive stated: “In areas occupied by the enemy, create partisan detachments and sabotage groups to fight units of the enemy army, to incite partisan warfare everywhere, to blow up bridges, roads, damage telephone and telegraph communications, set fire to warehouses, etc. d. In occupied areas, create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue and destroy them at every step, disrupt all their activities.”
Resistance unfolded in different forms: sabotage, underground, partisan movement, sabotage, etc. 17-year-old Komsomol member Z.A. became a symbol of heroism. Kosmodemyanskaya. As part of a sabotage group, she was transferred behind enemy lines, captured, interrogated and excruciatingly tortured. She behaved courageously, and as a result was hanged by the Nazis.
Another symbol of resistance were the Young Guards - members of the underground organization of Komsomol members in occupied Krasnodon (O. Koshevoy, U. Gromova, V. Tretyakevich, S. Tyulenin - more than a hundred people in total). They posted leaflets, killed policemen, and prepared sabotage. At the beginning of 1943, the Nazis managed to track down the Young Guard and brutally massacre many of its members.
In May 1942, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was created in Moscow, headed by P.N. Ponomarenko. Departments for relations with partisan detachments were created at all army headquarters. From that time on, the partisan movement acquired an organized character, its actions began to be coordinated, and the partisans received weapons, ammunition, food and medicine.
Entire regions were liberated from the occupiers. Since the autumn of 1942, the partisans controlled a number of regions of Belarus, the northern part of Ukraine, the Smolensk, Bryansk and Oryol regions. Large partisan formations, regiments and brigades began to form. The partisan formations were most often led by career military, party and economic leaders: S.A. Kovpak, A.N. Saburov, A.F. Fedorov, N.Z. Kolyada, S.V. Grishin and others. In the summer and autumn of 1942, the Germans were forced to transfer 22 divisions from the front to fight the partisans.
The partisan movement reached its highest level in 1943. In August-September 1943, with operations “Rail War” and “Concert”, the partisans disabled more than 2 thousand km of communications routes, bridges and various types of railway equipment behind enemy lines for a long time. This provided significant assistance to Soviet troops during the battles near Kursk, Orel and Kharkov.
In 1944, the partisan movement played an important role in the liberation of Belarus and Right Bank Ukraine. As the territory of the Soviet Union was liberated, partisan detachments joined the active army.
The total number of partisans during the war years was 2.8 million people. They distracted up to 10% of the enemy's armed forces. In total, during the war years, the partisans disabled about 1.5 million enemy soldiers and officers, blew up 20 thousand enemy trains and 12 thousand bridges, destroyed 65 thousand cars, 2.3 thousand tanks, 1.1 thousand aircraft , 17 thousand km of communication lines.
The selfless struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines was one of the important factors that ensured the victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War.
During the war years, popular resistance to the aggressors in the rear of the Nazi troops grew more and more. Its forms were different. The partisan movement and the activities of underground organizations and groups developed. The participation of the population in disrupting the political and economic activities of the fascist invaders became widespread. Thus, speaking out against forced labor, Soviet people avoided registering at labor exchanges. The departure of workers and employees from enterprises, as well as absenteeism, has become widespread. Threats and repressions of the fascist authorities could not stop this process. The population did not want to work for the occupiers.
At enterprises where the Nazis managed to resume production, the patriots disorganized it in various ways: they disabled machines and equipment, caused accidents, and destroyed raw materials and finished products. Sabotage was also carried out at railway junctions, large stations, and locomotive depots. Sabotage and sabotage as a form of popular struggle against the occupiers found wide application wherever the fascists established their dominance.
In rural areas of the occupied territory, peasants hid grain from previous years' harvests from the Nazis or destroyed it, sabotaged natural supplies, and disrupted sowing and harvesting campaigns.
Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 gave birth to a partisan movement that was grandiose in scope, organization and formidable character. The combat interaction of the partisans with regular units and formations of the Red Army increased. One of its important types was that partisans, on instructions from the military command, conducted reconnaissance of the deployment of enemy troops, their headquarters, established the types of troops and the nature of weapons, obtained information about the location of airfields, ammunition depots, fuel, the movement of trains with cargo and troops, etc. In the zones of the most massive development of the partisan movement, it had a direct impact on the course of the armed struggle at the front.
The partisans diverted more and more enemy troops, disrupted their communications, destroyed the Nazis' manpower and equipment, and aroused fear among enemy soldiers and officers. The struggle of partisans and underground fighters became an important factor of strategic and political significance, playing an increasingly important role in the development of events of the Great Patriotic War.
-Resistance movement
The Resistance movement refers to resistance to the occupation authorities in the territories occupied by Germany and its allies during the Second World War, as well as, in fact, in Germany and Italy.
It took various forms: non-cooperation, sabotage at enterprises, propaganda, hiding downed pilots, partisanship. It acquired the greatest scope in the USSR, Poland and Yugoslavia, and from Western European countries - in Italy. Also, separate detachments were created in Great Britain to be deployed into enemy territory. The most famous of these detachments in 1942 made an attempt on the life of the Imperial Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, Heydrich.
First period (beginning of the war - June 1941)
The first period was a period of accumulation of human resources, propaganda and organizational preparation for mass struggle.
After the German occupation of Poland, the underground “Union of Armed Struggle” was created. In 1939-1940 the movement spread to Silesia. In 1940, there was sabotage at enterprises and railway transport. Polish peasants refused to pay exorbitant taxes and sabotaged food supplies.
At the call of the communists in Czechoslovakia, the formation of groups began that carried out sabotage in factories, transport, etc.
In Yugoslavia, partisans mainly arose on the initiative of the communists. These detachments consisted of soldiers and officers who did not lay down their arms after the end of the war and went to the mountains to continue the fight.
In France, the first participants in the movement were workers in the Paris region, Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments. One of the first major demonstrations was dedicated to the end of the First World War on November 11, 1940. In May 1941, there was a strike of over 100 thousand miners in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments. On the initiative of the communists in France, in May of the same year, the National Front was created - a mass patriotic association that united the French of different social classes and political views. The prototype of a military organization - the "Special Organization" was created at the end of 1940 (later included in the organization "Frantineurs and Partisans").
Also, Albania, Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands and other countries that were occupied by German, Italian or Japanese troops, as well as their satellites, rose up to fight.
China's resistance against the Japanese imperialists reached large proportions. From August 20 to December 5, 1940, the Chinese army launched an offensive against Japanese positions. Democratic reforms were carried out in the liberated areas, democratic governments led by communists were created.
The second period is primarily associated with the German attack on the USSR. The heroic struggle of the Red Army, especially the battle of Moscow, made it possible to unite the Resistance movement and make it national. The liberation struggle of many peoples was led by:
National Front (in Poland, France and Italy)
Anti-fascist Assembly of People's Liberation (Yugoslavia)
National Liberation Front (in Greece and Albania)
Independence Front (Belgium)
Fatherland Front (Bulgaria)
Yugoslavia
Main article: Partisan movement in Yugoslavia in 1941-1944.
On June 27, 1941, the Main Headquarters of the People's Liberation Partisan Detachments was formed in Yugoslavia. On July 7, under their leadership, an armed uprising began in Serbia, on July 13 - in Montenegro, after which the action spread to Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the end of 1941, up to 80 thousand partisans were operating in the country. By the end of 1942, all of Yugoslavia was liberated. On November 27 of the same year, the Anti-Fascist Assembly of People's Liberation of Yugoslavia was created.
The main force of the Polish Resistance was the Home Army. In 1942, the pro-communist Guard of Ludova was also created.
Bulgaria
Main article: Resistance Movement (Bulgaria)
The resistance in Bulgaria was led almost exclusively by Bulgarian communists. They operated in four main areas - propaganda activities, partisan detachments, BKP combat groups and reconnaissance groups.
Other European countries
In Albania, led by the Communist Party created in November 1941, the scale of the struggle increased. In Greece, the National Liberation Front, created in September 1941 on the initiative of the communists, led the struggle. The front consisted of workers and peasants. The resulting detachments were united in December 1941 into the People's Liberation Army.
The Resistance movement expanded in East and Southeast Asia, especially in China. The Japanese launched an offensive, but at the cost of heavy losses they were able to capture only Northern China. Central and Eastern were increasingly under the control of Chinese communists.
In Malaya, on the basis of communist partisans, the Anti-Japanese Army of the Peoples of Malaya was formed. An anti-Japanese alliance was also organized. In the spring of 1942, after the occupation of Indonesia, the people immediately rose up to fight. Sabotage at enterprises and factories failed, peasant uprisings arose, but all this was brutally suppressed by the Japanese. In 1942, the fight against the Japanese began in Burma, especially in the west and center, where guerrilla groups were formed. A united anti-Japanese front was created in the Philippines, and in March 1942, on the initiative of the communists, the Hukbalahap National Army was created.
Third period (November 1942 - end of 1943)
This period is associated with fundamental changes in favor of the anti-Hitler coalition: victory at Stalingrad, the Kursk Bulge, and so on. Therefore, the Resistance movement sharply intensified in all countries (including Germany itself). In Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria, people's liberation armies were created on the basis of partisan detachments. In Poland, the Ludowa Guard acted, thereby setting an example for the Home Army, which was unable to act due to its reactionary leaders. An example of resistance is the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on April 19, 1943. The movement expanded in Czechoslovakia, and the Patriotic Anti-Hitler Front was created in Romania. The scale of the movement increased in France, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Denmark; in Greece, Albania, Yugoslavia and Northern Italy, entire territories were liberated from the occupiers.
More and more territories were liberated in China. In 1943, the movement began in Korea, and strikes and sabotage began. Vietnam was able to expel the Japanese to the north of the country. In Burma, the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League was formed in 1944. The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaya became more active.
Fourth period (late 1943 - end of war)
This period is characterized by the final stage of the war: the cleansing of Europe from Nazism and the victory over militaristic Japan.
As a result of the apparent collapse of the Nazi regime, a wave of uprisings swept across Europe:
Bulgaria - uprising in September 1944
Slovakia - 1944 uprising
Czech Republic - 1945 uprising
Poland - government organization, Warsaw Uprising - summer 1944, unsuccessful
Yugoslavia - National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia, after March 7, 1945 - democratic government
Albania - organization of legislature and provisional government
Greece - thanks to the advance of Soviet troops by the end of October 1944, the occupiers were destroyed, but because of the British army the monarchical regime was restored
France - in 1943 the movement intensified, culminating in the Paris uprising of June 6, 1944, which brought victory
Italy - in the fall of 1943, the Italian Resistance became more active, and in the summer of 1944, a partisan army numbering over 100 thousand people was created; in April 1945, a national uprising began, leading to complete cleansing of the occupiers
Belgium - about 50 thousand partisans acted, an uprising broke out in September 1944
Germany - despite the brutal Nazi regime, the movement achieved a lot here too. Communist detachments continued to operate, resistance groups were created in concentration camps, the national committee “Free Germany” was created by the communists (with the support of the USSR), similar committees were created with the support of Western Europe.
Philippines - the Hukbalahap army cleared the island of Luzon from the invaders in 1944, but the success could not be consolidated.
Indochina - unification into the Vietnamese Liberation Army.
China - after the USSR entered the war with Japan, the Chinese army had the opportunity to completely clear the territory of the occupiers.
Vietnam - uprising in August 1945 and proclamation of a republic.
Malaya - liberation from the occupiers by August 1945.
Movement results
Thanks to the Resistance movement, the defeat of the Axis countries significantly accelerated. The movement also became a shining example of the struggle against imperialist reaction; extermination of civilians and other war crimes; for world peace.
-Partisan movement
After the occupation of the territory of the republic by German troops, the population began to struggle against the invaders in many of its regions. It was carried out in a wide variety of forms - from failure to comply with the measures of the occupation authorities to armed resistance. The most noticeable actions for the Wehrmacht and police forces were the actions of armed partisan detachments and groups. They testified to the natural desire of the Belarusian people to see their Fatherland free from foreign invaders.
Among the first to emerge independently was the Pinsk partisan detachment under the command of V.Z. Korzh, numbering about 60 people. The Red October detachment was active in the Oktyabrsky district of the Polesie region. Its leaders T.P. Bumazhkov and F.I. Pavlovsky on August 6, 1941 became the first partisans - Heroes of the Soviet Union. In the Minsk region, in the village of Zagale (Lyubansky district), a combat partisan group was created by D. Khamitsevich. In the Chashniksky region, the armed struggle against the invaders was led by T.E. Ermakovich. From among the workers and employees of the Pudot cardboard factory in the Surazhsky district, a detachment was created, headed by M.F. Shmyrev, lovingly called by the people “Father Minay.” Based on former extermination battalions, partisan detachments were formed in Paritsky, Lelchitsy, Elsky, Loevsky, Rogachevsky, Mekhovsky and other regions of Belarus. In total, in the second half of 1941, about 60 detachments and groups emerged independently.
Most of the partisan formations were those that were organized by the party-Soviet bodies. Under their leadership, in the eastern regions of the republic before their occupation, special briefings and instructions were carried out, short-term courses and preparatory centers were created. They operated in Mogilev, Lezna, Vitebsk, Gomel, Mozyr, Polotsk, and other settlements. The result of this work was that in July-September over 430 partisan detachments and organizational groups were formed in a centralized manner, numbering more than 8,300 people.
The activities of the partisans caused serious concern among the invaders. General Wagner, for example, informed the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, F. Halder, that Army Group Center could not be properly provided with everything necessary “due to the destruction of the railway lines by partisans.”
With the onset of winter cold and due to the lack of the required amount of weapons, ammunition, food, warm clothing and medicine, some of the detachments and groups temporarily self-liquidated or switched to a semi-legal position, so that later, with the arrival of spring warmth, they would take up arms again. But even in winter conditions, about 200 partisan detachments and groups continued the armed struggle against the invaders. Over time, they grew into large partisan formations, inflicting significant losses on the enemy in manpower and equipment.
The Battle of Moscow had a positive impact on the development of partisan warfare. The defeat of the Germans at the walls of the USSR capital clearly indicated that the plan for a “lightning war” was buried, that the war would be long and the aggressor would ultimately be defeated.
A new rise in the partisan movement in Belarus occurred in the spring-summer of 1942: the number of detachments and groups that united into brigades, “garrisons”, and military operational groups grew; The armament of the “forest” fighters was significantly improved, and the structure of the partisan forces was improved. They increasingly acquired a military structure. Brigades mainly consisted of detachments, which in turn were divided into platoons and squads. Some brigades and regiments also had battalions, and detachments had companies. In addition, there were partisan regiments and military operational groups. The skill of command personnel and headquarters at all levels increased, and connections with the local population were established.
At the beginning of January 1943, the number of partisans in Belarus exceeded 56 thousand people. The Central (created in May 1942) and Belorussian (September 1942) headquarters of the partisan movement - TsShPD and BSPD - played a positive role in improving the structure and management, as well as providing patriots with weapons, explosives, radio communications, and command personnel. They were respectively headed by the secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus P.K. Ponomarenko and P.Z. Kalinin.
The growth of the partisan movement caused a wave of punitive enemy expeditions. During May-November 1942, the Nazis carried out more than 40 punitive operations in different regions of Belarus. During their course, the enemy sometimes managed to push the patriots back from the areas of their permanent deployment for some time, but he was unable to eliminate the partisan movement.
After the successful completion of the Battle of Stalingrad and other front-line operations in 1943, primarily the Battle of Kursk, partisan forces began to increase even faster. In the Minsk region alone in 1943, over 22 thousand people joined partisan detachments. It is characteristic that the partisan movement grew not only in the eastern and central, but also in the western regions of Belarus. This was facilitated by the redeployment of a number of partisan formations from the eastern to the western regions, as well as their movement within the borders of individual regions. Until the winter of 1943/44, 12 brigades and 14 separate detachments with a total of about 7 thousand people were transferred to the west in military raids. As a result of this action, the number of partisan forces in the western regions increased to 37 thousand people, and the number of detachments increased from 60 to 282. Together with local partisans, they formed an almost continuous partisan front.
An indicator of the increased skill of the partisans and their headquarters was the conduct of large-scale operations within the entire occupied territory of Belarus at the same time, which went down in history under the name “Rail War”. Virtually all partisan units of the republic took part in them. In Belarus in 1943-1944. Operation Rail War was carried out in three stages. Its goal was to disrupt the enemy’s military transportation and maximize assistance to the Red Army’s offensive. The first stage began on the night of August 3-4, 1943 and lasted until mid-September 1943, the second - from September 19, 1943 to early November 1943 (it was called the “Concert”). The third stage began on the night of June 20, 1944. During the 1st and 2nd stages of the “rail war,” the partisans blew up more than 200 thousand rails. The railway lines Timkovichi - Osipovichi - Bobruisk - Starushki, Zhlobin - Kalinkovichi were destroyed. On many railway lines, traffic was suspended from 4 to 15 days, and the sections Mogilev - Krichev, Polotsk - Dvinsk, Mogilev - Zhlobin, Baranovichi - Luninets were out of service for an even longer period. At the same time, the partisans derailed trains, blew up bridges, water pumps, and railway stations. A clear indicator of the partisans' military successes in 1943 is that they controlled 60 percent of the occupied territory, a significant part of which was completely liberated from the invaders. Seriously concerned about this situation, the Nazis carried out more than 60 major punitive operations against partisans and the population throughout 1943. In addition to security and police forces, many thousands of career Wehrmacht soldiers and officers also took part in multi-day battles. They were armed with tanks, artillery, and airplanes.
It is safe to say that if it were not for widespread popular resistance, the results of the enemy’s crimes would have been much more significant and terrible. During the years of occupation, the partisans liberated and controlled most of the territory of Belarus, destroyed and wounded over 500 thousand enemy soldiers, officers and their accomplices. They considered their most important goal to be the rescue of civilians, the protection of populated areas, and the preservation of property.
-CSBA and BSBA
The central headquarters of the partisan movement at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (TSSHPD) is the central authority for controlling the partisan movement in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. Created in order to unite the leadership of the partisan movement behind enemy lines and for the further development of this movement. Formed by Decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR No. GOKO-1837ss dated May 30, 1942. In order to implement this resolution, the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR issued Order No. 00125 of June 16, 1942 “On the formation of the Central and regional headquarters of the partisan movement.”
In March 1943, the TsShPD was abolished, but a month later, on April 17, by Decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR No. 3195ss, it was again restored at the Supreme Command Headquarters. The Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement was removed from the subordination of the TsShPD.
On January 13, 1944, taking into account that the majority of partisan detachments operate on the territory of the Ukrainian and Byelorussian SSR, which have their own headquarters of the partisan movement, the State Defense Committee of the USSR, by decision No. 4945ss, disbanded the TsShPD.
By the same decision, the GKO transferred leadership of the partisan movement in the still occupied territory to the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the republics: Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, ESSR, Lat SSR, Lit SSR, MSSR, Karelo-Finnish SSR and Crimean ASSR and the regional committees of the Leningrad and Kalinin regions.
Tasks of the CSBA
Leadership of the partisan movement, the main task of which is to disorganize the enemy’s rear, namely:
destruction of enemy communication lines (blowing up bridges, damaging railway tracks, causing train wrecks, attacking enemy vehicles and horse-drawn vehicles);
destruction of communication lines (telephone, telegraph, radio stations);
destruction of warehouses - ammunition, equipment, fuel and food;
attack on headquarters and other military institutions behind enemy lines;
destruction of materiel at enemy airfields;
informing units of the Red Army about the location, number and movements of enemy troops.
Composition of the TSSHPD
Ponomarenko P.K. (from the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks) - chief of staff,
Sergienko V. T. (from the NKVD)
Korneev T.F. (from the NPO Intelligence Directorate)
Structure of the CSBA
Intelligence Department of the TsShPD - was responsible for the work on establishing new military formations arriving at the front, groupings and regroupings of troops, the state and operation of the enemy’s communications, monitoring his measures to prepare defensive lines, the deployment and relocation of airfields and warehouses, the Nazis’ readiness for chemical warfare, the number and the combat effectiveness of the enemy’s field and security units, as well as the political and economic situation in the occupied territory of the USSR.
The Operations Department of the TsShPD - directed the combat activities of partisan formations, both through the corresponding headquarters of the partisan movement and directly. The Operations Department was involved in the creation of raid partisan formations and detachments, the dispatch of organizational and sabotage groups and the reorganization of partisan formations, identified new areas of activity for them and assigned them combat missions, and also monitored the implementation of orders from the head of the Central Shpd.
Chief - Colonel I.I. Naumov.
The deputy chiefs are Lieutenant Colonel V.P. Shestakov and Major Ivolgin.
The head of the department is Captain Kolmykov.
The head of the department is Major Kryukov.
The head of the department is Major Rumyantsev.
Also, the department created:
Group for the application and implementation of guerrilla warfare methods and modern sabotage means,
Accounting group
Warehouse of topographic maps.
The operations department developed operations - “Rail War”, “Concert”, “Winter Concert”, “Desert”, etc.
Representative offices of the TsShPD at the Military Councils of the fronts (since September 6, 1942). Due to the fact that the zones of action of the fronts did not coincide with the borders of the republics and regions, it was decided to have representations of the Central Shpd under the Military Councils of the fronts, the leaders of which were included in their composition.
Head - V. N. Malin.
Structures subordinate to TsShPD
Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement (until 1943);
Bryansk headquarters of the partisan movement;
Western headquarters of the partisan movement;
Kalinin headquarters of the partisan movement;
Karelo-Finnish headquarters of the partisan movement.
On September 28, 1942, a number of republican, regional and front-line headquarters of the partisan movement were created:
Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement;
Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement;
Lithuanian headquarters of the partisan movement;
Latvian headquarters of the partisan movement;
Estonian headquarters of the partisan movement;
Karelo-Finnish headquarters of the partisan movement;
Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement;
Oryol headquarters of the partisan movement;
Smolensk headquarters of the partisan movement;
Stavropol headquarters of the partisan movement;
Crimean headquarters of the partisan movement;
Astrakhan headquarters of the partisan movement;
The Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement (BSPD) in February 1944 moved from the Moscow region to the village of Chenki, Gomel region.
The BSPA was created in the fall of 1942. The structure of the headquarters was constantly changing and improving as the functions of leading the partisan movement became more complex. In 1944, the headquarters consisted of a command, 10 departments (operational, intelligence, information, communications, personnel, encryption, logistics, financial, secret, engineering), a sanitary service, an administrative and economic unit, and a commandant platoon. Directly subordinate to him were a stationary and mobile communications center, a training reserve point, an expeditionary transport base, and the 119th special air squadron with an airfield command.
The Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement worked under the direct leadership of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement and the Central Committee of the CP(b)B. He provided centralized leadership of detachments, brigades and territorial partisan formations of Belarus. The headquarters developed and implemented measures for the development of partisan warfare, planned, organized and controlled the combat operations of brigades and detachments, studied, generalized and disseminated their combat experience. The BSPD resolved issues of providing partisans with weapons, ammunition, communications, placed requests for their industrial production, organized air transportation of military cargo, trained military specialists behind enemy lines and the evacuation of wounded partisans to the Soviet rear, conducted training and accounting of partisan personnel. Reconnaissance behind enemy lines occupied an important place in the work of the headquarters. He supervised the collection of information, processed it and sent it to interested headquarters of the operating armies, state and party bodies.
In addition to the main headquarters, the State Defense Committee of the USSR created representative offices and operational groups of the BSPD under the Military Councils of the fronts. They brought the headquarters leadership closer to the partisan combat areas, ensured control of the partisan formations and detachments that were based in the offensive zone of these fronts, and coordinated the combat missions of the partisans with the existing regular units and formations of the Red Army.
On May 30, 1942, by decision of the State Defense Committee at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was created. The 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks, P. K. Ponomarenko, was appointed chief of staff. Soon, on September 9, 1942, by decree of the State Defense Committee, the Belarusian Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (BSHPD) was formed - the republican body of military leadership of the partisan movement on the territory of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War. It was headed by the second secretary of the Central Committee of the CP(b)B P. Z. KALININ (October 1942 - October 1944), later, from October to November 1944 - Colonel A. A. PROKHOROV. The BSPD was disbanded on November 14, 1944. The BSPD worked under the direct supervision of the TsShPD and began functioning on October 2, 1942 in the Kalinin Front zone.
The BSPD developed and implemented measures for the development of the partisan movement, improved the organizational structure of partisan formations, planned, organized and controlled the combat operations of brigades and detachments, studied, generalized and disseminated their combat experience, i.e. provided leadership, provided the partisans with weapons and ammunition , communications, organized air transportation of military cargo, personnel behind enemy lines and evacuation of the wounded. Intelligence in the interests of the Red Army occupied an important place in the work of the Broadband Broadband.
To coordinate the combat operations of the partisans and units of the Red Army at the fronts that participated in the liberation of Belarus, representative offices (operational groups) of the BSPD were created. On the 1st Baltic (November 1943 - November 1944), Western, Bryansk and Belorussian fronts, the BSPD had its own representative offices, and on the Kalinin, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts and at the headquarters of the 61st Army - its own operational groups with mobile radio nodes.
Under the leadership of the BSPD, the partisans' combat operations were, as a rule, systematic and purposeful. Over the entire period of its activity, the BSPD united 33 territorial partisan formations, of which eight were regional - Gomel, Polesie, Pinsk, Mogilev, Baranovichi, Brest, Vileysk, Bialystok.
There were three formations in the Minsk region, and two in the Baranovichi region. In the Vitebsk region, the direct leadership of brigades and detachments was carried out by the BSPD and the Vitebsk underground regional committee of the party.
The Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement included former employees of the Central Committee of the CP(b)B and the Council of People's Commissars of Belarus S. S. BELCHENKO, I. P. GANENKO, G. B. EIDINOV, I. A. KRUPENYA, I. I. RYZHIKOV, V. I. ZAKURDAEV, A. A. PROKHOROV, etc.
-Partisan zones
The partisan zone is a partially liberated territory in which the partisans conducted active military operations.
Conditions of appearance
The most important conditions for the formation and expansion of partisan regions and zones:
active guerrilla warfare
the presence of favorable geographical conditions (wooded and swampy areas)
the heroic struggle of the Soviet Army at the front, which deprived the enemy of the opportunity to allocate forces sufficient to control the entire occupied territory.
Emergence
Partisan regions and zones arose from the end of 1941, when the partisan movement developed widely. Large partisan regions and zones existed in the Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk, Pskov and other regions of the RSFSR, in Belarus, and the northwestern regions of Ukraine. In the spring of 1942, there were 11 partisan regions:
Oktyabrsky Partisan Region
Lyuban partisan region
Klichevsky partisan region
Surazh partisan region
Vadinsky partisan region
Dorogobuzh partisan region
Northwestern Partisan Region (Smolensk region)
Southern Elninsky partisan region
Dyatkovo partisan region
Southern Bryansk partisan region
Leningrad partisan region
Subsequently, the number of partisan regions continuously increased.
Role in the war
In partisan regions and zones, with the active participation of the population, bodies of Soviet power were restored or their functions were performed by the partisan command, partisan commandants and other bodies. At the same time, collective farms, local industrial enterprises, cultural, medical and other institutions were restored. In the partisan regions and zones, sowing and harvesting were carried out in an organized manner.
The partisan regions and zones played a big role in the development of the nationwide struggle against the invaders, being bases for the partisans. They made it difficult for the enemy to carry out regroupings and tied down significant forces of his field troops.
During the offensive of the Soviet troops, the enemy was often unable to organize a strong defense in partisan regions and zones (usually in forested, swampy and mountainous forested areas) and was forced to group his forces only along the roads. Often, partisan regions and zones were used by Soviet troops to quickly reach the flanks and rear of enemy groups, drop (land) airborne troops and disrupt the enemy’s organized withdrawal.
The Soviet Union in the spring of 1942 continued to strengthen and develop, enriched with ever new methods of struggle, organization of forces, their leadership and effective use to assist the Soviet Army in defeating the hated enemy.
The national struggle behind enemy lines was expressed in the actions of partisan formations, underground organizations and groups, in the mass participation of the population in disrupting the political, economic and military activities of the occupiers. These forms of struggle covered the overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens who were on the territory of the USSR temporarily captured by the enemy; they were closely connected with each other, complemented each other and were part of a single whole. Characterizing the mass patriotic movement of the people behind enemy lines, M. I. Kalinin wrote in the article “On the moral character of our people”: “Guerrilla struggle must be considered a manifestation of the greatest popular initiative in the defense of the Motherland, in defending the freedom of one’s people from enslavers...
Our partisan movement resulted in a general popular struggle, growing every month. Our party played a huge role in this movement.” However, in the spring of 1942, the armed struggle of partisan formations had not yet covered the entire occupied territory. Many of the partisan detachments that made up the main unit of these formations were small in number, poorly armed, and often had no connection with the mainland and with each other. The new partisan detachments and groups that were formed at this time behind enemy lines consisted mostly of people from peaceful professions who were not sufficiently prepared militarily. The detachments still lacked experienced commanders, political workers, intelligence officers, radio operators, demolitionists and other specialists.
1 M. Kal and nin. On the education of communist consciousness. page 264.
In the spring of 1942, partisan formations were distributed in the occupied territory as follows: in the rear of Army Group North and in Karelia there were 88 of them - with a total number of about 6 thousand people; in the western direction, in the rear of Army Group Center, - 251 (over 56 thousand people); in the southern regions of the country, in the rear of Army Group South, -152 (over 10 thousand people). In total, about 500 partisan formations with a total number of over 72 thousand people operated behind enemy lines 1.
By April, there were 11 partisan regions in the occupied territory of the USSR: Oktyabrsky, Lyubansky, Klichevsky, Surazhsky, Vadinsky, Dorogobuzhsky, Northwestern (Smolensk region), Southern Elninsky, Dyatkovsky, Southern Bryansk and the partisan region of the Leningrad region. In these regions, completely liberated from the Nazi occupiers, Soviet people lived according to Soviet laws. District party committees and Soviet bodies - district executive committees and village Soviets - legally operated on their territory, schools, hospitals, clubs were reopened, communications began to work, sowing and harvesting were carried out in an organized manner. Hundreds of thousands of civilians found shelter in the partisan regions from the plunder and robbery of the invaders. Directly adjacent to the partisan regions were partisan zones - areas of constant combat operations by partisans.
The partisan regions played a big role in the further development of the struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines, becoming bases for the formation of new partisan forces and combat training for partisans. From their territories, partisan detachments went on deep raids and raided enemy communications and garrisons.
Particular difficulties were experienced by underground organizations and groups in cities and other populated areas where a brutal occupation regime reigned. Many of them were defeated or suffered heavy losses due to non-compliance with strict secrecy and insufficient experience in conducting underground struggle. The underground organizations that emerged in the spring of 1942 began to act. However, they did not always have close ties with the partisans and the Soviet rear; There was a great need for mine-explosive means, propaganda materials, and radio stations. Often, underground fighters did not have specific combat missions and carried out their work in an insufficiently organized manner.
At this time, party leadership of the struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines was carried out through an extensive network of party bodies in the temporarily occupied territory, which included operational groups of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of Latvia and Lithuania, 10 regional committees, 7 district committees, an inter-district party center, 169 city committees, district committees and Other bodies that performed the functions of the latter 2. Depending on the specific situation, these bodies were either underground in populated areas or in partisan formations.
To lead the fight behind enemy lines on the territory of Belarus, there were the Western and North-Western operational groups of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus, operating in contact with the military councils of the Western Kalinin front, and on the territory of Ukraine - the operational group of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine, created under Military Council of the South-Western direction.
1 CPA IML, f. 69, op. 1, no. 48, pp. 38-39, 81-90; d. 61, l. 79; d. 64, l. 19; l- 58; d. 128, l. 113; d. 784, l. 40. In the spring of 1942, the accounting of partisan formations was incomplete. Therefore, the data presented should be considered underestimated.
2 History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, vol. 5, book. 1, pp. 679-694.
In addition, patriots behind enemy lines were guided in their struggle by direct appeals, appeals and instructions, which were transmitted there by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Soviet Government via radio, newspapers, leaflets and by land communications.
To guide the combat activities of the partisan formation at that time, no special bodies had yet been created (with the exception of the Karelo-Finnish Republican and Leningrad regional headquarters of the partisan movement that existed from August - September 1941). The absence of a single body for managing the struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines often led to parallelism and inconsistency in its organization. The supply of weapons, ammunition, and logistics to the partisans was irregular. The connection with the detachments and underground fighters was weak, which negatively affected their combat activities, the purposefulness and effectiveness of their use.
On May 30, 1942, the State Defense Committee adopted a resolution that marked the beginning of centralized leadership of the partisan movement. This document stated:
"1. In order to unite the leadership of the partisan movement behind enemy lines and for the further development of this movement, create a Central Headquarters of the partisan movement at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command.
2. For direct leadership of partisan detachments, create the following headquarters of the partisan movement under the military councils of the corresponding fronts:
a) Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement (under the Military Council of the South-Western direction);
b) Bryansk headquarters of the partisan movement;
c) Western headquarters of the partisan movement;
d) Kalinin headquarters of the partisan movement;
e) Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement;
f) Karelo-Finnish headquarters of the partisan movement1. The headquarters listed above should be subordinated to the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement.
3. In its practical activities in leading the partisan movement, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement must proceed from the fact that the main task of the partisan movement is to disorganize the enemy rear:
a) destruction of enemy communication lines (blowing up bridges, attacking enemy vehicles and horse-drawn vehicles);
b) destruction of communication lines (telephone, telegraph, radio stations);
c) destruction of warehouses of ammunition, equipment, fuel and food supplies;
d) attack on headquarters and other military institutions behind enemy lines;
e) destruction of materiel at enemy airfields;
f) informing Red Army units about the location, number and movements of enemy troops..." 2.
-Underground
The underground is a forced form of activity of social forces opposed to the existing political regime and socio-political system, in conditions where this kind of activity cannot be carried out legally due to the fact that it is prohibited by current legislation and entails the use of political repression. Underground activities are also often referred to as illegal activities.
Underground activities can be organizational, ideological (theoretical), propaganda and artistic in nature.
Clandestine organizational activity, as a rule, results in the creation (or attempts to create) illegal socio-political organizations - circles, unions, parties and other similar associations. Such activity can be both unarmed and armed - if the underground organization considers it necessary to respond with violence to the violence emanating from the ruling classes and strata and the current political regime (or even just to respond with violence to the violence of the repressive apparatus of the state when confronted with it, for example, to offer armed resistance during arrest). The highest form of organizational underground activity is the creation of centralized underground political organizations (parties, unions, military-political (partisan) organizations) aimed at overthrowing the existing political regime and/or socio-political system. There are numerous examples in history when such underground organizations achieved their goal and came to power (RSDLP(b) and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries in Russia, the July 26 Movement in Cuba, the Communist Party of China in China, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the MPLA in Angola, FLN in Algeria, Free Officers' Movement in Egypt, Viet Minh and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam in Vietnam, PAIGC in Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands, etc.).
Underground ideological (theoretical) activity has the character of illegal scientific, research and theoretical activity in the field of social and human sciences (in conditions of the triumph of clericalism - and in the field of natural sciences) - both individual and collective.
Underground propaganda activities can exist as an independent phenomenon (for example, samizdat in the USSR and other countries), or be directly related to underground organizational activities (publication and distribution of underground party and generally anti-government literature, the creation of underground printing houses, newspapers and magazines, radio stations, etc. . P.). Underground propaganda activities often act as a tool for conveying to the population the achievements of underground ideological (theoretical) activities.
Underground artistic activity (in the field of literature and other types of art) is generated by ideological prohibitions and restrictions on the part of the ruling regime on certain forms, types or themes in literature and art - with the subsequent use of various types of repression against violators of these prohibitions and restrictions. Externally, such prohibitions and restrictions may be political, religious, ethical or aesthetic. As a result, underground literature arises (known since antiquity), trends in music, theater and related arts prohibited by the authorities (buffoons in medieval Rus', theater under Puritan regimes, any type of entertainment under clerical regimes, social and politicized rock culture in the USSR in 1970 -e - early 1980s, etc.), officially disapproved painting and sculpture (nudes in early medieval Catholicism, images of living beings in Islam, “nonconformist” painting and sculpture in the USSR in the 1940s - 1970s years, etc.). Underground artistic activity may also be the result of a ban on the use of a particular language of small peoples and national minorities by the ruling regime (the ban on Ukrainian and Belarusian in Tsarist Russia, on Basque and Catalan in Francoist Spain, on Occitan and Breton in France until the second half of 1970s, into Kurdish in Turkey during the 20th century, etc.).
Historical practice shows that the use of even the most severe repressions cannot eliminate the underground, but can only reduce it to a minimum size. The underground ceases to exist either due to the disappearance of the socio-economic reasons that gave rise to it, or due to the victory of the underground (including in the form of the ruling regime lifting bans on one or another form of underground activity and its legalization).
-Sabotage
Simultaneously with the armed partisan struggle, underground anti-fascist activity unfolded in cities and other populated areas. The patriots who remained there, despite the terror, did not submit to the enemy. They sabotaged the economic, political and military activities of the invaders and carried out numerous acts of sabotage.
Local party officials quickly worked to create a party-Komsomol underground on the territory of Belarus. Before the complete occupation of the republic, in 89 districts of Minsk, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Gomel, Polesie and Pinsk regions, regional underground party organizations (district committees, troikas) were organized, headed by secretaries or members of former party organizations.
Like partisan formations, the previously created and independently emerged underground immediately began sabotage, combat and political activities. In Minsk, already in the second half of 1941, underground fighters blew up warehouses with weapons and military equipment, shops and workshops for the repair of military equipment, food production, and destroyed enemy officials, soldiers and officers. In December 1941, during intense battles near Moscow, they carried out a successful sabotage at the railway junction: the result was that instead of 90-100 trains per day, only 5-6 were sent from here to the front.
The occupation administration in Minsk received news about the active sabotage and combat activities of the underground fighters of Brest, Grodno, Mozyr, Vitebsk, and other cities of Belarus. During September-October, three military warehouses were burned in Bialystok, one grocery store in Brest, and a weapons and ammunition warehouse in Vileika. In early November, Gomel underground workers led by T.S. Borodin, R.I. Timofeenko and I.B. Shilov hid a box with explosives and a mine with a time tip in the restaurant. When German officers gathered there to celebrate the successes of the Wehrmacht troops near Moscow, a powerful explosion occurred, which killed dozens of officers and one general.
The group of K.S. Zaslonov operated effectively at the Orsha railway junction. In December 1941, it disabled several dozen steam locomotives with briquette-coal mines: some of them were blown up and frozen at the station, others exploded on the way to the front. Complaining about this, the Orsha security and SD group reported to its leadership: “Sabotage on the Minsk-Orsha railway line has become so frequent that each of them cannot be described individually. Not a single day goes by without one or more sabotage being carried out.”
In addition to sabotage and combat activities (destruction of enemy personnel and military equipment), the underground members sabotaged various activities of the invaders in the first months of the occupation. The methods of their activities were very different: concealing their professions, damaging equipment and tools, not going to work on time, hiding the harvest, agricultural equipment, etc. Acts of sabotage inflicted significant losses on the enemy, which weakened his strength and eased the position of the Red Army.
After the victory in the Battle of Moscow, the underground struggle in the cities and towns of Belarus expanded and deepened. An obvious role in this was played by the fact that work was carried out to establish connections between the leadership of the underground and the mainland, from where, through the airfields of partisan formations, the underground received not only the necessary information, but also significant assistance with weapons, mine-explosive equipment, and medicines. The connection between the underground and the population, partisan detachments and groups strengthened. All this together had a positive impact on the activities of the underground.
In 1942, the Minsk underground concentrated its attention on mass propaganda work among city residents, systematic sabotage at various sites, collecting intelligence data for the partisans, releasing prisoners of war and secretly sending them to the forest to join the partisans. There were also heavy losses. In March-April 1942, the Nazis managed to deal a serious blow to the Minsk underground, when more than 400 people were imprisoned, including members of the underground Civil Code of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) S.I. Zayats (Zaitsev), I.P. Kazinets , G.M. Semenov. On May 7 of the same year, they, along with 28 other patriots, were hanged. On the same day, another 251 people were shot.
Despite heavy losses, the Minsk underground found the strength not only to survive, but also to rise again to fight. Members of the city committee and activists who escaped arrest held a meeting in May 1942, where they analyzed the reasons for the failure, summarized the ten-month experience of struggle, and determined measures for the further development of the underground. Departments were created in the city committee: intelligence, agitation and propaganda, military, sabotage organizations, five underground district party committees, a number of underground party and Komsomol organizations in enterprises and institutions were formed. The underground members published the newspaper “Zvyazda”, leaflets, and had connections with the underground in Osipovichi, Orsha, Bobruisk, Dzerzhinsk, Uzda, Kolodishchi, Smolevich, and other cities and towns of Belarus.
Dozens of sabotage groups were created at the Minsk railway junction. In the second half of 1943, more than 50 acts of sabotage were carried out here. According to updated data, over 9 thousand people, representatives of 25 nationalities of the former USSR, more than a thousand communists and over 2 thousand Komsomol members, anti-fascists from foreign countries, selflessly fought as part of the Minsk underground. During the occupation, over 1,500 acts of sabotage were carried out in Minsk. Many high-ranking personalities found their deaths here, including the Commissioner General of Belarus V. Kube.
In Vitebsk in 1941-1942. 56 underground groups operated. One of them, from October 1942, was led by V.Z. Khoruzhaya, who was sent here by the Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement. On November 13, 1942, the Nazis captured and after long interrogations tortured her, as well as S.S. Pankova, E.S. Suranova, K.D. Boldachova, and the Vorobyov family. Posthumously, V.Z. Khoruzhey was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The underground movement gained wide scope in Osipovichi, Borisov, Bobruisk, Orsha, Zhlobin, Petrikov, Polotsk, Bragin, Dobrush, Kalinkovichi, Mozyr, and other settlements. The underground workers were especially active in railway transport. In fact, there was not a single station of any significance on the territory of Belarus where patriots did not fight.
Anti-fascist organizations also operated in the western regions of Belarus, which were created on the initiative of communists, former activists of the Communist Party of Belarus, Komsomol members, and other patriots. In May 1942, on the basis of anti-fascist groups in the Vasilishkovsky, Shchuchinsky, Radunsky, Skidelsky districts, the “District Belarusian Anti-fascist Committee of the Baranovichi Region” was created. The organizers of the committee were G.M. Kartukhin, A.I. Ivanov, A.F. Mankevich and B.I. Gordeichik. The Committee carried out significant work to create new and revitalize the activities of existing groups and organizations. In the fall of 1942, under the leadership of this committee, more than 260 underground fighters fought against the occupiers.
In Gomel, underground groups actively fought the enemy at the railway junction, locomotive repair plant, lumber mill, city power plant, and other city enterprises - more than 400 people in total. Their activities were led by the operational center consisting of T.S. Borodin, I.B. Shilov, R.I. Timofeenko. On May 8, 1942, while preparing to blow up the city power plant, T.S. Borodin, I.B. Shilov, and dozens of other active underground workers were captured by the enemy’s intelligence and punitive service. All of them died in fascist dungeons.
The anti-fascist struggle in occupied Mogilev did not stop for a single day. In the spring of 1942, about 40 groups (more than 400 people) united into the underground organization “Committee for Assistance to the Red Army,” which was headed by local teacher K.Yu. Matte. The committee coordinated the activities of a group of railway workers, teachers, workers of a bakery, an automobile repair plant, an artificial silk factory, workers of a regional hospital, former military personnel and others. Thanks to attentiveness, reliable secrecy and a successful organizational structure, the Mogilev underground managed to avoid mass failures and arrests for a long time.
An analysis of such a historical phenomenon during the Great Patriotic War as the activities of the anti-fascist underground in the territory of Belarus temporarily occupied by the Germans indicates that the underground from the beginning to the end of its existence (and over 70 thousand people passed through it during the war years) was closely connected with the people's masses, relied on their constant support and specific assistance. The Communists, who were located behind enemy lines and enjoyed the trust of the local population, played a large role in its emergence and activities. Evidence of this is the fact that over three years of enemy occupation, over 12.5 thousand patriots joined the party directly on the occupied territory of Belarus. Belonging to the Communist Party at that time promised, as we know, only “privileges” - to be in the forefront of the fighters or, falling into the hands of the fascists, to be shot and tortured. Tens of thousands of them gave their lives in the name of freedom.
The blows of the working people of Minsk against the fascist occupiers are getting stronger. Every day German warehouses, steam locomotives, and military equipment take off into the air. The punishing hand of patriots - partisans destroys hundreds of Nazi bandits.
On Sovetskaya Street in house No. 17 the headquarters of one of the German military units was located. A partisan mine blew this hornet's nest to pieces, and 32 staff officers were killed.
The pilots' dormitory at the airfield was blown up. 24 fascist scoundrels, who more than once bombed defenseless Belarusian villages, found their grave here. The survivors were overtaken by an explosion in the officers' canteen of the airfield, which buried another 24 Fritz and wounded 7.
An explosion in a canteen on Vokzalnaya Street killed 6 chief lieutenants and 15 other officers, and wounded 12 Nazis.
A German non-commissioned officer, walking along International Street, noticed two partisans near house No. 8. A few tense moments, and the Fritz ceased to be interested in anything forever.
Thus, the fearless patriots of Minsk, destroying the enemy’s manpower and officer cadres, instill mortal fear in the Nazis.
By disrupting the work of railway transport by disabling steam locomotives, wagons, and blowing up military trains, at stations and on the way, the patriots of Minsk provide great assistance to the advancing Red Army.
At Kozyrevo station, an explosion occurred in an ammunition train, as a result of which 10 cars were destroyed and 7 cars were damaged. On the Minsk-Mikhanovichi section, 5 tanks with gasoline burned out from the explosion, and 12 cars were broken. The German train that arrived at the station did not have time to stop when 2 tanks with gasoline in its composition flew into the air.
In the locomotive depot, a steam locomotive released from repair is disabled. Another locomotive was blown up as it approached the train. In a freight passenger car while the train was running, an explosion killed 21 Nazis and wounded 7.
At the freight station, a wagon with weapons and a 152-mm cannon located on the platform was blown up /From messages in the newspaper "Minsk Bolshevik" - the printed organ of the Minsk City Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) of Belarus/.
From the report of the Kobrin underground district committee of the LKSMB on the work of underground groups in the district
Komsomol members of our region provided great assistance to the Red Army in defeating the enemy, both in partisan detachments and underground. Without sparing their lives, they fought the enemy. Comrades such as Vladimir Yakhimchuk, Petr Kozlyuk, Boris Abdullin, Vasily Lanko, Alexey Alekseev and others died a heroic death in the fight against the enemy.
In our area, 25 underground Komsomol organizations were created, covering 110 underground Komsomol members. Underground organizations were located around Kobrin near enemy garrisons, along railways and highways. Underground organizations provided assistance to partisan detachments and caused harm to the enemy by all available means.
The underground organization of the village of Turnaya at the beginning of 1944 consisted of 18 people. During its existence, members of this organization cut down more than 400 telephone and telegraph poles on the highway, burned two bridges on the highway, and cut the wires connecting Hitler’s headquarters with the front more than 5 times. They transferred a lot of weapons and ammunition to the partisan detachments, sent intelligence and provided material assistance to the partisans, and carried out explanatory work among the population.
The underground organization of the village of Tevli did a lot of work in terms of material assistance to partisan detachments. They donated a lot of crackers, underwear, mittens, socks, and Soviet money collected from the population to the troops.
While at the railway, Komsomol members regularly reported to the partisans about the movement of enemy trains. They themselves were conductors through the railway / Memory. Kobryn district/.
-Sabotage
Sabotage (French sabotage from saboter - knocking with shoes) is a deliberate failure to fulfill or careless performance of certain duties, hidden opposition to the implementation of something.
The most common etymology of the word comes from the French. sabot - a wooden shoe that could be used to block the operation of weaving machines.
Legal definitions
In the Criminal Code of the RSFSR of 1926 (valid until 1958), sabotage was classified as “counter-revolutionary crimes” (Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR). “Counter-revolutionary sabotage” (Articles 58-14) was defined as “the deliberate failure by someone to perform certain duties or the deliberate neglect of their performance with the special purpose of weakening the power of the government and the activities of the state apparatus.”
In subsequent years, sabotage was not considered an independent crime, since - as the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd edition) wrote - “there are practically no cases of sabotage in the USSR.”
In Russian criminal law, the concept of “sabotage” is close to this definition.
In US criminal law, sabotage is the intentional damage, destruction, contamination or contamination or attempt to do so in relation to defense (military) structures, materials or devices with the intent to cause harm or interference with the defense of the United States (in peacetime), harm or interfere with the United States or any associated nation's military preparations, war, or defense activities (in time of war or public emergency).
Historical examples
The Second World War
During World War II, the Resistance movement encouraged various acts of sabotage in occupied countries. In Poland and the Czech Republic, industrial sabotage was popular (the slogan “Work slowly”).
Interesting fact
In countries with an Arab population, Russian-speaking tourists are often surprised to encounter the word “sabotage,” especially in markets and shops. In fact, in Arabic it means "seventeen" (the ending "as much" indicates the numbers 11 to 19)
Work slowly (Polish pracuj powoli, Czech pracuj pomalu) - the slogan of the Resistance movement in Poland and Czechoslovakia occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. It is a call for refusal of effective work and sabotage of German industry, which employed a significant part of the population of the occupied lands. Contents [remove]
2 Czechoslovakia
3 See also
4 Notes
In Poland, the slogan of the Polish Resistance, which looked like “Pole, work slowly” (Polish: pracuj Polaku powoli or abbreviated p. P. p.), became widespread as graffiti. The graffiti was distributed by underground scout organizations as part of Operation Turtle, then independently.
Often looked like a combination of the abbreviation p. P. p. or the full text of the slogan and an image of a turtle as a symbol of slow work. Other slogans found in the graffiti: “Work slower - you will bring the end of the war closer,” “It’s a turtle. Move like her, working for the Fritz"; “I am a turtle. Work like me. Whoever erases me will die,” as well as a series of rhyming inscriptions: “Work slowly, like a turtle, you will happily wait until the end of captivity” (Polish: Pracuj jak żółw powoli, a szczęśliwie doczekasz końca niewoli, “Work slowly, because you are in captivity” (Polish Pracuj powoli, bo jesteś w niewoli).
On February 3, 1941, in some places of the General Government, the inscriptions “Work slowly” appeared, on April 9, 1941 - PPPPP (“Pole, Polish worker, work slowly”). On November 29, police discovered a leaflet in Poznań declaring “work slowly” to be the first commandment of a Pole; further ones read “frequently pretend to be sick”, “sit in the toilet longer”, “don’t tighten the screws”, “carry as much as possible in your pockets, but don’t get caught by the labor protection authorities”, “help the families of arrested colleagues”, etc. Majdanek concentration camp preserved a huge sculpture of a turtle, executed by prisoner-sculptor A. M. Bonetsky; in the camp the turtle was nicknamed “Work Slowly”; nowadays the turtle is decorated with the inscription in German “Arbeite langsam”.
On October 2, 1941, Fedor von Bock wrote in his diary: “The situation in Serbia is serious. A crisis is also brewing in Holland, Norway and the Protectorate. The British came up with an effective propaganda slogan for the occupied countries. It says: 'Work slower!'"
These tactics, along with absenteeism, the sale of material and direct sabotage, represented the most powerful weapon in the workers' struggle against the occupation. In June 1943, the economist Dr. Föhl reported that “about a third of the workers in the General Government work no more than 4 hours a day and support illegal production... Arbitrary work stoppages have led to losses of up to 30% in some enterprises.” The slogan was used by Polish railway workers.
Czechoslovakia
In Czechoslovakia, the slogan "Pracuj pomalu" was supported by the London exile government and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and, according to Soviet data, led to a drop in production by 20%. On May 16, 1942, the Sovinformburo, with reference to a German defector, reported: “Workers are trying to work as slowly as possible in order to reduce the output of military products, they are damaging machines and units. The slogan is popular among Czechs: “If you love Czechoslovakia, work slowly.”… The sabotage does not stop, but, on the contrary, is taking on ever wider dimensions.”
- "Rail War"
Rail warfare is the actions of partisans with the aim of disrupting the operation of enemy railway transport and disabling manpower, equipment and materiel transported by rail.
Rail war during the Great Patriotic War
Rail war on a USSR postage stamp dedicated to K. S. Zaslonov
The Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus in June 1943 adopted a resolution “On the destruction of the enemy’s railway communications by the method of rail warfare,” which proposed a plan for the destruction of rails with a simultaneous massive strike, thereby making it impossible for the enemy to quickly restore the railway lines. The rail war was supposed to be accompanied by train crashes, bridge explosions and destruction of station structures. The partisan units fighting in the occupied territory widely used elements of rail warfare, but the most significant impact on the course of the war was exerted by the actions of the partisans in the following operations:
Operation "Rail War" is a major operation carried out by Soviet partisans from August 3 to September 15, 1943 in the occupied territory of the RSFSR (Leningrad, Smolensk, Kalinin, Orel regions), the BSSR and part of the Ukrainian SSR to assist the Soviet Army in completing the defeat of the Nazi troops in the Battle of Kursk in 1943 and the development of a general offensive in the Belgorod-Kharkov direction. In Belarus alone, railway traffic was paralyzed for 15-30 days. Trains with troops and military equipment, urgently heading towards Orel, Belgorod and Kharkov, got stuck on the way and were often destroyed by partisans. Enemy transportation was reduced by 35-40%. The occupiers suffered huge losses in locomotives, cars, rails, sleepers, and manpower.
Operation Concert, a Soviet partisan operation carried out from September 19 to the end of October 1943, is known as the second stage of Operation Rail War and coincided with the autumn offensive of the Red Army. During this operation, tens of thousands of rails were undermined, more than 1,000 trains were derailed, 72 railway bridges were destroyed, and 30 thousand German soldiers and officers were killed.
Operation Bagration was a large-scale Soviet offensive from June 23 to August 29, 1944, named after the Russian commander of the Patriotic War of 1812, Pyotr Bagration. Known as the third stage of the “rail war,” during which the most important railway lines were completely disabled and enemy transportation on all roads was partially paralyzed.
Operations “Concert” and “Rail War” were organized by the outstanding Soviet saboteur Ilya Grigorievich Starinov. The experience gained during these operations was used in further actions against German troops.
The term “Rail War” later extended to all other partisan operations related to the destruction of the railway track, including those committed before August 1943.
In 1944 and 1945, badges dedicated to the “Rail War” were issued in Minsk.
-Operation Concert
Partisans are people who voluntarily fight as part of armed, organized partisan forces in territory occupied by the enemy - sabotage brigades behind enemy lines. Russian partisans terrified the