Soviet partisans

The Soviet partisans were members of the anti-fascist resistance movement which fought guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Despite the significant degree of self-determination and relatively wide public support, the movement has been mostly organized and controlled by the Soviet government.

Beginning of anti-German guerrilla resistance

At the end of June 1941, immediately after German forces crossed the Soviet border, the Communist Party ordered Party members to organize an underground resistance in the occupied territories (pre-war plans and candidates for such operations existed). Although formal creation was ordered in 1941, it was only in 1942-43 that underground cells sprang up throughout Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russian regions such as Bryansk occupied by the invaders. Partisans waged guerrilla warfare against the occupiers, and enjoyed increasing support from the local population which was antagonized by German brutality.

Partisans consisted of people left behind the German lines, including escapees from German prisoner of war camps, and refugees from the German terror. No formal recruitment procedures existed, although some partisan commanders (especially those in charge of large units) experimented with mandatory enlistment of young peasants, i.e. conscript service. However, these experiments did not meet much success - the conscripts exhibited low effectiveness on the battlefield and large numbers of them deserted or defected, facts which can be attributed to their low motivation.

While in some areas of Ukraine and Belarus the local population was initially supportive to the German occupation as an alternative the harsh Stalinist rule, they soon found out that the Nazi rule was even more brutal, regularly performing large scale transfers of the local population to Germany to serve as slave laborers, both centrally-planned (for example, seizure of gold and gold objects from all households) as well as spontaneous looting, and arbitrary and severe (including torture and capital) punishment for minor infractions, amongst other violations of human rights. Naturally, under these circumstances, some locals rallied to join the anti-occupation resistance, while the majority became passive supporters and casual assistants to partisans.

Soon, the centralized Partisan Movement Headquarters and support infrastructure was created by the NKVD in the areas still controlled by Soviets. There were autonomous Headquarters for each Soviet republic, although all under strict control of the central NKVD leadership. The Headquarters began supporting partisan groups behind enemy lines with various supplies through airlifts and established radio connection with most of them.

Later NKVD and military intelligence began training special groups of future partisans (effectively, special forces units) in the rear and dropping them in the occupied territories. The candidates for these groups were chosen among volunteers from regular Red Army, NKVD's Internal Troops, and also from Soviet sportsmen. When dropped behind Axis lines, the groups were to organize and guide the local self-established partisan units. Radio operators and intelligence gathering officers were the essential members of each group since amateur fighters could not be trusted with these tasks. Some commanders of these special units (like Dmitry Medvedev) later became well-known partisan leaders.

Areas of operations

Belarus

Belarusian guerrillas liquidated, injured and took prisoner some 500 000 German soldiers[1].

File:Soviet guerilla.jpg

Soviet partisans in the forests of Belarus

Main article: Belarusian resistance movement

Belarus was the republic hardest hit by the war that took from 25 to 40% of the republic's population.[2] According to the Himmler's plan, 3/4 of the Belarusian population was to be eradicated and the remainder was to be used as a Slave labour force. By Summer 1942 all the illusions some Belarussians might have had about the Nazi rule, even compared to the brutal Stalinist regime, were lost and the the anti-fascist resistance rose dramatically.

One of the first partizan formations was organized by Vasily Korzh in Pinsk June 26 1941 ([3]). To the end of 1941 only in Minsk area there were at least 50 partisan groups having more than 2000 fighters. Especially difficult for the partisans was the winter of 1941-1942, there was not enough experience, weapons, ammo, supplies. The actions of partisans were often uncoordinated. A significant part of Belarus were territories annexed from Poland where Soviet partisans were often unpopular (see Soviet partisans in the former territories of the Second Polish Republic). According to some historians (e.g. [4]) before the break of relation with the Polish government in exile in the spring of 1943, Soviet government did not supported Soviet partisan movement there, expecting Armia Krajowa to be more effective on former Polish territories. At that time soviet partizans and Armia Krajowa usually supported each other. Since the break of the relations between the two goverments the cooperation was discouraged from the both sides.

The vast Belorussian forests provided a suitable environment for a guerrilla war. Soon Belarus had the largest number of Soviet partisans, numbering over 300,000 fighters[5] under the leadership of Panteleymon Ponomarenko, Petr Masherov, Kiril Mazurov and others. As early as the spring of 1942 they were able to effectively harass German troops and significantly hamper their operations in the region. According to the official data [6] in 1943 there were 375 thousands partisan fighters and 70 thousand members of urban underground. Among Soviet partisans in Belarus were people of 45 different ethnic backgrounds and 4 thousands foreign people (including 3 thousands Poles, 400 Czechs and Slovaks, 300 people from Yugoslavia, etc.). Around 65% of Belorussian partisans were local people.

The partisan movement was so strong that by 1943-44 there were entire regions in occupied Belarus, where Soviet authority was re-established deep inside the German held territories. There were even partisan kolkhozes who were growing and producing food and livestock for the partisans.[7]. During the battles for liberation of Belarus, partisans considered as the fourth Belorussian front.

Ukraine

Template:ImageStackRight As well as Belarus, Ukraine was the first and hardest hit by the Axis invasion in Summer-Autumn 1941. The consequences for the area and for the population that remained under the occupation was devastating. The Genocidal Nazi regime took little effort to exploit the anti-Soviet sentiments among many Ukrainians that developed from the years of harsh Stalinist rule. Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm system, systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, and deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to Germany as a slave labour force. Under these circumstances most of the population utterly resisted the Nazi onslaught from its start and a partisan movement immediately spread over the occupied territory.

The first Ukrainian Soviet partisan detachments appeared in Chernihiv and Sumy regions. They developed out of Mykola Popudrenko's and Sydir Kovpak's underground groups, and became a formidable force in 1943. At this stage they were controlled and significantly supported by the Ukrainian Partisan Movement Headquarters (Ukrainian: Український Штаб Партизанського Руху, УШПР)) in Moscow, operating throughout occupied Ukraine (especially in the northeastern part) and numbered over 150,000 fighters. In 1944 Ukrainian partisans led by Kovpak and Vershigora were even able to raid the enemy forces in Romania, Slovakia and Poland.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a separate resistance force formed in 1942 (as a military arm of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists), was engaged in the armed conflicts with the Soviet partisans, Nazi occupants and the Polish resistance and population at different times. Although UPA initially attempted to find a common ground with the Nazi Germany in the face of the common enemy (the USSR), it soon was driven underground as it became apparent that Germans' view of Ukraine was as of a German colony with an enslaved population, not an independent country the UPA hoped for. As such, UPA had to fight both the Nazi occupiers and the Soviet forces (including partisans) at the same time.

Occasionally, UPA leaders and Soviet partisans attempted to negotiate a temporary alliance, but Moscow NKVD Headquarters harshly persecuted such attempts of its local partisan commanders. Later, with two sides becoming established enemies, the Soviet partisans found less support from the population of Western Ukraine, particulary the Galician provinces.

Western Russia

In Bryansk region the Soviet partisans controlled vast areas behind the German rear. In the summer of 1942 they effectively held territory of more than 14 000 square kilometers with population of over 200,000 people. Soviet partisans in the region were led by Alexei Fyodorov, Alexander Saburov and others and numbered over 60,000 men. Belgorod, Oryol, Kursk, Novgorod, Leningrad, Pskov and Smolensk regions also had significant partisan activity during the occupation period. In Oryol and Smolensk regions partisans were led by Dmitry Medvedev.

In 1943, after Red Army started to liberate western Russia and north-east Ukraine, many partisans, including units led by Fyodorov, Medvedev and Saburov, were ordered to re-locate their operations into central and western Ukraine still occupied by Nazis. Some historians believe that was done mostly to secure the anti-Soviet elements on these territories, which could otherwise provoke self-determination attempts after Axis withdrawal.

Baltic States

Soviet Partisans also operated in the Baltic States. In Estonia, they were under the leadership of Nikolay Karotamm. In Latvia they were first under Russian and Belarussian command, and from January 1943, directly subordinated to the central Headquarters in Moscow, under the leadership of Arturs Sprongis. Another prominent commander was the historian Vilis Samsons, head of a unit of 3,000 men. He is responsible for destroying about 130 German military trains.

In the Vilnius Ghetto, a resistance organisation called United Organization of Partisans was established. The new organization was comprised of all the parties and youth movements from the entire political spectrum in the Vilnius Ghetto. First leaders were Yitzhak Wittenberg, a member of the Communist Party, and the writer Abba Kovner. Kovner was a member of the headquarters, and after its chief commander, Itzhak Wittenberg, was caught in July 1943, he became the head of the organization [8].

In 1941, the Soviet partisan movement in Lithuania began with the actions of a small number of Red Army soldiers left behind enemy lines, much like the beginning of partisan movements in Ukraine and Belarus. The movement grew throughout 1942, and in the summer of that year the Lithuanian Soviet partisan movement began receiving material aid as well as specialists and instructors in guerrilla warfare from the free USSR. On the 26th of November, 1942, the Command of Lithuanian Partisan Movement (Lietuvos partizaninio judėjimo štabas) was created in Moscow, headed by First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party Antanas Sniečkus, who had fled to Moscow in the wake of the German invasion in 1941. Although the Soviet partisans in Lithuania were nominally under the control of Command of Lithuanian Partisan Movement, the guerrilla warfare specialists and instructors sent from the free USSR reported directly to Central Command of Partisan Movement. Modern Lithuanian historians estimate that about half of the Soviet partisans in Lithuania were escapees from POW and Nazi concentration camps, Soviet activists, Red Army soldiers left behind the quickly advancing front line, while the other half was made up of guerrilla warfare specialists and instructors sent from the free USSR. Post-Soviet Lithuanian historians and politicians accuse the Soviet partisans of participating in crimes against the civilian population of Lithuania (for example, Soviet partisans are accussed of murdering civilians in Kaniūkai, in an event that has come to be called the Koniuchy massacre), and like to claim that the Soviet partisans had no support from the local population. It is estimated that in total, about five thousand people engaged in pro-Soviet underground activities in Lithuania during the war.[9]

In all three Baltic States the largest number of the Soviet partisans were ethnic Russians, Jews and Belarusians. The nationalistic and anti-Soviet resistance movements in the Baltic states, colloquially referred to as the Forest Brothers, which existed to some extent during WWII , but were most active after the end of the war when they were bolstered by Wehrmacht and SS soldiers left behind the quickly advancing front, and by the British (MI6), American, and Swedish secret intelligence services , sometimes came into conflict with the Soviet partisan groups, much like the situation between Ukrainian partisans and the UPA in Ukraine.

Outside the Soviet Union

Main article: Soviet partisans in Poland

Some formations of Anti-Fascist resistance acting outside the Soviet Union preferred to be called Soviet Partizans. Usually they were organized by former Soviet citizens who escaped Nazi camps. Such a formation was Rodina (Motherland) acting in France (leaders Nadezhda Lizovets, Rozalia Fridzon, Anna Paramonova) [10], [11].

Major battles

Raid of Vasily Korzh Autumn 1941 - March 23 1942

1000 kilometer raid of a partisan formation over Minsk and Pinsk Oblasts of Belarus.

Battle of Bryansk forests; May 1942

Battle of partisans against the Nazi punitive expedition that included 5 infantry divisions, military police, 120 tanks and aviation

Raid of Sydir Kovpak, October 26 - November 29 1942

Raid over Bryansk forests and Eastern Ukraine

Battle of Bryansk forests, May-June, 1943

Battle of partisans of the Bryansk forests with the German punitive expeditions

Operation "Rails War", August 3 - September 15 1943

Operation Rails War (Russian: Рельсовая война) [12], [13] was a major operation of partisan formations against the railroad communications intended to disrupt the German reinforcements and supplies for the Battle of Kursk and later the Battle of Smolensk. It involved concentrated actions on the territory of 1000km along the front and 750 km in depth. More than 100 thousand partisan fighters of Belarus, Leningrad Oblast, Kalinin Oblast, Smolensk Oblast, Oryol Oblast and Ukraine. More than 230 000 rails, along with many railroad bridges, trains, etc were destroyed. The operation seriously incapacitated German logistics and was instrumental for the Soviet victory in Kursk battle.

Operation "Concerto", September 19 - November 1 1943

Operation Concerto (Russian: Концерт) [14], [15] was a major operation of partisan formations against the railroad communications intended to disrupt the German reinforcements and supplies for the Battle of the Dniepr and on the direction of the Soviet offensive in the Smolensk and Gomel directions. Partisans of Belarus, Karelia, Kalinin Oblast, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Crimea participated in the operations. The area of the operation was 900 km along the front (excluding Karelia and Crimea) and 400 km in depth. Despite the bad weather that allowed airlifting of less than a half of the planned supplies the operation lead to decreasing of the railroad capacity on the area by 35-40% that was critical for the success of the Soviet military operations in the autumn of 1943. In Belarus along more than 90 000 rails along with 1061 train, 72 railroad bridges and 58 Axis garrisons were destroyed. Axis losses were more than 53 thousand soldiers.

Battle of Polotsk-Leppel, April 1944

Major battle between partisans of Belarus and a German punitive expeditions.

Battle of Borisovsk-Begoml, April 22 - May 15 1944

Major battle between partisans of Belarus and a German punitive expeditions.

Operation Bagration, June 22-August 19 1944

Belarusian partisans took major part in the Operation Bagration. They were often considered the fifth front (along with the 1st Baltic Front, 1st Belorussian Front, 2nd Belorussian Front and 3rd Belorussian Front. Upward to 300 thousand partisans took part in the operation.

Controversies

Template:ImageStackRight While the partisan movement greatly contributed into the outcome of the Great Patriotic War some historians alleged that the price for this was too high.

Among the targets of Soviet partisans were not only Axis military and their volunteerly collaboration units, but also civilians groundlessly accused to be Nazi collaborators or sometimes even those were considered to not support the partisans strong enough. As with other guerilla wars, some of these attacks might be classified as war crimes, such as the Koniuchy massacre.

In addition to fighting the Nazis, Soviet partisans fought against the organisations and people which seeked to reestablish independent non-communist states of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine. This included fighting against nationalist resistance groups, collecting information about the local people who were not pro-communist.

In Latvia some former Soviet partisans are prosecuted to this day for the alleged war crimes against locals during the occupation.

First of all, partisans are often accused in provoking the brutal countermeasures of Nazi occupants. Trying to limit partisan activities, German command applied the tactic of taking mass hostages among residents of partisan-operated areas. In case of partisan attack (typically, on a railroad bridge), the definite number of locals would be executed. Such hostage operations could happen in the forms of preliminary arrests, post-attack retaliation actions, or compulsory "watch-groups" deployed on vulnerable sites and killed if they haven't averted the attack. Usually Soviet partisans were not taking such imminent victims of their raids into account.

According to Soviet propaganda, the partisans invented ways to prevent hostage/retaliation murders, like targeting uninhabited areas, developing their own forest agriculture and evacuating the whole population of the villages at risk. However, many historians believe such attempts were of little effect.

Also, Soviet partisans were compulsory commissioning widespread of food, livestock and clothes from local peasants. The results of this typical guerrilla activity were made more severe by the fact that Axis occupational forces have been already seizing food from people in enormous amounts to support their war economies.

Sometimes the burden of the partisan actions on the locals was feeding a permanent political controversy among partisans, answered by the NKVD in a rapid and violent way. The most discussed episode of such controversy is the case of Semyon Rudniev, popular Commissar of the Kovpak formation in Ukraine who developed a conflict with Moscow and was allegedly assasinated for that by the NKVD order.

After the end of the war, some Soviet partisans were repressed (mostly sent to labor camps) on various grounds. Although most of the allegations were cleared in 1955 when a Soviet pardon was announced to all POWs and Nazi collaborators.

Assessment

The partisans' activities included disrupting the railroad communications, intelligence gathering and, typically, small hit and run operations. With the German supply lines already over extended, the partisan operations in the rear of the front lines were able to severely disrupt the flow of supplies to the army that acted deep into the Soviet territory.

In the second half of the war, major partisan operations were coordinated with Soviet offensives. Upon liberation of parts of the Soviet territory the corresponding partisan detachments usually joined the regular Army.

The partisans were an important and numerous force of the war. According to Soviet sources, from 90,000 partisans (including underground) by the end of 1941 it grew to 220,000 in 1942, and to more than 550,000 in 1943[16]. Soviet partisans inflicted hundreds of thousands of casualties on Axis forces and contributed significantly to the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War. In Belarus alone the guerillas liquidated, injured and took prisoner some 500,000 German soldiers[17]

List of famous Soviet partisans

Yuri Andropov - later the leader of Soviet Union Petr Braiko Alexander Chekalin Alexei Fyodorov Nikolay Karotamm Vera Khoruzhaya Vsevolod Klokov Vasiliy Kononov Vasiliy Korzh Abba Kovner Sydir Kovpak - the best-known partisan in Ukraine Nikolai Kuznetsov Petr Masherov - later the leader of Soviet Belarus Kiril Mazurov Dmitry Medvedev - commander of an NKVD-formed special partisan unit

Marytė Melnikaitė (Marija Melnik) Mikhail Naumov Kiril Orlovsky Panteleymon Ponomarenko Mykola Popudrenko Zinaida Portnova Semyon Rudniev Alexander Saburov Vilis Samsons Arturs Sprongis Petro Vershigora Konstantin Zaslonov Simcha Zorin Yitzhak Witenberg

See also

• Young Guard (Soviet resistance)
• Soviet partisans in the former territories of the Second Polish Republic
• Resistance during World War II

Notes and references

1. Dear I.C.B. The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press, 1995.
2. Template:Ru icon Partisan Movement during the Great Patriotic War - V.N. Andrianov Soviet Encyclopaedia entry.
3. Template:En icon Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II - Virtual Guide to Belarus.

Governmental

1. Template:Ru icon Partisan Movement in Belarus - Republic of Belarus Defense Ministry.
2. Template:Ru icon Partisan Movement in Bryansk region 1941-1943 - Bryansk regional government.

External links

• Biography of Braiko
• Account of Partisan activity in Western Ukraine
• Famous partisan-miners
• Template:Ru icon People with clear conscience — Memoires of Pyotr Petrovich Vershigora
• Template:Ru icon It happened by Rovno — Memoires of Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev