Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. The most famous Soviet partisans

Soviet partisans - component anti-fascist movement of the Soviet people, who fought using guerrilla warfare against Germany and its allies in the temporarily occupied territories of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War.

From the very first days of the war, the Communist Party gave the partisan movement a focused and organized character. The directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated June 29, 1941 required: “In areas occupied by the enemy, create partisan detachments and sabotage groups to fight units of the enemy army, to incite partisan war everywhere, to blow up bridges, roads, damage telephone and telegraph communications, arson of warehouses, etc. “. The main goal of the partisan war was to undermine the front in the German rear - disruption of communications and communications, the work of its road and railway communications, set out in

Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of July 18, 1941 “On the organization of the struggle in the rear of German troops.”

Considering the development of the partisan movement to be one of the most important conditions for the defeat of the fascist invaders, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks obliged the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the republics, regional, regional and district party committees to lead the organization of the partisan struggle. To lead the partisan masses in the occupied areas, it was proposed to select experienced, combative, completely devoted to the party and proven comrades. The struggle of Soviet patriots was led by 565 secretaries of regional, city and district party committees, 204 chairmen of regional, city and district executive committees of workers' deputies, 104 secretaries of regional, city and district Komsomol committees, as well as hundreds of other leaders. Already in 1941, the struggle Soviet people behind enemy lines, they led 18 underground regional committees, more than 260 district committees, city committees, district committees and other underground organizations and groups, in which there were 65,500 communists.

The 4th Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR, created in 1941 under the leadership of P. Sudoplatov, played an important role in the development of the partisan movement. Subordinate to him was the Separate Special Purpose Motorized Rifle Brigade of the NKVD of the USSR, from which reconnaissance and sabotage detachments were formed and sent behind enemy lines. As a rule, they then turned into large partisan detachments. By the end of 1941, more than 2,000 partisan detachments and sabotage groups, with a total number of over 90,000 partisans, were operating in enemy-occupied territories. In order to coordinate the combat activities of the partisans and organize their interaction with the Red Army troops, special bodies were created.

P.A. Sudoplatov

A striking example group actions special purpose was the destruction of the headquarters of the 59th Wehrmacht division along with the head of the Kharkov garrison, Lieutenant General Georg von Braun. Mansion at st. Dzerzhinsky No. 17 was mined with a radio-controlled landmine by a group under the command of I.G. Starinov and detonated by radio signal in October 1941. Later, Lieutenant General Beinecker was also destroyed by a mine. . I.G. Starinov

Mines and non-recoverable landmines designed by I.G. Starinova were widely used for sabotage operations during the Second World War.

radio-controlled mine I.G. Starinova

To lead the partisan war, republican, regional and regional headquarters of the partisan movement were created. They were headed by secretaries or members of the Central Committee of the communist parties of the union republics, regional committees and regional committees: Ukrainian headquarters - T.A. Strokach, Belorussky - P.Z. Kalinin, Litovsky - A.Yu. Snechkus, Latvian - A.K. Sprogis, Estonian - N.T. Karotamm, Karelsky - S.Ya. Vershinin, Leningradsky - M.N. Nikitin. The Oryol regional committee of the CPSU(b) was headed by A.P. Matveev, Smolensky - D.M. Popov, Krasnodar - P.I. Seleznev, Stavropolsky - M.A. Suslov, Krymsky - V.S. Bulatov. The Komsomol made a great contribution to the organization of partisan warfare. As part of it governing bodies in the occupied territory there were M.V. Zimyanin, K.T. Mazurov, P.M. Masherov and others.

By decree of the State Defense Committee of May 30, 1942, the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (TsShPD, Chief of Staff - Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus (Bolsheviks) P.K. Ponomarenko) was organized at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command.

The measures taken by the party made it possible to significantly improve the leadership of partisan detachments and supply them with the necessary material means, to ensure clearer interaction between the partisans and the Red Army.

at a partisan airfield.

Z and during its existence, the TsShPD sent to partisan detachments 59,960 rifles and carbines, 34,320 machine guns, 4,210 light machine guns, 2,556 anti-tank rifles, 2,184 50-mm and 82-mm mortars, 539,570 hand-held anti-personnel and anti-tank grenades, a large number of ammunition, explosives, medicines, food and other necessary equipment. The central and republican schools of the partisan movement trained and sent more than 22,000 various specialists behind enemy lines, including 75% demolitions, 9% organizers of the underground and partisan movement, 8% radio operators, 7% intelligence officers.

The main organizational and combat unit of the partisan forces was a detachment, which usually consisted of squads, platoons and companies, numbering several dozen people, and later up to 200 or more fighters. During the war, many units united into partisan brigades and partisan divisions numbering up to several thousand fighters. Light weapons predominated in armament (both Soviet and captured), but many detachments and formations had mortars, and some had artillery. All persons who joined partisan formations took the partisan oath; as a rule, strict military discipline was established in the detachments. Party and Komsomol organizations were created in the detachments. The actions of the partisans were combined with other forms of national struggle behind enemy lines - the actions of underground fighters in cities and towns, sabotage of enterprises and transport, disruption of political and military events carried out by the enemy.

at the headquarters of the partisan brigade

group of partisans

partisan with a machine gun

The forms of organization of partisan forces and the methods of their actions were influenced by physical and geographical conditions. Vast forests, swamps, and mountains were the main basing areas for partisan forces. Here partisan regions and zones arose where various methods of struggle could be widely used, including open battles with the enemy. In the steppe regions, large formations operated successfully only during raids. The small detachments and groups that were constantly stationed here usually avoided open clashes with the enemy and caused damage to him mainly through sabotage.

The following elements can be distinguished in guerrilla tactics:

Sabotage activities, destruction of enemy infrastructure in any form (rail war, destruction of communication lines, high-voltage lines, destruction of bridges, water pipelines, etc.);

Intelligence activities, including undercover activities;

Political activity and Bolshevik propaganda;

Destruction of fascist manpower and equipment;

Elimination of collaborators and heads of the Nazi administration;

Restoration and preservation of elements of Soviet power in the occupied territory;

Mobilization of the combat-ready population remaining in the occupied territories and the unification of surrounded military units.

V.Z. Korzh

On June 28, 1941, in the area of ​​the village of Posenichi, the first battle of a partisan detachment under the command of V.Z. Korzha. To protect the city of Pinsk from the northern side, a group of partisans was deployed on the Pinsk-Logoshin road. The partisan detachment commanded by Korzh was ambushed by 2 German tank with motorcyclists. This was reconnaissance from the 293rd Wehrmacht Infantry Division. The partisans opened fire and destroyed one tank. During the battle, the partisans captured two Nazis. This was the first partisan battle of the first partisan detachment in the history of the Great Patriotic War!

On July 4, 1941, Korzh’s detachment met a German cavalry squadron 4 km from Pinsk. The partisans let the Germans close and opened accurate fire. Dozens of fascist cavalrymen died on the battlefield. In total, by June 1944, Pinsk partisan unit under the command of V.Z Korzh, they defeated 60 German garrisons in battles, derailed 478 railway trains, and blew up 62 railways. bridge, destroyed 86 tanks, 29 guns, and disabled 519 km of communication lines. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 15, 1944, for the exemplary performance of command assignments in the fight against the Nazi invaders behind enemy lines and the courage and heroism displayed, Vasily Zakharovich Korzh was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold medal Star “for No. 4448.

In August 1941, 231 partisan detachments were already operating on the territory of Belarus. Leaders of the Belarusian partisan detachment

“Red October” - commander Fyodor Pavlovsky and commissar Tikhon Bumazhkov - on August 6, 1941, the first partisans were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In the Bryansk region, Soviet partisans controlled vast territories in the German rear. In the summer of 1942, they actually controlled an area of ​​14,000 square kilometers. The Bryansk Partisan Republic was formed.

guerrilla ambush

In the second period of the Second World War (autumn 1942 - end of 1943), the partisan movement deep behind enemy lines expanded. Shifting their base from the Bryansk forests to the west, the partisan formations crossed the Desna, Sozh, Dnieper, and Pripyat rivers and began to strike at the enemy’s most important communications in his rear. The partisan attacks provided enormous assistance to the Red Army, diverting large fascist forces to themselves. In the heat of the moment Battle of Stalingrad In 1942-1943, the actions of partisan detachments and formations significantly disrupted the supply of enemy reserves and military equipment to the front. The actions of the partisans turned out to be so effective that the fascist German command sent against them in the summer and autumn of 1942 144 police battalions, 27 police regiments, 8 infantry regiments, 10 SS security police and punitive divisions, 2 security corps, 72 special units, up to 15 infantry German and 5 infantry divisions of their satellites, thereby weakening their forces at the front. Despite this, the partisans managed to organize more than 3,000 crashes of enemy trains during this period, blew up 3,500 railway and highway bridges, destroyed 15,000 vehicles, about 900 bases and warehouses with ammunition and weapons, up to 1,200 tanks, 467 aircraft, 378 guns.

punitive officers and policemen

partisan region

partisans on the march

By the end of the summer of 1942, the partisan movement had become a significant force, and organizational work was completed. The total number of partisans was up to 200,000 people. In August 1942, the most famous of the partisan commanders were summoned to Moscow to participate in a general meeting.

Commanders of partisan formations: M.I. Duca, M.P. Voloshin, D.V. Emlyutin, S.A. Kovpak, A.N. Saburov

(from left to right)

Thanks to the efforts of the Soviet leadership, the partisan movement turned into a carefully organized, well-controlled military and political force united by a single command. Head of the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement at Headquarters, Lieutenant General P.K. Ponomarenko became a member General Staff Red Army.

PC. Ponomarenko

TsShPD - on the left P.K. Ponomarenko

The partisan detachments operating in the front line came under direct subordination to the command of the corresponding army occupying this section of the front. The detachments operating in the deep rear of the German troops were subordinate to headquarters in Moscow. Officers and enlisted personnel regular army was sent to partisan units as instructors for the training of specialists.

guerrilla movement control structure

In August - September 1943, according to the TsShPD plan, 541 detachments of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian partisans simultaneously took part in the first operation to destroy the enemy’s railway communications in“Rail War”.

The purpose of the operation was to disrupt the work of the railway by massive and simultaneous destruction of rails. transport, thereby disrupting the supply of German troops, evacuation and regrouping and thus assist the Red Army in completing the defeat of the enemy in Battle of Kursk 1943 and the deployment of a general offensive on the Soviet-German front. The leadership of the “rail war” was carried out by the TsShPD at the Supreme Command Headquarters. The plan called for the destruction of 200,000 rails in the rear areas of Army Groups Center and North. To carry out the operation, 167 partisan detachments of Belarus, Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk, Oryol region numbering up to 100,000 people.

The operation was preceded careful preparation. The sections of the railway designated for destruction were distributed among partisan formations and detachments. Only from June 15 to July 1, 1943, aviation dropped 150 tons of special profile bombs, 156,000 m of fuse cord, 28,000 m of hemp wick, 595,000 detonator caps, 35,000 fuses, a lot of weapons, ammunition and medicines at partisan bases. Mining instructors were sent to the partisan detachments.

railway alignment canvases

The “Rail War” began on the night of August 3, just at a time when the enemy was forced to intensively maneuver its reserves in connection with the unfolding counteroffensive Soviet troops and its development into a general offensive along the entire front. In one night, over a vast area of ​​1000 km along the front and from the front line to the western borders of the USSR, more than 42,000 rails were blown up in depth. Simultaneously with the “Rail War,” active operations on enemy communications were launched by Ukrainian partisans, who, according to the plan for the spring-summer period of 1943, were tasked with paralyzing the work of the 26 largest railways. nodes in the rear of Army Group “South”, including Shepetovsky, Kovelsky, Zdolbunovsky, Korostensky, Sarnensky.

attack on the railway station

In the following days, the partisans' actions in the operation intensified even more. By September 15, 215,000 rails had been destroyed, which amounted to 1,342 km of single-track railway. ways. On some railways On the roads, traffic was delayed for 3-15 days, and the Mogilev-Krichev, Polotsk-Dvinsk, Mogilev-Zhlobin highways did not work during August 1943. During the operation, Belarusian partisans alone blew up 836 military trains, including 3 armored trains, disabled 690 steam locomotives, 6,343 wagons and platforms, 18 water pumps, and destroyed 184 railways. bridges and 556 bridges on dirt and highway roads, destroyed 119 tanks and 1,429 vehicles, and defeated 44 German garrisons. The experience of the “Rail War” was used by the headquarters of the partisan movement in autumn-winter period 1943/1944 in operations “Concert” and in the summer of 1944 during the offensive of the Red Army in Belarus.

blown up railway compound

Operation Concert was carried out by Soviet partisans from September 19 to the end of October 1943. The purpose of the operation was to hamper the operational transportation of fascist German troops by massively disabling large sections of railways; was a continuation of Operation Rail War; was carried out according to the TsShPD plan at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and the battle for the Dnieper. 293 partisan formations and detachments from Belarus, the Baltic states, Karelia, Crimea, Leningrad and Kalinin regions, totaling over 120,000 partisans, were involved in the operation; it was planned to undermine more than 272,000 rails. In Belarus, 90,000 partisans were involved in the operation; they had to blow up 140,000 rails. The TsShPD intended to throw 120 tons of explosives and other cargo to the partisans of Belarus, and 20 tons each to the Kalinin and Leningrad partisans. Due to sharply deteriorating weather conditions at the start of the operation, only 50% of what was planned was transferred to the partisans, and therefore it was decided to begin mass sabotage on September 25. However, some of the partisan detachments that had reached the initial lines according to the previous order could no longer take into account the changes in the timing of the operation and began to implement it on September 19. On the night of September 25, widespread actions were carried out according to plan“Concert”, covering 900 km along the front and 400 km in depth. On the night of September 19, Belarusian partisans blew up 19,903 rails and on the night of September 25, another 15,809 rails. As a result, 148,557 rails were undermined. Operation Concert intensified the struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders in the occupied territories. During the war, the influx of local population into partisan detachments increased.

partisan operation “Concert”

An important form of partisan action was the raids of partisan formations on the rear of the fascist invaders. The main goal These raids were aimed at increasing the scope and activity of popular resistance to the occupiers in new areas, as well as striking at large railways. nodes and important military-industrial facilities of the enemy, reconnaissance, providing fraternal assistance to the peoples of neighboring countries in their liberation struggle against fascism. Only on instructions from the headquarters of the partisan movement, more than 40 raids were carried out, in which over 100 large partisan formations took part. In 1944, 7 formations and 26 separate large detachments of Soviet partisans operated in the occupied territory of Poland, and 20 formations and detachments in Czechoslovakia. The raids of partisan formations under the command of V.A. had a great influence on the scope of the partisan struggle and increased its effectiveness. Andreeva, I.N. Banova, P.P. Vershigory, A.V. Germana, S.V. Grishina, F.F. Cabbages, V.A. Karaseva, S.A. Kovpaka, V.I. Kozlova, V.Z. Korzha, M.I. Naumova, N.A. Prokopyuk, V.V. Razumova, A.N. Saburova, V.P. Samson, A.F. Fedorova, A.K. Flegontova, V.P. Chepigi, M.I. Shukaeva and others.

Putivl partisan detachment (commander S.A. Kovpvk, commissar S.V. Rudnev, chief of staff G.Ya. Bazyma), operating in the occupied territory of several regions Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus in 1941-1944 was created on October 18, 1941 in the Spadshchansky forest, Sumy region. During the first weeks of the occupation, the detachments of Kovpak and Rudnev, numbering two to three dozen people each, acted independently and had no communication with each other. By the beginning of autumn, Rudnev, following Kovpak’s first sabotages, was on his trail, met with him and offered to merge both detachments. Already on October 19-20, 1941, the detachment repelled the offensive of a punitive battalion with 5 tanks, on November 18-19 - the second punitive offensive, and on December 1, it broke through the blockade ring around the Spadshchansky forest and made the first raid into the Khinel forests. By this time, the combined detachment had already grown to 500 people.

Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak

Semyon Vasilievich Rudnev

In February 1942, a detachment of S.A. Kovpaka, transformed into the Sumy Partisan Unit (Union of Partisan Detachments of the Sumy Region), returned to Spadshchansky Forest and from here undertook a series of raids, as a result of which northern regions A vast partisan region was created in the Sumy region and in the adjacent territory of the RSFSR and BSSR. By the summer of 1942, 24 detachments and 127 groups (about 18,000 partisans) were operating on its territory.

dugout at a partisan base

Interior view of the dugout

The Sumy partisan unit included four detachments: Putivlsky, Glukhovsky, Shalyginsky and Krolevetsky (based on the names of the districts of the Sumy region where they were organized). For secrecy, the connection was called military unit 00117, and detachments - battalions. Historically, the units had unequal numbers. As of January 1943, while based in Polesie, the first battalion(Putivl detachment) numbered up to 800 partisans, the other three had 250-300 partisans each. The first battalion consisted of ten companies, the rest - 3-4 companies each. The companies did not arise immediately, but were formed gradually, like partisan groups, and often arose along territorial lines. Gradually, with the departure from their native places, the groups grew into companies and acquired a new character. During the raid, companies were no longer distributed on a territorial basis, but according to military expediency. So in the first battalion there were several rifle companies, two companies of machine gunners, two companies heavy weapons(with 45-mm anti-tank guns, heavy machine guns, battalion mortars), a reconnaissance company, a company of miners, a platoon of sappers, a communications center and the main utility unit.

partisan cart

In 1941-1942, Kovpak's unit carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, and in 1942-1943 - a raid from the Bryansk forests to Right Bank Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kyiv regions. The Sumy partisan unit under the command of Kovpak fought through the rear of the fascist German troops for more than 10,000 km, defeating enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. Raids S.A. Kovpak played a big role in the development of the partisan movement against the German occupiers.

partisan raid

“Partisan Bears”

On June 12, 1943, the partisan unit S.A. Kovpak set out on a military campaign in the Carpathian region. By the time they reached the Carpathian roadstead, the formation consisted of 2,000 partisans. It was armed with 130 machine guns, 380 machine guns, 9 guns, 30 mortars, 30 anti-tank rifles. During the raid, the partisans fought 2,000 km, destroyed 3,800 Nazis, blew up 19 military trains, 52 bridges, 51 warehouses with property and weapons, disabled power plants and oil fields near Bitkov and Yablonov. By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR datedOn January 4, 1944, for the successful implementation of the Carpathian raid, Major General Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich was awarded the second Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Partisans took part in the liberation of the cities of Vileika, Yelsk, Znamenka, Luninets, Pavlograd, Rechitsa, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol, Stavropol, Cherkassy, ​​Yalta and many others.

The activities of clandestine combat groups in cities and towns caused great damage to the enemy. Underground groups and organizations in Minsk, Kyiv, Mogilev, Odessa, Vitebsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Smolensk, Kaunas, Krasnodar, Krasnodon, Pskov, Gomel, Orsha, as well as other cities and towns showed examples of selfless struggle against the fascist invaders. Sabotage, a hidden struggle to disrupt the enemy's political, economic and military activities, were the most common forms of mass resistance to the occupiers of millions of Soviet people.

Soviet intelligence officers and underground fighters committed hundreds of acts of sabotage, the targets of which were representatives of the German occupation authorities. Only with the direct participation of special detachments of the NKVD, 87 acts of retaliation were carried out against Hitler’s executioners responsible for carrying out the extermination policy in the east. On February 17, 1943, security officers killed the regional Gebitsk Commissioner Friedrich Fenz. In July of the same year, intelligence officers eliminated Gebietskommissar Ludwig Ehrenleitner. The most famous and significant of them is rightfully considered the liquidation of the Commissioner General of Belarus, Wilhelm Kube. In July 1941, Cuba was appointed General Commissioner of Belarus. Gauleiter Kube was particularly cruel. On the direct orders of the Gauleiter, a Jewish ghetto was created in Minsk and a concentration camp in the village of Trostenets, where 206,500 people were exterminated. For the first time, fighters from the NKGB sabotage and reconnaissance group of Kirill Orlovsky tried to destroy him. Having received information that Kube was going to hunt on February 17, 1943 in the Mashukovsky forests, Orlovsky organized an ambush. In a hot and fleeting battle, the scouts destroyed Gebietskommissar Fenz, 10 officers and 30 SS soldiers. But Kube was not among the dead (at the last moment he did not go hunting). And yet, on September 22, 1943, at 4.00 am, the underground fighters managed to destroy the General Commissioner of Belarus, Wilhelm Kube, with a bomb explosion (the bomb was planted under Kube’s bed by the Soviet underground worker Elena Grigorievna Mazanik).

E.G. Mazanik

The legendary career intelligence officer Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov (pseudonym - Grachev) with the beginning of the Second World War, at his personal request, was enrolled in the Special Group of the NKVD. In August 1942, N.I. Kuznetsov was sent behind enemy lines to the “Winners” partisan detachment (commander D.M. Medvedev), which operated on the territory of Ukraine. Appearing in the occupied city of Rivne under the guise of German officer- Chief Lieutenant Paul Siebert, Kuznetsov managed to quickly make the necessary contacts.

N.I. Kuznetsov N.I. Kuznetsov - Paul Siebert

Using the trust of fascist officers, he learned the locations of enemy units and the directions of their movement. He managed to obtain information about the German V-1 and V-2 missiles, reveal the location of A. Hitler’s headquarters “Werewolf” (“Werewolf”) near the city of Vinnitsa, and warn the Soviet command about the upcoming offensive of Hitler’s troops in the Kursk region (operation “Citadel”), about the impending assassination attempt on the heads of government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain (J.V. Stalin, D. Roosevelt, W. Churchill) in Tehran. In the fight against the Nazi invaders N.I. Kuznetsov showed extraordinary courage and ingenuity. He acted as a people's avenger. He committed acts of retaliation against many fascist generals and senior officers endowed with great powers of the Third Reich. He destroyed the chief judge of Ukraine Funk, the imperial adviser to the Reichskommissariat of Ukraine Gall and his secretary Winter, the vice-governor of Galicia Bauer, generals Knut and Dargel, kidnapped and took to the partisan detachment the commander of the punitive forces in Ukraine, General Ilgen. March 9, 1944 N.I. Kuznetsov died when he was surrounded by Ukrainian nationalists-Bendera in the village of Boryatin, Brodovsego district, Lviv region. Seeing that he couldn’t break through, he used the last grenade to blow himself up and the Benderites who surrounded him. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated November 5, 1944, Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for exceptional courage and bravery in carrying out command assignments.

monument to N.I. Kuznetsov

grave of N.I. Kuznetsova

The underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”, which operated during the Second World War in the city of Krasnodon, Voroshilovgrad region of Ukraine, temporarily occupied by Nazi troops, will forever remain in the memory of the Soviet people (there is no need to identify it with the modern “well done” from “M.G.”, who have nothing in common with the dead heroes). The “Young Guard” was created under the leadership of the party underground led by F.P. Lyutikov. After the occupation of Krasnodon (July 20, 1942), several anti-fascist groups arose in the city and its environs, led by Komsomol members I.V. Turkevich (commander), I.A. Zemnukhov, O.V. Koshevoy (commissioner), V.I. Levashov, S.G. Tyulenev, A.Z. Eliseenko, V.A. Zhdanov, N.S. Sumskoy, U.M. Gromova, L.G. Shevtsova, A.V. Popov, M.K. Petlivanova.

young guards

In total, more than 100 underground workers united in the underground organization, 20 of them were communists. Despite the harsh terror, the “Young Guard” created an extensive network of combat groups and cells throughout the Krasnodon region. The Young Guards issued 5,000 anti-fascist leaflets of 30 titles; liberated about 100 prisoners of war who were in a concentration camp; burned the labor exchange, where lists of people scheduled for export to Germany were kept, as a result of which 2,000 Krasnodon residents were saved from being taken into fascist slavery, destroyed vehicles with soldiers, ammunition, fuel and food, prepared an uprising with the aim of defeating the German garrison and moving towards the attackers units of the Red Army. But the betrayal of the provocateur G. Pochentsov interrupted this preparation. At the beginning of January 1943, arrests of members of the Young Guard began. They bravely withstood all the torture in fascist dungeons. During January 15, 16, and 31, the Nazis threw 71 people alive and dead into the pit of coal mine No. 5, 53 m deep. On February 9, 1943, O.V. Koshevoy, L.G. Shevtsova, S.M. Ostapenko, D.U. Ogurtsov, V.F. Subbotin, after brutal torture, was shot in the Thunderous Forest near the city of Rovenka. Only 11 underground fighters managed to escape from pursuit by the gendarmerie. By decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of September 13, 1943, U.M. Gromova, M.A. Zemnukhov, O.V. Koshevoy, S, G. Tyulenev and L.G. Shevtsova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

monument to the Young Guards

The list of heroes of the partisan struggle and the partisan underground is endless, so on the night of June 30, 1943, underground Komsomol member F. Krylovich blew up the Osipovichi railway station. train with fuel. As a result of the explosion and resulting fire, four military trains were destroyed, including a train with Tiger tanks. The occupiers lost that night at the station. Osipovichi 30 “Tigers”.

monument to underground fighters in Melitopol

The selfless and selfless activities of the partisans and underground fighters received national recognition and high praise from the CPSU and the Soviet government. More than 127,000 partisans were awarded the medal“Partisan of the Patriotic War” 1st and 2nd degree. Over 184,000 partisans and underground fighters were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union, and 248 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”

The medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" was established in the USSR on February 2, 1943. Over the following years, about 150 thousand heroes were awarded it. This material tells about five people's militias who, by their example, showed how to defend the Motherland.

Efim Ilyich Osipenko

An experienced commander who fought during the Civil War, a true leader, Efim Ilyich became the commander of a partisan detachment in the fall of 1941. Although a detachment is too strong a word: together with the commander there were only six of them. There were practically no weapons and ammunition, winter was approaching, and endless groups German army were already approaching Moscow.

Realizing that as much time as possible was needed to prepare the defense of the capital, the partisans decided to blow up a strategically important section of the railway near Myshbor station. There were few explosives, there were no detonators at all, but Osipenko decided to detonate the bomb with a grenade. Silently and unnoticed, the group moved close to the railway tracks and planted explosives. Having sent his friends back and being left alone, the commander saw the train approaching, threw a grenade and fell into the snow. But for some reason the explosion did not happen, then Efim Ilyich himself hit the bomb with a pole from a railway sign. There was an explosion and a long train with food and tanks went downhill. The partisan himself miraculously survived, although he completely lost his sight and was severely shell-shocked. On April 4, 1942, he was the first in the country to be awarded the “Partisan of the Great Patriotic War” medal for No. 000001.

Konstantin Chekhovich

Konstantin Chekhovich - organizer and performer of one of the largest partisan sabotage acts of the Great Patriotic War.

The future hero was born in 1919 in Odessa, almost immediately after graduating from the Industrial Institute he was drafted into the Red Army, and already in August 1941, as part of a sabotage group, he was sent behind enemy lines. While crossing the front line, the group was ambushed, and of the five people, only Chekhovich survived, and he had nowhere to take much optimism - the Germans, after checking the bodies, were convinced that he only had a shell shock and Konstantin Aleksandrovich was captured. He managed to escape from it two weeks later, and after another week he already got in touch with the partisans of the 7th Leningrad Brigade, where he received the task of infiltrating the Germans in the city of Porkhov for sabotage work.

Having achieved some favor with the Nazis, Chekhovich received the position of administrator at a local cinema, which he planned to blow up. He involved Evgenia Vasilyeva in the case - his wife’s sister was employed as a cleaner at the cinema. Every day she carried several briquettes in buckets with dirty water and a rag. This cinema became a mass grave for 760 German soldiers and officers - an inconspicuous “administrator” installed bombs on the supporting columns and roof, so that during the explosion the entire structure collapsed like a house of cards.

Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin

The oldest recipient of the "Partisan of the Patriotic War" and "Hero of the Soviet Union" awards. He was awarded both awards posthumously, and at the time of his feat he was 83 years old.

The future partisan was born back in 1858, 3 years before the abolition of serfdom, in the Pskov province. He spent his entire life isolated (he was not a member of the collective farm), but by no means lonely - Matvey Kuzmich had 8 children from two different wives. He was involved in hunting and fishing, and knew the area remarkably well.

The Germans who came to the village occupied his house, and later the battalion commander himself settled in it. At the beginning of February 1942, this German commander asked Kuzmin to be a guide and lead the German unit to the village of Pershino occupied by the Red Army, in return he offered almost unlimited food. Kuzmin agreed. However, having seen the route of movement on the map, he sent his grandson Vasily to the destination in advance to warn the Soviet troops. Matvey Kuzmich himself led the frozen Germans through the forest for a long time and confusedly and only in the morning led them out, but not to the desired village, but to an ambush, where the Red Army soldiers had already taken positions. The invaders came under fire from machine gun crews and lost up to 80 people captured and killed, but the hero-guide himself also died.

Leonid Golikov

He was one of many teenage partisans of the Great Patriotic War, a Hero of the Soviet Union. Brigade scout of the Leningrad partisan brigade, spreading panic and chaos in German units in the Novgorod and Pskov regions. Despite his young age - Leonid was born in 1926, at the start of the war he was 15 years old - he was distinguished by his sharp mind and military courage. In just a year and a half of partisan activity, he destroyed 78 Germans, 2 railway and 12 highway bridges, 2 food warehouses and 10 wagons with ammunition. He guarded and accompanied a food convoy to besieged Leningrad.

This is what Lenya Golikov himself wrote about his main feat in a report: “On the evening of August 12, 1942, we, 6 partisans, got out onto the Pskov-Luga highway and lay down near the village of Varnitsa. There was no movement at night. It was dawn. From Pskov 13 August, a small passenger car appeared. It was moving quickly, but near the bridge where we were, the car moved more slowly. Partizan Vasiliev threw an anti-tank grenade, but Alexander Petrov threw the second grenade and hit the beam. The car did not immediately stop, but passed by. 20 meters and almost caught up with us (we were lying behind a pile of stones). Two officers jumped out of the car. I fired a burst from my machine gun. I didn’t hit him, and ran across the ditch towards the forest. I fired several bursts from my PPSh. He hit the enemy in the neck and back. Petrov started shooting at the second officer, who kept looking around, shouting and firing back. Then the two of them ran to the first wounded officer. They took off his shoulder straps and took his documents; it turned out to be the general. from infantry troops special weapons, that is, the engineering troops, Richard Wirtz, returning from a meeting from Koenigsberg to his corps in Luga. There was still a heavy suitcase in the car. We barely managed to drag him into the bushes (150 meters from the highway). While we were still at the car, we heard an alarm, a ringing sound, and a scream in the neighboring village. Grabbing a briefcase, shoulder straps and three captured pistols, we ran to our....”.

As it turned out, the teenager took out extremely important drawings and descriptions of new examples of German mines, maps of minefields, and inspection reports to higher command. For this, Golikov was nominated for the Golden Star and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

He received the title posthumously. Defending himself in a village house from a German punitive detachment, the hero died along with the partisan headquarters on January 24, 1943, before he turned 17 years old.

Tikhon Pimenovich Bumazhkov

Coming from a poor peasant family, Hero of the Soviet Union, Tikhon Pimenovich was already the director of the plant at the age of 26, but the onset of the war did not take him by surprise. Bumazhkov is considered by historians to be one of the first organizers of partisan detachments during the Great Patriotic War. In the summer of 1941, he became one of the leaders and organizers of the fighter squad, which later became known as “Red October”.

In collaboration with units of the Red Army, the partisans destroyed several dozen bridges and enemy headquarters. In just less than 6 months of guerrilla warfare, Bumazhkov’s detachment destroyed up to two hundred enemy vehicles and motorcycles, up to 20 warehouses with fodder and food were blown up or captured, and the number of captured officers and soldiers is estimated at several thousand. Bumazhkov died a heroic death while escaping from encirclement near the village of Orzhitsa, Poltava region.

A significant contribution to the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany was made by partisan detachments operating behind enemy lines from Leningrad to Odessa. They were led not only by career military personnel, but also by people of peaceful professions. Real heroes.

Old Man Minai

At the beginning of the war, Minai Filipovich Shmyrev was the director of the Pudot Cardboard Factory (Belarus). The 51-year-old director had a military background: he was awarded three Crosses of St. George in World War I, and fought against banditry during the Civil War. In July 1941, in the village of Pudot, Shmyrev formed a partisan detachment from factory workers. In two months, the partisans engaged the enemy 27 times, destroyed 14 vehicles, 18 fuel tanks, blew up 8 bridges, and defeated the German district government in Surazh. In the spring of 1942, Shmyrev, by order of the Central Committee of Belarus, united with three partisan detachments and headed the First Belarusian Partisan Brigade. The partisans drove the fascists out of 15 villages and created the Surazh partisan region. Here, before the arrival of the Red Army, Soviet power was restored. On the Usvyaty-Tarasenki section, the “Surazh Gate” existed for six months - a 40-kilometer zone through which the partisans were supplied with weapons and food. All of Father Minai’s relatives: four small children, a sister and mother-in-law were shot by the Nazis. In the fall of 1942, Shmyrev was transferred to the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. In 1944 he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war, Shmyrev returned to farm work.

Son of the kulak "Uncle Kostya"

Konstantin Sergeevich Zaslonov was born in the city of Ostashkov, Tver province. In the thirties, his family was dispossessed and exiled to Kola Peninsula to Khibinogorsk. After school, Zaslonov became a railway worker, by 1941 he worked as the head of a locomotive depot in Orsha (Belarus) and was evacuated to Moscow, but voluntarily went back. He served under the pseudonym “Uncle Kostya” and created an underground that, with the help of mines disguised as coal, derailed 93 fascist trains in three months. In the spring of 1942, Zaslonov organized a partisan detachment. The detachment fought with the Germans and lured 5 garrisons of the Russian National People's Army to its side. Zaslonov died in a battle with the RNNA punitive forces, who came to the partisans under the guise of defectors. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

NKVD officer Dmitry Medvedev

A native of the Oryol province, Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev was an NKVD officer. He was fired twice - either because of his brother - “an enemy of the people”, or “for the unreasonable termination of criminal cases.” In the summer of 1941 he was reinstated into the ranks. He headed the reconnaissance and sabotage task force "Mitya", which conducted more than 50 operations in the Smolensk, Mogilev and Bryansk regions. In the summer of 1942, he led the “Winners” special detachment and conducted more than 120 successful operations. 11 generals, 2,000 soldiers, 6,000 Bandera supporters were killed, and 81 echelons were blown up. In 1944, Medvedev was transferred to staff work, but in 1945 he traveled to Lithuania to fight the gang " Forest brothers" He retired with the rank of colonel. Hero of the Soviet Union.

Saboteur Molodtsov-Badaev

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Molodtsov worked in a mine from the age of 16. He worked his way up from a trolley racer to a deputy director. In 1934 he was sent to the Central School of the NKVD. In July 1941 he arrived in Odessa for reconnaissance and sabotage work. He worked under the pseudonym Pavel Badaev. Badaev's troops hid in the Odessa catacombs, fought with the Romanians, broke communication lines, carried out sabotage in the port, and carried out reconnaissance. The commandant's office with 149 officers was blown up. At the Zastava station, a train with the administration for occupied Odessa was destroyed. The Nazis sent 16,000 people to liquidate the detachment. They released gas into the catacombs, poisoned the water, mined the passages. In February 1942, Molodtsov and his contacts were captured. Molodtsov was executed on July 12, 1942. Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

OGPU employee Naumov

A native of the Perm region, Mikhail Ivanovich Naumov, was an employee of the OGPU at the beginning of the war. Shell-shocked while crossing the Dniester, was surrounded, went out to the partisans and soon led a detachment. In the fall of 1942 he became the chief of staff of partisan detachments in the Sumy region, and in January 1943 he headed a cavalry unit. In the spring of 1943, Naumov conducted the legendary Steppe Raid, 2,379 kilometers long, behind Nazi lines. For this operation, the captain was awarded the rank of major general, which is unique event, and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In total, Naumov conducted three large-scale raids behind enemy lines. After the war he continued to serve in the ranks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich

Kovpak became a legend during his lifetime. Born in Poltava into a poor peasant family. During World War I he received the St. George Cross from the hands of Nicholas II. During the Civil War he was a partisan against the Germans and fought with the whites. Since 1937, he was chairman of the Putivl City Executive Committee of the Sumy Region. In the fall of 1941, he led the Putivl partisan detachment, and then a formation of detachments in the Sumy region. The partisans carried out military raids behind enemy lines. Their total length was more than 10,000 kilometers. 39 enemy garrisons were defeated. On August 31, 1942, Kovpak participated in a meeting of partisan commanders in Moscow, was received by Stalin and Voroshilov, after which he carried out a raid beyond the Dnieper. At this moment, Kovpak’s detachment had 2000 soldiers, 130 machine guns, 9 guns. In April 1943, he was awarded the rank of major general. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

The partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War was massive. Thousands of residents of the occupied territories joined the partisans in order to fight the invader. Their courage and coordinated actions against the enemy made it possible to significantly weaken him, which influenced the course of the war and brought a great victory to the Soviet Union.

The partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War was a mass phenomenon in the territory of the USSR occupied by Nazi Germany, which was characterized by the struggle of people living in the occupied lands against the forces of the Wehrmacht.

Partisans are the main part of the anti-fascist movement, the Resistance of the Soviet People. Their actions, contrary to many opinions, were not chaotic - large partisan detachments were subordinate to the governing bodies of the Red Army.

The main tasks of the partisans were to disrupt the enemy's road, air and railway communications, as well as to undermine the operation of communication lines.

Interesting! As of 1944, over one million partisans were operating in the occupied lands.

During the Soviet offensive, partisans joined the regular troops of the Red Army.

Beginning of the guerrilla war

It is now well known what role the partisans played in the Great Patriotic War. Partisan brigades began to be organized in the first weeks of hostilities, when the Red Army was retreating with huge losses.

The main goals of the Resistance movement were set out in documents dating from June 29 of the first year of the war. On September 5, they developed a wide list that formulated the main tasks for the fight in the rear of German troops.

In 1941, a special motorized rifle brigade was created, which played a vital role in the development of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. Separate sabotage groups (usually several dozen people) were specially sent behind enemy lines in order to replenish the ranks of partisan groups.

The formation of partisan detachments was caused by the brutal Nazi regime, as well as the removal of civilians from enemy-occupied territory to Germany for hard work.

In the first months of the war, there were very few partisan detachments, since most of the people took a wait-and-see attitude. Initially, no one supplied the partisan detachments with weapons and ammunition, and therefore their role at the beginning of the war was extremely small.

In the early autumn of 1941, communication with the partisans in the deep rear improved significantly - the movement of partisan detachments intensified significantly and began to be more organized. At the same time, the interaction of the partisans with the regular troops of the Soviet Union (USSR) improved - they took part in battles together.

Often, the leaders of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War were ordinary peasants who did not have military training. Later, the Headquarters sent its own officers to command the detachments.

In the first months of the war, the partisans gathered in small detachments of up to several dozen people. After less than six months, the fighters in the detachments began to number hundreds of fighters. When the Red Army went on the offensive, the detachments turned into entire brigades with thousands of defenders of the Soviet Union.

The largest detachments arose in the regions of Ukraine and Belarus, where German oppression was especially severe.

Main activities of the partisan movement

An important role in organizing the work of resistance units was the creation of the Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (TsSHPD). Stalin appointed Marshal Voroshilov to the post of commander of the Resistance, who believed that their support was the key strategic goal of the spacecraft.

In the small partisan detachments there were no heavy weapons - light weapons predominated: rifles;

• rifles;
• pistols;
• machine guns;
• grenades;
• light machine guns.

Large brigades had mortars and other heavy weapons, which allowed them to fight against enemy tanks.

The partisan and underground movement during the Great Patriotic War seriously undermined the work of the German rear, reducing the combat effectiveness of the Wehrmacht in the lands of Ukraine and the Belarusian SSR.

Partisan detachment in destroyed Minsk, photo 1944

Partisan brigades were mainly engaged in demolitions railway tracks, bridges and trains, making the rapid transfer of troops, ammunition and provisions over long distances unproductive.

The groups that were engaged in subversive work were armed with powerful explosives; such operations were led by officers from specialized units of the Red Army.

The main task of the partisans during the fighting was to prevent the Germans from preparing a defense, undermine morale and inflict such damage on their rear from which it is difficult to recover. Undermining communications - mainly railways, bridges, killing officers, depriving communications and much more - seriously helped in the fight against the enemy. The confused enemy could not resist, and the Red Army was victorious.

Initially, small (about 30 people) units of partisan detachments took part in large-scale offensive operations of the Soviet troops. Then entire brigades joined the ranks of the spacecraft, replenishing the reserves of the troops weakened by the battles.

As a conclusion, we can briefly highlight the main methods of struggle of the Resistance brigades:

1. Sabotage work (pogroms were carried out in the rear of the German army) in any form - especially in relation to enemy trains.
2. Intelligence and counterintelligence.
3. Propaganda for the benefit of the Communist Party.
4. Combat assistance by the Red Army.
5. Elimination of traitors to the motherland - called collaborators.
6. Destruction of enemy combat personnel and officers.
7. Mobilization of civilians.
8. Maintaining Soviet power in the occupied areas.

Legalization of the partisan movement

The formation of partisan detachments was controlled by the command of the Red Army - the Headquarters understood that sabotage work behind enemy lines and other actions would seriously ruin the life of the German army. The headquarters contributed to the armed struggle of the partisans against the Nazi invaders, and assistance increased significantly after the victory at Stalingrad.

If before 1942 the mortality rate in partisan detachments reached 100%, then by 1944 it had dropped to 10%.

Separate brigades of partisans were controlled senior management directly. The ranks of such brigades also included specially trained specialists in sabotage activities, whose task was to train and organize less trained fighters.

The support of the party significantly strengthened the power of the detachments, and therefore the actions of the partisans were directed to help the Red Army. During any offensive operation of the spacecraft, the enemy had to expect an attack from the rear.

Sign operations

The Resistance forces carried out hundreds, if not thousands, of operations in order to undermine the enemy's combat capability. The most notable of them was combat operation"Concert".

More than one hundred thousand soldiers took part in this operation and it took place over a vast territory: in Belarus, Crimea, the Baltic states, Leningrad region and so on.

The main goal is to destroy the enemy's railway communication so that he will not be able to replenish reserves and supplies during the battle for the Dnieper.

As a result, the efficiency of railways decreased by a catastrophic 40% for the enemy. The operation stopped due to the lack of explosives - with more ammunition, the partisans could have caused much more significant damage.

After the victory over the enemy on the Dnieper River, partisans began to participate en masse in major operations, starting in 1944.

Geography and scale of movement

Resistance units gathered in areas where there were dense forests, gullies and swamps. In the steppe regions, the Germans easily found the partisans and destroyed them. In difficult areas they were protected from the German numerical advantage.

One of the large centers of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War was in Belarus.

Belarusian partisans in the forests terrified the enemy, attacking suddenly when the Germans could not repulse the attack, and then also quietly disappearing.

Initially, the situation of the partisans on the territory of Belarus was extremely deplorable. However, the victory near Moscow, and then the winter offensive of the spacecraft, significantly raised their morale. After the liberation of the capital of Belarus, a partisan parade took place.

No less large-scale is the Resistance movement on the territory of Ukraine, especially in Crimea.

The cruel attitude of the Germans towards the Ukrainian people forced people en masse to join the ranks of the Resistance. However, here partisan resistance had its own characteristic features.

Very often the movement was aimed not only at fighting against the fascists, but also against the Soviet regime. This was especially evident in the area Western Ukraine, the local population saw the German invasion as liberation from the Bolshevik regime, and en masse went over to the German side.

Participants in the partisan movement became national heroes, for example, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who died at the age of 18 in German captivity, becoming the Soviet Joan of Arc.

The struggle of the population against Nazi Germany took place in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Karelia and other regions.

The most ambitious operation carried out by the Resistance fighters was the so-called “Rail War”. In August 1943, large sabotage formations were transported behind enemy lines, and on the first night they blew up tens of thousands of rails. In total, more than two hundred thousand rails were blown up during the operation - Hitler seriously underestimated the resistance of the Soviet people.

As mentioned above, Operation Concert, which followed the Rail War and was associated with the offensive of the spacecraft forces, played an important role.

The partisan attacks became massive (warring groups were present on all fronts); the enemy could not react objectively and quickly - the German troops were in panic.

In turn, this caused executions of the population who assisted the partisans - the Nazis destroyed entire villages. Such actions encouraged even more people to join the Resistance.

Results and significance of guerrilla warfare

It is very difficult to fully assess the contribution of the partisans to the victory over the enemy, but all historians agree that it was extremely significant. Never before in history has the Resistance movement gained such a massive scale - millions of civilians began to stand up for their Motherland and brought it victory.

Resistance fighters not only blew up railways, warehouses and bridges - they captured Germans and handed them over Soviet intelligence so that she finds out the plans of the enemy.

At the hands of the Resistance, the defensive capacity of the Wehrmacht forces on the territory of Ukraine and Belarus was seriously undermined, which simplified the offensive and reduced losses in the ranks of the spacecraft.

Children-partisans

The phenomenon of child partisans deserves special attention. boys school age wanted to fight the invader. Among these heroes it is worth highlighting:

• Valentin Kotik;
• Marat Kazei;
• Vanya Kazachenko;
• Vitya Sitnitsa;
• Olya Demesh;
• Alyosha Vyalov;
• Zina Portnova;
• Pavlik Titov and others.

Boys and girls were engaged in reconnaissance, supplied brigades with supplies and water, fought in battle against the enemy, blew up tanks - did everything to drive away the Nazis. Children partisans of the Great Patriotic War did no less than adults. Many of them died and received the title of “Hero of the Soviet Union.”

Heroes of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

Hundreds of members of the Resistance movement became “Heroes of the Soviet Union” – some twice. Among such figures, I would like to highlight Sidor Kovpak, the commander of a partisan detachment who fought on the territory of Ukraine.

Sidor Kovpak was the man who inspired the people to resist the enemy. He was the military leader of the largest partisan formation in Ukraine and thousands of Germans were killed under his command. In 1943, for his effective actions against the enemy, Kovpak was given the rank of major general.

Next to him it is worth placing Alexey Fedorov, who also commanded a large formation. Fedorov operated on the territory of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. He was one of the most wanted partisans. Fedorov made a huge contribution to the development of guerrilla warfare tactics, which were used in subsequent years.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, one of the most famous female partisans, also became the first woman to receive the title of “Hero of the Soviet Union.” During one of the operations, she was captured and hanged, but she showed courage to the end and did not betray the plans of the Soviet command to the enemy. The girl became a saboteur despite the commander’s words that 95% of the entire staff would die during operations. She was assigned the task of burning down ten settlements in which German soldiers were based. The heroine was unable to fully carry out the order, since during the next arson she was noticed by a village resident who handed the girl over to the Germans.

Zoya became a symbol of resistance to fascism - her image was used not only in Soviet propaganda. The news of the Soviet partisan even reached Burma, where she also became a national hero.

Awards for members of partisan detachments

Since the Resistance played an important role in the victory over the Germans, a special award was established - the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”.

First degree awards were often given to fighters posthumously. This applies, first of all, to those partisans who were not afraid to act in the first year of the war, being in the rear without any support from the spacecraft forces.

As war heroes, partisans appeared in many Soviet films devoted to military themes. Among the key films are the following:

"Rising" (1976).
"Konstantin Zaslonov" (1949).
The trilogy “The Thought of Kovpak”, published from 1973 to 1976.
“Partisans in the steppes of Ukraine” (1943).
“In the woods near Kovel” (1984) and many others.
The above-mentioned sources say that films about partisans began to be made during military operations - this was necessary so that people would support this movement and join the ranks of the Resistance fighters.

In addition to films, the partisans became heroes of many songs and ballads that highlighted their exploits and carried the news about them among the people.

Now streets and parks are named after famous partisans, thousands of monuments have been erected throughout the CIS countries and beyond. A striking example is Burma, where the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya is honored.

The first days of the Great Patriotic War were catastrophic for the Soviet Union: the surprise attack on June 22, 1941 allowed Hitler's army to gain significant advantages. Many border outposts and formations that took the brunt of the enemy’s first strike were killed. Wehrmacht troops with high speed moved deeper Soviet territory . Behind a short time

3.8 million soldiers and commanders of the Red Army were captured. But, despite the most difficult conditions of military operations, the defenders of the Fatherland from the very first days of the war showed courage and heroism. A striking example of heroism was the creation, in the first days of the war, in the occupied territory of the first partisan detachment under the command of Korzh Vasily Zakharovich.- commander of the Pinsk partisan unit, member of the Pinsk underground regional party committee, major general. Born on January 1 (13), 1899 in the village of Khorostov, now Soligorsk district, Minsk region, in a peasant family. Belarusian. Member of the CPSU since 1929. He graduated from a rural school. In 1921–1925, V.Z. Korzh fought in the partisan detachment K.P. Orlovsky, who operated in Western Belarus. In 1925 he moved across the border to Soviet Belarus. Since 1925, he was the chairman of collective farms in the regions of the Minsk District. In 1931–1936 he worked in the bodies of the GPU NKVD of the BSSR. In 1936–1937, through the NKVD, Korzh participated as an adviser in the revolutionary war of the Spanish people and was the commander of an international partisan detachment.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he formed and led a fighter battalion, which grew into the first partisan detachment in Belarus. The detachment included 60 people. The detachment was divided into 3 rifle squads of 20 soldiers each. We armed ourselves with rifles and received 90 rounds of ammunition and one grenade. On June 28, 1941, in the area of ​​the village of Posenichi, the first battle of a partisan detachment under the command of V.Z. Korzha. To guard the city from the northern side, a group of partisans was placed on the Pinsk Logishin road. The partisan detachment commanded by Korzh was ambushed by 2 German tanks. This was reconnaissance from the 293rd Wehrmacht Infantry Division. The partisans opened fire and knocked out one tank. As a result of this operation, they managed to capture 2 Nazis. This was the first partisan battle of the first partisan detachment in the history of the Great Patriotic War. On July 4, 1941, the detachment met enemy cavalry squadrons 4 kilometers from the city. The cake quickly “spread out” firepower

But there was no connection with the mainland. Then Korzh sent a man behind the front line. The liaison officer was the famous Belarusian underground worker Vera Khoruzhaya. And she managed to get to Moscow. In the winter of 1941/42, it was possible to establish contact with the Minsk underground regional party committee, which deployed its headquarters in the Lyuban region. We jointly organized a sleigh ride in the Minsk and Polesie regions. Along the way, they “smoked out” uninvited foreign guests and gave them a “try” of partisan bullets. During the raid, the detachment was replenished thoroughly. Guerrilla warfare flared up. By November 1942, 7 impressively powerful detachments merged together and formed a partisan formation. Korzh took command over him. In addition, 11 underground district party committees, the Pinsk city committee, and about 40 primary organizations began to operate in the region. They even managed to “recruit” to their side an entire Cossack regiment formed by the Nazis from prisoners of war! By the winter of 1942/43, the Korzh union had restored Soviet power in a significant part of the Luninets, Zhitkovichi, Starobinsky, Ivanovo, Drogichinsky, Leninsky, Telekhansky, and Gantsevichi districts. Communication with the mainland has been established. Planes landed at the partisan airfield and brought ammunition, medicine, and walkie-talkies.

The partisans reliably controlled a huge section of the Brest-Gomel railway, the Baranovichi-Luninets section, and the enemy echelons went downhill according to a strict partisan schedule. The Dnieper-Bug Canal was almost completely paralyzed. In February 1943, the Nazi command attempted to put an end to the Korzh partisans. Regular units with artillery, aviation, and tanks were advancing. On February 15, the encirclement closed. The partisan zone turned into a continuous battlefield. Korzh himself led the column to break through. He personally led the shock troops to break through the ring, then the defense of the neck of the breakthrough, while convoys with civilians, wounded and property crossed the gap, and, finally, the rearguard group covering the pursuit. And so that the Nazis did not think that they had won, Korzh attacked a large garrison in the village of Svyatoy Volya. The battle lasted 7 hours, in which the partisans were victorious. Until the summer of 1943, the Nazis threw part after part against the Korzh formation.

And each time the partisans broke through the encirclement. Finally, they finally escaped from the cauldron to the area of ​​​​Lake Vygonovskoye. . By Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated September 16, 1943 No. 1000 - one of the ten commanders of the partisan formations of the Belarusian SSR - V.Z. Korzh assigned military rank"Major General" Throughout the summer and autumn of 1943, the “rail war” thundered in Belarus, proclaimed by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. The Korzh compound made a significant contribution to this grandiose “event.” In 1944, several operations that were brilliant in concept and organization upset all the Nazis’ plans for a systematic, well-thought-out withdrawal of their units to the west.

The partisans destroyed railway arteries (on July 20, 21 and 22, 1944 alone, demolitionists blew up 5 thousand rails!), tightly closed the Dnieper-Bug Canal, and thwarted the enemy’s attempts to establish crossings across the Sluch River. Hundreds of Aryan warriors, together with the commander of the group, General Miller, surrendered to the Korzh partisans. And a few days later the war left the Pinsk region... In total, by July 1944, the Pinsk partisan unit under the command of Korzh in battles defeated 60 German garrisons, derailed 478 enemy trains, blew up 62 railway bridges, destroyed 86 tanks and armored vehicles, 29 guns, 519 kilometers of communication lines are out of order. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 15, 1944, for the exemplary performance of command assignments in the fight against the Nazi invaders behind enemy lines and the courage and heroism shown, Vasily Zakharovich Korzh was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. "(No. 4448). In 1946 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1946, Major General Korzh V.Z. in reserve. In 1949–1953 he worked as Deputy Minister of Forestry of the Belarusian SSR. In 1953–1963 he was chairman of the collective farm “Partizansky Krai” in the Soligorsk district of the Minsk region. IN last years lived in Minsk. Died May 5, 1967. He was buried at the Eastern (Moscow) cemetery in Minsk. Awarded 2 Orders of Lenin, 2 Orders of the Red Banner, Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree, Red Star, medals. A monument to the Hero was erected in the village of Khorostov, memorial plaques in the cities of Minsk and Soligorsk. The collective farm “Partizansky Krai”, streets in the cities of Minsk, Pinsk, Soligorsk, as well as a school in the city of Pinsk are named after him.

Sources and literature.

1. Ioffe E.G. The Higher Partisan Command of Belarus 1941-1944 // Directory. – Minsk, 2009. – P. 23.

2. Kolpakidi A., Sever A. GRU special forces. – M.: “YAUZA”, ESKMO, 2012. – P. 45.