Names of partisan detachments of the Second World War. Commanders of the partisans of the Great Patriotic War

A significant contribution to the victory Soviet Union Partisan detachments were brought over Nazi Germany, 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 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 the Kola Peninsula in 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 Forest Brothers gang. 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 a 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 in 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 amounted to 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.

During the Great Patriotic War, a people's war, which was a partisan movement, was fought in the territories of the Soviet Union occupied by fascist troops. We will tell you about its features and the most prominent representatives in our article.

Concept and organization of movement

Partisans (partisan detachments) are considered unofficial persons (armed groups) hiding, avoiding direct confrontation, while fighting the enemy on occupied lands. Important point partisan activity - voluntary support by the civilian population. If this does not happen, then the combat groups are saboteurs or simply bandits.

The Soviet partisan movement began to form immediately in 1941 (very active in Belarus). The partisans were required to take the oath. The detachments operated mainly in the front-line zone. During the war years, about 6,200 groups (a million people) were created. Where the terrain did not allow the creation of partisan zones, underground organizations or sabotage groups operated.

The main goals of the partisans:

• Disruption of the support and communications systems of German troops;
• Conducting reconnaissance;
• Political agitation;
• Destruction of defectors, false partisans, Nazi managers and officers;
• Combat assistance to representatives surviving in the occupation Soviet power, military units.

The partisan movement was not uncontrolled. Already in June 1941, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a directive that listed the main necessary actions partisan In addition, some of the partisan detachments were created in free territories and then transported to enemy rear. In May 1942, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was formed.

Rice. 1. Soviet partisans.

Partisan heroes

Many underground fighters and partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 are recognized heroes.
Let's list the most famous:

• Tikhon Bumazhkov (1910-1941): one of the first organizers of the partisan movement (Belarus). Together with Fyodor Pavlovsky (1908-1989) - the first partisans who became heroes of the USSR;
• Sidor Kovpak (1887-1967): one of the organizers of partisan activity in Ukraine, commander of the Sumy partisan unit, twice Hero;
• Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya (1923-1941): saboteur-scout. She was captured, after severe torture (she did not give up any information, not even her real name) and was hanged;
• Elizaveta Chaikina (1918-1941): participated in the organization of partisan detachments in the Tver region. After unsuccessful torture, she was shot;
• Vera Voloshina (1919-1941): saboteur-scout. She diverted the enemy's attention, covering the retreat of the group with valuable data. Wounded, after torture - hanged.

Rice. 2. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.

It is worth mentioning the pioneer partisans:

TOP 4 articleswho are reading along with this

• Vladimir Dubinin (1927-1942): Using his excellent memory and natural dexterity, he obtained intelligence data for a partisan detachment operating in the Kerch quarries;
• Alexander Chekalin (1925-1941): collected intelligence data, organized sabotage in the Tula region. Captured, after torture - hanged;
• Leonid Golikov (1926-1943): participated in the destruction of enemy equipment and warehouses, and the seizure of valuable documents;
• Valentin Kotik (1930-1944): liaison of the Shepetiv underground organization (Ukraine). Discovered German underground telephone cable; killed an officer of a punitive group who organized an ambush for the partisans;
• Zinaida Portnova (1924-1943): underground worker (Vitebsk region, Belarus). About 100 officers were poisoned in the German canteen. Captured, after torture - shot.

In Krasnodon (1942, Lugansk region, Donbass), the youth underground organization “Young Guard” was formed, immortalized in the film and novel of the same name (author Alexander Fadeev). Ivan Turkenich (1920-1944) was appointed its commander. The organization included about 110 people, 6 of whom became Heroes of the Soviet Union. Participants organized sabotage and distributed leaflets. Major action: setting fire to lists of people selected for deportation to Germany; raid on cars carrying German new Year gifts. In January 1943, the Germans arrested and killed about 80 underground workers.

I read and couldn’t believe it: the legendary Belarusian partisans, the avengers of Polesie, on whose exploits we were all raised, turned out to be bloody murderers and sadists. Scoundrels and scum.

They killed their own, those who expected protection from them in order to send the reports needed by their superiors.
Women and children - old people and young people. Komsomol members and wives of front-line soldiers. Those who hated the Nazis with all their hearts were killed by the Red partisans.

Another lie about war heroes originally from the USSR has been revealed.

No, not everyone was like that, not even the majority. But the terrible truth about the crimes of the partisans, overshadowing the horrors of Khatyn, has come out and needs to be known. Stop rewriting history - it's time to start writing it: honest.

Who was hiding in the Belarusian forests?

Belarusian partisans bravely fought against the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War. The partisan was the main defender of civilians, a symbol of liberation from fascism. Soviet history idealized the image of the “people's avenger,” and talking about his misdeeds was unthinkable. Only six decades later, the surviving residents of the Belarusian village of Drazhno, Starodorozhsky district, decided to talk about the terrible events they experienced in 1943. Belarusian local historian Viktor Hursik collected their stories in his book “Blood and Ashes of Drazhna”.

The author claims that on April 14, 1943, partisans attacked Drazhno and indiscriminately shot, slaughtered and burned civilians alive. The author confirms the testimony of the surviving Drazhne residents with documents from the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus.

One of the surviving witnesses to the burning of the village, Nikolai Ivanovich Petrovsky, moved to Minsk after the war, where he worked as an electrician at a state-owned enterprise until his retirement. Today the veteran is 79 years old and seriously ill.

“I’m probably visiting Drazhno for the last time,” Nikolai Ivanovich said slowly, frowning, as we drove into the village. “For more than sixty years, I remember that horror every day, every day.” And I want people to know the truth. After all, the partisans who killed their fellow countrymen remained heroes. This tragedy is worse than Khatyn.

“The shots woke us up around four in the morning.”

— When the Nazis came in 1941, a police garrison, to our misfortune, was formed in Drazhno. The policemen, and there were 79 of them, settled in the school, which they surrounded with bunkers. This place was strategic. The village stood at the intersection of roads, on a hill. The policemen could perfectly shoot through the area, and the forests were far away - three kilometers from Drazhno.

Even before the Germans arrived, my father, the chairman of the general store and a party member, managed to go into the forest along with the chairman of the collective farm and a major in the Red Army. And on time. The police began to commit atrocities: they arrested veterinarian Shaplyko and shot him. They were hunting for my father too. They ambushed him near his house.

Our entire family - me, my mother, three brothers and sister Katya - were driven almost naked to the collective farm threshing floor. My father was tortured before our eyes, beaten, and forced to dig a grave. But for some reason they weren’t shot and a few days later they were sent to a concentration camp,” Nikolai Ivanovich tries to speak dryly, without emotion. But it seems that the old man is about to lose his temper.

“That’s how we lived: without a father, with hatred for the occupiers, we waited for liberation,” continues Nikolai Ivanovich. “And so in January 1943, the partisans carried out an operation to capture the police garrison.

Today it is clear that the operation was planned ineptly, the partisans attacked head-on, almost all of them were killed with a machine gun. The villagers were forced to bury the dead. I remember how worried my mother was, crying. After all, we considered the partisans our hope...

But a few months later these “defenders” committed unprecedented atrocities! “The old man stopped for a minute, looked around the village, and looked for a long time towards the forest. — Shots woke us up at about four in the morning on April 14, 1943.

Mom shouted: “Dzetko, garyum!” Naked people jumped out into the yard, we looked: all the houses were on fire, shooting, screams...

We ran to the garden to save ourselves, and my mother returned to the house, wanting to take something out. The thatched roof of the hut was already on fire by that time. I lay there, didn’t move, and my mother didn’t return for a long time. I turned around, and ten of her people, even women, were stabbing with bayonets, shouting: “Take it, you fascist bastard!” I saw how her throat was cut. - The old man paused again, his eyes were devastated, it seemed that Nikolai Ivanovich was reliving those terrible minutes. “Katya, my sister, jumped up, asked: “Don’t shoot!”, and took out her Komsomol card. Before the war, she was a pioneer leader and a convinced communist. During the occupation, I sewed my father’s ticket and party ID into my coat and carried it with me. But the tall partisan, in leather boots, in uniform, began to aim at Katya. I shouted: “Dziadzechka, don’t forget my sister!” But a shot rang out. My sister's coat instantly became stained with blood. She died in my arms. I will always remember the killer's face.

I remember how I crawled away. I saw that my neighbor Fekla Subtselnaya and her baby daughter were thrown alive into the fire by three partisans. Aunt Thekla held her baby in her arms. Further, at the door of the burning hut, lay the old woman Grinevichikha, burnt, covered in blood...

- How did you survive? — I ask the almost sobbing old man.

— My brothers and I crawled through the vegetable gardens to the guy. His house was burned down, but he miraculously survived. They dug a dugout and lived in it.

Later we learned that the partisans did not shoot a single policeman. The houses that were located behind their fortifications also survived. The Nazis arrived in the village and treated the victims. medical care, someone was taken to the hospital in Starye Dorogi.

In 1944, the police began to abuse me and sent me and several other teenagers to work in a concentration camp in the city of Unigen, near Stuttgart. The American military liberated us.

After the war, I learned that the Drazhnenites were directly burned and killed by partisans from the Kutuzov detachment, commanded by Lapidus. Other detachments from Ivanov’s brigade covered the Kutuzovites. I found Lapidus when I was 18 years old. He lived in Minsk, in the Komarovka region, and worked in the regional party committee. Lapidus unleashed the dogs on me... I know that this man lived a good life and died a hero.

Residents killed on April 14, 1943 are buried at the Drazhno cemetery. Some families were completely destroyed by the partisans that fateful morning. There was no one to erect monuments on their graves. Many burial sites have almost been leveled to the ground and will soon disappear altogether.

Even the families of front-line soldiers were not spared.

Today Drazno is a prosperous village, with a good road, old but well-kept houses.

At the village grocery store we met other living witnesses to the partisan crime. The partisans did not reach the house of Eva Methodyevna Sirota (today her grandmother is 86 years old).

“Children, God forbid anyone finds out about that war,” Eva Methodyevna clutched her head. “We survived, but my friend Katya was shot, even though she screamed: “I belong!” The daughter-in-law and mother-in-law were shot and their little boy was left to die. But the father of their family fought at the front.

“People were hanging out in potato pits, so they shot one family right there, they didn’t regret it,” said 80-year-old Vladimir Apanasevich with despair. Grandfather could not stand it and burst into tears. “Fate saved me, but the partisans deliberately took some teenagers half a kilometer into a field and shot them. Recently, about eight people came to us from the district executive committee. They asked about the burning of Drazhno by partisans, is this true? They were silent for the most part, shaking their heads. So they left in silence.

Alexander Apanasevich, the son of Vladimir’s grandfather, showed the passport of Valentina Shamko, who was killed by partisans. In the photograph there is a girl, sweet, with a naive look, defenseless.

- This is my aunt. Mom told me that they shot her in the head,” says Uncle Alexander with bewilderment in his voice. “Mom kept Valentina’s scarf, which was shot through, but now I can’t find it.

Brigade commander Ivanov:

“...the battle went very well”

And brigade commander Ivanov, in a report to his superiors, summed up the outcome of the military operation in Drazhno like this (from case No. 42 of fund 4057 of the National Archive of the Republic of Belarus, we fully retain the author’s style):

“...the battle went very well. They completed their task, the garrison was completely destroyed, with the exception of 5 bunkers, from which it was not possible to enter, the rest of the police were destroyed, up to 217 bastards were killed and suffocated from smoke ... "

For this “operation” many partisans were presented with awards.

If the Drazhnets had not told Viktor Khursik about the tragedy of distant days, no one would have ever known about the wild burning of a Belarusian village by partisans.

An ordinary red bastard - brigade commander Ivanov.

Viktor Khursik: “The partisans wanted to pass off civilians as policemen”

— Spadar Victor, some people are trying to challenge the contents of your book...

- Apparently, it’s too late to do this. I know that when the book was published, the Ministry of Information sent it for closed review to authoritative experts. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the facts I present in the book correspond to reality. I foresaw this reaction. I consider my position to be a state position, as is the approach of the ministry. I had one goal - the search for truth. The book “Blood and Ashes of Drazhn” has nothing to do with politics.

— How did you find out about the burning of the village?

“The Drazhnets themselves decided to contact me.” At first I did not believe that the partisans could burn down a village with civilians. I checked and rechecked. I delved into the archives and met with the residents of Drazno more than once. When I realized the depth of the tragedy, I realized that it was necessary to talk not only about heroism, but also about the crimes of the partisans, and they were. Otherwise, the Belarusian nation will not exist.

— The book contains a lot of documentary incriminating evidence on the partisans, where does it come from?

— Each detachment had a security officer. He diligently recorded all cases of violations of discipline and reported this to his superiors.

— Did the partisans burn Belarusian villages everywhere?

- Of course not. Most of the partisans fought bravely for the freedom of their homeland. But there were isolated cases of crimes against civilians. And not only in Drazno. The same tragedy occurred in the village of Staroselye, Mogilev region, and in other regions. Today it is necessary to raise the question of the state erecting monuments at the sites of tragedies.

— What is the fate of the commander of the 2nd Minsk partisan brigade, Ivanov?

— He comes from Leningrad. 21-year-old Ivanov was sent to lead the brigade from the headquarters of the partisan movement. It is clear from the documents that more than one partisan died due to his inexperience. He personally shot those who refused to go into stupid attacks. Ivanov is perhaps one of the few partisan brigade commanders who was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. According to information received from former senior officials of the Pukhovichi district committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, in 1975 he committed suicide.

“And yet I still can’t wrap my head around why the partisans committed such a terrible crime?”

— Until 1943, they practically did not fight, they hid in the forests. The policemen and partisans lived relatively peacefully, only clashes occurred under pressure from above. But in 1943, Stalin began to demand concrete results. Ivanov lacked the talent to take the police garrison in Drazhno. Then the brigade command took a criminal path. They decided to burn the village, kill the local residents and pass them off as policemen.

“There are a lot of marauding acts behind Kutuzov’s detachment”

Viktor Hursik included in his book testimonies of several more surviving victims of the burning of Drazhno. These people are no longer alive.

Here are excerpts from the book “Blood and Ashes of Drazhn”.

Memorandum by the head of the special department of the NKVD, Bezuglov, “On the political and moral state of the 2nd Minsk partisan brigade”:

“...Coming back, they (the partisans - Ed.) went to Gurinovich M., tore out 7 more families of bees, broke the lock, broke into the hut, took all the things, including cast iron, also took 4 sheep, 2 pigs, etc.

The entire population is outraged by this marauding act and demands protection from the command.

There are a lot of marauding acts behind Kutuzov’s detachment, so it is necessary to take the strictest measures on this issue...”

EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

The story of a witness to the burning of Drazhno, Ekaterina Gintovt (wife of a Hero of the Soviet Union):

“In the sixties, they appointed us a new boss. He was so calm. Maybe on the second or third day of his arrival a conversation happened between us.

—Where were you during the war? - I asked.

- At the front and in the partisans.

—Where in the partisans? During the war, they killed many people and burned half the village.

We were in the Starodorozhsky district, in Drazhno...

I said that in Drazhno my friend was shot, other residents were burned and killed.

As I told him this, I saw that the man felt bad before my eyes.

“I’ll go to the hospital,” he said.

A few days later the boss died.”

Viktor Hursik is outraged by the monument to the Red Army soldiers who did not fight in Drazhno. And many more partisans died here than is indicated on the tombstone.

Nikolai Petrovsky showed the place where people were shot.

Vladimir Apanasyevich’s house survived because it was located behind the police garrison.

Passport of the murdered Valentina Shamko.

What price did its defenders, who fought behind enemy lines, pay for the liberation of the Motherland?

This is rarely remembered, but during the war years there was a joke that sounded with a tinge of pride: “Why should we wait until the Allies open a second front? It's been open for a long time! It’s called the Partisan Front.” If there is an exaggeration in this, it is a small one. The partisans of the Great Patriotic War really were a real second front for the Nazis.

To imagine the scale of guerrilla warfare, it is enough to provide a few figures. By 1944, about 1.1 million people fought in partisan detachments and formations. The losses of the German side from the actions of the partisans amounted to several hundred thousand people - this number includes Wehrmacht soldiers and officers (at least 40,000 people even according to the meager data of the German side), and all sorts of collaborators such as Vlasovites, police officers, colonists, and so on. Among those destroyed by the people's avengers were 67 German generals; five more were taken alive and transported to the mainland. Finally, the effectiveness of the partisan movement can be judged by this fact: the Germans had to divert every tenth soldier of the ground forces to fight the enemy in their own rear!

It is clear that such successes came at a high price for the partisans themselves. In the ceremonial reports of that time, everything looks beautiful: they destroyed 150 enemy soldiers and lost two partisans killed. In reality, partisan losses were much higher, and even today their final figure is unknown. But the losses were probably no less than those of the enemy. Hundreds of thousands of partisans and underground fighters gave their lives for the liberation of their homeland.

How many partisan heroes do we have?

Just one figure speaks very clearly about the severity of losses among partisans and underground participants: out of 250 Heroes of the Soviet Union who fought in the German rear, 124 people - every second! - received this high title posthumously. And this despite the fact that during the Great Patriotic War, a total of 11,657 people were awarded the country’s highest award, 3,051 of them posthumously. That is, every fourth...

Among the 250 partisans and underground fighters - Heroes of the Soviet Union, two were awarded the high title twice. These are the commanders of the partisan units Sidor Kovpak and Alexey Fedorov. What is noteworthy: both partisan commanders were awarded at the same time each time, by the same decree. For the first time - on May 18, 1942, together with partisan Ivan Kopenkin, who received the title posthumously. The second time - on January 4, 1944, together with 13 more partisans: this was one of the most massive simultaneous awards to partisans with the highest ranks.

Sidor Kovpak. Reproduction: TASS

Two more partisans - Hero of the Soviet Union wore on their chests not only the sign of this highest rank, but also the Gold Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor: the commissar of the partisan brigade named after K.K. Rokossovsky Pyotr Masherov and the commander of the partisan detachment “Falcons” Kirill Orlovsky. Pyotr Masherov received his first title in August 1944, the second in 1978 for his success in the party field. Kirill Orlovsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in September 1943, and Hero of Socialist Labor in 1958: the Rassvet collective farm he headed became the first millionaire collective farm in the USSR.

The first Heroes of the Soviet Union from among the partisans were the leaders of the Red October partisan detachment operating on the territory of Belarus: the detachment's commissar Tikhon Bumazhkov and commander Fyodor Pavlovsky. And this happened during the most difficult period at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War - August 6, 1941! Alas, only one of them lived to see the Victory: the commissar of the Red October detachment, Tikhon Bumazhkov, who managed to receive his award in Moscow, died in December of the same year, leaving the German encirclement.

Belarusian partisans on Lenin Square in Minsk, after the liberation of the city from the Nazi invaders. Photo: Vladimir Lupeiko / RIA

Chronicle of partisan heroism

In total, in the first year and a half of the war, 21 partisans and underground fighters received the highest award, 12 of them received the title posthumously. In total, by the end of 1942, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued nine decrees conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on partisans, five of them were group, four were individual. Among them was a decree on awarding the legendary partisan Lisa Chaikina dated March 6, 1942. And on September 1 of the same year highest award was awarded to nine participants of the partisan movement at once, two of whom received it posthumously.

The year 1943 turned out to be just as stingy in terms of top awards for partisans: only 24 awarded. But in the next year, 1944, when the entire territory of the USSR was liberated from the fascist yoke and the partisans found themselves on their side of the front line, 111 people received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union at once, including two - Sidor Kovpak and Alexey Fedorov - in the second once. And in the victorious year of 1945, another 29 people were added to the number of partisans - Heroes of the Soviet Union.

But many were among the partisans and those whose exploits the country fully appreciated only many years after the Victory. A total of 65 Heroes of the Soviet Union from among those who fought behind enemy lines were awarded this high title after 1945. Most of the awards found their heroes in the year of the 20th anniversary of the Victory - by decree of May 8, 1965, the country's highest award was awarded to 46 partisans. And the last time the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded on May 5, 1990, to the partisan in Italy, Fora Mosulishvili, and the leader of the Young Guard, Ivan Turkenich. Both received the award posthumously.

What else can you add when talking about partisan heroes? Every ninth person who fought in a partisan detachment or underground and earned the title of Hero of the Soviet Union is a woman! But here the sad statistics are even more inexorable: only five out of 28 partisans received this title during their lifetime, the rest - posthumously. Among them were the first woman, Hero of the Soviet Union Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, and members of the underground organization “Young Guard” Ulyana Gromova and Lyuba Shevtsova. In addition, among the partisans - Heroes of the Soviet Union there were two Germans: intelligence officer Fritz Schmenkel, awarded posthumously in 1964, and reconnaissance commander Robert Klein, awarded in 1944. And also Slovakian Jan Nalepka, commander of a partisan detachment, awarded posthumously in 1945.

It only remains to add that after the collapse of the USSR, the title of Hero Russian Federation 9 more partisans were awarded, including three posthumously (one of the awarded was intelligence officer Vera Voloshina). The medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War” was awarded to a total of 127,875 men and women (1st degree - 56,883 people, 2nd degree - 70,992 people): organizers and leaders of the partisan movement, commanders of partisan detachments and particularly distinguished partisans. The very first of the medals “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree, was received in June 1943 by the commander of a demolition group, Efim Osipenko. He was awarded the award for his feat in the fall of 1941, when he had to detonate a failed mine literally by hand. As a result, the train with tanks and food collapsed from the road, and the detachment managed to pull out the shell-shocked and blinded commander and transport him to the mainland.

Partisans by call of heart and duty of service

The fact that the Soviet government would rely on partisan warfare in the event of a major war on the western borders was clear back in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was then that the OGPU employees and the partisans they recruited were veterans Civil War developed plans for organizing the structure of future partisan detachments, laid hidden bases and caches with ammunition and equipment. But, alas, shortly before the start of the war, as veterans recall, these bases began to be opened and liquidated, and the built warning system and organization of partisan detachments began to be broken. Nevertheless, when the first bombs fell on Soviet soil on June 22, many local party workers remembered these pre-war plans and began to form the backbone of future detachments.

But not all groups arose this way. There were also many who appeared spontaneously - from soldiers and officers who were unable to break through the front line, who were surrounded by units, specialists who did not have time to evacuate, conscripts who did not reach their units, and the like. Moreover, this process was uncontrollable, and the number of such detachments was small. According to some reports, in the winter of 1941-1942, over 2 thousand partisan detachments operated in the German rear, their total number was 90 thousand fighters. It turns out that on average there were up to fifty fighters in each detachment, more often one or two dozen. By the way, as eyewitnesses recall, local residents did not begin to actively join partisan detachments immediately, but only in the spring of 1942, when “ new order" showed himself in the whole nightmare, and the opportunity to survive in the forest became real.

In turn, the detachments that arose under the command of people who were preparing partisan actions even before the war were more numerous. Such were, for example, the detachments of Sidor Kovpak and Alexei Fedorov. The basis of such formations were employees of party and Soviet bodies, headed by future partisan generals. This is how the legendary partisan detachment “Red October” arose: the basis for it was the fighter battalion formed by Tikhon Bumazhkov (a volunteer armed formation in the first months of the war, involved in the anti-sabotage fight in the front line), which was then “overgrown” with local residents and encirclement. In exactly the same way, the famous Pinsk partisan detachment arose, which later grew into a formation - on the basis of a destroyer battalion created by Vasily Korzh, a career NKVD employee, who 20 years earlier was involved in preparing partisan warfare. By the way, his first battle, which the detachment fought on June 28, 1941, is considered by many historians to be the first battle of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War.

In addition, there were partisan detachments that were formed in the Soviet rear, after which they were transferred across the front line to the German rear - for example, Dmitry Medvedev’s legendary “Winners” detachment. The basis of such detachments were soldiers and commanders of NKVD units and professional intelligence officers and saboteurs. In particular, the Soviet “saboteur number one” Ilya Starinov was involved in the training of such units (as well as in the retraining of ordinary partisans). And the activities of such detachments were supervised by a Special Group under the NKVD under the leadership of Pavel Sudoplatov, which later became the 4th Directorate of the People's Commissariat.

The commander of the partisan detachment “Winners”, writer Dmitry Medvedev, during the Great Patriotic War. Photo: Leonid Korobov / RIA Novosti

The commanders of such special detachments were given more serious and difficult tasks than ordinary partisans. Often they had to conduct large-scale rear reconnaissance, develop and carry out penetration operations and liquidation actions. One can again cite as an example the same detachment of Dmitry Medvedev “Winners”: it was he who provided support and supplies for the famous Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov, who was responsible for the liquidation of several major officials of the occupation administration and several major successes in human intelligence.

Insomnia and the rail war

But still, the main task of the partisan movement, which since May 1942 was led from Moscow by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement (and from September to November also by the Commander-in-Chief of the partisan movement, whose post was occupied by the “first red marshal” Kliment Voroshilov for three months), was different. Not allowing the invaders to gain a foothold on the occupied land, inflicting constant harassing blows on them, disrupting rear communications and transport links - that’s what Mainland waited and demanded from the partisans.

True, the partisans, one might say, learned that they had some kind of global goal only after the appearance of the Central Headquarters. And the point here is not at all that previously there was no one to give orders; there was no way to convey them to the performers. From the autumn of 1941 until the spring of 1942, while the front was moving east at tremendous speed and the country was making titanic efforts to stop this movement, the partisan detachments mostly acted at their own peril and risk. Left to their own devices, with virtually no support from behind the front line, they were forced to focus more on survival than on inflicting significant damage on the enemy. Few could boast of communication with the mainland, and even then mainly those who were organizedly thrown into the German rear, equipped with both a walkie-talkie and radio operators.

But after the appearance of the headquarters, the partisans began to be centrally provided with communications (in particular, regular graduations of partisan radio operators from schools began), to establish coordination between units and formations, and to use the gradually emerging partisan regions as a base for air supply. By that time, the basic tactics of guerrilla warfare had also been formed. The actions of the detachments, as a rule, came down to one of two methods: harassing strikes at the place of deployment or long raids on the enemy’s rear. Supporters and active implementers of raid tactics were partisan commanders Kovpak and Vershigora, while the “Winners” detachment rather showed concern.

But what almost all partisan detachments, without exception, did was disrupt German communications. And it doesn’t matter whether this was done as part of a raid or harassing tactics: attacks were carried out on railways (in the first place) and highways. Those who could not boast of a large number of troops and special skills focused on blowing up rails and bridges. Larger detachments that had units of demolitions, reconnaissance and saboteurs and special means, could count on larger targets: large bridges, junction stations, railway infrastructure.

Partisans mine railway tracks near Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti

The largest coordinated actions were two sabotage operations - “Rail War” and “Concert”. Both were carried out by partisans on the orders of the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement and the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and were coordinated with the offensives of the Red Army in the late summer and autumn of 1943. The result of the “Rail War” was a reduction in the operational transportation of the Germans by 40%, and the result of the “Concert” - by 35%. This had a tangible impact on providing the active Wehrmacht units with reinforcements and equipment, although some experts in the field of sabotage warfare believed that the partisan capabilities could have been managed differently. For example, it was necessary to strive to disable not so much railway tracks as equipment, which is much more difficult to restore. It was for this purpose that a device like an overhead rail was invented at the Higher Operational School for Special Purposes, which literally threw trains off the track. But still, for the majority of partisan detachments, the most in an accessible way What remained of the rail war was the undermining of the track, and even such assistance to the front turned out to be meaningless.

A feat that cannot be undone

Today's view of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War is seriously different from what existed in society 30 years ago. Many details became known that eyewitnesses had accidentally or deliberately kept silent about, testimonies appeared from those who never romanticized the activities of the partisans, and even from those who had a death view against the partisans of the Great Patriotic War. And in many now independent former Soviet republics, they completely swapped the plus and minus positions, writing the partisans as enemies, and the policemen as the saviors of the homeland.

But all these events cannot detract from the main thing - the incredible, unique feat of the people who, deep behind enemy lines, did everything to defend their Motherland. Albeit by touch, without any idea of ​​tactics and strategy, with only rifles and grenades, but these people fought for their freedom. And the best monument to them can and will be the memory of the feat of the partisans - the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, which cannot be canceled or downplayed by any effort.

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 blowing up railways, 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 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 have carried out hundreds, if not thousands, of operations in order to undermine the enemy's combat capability. The most notable of them was the military 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 territory of Western Ukraine; the local population saw the German invasion as liberation from the Bolshevik regime, and en masse went over to the side of Germany.

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 undermined railways, warehouses and bridges - they captured the Germans and handed them over to Soviet intelligence so that they would learn the enemy’s plans.

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. School-age boys 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 given the task of burning ten settlements, where 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 class 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.