The partisan movement has repeatedly proved its effectiveness during wars. The Germans were afraid of the Soviet partisans. "People's avengers" destroyed communications, blew up bridges, took "languages" and even made weapons themselves.

History of the concept

Partizan is a word that came to Russian from the Italian language, in which the word partigiano denotes a member of an irregular military detachment that enjoys the support of the population and politicians. Partisans fight with the help of specific means: warfare behind enemy lines, sabotage or sabotage. A distinctive feature of guerrilla tactics is covert movement through enemy territory and a good knowledge of the terrain. In Russia and the USSR, such tactics have been practiced for centuries. Suffice it to recall the war of 1812.

In the 30s in the USSR, the word "partisan" acquired a positive connotation - only partisans who supported the Red Army were called that. Since then, in Russia this word has been extremely positive and is almost never used in relation to enemy partisan groups - they are called terrorists or illegal military formations.

Soviet partisans during the Great Patriotic War were controlled by the authorities and performed tasks similar to those of the army. But if the army fought at the front, then the partisans had to destroy enemy lines of communication and means of communication.

During the war years, 6,200 partisan detachments worked in the occupied lands of the USSR, in which about a million people took part. They were controlled by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement, developing coordinated tactics for scattered partisan associations and directing them towards common goals.

In 1942, Marshal of the USSR Kliment Voroshilov was appointed to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the partisan movement, and they were asked to create a partisan army behind enemy lines - the German troops. Despite the fact that the guerrillas are often thought of as randomly organized units of the local population, the "people's avengers" behaved in accordance with the rules of strict military discipline and took the oath like real soldiers - otherwise they would not have survived the brutal conditions of war.

Life of partisans

The worst of all for the Soviet partisans, who were forced to hide in the forests and mountains, was in winter. Before that, not a single partisan movement in the world had faced the problem of cold - in addition to the difficulties of survival, the problem of camouflage was added. In the snow, the partisans left traces, and the vegetation no longer hid their shelters. Winter dwellings often harmed the mobility of the partisans: in the Crimea, they built mainly ground dwellings like wigwams. In other areas, dugouts predominated.

Many partisan headquarters had a radio station, through which he contacted Moscow and transmitted news to the local population in the occupied territories. With the help of radio, the command ordered the partisans, and they, in turn, coordinated air strikes and provided intelligence information.

There were also women among the partisans - if for the Germans, who thought of a woman only in the kitchen, this was unacceptable, then the Soviets in every possible way agitated the weaker sex to participate in the partisan war. Female scouts did not fall under the suspicion of enemies, female doctors and radio operators helped with sabotage, and some brave women even took part in hostilities. It is also known about officer privileges - if there was a woman in the detachment, she often became the “camping wife” of the commanders. Sometimes everything happened the other way around and wives instead of husbands commanded and intervened in military matters - such a mess the higher authorities tried to stop.

Guerrilla tactics

The basis of the tactics of the "long arm" (as the Soviet leadership called the partisans) was the implementation of reconnaissance and sabotage - they destroyed the railways through which the Germans delivered trains with weapons and products, broke high-voltage lines, poisoned water pipes or wells behind enemy lines.

Thanks to these actions, it was possible to disorganize the rear of the enemy and demoralize him. The great advantage of the partisans was also that all of the above did not require large human resources: sometimes even a small detachment could implement subversive plans, and sometimes one person.
When the Red Army advanced, the partisans struck from the rear, breaking through the defenses, and unexpectedly thwarted the enemy's regrouping or retreat. Prior to this, the forces of the partisan detachments were hiding in the forests, mountains and swamps - in the steppe regions, the activity of the partisans was ineffective.

The guerrilla war was especially successful in Belarus - forests and swamps hid the "second front" and contributed to their success. Therefore, the exploits of the partisans are still remembered in Belarus: it is worth remembering at least the name of the Minsk football club of the same name.
With the help of propaganda in the occupied territories, the "people's avengers" could replenish the fighting ranks. However, partisan detachments were recruited unevenly - part of the population in the occupied territories kept their nose to the wind and waited, while other people familiar with the terror of the German occupiers were more willing to join the partisans.

rail war

The "Second Front", as the German invaders called the partisans, played a huge role in the destruction of the enemy. In Belarus in 1943 there was a decree “On the destruction of the enemy’s railway communications by the method of rail warfare” - the partisans were supposed to wage the so-called rail war, undermining trains, bridges and spoiling enemy tracks in every possible way.

During the operations "Rail War" and "Concert" in Belarus, the movement of trains was stopped for 15-30 days, and the army and equipment of the enemy were also destroyed. Undermining enemy formations even in the face of a shortage of explosives, the partisans destroyed more than 70 bridges and killed 30,000 German fighters. On the first night of Operation Rail War alone, 42,000 rails were destroyed. It is believed that over the entire period of the war, the partisans destroyed about 18 thousand enemy units, which is a truly colossal figure.

In many ways, these achievements became a reality thanks to the invention of the partisan craftsman T.E. Shavgulidze - in field conditions, he built a special wedge that derailed trains: the train ran into a wedge, which was attached to the tracks in a few minutes, then the wheel was moved from the inside to the outside of the rail, and the train was completely destroyed, which did not happen even after mine explosions .

Guerrilla gunsmiths

The guerrilla brigades were mainly armed with light machine guns, machine guns and carbines. However, there were detachments with mortars or artillery. The partisans were armed with Soviets and often captured weapons, but this was not enough in the conditions of war behind enemy lines.

The partisans launched a large-scale production of handicraft weapons and even tanks. Local workers created special secret workshops - with primitive equipment and a small set of tools, however, amateur engineers and technicians managed to create excellent examples of parts for weapons from scrap metal and improvised parts.

In addition to repairs, the partisans were also engaged in design work: “A large number of improvised mines, machine guns and partisan grenades have an original solution for both the entire structure as a whole and its individual components. Not limited to inventions of a “local” nature, the partisans sent a large number of inventions and rationalization proposals to the mainland.

The most popular handicraft weapons were homemade PPSh submachine guns - the first of them was made in the Razgrom partisan brigade near Minsk in 1942. The partisans also made "surprises" with explosives and unexpected varieties of mines with a special detonator, the secret of which was known only to their own. "People's Avengers" easily repaired even undermined German tanks and even organized artillery battalions from repaired mortars. Partisan engineers even made grenade launchers.

07.07.43: The Hitlerite newspaper Deutsche Zeitung in Kroathien published a second article by the German major Schaefer, in which the author complains about the enormous difficulties that the Hitlerite command has to experience in the fight against the Soviet partisan detachments. He writes that the partisans have machine guns, machine guns, and artillery. Separate partisan detachments skillfully maintain contact with each other.

The author is especially "indignant" at the "wrong tactics" of the partisans, the "cunning methods" with which they deceive the Nazi punitive detachments. The guerrillas, Schaefer writes, when faced with difficulties, quickly and imperceptibly disperse in the forests, and then reunite at the agreed place. "They," he writes, "fight stubbornly, boldly, and brutally." “It is not an easy job,” the author laments, “to fight against partisans on forest roads and paths in the very thick of the forest. You have to cross the forest in all directions, through the thicket and swamps. When crossing swampy places, German soldiers are forced to take each other's hands so as not to drown. Clothes are dried directly on the soldier's body. You have to sleep on damp ground. But quiet nights are rare, for partisans attack at night. The supply of food, weapons and ammunition to the German troops is carried out with great difficulty, because the partisans mine the roads.

All this, says a Hitler officer, forces the German command to use in the fight against the partisans not only SS and police units, but also aircraft and even German soldiers who have arrived from the front for treatment. The tactics of the German command, according to Schaefer, is to "surround the partisans with superior forces, not to push back, but to destroy them." “However,” the Hitlerite major laments, “this is easier to achieve in words than in deeds. Enjoying the support of the population, the guerrillas have an excellent information network. They learn in advance about every movement of the German units, as a result of which the operations undertaken by the German troops often turn out to be meaningless. ("Red Star", USSR)*

04.07.43: According to the Berlin correspondent of the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, it is recognized in Berlin circles that the Soviet partisans cause the German command a lot of trouble. “Russian guerrilla warfare,” the correspondent writes, “especially in forest and swampy areas, puts German soldiers before severe trials. The fight against the partisans demanded many sacrifices on the German side.

According to the correspondent, in order to fight the Soviet partisans, the German command is forced to use special SS troops and large police detachments. The Germans had to build special strongholds and fortified positions, as well as a large number of towers from which round-the-clock surveillance is carried out. The Soviet partisans, writes the correspondent, direct their blows primarily against the German lines of communication in the rear, which, according to German circles, causes them pain. ("Red Star", USSR)

27.05.43: The Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reports that the Germans are frightened by the growth of guerrilla warfare in Belarus. The operations of the Soviet partisans have taken on such a scale that the Germans are forced to bring in ever larger forces to fight them. According to the newspaper, some time ago, large units of the "SS" and numerous detachments of the Nazi police surrounded Minsk, completely isolating it from the outside world. After that, a mass raid began in the city, which lasted for a week. None of the residents of Minsk escaped the search.

The Svenska Dagbladet newspaper writes that, according to the Germans, “Soviet partisan detachments in the surrounding forests were supported from Minsk. Their actions interfered with the supply of the front and made the work of the German authorities extremely difficult. In Minsk, the newspaper writes, stockpiles of weapons and secret weapons were discovered. ("Izvestia", USSR)

JANUARY 1943 :

14.01.43: The fascist German occupiers are alarmed by the growth of the partisan movement in the occupied Soviet regions. Hitler's newspaper "Hamburger Fremdenblat" complains about the "cunning" of the Soviet partisans, who, according to her, are particularly successful in forest areas. The newspaper writes that the German troops have to carry out a thorough reconnaissance of the area. To fight the partisans, the Germans were forced to create a special "security police".

Hitler's newspaper admits that among the partisans there are a lot of excellent snipers, so the fight against them, in her words, "requires experienced people." The newspaper points out that the partisan detachments are communicating with each other by radio.

The newspaper complains that German soldiers are often victims of partisans and that the latter destroy bridges and blow up trains.

Another Nazi newspaper, the National Zeitung, accuses the civilian population of the occupied regions of helping the partisans. According to the newspaper, the Soviet partisans "are conducting real military operations against the German troops and especially against their rear communications." The newspaper complains about the difficulties of the fight against the partisans, who, in her words, "find their home in". ("Red Star", USSR)

14.10.42: A war correspondent for the Hitlerite newspaper Minsker Zeitung writes: “The fight against the Soviet partisans is going on among forests and swamps around individual railway lines. The guerrillas are constantly trying to blow up tracks, lay mines under rails and bridges, cut telegraph wires, attack trains, damage signaling and raid stations and bridges. The SS troops and aviation participate in the fight against the partisans. The forests on both sides of the railroad tracks have been cut down so that German railroad personnel can observe the area. Despite this, the guerrillas often manage to cause damage to the railways. Steam locomotives go off the rails, shots are fired from ambushes, German railroad workers are dying, locomotives are blown into the air. At night, trains are forced to run without lighting and signal lights. Guerrilla warfare is being waged mercilessly."

And here is how the Nazi newspaper Vilnaer Zeitung describes the entry of the Nazi troops into the Soviet city they captured: “The city is busy. The army is followed by the police. All around, the ground trembles, and a giant concrete building is blown into the air. This infernal machine has done its job. The police are taken to clean up the city. All access roads to it are blocked, no one is let in or out of the city. All suspicious persons are arrested. Here in the city they seem to be only “harmless” pedestrians, and outside the city they form entire detachments. Reprisal against them is merciless. All men must be registered. Those who cannot prove that they permanently reside in the city are expelled. At night, someone blows up all the bridges. The temporary bridge is constantly guarded from saboteurs by the police. The main task of the police is to clear the rear areas, and often you have to fight fierce battles with partisans for every street, for every square, for ". ("Red Star", USSR)

AUGUST 1942 :

25.08.42: Increasingly, war correspondents appear in Hitler's newspapers about the grave difficulties created for the German troops by Soviet partisans. War correspondents emphasize that in many places all roads have become dangerous for the Germans. Here is the picture that the correspondent of the Völkischer Beobachter paints:

“A small seaside town in the Crimea. On the road, when leaving this city, we notice a pillar with the inscription: “Keep weapons in combat readiness, there is a danger of partisan attacks!”. We drive along the road, on the right is a slope, densely overgrown with shrubs. Suddenly, a shot rings out. The sight glass of the truck is broken. The second bullet hits the wheel. The car stops. We jump out of the trucks, looking for cover. Shots follow one after another, but we don't see anyone. The partisans run from one place to another and conduct continuous fire.

The newspaper "National Zeitung" publishes the story of the commander of an SS company sent to participate in the operation against the partisan detachment.

“How many hardships and fear we have experienced,” the author writes, “during these months of fighting the partisans, but so far the detachment has not been found. By attacking railways, bridges, carts, military columns and police detachments, the partisans remain elusive, hiding in the forest. Last night they came to the village, uniting on its outskirts with other companies. Suddenly, a skirmish with partisans begins on the streets of the village. The people of the village take their side. We, of course, responded later to the population, as expected. A similar fate befell in the following days all the villages that hospitably received the partisans. In the morning we go deep into the forest for two and a half kilometers. Suddenly, a fierce fire starts from everywhere. Many of our soldiers fall dead and wounded. A fierce battle begins. All the advantages are on the side of the enemy, as he is almost invisible and has a good weapon. We have to call the planes, however, the partisans make their way through our lines.

“Who would have thought,” the Hitlerite punisher exclaims plaintively in conclusion, “that we have to solve such combat missions in such a time.” ("Red Star", USSR)

06.08.42: A correspondent of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, who visited the occupied Soviet regions, sent a correspondence in which he writes: “In Belarus, where big battles took place in 1941, the fighting is still going on. Soviet partisans in groups of 200-300 people undertake unexpected sorties against the occupying detachments and attack the camps of the German troops. With frenzied attacks, they inflict heavy losses on the Germans. When the Germans send vastly superior forces against them, the partisans instantly disappear. A good-natured, long-bearded peasant works with a plow from morning to evening. At sunset, he returns home. At nightfall, he takes a hidden machine gun, and a peaceful peasant becomes a dangerous partisan.

The actions of the partisans often take such a turn that the Germans have to put bombers into action. But for the German pilots, this is associated with a risk, since the Russians open a hurricane of fire from machine guns. In winter, fighting with the partisans represented for the Germans a terrible stage of the war in Russia. Among the partisans there are women and even children. A German officer said that in the winter a 12-year-old boy was captured, who had crossed the front line many times. The boy did not give any information. His specialty was setting fire to houses where German soldiers slept. He courageously accepted the message of the death sentence, and before being shot he exclaimed: "Long live the motherland!" Those who help the Germans also live in fear of partisan retaliation.”

Regarding the situation of the population of the occupied regions, the correspondent writes that they have neither housing nor food, and they are deprived of the opportunity to get food. ("Red Star", USSR)

The Nazis are seriously alarmed by the difficult situation created for them in Belarus. At every step the German fascist enslavers encounter the most severe resistance of the entire population, which frustrates all the measures of the occupying authorities. “A mysterious terrible curse weighs on us in Belorussia,” exclaims the Hitlerite newspaper Neues Wiener Tageblat. - German officials do not find anything here that could facilitate their activities. They have to struggle here with insurmountable difficulties. The peasants do not want to put up with the new conditions of property. The artisans did not respond to our call.”

In order to break the resistance of the Belarusian people, the Nazis brutally crack down on the recalcitrant, kill men and women, old people and children. At the same time, they launched vile propaganda among the population, trying to prove that “Belarusians have nothing in common with Russians” and that “the fate of Belarus,” in the words of the Hitlerite newspaper Krakauer Zeitung, “is inseparable from the fate of Germany.” Citizens of Soviet Belarus respond with a bullet and a grenade to all calls of the invaders to obedience. No wonder the same Hitlerite newspaper admitted that "the most urgent task of the Germans in Belarus is the suppression of the partisan movement." The scope of this movement is evidenced by the report of the Nazi newspapers that one of these days a special order of the occupation authorities "on the organization of German self-defense" will be published. ("Red Star", USSR)

01.07.42: The German fascist newspaper Hamburger Fremdenblatt published an article by Lieutenant General Tiszowitz in its June 25 issue. Hitler's general, who experienced the strength and might of the Red Army on his back, is forced to admit that, unlike Belgium, Holland, France and other European countries, on the Soviet-German front, the German invaders "encountered unusually stubborn resistance already in border battles. Soviet soldiers fight with unparalleled courage. When the situation is hopeless, they prefer to blow themselves up along with the fortification than to give up. The highest Soviet command staff also proved to be at the height of the tasks assigned to them throughout the campaign.

The Hitler general recalls with horror the winter operations of the Red Army, which cost the Nazi bandits huge losses in manpower and equipment, “in winter,” he writes, “our regiment stood on the Donets, south of Kharkov. Our difficulties reached the extreme. I, - declares the author, - fought at Verdun, on the Somme, in Flanders. All this is zero compared to what was required of each of us in the east.

Further, the Hitlerite general is forced to recognize the courage of the Soviet partisans. “The partisans,” he writes, “know that if they are caught, they are threatened with execution, but they are indifferent to this. When the German soldiers were preparing to shoot one young woman, - the general narrates with cynical frankness about the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis on the Soviet people, - she did not lose her composure and put her hand to her heart, showing where. ("Red Star", USSR)

JUNE 1942 :

27.06.42: Hitlerite officials complain about the "exceptional difficulties of work" in the occupied Soviet regions. During Rosenberg's stay in Ukraine, Hitler's commissar Koch spoke, who was forced to note that "all German leaders working in Ukraine, as well as district commissars and agricultural leaders, are often completely alone in their posts." Rosenberg himself spoke even more frankly, sharing his "impressions" of the trip to the occupied Soviet regions. According to the Ostdeutscher Beobachter, after returning from the occupied regions of Ukraine, Rosenberg said that the German authorities “failed to establish cooperation with the local population. Everywhere armed detachments are operating, killing. ("Red Star", USSR)

11.06.42: In an editorial, the Swedish newspaper Gothenburgs Posten writes that after the attack of the Nazi armies on the USSR, the Russians, by their heroic resistance to the enemy, aroused respect for themselves throughout the world. “Today,” the newspaper writes, “everyone speaks with admiration about the fearlessness and excellent fighting qualities of Soviet soldiers. Soviet weapons also amazed the world with their quantity and quality. Even the Germans do not hide this. They met a nation fully armed, a nation that does not ask or give mercy, but fights to the end. The most characteristic phenomenon of the struggle waged by the Soviet people is the partisan movement behind enemy lines. The Russian partisans do not give the Germans a moment's rest, although they know perfectly well that if they are taken prisoner, they will be immediately shot. The Russian soldier, the defender of the motherland in the war with Germany, has won glory, and will be spoken of with admiration. He fights with fearlessness for the sake of protecting sacred Russia and the social order that he has built and which he believes. ("Red Star", USSR)

07.06.42: The Kölnische Zeitung newspaper wrote last autumn: "The gallows for Russian partisans and partisans are the trees of German freedom." A good land mine landed on the editors. ("Red Star", USSR)

02.06.42: Soviet partisans cause a lot of anxiety and losses to the Germans. As the German press itself admits, the scope of the struggle of the people's avengers is even hard to imagine. “The Soviet partisan,” writes the Frankfurter Zeitung in its issue of May 24, “has an incomprehensible ability for us to live in the forests and put up stubborn resistance to our troops. In winter, in addition to fierce defensive battles on the front lines, an equally fierce struggle broke out, one might say a war in the rear of our front. At the same time, partisan units could be based on well-prepared strongholds in the forests with weapons and food depots.

German convoy units, police battalions and field gendarmerie had to defend themselves from the enemy all the time. Anyone who has survived the winter in the East knows the difficulties that befell the units in the rear, as well as the fact that many fell in the fight against the partisans. At home, they have no idea about this fight, which is unusual for us. Such an adversary as lightning appears and disappears, attacks, cuts communications, blows up railway tracks. He knows all the paths. Whoever has experienced this struggle on two fronts will understand what our troops have experienced.” ("Red Star", USSR)

MAY 1942 :

16.05.42: The Italian newspaper Corriera della Sera published an article about guerrilla warfare in the temporarily occupied Soviet regions. The whole article reflects the animal fear of the Nazis before the sacred hatred of the Soviet people. The author of the article writes that the German command finally “understood the danger of guerrilla warfare. Partisans are not easy to fight. The guerrilla war turned out to be completely unknown to the soldiers until now. They did not know how to deal with this enemy, whose activities border on fanaticism!

The author is clearly struck by the elusiveness of the partisans. “In order to successfully fight the partisans,” he writes, “you must also find them, and this is much more difficult than the fight against them itself. Many partisans, dressed in civilian clothes, mingle with the population during the day and take the most.” ("Red Star", USSR)

07.05.42: The glorious deeds of the Soviet partisans haunt the German invaders. The newspaper "Deutsche Zeitung in Ostland" in the article "Guerrilla War in Donbass" states: "The Bolsheviks are waging a guerrilla war here. No soldiers or civilians are visible between the lines. The enemy appears in one place or another. The supply of food and ammunition to the German troops is associated with exceptional difficulties. Transport columns cannot be sent without guards. In every village there are small enemy detachments that attack us.”

The newspaper "Königsberger Algemeine Zeitung" writes: "Our tank detachment has been given a very serious task - to protect one section from partisans. The partisans have settled in a wooded swampy area, where we do not dare to go. The bridge across the swamp has been blown up, and all approaches to the forest have been mined. Partisans often attack our shock troops.”

War correspondent Janssen writes in "Danziger Forposten" that "in the mountains of the southern part of the Crimea there are Soviet partisan detachments, which have large stocks of weapons, ammunition and food."

In Das Reich, one SS officer states: “Partisans attack roads and railway lines in broad daylight. Last night they took two German sappers with them. They use all sorts of tactical methods. The guerrillas are constantly moving from place to place. If you meet a detachment of forest workers, you never know if they are hiding partisan short rifles under their clothes. Recently, the activities of the partisans have become even more active.

The Swedish magazine "Nu" in the last issue publishes a long article about the struggle of Soviet partisans.

“The struggle of the partisans showed,” writes the magazine, “that the war united the Russian people even more. The defense of Russia against the army, which won so many victories on the continent, amazed the whole world.” The magazine notes the big role in the war “of the Soviet partisan detachments, which inflicted huge damage to the German troops.” Soon after the start of the war, writes the magazine, alarming reports began to appear in the reports of the German command that “fighting continued and flared up again behind the German lines.”

“The partisans,” writes the magazine further, “are well-armed and enjoy the boundless sympathy of the population and its active support. A guerrilla war is going on in all the occupied regions of the USSR. Partisans blow up bridges, ferries, military trains, freight trains. They appeared on the roads, where they captured or killed messengers, destroyed vehicles, set fire to fuel depots, shot through tankers, attacked armored vehicles, tanks and aircraft, destroyed them with hand grenades. German tanks and armored vehicles often fell into traps. Attacks on German headquarters were also reported more than once. Many German generals were killed by partisans. Night raids were often made on the villages captured by the Germans.

In conclusion, the magazine writes: “The partisans maintain the will to resist the occupying authorities and destroy the traitors who enter the service of the invaders.

The partisans publish hectographed newspapers and leaflets, organize secret rallies, and post appeals to the population. The influx of new people into partisan detachments.” ("Red Star", USSR)

04.03.42: The newspaper Krakauer Zeitung published an article by the war correspondent of the SS troops Schneider, who admits that Soviet partisans are active everywhere in the rear of the German troops. “They,” the correspondent declares, “are trying to destroy the German military columns and, in general, everything that could benefit the Germans.” The correspondent cites the following episode: once, from a village located north of S., the German headquarters was informed that the partisans daily attack the soldiers stationed in this village, kill them and threaten to hang the headman of the village appointed by the German command. When food was being taken from this village for German soldiers, the partisans raided the village and killed two German soldiers and a non-commissioned officer. To eliminate the partisans, an SS detachment was sent, which tried to surround the forest where the partisans settled. in the forester's hut, in which, according to their information, the headquarters of the partisan detachment was located. However, they failed to capture anyone. Partizans ("Red Star", USSR)

21.02.42: The German newspaper "Hamburger Fremdenblatt" published an article by one of the leaders of the "SS" detachments, Fritz Carstens, who admits that the Soviet partisans do not give life to the invaders. “Our bitter experience,” complains Carstens, “shows that in all the occupied regions, after the retreat of the Soviet troops, illegal groups were created. The partisans often destroy German warehouses of food, raw materials, as well.” ("Red Star", USSR)

DECEMBER 1941 :

04.12.41: The German command tried to explain the retreat of the Nazi troops from Rostov by saying that they had to turn back specifically to punish the civilian population attacking the rear of the German army. Von Kleist's flight in such an explanation should have looked like a punitive expedition, moreover, it included it turned out to be something like 6 German divisions. This ridiculously stupid "explanation" was intended to hide the major defeat suffered by the Germans near Rostov. It goes without saying that the Germans failed to hide this fact, and the imprudent statement made in a hurry about the “reasons” for leaving Rostov played a bad joke on them ...

The American "Washington Post" writes about this: "If you believe the Nazis' claims that they evacuated Rostov because of the actions of the partisans, it turns out that they are so weak that they cannot cope with the partisans" ... London "Times" writes that the version about the partisans "as an explanation for the retreat is, of course, a lie", but in itself it represents "a more terrible and deadly sentence from one's own lips than anything previously issued against the Germans."

It so happened that the German fascist invaders, against their will, told the whole world about the carefully concealed and silent war that is raging on the occupied Soviet lands, c. ("Izvestia", USSR)

21.11.41: The German newspaper Brüsseler Zeitung published in Belgium published an article reflecting the Nazis' fear of Soviet partisans.

The newspaper is indignant that "legitimate methods of war" are not liked by the Bolsheviks, who are fighting fiercely, and that "the entire civilian population has risen to fight." We will have to step up the fight against the partisans, the newspaper says.

The Nazi leaflet also complains about the stubbornness of the soldiers of the Red Army. “The enemy in the East cannot be compared with other soldiers that the German army had to fight,” the newspaper says, lamenting the “fury of Russian soldiers in battle.”

The Nazi newspaper especially does not like the prospects of a winter war in the conditions of continuous active partisan activity. “The enemy wants,” the newspaper laments, “so that the Germans do not sit idle in the winter. The Soviets, who are accustomed to glorify the exploits of the partisans during the civil war, will not find it difficult to fulfill. ("Pravda", USSR)

07.10.41: The Swiss newspaper National Zeitung, commenting on the situation on the Eastern Front, notes the steadfastness and organization of the resistance of the Soviet troops. This steadfastness of the Soviet army, the newspaper writes, is emphasized even in the stories of many Germans who participated in this war. It is quite understandable, therefore, that "motorized fortresses," as the Germans call tanks in their reports, can advance only at the cost of enormous effort and heavy losses. German newspapers are filled with long lists of dead tankmen and soldiers of motorized troops.

The newspaper calls the struggle of Soviet units behind enemy lines and the struggle of partisans a kind of small war, in which not only small partisan detachments take part, but also entire military units.

The Soviet army showed its firm and irrevocable determination to deprive the advancing enemy of absolutely everything. The main role, however, is played by the readiness of the Soviet army not to yield to the enemy, no matter what position the Soviet troops find themselves in. Every district, every house, every wall is used in the organization of defense. As a result, the Germans suffer huge losses. The stories of the Germans themselves about individual episodes of the war only confirm the fearlessness of the Soviet soldiers and the stubbornness of the Soviet resistance. The lessons of the war on the Eastern Front are very instructive. They show how important such a factor as "the psychology of a soldier" is.

14.09.41: The German newspaper "Völkischer Beobachter" published an article "The Face of War in the East", in which it acknowledges that the German army encountered unexpected difficulties on the Eastern Front.

“Here,” writes the newspaper, “in reality, everything turns out differently than we imagined. In this campaign, the German soldier finds himself, as it were, transferred to another part of the world, to another planet, and this should not be understood only in a geographical sense. The reason for this is the people living in this country.”

The newspaper bitterly complains that during the battle on the battlefield, “Bolshevik fighters continue to fight even when they are in the most difficult position. This is not only the behavior of the peasants, dressed in uniform, but also the commanders.

The mode of action of this enemy cannot be foreseen. German soldiers have long been accustomed to the fact that the front can be 100 kilometers in the rear. Each wagon driver must have a rifle or automatic pistol at hand. Even the higher headquarters located far from the front put up guards at night, as in the advanced positions. A special chapter is the description of what hardships the German soldier had to endure and what tasks to solve. It is not surprising, the newspaper says, if a soldier scolds "home-grown strategists" who are not satisfied with the course of operations with strong words. ("Pravda", USSR)

09.08.41: The Times of India, in a weekly review of military operations, notes that the German fascists met with great difficulties that they did not foresee. The guerrilla war, the destruction of all materials by the Soviet troops during the retreat, the effective counterattacks of Soviet tanks - all this creates such difficulties that cause concern for the German command.

The newspaper "Tribune" in a detailed article also notes that the Germans are in a very difficult situation. The Red Army, the newspaper writes, showed not only valor, but also good training.

In addition, the Russians launched a guerrilla war. Disorganized and disadvantaged, the Germans curse the Russians. They call Russian tactics diabolical. When the devil begins to call the politics of another diabolical, one can easily imagine to what a disastrous position he has been brought.

To maintain their very battered troops on the eastern front, the Germans even withdrew several divisions from Libya. The German air force also suffered serious losses. To reinforce them, planes were deployed from the western front. The German army is stuck. Winter is coming with its terrible whip to. ("Pravda", USSR)

JULY 1941 :

30.07.41: Among the staff documents captured during the defeat of one enemy unit were field newspapers, the content of which sheds light on what is happening in the fascist rear. From the materials published in these newspapers, one can clearly imagine how frightened the fascists are by the growth of the partisan movement.

The field newspaper "Blucher" (No. 6), published for one of the tank formations, reports in detail on the partisan methods of struggle used by the Red Army and the population. One officer, among other things, writes: “In the campaign, we had to pass through 20 villages. In every village, we were fired upon by red snipers who had settled in peasant huts. They also shot at us when we moved from one village to another.”

Each issue of this newspaper contains reports of partisan attacks on regular German units. In No. 9 of July 4, it is reported that partisans attacked a group of German signalmen in the forest and killed an officer. The next issue of the newspaper details the battle between the partisan group and the German quartermaster unit.

Judging by the materials published in the field newspapers, the fascist command is also very concerned about the partisan actions of the civilian population. The same newspaper Blucher, in its issue of July 9, cites a number of cases of damage to railway lines, arson of warehouses, destruction of crops, and so on.

Another fascist newspaper, the Gubener Zeitung, published a large amount of correspondence about the partisan actions of the population of the city of D., which began after it had been occupied by the fascists.

A fascist war correspondent writes: “Night street fighting with snipers is becoming a common and everyday occurrence. But that's not all. In broad daylight, shots rumble here from around the corner, from attics, from windows. Every inhabitant we meet on the street, every woman who seems to bow to us - all of them can disappear at any moment into the labyrinth of narrow alleys and small houses, take up arms and start shooting at us from ambush. And they do it! They are doing it even now, although the city has been in our hands for several days already.”

The war correspondent goes on to describe how, while driving through the streets of the city on a motorcycle, he was constantly under fire from all sides. From all that has been said, the newspaper draws the following conclusion: “New for us is the medieval method of warfare used by the enemy from around the corner, in the yard and on the street. This war is waged by men and women who do not wear military uniforms, so that the struggle is peaceful, ". ("Red Star", USSR)

13.07.41: The Dagens Nyheter newspaper published an article by the well-known Swedish military publicist Colonel Bratt, dedicated to the guerrilla war in the rear of the German troops. The author writes: “Everyone says that the Russians are waging a guerrilla war with devilish skill. Formally, there is no reason to object here: a guerrilla war conducted by soldiers dressed in uniform does not contradict the “law of war”. The Russian soldier proved capable of guerrilla warfare, requiring individual action. The Germans emphasize that the "small war" waged behind the main front line is hard, cruel, and brings huge losses. From articles published in the Russian press, it is clear that the Russian partisans use the grain fields as shelter. One can imagine what efforts it takes for the Germans to clear Russian fields and forests from partisans armed with rifles and machine guns.
(Special archive)
(Special archive)
(Special archive)
(Special archive)
(Special archive)
(Special archive)
("Red Star", USSR)
("Izvestia", USSR)

The partisans during the Great Patriotic War forced the German occupiers to be on their guard all the time, giving the Germans no peace day or night, creating unbearable conditions for them. The eternal fear of a sudden partisan attack pursued the Germans throughout the temporarily occupied territory of the USSR. The German command was forced to put up guards and develop plans for punitive operations against the partisans. According to German sources, in 1941 78 specially assigned battalions acted against the Soviet partisans. In 1942 there were already 140 of them. In the first half of 1943 there were already 270, and by the end of the year there were over 500 of them.

In January-February 1942, the Germans tried to nip the partisan movement in the bud by throwing large forces against it. Partisan detachments and formations carried out heavy battles with punishers in Ukraine, Belarus and in the western regions of the Russian Federation. At the same time, many partisan detachments were dispersed and went underground to continue the struggle, some of the detachments died, and some retreated behind the front line. So on the night of March 26, 1942, the security police and units of the SS and SD struck at the Minsk underground. 28 leaders of the underground were hanged, 251 underground members were shot. By the spring of 1942, the partisans began to pose a serious danger to the communications of the German army. Therefore, in order to decisively fight the partisans, the German command had to draw large forces into the already occupied regions of the country. And for large-scale operations in areas where the partisan movement has acquired a wide scope, as in Belarus, the Bryansk region and some other areas, the German command was forced to withdraw individual military units from the front. According to the German command, the partisan war in Russia pulled over more than 12 German divisions, one mountain rifle corps and 11 infantry and cavalry brigades.
On August 18, 1942, Hitler, realizing that the partisan movement had gone far beyond the insignificant local factor of the combat situation, issued a decisive order, which became known as Führer Directive No. 46. The order began with the following statement: "The atrocities of the bandits in the East assumed such a unacceptable to us, since it threatens to become a serious danger to the logistics and exploitation of the occupied territories." Hitler demanded an end to the partisans before the onset of winter in order to "avoid serious obstacles to the Wehrmacht's operations in the winter." He appointed Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler responsible for collecting and evaluating information on the progress of the anti-partisan struggle; in addition, Himmler was given full authority to organize operations against partisans in all territories subject to civil administration. Hitler appointed the Chief of Staff of the OKH responsible for conducting anti-partisan operations in the front-line areas, and also ordered that reserve units transferred to the East be used as combat training to carry out such operations.
Realizing that the partisan movement could not be curbed by military means alone, Hitler recognized for the first time that in order to successfully fight the partisans, it was necessary to enlist the support of the population in the territories concerned. To do this, it was necessary, firstly, to provide him with an adequate standard of living so that people would not go to the partisans, and, secondly, to create an incentive for active cooperation with the occupation authorities, assigning significant rewards for such cooperation. In addition, Hitler for the first time gave permission for the formation of anti-partisan units in the occupied territories, and the use of the local population from among prisoners of war. In addition to combat formations located directly on the front line, security divisions, field gendarmerie and secret field police units, as well as police units from the nationalist and anti-Soviet population of the USSR were allocated to the location of the German military command.
In the autumn of 1942, Russian volunteers took the oath of allegiance to the Fuhrer. Here was the text of the oath in the regiment of Russian volunteers "Weise": "I swear before God by this holy oath that in the fight against the Bolshevik enemies of my homeland I will unquestioningly obey the Supreme Commander of all the armed forces, Adolf Hitler, and as a brave soldier at any time I am ready to give my life for this oath." By the beginning of January 1942, the number of police formations was more than 60 thousand people, which was twice the composition of the German order police used in the occupied territory.
To destroy the partisans, the so-called yagdkommandos (destruction teams) were also created. Their structure made it possible to fight against the partisans with very limited forces. They were used most often for reconnaissance in combat. Their numbers ranged from platoon to company. The main thing in their tactics is a covert advance, which allows them to get as close as possible to the partisans, suddenly attack them and try to destroy them. The formation of “fighter teams” or “hunting” (jagdkommando, zerstorungskommando) Germans began in the fall of 1941. Somewhat later, an instruction was approved according to which experienced, fearless and well-trained soldiers and non-commissioned officers who could successfully act in any situation. Jagdteams were mainly penalized. These people were not required to have good military training. In such a case, instinct was needed, the skills of a person close to nature, therefore, preference was given to military personnel who worked as rangers and foresters before the war.
The Jagdkommandos used their own tactics against the partisans. They secretly hunted down Soviet patriots and suddenly attacked them at close range, shot or captured prisoners (tongues) - in a word, they acted as hunters act. The team could go to the starting line in the area of ​​the upcoming military operation on their own or they were delivered in the bodies of cars tightly covered with tarpaulins. The landing was usually carried out on the move, on a section of the road closed from distant observation by dense vegetation, terrain folds, dilapidated buildings, etc. The combat teams of the team, as a rule, moved at night, and during the day the personnel rested, carefully disguising their parking lot . To exclude a surprise attack by the enemy, outposts and observers were posted.
"Hunters" also attacked large partisan columns. The intention of such attacks was to disrupt the operation for which the column was moving to the starting line. An unexpected fire raid from an ambush (lasting 10-15 seconds) knocked out commanders and machine gunners, forcing the partisans to drag the wounded back to the camp. In addition, the factor of surprise disappeared, as a result they had to abandon the planned operation. One of the fighters of the Jagdkommando recalled after the war: “The hunt for partisans lasted two or three days. We combed the area and anyone we met in the forest, whether with a weapon or without a weapon, was usually killed without investigation or trial.
The Yagdkommandos were in constant contact with the army units, which made it possible to quickly and timely organize operations against the people's avengers. The most successful "hunters" acted in the spring - summer of 1944, during major anti-partisan actions ("Drizzling Rain", "Rain", "Spring Festival", "Cormorant", etc.) in Belarus, as a result of which the partisans suffered the most heavy losses throughout the war. Nevertheless, despite professional training, the "hunting teams" of the Wehrmacht and the Nazi special services were unable to radically change the situation on the front of the fight against the Soviet partisan movement.
To strengthen the fight against the partisan movement and Soviet intelligence in the occupied regions of our country, along with the departments of the security police and the SD, in March 1942, a special body Sondershtab "R" (Special Headquarters for Russia) was created. His tasks included identifying the location of partisan formations, their leadership, numbers, party stratum and committing terrorist acts against the command and political staff. The mobilization department of the OKH had been trying for a long time to bring to the attention of the command that Germany did not have sufficient manpower to conduct an effective fight against the partisans only on its own.
However, regardless of what Führer Directive No. 46 said, Hitler did not abandon his plans to reduce the Russian population to the status of slaves and subject them to the most ruthless exploitation. As a consequence, he refused to provide sufficient incentives to secure real support from the German authorities. In addition, as the year drew to a close, the Russian people began to realize more and more that the chances of Germany to win were rapidly falling. Far from idealizing the German army and their comrades from the SS and SD, the Gestapo warned: “A necessary prerequisite for the fight against partisans is the suppression of all acts of arbitrariness and senseless cruelty towards the Russian population. Many soldiers walk with a club, which they use at the first opportunities, has become something for granted ... The confidence of the Russian population in the German army, which is a necessary condition for the pacification of the country, can only be strengthened as a result of fair treatment, vigorous economic measures, purposeful and close to life propaganda and an effective fight against banditry ... " But at the same time, torture and repression against partisans or those who were only suspected of belonging to them or to underground pro-Soviet organizations were by no means rejected.
German intelligence and the Gestapo paid great attention to work within the partisan movement. The head of the rear area of ​​the Northern Front in September 1941 demanded "to create a wide network of secret agents, well instructed and knowing the nearest turnout points. The creation of this organization is a joint task of the rear guard divisions and the secret police." Agents from among the traitors to the Motherland were sent to partisan detachments with the task of decomposing them from the inside, carrying out terrorist and sabotage activities. Often, groups of agents under the guise of partisans or intelligence officers of the Red Army, equipped with authentic documents and radio equipment, were thrown into partisan formations to identify their locations. Combat operations against the partisans depended on intelligence, in most cases obtained undercover. In special instructions for the fight against partisans, and several of them were issued at different times by the German command, on November 11, 1942, February 10, 1943 and April 1, 1944, it was said that "raids against partisans without agents and guides will always be fruitless, therefore they should be undertaken only with the use of agents.
As soon as the number of partisans in the partisan region reached 5 thousand - 10 thousand or more, they became invulnerable to the operations carried out against them by the forces of the local police. And since the Germans could rarely afford to commit large regular army forces to large-scale anti-partisan operations, the partisans could feel relatively safe. The punitive operations of the Germans, carried out against the partisans, were particularly cruel. The Germans treated the participants of the partisan movement as ordinary bandits, so only death awaited the captured partisans - execution or gallows. In turn, this caused a backlash from the partisans. The Germans, together with the "policemen", and sometimes with regular troops, staged large anti-partisan operations in which many civilians died. Large forces of the Germans and collaborators combed the forest and destroyed all life. Only a few were left to steal to work in the Reich. It was believed that a person who went into the forest or found himself in a village or even an area controlled by partisans, even if he was without a weapon, automatically became an enemy of the Reich, for which there were corresponding orders. They say that a "good man" will not go into the forest, he is either a partisan himself, or from a family of partisans. In addition, the Nazis formed pseudo-partisan detachments from traitors to the motherland, which were engaged in all sorts of discrediting Soviet partisans.
In the first week of February 1943, after the creation of a system of defensive strongholds, the command of the 3rd Panzer Army began to eliminate the partisan threat. With the onset of winter, guerrilla warfare broke out across the entire zone of Army Groups North and Center. As in the previous year, the Soviet side used the partisans as an auxiliary force in the offensive. And again, the most favorable conditions for this have developed. Experiencing an acute shortage of personnel at the front, the German command could afford to have only second-rate troops in the rear areas. Morale in the partisan detachments has improved considerably since the recent Soviet victories; increased support for the partisan movement and the underground and among the civilian population.
Hitler, as at the beginning of the war, called for tougher measures to combat partisans. In January 1943, he issued an order that military personnel would not be brought to justice for brutal acts committed in the fight against partisans. He declared that the Geneva Convention and the rules of chivalry had no place in such a war. The atrocities of the Germans, and even more of the Latvian and Estonian formations in the "appeasement" of the population of the partisan territories are well known. At the same time, the German generals were fully aware that they did not have enough strength to put an end to the partisans, and draconian measures, if applied, would only turn the entire civilian population in the occupied territories against the Germans.
At the end of February 1943, the 3rd Tank Army carried out Operation Ball Lightning against partisans in the Surazh region, northeast of Vitebsk. Despite the fact that this operation had little effect on the course of the war as a whole, it is worth considering more closely for two reasons. Firstly, it is able to give an idea of ​​a dozen similar anti-partisan operations carried out by the German command at different times and in various sectors from 1942 to 1944, and, secondly, it extremely clearly reflects the nature of partisan and anti-partisan warfare. The Surazh region was located directly behind the sector of the front, which was defended by the German 3rd Panzer Army. The partisans were active in this area for more than a year; thanks to their activity, this territory received from the Russians the unofficial name of the Vitebsk corridor. In late 1941 - early 1942, partisans and Red Army units through gaps in the front line maintained communication with this area using horse-drawn and even truck vehicles, providing supplies for the partisan formations operating there.
By February 1943, the situation at the front had not changed significantly. The section of the front to the north of Surazh, which was a thin line of strongholds, was held by German airfield divisions. In places of breaks in the front line, as well as in wooded and swampy areas, the Germans, due to a lack of troops, were forced to give the partisans complete freedom of action. The guerrillas, numbering approximately 4-5 thousand people, were organized organizationally into brigades. They built permanent field fortifications and equipped their own airfields.
To carry out the anti-partisan operation, G. Reinhardt attracted two security divisions. At the first stage, which ended on February 21, it was necessary to determine the outlines of the territory on which the partisans operated, which included almost the entire Surazh region. When this task was completed, the troops began to advance into this territory, gradually squeezing the ring and forcing the partisans to retreat to its center. At the same time, it was very difficult to ensure contact between units; the troops had to advance off-road, through forests in deep snow, so the soldiers soon got tired. In turn, the partisans sought to avoid open clashes with German troops; where possible, they tried to slip through gaps in the encirclement without a fight. After the operation was completed on March 8, the army command announced the destruction of about 3,700 partisans, but there was no way to determine which of those killed were really partisans and who belonged to the civilian population. As soon as the Germans withdrew their troops from this area, the partisans returned there again and soon almost restored their numbers.
In the spring of 1943, the Germans began extensive military operations against the Bryansk partisans. In May alone, a 40,000-strong army acted against them, including the 292nd motorized infantry division, 2 regiments of the 492nd infantry division, the 102nd Hungarian infantry division, about 120 tanks of the 18th tank division, 3 artillery divisions, 7 special battalions in the fight against partisans with the support of aviation. Up to 30,000 enemy soldiers with the support of tanks, artillery and aviation acted against a large group of Belarusian partisans in the Minsk region. In 1944, the Germans, anticipating the offensive of our troops, launched their blows against the Belarusian partisans. In April, the Germans managed to encircle a 17,000-strong group of partisans, who for 25 days fought off a 60,000-strong group of punishers, which had 137 tanks, 235 guns. Its actions were supported by aviation. But the partisans broke through the encirclement and went to the rear of the punishers.
In the spring of 1944, the Germans carried out three large-scale anti-partisan operations (as it turned out, the last during the war). The strikes were directed against partisan bases. Ever since the winter battles of 1941-1942. the rear areas of the German 3rd Panzer Army and 4th Army on the left flank of Army Group Center became a sector of the Eastern Front, on which partisan detachments and groups were active. In 1944, the command of the 1st Baltic Front hatched plans to turn this partisan region into a second front, with the help of which one day it would be possible to defeat two German armies. The most powerful partisan base was the so-called partisan republic in the area of ​​the Ushacha River, which controlled the territory in the 60 km strip between Lepel and Polotsk. It was headed by an experienced brigade commander and former commissar, Colonel Vladimir Lobanok. Other partisan centers, almost as powerful, controlled areas east of Lepel to Senno and south, between Lepel and Borisov. In the spring of 1944, they were ordered to set up defensive positions and keep the area from attempts by German troops to capture it.
Beginning April 11, 20,000 troops from the German 3rd Panzer Army were recruited to participate in two linked operations against a partisan base in the Ushachi area. The partisans offered fierce resistance, which, however, did not last long. Despite the support of Soviet aviation, the presence of a large number of minefields and defensive positions equipped to great depths, they failed to prevent the advance of the German units. Many of the partisans, sometimes entire brigades, were newcomers who had never before been under enemy fire. In addition, the degree of combat readiness of partisan units was not the same, partisan brigades often could not cooperate in defense or carry out an organized withdrawal. By mid-May, the Ushachi partisan center was destroyed. The losses of the partisans amounted to 7 thousand killed and about the same number captured. On May 22, the troops of the 3rd Panzer Army began another anti-partisan operation. This time, strikes were made against partisan bases in the area bounded by the settlements of Lepel, Senno, Borisov, Minsk and Molodechno. Once again, the defense of the partisans turned out to be fragmented and uncoordinated. Pressing from all sides, the Germans pushed the partisans into narrow bags, where they then destroyed them piece by piece. The Germans stopped the operation in connection with the beginning of the Soviet summer offensive, but until that time, according to German data, more than 13 thousand partisans had been destroyed. In July and August 1944, after the retreat of German troops from Soviet territory, the partisan movement gradually ceased to exist.

Operation Gypsy Baron

According to the headquarters of, for example, the Bryansk Front, on October 1, 1942, Soviet patriots disabled an average of 8-10 steam locomotives and 150-200 wagons per month. Between September and December 1942, 226 echelons were derailed. The partisans, therefore, did everything possible to destabilize the situation in the rear of the 2nd German Panzer Army, the competence of the logistic support of which was to maintain the "new order" on the territory of the Oryol region.
And by the spring of 1943, the situation in the occupied regions of the USSR began to get out of control of the German authorities responsible for maintaining "order and security." The development of counter-guerrilla operations began to be carried out by the operational departments of the army headquarters. Abwehr officers with special powers were allocated for corps and divisional headquarters, and in regiments and battalions - the so-called. "defense officers" responsible for organizing the anti-partisan struggle. The direct responsibility for conducting operations lay with the commanders of the armies and army groups. When carrying out large-scale actions by the joint efforts of army formations and auxiliary police, it was first of all considered necessary to deprive partisan brigades of freedom of movement and impose military operations on them in extremely unfavorable conditions for them.
The command of the 2nd German Panzer Army, in order to destroy the pockets of "bandit resistance", carried out punitive operations more than once with the involvement of front-line formations. In particular, in the second half of 1942, major operational activities were carried out "Birdsong" (Vogelsand), "Triangle" (Dreieck), "Quadrangular" (Viereck), "Polar Bear" (Eisbar), etc., but the desired results they didn't bring it. Army associations in May-June 1943 were again involved in the operations "Free shooter" (Freischutz), "Help to the neighbor" (Nachbarhilfe), "Spruce houses" (Tannenhauser) and "East" (Osterei).
In parallel with these operations, the Germans carried out the largest and most famous action under the code name "Gypsy Baron" (Zigeunerbaron). The total number of the German collaborationist group was over 50 thousand people, from the air it was supported by aviation. The headquarters of the united partisan brigades Emlyutin D.V. had much smaller forces - 12 partisan formations (about 10 thousand people).
In the fight against the punishers, the people's avengers were going, on the one hand, to use independently operating detachments, whose maneuverable tactics were to allow them to constantly go behind enemy lines and inflict unexpected blows on him. On the other hand, since many local residents who fled into the forest from the invaders lived with the partisans, it was decided to create a fortified area. Bunkers and dugouts, firing positions for artillery, machine-gun nests, trenches for grenade launchers and riflemen were built along its perimeter, which were connected by trenches and communication passages. Outside the fortified area, in the direction of the most probable appearance of the enemy, separate trenches were dug, designed for 7-10 people, carefully disguised underground communication passages.
The punitive operation "Gypsy Baron" got its name due to the fact that the Germans saw in the partisans the combined image of inveterate "bandits" and "gypsies", it began on May 16. Although the partisans stubbornly resisted, but by May 20, German troops and collaborators managed to penetrate deeply into the area where the partisan formations were based. They were surrounded and isolated from the rest of the formations of the brigade of the people's avengers. Shchors (731 people), them. Kravtsova (over 600 people), 1st them. Voroshilov (about 550 people).
Headquarters of Emlyutin D.V. and parts of the “Death to the German Occupiers” brigade directly assigned to him (about 1000 people) also ended up in the boiler, communication and control of the detachments were lost. On May 21, the Germans captured the Khutor Mikhailovsky - Unecha railway, thanks to which they resumed the transfer of motorized divisions to the front in this sector. The position of the partisans, due to the significant superiority of the Germans, became critical. For 10 days, from May 20 to May 29, they fought off continuous attacks by German units supported by aircraft, which, in addition to bombs, dropped leaflets calling on the partisans to surrender. By May 29, the partisans had almost run out of ammunition and food supplies. The general situation was saved only by the fact that at night the besieged brigades were delivered by aircraft with food, ammunition and explosives.
Bomber aircraft of the Central Front bombed the battle formations and positions of German troops operating against the partisans in the areas: Suzemka, Kokorevka, Sharp Luki, Altukhovo, Glinnoye, Krasnaya Sloboda. But, despite this support, the situation still remained difficult .... However, on May 31, after 12 days of bloody battles, the Germans captured a partisan airfield near the village of Smelizh and pushed the main forces of the people's avengers to the Desna, as a result, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe defended "Soviet region" narrowed to 6 square kilometers. At this critical moment, the headquarters of the partisan movement at the Central Front took urgent measures to provide assistance to the partisans. Along with the delivery of ammunition, medicines and food, a group of officers was sent to the Bryansk forests, headed by Lieutenant Colonel A.P. Gorshkov, who led the leadership of the brigades.
The new command of the united partisan brigades decided to break through from the boiler. An operational plan was developed in the shortest possible time. On the night of July 2, 1943, near the Pionersky farm, the remnants of partisan formations went on a breakthrough. During fierce battles and at the cost of huge losses, they managed to escape from the encirclement. Over the following days, the partisans tried, as far as conditions allowed, to restore their combat capability, while continuing to wage heavy battles against the punishers. After July 6, the intensity of the fighting began to decrease, and by the 10th, the fighting had almost ceased.
The report of the 2nd German Panzer Army on the operation "Gypsy Baron" stated that the partisans suffered significant losses: 1584 were killed, 1558 were taken prisoner, 869 deserted. 15,812 people were forcibly evacuated from the combat zone, more than 2,400 people. were brought to trial as "bandit accomplices", which led to punitive measures. In addition, 207 camps, 2930 dugouts and firing points were destroyed, 21 heavy guns, 3 tanks, 60,000 rounds of ammunition, 5,000 hand grenades, dozens of machine guns, hundreds of small arms were captured. However, the report expressed concern that, since the command of the "bandits" and the "backbone of the gangs" were not completely destroyed, a gradual build-up of power by the guerrillas could be expected if new operations were not carried out against them. However, as subsequent events showed, there could be no question of any major actions, since the German offensive near Kursk required that all combat-ready units and formations take part in it.
Thus, the invaders failed to achieve their goals. The results of the operation "Gypsy Baron" turned out to be transient, incomparable with the expended forces and means. The partisans managed, albeit with significant losses, to get out of the encirclement. At the same time, the people's avengers killed, wounded and captured 3852 people, 888 soldiers from the eastern battalions and auxiliary police went over to the side of the forest soldiers. On July 8, 1943, the headquarters of the operational leadership of the Wehrmacht summed up the preliminary results of the efforts to "pacify" the occupied Soviet regions. They said that since the command did not have to count on a further significant increase in the forces allocated to fight the partisans, it must be clearly understood that the pacification of the eastern regions as a result of subsequent measures could not be achieved. Therefore, in the future it will be necessary to be satisfied only with measures vital for ensuring combat operations. In fact, this was an admission of the failure of the German occupation policy.

In 1941 partisans entered the fight against fascism. The State Defense Committee issued a resolution on the organization of armed struggle in the rear of the Nazi occupiers. It spoke of the need to "create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue and destroy them at every turn."

The traditions of the partisan movement in Russia have existed since the war with Napoleon in 1812. But thanks to the decree of 1941, for the first time in history, partisans fought as part of the army, coordinating actions with the command of the Armed Forces.

During the Great Patriotic War, over 6,000 partisan detachments and underground groups operated in the occupied territories. More than a million people's avengers fought in them. On account of the partisan underground hundreds of exploits. Their detachments blew up bridges, derailed trains. The German soldiers called the partisans the "forest front" and were often more afraid of them than the fighters of the main front.

Live communication with the population made these detachments elusive, as the locals informed in a timely manner about the punitive actions of the enemy. Popular support was provided to the partisan movement everywhere, and this was its strength and invincibility. For selfless and skillful actions, courage and heroism, more than 311 thousand partisans were awarded orders and medals, 248 of them became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

Few people know that the first partisan detachment during the Great Patriotic War was created in Pinsk by the evening of June 22, 1941. June 28, he joined the battle. This day is considered the date of the first partisan shot in the Great Patriotic War. I had a chance to talk with a participant in that battle, later Major General of State Security Eduard Nordman. Here is what he said:

The creation of the first partisan detachment is associated with the name of the legendary partisan Vasily Zakharovich Korzh. In the twenties, he was a partisan in Western Belarus, in the thirties he headed the so-called partisan direction in the Slutsk district department of the NKVD. In addition to the selection and training of partisan personnel, they were engaged in laying secret NZ bases in case of war. On the morning of June 22, 1941, Korzh turned to the first secretary of the regional committee, Avksenty Minchenko, for permission to create a partisan detachment. He first answered in the spirit of pre-war propaganda: do not panic, the Red Army will fight back on the Bug and we will fight on foreign territory. But by evening, the assessments had changed dramatically. A small detachment was created from volunteers. Even "extra" weapons were found in the district military registration and enlistment office. Nordman, according to his story, received an 1896 rifle, 90 rounds of ammunition and a grenade.

“On June 28, the Germans occupied Minsk,” recalled Eduard Boleslavovich. “We were in the strategic rear. In the morning, Korzh raised a detachment in alarm. We advanced to the Pinsk-Logishin highway. We set up an ambush. Light tanks of the Germans appeared. The commander ordered them to be allowed to throw a grenade. The city committee of the party Salokhin threw a bunch of grenades under the first tank. The partisans opened aimed fire at the viewing slots. The second tank turned back. They removed weapons from the wrecked tank, took the crew prisoner. During interrogation, the lieutenant could not believe that civilians had hit his car. He said: “This is not according to the rules, I do not surrender as a civilian. Take me to the military command."

In July-September 1941, the detachment could not fight with large military units. There were not enough weapons or ammunition. They acted from ambushes, attacked single cars, motorcycles. They destroyed communication lines, burned bridges. The blows were not strong, but important. First, they caused panic in the enemy. Secondly, they raised the spirits of those who remained in the occupied territories.

Goebbels' propaganda trumpeted daily: "The Red Army has been defeated. Stalin has fled the capital. The Great Reich is invincible." The cowardly gave up, the vile and cowardly went to the service of the Nazis. Courageous, honest people, clenching their teeth and gathering their will into a fist, fought. The partisans not only fought with the enemies - they inspired hope in our victory.

Today, the bourgeois evil spirits are trying to portray the partisans as bandits, who were afraid of the civilian population. A member of the partisan movement responds to such attacks as follows:

From the very beginning of the creation of our detachment, which later grew into a powerful unit, Komarov (partisan pseudonym Korzha) did not get tired of repeating: “Never offend a peasant. Ask for a piece of bread, but never take it by force. ". In the summer of 1941, we even paid money for groceries. Or they wrote receipts, for example: "A pig weighing about 60 kilograms was seized from citizen N ... for the needs of the Red Army. The cost is subject to reimbursement after the war. Komarov." The peasants who presented such notes were given trophy cattle in 1945, which were driven from Germany.

Korzh was merciless to marauders. In fact, we hardly had any. I remember only one case when, in the winter of 1942, he shot a senior lieutenant in front of the formation for ruining the beehives in the apiary of a peasant. Cruel? Yes. But this was enough for no one else to think of offending any villager.

Since January 1942, a partisan zone began to form at the junction of the Minsk, Pinsk and Polesye regions. Soon it grew to the size of an average European state. The Nazis were never able to conquer this peculiar partisan republic. Partisan commandant's offices were formed in the zone, which ensured order in the villages. Without their permission, the partisans did not have the right to procure food, take horses, and so on. Collective farms worked under the protection of partisans, children studied at schools. No anarchy.

Those scoundrels who today are trying to brand partisans as bandits should be reminded in whose footsteps they are following: on August 25, 1942, Hitler issued a directive prohibiting the use of the terms "partisans", "partisan detachment". Partisans were commanded to be called "bandits", "bandit gangs".

Walter Scott also wrote that trying to surround the partisans is like carrying water in a sieve. Army officers will assess the situation on the map, and the local partisans are looking not for a road, but for a path along which they will slip unnoticed. That is why neither Napoleon nor Hitler, with their powerful armies, could cope with the partisans.

There are examples closer to today. The United States was never able to cope with the Vietnamese partisans. They pushed them out of the country.

As for the Pinsk partisans, they showed maximum performance during the war years. By 1944, there were eight brigades in the Pinsk formation. They destroyed about 27 thousand Nazis, defeated more than 60 large enemy garrisons, derailed about 500 trains with manpower and military equipment, blew up 62 railway bridges and about 900 on highways. But even not in inflicting losses on the enemy, the main achievement of the partisans, but in diverting large forces of the regular army to themselves.

According to the German General Staff, as of October 1, 1943, 52 divisions were engaged in the fight against partisans. For comparison: after the opening of the second front, Hitler put up to 50 divisions against our allies. I want to recall the assessment of the great Zhukov: "The command of the enemy troops had to actually create a second front in their rear to fight the partisans, for which large forces of the troops were diverted. This seriously affected the general state of the German front and, ultimately, the outcome of the war. "

They were not mentioned in Soviet sources. At least for the general public, not for professional historians. They even recognized the existence of the post-war resistance of Bandera, forest brothers in the Baltic states and Polish AKovtsy, but not a word about the Germans. And it looked like they didn't exist. And they were. Naturally, the Nazis. True, most of them were Octobrists with ears.

In May 1945, Nazi Germany signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender. The Second World War ended, but the troops of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition continued to suffer losses (and not for a year or two, but until the end of the 60s). The fighting was continued by members of the underground organization Werwolf.

Who and how got into the German partisan movement? Were these people fanatics, drugged by twelve years of Nazi propaganda, or unwitting participants who failed to choose a peaceful life? These and other questions are answered by the historian, author of the book “Werewolf. Fragments of the brown empire ”Andrey Vasilchenko.

The article is based on the material of the program "The Price of Victory" of the radio station "Echo of Moscow". The broadcast was conducted by Vitaly Dymarsky and Dmitry Zakharov. You can read and listen to the original interview in full here.

Until the autumn of 1944, talking about the need to create some kind of base in order to defend against the troops that entered Germany was considered defeatism, almost a criminal offense. At best, all operations were considered as small sabotage attacks. When, by the end of 1944, it became clear that the entry of Allied troops into Germany was just a matter of time, chaotic attempts began to create some kind of sabotage army. As a result, the main task was assigned to the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. He decided to entrust this task to police units, namely the Prützmann Bureau. During his tenure, SS Obergruppenführer Hans-Adolf Prutzmann distinguished himself by similar bloody actions in occupied Ukraine. It was believed that he understood the partisans better than others, since he himself fought with them.

At this time, saboteur No. 1 Otto Skorzeny developed a feeling of jealousy, and he did everything possible to sabotage the organization of the Werewolf movement, believing that at some point he himself would lead the sabotage army. All this discord led to the fact that the German partisan movement was not ready to meet the enemy: tactics were not developed, personnel were not trained, bases were created in a hurry.

But nevertheless, after May 1945, the "werewolves" continued to conduct their operations. What is it? Some kind of "wild army", "wild army"? Several factors come together here. Firstly, this is the reaction of the local population, especially the national outskirts, which for centuries walked from country to country. These are Silesia, Sudetes, Alsace, Lorraine. That is, when new authorities appeared, what is called a “wild eviction” of the Germans took place. That is, the Soviet authorities tried to create a certain barrier, the French did the same, and this caused dissatisfaction with the local population, which, of course, willy-nilly tried to somehow resist, including by armed means.

The second constituent component is the remains of the Wehrmacht units. This was especially pronounced on the Western Front. The fact is that the allies tried to capture as much territory as possible. As a result, they resorted to tactics that were very detrimental to them - they tried to repeat the blitzkrieg, tank wedges, but they did not have the required number of motorized infantry. As a result, huge gaps arose between tanks and infantry, almost tens of kilometers. And in these gaps, quite calmly, freely felt the remnants of the parts. Some wrote that at that moment the Wehrmacht on the Western Front generally turned into a bunch of small partisan detachments. What to talk about if Wenck's army calmly walked along the western rear. This is not a battalion, not a company - this is a whole tank army. As a result of this, the so-called "Kleinkrig", that is, a small guerrilla war, was also ranked by the Allies and our Soviet units as part of the Wehrmacht.

Reichsugendführer Arthur Axman (left) and graduates of the Hitler Youth

And there was also the plan of Arthur Axman, the head of the Hitler Youth, which involved the mobilization of young people to create a whole network of partisan detachments and sabotage groups. By the way, Axman is the only one of all Nazi bosses who already in 1944 not only thought about the occupation of Germany, but began to actively prepare for it. Moreover, he even tried to knock out funding.

The fact is that the "werewolves" from the youth environment, from the "Hitler Youth" (the militia included not only teenagers, there were also quite mature functionaries), received a fair amount of funding, amounting to millions of Reichsmarks, and after the establishment of the occupation authorities had to create their own business - transport companies, which would allow them to operate mobile. That is, in fact, a widely ramified underground organization was created, which had its own funding, and not some kind of conditional, but rather large. And the failure of this organization was due to the fact that the economic wing, which at a certain moment was quite well settled, began to fear the paramilitary wing of the youth "werewolves", which, naturally, endangered their well-being. They did not want to end their days in prison or against the wall.

As for the quantitative composition of the Werewolf, it is rather difficult to establish the exact number of the militia. At least it's not dozens of people, we are talking about several thousand. The predominant action is still the western and southern territories of Germany. The bulk of the "werewolves" concentrated in the Alps. The fact is that a plan was hatched to create an Alpine citadel, which the Allies (the Alps went to mainly the Americans) had to take for a long time. That is, in the end, the Alps served as the starting point for the creation, relatively speaking, of the Fourth Reich.

On the Eastern Front (meaning the territory of Germany), the "werewolves" acted in small groups of 10 - 15 people. Basically, these were sporadic, frivolous detachments, which were quickly calculated and cleaned up. Here one cannot write off the experience of the NKVD, and, of course, the fact that we still had a solid front, and not some wedges, like our Western allies.

Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler (left) and Obergruppenführer Hans-Adolf Prützmann. Ukraine, 1942

The first sortie of the Werwolf took place in September 1944 against the advancing units of the Red Army. In fact, it was a classic sabotage activity, no different from previous sabotage groups, except that it was already carried out within the Werewolf. As a result, two bridges were blown up. However, this group was quickly identified and eliminated. In this situation, the Soviet army had no sentiments, however, like the Western allies.

By the way, the topic of the relationship between the local population and the occupation authorities, which is voluntarily or involuntarily connected with the theme of "werewolves", is also very interesting. We have already said that the national outskirts of Germany were teeming with detachments for a long time (let's conditionally call them "werewolves"), but for the most part this was caused by tough politics. And the most paradoxical thing is that the Soviet occupation policy was not the most ruthless. If you look at what the Americans or the French did, then the actions of the Red Army and the Soviet occupation authorities were not so terrible. By the way, this is connected with the fact that in the Soviet zone of occupation the problem of "werewolves" was dealt with fairly quickly, with the exception of a few cases, which, in particular, are associated with the Sudetenland and Silesia. The fact is that mass eviction and deportation of Germans were undertaken there, and some of them raided back. The motivations were very different: personal revenge, the need to take property, and so on.

If we talk about the French, then they generally found themselves in a very difficult situation. The fact is that France was one of the few victorious countries that had lost the war to Germany before that. Therefore, as a result, the French occupation authorities openly took revenge on the Germans, despite the fact that they did not know such atrocities as, for example, in Belarus and Ukraine. Nobody hid this revenge, cruel actions. There were official hostages, which, by the way, was not in the Soviet zone of occupation. And these actions caused dissatisfaction with the local population, which sooner or later led to the emergence of such independent detachments, which were automatically enrolled in the "Werewolf".

As for East Prussia, there were no such large-scale acts of sabotage as in the western region of Germany. This is due to some effective civil policy measures. What is the difference between Western and Soviet troops when they entered German territory? In the official installation, albeit not always shared. Soviet troops liberated the German people from fascism, the Western allies - from the Germans. And in the second case, no distinction was made between social democrats, anti-fascists, just civilians who sympathized with the Nazis. An example can be given that may seem creepy today. In the summer of 1945, in Cologne, the Anglo-Americans quite harshly, even cruelly, dispersed an anti-fascist demonstration of concentration camp prisoners. “They were simply afraid of any crowd of people,” many will think. The Allies were generally afraid of any activity among the Germans. A German is an enemy in any capacity, even if he is a communist or a social democrat.

And from this point of view, the Soviet occupation administration cooperated much more actively with the Germans. Both the creation of the GDR in 1949 and the actual transfer of power to the Germans in 1947, naturally under patronage, in the American and French zones of occupation were simply unthinkable phenomena.

Berlin Commandant Nikolai Berzarin talking to Trummerfrau, 1945

Since we have touched on the post-war page of history, we note that if at first the main activity of the "werewolves" was a military confrontation, that is, in an attempt to stop the advancing Red Army, as well as the Allied armies (by the way, it is quite naive to believe that such small detachments could to do this), then somewhere in 1945-1946 these were small sorties, mainly boiled down to blowing up bridges, cutting off communication lines, and killing individual policemen. There are interesting statistics that show that in 1946-1947, in percentage terms, Polish and Czech policemen suffered more from the hands of "werewolves" than standing alone Soviet soldiers.

If we talk about some major actions at the end of the war and the post-war period, then we should recall the murder of the mayor of Aachen, Franz Oppenhof, appointed to this post by the Americans. The whole paradox lay in the fact that Oppenhof insisted on the active involvement of the Germans in the administration, even though they were members of the Nazi Party in their time.

According to American and British sources, the assassination of General Berzarin, the commandant of Berlin, is also nothing more than an action by Werwolf; we have a car accident. Neither the first nor the second versions are ruled out, but still we note that the ruins of Berlin, which it was in the summer of 1945, were simply created for sabotage attacks.

We have already said that the Werwolf was turned not only against the Allied and Soviet troops, but also against the Germans themselves. One of the functions of the organization was to intimidate the local population. Here you can give a lot of examples of how they dealt with alarmists and defeatists in the territory still controlled by the Nazis. There was one paradoxical case when in one small town a local burgomaster tried to hide from the advancing Soviet units and was caught by "werewolves", the same ones that he himself recruited into the team, following orders from above.

As far as is known, during the creation of the Werewolf, teenagers were actively armed with faustpatrons. There are records, evidence that the young partisans gave quite a lot of headaches to our tankers, and not only to ours. Catch a "werewolf" soldier - he immediately had a dilemma: how to perceive him - as a child or still as a Nazi accomplice? Naturally, there were reprisals against such malefactors (not only from our side, but also from the side of the allies), and attempts to break the stereotypes of young people regarding the new authorities, especially when it became clear that all this was not a chaotic movement, but behind it there were some strength.

After the war, somewhere until the end of 1946, the "werewolves" operated in central Germany. On the outskirts of their sorties continued for another year, until the end of 1947. And the longest, where they existed, is South Tyrol - the German-speaking territory, which went to Italy. Here "werewolves" fought until the end of the 60s.

Few people know, but Soviet historiography sinned in that it significantly underestimated the degree of resistance on the part of the German population. But still, one should pay tribute to those who worked with the Soviet occupation administration. These people did not rely solely on violence; nevertheless, there were some measures of social influence. In particular, work with German anti-fascists. With the exception of the British, the Americans, Canadians, French were afraid to do this, suspecting that among the anti-fascists there were secret agents of the Werwolf who were trying to get into the new administration in order to use their position to continue sabotage and terror. By the way, there were examples of this. A certain “werewolf” Yarchuk, a Polish Volksdeutsche, was identified, whom they even tried, due to a very loyal attitude, to appoint mayor of a small town. But then it turned out that he, it turns out, was specially sent by the Werewolf. That is, the Western allies had a rather cautious attitude towards anti-fascists, because they saw German partisans in any attempt at social and political activity.

I recall a note in which it was urged not to enter into relationships with German girls. This was motivated by the fact that women would specifically infect American soldiers with syphilis in order to help the activities of the Werewolf, the organization in which her brother, her son and so on are members. That is, the Americans and the British took this threat quite seriously. Why? Because nothing could oppose her. They did not have the practice of conducting guerrilla warfare and counteracting it. The French had some experience, but, again, this experience was associated with the urban environment, not with the ruins. The French resistance operated under completely different conditions.

Adolf Hitler greets the youths of the Hitler Youth. Berlin, 1945

As for the main tactics of the "werewolves", it was terribly primitive: the partisans dug into the bunker (whether it was a forest gatehouse, a cave, some other shelter), let the advanced units of the "enemy" troops forward and then struck at the rear. Naturally, under these conditions, they were quickly identified and eliminated.

But the "werewolves" were supplied with weapons centrally. The only thing that the German authorities managed to do was to create huge secret warehouses, which were revealed almost until the mid-50s. At the last moment, when the Nazis already understood that everything would collapse soon, they made such an amount of supplies that more than one army could be supplied with them. Therefore, in May 1945, the "werewolves" had toxic substances, several types of explosives, and special cylinders for poisoning water sources. And there was simply no need to talk about machine guns, grenades, small arms.

Well, finally, a few words about the fate of the Werewolf. Most of the saboteurs were caught, and since they did not fall under the Geneva Convention, were not prisoners of war, they were shot on the spot. And only in special cases, as already mentioned, with teenagers, they still tried to do some work.