The Soviet partisans movement included people of all backgrounds and age groups. Pictured are the elderly village priest being awarded a combat medal...
...a teenage boy leaving his mother's home to join the partisans' movement,
...and young women, members of Kovpak's partisan formation.
At the end of June 1941, immediately after German forces crossed the Soviet border, the Communist Party ordered Party members to organize an underground resistance in the occupied territories (pre-war plans and candidates for such operations existed). Although formal creation was ordered in 1941, it was only in 1942-43 that underground cells sprang up throughout Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russian regions such as Bryansk occupied by the invaders. Partisans waged guerrilla warfare against the occupiers, and enjoyed increasing support from the local population which was antagonized by German brutality.
Partisans consisted of people left behind the German lines, including escapees from German prisoner of war camps, and refugees from the German terror. No formal recruitment procedures existed, although some partisan commanders (especially those in charge of large units) experimented with mandatory enlistment of young peasants, i.e. informal conscript service, however, these experiments did not meet much success.
While in some areas of Ukraine and Belarus the local population was initially supportive to the German occupation as an alternative the harsh Stalinist rule, they soon found out that the Nazi rule was even more brutal. The occupants began regularly performing transfers of local population to Germany to serve as slave laborers, looting (both centrally-planned and spontaneous), and arbitrary severe punishment for minor infractions, amongst other violations of human rights. Naturally, under these circumstances, some locals rallied to join the anti-occupation resistance, while the majority became passive supporters to partisans.
Soon, the centralized Partisan Movement Headquarters and support infrastructure was created by the NKVD in the areas still controlled by Soviets. There were autonomous Headquarters for each Soviet republic, although all under strict control of the central NKVD leadership. The Headquarters began supporting partisan groups behind enemy lines with various supplies through airlifts and established radio connection with most of them.
Later NKVD, SMERSH and military intelligence began training special groups of future partisans (effectively, special forces units) in the rear and dropping them in the occupied territories. The candidates for these groups were chosen among volunteers from regular Red Army, NKVD's Internal Troops, and also among Soviet sportsmen. When dropped behind Axis lines, the groups were to organize and guide the local self-established partisan units. Radio operators and intelligence gathering officers were the essential members of each group since amateur fighters could not be trusted with these tasks. Some commanders of these special units (like Dmitry Medvedev) later became well-known partisan leaders.
Areas of operations
Belarus
Soviet partisans in the forests of Belarus
Belarus was the republic hardest hit by the war that took from 25 to 40% of the republic's population.[link] According to the Himmler's plan, 3/4 of the Belarusian population was to be eradicated and the remainder was to be used as a slave labour force. By Summer 1942 all the illusions some Belarussians might have had about the Nazi rule, even compared to the brutal Stalinist regime, were lost and the anti-fascist resistance rose dramatically.
To the end of 1941 only in Minsk area there were at least 50 partisan groups having more than 2000 fighters. Especially difficult for the partisans was the winter of 1941-1942, there was not enough experience, weapons, ammo, supplies. The actions of partisans were often uncoordinated. A significant part of Belarus were territories annexed from Poland where Soviet partisans were often unpopular (see Soviet partisans in the former territories of the Second Polish Republic). According to some historians (e.g. [link]) before the break of relation with the Polish government in exile in the spring of 1943, Soviet government did not support Soviet partisan movement there, expecting the Armia Krajowa to be more effective on former Polish territories. At that time Soviet partisans and Armia Krajowa usually supported each other. Since the break of the relations between the two governments the cooperation was discouraged from the both sides.
The vast Belorussian forests provided a suitable environment for a guerrilla war. Soon Belarus had the largest number of Soviet partisans, numbering over 300,000 fighters[link] under the leadership of Panteleymon Ponomarenko, Petr Masherov, Kiril Mazurov and others. As early as the spring of 1942 they were able to effectively harass German troops and significantly hamper their operations in the region. According to the official data [link] in 1943 there were 375 thousands partisan fighters and 70 thousand members of urban underground. Among Soviet partisans in Belarus were people of 45 different ethnic backgrounds and 4 thousands foreigners (including 3 thousands Poles, 400 Czechs and Slovaks, 300 Yugoslavians, etc.). Around 65% of Belorussian partisans were local people.
The partisan movement was so strong that by 1943-44 there were entire regions in occupied Belarus, where Soviet authority was re-established deep inside the German held territories. There were even partisan kolkhozes that were raising crops and livestock to produce food for the partisans.[link]. During the battles for liberation of Belarus, partisans considered as the fourth Belorussian front.
Ukraine
The war has come to Ukraine. A burning village in Sumy region. July, 1941...
Ukrainians from Cherkasy region being deported to Reich to be used as a Slave labor force.
As well as Belarus, Ukraine was the first and hardest hit by the Axis invasion in Summer-Autumn 1941. The consequences for the area and for the population that remained under the occupation was devastating. The Nazi regime took little effort to exploit the anti-Soviet sentiments among many Ukrainians that developed from the years of . Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm system, systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, and deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to Germany as a slave labour force. Under these circumstances most of the population resisted the Nazi onslaught from its start and a partisan movement immediately spread over the occupied territory.
The first Soviet partisan detachments in Ukraine appeared in Chernihiv and Sumy regions. They developed out of Mykola Popudrenko's and Sydir Kovpak's underground groups, and became a formidable force in 1943. At this stage they were controlled and significantly supported by the Ukrainian Partisan Movement Headquarters in Moscow, operating throughout occupied Ukraine (especially in the northeastern part) and numbered over 150,000 fighters. In 1944 partisans led by Kovpak and Vershigora were even able to raid the enemy forces in Romania, Slovakia and Poland.
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a separate resistance force formed in 1942 (as a military arm of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists), was engaged in the armed conflicts with the Soviet partisans, Nazi occupants and the Polish resistance at different times. Although UPA initially attempted to find a common ground with the Nazi Germany in the face of the common enemy (the USSR), it soon was driven underground as it became apparent that Germans' view of Ukraine was as of a German colony with an enslaved population, not an independent country the UPA hoped for. As such, UPA was driven underground and fought both the Nazi occupants and the Soviet forces (including partisans) at the same time.
Later, UPA and Soviet partisans leaders have been occasionally trying to negotiate a temporarily alliance, but Moscow NKVD Headquarters began harshly persecuting such attempts of its local commanders. With two sides becoming established enemies, the Soviet partisans found no significant support from the population of Western Ukraine [[Citing sources citation needed]] (which was predominantly supporting UPA).
Western Russia
In Bryansk region the Soviet partisans controlled vast areas behind the German rear. In the summer of 1942 they effectively held territory of more than 14 000 square kilometers with population of over 200,000 people. Soviet partisans in the region were led by Alexei Fyodorov, Alexander Saburov and others and numbered over 60,000 men. Belgorod, Oryol, Kursk, Novgorod, Leningrad, Pskov and Smolensk regions also had significant partisan activity during the occupation period. In Oryol and Smolensk regions partisans were led by Dmitry Medvedev.
In 1943, after Red Army started to liberate western Russia and north-east Ukraine, many partisans, including units led by Fyodorov, Medvedev and Saburov, were ordered to re-locate their operations into central and western Ukraine still occupied by Nazis.
Baltic States
Soviet Partisans also operated in the Baltic States. In Estonia, they were under the leadership of Nikolay Karotamm. In Latvia they were first under Russian and Belarussian command, and from January 1943, directly subordinated to the central Headquarters in Moscow, under the leadership of Arturs Sprongis. Another prominent commander was the historian Vilis Samsons, head of a unit of 3,000 men. He is responsible for destroying about 130 German military trains.
In the Vilnius Ghetto, a Jewish resistance organisation called the United Partisan Organization (FPO) was established. Its members came from all the parties and youth movements from the entire political spectrum in the ghetto. Its first leaders were Yitzhak Wittenberg, a member of the Communist Party, and the poet Abba Kovner. Kovner was a member of the headquarters, and after its chief commander, Wittenberg, was caught in July 1943, he became the head of the organization [link].
In 1941, the Soviet partisan movement in Lithuania began with the actions of a small number of Red Army soldiers left behind enemy lines, much like the beginning of partisan movements in Ukraine and Belarus. The movement grew throughout 1942, and in the summer of that year the Lithuanian Soviet partisan movement began receiving material aid as well as specialists and instructors in guerrilla warfare from the territory still controlled by Soviet government. On the 26th of November, 1942, the Command of Lithuanian Partisan Movement (Lietuvos partizaninio judėjimo štabas) was created in Moscow, headed by First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party Antanas Sniečkus, who had fled to Moscow in the wake of the German invasion in 1941. Although the Soviet partisans in Lithuania were nominally under the control of Command of Lithuanian Partisan Movement, the guerrilla warfare specialists and instructors sent by it reported directly to Central Command of Partisan Movement. Modern Lithuanian historians estimate that about half of the Soviet partisans in Lithuania were escapees from POW and Nazi concentration camps, Soviet activists, Red Army soldiers left behind the quickly advancing front line, while the other half was made up of airdropped special operations experts. Soviet partisans participated in crimes against the civilian population of Lithuania (for example, murdered civilians in Kaniūkai, in an event that has come to be called the Koniuchy massacre, and raised to the ground entire Bakaloriškės village [link]). Soviet partisans had no support from the local population. It is estimated that in total, about five thousand people engaged in pro-Soviet underground activities in Lithuania during the war. In general, role of Soviet diversant groups in Lithuania in Second World War was minimal [link].
The anti-Soviet resistance movements in the Baltic states, known as the Forest Brothers, which sprung just before Soviet re-occupation in 1944, and local self-defence units often came into conflict with the Soviet partisan groups, much like the situation between Ukrainian partisans and the UPA in Ukraine.
Soviet partisans also operated on the eastern territories of the Second Polish Republic. One of the first partisan formations was organized by Vasily Korzh in PinskJune 261941 ([link]). On the pre-war Polish territory annexed by Soviets (Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, Lithuania and Białystok area, known to Poles as Kresy) the first Soviet partisan groups were formed in soon after German's invasion of Russia. After initial period of wary collaboration with Polish resistance, the conflicts between those groups vastly intensified, especially as Poles were victims of Soviet terror between 1939 and 1941, and Soviets diplomatic relations with the Polish government in exile continued to worsen and were broken off completly in the aftermath of the discovery of the Katyn Massacre. Eventually on June 22 1943 Soviets partisans were ordered by Moscow to attack Polish partisans[link] . With the increasing support from the advancing Eastern Front, the Soviets partisans scored many victories against their local Polish enemies, however their effectiveness against the Germans was much smaller, as the Soviet partisants seldom attacked German military and police targets, preferring to engage the poorly armed and trained Belarusan and Polish self-defense forces.[link]
France
Interestingly, there were formations calling themselves Soviet Partisans who operated long way from the territories of Soviet Union. Usually they were organized by former Soviet citizens who escaped Nazi camps. One of such a formation was Rodina (Motherland) acting in France (leaders Nadezhda Lizovets, Rozalia Fridzon, Anna Paramonova) [link], [link].
Finland
The civilians that Soviet partisans executed in Lokka, 14.7.1944 (See one month old baby)
Soviet partisans operated in Finland during the Continuation War from 1941 to 1944, carrying out a number of atrocities against the Finnish civilian population. Approximately 200 operations were made on civilians, killing 200 and injuring 50, including children and elderly.Veikko Erkkilä, (1999). Vaiettu sota, Arator Oy. ISBN 9529619189.Lauri Hannikainen, (1992). Implementing Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts: The Case of Finland, Martinuss Nijoff Publishers, Dordrecht. ISBN 0792316118.Tyyne Martikainen, (2002). Partisaanisodan siviiliuhrit, PS-Paino Värisuora Oy. ISBN 9529143273. The partisans often executed civilians throughout, not wanting anyone to witness the atrocities. One such incident was the so called Inari Laanila partisan attack that took place on July 4, 1943, in which the partisans attacked an inn and a truck carrying civilians and killed them, including bishop Yrjö Wallinmaa. [link][link][link]
Battle of partisans of the Bryansk forests with the German punitive expeditions
Operation \"Rails War\",
Operation Rails War (Russian: ) [link], [link] was a major operation of partisan formations against the railroad communications intended to disrupt the German reinforcements and supplies for the Battle of Kursk and later the Battle of Smolensk. It involved concentrated actions on the territory of 1000km along the front and 750 km in depth. More than 100 thousand partisan fighters of Belarus, Leningrad Oblast, Kalinin Oblast, Smolensk Oblast, Oryol Oblast and Ukraine. More than 230 000 rails, along with many railroad bridges, trains, etc were destroyed. The operation seriously incapacitated German logistics and was instrumental for the Soviet victory in Kursk battle.
Operation \"Concerto\",
Operation Concerto (Russian: ) [link], [link] was a major operation of partisan formations against the railroad communications intended to disrupt the German reinforcements and supplies for the Battle of the Dniepr and on the direction of the Soviet offensive in the Smolensk and Gomel directions. Partisans of Belarus, Karelia, Kalinin Oblast, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Crimea participated in the operations. The area of the operation was 900 km along the front (excluding Karelia and Crimea) and 400 km in depth. Despite the bad weather that allowed airlifting of less than a half of the planned supplies the operation lead to decreasing of the railroad capacity on the area by 35-40% that was critical for the success of the Soviet military operations in the autumn of 1943. In Belarus alone more than 90,000 rails along with 1061 trains, 72 railroad bridges and 58 Axis garrisons were destroyed. Axis losses were more than 53,000 soldiers.
Battle of Polotsk-Leppel, April 1944
Major battle between partisans of Belarus and a German punitive expeditions.
To survive, resistance fighters largely relied on the civilian population providing them with food and daily necessities. Pictured, Anna Khobotneva from the Chapayev partisan group is milking a cow for the wounded.
Partisans take on the village to eject the Nazi punitive expedition.
Among the targets of Soviet partisans were not only Axis military and their volunteerly collaboration units, but also civilians groundlessly accused to be Nazi collaborators or sometimes even those were considered to not support the partisans strong enough[link]. As with other guerilla wars, some of these attacks might be classified as war crimes, such as the Koniuchy massacre.
In addition to fighting the Nazis, Soviet partisans fought against the organisations and people which seeked to reestablish independent non-communist states of Poland[link], Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine. This included fighting against national resistance groups in the places such as the Baltic States and Poland where most of the resistance seeked to reestablish the independent states[link]. Due to these reasons, the Soviet partisans are a very controversial issue in the mentioned countries. In Latvia some former Soviet partisans are prosecuted to this day for the alleged war crimes against locals during the occupation.
Partisans turned out the territory of their activity into a permanent battlefield, thus imposing major additional threat to civilians.
First of all, partisans are often accused of provoking the brutal countermeasures of Nazi occupants. Trying to limit partisan activities, German command applied the tactic of taking mass hostages among residents of partisan-operated areas. In case of partisan attack (typically, on a railroad bridge), the definite number of locals would be executed. Such hostage operations could happen in the forms of preliminary arrests, post-attack retaliation actions, or compulsory "watch-groups" deployed on vulnerable sites and killed if they haven't averted the attack. Usually Soviet partisans were not taking such imminent victims of their raids into account.
According to Soviet sources, the partisans invented ways to prevent hostage/retaliation murders, like targeting uninhabited areas, developing their own forest agriculture and evacuating the whole population of the villages at risk. However, some historians believe such attempts were of little effect.
Moreover, the partisans are alleged to have been using the factor of imminent German retaliation for their "recruitment" purposes striking in the close proximity of the inhabited villages in order to "stimulate" the population to leave their village homes for the forests and join the resistance movement rather than wait for an imminent German retaliation. Such actions frequently resulted in the mass-murders by the Nazis of the residents that were unable to fight in the first place (children and the elderly).
Also, Soviet partisans compulsorily commissioned food, livestock and clothes from local peasants. The results of this typical guerrilla activity were made more severe by the fact that Axis occupational forces have been already seizing food from people in enormous amounts to support their war economies. Thus, partisans extorting even more supplies were often making their compatriots starve rather than protecting them.
The burden of the partisan actions on the locals was feeding a permanent political controversy among partisans, answered by the NKVD in a rapid and violent way. The most discussed episode of such controversy is the case of Semyon Rudniev, popular Commissar of the Kovpak formation in Ukraine who developed a conflict with Moscow and was allegedly assassinated for that by the NKVD order.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
After the end of the war, some Soviet partisans were (mostly sent to labor camps) on various grounds. Although most of the allegations were cleared in 1955 when a Soviet pardon was announced to all POWs and Nazi collaborators.
The relation between Soviet partisants and the Jews is also controversial. The young and armed Jews were usually welcomed by the Soviets, however women, children, and the elderly were ignored by the Soviet partisants at best and victimized at worst. There were even instances when Jews were killed by the Soviet partisans. The Soviet leadership vowed to curb anti-Semitic words and deeds, but at the same time it punished expressions of Jewish solidarity. The extermination of the Jews was depicted as “martyrdom of Soviet citizens” and stripped of its uniqueness. Eventually, however, separate Jewish groups, both guerrilla units and mixed family groups of refugees (like the Bielski partisans), were subordinated to the communist partisan leadership and considered as Soviet assets.[link]
Assessment
The partisans' activities included disrupting the railroad communications, intelligence gathering and, typically, small hit and run operations. With the German supply lines already over extended, the partisan operations in the rear of the front lines were able to severely disrupt the flow of supplies to the army that acted deep into the Soviet territory.
In the second half of the war, major partisan operations were coordinated with Soviet offensives. Upon liberation of parts of the Soviet territory the corresponding partisan detachments usually joined the regular Army.
The partisans were an important and numerous force of the war. According to Soviet sources, from 90,000 partisans (including underground) by the end of 1941 it grew to 220,000 in 1942, and to more than 550,000 in 1943[link]. Soviet partisans inflicted hundreds of thousands of casualties on Axis forces and contributed significantly to the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War. In Belarus alone the guerillas liquidated, injured and took prisoner some 500,000 German soldiers[link]
