Soviet partisans - Misplaced Pages

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Template:ImageStackRight The Soviet partisans were members of the anti-fascist resistance movement which fought against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The partisan movement had widespread public support, despite the fact it has been mostly organized and controlled by the Soviet government.

Beginning of anti-German guerilla resistance

At the end of June 1941, immediately after German forces crossed the Soviet border, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ordered Party members to organize an underground resistance in the occupied territories (pre-war plans for such operation 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 enlisting of young peasants, i.e. conscript service. However, this practice has not become widespread because low motivation of such "conscripts" fed desertings and defections among them.

While in some areas of Ukraine and Belarus the local population was initially supportive to the German occupation that drove out the oppressive Stalinist regime, they soon found out that the Nazi rule was even more brutal as future of locals was seen as getting killed, expelled or used for slave labor. Naturally, under these circumstances, some locals rallied to join the anti-occupation resistance, while the majority became passive supporters and casual assistants to partisans.

Soon, the centralized Partisan Movement Headquarters and support infrastructure was created by the NKVD in the areas stil controlled by Soviets. To draw on the broader public support there were nominally autonomous headquarters for each Soviet republic (e.g., Ukrainian or Belarusian). The Headquarters began supporting partisan groups behind enemy lines with various supplies through airlifts and established radio connection with most of them.

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

Areas of operations

Partisans in Belarus

File:Soviet guerilla.jpg

Soviet partisans in the forests of Belarus

Belarus had the largest number of Soviet partisans, numbering over 300,000 fighters 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. The partisan movement was so strong that by 1943-44 there were entire regions in occupied Belarus, where Soviet authority was re-established deep inside the German held territories. There were even partisan kolkhozes who were growing and producing food and livestock for the partisans.

Partisans in Ukraine

The first Ukrainian Soviet partisan detachments appeared in Chernihiv and Sumy regions. They developed out of Mykola Popudrenko's and Sydir Kovpak's underground groups, but only became a formidable force in 1943, by which stage they were operating throughout occupied Ukraine and numbered over 150,000 fighters. In 1944 Ukrainian partisans led by Kovpak and Petro Vershigora were even able to raid the enemy forces in Romania, Slovakia and Poland.

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

Partisans in western Russia

In Bryansk region 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 re-located their partisan operations into central and western Ukraine.

Partisans in the 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 Belarusian 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 Lithuania, the partisans had a separate command from November 1942, under Antanas Sniečkus. In the Vilnius Ghetto, a resistance organisation called FPO-Fareinikte Partisaner Organizatzie was established by Communist and Zionist partisans - their first leaders were Yitzhak Witenberg, a member of the Communist Party, and the writer Abba Kovner.

In all three Baltic States the largest number of the Soviet partisans were Russians, Jews and Belarusians. The resistance movement of the Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians was separate, and generally hostile to the Soviet political sytem, therefore, only a small number of people of these nationalities joined the cause of the Soviet partisans.

Controversies

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.

Among the targets of Soviet partisans were not only Axis military but also civilians accused to be Nazi collaborators or sometimes even those who did not supported partisans strong enough. According to the modern standards some of these attacks might be classified as war crimes, the most infamous one been the Koniuchy massacre. Today, in Latvia some former Soviet partisans are prosecuted for the alleged war crimes.

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

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