The commander of one of the largest partisan formations. Partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War

1941 - 1945 - this is part of the Resistance movement, which was designed to destroy the German support system (undermining provisions, ammunition, roads, etc.). As you know, the fascist invaders were very afraid of this organization, so they treated its members very cruelly.

RSFSR

The main points of the tasks of the partisan movement were formulated back in the directive of 1941. The necessary actions were described in more detail in Stalin's order of 1942.

The basis of the partisan detachments were ordinary residents, mainly of occupied territories, that is, those who knew life under the fascist sight and power. Similar organizations began to appear from the first days of the war. Old people, women, men who for some reason were not taken to the front, and even children and pioneers entered there.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 carried out sabotage activities, engaged in reconnaissance (even undercover intelligence), propaganda, provided combat assistance to the USSR army, and directly destroyed the enemy.

Countless detachments, sabotage groups, and formations (about 250 thousand people) operated on the territory of the RSFSR, each of which brought enormous benefits to achieving victory. Many names remain forever in the annals of history.

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who became a symbol of heroism, was thrown into the German rear to set fire to the village of Petrishchevo, where the German regiment was located. Naturally, she was not alone, but, by coincidence, their group partially dispersed after setting three houses on fire. Zoya decided to return there alone and finish what she started. But the residents were already on their guard and Zoya was captured. She had to go through terrible torture and humiliation (including from her compatriots), but she did not give up a single name. The Nazis hanged the girl, but even during the execution she did not lose courage and called on the Soviet people to resist the German invaders. She was the first woman to be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Byelorussian SSR

On the territory of Belarus lasted from 1941 to 1944. During this time, many strategic tasks were solved, the main one of which was the disabling of German trains and the railway tracks along which they moved.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 provided invaluable assistance in the fight against the invaders. 87 of them received the highest military award of the Soviet Union. Among them was Marat Kazei, a sixteen-year-old boy whose mother was executed by the Germans. He came to the partisan detachment to defend his right to freedom and a happy life. He performed tasks just like adults.

Marat did not live exactly a year before victory. He died in May 1944. Every death in war is tragic in itself, but when a child dies it becomes a thousand times more painful.

Marat and his commander were returning to headquarters. By chance they met German punitive forces. The commander was killed immediately, the boy was only wounded. Firing back, he disappeared into the forest, but the Germans pursued him. Until the bullets ran out, Marat escaped the chase. And then he made an important decision for himself. The boy had two grenades. He immediately threw one into a group of Germans, and held the second tightly in his hand until he was surrounded. Then he blew it up, taking German soldiers with him to the next world.

Ukrainian SSR

During the Great Patriotic War, partisans on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR united into 53 formations, 2,145 detachments and 1,807 groups, with a total number of about 220 thousand people.

Among the main command of the partisan movement in Ukraine one can single out K. I. Pogorelov, M. I. Karnaukhov, S. A. Kovpak, S. V. Rudnev, A. F. Fedorov and others.

Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak, on Stalin’s orders, was engaged in propaganda in Right Bank Ukraine, which was practically inactive. It was for the Carpathian raid that he was awarded one of the awards.

Mikhail Karnaukhov led the movement in Donbass. His subordinates and local residents nicknamed him “father” for his warm human relations. Dad was killed by the Germans in 1943. Secretly, residents of local occupied villages gathered at night to bury the commander and pay him due respect.

The partisan heroes of the Great Patriotic War were later reburied. Karnaukhov rests in Slavyansk, where his remains were transferred in 1944, when the territories were liberated from the German invaders.

During the operation of Karnaukhov’s detachment, 1,304 fascists were destroyed (out of 12 were officers).

Estonian SSR

Already in July 1941, an order was given to form a partisan detachment on the territory of Estonia. His command included B. G. Kumm, N. G. Karotamm, J. H. Lauristin.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 faced an almost insurmountable obstacle in Estonia. A large number of local residents were friendly towards the occupying Germans and even rejoiced at this coincidence of circumstances.

That is why underground organizations and sabotage groups had great power in this territory, which had to think through their moves even more carefully, since betrayal could be expected from anywhere.

They became Lehen Kuhlman (shot by the Germans in 1943 as a Soviet intelligence officer) and Vladimir Fedorov.

Latvian SSR

Until 1942, the activities of the partisans in Latvia were not going well. This was due to the fact that most activists and party leaders were killed at the very beginning of the war, people were poorly prepared both physically and financially. Thanks to the denunciations of local residents, not a single underground organization was destroyed by the Nazis. Some hero-partisans of the Great Patriotic War died nameless, so as not to betray or compromise their comrades.

After 1942, the movement intensified, people began to come to the detachments with a desire to help and free themselves, since the German occupiers sent hundreds of Estonians to Germany for hard work.

Among the leaders of the Estonian partisan movement was Arthur Sprogis, under whom Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was trained. He is also mentioned in Hemingway's book For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Lithuanian SSR

On Lithuanian territory, the partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 carried out hundreds of acts of sabotage, as a result of which almost 10 thousand Germans were killed.

With a total number of partisans of 9,187 people (only identified by name), seven are Heroes of the Soviet Union:

1. Yu. Yu. Alexonis. An underground radio operator, he died in an unequal battle, surrounded by the Germans, in 1944.
2. S. P. Apivala. Personally destroyed seven trains with enemy ammunition.
3. G.I. Boris. The commander of a special sabotage group, died at the hands of the Gestapo after being captured in 1944.
4. A. M. Cheponis. A radio operator who died in 1944 in a single battle against a German unit. At the same time he killed 20 fascists.
5. M.I. Melnikaite. She was captured, spent a whole week in torture, without saying a word to the Nazis, but she was able to slap one of the Wehrmacht officers in the face. Shot in 1943.
6. B.V. Urbanavichus. He led a subversive group of partisans.
7. Yu. T. Vitas. Leader of the Lithuanian partisan underground. He was captured and shot by the Nazis after denunciation by a traitor in 1943.

The heroic partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 fought in Lithuania not only against the fascist invaders, but also against the Lithuanian liberation army, which did not exterminate the Germans, but sought to destroy Soviet and Polish soldiers.

Moldavian SSR

During the four years of operation of partisan detachments on the territory of Moldova, about 27 thousand fascists and their accomplices were destroyed. They are also responsible for the destruction of a huge amount of military equipment, ammunition, and kilometers of communication lines. Heroes-partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 were engaged in the production of leaflets and information reports in order to maintain good spirits and faith in victory among the population.

Two are Heroes of the Soviet Union - V.I. Timoshchuk (commander of the First Moldavian formation) and N.M. Frolov (under his leadership 14 German trains were blown up).

Jewish resistance

There were 70 purely Jewish liberation detachments operating on the territory of the USSR. Their goal was to save the remaining Jewish population.

Unfortunately, Jewish units had to deal with anti-Semitic sentiments even among Soviet partisans. Most of them did not want to provide any support to these people and were reluctant to accept Jewish youth into their units.

Most Jews were refugees from the ghetto. There were often children among them.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 did a lot of work and provided invaluable assistance to the Red Army in liberating territories and defeating the German fascists.

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

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

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

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

How many partisan heroes do we have?

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

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

Sidor Kovpak. Reproduction: TASS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Partisans by call of heart and duty of service

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

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

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

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

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

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

Insomnia and the rail war

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

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

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

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

Partisans mine railway tracks near Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti

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

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

In July 1941, in Belarus, a partisan detachment under the command of the deputy head of the 1st department of the secret political department was actively operating behind enemy lines. NKGB Belarus N. Morozkina, who had complete information about everything that was happening in the occupied territories.

The detachment was in the Bobruisk area for a long time. These were mainly NKGB operatives, NKVD and police officers. On July 22, 1941, it was reported that the detachment consisted of 74 people, including many employees of the Bobruisk city department of the NKVD, under the command of a senior lieutenant of state security Zalogina, who carried out the first sabotage operations: he blew up bridges near Gomel and on the Slutsk highway.

By July 8, 15 partisan detachments were formed in the Pinsk region. They were led by Soviet leaders and security officers. One of them is Korzh V.Z.- became a Hero of the Soviet Union. 12 detachments were commanded by NKVD workers - heads of regional departments and their deputies, the head of the passport department of the police, and operational workers. These people knew very well the local situation, the personnel of the agents, and had a good idea of ​​the anti-Soviet element that had taken the path of cooperation with the enemy.

When selecting partisan detachment commanders, their past activities were first taken into account. First of all, commanders with combat experience were appointed. N. Prokopyuk, S. Vaupshasov, K. Orlovsky- all of them not only participated in the partisan war against the White Poles in the 20s, but also fought in Spain. There was a large group in reserve that fought in the Far East. Practically, the repressions of the late 30s did not affect specialists in sabotage equipment and instruments. Everyone was actively involved.

In October 1941, the troops under the Special Group of the NKVD were reorganized into the Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade for Special Purposes (OMSBON) of the NKVD of the USSR, consisting of two motorized rifle regiments: four-battalion and three-battalion with special units (sapper-demolition company, autocompany, communications company, special forces, junior school command staff and specialists).

The brigade was assigned the following tasks: providing assistance to the Red Army by means of reconnaissance, sabotage, military engineering and combat operations; promoting the development of a mass partisan movement; disorganization of the fascist rear, disabling enemy communications, communication lines and other objects; implementation of strategic, tactical and human intelligence; conducting counterintelligence operations.

Already in the summer of 1941, the command OMSBON began forming and moving behind enemy lines first detachments and groups. They, along with reconnaissance and sabotage units, were tasked with collecting detailed and qualified information about the specific situation in the occupied territory; about the policy of the occupation authorities; about the system of protecting the rear of Hitler's troops; about the development of the partisan movement and the struggle of the underground, about the nature of the assistance they need.

The first detachments of OMSBON were called upon to establish contacts with the partisans, establish their connection with Moscow, facilitate the formation of new detachments and intensify the fighting of the partisans. They also had to create local bases for the deployment of the activities of OMSBON detachments; test in practice the effectiveness of the tactics and methods of combat proposed by the command in enemy rear conditions, identify new opportunities for their development; accumulate certain experience that would be taken into service by those detachments and groups that, following them, would be sent behind enemy lines. The first units to leave in the summer of 1941 were D. Medvedeva, A. Flegontova, V. Zuenko, Y. Kumachenko.

In November 1941, an event occurred that played an important role in all subsequent combat activities of the Bryansk and Kaluga partisans: in the area of ​​​​the city of Lyudinovo he appeared under the command of the legendary state security captain, later the famous writer Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev.

Only a few initiates knew then that this was not an ordinary detachment, of which hundreds and thousands were already operating in the occupied territory, but a reconnaissance and sabotage residency (RDR) No. 4/70 A special group under the People's Commissar of the NKVD of the USSR, sent to the German rear with special tasks.

The Mitya detachment crossed the front line in September with only thirty-three people, but very quickly grew to several hundred soldiers and commanders due to the encirclement that joined it, Red Army soldiers who escaped from captivity and local residents. At the same time, D.N. Medvedev “spun off” several subsidiary detachments from “Mitya”, appointing commanders and chiefs of staff who had proven themselves well in battle.

Unlike many local detachments, “Mitya” conducted active combat, sabotage and reconnaissance activities. Its fighters almost daily attacked enemy garrisons and convoys, burned and blew up bridges, warehouses, communications centers, destroyed manpower, in particular, they even killed two German generals. What is very important, wherever Medvedev appeared, he certainly met with the commanders of local detachments, helped them with practical advice, sometimes with ammunition and weapons, when necessary, he strengthened the command staff, and, finally (which at this stage of the guerrilla war was a novelty) - coordinated their activities to conduct joint operations, which significantly increased the effectiveness of combat operations. In a short time - just a few weeks - Medvedev D.N. intensified the activities of about twenty local detachments.

The groups thrown behind enemy lines usually numbered 30-50 people. But after the very first operations, they quickly grew due to the local population and military personnel emerging from encirclement, and turned into powerful partisan detachments and formations. Yes, squad "Elusive", led by Prudnikov from a task force of 28 people, by the summer of 1944 it had grown into a powerful formation of more than 3000 partisan

Sent to the Smolensk region to organize partisan work Flegontov A.K. Already on August 16, 1941, he reported to P.A. Sudoplatov. radio telegram that in the Smolensk region, under his leadership, there are 4 partisan detachments of 174 people.

January 8, 1942 to carry out large-scale reconnaissance and sabotage work behind the front against Germany and its allies both on Soviet territory and in the occupied countries of Europe, in the Far and Middle East, as well as to assist Soviet and party bodies in the organization and combat activities of partisans detachments and sabotage groups behind enemy lines, the 2nd Department of the NKVD of the USSR was transformed into the 4th Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR.

Now a little about the activities in the field of guerrilla warfare of army intelligence. In August 1941, a special purpose military unit with code number was created under the intelligence department of the Western Front headquarters 99032 . It was headed by Arthur Karlovich Sprogis, who had rich security experience. At that time, there were cases when security officers were sent to serve in the Intelligence Directorate (since 1942, the Main Intelligence Directorate - GRU) of the General Staff of the Red Army.

Military unit 9903 was formed from career intelligence officers, from officers and sergeants of the active army who especially distinguished themselves in battle, as well as from volunteers trained in special courses. As a rule, Sprogis he himself selected, instructed, and often personally accompanied individual scouts behind enemy lines in order to orient them on the spot and direct them to the necessary objects.

The selection of volunteers for partisan reconnaissance was strictly individual, uncompromising. They took care not only of their equipment, weapons and equipment, but also of the moral and physical training of the fighters, the selection of experienced commanders and mentors. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Vera Voloshina, Elena Kolesova and others were fighters of unit 9903.

Korzh Vasily Zakharovich, 01/01/1899 - 05/05/1967, Major General (1943), Hero of the Soviet Union (08/15/1944), Belarusian, born in the village of Khorostov (now Soligorsk district, Minsk region) in a peasant family. He graduated from a rural school. In 1921-1925. - in the partisan detachment of K.P. Orlovsky, operating in Western Belarus. Since 1925 - chairman of collective farms in the regions of the Minsk District. In 1931-1936. - in the bodies of the GPU-NKVD of the BSSR.

In 1936 - commander of an international partisan detachment in Spain. In 1939-1940 - Director of a grain farm in the Krasnodar region. Since 1940, head of the sector of the Pinsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he formed and led one of the first partisan detachments in Belarus. In the fall of 1941, together with other partisan detachments, he made a raid in the Minsk and Polesie regions. Korzh V.Z. - commander of the Pinsk partisan unit. Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff (1946). Since 1946 in reserve. In 1949-1953 - Deputy Minister of Forestry of the BSSR. In 1953-1963 - Chairman of the collective farm "Partizansky Krai" in Soligorsk district.

Commander of the partisan unit Prokopyuk N.A.

Prokopyuk Nikolai Arkhipovich, 06/07/1902-06/11/1975, colonel (1948), Hero of the Soviet Union (11/5/1944), Ukrainian, born in Volyn in the village. Males from Kamenets-Podolsk province in a large family of a carpenter. After graduating from parochial school, he worked as a farm laborer for a landowner. In 1916, he passed exams as an external student for 6 classes of a men's gymnasium. After the revolution, he worked at a factory in the metalworking and turning shops. In 1918, he voluntarily joined the plant’s armed squad.

In 1919 he took part in the uprising against the White Poles, then fought in the Red Army in the 8th division of the Chervonnye Cossacks. In 1921 he was sent to work in the state security agencies. In 1924-1931 served in Slavutsk, then in Mogilev border detachments. In 1935 Prokopyuk N.A. was enrolled in the apparatus of the INO GUGB NKVD USSR. In 1937 he was sent as resident assistant to Barcelona. Participant in the war in Spain. At the end of the summer of 1941, he was sent through the Special Group of the NKVD of the USSR to a partisan detachment.

In August 1942, Prokopyuk was thrown behind enemy lines at the head of the operational group of the 4th directorate “Okhotnik”, on the basis of which he created a partisan unit that operated on the territory of Ukraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia and carried out 23 major combat operations. The formation's fighters destroyed 21 echelons of enemy personnel and equipment, disabled 38 German tanks, and captured a lot of weapons and ammunition. Thanks to the detachment's intelligence, long-range aviation of the Red Army carried out a number of successful air raids on enemy military targets.

Vaupshasov S.A. - commander of a partisan detachment

Vaupshasov Stanislav Alekseevich, 15(27).07.1899-19.11.1976, colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union (5.11.1944), Lithuanian. Real name Vaupshas, ​​born in the village. Gruzdziai, Siauliai district, Kovno province, in a working-class family. He began his working career as a farm laborer in his native village. From 1914 he lived in Moscow, worked as a digger and a fitter at the Provodnik plant. From 1918 in the Red Guard, then in the Red Army.

He fought first on the Southern Front, then against the troops of General Dutov and the White Czechs, then on the Western Front. From 1920 to 1925 he was in underground work along the so-called line. “active reconnaissance” of the Red Army Intelligence Service in the western regions of Belarus occupied by Poland. Organizer and commander of partisan detachments. For work in Belarus Vaupshasov S.A. was awarded an honorary weapon and the Order of the Red Banner.

After the curtailment of “active reconnaissance” he was recalled to the USSR. Since 1925, he was in administrative and economic work in Moscow. In 1927 he graduated from the Red Army Command Staff Course. In the 30s he worked in the GPU of Belarus, as a site manager in the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal. In 1937-1939 Vaupshasov S.A. was on a business trip to Spain as a senior adviser at the headquarters of the 14th Partisan Corps of the Republican Army for reconnaissance and sabotage operations (under the pseudonyms Sharov and “Comrade Alfred”).

After the defeat of the republic, risking his life, he removed the republican archives. Since 1939 - in the central apparatus of the NKVD of the USSR. During the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. participated in the formation of reconnaissance and sabotage groups. Awarded with a personalized weapon. In 1940 he joined the CPSU(b). In 1940-1941 on an intelligence mission abroad in Finland and Sweden.

After returning to the USSR, he was sent to the disposal of the Special Group - the 2nd Department of the NKVD of the USSR. From September 1941 - commander of the OMSBON battalion of the NKVD of the USSR, took part in the battle of Moscow. From March 1942 to July 1944, under the pseudonym Gradov, he was the commander of the partisan detachment of the NKGB of the USSR “Local”, operating in the Minsk region. During his stay behind enemy lines with a partisan unit under the command of S.A. Vaupshasov. Over 14 thousand German soldiers and officers were killed, 57 major acts of sabotage were committed. Among them was the explosion of the SD canteen, as a result of which several dozen high-ranking German officers were killed.

In 1945 he worked in the central office of the NKGB in Moscow. In August 1945, he took part in military operations against Japan, then became the head of the NKGB task force for clearing the rear in Manchuria. Since December 1946, head of the intelligence department of the MGB of the Lithuanian SSR. Participated in the liquidation of anti-Soviet armed groups in Lithuania. In 1954 he was transferred to the reserve.

Commander of the partisan detachment Orlovsky K.P.

Orlovsky Kirill Prokofievich, 01/18(30/1895-1968), colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union (09/20/1943), Hero of Socialist Labor (1965), Belarusian, born in the village. Myshkovichi in a peasant family. In 1906 he entered the Popovshchina parish school, from which he graduated in 1910. In 1915 he was drafted into the army. He first served in the 251st reserve infantry regiment as a private, and from 1917 as a non-commissioned officer, commander of an engineer platoon of the 65th Infantry Regiment on the Western Front. In January 1918, Orlovsky K.P. demobilized from the army and returned to his native village of Myshkovichi.

In December 1918 - May 1919 he worked in the Bobruisk Cheka. From May 1919 to May 1920 he studied at the 1st Moscow Infantry Command Course, while at the same time, as a cadet, he participated in battles against Yudenich’s troops in the Soviet-Polish War. From May 1920 to May 1925 he led partisan detachments in Western Belarus through the “active reconnaissance” of the Red Army Intelligence Department. Under the leadership of Orlovsky K.P. Several dozen military operations were carried out, as a result of which over 100 Polish gendarmes and landowners were destroyed.

After returning to the USSR, Orlovsky K.P. studied at the Communist University of National Minorities of the West. Markhlevsky, who graduated in 1930. Then, for five years, he worked on the selection and training of partisan personnel through the Special Department of the NKVD of the BSSR. In 1937-1938 carried out special assignments for Soviet foreign intelligence during the war with the Nazis in Spain. From January 1938 to February 1939 - student of special courses of the NKVD in Moscow. Since 1939 Orlovsky K.P. - Assistant Director of the Agricultural Institute in Chkalov (now Orenburg).

Since 1940 - again in the state security agencies. From March 1941 to May 1942 he was on a business trip abroad through the NKVD in China. After returning to the USSR, Orlovsky K.P. - in the 4th Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR. On October 27, 1942, he was sent with a group of paratroopers behind enemy lines in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha region, participated in the organization of partisan detachments and himself led the special-purpose detachment “Falcons”. In February 1943, during the operation to destroy the Deputy Gauleiter of Belarus F. Fens, Orlovsky was seriously wounded, his right arm was torn off.

From August 1943 to December 1944 - in the NKGB of Belarus, then retired for health reasons. Hero of the Soviet Union (09/20/1943). Hero of Socialist Labor (1965). He was awarded five Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the BSSR (1932), and many medals.

Prudnikov M.S. - commander of a partisan brigade

Prudnikov Mikhail Sidorovich, 04/15/1913 - 04/27/1995, Hero of the Soviet Union (1944), Major General (1970), Russian, born in the village. Novopokrovka of the Tomsk province (now Izhmorsky district of the Kemerovo region) in a peasant family. In 1931 he was drafted into the army and served as a Red Army soldier in the 15th Alma-Ata regiment of the OGPU troops. In 1933 he was sent to study at the 2nd Kharkov Border School, after graduation he was appointed commandant of the school. In 1940-1941 - cadet of the High School of the NKVD of the USSR in Moscow.

Since July 1941 Prudnikov M.S. - commander of a machine gun company, then commander of the OMSBON battalion. Participated in the battles for Moscow. From February 1942 to May 1943 - commander of the operational group, and then the partisan brigade "Elusive" in the rear of German troops.

Eitingon N.I.

Eitingon Naum Isaakovich, December 6, 1899-1981, Major General (1945), Jew, born in the city of Shklov, Mogilev province, into the family of a paper mill clerk. He graduated from 7 classes of the Mogilev Commercial School. In the spring of 1920, by decision of the Gomel Provincial Committee of the RCP (b), he was sent to work in the bodies of the Cheka. In October 1925, after completing his studies, he enrolled in the INO OGPU and in the same year was sent as a resident of foreign intelligence in Shanghai.

In 1936, after the outbreak of the Civil War in Spain, Eitingon, under the name of Leonid Aleksandrovich Kotov, was sent to Madrid as deputy resident of the NKVD and chief security adviser to the republican government.

From 08/20/42 - Deputy Head of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD/NKGB of the USSR. Along with Sudoplatov P.A. Eitingon was one of the organizers of the partisan movement and reconnaissance and sabotage work in the occupied territory of the USSR, and later in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, and played a leading role in conducting the legendary operational radio games against German intelligence “Monastery” and “Berezin”.

For performing special tasks during the Great Patriotic War N.I. Eitingon was awarded the military orders of Suvorov 2nd degree and Alexander Nevsky. After the end of the war, he took an active part in the development and implementation of intelligence combinations to eliminate Polish and Lithuanian nationalist gangs. On July 21, 1953, he was arrested in connection with the “case.”

In 1957 he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. From March 1957 he served his sentence in Vladimir prison. In 1964 he was released. Since 1965 - senior editor of the International Relations publishing house. In 1981, he died in the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital from a stomach ulcer, and only in April 1992 did his posthumous rehabilitation follow. Awarded the orders of Lenin (1941), Suvorov 2nd degree (1944), Alexander Nevsky, two Red Banners (1927 - for work in China; 1936 - in Spain), medals.

Based on materials from the book by A. Popov “NKVD Special Forces Behind Enemy Lines”, M., “Yauza”, “Eksmo”, 2013.

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

Old Man Minai

At the beginning of the war, Minai Filipovich Shmyrev was the director of the Pudot Cardboard Factory (Belarus). The 51-year-old director had a military background: he was awarded three Crosses of St. George in World War I, and fought against banditry during the Civil War.

In July 1941, in the village of Pudot, Shmyrev formed a partisan detachment from factory workers. In two months, the partisans engaged the enemy 27 times, destroyed 14 vehicles, 18 fuel tanks, blew up 8 bridges, and defeated the German district government in Surazh.

In the spring of 1942, Shmyrev, by order of the Central Committee of Belarus, united with three partisan detachments and headed the First Belarusian Partisan Brigade. The partisans drove the fascists out of 15 villages and created the Surazh partisan region. Here, before the arrival of the Red Army, Soviet power was restored. On the Usvyaty-Tarasenki section, the “Surazh Gate” existed for six months - a 40-kilometer zone through which the partisans were supplied with weapons and food.
All of Father Minai’s relatives: four small children, a sister and mother-in-law were shot by the Nazis.
In the fall of 1942, Shmyrev was transferred to the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. In 1944 he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
After the war, Shmyrev returned to farm work.

Son of the kulak "Uncle Kostya"

Konstantin Sergeevich Zaslonov was born in the city of Ostashkov, Tver province. In the thirties, his family was dispossessed and exiled to the Kola Peninsula in Khibinogorsk.
After school, Zaslonov became a railway worker, by 1941 he worked as the head of a locomotive depot in Orsha (Belarus) and was evacuated to Moscow, but voluntarily went back.

He served under the pseudonym “Uncle Kostya” and created an underground that, with the help of mines disguised as coal, derailed 93 fascist trains in three months.
In the spring of 1942, Zaslonov organized a partisan detachment. The detachment fought with the Germans and lured 5 garrisons of the Russian National People's Army to its side.
Zaslonov died in a battle with RNNA punitive forces, who came to the partisans under the guise of defectors. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

NKVD officer Dmitry Medvedev

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

Saboteur Molodtsov-Badaev

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Molodtsov worked in a mine from the age of 16. He worked his way up from a trolley racer to a deputy director. In 1934 he was sent to the Central School of the NKVD.
In July 1941 he arrived in Odessa for reconnaissance and sabotage work. He worked under the pseudonym Pavel Badaev.

Badaev's troops hid in the Odessa catacombs, fought with the Romanians, broke communication lines, carried out sabotage in the port, and carried out reconnaissance. The commandant's office with 149 officers was blown up. At the Zastava station, a train with the administration for occupied Odessa was destroyed.

The Nazis sent 16,000 people to liquidate the detachment. They released gas into the catacombs, poisoned the water, mined the passages. In February 1942, Molodtsov and his contacts were captured. Molodtsov was executed on July 12, 1942.
Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

Desperate partisan "Mikhailo"

Azerbaijani Mehdi Ganifa-ogly Huseyn-zade was drafted into the Red Army from his student days. Participant in the Battle of Stalingrad. He was seriously wounded, captured and taken to Italy. He escaped at the beginning of 1944, joined the partisans and became a commissar of a company of Soviet partisans. He was engaged in reconnaissance and sabotage, blew up bridges and airfields, and executed Gestapo men. For his desperate courage he received the nickname “partisan Mikhailo.”
A detachment under his command raided the prison, freeing 700 prisoners of war.
He was captured near the village of Vitovlje. Mehdi shot back until the end and then committed suicide.
They learned about his exploits after the war. In 1957 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

OGPU employee Naumov

A native of the Perm region, Mikhail Ivanovich Naumov, was an employee of the OGPU at the beginning of the war. Shell-shocked while crossing the Dniester, was surrounded, went out to the partisans and soon led a detachment. In the fall of 1942 he became the chief of staff of partisan detachments in the Sumy region, and in January 1943 he headed a cavalry unit.

In the spring of 1943, Naumov conducted the legendary Steppe Raid, 2,379 kilometers long, behind Nazi lines. For this operation, the captain was awarded the rank of major general, which is a unique event, and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In total, Naumov conducted three large-scale raids behind enemy lines.
After the war he continued to serve in the ranks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Kovpak

Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak became a legend during his lifetime. Born in Poltava into a poor peasant family. During World War I he received the St. George Cross from the hands of Nicholas II. During the Civil War he was a partisan against the Germans and fought with the whites.

Since 1937, he was chairman of the Putivl City Executive Committee of the Sumy Region.
In the fall of 1941, he led the Putivl partisan detachment, and then a formation of detachments in the Sumy region. The partisans carried out military raids behind enemy lines. Their total length was more than 10,000 kilometers. 39 enemy garrisons were defeated.

On August 31, 1942, Kovpak participated in a meeting of partisan commanders in Moscow, was received by Stalin and Voroshilov, after which he carried out a raid beyond the Dnieper. At this moment, Kovpak’s detachment had 2000 soldiers, 130 machine guns, 9 guns.
In April 1943, he was awarded the rank of major general.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

Let us first give a list of the largest partisan formations and their leaders. Here is the list:

Chernigov-Volyn partisan formation Major General A.F. Fedorov

Gomel partisan unit Major General I.P. Kozhar

partisan unit Major General V.Z. Korzh

partisan unit Major General M.I. Naumov

partisan unit Major General A.N. Saburov

partisan brigade Major General M.I.Duka

Ukrainian partisan division Major General P.P. Vershigora

Rivne partisan unit Colonel V.A. Begma

Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, Major General V.A. Andreev

In this work we will limit ourselves to considering the action of some of them.

Sumy partisan unit. Major General S.A. Kovpak

Leader of the Kovpak movement, Soviet statesman and public figure, one of the organizers of the partisan movement, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (18.5.1942 and 4.1.1944), major general (1943). Member of the CPSU since 1919. Born into the family of a poor peasant. Participant in the Civil War 1918-20: led a partisan detachment that fought in Ukraine against the German occupiers together with the detachments of A. Ya. Parkhomenko, fought against Denikin’s troops; participated in battles on the Eastern Front as part of the 25th Chapaev Division and on the Southern Front against Wrangel's troops. In 1921-26 he was a military commissar in a number of cities in the Ekaterinoslav province. In 1937-41 he was the chairman of the Putivl city executive committee of the Sumy region. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Kovpak was the commander of the Putivl partisan detachment, then a formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region, a member of the illegal Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine. In 1941-42, Kovpak's unit carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, in 1942-43 - a raid from the Bryansk forests on Right Bank Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kyiv regions ; in 1943 - Carpathian raid. The Sumy partisan unit under the command of Kovpak fought in the rear of the Nazi troops for more than 10 thousand km. , defeated enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. Kovpak's raids played a big role in the development of the partisan movement against the Nazi occupiers. In January 1944, the Sumy unit was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division named after Kovpak. Awarded 4 Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov 1st degree, Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st degree, orders of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and Poland, as well as medals.

At the beginning of July 1941, the formation of partisan detachments and underground groups began in Putivl. One partisan detachment under the command of S.A. Kovpak was supposed to operate in the Spadshchansky forest, another, commanded by S.V. Rudnev, in the Novoslobodsky forest, the third, led by S.F. Kirilenko, in the Maritsa tract. In October of the same year, at a general detachment meeting, it was decided to unite into a single Putivl partisan detachment. The commander of the united detachment was S.A. Kovpak, the commissar was S.V. Rudnev, and the chief of staff was G.Ya. Bazyma. By the end of 1941, there were only 73 people in the detachment, and by mid-1942 there were already more than a thousand. Small and large partisan detachments from other places came to Kovpak. Gradually, a union of people's avengers of the Sumy region was born. On May 26, 1942, the Kovpaks liberated Putivl and held it for two days. And in October, having broken through the enemy blockade created around the Bryansk Forest, a formation of partisan detachments launched a raid on the right bank of the Dnieper. In a month, the Kovpakov soldiers covered 750 km. Behind enemy lines through Sumy, Chernigov, Gomel, Kyiv, Zhitomir regions. 26 bridges, 2 trains with fascist manpower and equipment were blown up, 5 armored cars and 17 vehicles were destroyed. During the period of its second raid - from July to October 1943 - the formation of partisan detachments covered four thousand kilometers in battle. The partisans disabled the main oil refineries, oil storage facilities, oil rigs and oil pipelines located in the area of ​​​​Drohobych and Ivano-Frankivsk. The newspaper “Pravda Ukrainy” wrote: “Telegrams were flying from Germany: catch Kovpak, lock his troops in the mountains. Twenty-five times a ring of punitive forces closed around the areas occupied by the partisan general, and the same number of times he escaped unharmed.”

Being in a difficult situation and fighting fierce battles, the Kovpakovites fought their way out of their last encirclement shortly before the liberation of Ukraine.

4 .2 Chernigov-Volyn partisan formation Major General A.F. Fedorov

This year, Ukraine at the state level celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary partisan commander, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General Alexei Fedorovich Fedorov.

Alexey Fedorov, a native of the Yekaterinoslav region (now the Dnepropetrovsk region), served in the red cavalry during the Civil War and took part in battles with Tyutyunnyk’s gang. Then he received an education and worked in trade union and party bodies in Ukraine.

The Great Patriotic War found A.F. Fedorov in the post of first secretary of the Chernigov regional committee of the CP(b)U. After the occupation of the Chernigov region by the Germans, the regional committee continued its work underground, and the first secretary headed the headquarters of the partisan movement. On the initiative of Alexei Fedorov, five partisan detachments based in the north of the Chernihiv region were united into a single regional detachment.

Over time, the famous Chernigov-Volyn unit grew out of it, whose bold actions became one of the brightest pages of the partisan movement. In the early spring of 1943, by order of the Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, Major General Fedorov led his formation on a raid on Volyn. Thus began Operation Kovel Knot, which military historians call “the pinnacle of General Fedorov’s partisan art.”

Soviet intelligence established that for the summer campaign of 1943 the Germans were preparing a powerful offensive operation “Citadel” on the Kursk Bulge. In order to disrupt the supply routes of the Nazi troops, the Soviet command decided to launch a large-scale “rail war” behind enemy lines.

A.F. Fedorov’s partisan unit was given the task of operating in the area of ​​the Kovel railway junction, through which a significant part of the cargo for the German Army Group Center was transported.

In July 1943, five sabotage battalions began fighting enemy trains on the routes leaving Kovel.

On some days, the formation's demolitions destroyed two or three enemy echelons. The strategic node was paralyzed.

During the ten months of the Kovel operation, the partisans under the command of A.F. Fedorov derailed 549 trains with ammunition, fuel, military equipment and manpower of the enemy, while destroying about ten thousand invaders. For Operation Kovel Knot, Alexey Fedorov received the second Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war, A.F. Fedorov headed the Izmail, Kherson and Zhitomir regional party committees, worked as the Minister of Social Security of the Ukrainian SSR, and was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR and the USSR.