The bloody regime did not break the will of the Belarusian people. They rose to everything people's war against fascist invaders. This happened in the first days of the war. This is a harsh time for our entire country. The Nazis had already captured Minsk and were rushing to Smolensk in order to open a direct path to Moscow. After rapid attacks by enemy troops, a fragmented part of the Red Army remained behind enemy lines. They became the first partisans. Some of them began to break through to the front, causing confusion among the enemy troops, while the other part went into the forests. After this, those who escaped from the enemy camp joined them. At direct participation K.E. Voroshilov formed and instructed partisan detachments and sabotage groups to be sent behind enemy lines. In July, groups of party and Komsomol workers were sent to the occupied territory to organize the communist underground and partisan detachments.

The national character is the main, defining feature of the Soviet partisan movement, distinguishing it from the Resistance movement in Europe and Asia during the Second World War, from all partisan actions of the past both in Russia and in other countries subject to foreign invasion. The Soviet partisan movement has no equal in its scope, effectiveness, and the scale of losses inflicted on the enemy. It enriched the people's war with new forms. In no other war, except for the Great Patriotic War, did partisan actions provide such enormous assistance to the regular army or make such a large contribution to the defeat of the enemy.

The nationwide character of the Soviet partisan movement and the ensuing variety of forms and methods of struggle, high efficiency and effectiveness - all this determined the importance of the partisan movement as a military-political factor in the Great Patriotic War. The Chief of the Central Staff of the partisan movement, P. K. Ponomarenko, wrote in this regard : “The deeply popular character of the partisan movement is most clearly manifested in the huge, inexhaustible variety of forms and methods of fighting the fascists. What should be noted here is the failure to comply with the orders of the occupation authorities and the disruption economic events invaders, and organizing sabotage, and causing damage to the enemy everywhere by all possible means, and, finally, the main, strongest form of the partisan movement - the armed struggle of partisan detachments.” Armed partisan formations were the most centralized and controlled part of the Soviet partisan movement. They regrouped, their actions were planned, especially during the preparation and conduct offensive operations The Red Army was sent to attack the most vulnerable links of Hitler's military machine.

As you know, after the failure of the “blitzkrieg”, designed to capture Moscow on the move, the battered Nazi units were forced to switch to temporary defense in early September 1941. Hitler's command began to prepare a major offensive operation, "Typhoon", which envisaged the encirclement and destruction of Red Army formations in the western direction and the capture of Moscow. Belarusian partisans and underground fighters contributed to this historic battle near Moscow. Thus, in the reports of the command of the German security forces, it was noted that during Operation Typhoon, due to sabotage by partisan groups, it was not possible to send 430 trains with troops and military equipment from Belarus for Army Group Center on October 6-9, 1941, which From November 22 to November 27, only 42.5% of the planned echelons broke through to Moscow.

At the beginning of 1942, the struggle of the Belarusian people against the German occupiers intensified. Thousands of patriots joined underground organizations and partisan detachments. By the fall of 1942, 57 thousand fighters were operating in partisan formations in Belarus alone.

The issue of training personnel for partisan and underground work arose. The leadership cadres were selected from among proven communists and Komsomol members who knew the conditions of Belarus. In January 1942, by decision of the State Defense Committee, 3 special schools, where the cadets received theoretical knowledge and guerrilla warfare skills. Since April 1942, personnel training was carried out by the “Special Belarusian Collection” - special courses operating near the city of Murom, Vladimir region. By September 1942, the courses were trained, formed and sent behind enemy lines through the “Vitebsk (Surazh) Gate” (a 40-kilometer gap in the front line at the junction of the German Army Groups “Center” and “North” between Velizh and Usvyattsi, operated from February to September 1942) 15 partisan detachments and 100 organizational groups with a total number of 2378 people. In December, on the basis of the courses (“Special Belarusian Collection”), the Belarusian School for the Training of Partisan Workers (BSPR) was formed. By September 1943, it had trained more than 940 partisan warfare specialists. In order to organize the development of the partisan movement and coordinate the combat operations of the partisans, the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (TSSHPD) was created on May 30, 1942. The first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks, P.K. Ponomarenko, became the chief of staff. In September 1942, the Belarusian Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (BSHPD) began to function (chief of staff - 2nd Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) P.Z. Kalinin). The BSPD immediately launched active combat activities, created partisan detachments, planned and carried out fighting partisans, improved the structure partisan formations. In mid-1942, by decision of the Party Central Committee at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command Soviet troops A central headquarters is created, and locally republican and regional headquarters of the partisan movement and representation (operational groups) under the military councils of fronts and armies are created. This indicated that the Central Committee viewed the partisan movement as a strategic factor in the war.

Such a system of leadership of the partisan movement made it possible to direct it, and first of all the armed partisan forces, united, as a rule, into partisan formations, in accordance with specific tasks solved by the Red Army, to subordinate the actions of the partisans to its operations.

In this regard, A. M. Vasilevsky, Chief of the General Staff during the Great Patriotic War, wrote that the partisan movement “played important role in the general strategic plans and calculations of the Soviet Supreme High Command and was taken into account when developing major offensive operations carried out on Soviet territory". Never before has it been like this close connection between the actions of partisans and the operations of regular troops, as was the case in the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet partisan movement was a genuine second front. The actions of the partisans behind enemy lines merged with the attacks of the Red Army at the front into one common blow of the Soviet people against the Hitlerite military machine. “Together with the Soviet Armed Forces,” says the Theses of the CPSU Central Committee dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, “the partisans delivered crushing blows to the enemy.”

Since the spring of 1942, many partisan detachments began to unite into brigades. In April, the 1st Belarusian Brigade was created in Surazhsky and adjacent areas of the Vitebsk region. It was headed by M.F. Shmyrev. In May there were already 6 partisan brigades, in December - 53. At the end of 1943 - beginning of 1944, 144 - 148 partisan brigades were operating in Belarus, uniting up to 700 partisan detachments. In 1943, 9 partisan brigades, 10 separate detachments and 15 organizational groups were sent to Western Belarus to launch the partisan struggle. The partisan detachments struck boldly and decisively, diverting large enemy forces to themselves. With the creation of centralized leadership, simultaneous partisan combat operations began to be planned and carried out on the scale of districts, regions and even the republic. So, in October 1942, Minsky’s detachments partisan unit Operation “Echo in Polesie” was successfully carried out to blow up a large 137-meter railway bridge on the Ptich River. As a result, train traffic to the southwestern grouping of Hitler's army stopped for 18 days.

In October 1942, addressing the population of the occupied areas, the Party Central Committee called: “Fan the flames of the nationwide partisan movement!” In the May Day calls of 1943, the Party Central Committee stated: “Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Karelians, who have temporarily fallen under the yoke of the Nazi scoundrels! Fan the flames of the nationwide partisan movement!” In this regard, the order of the People's Commissar of Defense J.V. Stalin said: “It is necessary, first of all, to ensure that the partisan movement develops even wider and deeper, it is necessary that the partisan struggle embrace the broadest masses of the Soviet people in the occupied territory. The partisan movement must become nationwide."

By the end of 1942, Belarusian partisans derailed 1,180 enemy trains with armored trains, 311 locomotives, 7,800 wagons and platforms with manpower and military equipment, 168 railway bridges, destroyed tens of thousands of German soldiers and officers.

In the summer of 1943, the TsShPD developed an operation codenamed “Rail War”. It began on August 3, lasted until September 15 and was timed to coincide with the offensive of Soviet troops in the Belgorod-Kharkov direction. The operation was carried out simultaneously by partisan formations of Belarus, partly Ukraine, Leningrad, Smolensk, Kalinin, and Oryol regions. The results of the operation were impressive. Only in Belarus, railway traffic was paralyzed for 15 - 30 days. Trains with enemy troops and military equipment, urgently heading towards Orel, Belgorod and Kharkov, got stuck on the way, and were often destroyed by partisans. Enemy transportation was reduced by almost 35 - 40%. The occupiers suffered huge material losses in locomotives, cars, rails, sleepers, equipment, and manpower.

Partisan formations carried out raids - long military marches in the occupied territory, destroyed Nazi garrisons, derailed trains, created new partisan formations, carried out mass political work among the population. They passed along a closed (circular) route with a return to their previous location. One of the first raids was carried out in March 1942 by partisans of the Minsk, Pinsk and Polesie regions. Received a particularly wide scope partisan raids in 1943 - 1944. Partisan formations from Ukraine (S.A. Kovpak, A.N. Saburov, P.P. Vernigora, Ya.I. Melnik), Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Smolensk, Kalinin and Oryol regions carried out raids on the territory of Belarus.

By the beginning of 1943, Belarusian partisans controlled about 50 thousand square kilometers of territory, by the end of the year - more than 108 thousand, or about 60 percent of the occupied territory of the republic, liberated about 38 thousand square kilometers Belarusian land. There were more than 20 partisan zones, where life went according to the laws of Soviet power. 18 airfields were equipped here, through which cargo was delivered from the mainland, wounded partisans and children were evacuated. At the junction of the union republics, thanks to the joint efforts of Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Latvian partisans, partisan zones were united into partisan regions.

Polish and Ukrainian nationalist formations.

Activities of the Soviet underground.

Formation and development of the partisan movement.

The partisan movement on the territory of Belarus began literally from the first days of the war and was an important factor in achieving victory. The first detachments were created in Polesie - the Pinsk detachment under the command of V.Z. Korzha, the “Red October” detachment under the command of T. Bumazhkov and F. Pavlovsky (they became the first partisans - Heroes Soviet Union), a detachment under the command of M.F. Shmyrev (father Minai). Until the end of 1941, about 500 detachments and groups were active, and the number of partisans reached 12 thousand people.

On May 30, 1942, at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the Central Headquarters of the Patrisan Movement was created, headed by the First Secretary of the CPB Central Committee P. Ponomarenko, on September 9 of the same year - the Belarusian Headquarters of the Partisan Movement, which was headed by another secretary of the CPB Central Committee P. Kalinin, was created on the periphery regional and republican headquarters of the partisan movement and their representation at the fronts. The work of the headquarters consisted of organizing, recruiting and arming partisan detachments, and determining the tasks of the partisan movement. Partisan detachments or groups were also organized in the rear: special partisan schools were created where personnel were trained, schools and training centers were opened for command personnel, instructors, demolitionists, radio operators, intelligence officers and other specialists. The units that underwent training and preparation either remained in the designated areas before their occupation, or were transferred behind enemy lines.

The main tactical unit of the partisan movement was squad- at the beginning of the war there are usually several dozen people, later - up to 200 or more fighters. During the war, many units were united into formations ( brigades) numbering from several hundred to several thousand people. Light weapons predominated in armament (machine guns, light machine guns, rifles, carbines, grenades), but many detachments and formations had mortars and heavy machine guns, and some had artillery. People who joined partisan formations took the partisan oath, and strict military discipline was established in the detachments.

In the tactics of partisan actions during the Great Patriotic War, the following elements can be distinguished:

1) Sabotage activities , destruction of the enemy’s infrastructure in any form (rail war, destruction of communication lines, high-voltage lines, poisoning and destruction of water pipelines, wells, etc.). Sabotage occupied a significant place in the activities of partisan formations. They were very effective way disorganizing the enemy rear, inflicting losses and material damage to the enemy, without entering into combat with him combat clash. Using special sabotage equipment, small groups of partisans and even individuals could inflict significant damage on the enemy.

2) Intelligence activities, including undercover activities.

3) Political activity and Bolshevik propaganda. Partisan formations carried out extensive political work among the population of the occupied territories.

4) Combat assistance. From the beginning of the Red Army's offensive, the partisans disrupted enemy troop movements, disrupted their organized withdrawal and control, struck from the rear and helped break through the enemy's defenses, repulse his counterattacks, encircle enemy groups, and capture populated areas.

For the first time in the history of wars, the partisans, together with the Red Army, carried out a series of major operations to disable enemy railway communications on large territory, reduced railway capacity by 35-40%. In Belarus, from November 1, 1942 to April 1, 1943 alone, 65 railway bridges were blown up and about 1,500 enemy trains were derailed. Large railway junctions such as Smolensk were almost always under partisan attacks. Orsha, Bryansk, Gomel, Sarny, Kovel, Shepetovka.

The Red Army's offensive in 1944 was carried out in close cooperation with the partisans, who actively participated in almost all strategic operations. Grandiose in its scale, in the number of forces involved and achieved results was guerrilla operation, which went down in history under the name "Rail War". It was planned by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement and was prepared for a long time and comprehensively. The main goal of the operation was to paralyze the Nazis' transportation by rail by simultaneously massively undermining the rails. It was carried out in three stages. The first stage began on the night of August 3, 1943. On the first night, over 42 thousand rails were blown up. Massive explosions continued throughout August and the first half of September, and by the end of August, more than 171 thousand rails were disabled, which is 1 thousand km of single-track railway track. By mid-September, the number of undermined rails reached almost 215 thousand. “In just one month, the number of explosions has increased thirty-fold,” the command of the Corps of Security Troops of Army Group Center reported in its report on August 31.

From September 9 to early November 1943 The second stage of the operation lasted, codenamed “Concert”. The partisan attacks were combined with attacks on individual garrisons and enemy units, with ambushes on highways and dirt roads, as well as with disruption of the Nazis’ river transportation. Third stage " rail war» started June 20, 1944

The most striking example of this effective interaction partisans and the regular army is the Belarusian Operation Bagration of 1944, in which a powerful group of Belarusian partisans represented, in essence, a fifth front that coordinated its operations with the four advancing fronts.

5) Destruction of enemy personnel.

6) Elimination of collaborators and heads of the Nazi administration.

7) Restoration and preservation of elements of Soviet power in the occupied territories.

8) Mobilization of the combat-ready population remaining in the occupied territory and the unification of the remnants of the encircled military units.

Great value for the development of the partisan movement there was the existence of the so-called. Surazh (Vitebsk) Gate - a 40-kilometer breakthrough in the front line between Velizh and Usvyaty at the junction of the German armies “North” and “Center”. Sabotage groups, weapons, ammunition, and medicines were sent through the gate to the enemy's rear. The gate existed from February to September 1942.

The expansion of the partisan movement was facilitated by the enormous political work of partisans and underground fighters among the population of the occupied areas, which provided significant assistance. The attitude of the local population towards Soviet partisans in different regions was one of the main factors in the success of the partisans.

The turning point in the development of the partisan movement in Belarus and the course of the Great Patriotic War as a whole, the battle for Moscow and the Soviet counteroffensive in the winter of 1942 appeared: the partisan movement is gaining strength, becoming more organized, the number of partisan groups is growing, at the beginning of 1943 the number of partisans in Belarus exceeded 56 thousand .people During the winter offensive of the Red Army of 1941-42. The interaction between partisans and troops is expanding, significant territories are being liberated from the occupiers, and partisan zones are being created. The first such zone appeared in January-February 1942 on the territory of the Polesie region. In 1943, the partisans, whose number reached 120 thousand, controlled up to 60% of the territory of Belarus (partisan zones were created: Polotsk-Lepel, Klichev, Ivenets-Nalibokskaya, the main merit of the partisans was saving the population from death and slavery). During three years of fighting behind enemy lines, the partisans destroyed more than 500 thousand Nazis, derailed 11,150 trains, defeated 948 garrisons, destroyed about 20 thousand vehicles and 1,300 tanks and armored vehicles. About 45 thousand partisans died in the fight against the enemy.

The German General Guderian wrote that “guerrilla warfare has become a real scourge, greatly affecting the morale of front-line soldiers.”

The actions of the partisans caused serious concern to the enemy. General Wagner informed the Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, Halder, that Army Group Center could not be properly supplied with everything necessary due to the destruction by partisans railway tracks. To put an end to the activities of the “forest bandits,” as the Germans called them, in July-August 1941, the first large-scale punitive operation called “Pripyat Swamps” was carried out, as a result of which more than 13.5 thousand people were killed. mostly civilians, those who were suspected of supporting the partisans.

Despite the undeniable military contribution of the partisans, who diverted up to 10% German forces on the Eastern Front, the military-political leadership of the USSR was never able to completely abandon its distrust of the movement, which for some time developed without any control and, moreover, was an irrefutable witness to the political vacuum created in 1941 in entire regions by the disorderly flight of Soviet civil and military authorities. When regular army entered the “partisan regions”, the partisans, expecting immediate enrollment in its ranks, were instead sent to the rear for proper verification and “re-education”.

The organizing force of everything people's struggle was behind enemy lines Communist Party. The most important program documents that laid the foundation for the organization of powerful popular forces that rose up in the partisan struggle against the fascist enslavers were the directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to party and Soviet organizations in the front-line regions of June 29 and the resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of July 18, 1941 of the year "On the organization of struggle in the rear German troops“: “In areas occupied by the enemy,” the directive said, “to create partisan detachments and sabotage groups to fight units of the enemy army, to incite partisan warfare everywhere, to blow up bridges, roads, damage telephone and telegraph communications, etc. . In occupied areas, create unbearable conditions for the enemy and his accomplices."

June the Central Committee of the CP(b)B adopted in Mogilev and sent out to the regions and districts Directive No. 1 on preparations for the transition to underground work of party organizations in districts that were under threat fascist occupation. The directive emphasized the need to immediately create underground party bodies to organize the fight against the occupiers, to lead the partisan and underground movement. The creation of party troikas began in regions and districts.

The directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) No. 2 of July 1, 1941 “On the deployment of partisan warfare behind enemy lines” stated: “All areas of Belarus occupied by the enemy must immediately be covered with a dense network of partisan detachments waging a continuous fierce struggle to destroy the enemy.” .

From the first days of the war, the workers of the Mogilev region, together with everyone Soviet people rose up to fight against the Nazi invaders. Its main forms were the partisan movement, underground struggle, and mass disruption of the military activities of the occupiers by the unarmed population.

On July 1941, a meeting of workers heading behind enemy lines was held in Mogilev. Marshals of the Soviet Union K.E. took part in it. Voroshilov and B.M. Shaposhnikov, leaders of the republic and region. Immediately after the meeting, members of the organizational troikas went to units of the Red Army in order, with the help of army intelligence officers, to cross the front line and there, behind enemy lines, begin organizing partisan detachments and sabotage groups.

The created voluntary formations were of great importance in the preparation of the partisan movement: fighter squads, self-defense groups, detachments and regiments people's militia. The tasks, formation, deployment, training of detachments and leadership of the people's militia were determined in the directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on July 6, 1941.

Guerrilla groups and detachments arose on the basis of the people's militia, extermination squads, the basis of many partisan detachments were commanders and soldiers of the Red Army who found themselves in the rear Hitler's troops(S.N. Zhunin, N.D. Averyanov, M.I. Abramov, K.M. Belousov, G.K. Pavlov, V.I. Nichiporovich, V.I. Liventsev. M.F. Speransky, G .A. Kirpich, V.A. Khlebtsov and others).

In July 1941, almost the entire staff of the Osipovichi district party committee switched to underground work. A partisan group was soon organized from party and Soviet workers in the forest near the workers' village of Grodzyanka, which later grew into the 210th partisan detachment (at the beginning - simply the "King" detachment, after the name of its commander, the pre-war chairman of the district executive committee N.F. Korolev) . In addition, in July - August, 6 sabotage and reconnaissance groups were organized, the activities of which were immediately felt by the invaders. Organizers of the people's struggle against German fascist invaders steel I.B. Gnedko, R.Kh. Goland, S.A. Mazur, K.A. Rubinov, A.V. Shienok and others.

The main base of the partisan movement in the region became the Klichevsky district with its huge forests adjacent to the Bykhovsky, Kirovsky, Bobruisk, Berezinsky (formerly part of the Mogilev region), Osipovsky and Belynichesky districts. On July 5, 1941, on the second day after the capture of Klichev by the Nazis in the forest, near the villages of Razvody and Dolgoye, a meeting of the district party committee was held, at which 5 patriotic groups were approved, and two weeks later they united into the first partisan detachment. The organizers of the detachment were M.I. Alexandrovich, A.V. Bai, P.B. Bukaty, Y.K. Vitol, P.M. Viktorchik, Ya.I. Zayats, A.N. Latyshev, P.E. Stukalsky, F.V. Yakimovets. Senior Lieutenant Borodin was appointed commander of the detachment, and Taicher was appointed political instructor. After Borodin left to join the Red Army in September 1941, command of the detachment passed to the director of the secondary school I.Z. Izokh, Ya.I. became commissioner. Hare. The Klichev detachment was one of the most combative and united partisan formations in the region. Its organizers knew their area and its inhabitants well. An underground group in the Kirov region, which included communists I.I. Gerasimovich, G.L. Komar, S.I. Svirid and participant in the first Russian revolution F.N. Micholap, by April 1942 had grown into the 537th partisan detachment, striking at railway on the Bykhov - Rogachev section and the Bobruisk - Mogilev highway. In the forests of the Belynichi and Mogilev regions, in the fall of 1941, groups of military personnel M.I. Abramova, N.D. Averyanova and K.M. Belousov, which then grew into the 121st, 600th and 113th partisan detachments, and at the end of 1942 merged into the 6th Mogilev Partisan Brigade.

The founders of the partisan movement in the Berezinsky region were K.A. Baranov, I.P. Sokolovsky, S.A. Yarotsky, in Kruglyanskoye - the old Bolshevik F.S. Novikov and Red Army commanders S.G. Zhunin and T.N. Kosovetsky, in Bobruisk - D.M. Lemeshenok, D.A. Lepeshkin, V.I. Liventsev, G.M. Kustov.

In the eastern regions of the region, active participants in the partisan struggle were E.I. Golubets, P.S. Kletsko, V.I. Syromolotov.

From the first days of the occupation, the Cherikovsky underground district party committee began its activities, which included Secretary G.A. Khramovich, members V.F. Shchavlikov, L.M. Crawl. By the summer of 1942, the Krasnopolsky underground party group had grown into a partisan detachment, whose commander was S.N. Korzyukov, and the commissioner - A.I. Ushev. In the Goretsky region, from the underground groups D.F. Voistrova, E.E. Lenchikova, A.V. Shulgin and others formed the Zvezda partisan brigade. Clandestine groups and partisan detachments operated in such treeless areas as Krichevsky and Klimovichi.

In June 1942, the Mogilev Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks, restored in Moscow, began to organize and develop the activities of the underground network of party organs of the region. On his initiative, in August 1942, the Bobruisk interdistrict underground party committee of the CP(b)B was created and began to work. It was headed by the authorized representative of the Central Committee of the CP(b)B I.M. Kardovich, the authorized representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks I.M. is confirmed as his assistant. Kudrin. In September 1942, the interdistrict committee approved the Bobruisk, Berezinsky and Osipovichi underground district committees of the party, and in October - the Kirov district committee. In March 1943, the composition of the Belynichi, Bykhov, Kruglyan and Mogilev underground district committees of the party was approved. For more high level All organizational and political-educational work of party bodies and organizations rose in 1943, when 18 underground party bodies operated and the Mogilev underground regional committee of the CP(b)B was created. Its members included I.M. Kardovich - Commissioner of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b)B, N.F. Korolev - commander of the 1st Osipovichi partisan brigade, I.A. Motyl - authorized representative of the Central Committee of the LKSMB, I.P. Sokolovsky - secretary of the Berezinsky underground district party committee, P.V. Yakhontov is the commander of the Klichev operational center. He headed the regional party committee D.S. Movchansky, who worked on the eve of the war as the second secretary of the Mogilev regional committee of the CP(b)B. The Usakinsky forests in the Klichevsky district, the center of the partisan movement in the region, became the permanent location of the underground regional party committee.

The Central Committee radioed its decision to approve the regional party committee on April 5 in the evening, and in the morning next day The first meeting is held. One of the issues was the abolition of the Klichev operational center. The opinion of the members of the regional committee agreed that the functions of the operations center as the directing headquarters for the combat operations of partisan brigades and detachments should be assumed by people who know military affairs well and have some experience in waging guerrilla warfare. This is how a military operational group (VOG) arose, whose commander was appointed former boss headquarters 4th cavalry division P.V. Yakhontova. The group included Colonel S.G. Sidorenko-Soldatenko, senior lieutenant K.A. Artyushin, Lieutenant N.P. Ratushnov and I.M. Stelmakh.

The next day, the regional party committee held a meeting of secretaries of underground district committees, as well as secretaries of party organizations, commanders and commissars of partisan detachments. A total of 85 people attended. One of the main issues was the implementation by partisan detachments of the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the implementation of the decisions of the February (1943) plenum of the Central Committee of the CP(b)B, which aimed at intensifying military operations behind enemy lines. They immediately developed a plan for the coordination of military operations and mutual assistance of partisan detachments, and established a reporting procedure for secretaries of underground district committees and commissars of partisan units.

The military operational group managed 9 regional military operational groups, 10 regiments, 12 brigades and 50 separate detachments total number more than 34 thousand fighters. Underground party committees were based in partisan formations. Secretaries of underground district committees, as a rule, were either commissars or commanders of partisan detachments, and later - brigades and formations. Under the leadership of party committees, organizational and mass political work in partisan detachments, as well as 164 primary party organizations among the population. They united 1,897 members and 1,775 candidates for party membership.

In the rear of the occupiers they were carried out active work regional committee, interdistrict committee, 2 city committees and 20 district committees of the Komsomol, and in the partisan formations there were 266 primary Komsomol organizations, in which 7543 young partisans were registered. Communists and Komsomol members, non-party patriots, workers and collective farmers, representatives of the people's intelligentsia, people different professions, ages and nationalities, men and women rallied into fighting units, multiplying the ranks of active fighters. Among them were a quarter of the soldiers, commanders and political workers of the Red Army who found themselves surrounded. Their knowledge and combat experience were most useful in the ranks of the people's avengers, and the organizational core of the partisan forces was created.

Local partisan committees, together with the command of the Soviet troops, created detachments and groups from residents of the front line and volunteer soldiers, which were sent behind enemy lines or remained in the formation area with the task of immediately starting military operations in the event of the capture of this territory by the enemy. Such work was carried out at the end of July - beginning of August 1941, for example, by the district party committees and the command of the 13th Army in the Klimovichi and Krichevsky districts. They formed several small partisan detachments, whose personnel were armed with rifles, grenades and petrol bottles from army supplies.

Red Army soldiers took an active part in the creation of almost every detachment operating in 1941. Such a detachment was formed in September 1941 on the territory of the Klimovichi region former commander 110th Division V.A. Khlebtsov. Along with military personnel, it included party and Soviet workers and local residents. In total there were 170 people in the detachment. The personnel were reduced to companies, which consisted of platoons, and the latter - from sections. Residents of the villages of Artemovka, Nabat, Fedotova Buda, Perevolochnaya and others, in the area of ​​which V.A.’s detachment was based. Khlebtsov, supplied the partisans with food, and provided them with all kinds of assistance. In November 1941, a detachment of V.A. Khlebtsova left the territory of the Klimovichi region and moved to the front line. In December he connected with in regular units Red Army. Some partisan detachments were formed in cities from among the underground. According to the head of the underground organization in Bobruisk, I.A. Khimichev, 162 underground members were transported from the city to the forests, who became the core of several partisan detachments.

In a report at the February (1943) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CP(b)B, the First Secretary of the Central Committee P.K. Ponomarenko noted that greatest success reach small partisan detachments operating in their areas, closely associated with local residents, relying on their support, having constant reserves among the population at the ready, detachments that know all the passages and exits, roads, forests and paths that suddenly appear and disappear. Such detachments, with a lack of ammunition, could easily leave the battle and hide, and then replenish them by collecting from the population, capturing German trains and vehicles during the defeat.

During the birth of the partisan movement, the main organizational and combat unit was the detachment. In the first half of 1942, units were created mainly by merging several independently operating partisan or underground groups. The number of units fluctuated depending on the nature of the terrain, specific goals and conditions of the struggle, i.e. internal structure was heterogeneous and inconsistent. The command of such detachments, with few exceptions, was elected at a general or party meeting of the collective. With an increase in the number of personnel and organizational strengthening, the detachments began to allocate so-called “initiative groups”, which moved to “uninhabited” places and within one to two months grew into independent combat units. Often large detachments were divided into two, of which one retained former name, the other received a new one. It should be noted that party and Soviet bodies were especially attentive to the selection and placement of command and political personnel of partisan detachments and groups. The bureaus of the regional and district party committees discussed each commander and commissar personally. Developed in the first half of August 1941 by the military department of the Central Committee of the CP(b)B, the “Memo to the commander and commissar of a partisan detachment” oriented party workers toward the individual, strictly voluntary inclusion of people in partisan formations. The “Memo”, in the most general form, contained some recommendations on party topics, the organization of the simplest types of army intelligence, and compliance with the rules of secrecy.

During the period of organization and formation, the detachments had 20 - 70 people and were divided into 2-3 combat groups (platoons). They were headed by a commander and a commissar. The typical structure of the detachment, which had developed by the spring of 1942, was close to the structure of regular troops. Its number was 150-200 people. It consisted of companies, which were divided into platoons and squads. The detachment commander, in addition to the chief of staff and his staff, had a deputy for reconnaissance and sabotage, an assistant for support and relevant units. The partisan detachment included party and Komsomol organizations.

According to their purpose, the detachments were divided into ordinary (unitary), special (reconnaissance and sabotage), cavalry, artillery, staff, reserve, local self-defense, marching. The first partisan detachments were named after the place of deployment, after the surname or nickname of the commander (for example, the detachment "Valentina Mayorova", which operated in the Cherikovsky, Klimovichsky, Kostyukovichsky and Krasnopolsky regions). Later the names of famous commanders, political and military figures were given Soviet republic, heroes civil war(for example, partisan detachment 211 named after Rokossovsky, 215th named after V.I. Lenin, 216th named after P.K. Ponomarenko), partisans who died, or names that reflected patriotic and strong-willed motives or political orientation in struggle (partisan detachment 45 "For the Motherland", operating in the Klimovichi and Krasnopolsky regions). Many detachments had numbered designations, like the 3rd partisan detachment, created in September 1942 and operating separately in the Shklovsky, Goretsky, Dribinsky and Krichevsky districts.

The adoption of the “Oath of the Belarusian Partisan” played an important role in the development of the partisan movement. The words of the oath, which were pronounced before the battle formation by those who joined the fight, sounded solemn and stern: “For the burned cities and villages,” the text of the oath read, “for the death of our women and children, for the beatings, bullying and violence against my people, I swear take revenge on the enemy cruelly, mercilessly, constantly."

In the context of rapidly developing military operations, special short-term training was organized for personnel of partisan detachments and groups. In accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of July 11 and on the basis of the order of the commander of the troops of the western direction, Marshal S.K. Timoshenko, dated July 13, 1941, an Operational Training Center was created Western Front. Along with training the personnel of partisan detachments and groups, his task also included equipping and transporting them behind enemy lines. In July - August 1941, this center was located in the Gomel region, then, with the withdrawal of Red Army units, it successively moved to Bryansk, Tula, Ryazan, and then until disbandment in July 1942 in Moscow.

During its formation, the partisan movement experienced great difficulties, which increased with the onset of winter 1941-1942. Continuous punitive operations of the Nazis and severe cold weather, lack of weapons, ammunition, medicine, uniforms, lack of experience in fighting a strong and treacherous enemy forced many leaders to disperse their troops into small groups, which either went beyond the front line, or settled in forests, or in populated areas. points. So, in the fall, the 110th detachment under the leadership of Vasiliev, consisting mainly of military personnel, went to the Soviet rear. At the same time, the detachments of D.A. Zhurba, "Apanova", "Goryushkina", and in February 1942, "Anatolia" in battles with punitive forces suffered heavy losses in personnel and as combat units disintegrated. Only a few managed to survive the unequal battles or overcome all the difficulties of the first military winter.

In total, in the summer and autumn of 1941, 40 partisan detachments and groups arose and operated in the Mogilev region. As a consequence of this, vast spaces began to appear behind enemy lines, recaptured from the invaders, liberated and patrolled by partisan detachments and brigades, which went down in history as partisan zones. They became military-economic and political bridgeheads, bases for the development of the partisan movement, territory for the relatively peaceful and safe existence of civilians and the object of constant punitive expeditions of the fascists. The partisan zone included the liberated settlements of one or more bordering administrative regions, the territory of which the people's avengers controlled and retained. Some then grew into vast partisan areas. In the fall of 1941, the first partisan zones in Belarus - Oktyabrskaya and Klichevskaya - were founded in the Polesie, Minsk, and Mogilev regions. A partisan zone was formed in the town. Klicheve. It included the territory of Klichevsky, Bobruisk, Osipovichi districts total area up to 1900 square kilometers. In the Klichev partisan zone there were two district executive committees - Klichevsky and Berezensky. Klichevsky began his activities in April 1942. It was headed by P.M. Viktorchik, Berezensky - since July 1942. K.A. Baranov was appointed its chairman.

The Klichev district executive committee was located in the village of Batsevichi. The notice on the door read: “The district executive committee is open 24 hours a day.” P.M. Viktorchik wrote in his memoirs: “People came to the district executive committee every day. One asked for bread, another was interested in where to repair a plow... Dozens of people, and each had their own needs. I had to receive visitors not only during the day, but also at night.”

The local population called the partisan regions and zones “Little Soviet Land”, since in the territory conquered from the enemy, Soviet power was revived, the laws it adopted in relation to wartime conditions were implemented, and the strict order, schools were open and medical stations, was getting better agriculture, sowing and harvesting campaigns were carried out. In the Klichevsky district, the 278th detachment monitored this. It consisted of politically competent partisans who knew how to conduct organizational work among the population. N.I. was appointed commander of the detachment. Book, commissioner - A.N. Latyshev, chief of staff - D.M. Lemeshenok, one of the organizers of the party underground in Bobruisk. People's Judge A.E. was assigned to the detachment. Silin and the appointed district prosecutor V.Sh. Parsadanova. A.E. Silin simultaneously headed the court of partisan honor. Rural councils also resumed their work.

From among the most trained partisans, the following were approved as chairmen of village councils: Voevichsky - I.F. Zayats, Ubolotsky - P.E. Stukalsky, Zapolsky - N.I. Book, Nesetsky - P.B. Bukaty. In total, 19 village councils resumed their work in the Klichevsky district.

The search for new forms of organizations and ensuring clear coordination of actions were caused by the further development of the nationwide struggle behind enemy lines, the need to provide more effective assistance to the Red Army, as well as the prevailing conditions when the partisans had to engage in fierce long-term battles not only with security, but also with regular Wehrmacht troops .

By the spring of 1942, a rise in the partisan movement was observed in the enemy-occupied territory of Belarus. It quickly developed in breadth and depth. This was a period of the creation of many partisan detachments, their rapid numerical growth and organizational strengthening. The creation of new partisan detachments took place in the following ways:

underground groups left populated areas and began guerrilla operations. So, in the winter of 1941/1942, Bobruisk came out into the forest underground group, who joined the detachment of I.S. Gubin, on this basis a new partisan formation was formed - the detachment of V.I. Liventseva.;

separately operating groups were united into detachments;

organizational groups were separated from the existing partisan formations, which went to those places where the struggle against the invaders was weaker, and there they grew into independent units;

partisan detachments and groups, prepared and trained in partisan schools and centers, were sent behind enemy lines. During 1942, about 20 partisan detachments and several dozen organizational and sabotage groups were sent behind enemy lines. They consisted of natives of Belarus, recalled from the army at the request of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus, as well as Komsomol volunteers from Moscow and other cities.

A significant role in improving the organization of leadership, as well as providing the partisans with weapons, explosives, radio communications, and command personnel, was played by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement created on May 30, 1942 at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (headed by the 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) B. P.K. Ponomarenko) and September 9, 1942 - Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement (chief - 2nd Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) P.Z. Kalinin). The creation of the TsShPD and BSPD made it possible to quickly, consistently coordinate and direct the partisan movement throughout the entire occupied republic, centrally provide the people's avengers with weapons, ammunition, communications and personal subversive means from the Soviet rear, and more closely link the actions of the partisans with the tasks being solved by the Red Army units. BSPD operational groups were created at the front headquarters to coordinate the actions of the partisans with the combat operations of the fronts. With the help of headquarters, the organization of partisan forces acquired qualitatively new features.

The partisan brigade was recognized as the most acceptable and flexible form of uniting units already at the first stage of the struggle. The practice of combat operations showed that the brigade form of organization made it possible to coordinate the activities of detachments with great efficiency, while at the same time maintaining for them a certain independence and maximum initiative. In 1943, favorable conditions developed for the widespread formation of brigades. The party leadership of the partisan movement strengthened, the military skills of command and political personnel increased, the capabilities of logistics expanded, and reliable means of two-way communication and control from the center appeared. This made it possible to widely conduct offensive operations, especially on enemy communications, significantly increase the combat activity of units, their initiative and mutual assistance, more effectively use radio communications, and organize the supply of partisans from the mainland with weapons, ammunition, and demolition means. The formation of brigades indicated more high degree partisan struggle.

The brigade turned out to be a very “capacious” form of organization: it could accept almost everyone who wanted to join the partisans, or at least those who came with their own weapons. During the massive upsurge of the people's struggle, the brigades grew rapidly due to the creation of new detachments and an increase in their numbers.

The report from the command of the Chekist partisan brigade in the Mogilev region, for example, on the organization and first results of combat activities shows the reorganization of the detachments of Senior Lieutenant Kirpich and Lieutenant Bulanov into a brigade. So, at the end of May 1942, these detachments united and the headquarters of the united detachments was created for joint action. The brigades of Kirpich and Bulanov grew to 150-170 people, the headquarters reorganized these detachments into 4 detachments, after which in June 1942 the detachments of Lieutenant Klyushnikov and Junior Lieutenant Baranovsky joined the headquarters. During the fighting on July 16, 1942, these combined units were reorganized into a separate partisan brigade.

Regarding organizational structure brigade, then it looked like this: command usually consisted of a commander, commissar, chief of staff, deputy commander for reconnaissance, sabotage, assistant commander for support and medical service, Deputy Commissioner for Komsomol. In most brigades at the headquarters there were companies (platoons) of communications, security, a radio station, and underground publishing houses.

The size of the brigades depended on specific conditions and ranged from several hundred to 2-3 thousand people. The brigades concentrated mainly on party-political work. In each of them there were primary party and Komsomol organizations, which were supervised by a commissar and an assistant commissar for Komsomol. Party and Komsomol groups were created in the companies, combat leaflets were issued, and in many - handwritten magazines. Among the most politically literate fighters, agitators stood out who carried out mass political work both among the partisans and among the local population.

In a memorandum by the authorized representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b)B for the Mogilev region I.M. Kardovich in the Central Committee of the CP(b)B in the section on mass work among the population it is noted: “To carry out mass work among the population in connection with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Great October Revolution in the USSR, we prepared materials for propagandists and agitators to explain to the population the statements of the Soviet government regarding the atrocities of the German authorities in the occupied countries, an editorial in the Pravda newspaper of October 19, 1942, “The Hitler clique to answer” and the speech of US President Roosevelt on the radio.” .

Gradually, the methods of creating new brigades became more diverse. Along with what has already been tested - the unification of separately operating detachments into a brigade - others arise - the division of a large detachment into several new ones and their consolidation into a brigade. This method of forming brigades has become predominant in the Mogilev region since the summer of 1943. In this case, the base detachment as a combat unit either ceased to exist, or was restored on the basis of one of the units, retaining its previous name.

The experience of struggle led to higher forms of organization of partisan forces - formation. Guerrilla formations provided for the presence of a single leading operational body, the strict subordination of all partisan formations included there, and their relative independence in solving their autonomous tasks. This is how the creation of a partisan unit in the Klichev zone, the largest in the Mogilev region, took place.

The partisan formations managed to establish contact with the center. On the night of July 12, 1942, the first plane from Moscow was already received in the Klichev partisan zone.

There were three airfields in the region. Among them, a large airfield nearby operated constantly and uninterruptedly. settlement Golynka, Klichevsky district. Airfields and landing sites were built on territory completely liberated from the enemy. They were guarded and served by partisans. The Soviet rear (the mainland) provided a wide variety of assistance. Ammunition, weapons, medicines, and material and technical means necessary in the fight against the enemy were regularly sent to the people's avengers behind enemy lines.

On return flights the planes were taken to Mainland seriously wounded and sick soldiers and commanders, old people and children, many former military personnel, leaders of the partisan movement and underground, called to the Soviet rear. Aviation was also fully used to deliver detailed intelligence information about the enemy, information about combat, organizational and political work, funds and valuables collected by the population for the country's defense fund, and letters from partisans to relatives and comrades who were in the Soviet rear to the Central Broadcasting Division and the Broadcasting Broadcasting Division. In 1943, the BSPD alone received about 5 thousand written reports and reports delivered from behind enemy lines by air. These were valuable materials of a multi-faceted nature, necessary for the TsShPD and BSPD for the implementation of operational leadership of the partisan movement.

Of great importance for improving the operational management of partisan forces was the development of radio communications between the Central Broadcasting Division and the Broadcasting Broadcasting Division, on the one hand, and the command of detachments and brigades, on the other. Three radio stations of the region’s partisan detachments had stable contact with these headquarters, and as a result of the measures taken, the partisans already had 13 portable radio stations by the beginning of 1943.

Y year gave the most massive influx population into partisan detachments. The patriotic upsurge of the masses in the occupied territory was facilitated by the successes of the Red Army at the fronts and the intensification of the activities of the party and Komsomol underground bodies in the occupied territory. Residents of many villages and cities took up arms, joining the ranks of the people's avengers. There were often cases when entire families joined the partisans. A collective farmer from the village of Gantsevichi, Shklovsky district, Philip Khovrenkov, for example, had six daughters, and all of them became partisans. For the courage and courage shown in the fight against the Nazis, two of them, Maria and Nadezhda, were awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. The entire family of Andrei Ivanovich Shuboderov from the city of Mogilev took part in the fight against the enemy. At the beginning of the occupation he himself led patriotic group in the city, and when the threat of arrest hung over the underground fighters, he left with his comrades for the 600th partisan detachment. His wife Elena Evdokimovna, daughters Valentina and Lyudmila, and even 12-year-old son Alik were messengers and partisan scouts, distributing leaflets. What about families! By the spring of 1943, the national struggle behind enemy lines had reached such an upsurge that all residents of many villages in the region became partisans. In the zone of operation of the 121st detachment, commanded by Osman Kasaev, the villages of Dubinka, Mikhaleva, Khripelevo, Korchemka and others became completely partisan.

At the same time, the distribution of partisan forces throughout the region was uneven. The largest number of partisans were concentrated in the Klichesky, Osipovichi, Bobruisk, Kirov, and Berezinsky districts. Only under the control of the Klichev operational center were up to 6 thousand partisans, united in 10 brigades. In difficult conditions, the partisan movement developed in the Mstislavsky, Krichevsky, Shklovsky, Goretsky, Dribinsky, Kostyukovichsky, Krasnopolsky, Propoysky, and Chaussky districts. Important railways and highways ran through these areas, and the occupiers maintained large garrisons to guard the roads. They used these areas for reorganization, training and rest of their regular units.

Much attention was paid to strengthening discipline, a fight was waged against violations of internal regulations, and at the same time measures were taken to reward military merits: an announcement of gratitude in front of the ranks, nominations for awarding orders and medals. The partisan command took care of organizing the life, food, and medical care of the partisans. The measures taken for the growth and organizational and combat strengthening of partisan formations contributed to the intensification of the activities of the people's avengers and an even greater scope of partisan warfare behind enemy lines.

Thus, the partisan movement in 1943 was capable of conducting a wide variety of military operations. It has become a holistic, dynamic, controlled force. Centralization of control made it possible to concentrate large forces to plan and carry out large military operations on the scale of a district, region, or even a republic.

Soviet partisans[Myths and reality] Pinchuk Mikhail Nikolaevich

Three stages of the guerrilla movement

The partisan movement in Belarus can be divided into three stages.

First stage

The party-Soviet governing bodies in June - July 1941 tried to form the so-called “extermination battalions”. Directive No. 4 of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus and the Council of People's Commissars of the BSSR was issued on the formation of such “at every factory, every transport enterprise, every state and collective farm” under the leadership of headquarters created under the executive committees of councils at the regional, district and village levels. But nothing came of the idea of ​​“partisan fighters” led by the local nomenklatura.

In 1941 and 1942, only a very few residents of villages and towns joined the partisans. The German occupation administration gave peasants the opportunity to return to individual farms. And the villagers well remembered the “party policy in the countryside”: dispossession, forced collectivization, work on collective farms for “sticks”, the “three ears of corn” law, sending to camps for the slightest manifestation of discontent, for fictitious “sabotage”...

The German policy “in the countryside” in this regard showed a striking contrast with the Bolshevik: you passed a firmly fixed tax in kind, all other products are yours.

And everything would be fine (for the peasants) if not for the saboteurs and partisans. After all, they could only exist by robbing the rural population. And those Chekist saboteurs who were sent by the command to the occupied territory in the summer of 1941, and groups of Red Army soldiers from defeated units wandering in the forests, they all robbed rural residents. After all, they simply had no other source of food and material supplies. But, fortunately for the partisans, there were still few KGB groups, and the Red Army soldiers sought to “fit in” with the women who were left without men (they went to the “primakis”).

As already shown in the previous presentation, in addition to the Red Army soldiers, representatives of the party-Soviet nomenclature of the regional scale took refuge in the forests. The latter “organized” the former into partisan detachments. During the first six months of the war there were very few of them. Ivan Titkov, the former commander of the Zheleznyak partisan brigade, testified in his memoirs that in December 1941 total number There were only 122 partisans in the forests of the Begoml region. Approximately the same picture was observed in other regions of Belarus: in some places there were more, but, as a rule, less: according to official data, by January 1942, there were 12 thousand partisans on the territory of the BSSR, on average 62 “avengers” per region. The hopes of Moscow and “comrade Stalin personally” for nationwide resistance to the occupiers clearly did not come true.

During 1942, the number of partisans (according to official data) increased almost fivefold: from 12 to 56 thousand (reaching an average of 289 people per district). The main source of growth was military units that were airlifted or withdrawn on foot across the front line - specifically for the deployment of guerrilla warfare in occupied territory. This is exactly how, for example, the Zheleznyak partisan brigade appeared in the Begomlsky district.

In April 1942, special courses were created on the territory of the Vladimir region of the RSFSR, where saboteurs and organizers of partisan actions were trained. 3,000 people attended these courses. Of these, 14 partisan detachments and 92 organizational groups were created. All of them were transferred to the territory of occupied Belarus.

Even earlier, in the summer of 1941, in the suburbs of Moscow, by order of " people's commissar» L.P. Beria formed the Special Motorized Rifle Brigade for Special Purpose (OMSBON) of the NKVD of the USSR. It consisted of several battalions, which included specialists in sabotage and terrorist actions. But at that time the Germans were conducting a large-scale attack on Moscow, the Bolshevik leadership threw all available forces into the defense of the capital (remember the use of military school cadets as ordinary shooters). Therefore, there was no time to send OMSBON fighters deep behind enemy lines.

But after we managed to stop German offensive, the brigade command began to form groups of 30–40 people and transport them “to the other side.” The groups were well armed. Each of them had two or three people trained for the role of commander of a partisan detachment.

Captured Red Army soldiers (August 1941. Zhlobin district, Gomel region).

The groups were deployed in predetermined areas and solved the following tasks:

Firstly, they organized the partisan movement by involving the “encirclement” (by that time they had managed to settle in villages) and the local population.

Secondly, they conducted reconnaissance and carried out sabotage on enemy communications.

Thirdly, they were given a “special task” - to deal with those who went to work for the Germans in order to feed their families. And these were minor employees, teachers, engineering and technical specialists, railway workers, doctors and other categories of citizens, up to cultural workers.

One of these groups with unlimited powers (it was called “Local”) was headed by seasoned terrorist Stanislav Vaupshasov. He and his subordinates crossed the front line in March 1942. Having settled in the Minsk region, the security officers searched through the villages for hidden communists and Komsomol members, as well as yesterday’s Red Army soldiers, and took them with them into the forest. In cases of disobedience, they were shot on the spot. In addition, Vaupshasov’s security officers terrified the villagers, mercilessly destroying the “traitors.” At the same time, they took food, shoes, and warm clothes from people. Such methods allowed him to expand his group into a detachment.

Vaupshasov himself (he hid his real name under the pseudonym Gradov) in the first half of the 20s committed dozens of murders and sabotage in Western Belarus. So he chose people similar to himself. The main requirement for recruits was a willingness to kill, rob, and burn.

Second stage

January - December 1943. During this time, the number of partisans on the territory of Belarus increased, according to official data, from 56 to 153 thousand people (already 789 on average per region). The growth occurred due to two reasons. Firstly, the transfer of small groups and entire military units across the front line to the occupied territory continued. Secondly, in the spring and summer of 1943, the Germans carried out a series of punitive operations against the partisans, from which both rural population. Some villagers fled to the partisans.

Soviet historians, ideologists, and propagandists loved to talk and write that by the end of 1943, partisans controlled 108 thousand square kilometers of the territory of the BSSR (the notorious “partisan zones”), which amounted to 58.4% of the republic’s area. If this is indeed the case, then a legitimate question arises: why did villages continue to burn and people die in these zones? Moreover, the mass destruction of villages by the occupiers began precisely in 1943.

Third stage

January - July 1944. The number of partisans reached 374 thousand people (an average of 1928 per district). An increase of 2.44 times in just six months! Why such rapid growth? It was no longer possible to do this at the expense of the population. In the villages there was a sharp predominance of women, children, teenagers and old people. So at the expense of whom is this increase?

The answer is simple. The Red Army has finally crawled from Moscow, Stalingrad and North Caucasus to the borders of Belarus. Operation Bagration was being prepared.

Regular military units were transported en masse across the front line to the German rear. Calling them partisans is a big mistake.

In the center is M. Prudnikov (1942).