Civil War
The Great Patriotic War
Sidor Artemievich Kovpak(ukr. Sidir Artemovich Kovpak, May 25 (June 7) ( 18870607 ) - December 11) - commander of the Putivl partisan detachment and the formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region, member of the illegal Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine, major general. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union.
Biography
Was born May 25 (June 7) ( 18870607 ) in the village of Kotelva, (now an urban-type settlement in the Poltava region of Ukraine) in a poor peasant family. Ukrainian. Member of the Communist Party since 1919. Member of the First World War (he served in the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment) and the Civil War. During World War I, he fought in Southwestern Front, participant of the Brusilovsky breakthrough. In April 1915, as part of the guard of honor, he was personally awarded the St. George Cross by Nicholas II. According to some reports, Sidor Artemyevich had two St. George's crosses and two St. George's medals. During civil war, led a local partisan detachment that fought in Ukraine against the German invaders together with the detachments of A. Ya. Parkhomenko, then was a fighter of the legendary 25th Chapaev division on Eastern Front, participated in the defeat of the White Guard troops of Generals A. I. Denikin and Wrangel on southern front. In -1926 - a military commissar in a number of cities in the Yekaterinoslav province (since 1926 and now - the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine). Since 1937 - Chairman of the Putivl City Executive Committee of the Sumy Region of the Ukrainian SSR.
Member of the Great Patriotic War since September 1941. One of the organizers of the partisan movement in Ukraine was the commander of the Putivl partisan detachment, and then the commander of the partisan detachments of the Sumy region.
In 1941-1942, S. A. Kovpak’s formation carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, in 1942-1943 - a raid from the Bryansk forests on the Right-Bank Ukraine along the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr regions and Kyiv regions; in 1943 - the Carpathian raid. The Sumy partisan formation under the command of S. A. Kovpak passed with battles along the rear of the German fascist troops more than 10 thousand kilometers, defeated the enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. Kovpak's raids played a big role in the deployment of the partisan movement against the German occupiers.
By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 18, 1942, Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 708).
In April 1943, S. A. Kovpak was awarded the military rank of Major General.
The second medal "Gold Star" was awarded to Major General Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 4, 1944 for the successful conduct of the Carpathian raid.
In January 1944, the Sumy partisan unit was renamed the 1st Ukrainian partisan division named after S. A. Kovpak.
Since 1944, S. A. Kovpak has been a member of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR, since 1947 - Deputy Chairman of the Presidium, and since 1967 - a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd-7th convocations.
The legendary partisan commander S. A. Kovpak died on December 11, 1967. He was buried in the capital of Ukraine, the hero city of Kyiv.
07.06.1887 - 11.12.1967
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union
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| tombstone | ||
| Annotation board in Kyiv | ||
| Memorial plaque in Kyiv | ||
| Monument in Putivl | ||
| Monument in Putivl (view 2) | ||
| Monument in Putivl (detail) | ||
| Memorial plaque in Putivl (on the house where he lived) | ||
| Bust in Kyiv | ||
| Bust in the Spadshchansky Forest | ||
| Museum of S.A. Kovpak in Glukhov | ||
| A sign at the museum of S.A. Kovpak in Glukhov | ||
| Commemorative plaque at the museum of S.A. Kovpak in Glukhov | ||
| Bust in the exposition of the museum of the city of Glukhov (1) | ||
| Bust in the exposition of the museum of the city of Glukhov (2) | ||
| Bust in the exposition of the museum of the city of Glukhov (3) | ||
| Bust in the exposition of the museum of the city of Glukhov (4) | ||
| Bust in the exposition of the museum of the city of Glukhov (5) | ||
| Bust in the exposition of the museum of the city of Glukhov (6) | ||
| Painting in the exposition of the museum of the city of Glukhov (1) | ||
| Painting in the exposition of the museum of the city of Glukhov (2) | ||
| Bust in Sumy | ||
| Annotation board in Sumy | ||
| Memorial sign in the village of Dubovichi | ||
| Memorial sign in the village of Dubovichi (detail) | ||
| Memorial plaque in Putivl (on the house where he worked in 1935-1939) | ||
| Memorial plaque in Putivl (on the house where he worked in 1939-1941) | ||
| Memorial plaque in Putivl (the house where the headquarters of S.A. Kovpak's unit was located) | ||
| Memorial sign in the village of Belsk | ||
| Bust in the village of Kotelva | ||
| Memorial sign in the village of Kotelva | ||
| Hall of Fame in the village of Kotelva | ||
| Memorial sign in Novograd-Volynsky district | ||
| Annotation board in Yaremche | ||
| Bust in Kyiv (2) |
To ovpak Sidor Artemyevich - commander of the Putivl partisan detachment and the formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region, member of the illegal Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine, major general.
Born on May 26 (June 7), 1887 in the village of Kotelva, now an urban-type settlement in the Poltava region, into a poor peasant family. Ukrainian. Member of the RCP(b)/VKP(b)/CPSU since 1919. He graduated from the parochial school.
From the age of 10, Sidor Kovpak worked as a laborer for a local shopkeeper, doing the dirtiest and hardest work. Having served military service in the Alexander Infantry Regiment in Saratov, he remained to work in Saratov in the river port and the tram depot as a laborer.
At the beginning of the First World War, in July 1914, S.A. Kovpak was mobilized into the Russian Imperial Army. In 1916, as part of the 186th Aslanduz infantry regiment he took part in the Brusilov breakthrough, became famous as a brave intelligence officer and was twice awarded the St. George Cross.
An experienced front-line soldier was imbued with revolutionary sentiments and took the side of the Bolsheviks. In 1917, the soldiers elected S.A. Kovpak to the regimental committee, by the decision of which the Aslanduz regiment did not comply with the order of the Kerensky government on the offensive, and the front command took the regiment to the reserve. Over time, the soldiers of the regiment went home.
In 1918 S.A. Kovpak returned to his native Kotelva, where he took an active part in the struggle for the power of the Soviets, headed the land commission for the distribution of landowners' lands among the poor peasants.
During the Civil War, S.A. Kovpak became the head of the Kotelva partisan detachment. Under his command, the partisans, together with units of the Red Army, carried out fighting against the Austro-German occupiers and Denikinists. In May 1919, the partisan detachment joined the active Red Army. As part of the 25th Chapaev division S.A. Kovpak took part in the defeat of the White Guard troops near Guryev, as well as in battles against Wrangel's troops near Perekop and in the Crimea.
In 1921-1926, S.A. Kovpak worked as an assistant to the district military commissar, the military commissar of the district in Tokmak, Genichesk, Krivoy Rog, and the district military commissar in Pavlograd. In 1926 he was transferred to the reserve.
Since 1926 - chairman of the Pavlograd military cooperative society, then chairman of the agricultural cooperative in Putivl, Sumy region of the Ukrainian SSR. Since 1935 - head of the road department of the Putivl regional executive committee. In the elections to local Soviets in 1936, S.A. Kovpak was elected a deputy of the Putivl City Council. Since 1937, the chairman of the Putivl city executive committee. In this position, S.A. Kovpak found the Great Patriotic War.
In July 1941, a partisan detachment was formed in Putivl to fight behind enemy lines, the commander of which was approved by S.A. Kovpak. The material and technical base of the detachment was laid in the Spadshchansky forest.
After appropriate preparation, on September 8, 1941, S.A. Kovpak sent the entire composition of the partisan detachment into the forest, and on September 10, fascist troops broke into Putivl. Soon, encircled Red Army soldiers joined the detachment, and its number grew to 42 fighters, 36 of them had weapons.
On September 27, 1941, a group of party activists from Konotop joined the Putivl detachment. The partisan detachment began the first military operations against the Nazi invaders in the area of the village of Safonovka. In mid-October, a partisan detachment under the command of .
On October 18, 1941, the Putivl partisan detachment was finally formed. S.A. Kovpak became its commander, commissar -. There were about 70 fighters in the detachment, the same number of rifles, mostly captured, a light machine gun.
On October 19, 1941, fascist tanks broke through into the Spadshchansky Forest. A battle ensued, as a result of which the partisans captured three tanks. Having lost a large number of soldiers and military equipment, the enemy was forced to retreat and return to Putivl. This was a turning point in the combat activities of the partisan detachment.
On December 1, 1941, about three thousand Nazis, with the support of artillery and mortars, launched an attack on Spadshchansky Forest. S.A. Kovpak closely followed the mood of the partisans, taking into account their opinions. Having extensive combat experience, S.A. Kovpak understood how much the success of this fight meant to raise fighting spirit fighters and rallying the detachment.
The unequal battle lasted all day and ended with the victory of the partisans. Inspired by the example of the commander and commissar, who fought together with everyone, the partisans did not retreat a single step from their position. All enemy attacks in this battle were repulsed. The enemy lost about 200 soldiers and officers, the partisans got trophies - 5 machine guns and 20 rifles.
It was in these first battles that the combat experience of the detachment commander S.A. helped. Kovpak, showed his military talent, courage and courage, combined with a deep understanding of partisan tactics, with a sober calculation and the ability to navigate in the most difficult situations.
Since it was dangerous to stay in the Spadshchansky Forest, S.A. Kovpak changed their tactics: the detachment became mobile and delivered crushing blows to the enemy during raids. In these raids, new tactics and strategies were tested, which became a great contribution to the development of guerrilla warfare.
In December 1941 - January 1942, the Putivl detachment carried out a military raid into the Khinelsky, and in March - into the Bryansk forests. There, he quickly increased to 500 people, well armed with domestic and captured weapons. It was the first raid of the Kovpakovites.
The second raid on the native Sumy region began on May 15 and continued until July 24, 1942. During this time, the partisans fought a series of battles with the superior forces of the Nazis. The enemy lost about one and a half thousand people. The raid was significant in that on the night of May 27, 1942, the detachment entered Putivl. The native city greeted the liberators with tears of joy and gratitude.
At Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 18, 1942 for the successful conduct of military operations to destroy enemy garrisons, enemy military equipment, undermine railway structures Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 708).
Considering the active participation of S.A. Kovpak in the development of the partisan movement, the Central Committee of the Party, by a decision of October 2, 1942, approved him as a member of the illegal Central Committee of the CP (b) of Ukraine.
On October 26, 1942, the formation went on a raid from the Bryansk forests to the Right-Bank Ukraine. Having crossed the Desna, Dnieper and Pripyat with battles, the Kovpakists reached the Olevsk region in the Zhytomyr region.
With each day of struggle, the connection of partisan detachments under the command of S.A. Kovpak gained experience in active operations behind enemy lines. To the best samples partisan art includes the famous operation "Sarny Cross", carried out during a raid on the Right-Bank Ukraine: the partisans simultaneously blew up 5 bridges on the railway lines of the Sarny junction and completed the campaign by defeating the enemy garrison in Lelchitsy. S.A. Kovpak and showed great military skill in this raid.
April 9, 1943 S.A. Kovpak was awarded the military rank of major general. “Now,” said Sidor Artemyevich, “we must fight competently, more intelligently. After all, we are now, read it, a part of the regular Red Army.” In Moscow, they thought the same: in all orders and radiograms, the S.A. Kovpak was called "military unit No. 00117".
Fulfilling the tasks of the Central Committee of the Party for further development partisan movement in Ukraine, the illegal Central Committee of the CP (b) U on April 7, 1943 considered the operational plan of hostilities for the spring-summer period and decided to redeploy several large partisan formations to the western and south-western parts of Ukraine in order to deploy a nationwide struggle in Volyn, Lvov , Drogobych, Stanislav, Chernivtsi regions, as well as to organize local partisan formations and joint combat and sabotage operations in railway communications and oil fields.
The partisans set out on a military campaign in the Carpathians on June 12, 1943. By the time they entered the Carpathian raid, the unit numbered about 2,000 partisans. They were armed with 130 machine guns, 380 machine guns, 9 guns, 30 mortars, 30 anti-tank rifles, rifles and other weapons.
During the raid, the partisans fought about two thousand kilometers, destroyed and wounded more than 3,800 Nazis, blew up 19 military echelons, 52 bridges, 51 warehouses, disabled power plants and oil fields near Bitkov and Yablonov.
This raid became one of the outstanding partisan operations during the Great Patriotic War. Carried out during the Battle of Kursk, it was of great moral and political significance. Sowing confusion and alarm in the rear of the enemy, the formation pulled back significant enemy forces, destroyed railway lines, and delayed the transfer of fascist troops to the front. In addition, the raid had a great influence on the development of partisan struggle in the western regions of Ukraine; new thousands of patriots rose up to fight the enemy.
At By order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on January 4, 1944, for the successful implementation of the Carpathian raid, Major General was awarded the second Gold Star medal (No. 16).
In December 1943, S.A. Kovpak, due to illness, left for Kyiv for treatment. On February 23, 1944, the formation was reorganized into the 1st Ukrainian partisan division named after twice Hero of the Soviet Union S.A. Kovpak. Under command
The most famous partisan of Ukraine Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak (born May 26, 1887 in the village of Kotelva, Poltava province, died December 11, 1967 in Kyiv) was one of the organizers of the most powerful popular resistance to the Nazi invaders during the Second World War on the territory of the USSR (1941-1945). .).
A native of a poor peasant family in the Poltava region, who worked "for hire" from childhood and received practically no education, suddenly turned out to be a born commander and, in fact, a genius guerrilla war. It truly embodied the Cossack spirit of the Ukrainian people, who knew how to defend their native land at any time to the last. In terms of the scale of the operations carried out and the damage inflicted on the enemy among the Ukrainian "atamans", perhaps only Kovpak can be compared. There were definitely no field commanders at the level of Sidor Artemyevich in the UPA. According to the military, Kovpak can be put on a par with such world "classics of a small war" as Josef Broz Tito in Yugoslavia, Vo Nguyen Giap in Vietnam, Ahmad Shah Massoud in Afghanistan.
In his biography, there are many secrets and mysteries that have survived to this day:
How to explain the fact of removal from office in December 1943 (!!) of a talented partisan commander? Historians still cannot explain, citing Stalin’s words, which are not documented anywhere, that “it is necessary to preserve for Ukraine folk hero". For this, he was sent not to the UShPD to transfer the experience of guerrilla warfare, but to ... the Supreme Court of Ukraine, in which he, without even having a legal education, clearly could not bring any significant benefit to the state.
Military experts even today note Kovpak's leadership talent, that his actions have always been distinguished by audacity and, at the same time, a clear thoughtfulness of each step. The commander was guided at the same time by vast combat experience, and valuable intelligence (both his own and the Moscow General Staff), and the knowledge of seconded military experts, and the people's ingenuity. Over time, he became such an authoritative leader of the communist resistance in Ukraine that all Soviet partisans were indiscriminately called simply "Kovpakists". It was this high authority, as well as a thorough knowledge of the situation "on the ground" that often allowed Sidor Artemyevich to act independently, not on the command of the central Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, headed by Timofei Strokach.
It so happened that a completely peaceful Ukrainian peasant, by the will of circumstances, was forced to spend a significant part of his life in various wars.
The main feat of Sidor Kovpak.
With the beginning of the war, the experience of the old partisan (the veteran of the Civil War at that time was 54 years old) was immediately in demand. In September 1941, Kovpak headed the Putivl partisan detachment. Under his command in the Spadshchansky forest, in the Sumy region, there were at first only 42 fighters armed with 36 rifles, 5 machine guns and 8 grenades. On September 29, 1941, near the village of Safonovka, Sidor Kovpak's detachment conducted the first combat operation, destroying a Nazi truck.
On October 17, Kovpak's detachment merged with the "encirclement" under the leadership of Semyon Rudnev. Prior to this, the Kovpakovites had already managed to defeat the unit of the Hungarian punishers. Duties in the united detachment were divided as follows: Kovpak - commander, Rudnev - commissar. Like small streams into a full-flowing river, scattered groups of resistance fighters poured into the ranks of the Kovpak detachment. Soon the forest unit increased to one and a half thousand fighters and became known as the Putivl partisan detachment. By this time, the red partisans were already armed with not only small arms, but also mortars and even a captured tank. On December 1, 1941, about three thousand Germans and policemen, after artillery preparation, began combing the Spadshchansky Forest. The attacks of the Nazis were repulsed, the enemy lost several dozen soldiers, and the partisans got 5 machine guns and more than 20 rifles.
The NKVD, which oversaw the partisan movement in the territory of the USSR occupied by the Germans, looked closely at Sidor Artemyevich for some time and even checked him. But, having ascertained his complete loyalty and devotion to the common cause, the highest ranks of state security entrusted Kovpak with the command of the formation of partisan detachments in the Sumy region. In 1941-42, the Kovpakovites were ousted from Ukraine, and they raided the Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, advancing with battles deep behind enemy lines. May 18, 1942 Sidor Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. On May 27, 1942, after a long battle, the Ukrainian partisan detachment solemnly entered Putivl. The invaders and collaborators in those battles lost over a thousand people killed and wounded.
On August 31, 1942, Sidor Kovpak, along with several other commanders of large partisan formations, took part in a meeting that took place at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander in Moscow and was personally held by I. Stalin. It was there that it was decided to send the "Kovpakists" to the Right-Bank Ukraine to deploy a powerful partisan movement there. At the end of 1942, Kovpak’s unit, on the instructions of the newly formed Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement, made a deep raid from the Bryansk forests into the territory of the Right-Bank Ukraine (their path passed through the territories of Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions). In total, during the war years, Soviet partisans fought about 10 thousand km through the territory of 18 regions of the RSFSR, Belarus and Ukraine. Especially dangerous for the invaders was the operation "Sarny Cross", carried out during a raid on the Right-Bank Ukraine: the partisans simultaneously blew up 5 bridges on the railway lines of the Sarny junction and completed the campaign by defeating the enemy garrison in Lelchitsy. The fame of the Kovpakovites always preceded them, sowing panic among the enemy garrisons. For the sake of disinformation, the partisans themselves even spread rumors in different directions that "Kovpak is coming." hallmark the partisan army of Sidor Artemyevich had an almost complete absence of "partisanism" (in the negative sense of the word). Strict discipline reigned in the unit, assigned military ranks, there was clear subordination.
By the summer of 1943, Kovpak's fighters reached the Carpathians, where they encountered not only the Germans, but also the UPA fighters. Both those and others attacked the Red partisans who came to Western Ukraine. In the end, having suffered heavy losses and not finding the expected support from the local population, Kovpak's formation suspended its advance to the west. In just 26 months of fighting with the Nazis, the Kovpak people destroyed enemy garrisons in 39 settlements (only during the Carpathian raid, more than 3,800 German soldiers and officers), derailed 62 military echelons, blew up 256 bridges, destroyed 96 warehouses, disabled power plants and oil fields near Bitkov and Yablonov. Partisan raids, in addition to purely military ones, also had a colossal propaganda value, since new detachments of people's avengers were created in the places where Kovpak's fighters passed.
In January 1944, the famous unit was reorganized into the 1st Ukrainian partisan division named after. S. A. Kovpak, and Sidor Artemyevich himself was appointed a member of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR. For outstanding services during the Great Patriotic War, Kovpak was awarded the rank of major general, he was also awarded two orders of the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, 4 orders of Lenin, orders of the Red Banner, Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st degree, Suvorov 2nd degree, medals and numerous foreign orders.
Biography of Sidor Kovpak.
May 26, 1887 - Sidor Kovpak was born in the village. Kotelva of the Poltava province in the family of a poor peasant. He also had two brothers and two sisters.
In 1898, the future partisan commander graduated from the parochial school in his native village.
In 1908-1912. served in the army. He was a soldier in the 186 Aslanduz infantry regiment.
From 1912 to 1914 worked as a laborer in the Saratov river port and tram depot.
1914-1916 - called to royal army. A soldier goes through the entire First World War. For bravery he was awarded the St. George crosses III and IV degrees and medals "For Courage" ("George" medals) III and IV degrees. One of the orders was personally presented to Kovpak by Emperor Nicholas II.
In 1917, Kovpak supported the revolution and was a member of the regimental committee.
In 1918, Sidor Artemyevich returned to his native Kotelva to establish Soviet power, where he created his first partisan detachment, which fought against the Austro-German invaders together with the detachments of A. Ya. Parkhomenko.
In 1919-1920. he served in the 25th Chapaev division, taking part in the defeat of the White Guard troops near Guryev, as well as in battles against Wrangel's troops near Perekop and in the Crimea.
In 1921-25, S. A. Kovpak worked as an assistant, and then as a military commissar in Tokmak, Genichesk, Krivoy Rog, Pavlograd.
Since 1926, he has been in economic and party work.
In 1936, at the first elections to local councils, S. A. Kovpak was elected a deputy of the Putivl city council, and at its first session, chairman of the executive committee.
From 1941 to 1944 Kovpak commands the largest partisan detachment in Ukraine. Becomes Colonel General and twice Hero of the Soviet Union.
Since 1944, Sidor Artemyevich was a deputy: he held the honorary position of deputy chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1947 he was promoted to Deputy Chairman of the Presidium, and since 1967 to a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. He was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - from the second to the seventh convocation in a row.
In 1949 Kovpak's book of memoirs "From Putivl to the Carpathians" was published.
In 1964 - the book "From the diary of partisan campaigns".
December 11, 1967 Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak died. He was buried at the Baikove cemetery in Kyiv.
Interesting facts from the life of Sidor Kovpak.
When, in the pre-war years, Sidor Artemovich Kovpak worked as the chairman of the city council in his native Putivl, he, like many others, fell under the flywheel Stalinist repressions. However, that time he miraculously escaped, thanks primarily to his decisive character. One evening, his friend, the chairman of the local NKVD, gently knocked on his window, who only told Kovpak that they should come to arrest him at night, and immediately disappeared into the darkness. Sidor Artemovich was not slow to draw conclusions: he quickly gathered the necessary things and disappeared into the forest, where he hid for the next month. Kovpak returned to Putivl only when the danger had passed and the leadership of the punitive organs had changed (by the way, the investigator who wanted to arrest Kovpak himself was soon recognized as an "enemy of the people"). The Soviet authorities no longer had claims against the head of the city, they did not even remove him from his post. During the German occupation, Kovpak again had to go to the familiar forests, where he organized his legendary partisan detachment.
When the partisan detachment of Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak established close ties with Moscow, the Center began to regularly provide assistance with weapons, ammunition and medicines. Everything needed at night was dropped from aircraft by parachute in predetermined places. The General Staff in Moscow also replenished the partisan ranks with trained and experienced personnel, primarily radio operators, intelligence officers, sappers, and saboteurs. Among them was Pyotr Petrovich Vershigora, who before the war worked as a director at the Kyiv Film Studio, and since 1942 - in the residency of the GRU of the General Staff of the Red Army.
Subsequently, Kovpak began to notice that Vershigora was constantly following him, carefully observing all the actions of the detachment commander. Once, when Sidor Artemyevich's patience snapped, he pressed Vershigora against a tree and, threatening with a whip, forced him to tell everything honestly. It turned out that he had received the task to follow Kovpak in order to make sure that his partisan detachment was not fake and was really fighting the Germans. The fact is that the unfortunate cases of the creation of pseudo-partisan detachments by the Gestapo in order to compromise the popular movement were already known.
In the future, between Kovpak and Vershigora, the closest relations of fighting brothers developed. Petr Petrovich led the reconnaissance of the partisan formation, and then, as commander of the 1st Ukrainian partisan division named after Kovpak, he conducted a raid on the territory of Western Ukraine and Poland.
Despite the fact that the partisans themselves called their commander "Grandfather" or "Old Man", rumors spread among the general population that Kovpak was a young strong man of gigantic stature, who alone went out against German tanks, and that Hitler himself is allegedly afraid of him.
Historical memory of Sidor Kovpak.
In Ukraine, there are many commemorative signs dedicated to Sidor Kovpak.
In 1971, when the 30th anniversary of the partisan movement in the Sumy region was celebrated, a monument was erected to Sidor Kovpak in Putivl. The sculptural image of a partisan general is set on a concrete pedestal in the form of a pyramidal rock seven meters high.
In 1967, the Spadshchansky forest was declared a historical and cultural state reserve, a partisan memorial was created in it. On the eve of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Victory, a sculptural Alley of Heroes was opened here, on which the bronze bust of Kovpak was first located.
In honor of Sidor Kovpak, a monument was also erected in Kyiv. Monuments were erected in Putivl, Glukhov and Kotelva.
Memorial plaques were opened in Kyiv, Putivl, Yaremche on the houses where Kovpak lived.
The National Bank of Ukraine issued a commemorative coin with his image.
In honor of partisan hero in 1971, one of the ships of the Kherson shipyard was named.
Also named after him:
Documentary film "People with a clear conscience (Sidir Kovpak) (2012)".
How often do Yandex users from Ukraine search for information about Sidor Kovpak?
To analyze the popularity of the query "Sidor Kovpak", the Yandex wordstat.yandex search engine service is used, based on which we can conclude that as of January 26, 2016, the number of queries per month was 3944, which can be seen on the screen.
50 years ago, on December 11, 1967, the legendary partisan commander, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak passed away.
Before great war
Sidor Artemyevich (Artemovich) Kovpak was born on May 26 (June 7), 1887 in the village of Kotelva (now an urban-type settlement in the Poltava region of Ukraine) into a poor peasant family with many children. From childhood, he helped his parents with the housework, like any peasant, he worked from morning to evening. At the age of ten, he began working for a local shopkeeper. He received his primary education at a parochial school. Sidor learned about the war from his grandfather Dmitro, who lived for 105 years, was an old soldier of the Nikolaev era, fought in the Caucasus and near Sevastopol.
He began his military service in Saratov in the Alexander Regiment. After the service, he worked there, in Saratov, as a loader. With the outbreak of the First World War, Kovpak was mobilized into the army, as part of the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment. He fought on the Southwestern Front, was a member of the famous Brusilov breakthrough. Sidor Artemyevich stood out among the rest of the soldiers with his ingenuity and ability to find a way out of any situation. No wonder he became a scout. In battles and sorties he was wounded several times. In the spring of 1916, Tsar Nicholas II, who personally came to the front, among others, awarded Sidor Kovpak with two medals "For Courage" and St. George's Crosses III and IV degrees.
After the start of the revolution, Kovpak supported the Bolsheviks. In 1918, Sidor took an active part in the struggle for the power of the Soviets, headed the land commission for the distribution of landowners' lands among the poor peasants. He became the organizer of a partisan detachment that fought against the regime of Hetman Skoropadsky, fought against the German-Austrian invaders, and then, having united with the fighters of the famous Luhansk Bolshevik Alexander Parkhomenko, against Denikin. In 1919, when his detachment fought and left Ukraine, Kovpak decides to join the Red Army. As part of the 25th Chapaev Division, where he commanded a platoon of machine gunners, Sidor Artemyevich fought first on the Eastern Front, and then on the Southern Front with General Denikin and Wrangel. For his courage he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
After the end of the Civil War, Kovpak was a military commissar, engaged in economic work. In 1921-1926. - assistant to the district military commissar, district military commissar, military commissar of the Pavlograd district of the Yekaterinoslav province (Dnipropetrovsk region). At the same time in 1925-1926. - Chairman of the agricultural artel in the village of Verbki. In 1926, he was elected director of the military cooperative economy in Pavlograd, and then chairman of the Putivl agricultural cooperative. After the approval of the Constitution of the USSR in 1936, Sidor Artemyevich was elected a deputy of the city council of Putivl, and at its first meeting in 1937 - the chairman of the Putivl city executive committee of the Sumy region. In civilian life, he was distinguished by exceptional diligence and initiative.
Kovpak himself proudly recalled how his native land flourished in peaceful Soviet years: “During the years of Soviet power, the Putivl region from the region of seasonal otkhodniks, who traveled in the spring in search of work throughout Ukraine and Russia, from the region of the consuming, provincial backwater, where retired officials and officer widows lived out their lives, turned into a producing region, famous for collective farms - millionaires - participants in the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, collective farms that have several cars, their own hydroelectric stations, clubs, secondary schools, outpatient clinics. We have achieved harvests that we could not even dream of here before. What trotters of the Oryol breed were raised by collective farm horse breeding farms in Strelniki, Litvinovichi, Vorgol! What herds of pedigree dairy cattle grazed in the water meadows along the Seim! And our orchards! You should visit us when the apple and cherry trees are in bloom. The whole city, all the villages seem to be in the clouds, only the roofs of the houses are visible. We had a lot of honey, and there were so many geese that it seemed to be snowing in the meadow near the Seim under the former monastery in the summer. Yes, Ukraine flourished under Soviet rule, there was something to be proud of for us, her sons, the Ukrainian Bolsheviks, who built a free and happy life on the native land».
Unfortunately, the war soon came, and much went to waste, and after the victory, the Soviet people had to repeat the great feat, restoring what had already been destroyed.
Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak (second from left) at a meeting with headquarters. In the photo, the fourth from the left is the commissar of the 1st Ukrainian partisan division, Major General Semyon Vasilyevich Rudnev
Partisan commander
In September 1941, when German troops approached Putivl, Sidor Artemyevich, who at that time was already 55 years old, together with his comrades-in-arms, decided to create a partisan detachment in the nearby Spadshchansky forest area. Kovpak and his comrades organized a warehouse with food and ammunition in advance. Initially, there were about four dozen fighters in the detachment. They singled out scouts, miners, the rest were divided into two battle groups. In one - Putivlyans, civilians and mostly middle-aged, Soviet and party workers, collective farm activists. So, among them was Alexei Ilyich Kornev, who received the nickname Santa Claus for his snow-white beard and lush hair. Before the war, he was engaged in a brood of chickens - he ran an incubator in Putivl. In another group - the military, lagging behind their units, caught in the environment. Kovpak immediately established control over the forest, outposts were put forward in directions from where the Germans could be expected to appear. Contact was established with neighboring collective farms, the collective farmers, risking their lives (the Germans executed for contact with the partisans), delivered information, helped with supplies. They discovered a minefield left by the retreating Red Army, removed mines under the noses of the Germans, and installed them on the main roads. As Kovpak noted, by mid-October, a dozen trucks with ammunition and manpower had been blown up on these roads. And the partisans took ten thousand rounds of ammunition. But it was bad with weapons, even rifles were not enough. On September 29, the first battle took place - the partisans drove off the German foragers-procurers.
On October 18, they were joined by a detachment led by Semyon Rudnev, who became Kovpak's closest friend and ally during the Great War. Rudnev also had extensive combat experience - a participant in the October Revolution and the Civil War, before the Great Patriotic War he served as the head of the political department and commissar of the coastal defense troops, the De-Kastrinsky fortified region in the Far East. In 1939, for health reasons, he was demobilized from the army and returned to Putivl. After the outbreak of the war, he also formed a partisan detachment. Grigory Yakovlevich Bazima, an ensign of the old Russian army, the best teacher in the region, and a delegate to the first All-Union Congress of Teachers, was appointed chief of staff of the united detachment. As a result, Kovpak's detachment increased to 57 people and became quite combat-ready in armed clashes with the enemy, although initially there was a shortage of weapons. Kovpak for himself personally declares war on the Nazis "to the bitter end."
On October 19, 1941, the Germans tried to clear the Spadshchansky forest from partisans. Two tanks were sent into the forest, but the operation failed. The partisans were not afraid, they did not run. One tank damaged the track and got stuck. The Germans moved into another tank and tried to retreat, but they hit a mine and died. On December 20, the Germans repeated an attempt to destroy the partisans - he was expelled from Putivl large detachment. Scouts counted 5 tanks, one tankette and 14 vehicles with infantry. The tanks stopped in the field and opened fire on the forest, firing at random, therefore without success. Then, splitting into two groups, they went forward, but ran into mines and retreated.
Thus, the Spadshchansky Forest turned into an autonomous fortress. Scouts and collective farmers warned about everything that was done in Putivl. But the Germans did not know anything about the forest detachment - neither about the location of the detachment, nor its forces. The spies who tried to find the detachment were destroyed. In the villages and farms closest to the forest, the partisans became full masters, the German police fled from there. Outposts guarded the main forces, two even extended telephone lines. The captured tank was repaired. Life was getting better: dugouts were built for housing, medical units, household units, kitchens, and there was also a bathhouse. They created an emergency reserve: grain and vegetables were exported with the help of collective farmers from the procurement bases of the enemy, located in neighboring villages.
On November 13, the partisans repulsed another enemy attack. As Kovpak recalled, it helped good knowledge terrain: "... we could run so freely through the forest without fear of losing our bearings, and, in fact, our main tactical advantage over the enemy, who moved in the forest like a blind man, was." But the command of the detachment understood that the situation was deteriorating. In winter, the swamps that covered the detachment will freeze, the "brilliant green" will disappear. The forest is relatively small, there is nowhere to hide, nowhere to retreat. And the Germans are preparing a new offensive, transferring additional forces to Putivl. It was necessary to go into large forest areas.
On December 1, having pulled together large forces, the Germans went on the offensive. In the Kovpak detachment at that time there were 73 fighters, and in addition to rifles and machine guns, they were armed with a tank, two light machine guns and a battalion mortar with 15 mines. Kovpak recalled: “Our tactic was to lure the enemy deeper into the forest and not disperse the forces of the detachment. All-round defense was built around our bases - dugouts. There was a tank in the center. He remained on the same high-rise where he got stuck in the previous battle when he ran into a tree. In circumference, the defense of the detachment occupied about two kilometers. In some places, where there were many ravines that represented reliable protection, the fighters dug in at a distance of a hundred or more meters from each other, only to maintain visual communication with each other. Most of the fighters were gathered in a few of the most dangerous areas." The tank, although it was already motionless, was located on a high-rise and supported all groups with fire. It was the tank that took the main blow, repelling the attacks of the enemy, and allowed the partisans to resist. The battle was unequal, lasted a whole day, and yet the partisans held out. The enemy retreated, leaving about 150 corpses. Partisan losses - 3 people. The partisans captured 5 machine guns, but spent almost all the ammunition.
This battle was a turning point in the combat activities of the Kovpak partisan detachment. It became obvious that it was not advisable to stay in the Spadshchansky forest. Sooner or later, the Nazis would crush the stationary detachment. The tank was mined, everything that they could not take with them was buried in the ground. The order announced by the detachment said: "In order to save the manpower for further struggle, it is advisable to leave the Spadshchansky forest at 24.00 on December 1, 1941 and go on a raid in the direction of the Bryansk forests." The Germans, in order to crush the partisan detachment, pulled 3 thousand soldiers and policemen to the Spadshchansky forest, left several regions without troops. This helped the partisans to quietly leave. The small police forces that were here and there scattered. The campaign lasted four days, Kovpak's partisans marched 160 kilometers, and went to the Sevsky district of the Oryol region, to the edge of the Khinel forests.
Kovpak and Rudnev changed tactics: the detachment became mobile, began to make raids. Kovpak's partisans never stayed in one place for long. During the day they hid in the forests, at night they moved, attacked the enemy. They chose difficult routes, skillfully used the features of the terrain, and carried out thorough reconnaissance before crossings and raids. During the raid, Kovpak was especially strict and picky, rightly arguing that the success of any battle depends on minor “little things” that were not taken into account in time: “Before entering God’s temple, think about how to get out of it.” Small German units, outposts, garrisons were destroyed to hide the movement of the detachment. The marching formation was such that it made it possible to immediately take up all-round defense. The main forces were covered by small mobile sabotage groups that undermined bridges, railways, destroyed communication lines, distracting and disorienting the enemy. Coming in settlements, partisans raised people to fight, armed and trained them.
Kovpak was a real genius of covert movement, after performing a series of complex and long maneuvers, the partisans unexpectedly attacked where they were not expected at all, creating the effect of surprise and presence in several places at once. They sowed panic among the Nazis, undermined enemy equipment, tanks, destroyed warehouses, derailed trains and disappeared without a trace. The Kovpakovites fought without logistical support. All weapons and ammunition were captured from the enemy. Explosives were mined in minefields. Kovpak often repeated: "My supplier is Hitler." This singled out the Putivl detachment from the rest, changed the nature of the partisan struggle. From passive struggle, the partisans moved on to active warfare. At the same time, for all his outstanding military qualities, Sidor Kovpak was at the same time an excellent business executive. He resembled an elderly chairman of a collective farm, was a zealous owner who cared about people. The basis of his detachment were mostly peaceful people, without military experience - workers, peasants, teachers and engineers. People of peaceful professions, they acted in a coordinated and organized manner, based on the system for organizing the combat and civilian life of the detachment, established by Kovpak and Rudnev.
All this made it possible to create a unique combat unit and made it possible to carry out the most complex, unprecedented in their courage and scope operations behind enemy lines. At the end of 1941, Kovpak's detachment carried out a raid into the Khinelsky, and in the spring of 1942 - into the Bryansk forests, during which it replenished up to five hundred people and captured a lot of weapons. The second raid began on May 15 and lasted until July 24, passing through the Sumy region.
On August 31, 1942, Kovpak was personally received by I. V. Stalin and K. E. Voroshilov in Moscow, where, together with other partisan commanders, he participated in a meeting, which resulted in the creation of the Main Partisan Headquarters, which was headed by Voroshilov. The meeting emphasized the importance of the partisan movement, as well as the success of Kovpak's raid tactics. They noted not only the military impact on the enemy, and the collection of intelligence information, but a great propaganda effect. “The partisans endured the war closer and closer to Germany,” said Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky, Chief of the Red Army General Staff.
After that, Kovpak's detachment received the support of Moscow. The High Command set the task of making a raid across the Dnieper to the Right-Bank Ukraine in the depths of the German rear. In mid-autumn 1942, Kovpak's partisan detachments went on a raid. Having crossed the Dnieper, Desna and Pripyat, they ended up in the Zhytomyr region, carrying out a unique operation "Sarny Cross": five railway bridges on the Sarny junction highways were blown up at the same time and the garrison in Lelchitsy was destroyed.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 18, 1942, for the exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines, the courage and heroism shown in their implementation, Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. For the operation in April 1943, Kovpak was awarded the rank of major general.
Carpathian raid
In the summer of 1943, Kovpak's formation began its most famous campaign - the Carpathian raid. The blow to the rear of the enemy took place on the eve of the summer campaign, when the strategic offensive of the Wehrmacht was expected and the Soviet counteroffensive was being prepared. The difficulty for the detachment was that sufficiently large transitions had to be made without support, across open areas deep in the rear of the enemy. There was no place to wait for supplies, support or help. There could be traitors among the locals. June 12, 1943 from the village of Milosevicy on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border (north of the Zhytomyr region) began the campaign of the Kovpak detachment. About 1,500 fighters went to the Carpathians with several 76- and 45-mm guns and mortars.
Bypassing Rovno from the west, Kovpak turned sharply to the south, passing through the entire Ternopil region. On the night of July 16, the partisans crossed the Dniester along the bridge north of Galich and entered the mountains. The Germans tried to block the partisans, for two weeks the Soviet fighters maneuvered in the mountains, breaking through one encirclement after another. During this time, the unit lost all heavy weapons, convoys and cavalry. Some of the horses were allowed to eat, as there were no more food supplies. To get out of the trap, it was decided to take the city of Delyatyn, where there was a crossing over the Prut. The partisan attack on Delyatyn on the night of August 4 was successful, the enemy garrison of 500 soldiers was destroyed. The vanguard led by Commissar Rudnev managed to capture the bridge across the river. However, the German command took countermeasures by deploying reinforcements to the area. Rudnev's detachment for the most part died a heroic death in battle with German mountain riflemen. Semyon Vasilievich Rudnev received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).
Kovpak decided to divide the formation into several detachments and break back with a simultaneous "fan" strike in various directions. This tactical move brilliantly justified itself - all disparate groups survived, reuniting into one unit. From Kovpak’s report: “... From August 6 to October 1, the unit moved in groups, having almost no communication between groups ... Each group individually traveled independently for 700-800 kilometers along an independent route dictated by the situation. ... Some groups passed secretly, evading battles, others, stronger ones, distracted the enemy. By this, giving the rest of the groups the opportunity to safely slip through the places most saturated with the enemy. On October 21, Kovpak's fighters completed the campaign. In total, the partisans covered 2,000 km in 100 days behind enemy lines, sometimes covering up to 60 km per day.
Thus, the Kovpak unit made a unique campaign, traveled hundreds of kilometers, fighting with regular German units and elite SS troops. The Germans were forced to transfer significant forces to the rear, including selected SS troops. Kovpak's partisans fought the heaviest battles of the entire war. The Soviet detachment destroyed more than a dozen enemy garrisons, caused great harm to the German rear, 3-5 thousand German soldiers and officers were killed. Also, the partisans disabled the Ternopol railway junction for a long time, significantly hindering the transfer of troops near Kursk, in the midst of the Battle of Kursk.
During the Carpathian raid, Sidor Artemyevich was seriously wounded in the leg. At the end of 1943, he left for Kyiv for treatment and did not take part in hostilities anymore. For the successful conduct of the operation on January 4, 1944, Major General Kovpak received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time. In February 1944, the partisan detachment of Kovpak was renamed the 1st Ukrainian partisan division named after S. A. Kovpak. It was headed by Lieutenant Colonel P.P. Vershigora. Under his command, the division made two more successful raids, first in the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, and then in Poland.
Peaceful time
After the end of the war, Kovpak lived in Kyiv and enjoyed big love people. Since 1944, Sidor Kovpak has been a member of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR, since 1947 - Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1967 he became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. Kovpak died on December 11, 1967 at the age of 81. The Hero of the Soviet Union was buried at the Baikove cemetery in Kyiv. Kovpak was one of the most popular figures in the Ukrainian SSR. By the decision of the government of the Ukrainian SSR, the Spadshchansky Forest was declared a state reserve in 1967, a partisan memorial, the Museum of Partisan Glory, was created in it. The streets of many cities (Putivl, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Poltava, Kharkov, etc.) were named after Kovpak. A number of museums dedicated to Sidor Artemovich have been created on the territory of Ukraine and Russia.
It is worth noting that the tactics of the partisan movement of Kovpak received extensive recognition far beyond the borders of Russia. The partisans of Angola, Rhodesia and Mozambique, Vietnamese commanders and revolutionaries from various Latin American states learned from the examples of the raids of the Sidor Kovpak detachment.
Unfortunately, at the present time, when Little Russia-Ukraine is again occupied by the heirs of Bandera and traitors. The thieves' oligarchic regime in Kyiv fulfills the will of the enemies of Russian civilization (it is an integral part of Little Russia - with the ancient Russian capital Kyiv) - Washington, Brussels and Berlin, the memory of many Russians and Soviet heroes, including the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War, is subjected to denigration and destruction.
Sidor Artemevich
Battles and victories
Legendary partisan leader, commander of a number of partisan formations during the Great Patriotic War, military and party leader, major general, twice Hero of the Soviet Union.
Kovpak was a genius of covert movement, after complex and long maneuvers, the partisans unexpectedly attacked where they were not expected at all, creating the effect of being in several places at once. The success of Kovpak's raid tactics was appreciated in Moscow, and his experience was spread throughout the entire guerrilla war.
Sidor Artemyevich (Artyomovich) Kovpak was born on June 7, 1887 in the Ukrainian village of Kotelva into an ordinary peasant family, he had five brothers and four sisters. Since childhood, he helped his parents with the housework. Like any peasant, from dawn to dawn he was engaged in hard physical labor. He attended a parochial school, where he received the basics primary education. At the age of ten, he began working for a local shopkeeper, rising to the age of majority as a clerk. He served in the Alexander Regiment stationed in Saratov. After graduation, he decided to stay in the city, finding work as a loader in the river port.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Kovpak was mobilized into the army, as part of the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment, he took part in the famous Brusilov breakthrough. Sidor Artemyevich was a scout by his mindset, standing out among the rest of the soldiers with his ingenuity and ability to find a way out of any situation. In battles and sorties he was wounded several times. In the spring of 1916, Tsar Nicholas II, who personally came to the front, among others, awarded young Kovpak with two medals "For Courage" and St. George's Crosses III and IV degrees.
After the start of the revolution, Kovpak joined the Bolsheviks. When in 1917 the Aslanduzsky regiment went into reserve, ignoring Kerensky's order to attack, he, along with other soldiers, returned home to his native Kotelva. The civil war forced him to raise an uprising against the regime of hetman Skoropadsky, learning the basics of partisan military art. The Kotelva detachment led by Kovpak successfully fought against the German-Austrian occupiers of Ukraine, and later, having united with the fighters of Alexander Parkhomenko, against Denikin. In 1919, when his detachment fought and left the war-torn Ukraine, Kovpak decides to join the Red Army.
As part of the 25th Chapaev division, in the role of commander of a platoon of machine gunners, he fought first on the Eastern Front, and then on the South with General Wrangel. For his courage he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
After the end of the Civil War, Kovpak was engaged in economic work, was a military commissar, and joined the party. In 1926, he was elected director of the military cooperative economy in Pavlograd, and then chairman of the Putivl agricultural cooperative, which supplied food to the army. After the approval of the Constitution of the USSR in 1936, Sidor Artemyevich was elected a deputy of the city council of Putivl, and at its first meeting in 1937 - the chairman of the Putivl city executive committee of the Sumy region. In civilian life, he was distinguished by exceptional diligence and initiative.
In the thirties, many former "red" Ukrainian partisans were repressed by the NKVD. Apparently, only thanks to the old comrades who occupied prominent places in the NKVD, Kovpak escaped from inevitable death.
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In the early autumn of 1941, when German troops approached Putivl, Kovpak, who at that time was already 55 years old, together with his comrades-in-arms, organized a detachment in the nearby Spadshchansky forest area measuring 10 by 15 kilometers. Kovpak organized a warehouse with food and ammunition in advance. At the end of September, the encircled Red Army soldiers join them, and in October - a detachment led by Semyon Rudnev, who became Kovpak's closest friend and ally during the Great Patriotic War. The detachment increases to 57 people and becomes quite combat-ready in armed clashes with the enemy - despite the lack of weapons. Kovpak for himself personally declares war on the Nazis "to the bitter end."
On October 19, 1941, fascist tanks broke through into the Spadshchansky forest. In the ensuing battle, the partisans captured 3 tanks. Having lost a large number of soldiers and military equipment, the enemy was forced to retreat and return to Putivl. On December 1, 1941, about three thousand German soldiers, supported by artillery and mortars, launched an attack on Spadshchansky Forest. This episode of the war was a turning point in the combat activities of the Kovpak partisan detachment. S.A. Kovpak, being a subtle psychologist and a man "from the people", closely followed the mood of the partisans, took into account their opinions and perfectly understood how much the success of the battle means to raise the morale of the fighters and unite the detachment. The battle was unequal, lasted a whole day, and yet ended in victory for the partisans. Inspired by the example of the commander and commissar, who fought along with everyone else, the partisans did not retreat a single step from their position, and all enemy attacks were repulsed. The enemy lost about 200 soldiers and officers, the partisans got trophies - 5 machine guns and 20 rifles.
In this and all subsequent battles in a critical situation, the combat experience of the detachment commander always helped, his military talent, courage and bravery, combined with a deep understanding of partisan tactics, with sober calculation and the ability to navigate in the most difficult situation, manifested itself.
Inspired by the victory over a several times strong enemy, the fighters further strengthened their faith in victory, and the population began to join the detachments even more boldly.
From the diaries of S.A. Kovpak
However, it was pointless to stay in the Spadshchansky forest. S.A. Kovpak and S.V. Rudnev changed tactics: the detachment became mobile, inflicting crushing blows on the enemy during raids. In these raids, new tactics and strategies were tested, which became a great contribution to the development of partisan struggle, which distinguished the Putivl detachment from others. Everything that Kovpak did did not fit into the standard framework, the usual way of behavior. His partisans never sat in one place for long. During the day they hid in the forests, and moved and attacked the enemy at night. The detachments always walked in a roundabout way, hiding from large parts of the enemy with barriers, folds of the terrain, carrying out thorough reconnaissance before maneuvers.
Small German units, outposts, garrisons were destroyed to the last man. In a matter of minutes, the marching formation of partisans could take up an all-round defense and start firing to kill. The main forces were covered by mobile sabotage groups that undermined bridges, wires, rails, distracting and disorienting the enemy. Coming to the settlements, the partisans raised people to fight, armed and trained them.
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At the end of 1941, Kovpak's combat detachment carried out a raid on the Khinelsky, and in the spring of 1942 - on the Bryansk forests, during which it replenished up to five hundred people and armed well. The second raid began on May 15 and lasted until July 24, passing through the Sumy region, well known to Sidor Artemyevich. Kovpak was a genius for covert movement, after performing a series of complex and lengthy maneuvers, the partisans unexpectedly attacked where they were not expected at all, creating the effect of being in several places at once. They sowed panic among the Nazis, undermining tanks, destroying warehouses, derailing trains and disappearing without a trace. The Kovpakovites fought without any support, without even knowing where the front was. All weapons and ammunition were captured in battles. Explosives were mined in minefields. Kovpak often repeated: "My supplier is Hitler."
For all his outstanding qualities as a military leader, Kovpak did not at all look like a brave warrior, he rather resembled an elderly man peacefully taking care of his household. He skillfully combined personal soldier experience with economic activity, boldly tried new options for tactical and strategic methods of guerrilla warfare. The basis of his detachment were non-military people, often never before holding weapons in their hands - workers, peasants, teachers and engineers. People of peaceful professions, they acted in a coordinated and organized manner, based on the system for organizing the combat and civilian life of the detachment, established by Kovpak. “He is quite modest, not so much teaching others as learning himself, able to admit his mistakes, thereby not aggravating them,” Alexander Dovzhenko wrote about Kovpak.
Kovpak was simple, even deliberately simple in communication, humane in dealing with his fighters, and with the help of the continuous political and ideological training of his detachment, carried out under the leadership of Commissar Rudnev, he was able to achieve high level conscience and discipline. This feature - a clear organization of all spheres of partisan life in extremely difficult, unpredictable war conditions behind enemy lines - made it possible to carry out the most complex operations, unprecedented in their courage and scope.
Scout P.P. Vershigora described Kovpak’s partisan camp as follows: “The master’s eye, the confident, calm rhythm of camp life and the hum of voices in the thicket of the forest, the unhurried, but not slow life of confident people working with self-respect - this is my first impression of Kovpak’s detachment.”
During the raid, Kovpak was especially strict and picky, rightly arguing that the success of any battle depends on minor “little things” that were not taken into account in time: “Before entering God’s temple, think about how to get out of it.”
At the end of the spring of 1942, for exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines and heroism, Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and Stalin, interested in the success of the partisan movement in Ukraine, decided to take control of the situation. At the very end of the summer of 1942, Sidor Artemyevich arrived in Moscow, where, together with other partisan leaders, he took part in a meeting, as a result of which the Main Partisan Headquarters was created, headed by Voroshilov. After that, Kovpak's detachment began to receive orders and weapons from Moscow. The meeting emphasized the importance of the partisan movement, as well as the success of Kovpak's raid tactics. Its essence was to quickly, maneuver, covert movement in the rear of the enemy with the further creation of new centers of partisan movement. Such raids, in addition to the significant damage inflicted on enemy troops and the collection of intelligence information, had a huge propaganda effect. “The partisans were carrying the war closer and closer to Germany,” Marshal Vasilevsky, Chief of the Red Army General Staff, said on this occasion.
The first task for Kovpak was set by Moscow to make a raid across the Dnieper to the Right-Bank Ukraine, to conduct reconnaissance in force and organize sabotage in the depths of the German fortifications before the offensive. Soviet troops in the summer of 1943. In the middle of autumn 1942, Kovpak's partisan detachments went on a raid. Having crossed the Dnieper, Desna and Pripyat, they ended up in the Zhytomyr region, carrying out a unique operation "Sarny Cross": five railway bridges on the Sarny junction highways were blown up at the same time and the garrison in Lelchitsy was destroyed. For the operation in April 1943, Kovpak was awarded the rank of Major General.
In the summer of 1943, his unit begins its most famous campaign - the Carpathian raid. The difficulty for the detachment was that sufficiently large transitions had to be made without cover, in open areas deep in the rear of the enemy. There was no place to wait for supplies, support or help. Compatriots could be traitors. Kovpak's formation traveled hundreds of kilometers, fighting with Bandera, regular German units and elite SS troops of General Kruger. With the latter, the partisans fought the bloodiest battles of the entire war.
As a result of the operation, the delivery of military equipment and enemy troops to the Kursk Bulge area was delayed for a long time, which helped to provide our troops with an advantage during the gigantic battle. The Nazis, who sent elite SS units and front-line aviation to destroy Kovpak's formation, failed to destroy the partisan column. Once surrounded, Kovpak makes an unexpected decision for the enemy to divide the unit into a number of small groups, and with a simultaneous “fan” strike in various directions, break through back to the Polissya forests. This tactical move brilliantly justified itself - all the scattered groups survived, again uniting into one formidable force - the Kovpak connection.
Having crossed the river under the cover of artillery, the heroes opened such a hurricane of fire, with such shouts they rushed at the enemy that no commands were heard. The people, our partisan heroes know perfectly well that if the task is to take it, then it must be taken! We have nowhere to retreat
From the diaries of S.A. Kovpak
During the Carpathian raid, Sidor Artemyevich was seriously wounded in the leg. At the end of 1943, he left for Kyiv for treatment and did not take part in hostilities anymore. For the successful conduct of the operation on January 4, 1944, Major General Kovpak received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time, and in February 1944, Sidor Kovpak's partisan detachment was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division of the same name. It was headed by Lieutenant Colonel P.P. Vershigora. Under his command, the division made two more successful raids, first in the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, and then in Poland.
After the end of the war, Kovpak lived in Kyiv, working in the Supreme Court of Ukraine, where he was Deputy Chairman of the Presidium for twenty years. Among the people, the legendary partisan commander enjoyed great love. In 1967 he became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. Kovpak died on December 11, 1967 at the age of 81. The hero was buried at the Baikove cemetery in Kyiv. Sidor Artemovich had no children.
The tactics of the partisan movement of Kovpak received wide recognition far beyond the borders of our Motherland. Partisans from Angola, Rhodesia and Mozambique, Vietnamese field commanders and revolutionaries from various Latin American states learned from the examples of Kovpakovsky raids.
On June 8, 2012, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a commemorative coin depicting Kovpak. A bronze bust of the Hero of the Soviet Union was installed in the village of Kotelva, monuments and memorial plaques are available in Putivl and Kyiv. Streets in many Ukrainian cities and villages are named after him. On the territory of Ukraine and Russia, there are a number of museums dedicated to Sidor Artemovich. The largest of them is located in the city of Glukhov, Sumy region. Among other things, here you can find a captured German road sign with the inscription: "Beware, Kovpak!".
SURZHIK D.V., Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Literature
Kovpak S.A.. From Putivl to the Carpathians. M., 1945.
Gladkov T.K., Kizya L.E.. Kovpak. M., 1973.
Internet
Ridiger Fedor Vasilievich
Adjutant general, cavalry general, adjutant general... He had three Golden sabers with the inscription: "For courage"... In 1849, Ridiger participated in a campaign in Hungary to suppress the unrest that arose there, being appointed head of the right column. On May 9, Russian troops entered the borders of the Austrian Empire. He pursued the rebel army until August 1, forcing them to lay down their arms in front of the Russian troops near Vilyaghosh. On August 5, the troops entrusted to him occupied the fortress of Arad. During the trip of Field Marshal Ivan Fedorovich Paskevich to Warsaw, Count Ridiger commanded the troops located in Hungary and Transylvania ... On February 21, 1854, during the absence of Field Marshal Prince Paskevich in the Kingdom of Poland, Count Ridiger commanded all the troops located in the area of the active army - as a commander separate corps and at the same time served as head of the Kingdom of Poland. After the return of Field Marshal Prince Paskevich to Warsaw, from August 3, 1854, he served as the Warsaw military governor.
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
according to the only criterion - invincibility.
Most Serene Prince Wittgenstein Peter Khristianovich
For the defeat of the French units of Oudinot and MacDonald at Klyastits, thereby closing the road for the French army to St. Petersburg in 1812. Then in October 1812 he defeated the Saint-Cyr corps near Polotsk. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian-Prussian armies in April-May 1813.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
“As a military figure I.V. Stalin, I studied thoroughly, since I went through the whole war with him. I.V. Stalin mastered the organization of front-line operations and operations of groups of fronts and led them with full knowledge business, well versed in big strategic issues ...
In leading the armed struggle as a whole, JV Stalin was assisted by his natural mind and rich intuition. He knew how to find the main link in a strategic situation and, seizing on it, to counteract the enemy, to conduct one or another major offensive operation. Undoubtedly, he was a worthy Supreme Commander"
(Zhukov G.K. Memoirs and reflections.)
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
In front of the Kazan Cathedral there are two statues of the saviors of the fatherland. Saving the army, exhausting the enemy, the battle of Smolensk - this is more than enough.
John 4 Vasilyevich
Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich
Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky (September 18 (30), 1895 - December 5, 1977) - Soviet military leader, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1943), chief of the General Staff, member of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. During the Great Patriotic War, as Chief of the General Staff (1942-1945), he took an active part in the development and implementation of almost all major operations on the Soviet-German front. From February 1945 he commanded the 3rd Belorussian Front, led the assault on Königsberg. In 1945, he was commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East in the war with Japan. One of the greatest commanders of World War II.
In 1949-1953 - Minister armed forces and the Minister of War of the USSR. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945), holder of two Orders of Victory (1944, 1945).
Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich
To a person to whom this name does not say anything - there is no need to explain and it is useless. To the one to whom it says something - and so everything is clear.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front. The youngest front commander. Counts,. that of the army general - but before his death (February 18, 1945) he received the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
He liberated three of the six capitals of the Union Republics captured by the Nazis: Kyiv, Minsk. Vilnius. Decided the fate of Keniksberg.
One of the few who pushed back the Germans on June 23, 1941.
He held the front in Valdai. In many ways, he determined the fate of repelling the German offensive on Leningrad. He kept Voronezh. Freed Kursk.
He successfully advanced until the summer of 1943. Having formed the top of the Kursk Bulge with his army. Liberated the Left Bank of Ukraine. Take Kyiv. Repelled Manstein's counterattack. Liberated Western Ukraine.
Carried out the operation Bagration. Surrounded and captured by his offensive in the summer of 1944, the Germans then humiliatedly marched through the streets of Moscow. Belarus. Lithuania. Neman. East Prussia.
Ivan the Terrible
He conquered the Astrakhan kingdom, to which Russia paid tribute. smashed Livonian Order. Expanded the borders of Russia far beyond the Urals.
Bobrok-Volynsky Dmitry Mikhailovich
Boyar and governor of the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy. "Developer" of the tactics of the Battle of Kulikovo.
Vorotynsky Mikhail Ivanovich
“The compiler of the charter of the guard and border service” is, of course, good. For some reason, we have forgotten the battle of YOUTH from July 29 to August 2, 1572. But it was precisely from this victory that Moscow's right to a lot was recognized. The Ottomans were recaptured a lot of things, they were very sobered by the thousands of destroyed Janissaries, and unfortunately they helped Europe with this. The battle of YOUTH is very difficult to overestimate
Together with the 8th guards division named after Major General I.V. Panfilov, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of General M.E. Katukov and other troops of the 16th Army, his corps defended the approaches to Moscow in the Volokolamsk direction.
Baklanov Yakov Petrovich
Cossack general, "thunderstorm of the Caucasus", Yakov Petrovich Baklanov, one of the most colorful heroes of the endless Caucasian war of the century before last, fits perfectly into the image of Russia familiar to the West. A gloomy two-meter hero, a tireless persecutor of mountaineers and Poles, an enemy of political correctness and democracy in all their manifestations. But it was precisely such people who obtained the most difficult victory for the empire in a long-term confrontation with the inhabitants of the North Caucasus and the unkind local nature.
Gavrilov Petr Mikhailovich
From the first days of the Great Patriotic War - in the army. Major Gavrilov P.M. from June 22 to July 23, 1941 led the defense of the Eastern Fort of the Brest Fortress. He managed to rally around him all the surviving soldiers and commanders of various units and subunits, to close the most vulnerable places for the enemy to break through. July 23 from the explosion of a shell in the casemate was seriously wounded and in unconscious was captured. He spent the war years in the Nazi concentration camps of Hammelburg and Revensburg, having experienced all the horrors of captivity. Liberated by Soviet troops in May 1945. http://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=484
Skopin-Shuisky Mikhail Vasilievich
I beg the military-historical society to correct the extreme historical injustice and add to the list of 100 best commanders, the leader of the northern militia who did not lose a single battle, who played an outstanding role in liberating Russia from the Polish yoke and unrest. And apparently poisoned for his talent and skill.
Izylmetiev Ivan Nikolaevich
Commanded the frigate "Aurora". He made the transition from St. Petersburg to Kamchatka in a record time for those times in 66 days. In the bay, Callao eluded the Anglo-French squadron. Arriving in Petropavlovsk, together with the governor of the Kamchatka Territory, Zavoyko V. organized the defense of the city, during which the sailors from the Aurora, together with local residents they threw an outnumbering Anglo-French landing into the sea. Then he took the Aurora to the Amur Estuary, hiding it there. After these events, the British public demanded a trial of the admirals who had lost the Russian frigate.
Rumyantsev Petr Alexandrovich
Russian military and statesman, throughout the reign of Catherine II (1761-96) ruled Little Russia. During Seven Years' War commanded the capture of Kolberg. For the victories over the Turks at Larga, Kagul and others, which led to the conclusion of the Kyuchuk-Kainarji peace, he was awarded the title "Transdanubian". In 1770 he received the rank of Field Marshal. Cavalier of the orders of the Russian St. Andrew the Apostle, St. Alexander Nevsky, St. George 1st class and St. Vladimir I degree, the Prussian Black Eagle and St. Anna I degree
Chuikov Vasily Ivanovich
Soviet military commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1955). Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945).
From 1942 to 1946 he was commander of the 62nd Army (8th Guards Army), which especially distinguished itself in the Battle of Stalingrad. He took part in defensive battles on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. From September 12, 1942 he commanded the 62nd Army. IN AND. Chuikov received the task of defending Stalingrad at any cost. The front command believed that Lieutenant General Chuikov was characterized by such positive traits, as decisiveness and firmness, courage and a broad operational outlook, a high sense of responsibility and consciousness of one's duty. The army, under the command of V.I. Chuikov, became famous for the heroic six-month defense of Stalingrad in street battles in a completely destroyed city, fighting on isolated bridgeheads, on the banks of the wide Volga.
For unparalleled mass heroism and fortitude personnel, in April 1943, the 62nd Army received the Guards honorary name of the Guards and became known as the 8th Guards Army.
Uborevich Ieronim Petrovich
Soviet military leader, commander of the 1st rank (1935). Member of the Communist Party since March 1917. Born in the village of Aptandriyus (now the Utena region of the Lithuanian SSR) in the family of a Lithuanian peasant. He graduated from the Konstantinovsky Artillery School (1916). Member of the 1st World War 1914-18, second lieutenant. After the October Revolution of 1917 he was one of the organizers of the Red Guard in Bessarabia. In January - February 1918 he commanded a revolutionary detachment in battles against the Romanian and Austro-German interventionists, was wounded and captured, from where he fled in August 1918. He was an artillery instructor, commander of the Dvina brigade on the Northern Front, from December 1918 the head of the 18 divisions of the 6th Army. From October 1919 to February 1920 he was commander of the 14th Army during the defeat of the troops of General Denikin, in March - April 1920 he commanded the 9th Army in the North Caucasus. In May - July and November - December 1920 the commander of the 14th Army in battles against the troops of bourgeois Poland and the Petliurists, in July - November 1920 - the 13th Army in battles against the Wrangelites. In 1921, assistant commander of the troops of the Ukraine and Crimea, deputy commander of the troops of the Tambov province, commander of the troops of the Minsk province, led the fighting in the defeat of the gangs of Makhno, Antonov and Bulak-Balakhovich. From August 1921 commander of the 5th Army and the East Siberian Military District. In August - December 1922 Minister of War of the Far Eastern Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the People's Revolutionary Army during the liberation of the Far East. He was commander of the North Caucasian (since 1925), Moscow (since 1928) and Belorussian (since 1931) military districts. Since 1926 he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, in 1930-31 he was deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR and head of armaments of the Red Army. Since 1934 he has been a member of the Military Council of the NPO. He made a great contribution to the strengthening of the defense capability of the USSR, education and training commanders and troops. Candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) in 1930-37. Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee since December 1922. He was awarded 3 Orders of the Red Banner and Honorary Revolutionary Weapons.
Dmitry Zhuravlev
Alekseev Mikhail Vasilievich
One of the most talented Russian generals of the First World War. Hero of the Battle of Galicia 1914, savior Northwestern Front from the encirclement in 1915, chief of staff under Emperor Nicholas I.
General of Infantry (1914), Adjutant General (1916). Active participant in the White movement in the Civil War. One of the organizers of the Volunteer Army.
Uvarov Fedor Petrovich
At the age of 27 he was promoted to general. Participated in the campaigns of 1805-1807 and in the battles on the Danube in 1810. In 1812 he commanded the 1st artillery corps in the army of Barclay de Tolly, and later - with the entire cavalry of the combined armies.
Gorbaty-Shuisky Alexander Borisovich
Hero of the Kazan War, the first governor of Kazan
Golenishchev-Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich
(1745-1813).
1. GREAT Russian commander, he was an example for his soldiers. Appreciated every soldier. "M. I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov is not only the liberator of the Fatherland, he is the only one who outplayed the hitherto invincible French emperor, turning " great army"into a crowd of ragamuffins, saving, thanks to his military genius, the lives of many Russian soldiers."
2. Mikhail Illarionovich, being a highly educated person who knew several foreign languages, dexterous, refined, able to inspire society with the gift of words, an entertaining story, he served Russia as an excellent diplomat - ambassador to Turkey.
3. M. I. Kutuzov - the first who became full cavalier the highest military order of St. George the Victorious of four degrees.
The life of Mikhail Illarionovich is an example of service to the fatherland, attitude towards soldiers, spiritual strength for the Russian military leaders of our time and, of course, for the younger generation - the future military.
Ivan III Vasilyevich
He united the Russian lands around Moscow, threw off the hated Tatar-Mongol yoke.
Dzhugashvili Joseph Vissarionovich
Gathered and coordinated a team of talented military leaders
Skobelev Mikhail Dmitrievich
A man of great courage, a great tactician, organizer. M.D. Skobelev possessed strategic thinking, saw the situation, both in real time and in perspective
Dubynin Viktor Petrovich
From April 30, 1986 to June 1, 1987 - Commander of the 40th Combined Arms Army of the Turkestan Military District. The troops of this army made up the bulk of the Limited Contingent of Soviet Troops in Afghanistan. During the year of his command of the army, the number of irretrievable losses decreased by 2 times in comparison with 1984-1985.
On June 10, 1992, Colonel General V.P. Dubynin was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces - First Deputy Minister of Defense Russian Federation
Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich
The youngest and one of the most talented Soviet military leaders. It was during the years of the Great Patriotic War that his great military talent, the ability to quickly and correctly make bold decisions, was revealed. This is evidenced by his path from the commander of the division (28th Panzer) to the commander of the Western and 3rd Belorussian fronts. For successful military operations, the troops commanded by I.D. Chernyakhovsky were noted 34 times in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Unfortunately, his life was cut short at the age of 39 during the liberation of the city of Melzak (now Poland).
Fedor Ivanovich Tolbukhin
Major General F.I. Tolbukhin proved himself during Battle of Stalingrad, commanding the 57th Army. The second "Stalingrad" for the Germans was the Iasi-Kishinev operation, in which he commanded the 2nd Ukrainian Front.
One of the galaxy of commanders who were brought up and nominated by I.V. Stalin.
The great merit of Marshal of the Soviet Union Tolbukhin is in the liberation of the countries of South-Eastern Europe.
Governor M.I. Vorotynsky
Outstanding Russian commander, one of Ivan the Terrible's associates, drafter of the charter of the guard and border service
