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

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

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

It is clear that the partisans themselves have come at a high price for such successes. In the parade reports of that time, everything looks beautiful: they destroyed 150 enemy soldiers - they lost two partisans killed. In reality, partisan losses were much higher, and even today their final figure is unknown. But the losses were certainly not less than those of the enemy. Hundreds of thousands of partisans and underground fighters gave their lives for the liberation of the Motherland.

How many partisan heroes do we have

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

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

Sidor Kovpak. Reproduction: TASS

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

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

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

Chronicle of partisan heroism

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

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

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

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

It remains only to add that after the collapse of the USSR, the title of Hero Russian Federation was awarded to 9 more partisans, including three posthumously (one of the awarded was scout Vera Voloshina). The medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" was awarded to a total of 127,875 men and women (1st degree - 56,883 people, 2nd degree - 70,992 people): organizers and leaders of the partisan movement, commanders of partisan detachments and particularly distinguished partisans. The very first of the medals "Partisan of the Patriotic War" of the 1st degree in June 1943 was received by the commander of the demolition group Yefim Osipenko. He was awarded the award for his feat in the fall of 1941, when he had to undermine a mine that did not work literally by hand. As a result, the echelon with food collapsed from the canvas, and the detachment managed to pull out the shell-shocked and blinded commander and transport it to the mainland.

Partisans at the call of the heart and duty

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

But this is not the case for all groups. There were a lot of those who appeared spontaneously - from soldiers and officers who could not break through the front line, who were surrounded by units, who did not have time to evacuate specialists, who did not reach their units, conscripts and the like contingent. Moreover, this process was uncontrolled, and the number of such units was small. According to some reports, in the winter of 1941-1942, more than 2 thousand partisan detachments operated in the rear of the Germans, their total number was 90 thousand fighters. It turns out that on average there were up to fifty fighters in each detachment, more often one or two dozen. By the way, as eyewitnesses recall, local residents began to actively leave for partisan detachments not immediately, but only by the spring of 1942, when " new order” proved to be in the whole nightmare, and the opportunity to survive in the forest became real.

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

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

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

Before the commanders of such special units more serious and difficult tasks were set than for ordinary partisans. Often they had to conduct large-scale rear reconnaissance, develop and conduct infiltration operations and liquidation actions. One can again cite as an example the same detachment of Dmitry Medvedev's "Winners": it was he who provided support and supplies for the famous Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov, who accounted for the elimination of several major officials of the occupation administration and several major successes in undercover intelligence.

Insomnia and rail war

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

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

But after the appearance of the headquarters of the partisans, they began to centrally provide communications (in particular, regular graduates from schools of partisan radio operators began), to establish coordination between units and formations, and to use the gradually emerging partisan regions as a base for air supply. By that time, the main tactics of guerrilla warfare had also been formed. The actions of the detachments, as a rule, were reduced to one of two methods: harassing strikes at the place of deployment or lengthy raids on the rear of the enemy. Partisan commanders Kovpak and Vershigora were supporters and active performers of the raid tactics, while the “Winners” detachment rather demonstrated a disturbing one.

But what almost all partisan detachments, without exception, were doing was disrupting the communications of the Germans. And it doesn’t matter whether this was done as part of a raid or harassing tactics: strikes were made on railway (in the first place) and highways. Those who could not boast of a large number of units and special skills focused on undermining rails and bridges. Larger detachments, which had units of demolition, intelligence and saboteurs and special means, could count on larger targets: big bridges, junction stations, railway infrastructure.

Partisans mine the railway tracks near Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti

The most large-scale coordinated actions were two sabotage operations - "Rail War" and "Concert". Both were carried out by partisans on the orders of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement and the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and were coordinated with the offensives of the Red Army in the late summer and autumn of 1943. The result of the "Rail War" was a reduction in the operational transport of Germans by 40%, and the result of the "Concert" - by 35%. This had a tangible impact on the provision of reinforcements and equipment to the active parts of the Wehrmacht, although some experts in the field of sabotage warfare believed that partisan capabilities could have been disposed of differently. For example, it was necessary to strive to disable not so much the railway tracks as equipment, which is much more difficult to restore. It was for this purpose that a device such as an overhead rail was invented at the Higher Operational School for Special Purposes, which literally threw trains off the canvas. But still, for the majority of partisan detachments, the most accessible way of rail warfare remained precisely undermining the canvas, and even such assistance to the front turned out to be senseless.

A move that cannot be undone

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

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

The first days of the Great Patriotic War were catastrophic for the Soviet Union: the surprise attack on June 22, 1941 allowed the Nazi army to gain significant advantages. Many frontier posts and formations that took on the force of the first blow of the enemy perished. Wehrmacht troops moved deep into Soviet territory with great speed. In a short time, 3.8 million fighters and commanders of the Red Army were captured. But, despite the most difficult conditions of hostilities, the defenders of the Fatherland from the very first days of the war showed courage and heroism. A vivid example of heroism was the creation, in the first days of the war, in the occupied territory of the first partisan detachment under the command of Korzh Vasily Zakharovich.

Korzh Vasily Zakharovich- commander of the Pinsk partisan unit, member of the Pinsk underground regional party committee, major general. He was born on January 1 (13), 1899 in the village of Khorostov, now the Soligorsk district of the Minsk region, in a peasant family. Belarus. Member of the CPSU since 1929. He graduated from a rural school. In 1921–1925, V.Z. Korzh fought in the partisan detachment of K.P. Orlovsky, operating in Western Belarus. In 1925 he moved across the border to Soviet Belarus. Since 1925 he was the chairman of collective farms in the districts of the Minsk District. In 1931-1936 he worked in the bodies of the GPU of the NKVD of the BSSR. In 1936–1937, Korzh participated as an adviser in the NKVD revolutionary war Spanish people, was the commander of an international partisan detachment. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he formed and led a fighter battalion, which grew into the first partisan detachment in Belarus. The squad consisted of 60 people. The detachment was divided into 3 rifle squads of 20 fighters each. Armed with rifles, they received 90 rounds of ammunition and one grenade. On June 28, 1941, in the area of ​​the village of Posenichi, the first battle was fought by a partisan detachment under the command of V.Z. Korzha. To protect the city from the north side, a group of partisans was placed on the Pinsk Logishin road.

2 German tanks. It was reconnaissance of the 293rd Wehrmacht infantry division. The partisans opened fire and knocked out one tank. As a result of this operation, they managed to capture 2 Nazis. It was the first partisan battle of the first partisan detachment in the history of the Great Patriotic War. On July 4, 1941, the detachment met 4 kilometers from the city with enemy cavalry squadrons. Korzh quickly "opened" firepower of his detachment, and dozens of fascist cavalry died on the battlefield. The front was receding to the east, and the partisans' cases increased every day. They set up ambushes on the roads and destroyed enemy vehicles with infantry, equipment, ammunition, food, and intercepted motorcyclists. The partisans blew up the first armored train on the first mine made by Korzhem himself from explosives used before the war for roaming stumps. The combat score of the detachment grew.

But there was no connection with the mainland. Then Korzh sent a man behind the front line. The messenger was the well-known Belarusian underground worker Vera Khoruzhaya. And she managed to get to Moscow. In the winter of 1941/42, it was possible to establish contact with the Minsk underground regional party committee, which deployed its headquarters in the Luban region. We jointly organized a sledge raid in the Minsk and Polessye regions. On the way, uninvited foreign guests were “smoked out”, they were given a “taste” of partisan bullets. During the raid, the detachment replenished thoroughly. guerrilla war flared up. By November 1942, 7 detachments of impressive strength merged together and formed a partisan formation. Korzh took command over him. In addition, 11 underground district party committees, the Pinsk city committee, and about 40 primary organizations began to operate in the region. It was possible to "recruit" to their side even a whole Cossack regiment, formed by the Nazis from prisoners of war! By the winter of 1942/43, the Korzh connection restored Soviet power in a significant part of the Luninets, Zhitkovichi, Starobinsky, Ivanovsky, Drogichinsky, Leninsky, Telekhansky, Gantsevichsky districts. Connected with the mainland. Planes landed at the partisan airfield, brought ammunition, medicines, and radios.

The partisans reliably controlled a huge area railway Brest - Gomel, the Baranovichi - Luninets stretch, and the enemy echelons went downhill according to a solid partisan schedule. The Dnieper-Bug Canal was almost completely paralyzed. In February 1943, the Nazi command made an attempt to put an end to the Korzh partisans. Regular units with artillery, aircraft, and tanks advanced. On February 15, the encirclement closed. The partisan zone has turned into a continuous battlefield. Korzh himself led the column to break through. He personally led the strike detachments to break through the ring, then the defense of the neck of the breakthrough, while the convoys with civilians, the wounded and property overcame the gap, and, finally, the rearguard group that covered the pursuit. And so that the Nazis did not think that they had won, Korzh attacked a large garrison in the village of Svyataya Volya. The battle lasted 7 hours, in which the partisans were victorious. Until the summer of 1943, the Nazis threw against the formation of Korzh part by part.

And every time the partisans broke through the encirclement. Finally, they finally escaped from the cauldron to the area of ​​Lake Vygonovsky. . Council Decree People's Commissars USSR dated September 16, 1943 No. 1000 - one of the ten commanders of the partisan formations of the Byelorussian SSR - V.Z. Korzh was assigned military rank"major general". Throughout the summer and autumn of 1943, the “rail war” thundered in Belarus, proclaimed by the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. The connection of Korzh made a significant contribution to this grandiose "event". In 1944, several operations, brilliant in design and organization, overturned all the calculations of the Nazis for a systematic, well-thought-out withdrawal of their units to the west.

The partisans broke the railway arteries (only on July 20, 21 and 22, 1944, demolitionists blew up 5 thousand rails!), tightly closed the Dnieper-Bug Canal, and frustrated the enemy’s attempts to establish crossings across the Sluch River. Hundreds of Aryan warriors, together with the commander of the group, General Miller, surrendered to the partisans of Korzh. A few days later, the war left the Pinsk Territory ... In total, by July 1944, the Pinsk partisan formation under the command of Korzh defeated 60 German garrisons in battle, derailed 478 enemy echelons, blew up 62 railway bridges, destroyed 86 tanks and armored vehicles, 29 guns, took out out of order 519 kilometers of communication lines. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 15, 1944, for the exemplary performance of command assignments in the fight against the Nazi invaders behind enemy lines and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, Vasily Zakharovich Korzh was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. "(No. 4448). In 1946 he graduated military academy General Staff. Since 1946, Major General Korzh V.Z. in reserve. In 1949-1953 he worked as Deputy Minister of Forestry of the Byelorussian SSR. In 1953-1963 he was the chairman of the collective farm "Partizansky Krai" in the Soligorsk district of the Minsk region. AT last years lived in Minsk. Died May 5, 1967. He was buried at the Eastern (Moscow) cemetery in Minsk. He was awarded 2 Orders of Lenin, 2 Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the Red Star, and medals. The monument to the Hero was erected in the village of Khorostov, memorial plaques in the cities of Minsk and Soligorsk. The collective farm "Partisan Territory", streets in the cities of Minsk, Pinsk, Soligorsk, as well as a school in the city of Pinsk are named after him.

Sources and literature.

1. Ioffe E.G. Higher partisan command of Belarus 1941-1944 // Handbook. - Minsk, 2009. - P. 23.

2. Kolpakidi A., Sever A. Spetsnaz GRU. - M .: "YAUZA", ESKMO, 2012. - P. 45.

D.V. Gnedash

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

RSFSR

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

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

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

On the territory of the RSFSR, there were countless detachments, sabotage groups, formations (about 250 thousand people), each of which was of great benefit to achieve victory. Many names have forever remained in the annals of history.

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

Byelorussian SSR

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

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

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

Marat, together with his commander, returned to headquarters. By chance they met the Germans-punishers. The commander was killed immediately, the boy could only be wounded. Shooting back, he hid in the forest, but the Germans pursued him. Until the bullets ran out, Marat left the chase. And then he made an important decision for himself. The boy had two grenades. He immediately threw one at a group of Germans, and held the second firmly in his hand until he was surrounded. Then he blew it up, taking German soldiers with him to the next world.

Ukrainian SSR

Partisans during the Great Patriotic War on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR united in 53 formations, 2145 detachments and 1807 groups, with a total number of about 220 thousand people.

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

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

Mikhail Karnaukhov led the movement in the Donbass. Subordinates and local residents nicknamed him "dad" for warm human relations. Batya was killed by the Germans in 1943. Secretly, the inhabitants of the local occupied villages gathered at night to bury the commander and pay him due honors.

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

During the operation of the Karnaukhov detachment, 1304 fascists were destroyed (out of 12 were officers).

Estonian SSR

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

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

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

They were Leen Kulman (shot by the Germans in 1943 as a Soviet intelligence officer) and Vladimir Fedorov.

Latvian SSR

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

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

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

Lithuanian SSR

On Lithuanian territory, partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 carried out hundreds of acts of sabotage, as a result of which almost 10,000 Germans were killed.

With a total number of partisans in 9187 people (only named by name), seven are Heroes of the Soviet Union:

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

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

Moldavian SSR

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

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

Jewish resistance

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

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

Most of the Jews were refugees from the ghetto. Often there were children among them.

The partisans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 did a great job, provided invaluable assistance to the Red Army in the liberation of the territories and the victory over the German fascists.

Druzhinin V.N. Chernihiv partisan unit. For making clarifications on this photo, I express my gratitude to a colleague sergiy_rode

Hero of the Soset Union, commander of the 123rd partisan brigade F.I. Pavlovsky

Slyusarev. Commander of the Lvov Partisan Detachment

Hero of the Soviet Union, Commissar of the Sumy partisan unit Semyon Vasilyevich Rudnev. Died in battle with the invaders near Delyatyn

Commander of the First Ukrainian Partisan Division named after Kovpak Hero of the Soviet Union Petr Vershigora

Commander of the 3rd Regiment of the Kovpakovskaya Division, Hero of the Soviet Union P.E. Braiko

F.F. Cabbage, commander of the Bialystok partisan unit

The commander of the partisan detachment Dunyaev

Petr Nikitovich Zyabkin. Partisan Detachment Commander

The commander of the partisan detachment "Elusive" Hero of the Soviet Union Lieutenant Colonel M.S. Prudnikov

The commander of the partisan fighter battalion V. Blukov. Pskov region

Chief of Staff of the Gomel partisan unit E.I. Barykin

The commander of the 2nd regiment of the 3rd Leningrad partisan brigade A.P. Pakhomov

Commissar of the partisan detachment S.A. Ivanov

Commissioner of the Chernihiv partisan unit V.N. Druzhinin

The commander of the partisan detachment named after Chkalov S.D. Penkin. Novgorod region 1941

Chief of Staff of the 1st Belarusian Separate Cossack Partisan Division I.A. Soloshenko. 1943

The commander of the Transcarpathian partisan detachment Lavrov V.I.

Alexander Eliseevich Krivets, commander of the partisan detachment named after Shchors

The commander of the Chernihiv partisan unit Taranushchenko N.M.

The commander of the partisan unit twice Hero of the Soviet Union A. F. Fedorov

The commander of the formation of the Chernigov partisans, Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Nikitich Popudrenko, January 1943.

The commander of the Chernihiv-Volyn partisan unit A.F. Fedorov with comrades. 1943

The commander of the partisan formation. Kovpak P.P. Vershigora and regiment commander D.I. Bakradze

Command of the Chernihiv-Volyn partisan formation: S.V. Chintsov, A.F. Fedorov and L.E. Kizya

The commanders of the partisan detachment. Kirov

Heroes of the Soviet Union partisan commanders: Duka, Romashin, Emlyutin, Kovpak, Saburov on Red Square. 1942

Demyan Korotchenko, Alexey Fedorov, Semyon Rudnev, Timofey Strokach

Major General T.A. Strokach at dinner with the commanders of the Rivne partisan formations. 06.1943

Commanders of partisan formations: L.E. Kizya, V.A. Begma, A.F. Fedorov and T.A. Strokach

D. Korotchenko speaks at a meeting of the commanders of the Zhytomyr connection of partisan detachments under the command of S. Malikov. 1943

This is the last picture of the Hero of the Soviet Union N. N. Popudrenko (first from the left). Four hours later he died a heroic death

Commander of the Pinsk partisan brigade M.I. Gerasimov (2nd from right) and commissar of the brigade V.S. Kunkov (2nd from left)

One of the most terrible myths of World War II is associated with the existence of detachments in the Red Army. Often in modern war serials you can see scenes with gloomy personalities in the blue caps of the NKVD troops, machine-gunning wounded soldiers leaving the battlefield. By showing this, the authors take on the soul a great sin. None of the researchers managed to find a single fact in the archives to confirm this.

What happened?

Barrage detachments appeared in the Red Army from the first days of the war. Such formations were created by military counterintelligence, firstly represented by the 3rd Directorate of the NPO of the USSR, and from July 17, 1941, by the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD of the USSR and subordinate bodies in the troops.

As the main tasks of the special departments for the period of the war, by decree State Committee The defenses were defined as "a decisive struggle against espionage and treachery in the Red Army units and the elimination of desertion in the immediate front line." They received the right to arrest deserters, and, if necessary, to shoot them on the spot.

To ensure operational activities in special departments in accordance with the order of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. By July 25, 1941, Beria were formed: in divisions and corps - separate rifle platoons, in armies - separate rifle companies, in fronts - separate rifle battalions. Using them, special departments organized a barrier service, setting up ambushes, posts and patrols on roads, refugee routes and other communications. Each detained commander, Red Army soldier, Red Navy soldier was checked. If he was recognized as having fled from the battlefield, then he was subjected to immediate arrest, and an operational (no more than 12-hour) investigation began on him to be tried by a military tribunal as a deserter. Special departments were entrusted with the duty to carry out the sentences of military tribunals, including before the ranks. In “particularly exceptional cases, when the situation requires decisive measures to be taken to immediately restore order at the front,” the head of the special department had the right to shoot deserters on the spot, which he had to immediately report to the special department of the army and front (navy). Servicemen who lagged behind the unit for an objective reason, in an organized manner, accompanied by a representative of a special department, were sent to the headquarters of the nearest division.

The flow of servicemen who lagged behind their units in a kaleidoscope of battles, when leaving numerous encirclements, or even deliberately deserted, was huge. Only from the beginning of the war until October 10, 1941, the operational barriers of special departments and barrage detachments of the NKVD troops detained more than 650 thousand soldiers and commanders. The German agents were easily dissolved in the general mass. Thus, a group of scouts neutralized in the winter-spring of 1942 had the task of physically liquidating the command of the Western and Kalinin fronts, including the commanders of generals G.K. Zhukov and I.S. Konev.

Special departments could hardly cope with such a volume of cases. The situation required the creation of special units that would be directly involved in preventing unauthorized withdrawal of troops from their positions, returning stragglers to their units and subunits, and detaining deserters.

The first initiative of this kind was shown by the military command. After the appeal of the commander of the Bryansk Front, Lieutenant General A.I. Eremenko to Stalin on September 5, 1941, he was allowed to create barrage detachments in "unstable" divisions, where there were repeated cases of leaving combat positions without orders. A week later, this practice was extended to the rifle divisions of the entire Red Army.

These barrage detachments (numbering up to a battalion) had nothing to do with the NKVD troops, they acted as part of the rifle divisions of the Red Army, were recruited at the expense of their personnel and were subordinate to their commanders. At the same time, along with them, there were detachments formed either by military special departments or by territorial bodies of the NKVD. A typical example is the barrage detachments formed in October 1941 by the NKVD of the USSR, which, by order of the State Defense Committee, took under special protection the zone adjacent to Moscow from the west and south along the line Kalinin - Rzhev - Mozhaisk - Tula - Kolomna - Kashira. Already the first results showed how necessary these measures were. In just two weeks from October 15 to October 28, 1941, more than 75,000 servicemen were detained in the Moscow zone.

From the very beginning, the barrage formations, regardless of their departmental subordination, were not oriented by the leadership towards general executions and arrests. Meanwhile, today in the press one has to deal with such accusations; detachments are sometimes called punishers. But here are the numbers. Of the more than 650 thousand military personnel detained by October 10, 1941, after checking, about 26 thousand people were arrested, among which special departments were: spies - 1505, saboteurs - 308, traitors - 2621, cowards and alarmists - 2643, deserters - 8772, spreaders of provocative rumors - 3987, self-shooters - 1671, others - 4371 people. 10,201 people were shot, including 3,321 people in front of the line. The overwhelming number - more than 632 thousand people, i.e. more than 96% were returned to the front.

As the front line stabilized, the activities of the barrage formations were curtailed without permission. Order No. 227 gave her a new impetus.

The detachments of up to 200 people created in accordance with it consisted of fighters and commanders of the Red Army, who did not differ in form or weapons from the rest of the Red Army soldiers. Each of them had the status of a separate military unit and was not subordinate to the command of the division, behind the battle formations of which it was located, but to the command of the army through the NKVD OO. The detachment was led by a state security officer.

In total, by October 15, 1942, 193 barrage detachments functioned in parts of the active army. First of all, the Stalinist order was carried out, of course, on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front. Almost every fifth detachment - 41 units - were formed in the Stalingrad direction.

Initially, in accordance with the requirements of the People's Commissar of Defense, barrage detachments were charged with the duty to prevent unauthorized withdrawal of line units. However, in practice, the range of military affairs in which they were engaged turned out to be wider.

“The barrage detachments,” recalled General of the Army P. N. Lashchenko, who was deputy chief of staff of the 60th Army at the time of the publication of order No. , unfortunately, were; put things in order at the crossings, sent soldiers who had strayed from their units to assembly points.

As many participants in the war testify, detachments did not exist everywhere. According to the Marshal of the Soviet Union D.T. Yazov, they were generally absent on a number of fronts operating in the northern and northwestern directions.

Do not stand up to criticism and the version that the detachments "guarded" penal units. The company commander of the 8th separate penal battalion of the 1st Belorussian Front, retired colonel A.V. Pyltsyn, who fought from 1943 until the very Victory, states: deterrent measures. It's just that it's never been needed."

Famous writer Hero of the Soviet Union V.V. Karpov, who fought in the 45th separate penal company on the Kalinin Front, also denies the presence of detachments behind the battle formations of their unit.

In reality, the outposts of the army detachment were located at a distance of 1.5-2 km from the front line, intercepting communications in the immediate rear. They did not specialize in fines, but checked and detained everyone whose stay outside the military unit aroused suspicion.

Did the barrage detachments use weapons to prevent unauthorized withdrawal of line units from their positions? This aspect of their combat activities is sometimes highly speculative.

The documents show how the combat practice of the barrage detachments developed in one of the most intense periods of the war, in the summer-autumn of 1942. From August 1 (the moment of formation) to October 15, they detained 140,755 servicemen who "escaped from the front line." Of these: arrested - 3980, shot - 1189, sent to penal companies - 2776, to penal battalions - 185, the vast majority of detainees - 131094 people were returned to their units and transit points. The above statistics show that the vast majority of military personnel, who had previously left the front line for various reasons - more than 91%, got the opportunity to continue fighting without any loss of rights.

As for the criminals, the most severe measures were applied to them. This applied to deserters, defectors, imaginary patients, self-shooters. It happened - and they shot in front of the ranks. But the decision to enforce this extreme measure was made not by the commander of the detachment, but by the military tribunal of the division (not lower) or, in separate, prearranged cases, by the head of the special department of the army.

In exceptional situations, the soldiers of the barrage detachments could open fire over the heads of the retreating. We admit that individual cases of shooting at people in the heat of battle could take place: endurance could change the fighters and commanders of detachments in a difficult situation. But to assert that such was the daily practice - there are no grounds. Cowards and alarmists were shot in front of the formation on an individual basis. Punishment, as a rule, is only the initiators of panic and flight.

Here are some typical examples from the history of the battle on the Volga. On September 14, 1942, the enemy launched an offensive against units of the 399th rifle division 62nd Army. When the fighters and commanders of the 396th and 472nd rifle regiments began to retreat in a panic, the head of the detachment, junior lieutenant of state security Elman, ordered his detachment to open fire over the heads of the retreating. It made personnel to stop, and two hours later the regiments occupied the former lines of defense.

On October 15, in the area of ​​the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the enemy managed to reach the Volga and cut off the remnants of the 112th Rifle Division, as well as three (115th, 124th and 149th) separate rifle brigades, from the main forces of the 62nd Army. Having succumbed to panic, a number of military personnel, including commanders of various degrees, tried to abandon their units and, under various pretexts, cross to the eastern bank of the Volga. In order to prevent this, the task force under the leadership of senior detective lieutenant of state security Ignatenko, created by a special department of the 62nd army, put up a barrier. In 15 days, up to 800 privates and soldiers were detained and returned to the battlefield. commanders, 15 alarmists, cowards and deserters were shot in front of the formation. The detachments acted similarly later.

Here, as the documents testify, the detachments had to prop up the trembling, retreating units and units themselves, to intervene in the course of the battle in order to make a turning point in it, as the documents show, more than once. The replenishment arriving at the front was, of course, unfired, and in this situation, the barrage detachments, formed from staunch, fired, commanders and fighters with strong front-line hardening, provided a reliable shoulder for the line units.

So, during the defense of Stalingrad on August 29, 1942, the headquarters of the 29th Infantry Division of the 64th Army was surrounded by enemy tanks that had broken through. The detachment not only stopped the soldiers retreating in disorder and returned them to the previously occupied defense lines, but also entered the battle itself. The enemy was pushed back.

On September 13, when the 112th Rifle Division withdrew from the occupied line under pressure from the enemy, the 62nd Army detachment under the command of State Security Lieutenant Khlystov took up the defense. For several days, the fighters and commanders of the detachment repelled the attacks of enemy machine gunners, until the approaching units stood up for defense. So it was in other sectors of the Soviet-German front.

With the turning point in the situation that came after the victory at Stalingrad, the participation of barrage formations in battles more and more turned out to be not only spontaneous, dictated by a dynamically changing situation, but also the result of a pre-determined decision of the command. The commanders tried to use the detachments left without "work" with maximum benefit in matters not related to the barrage service.

Facts of this kind were reported to Moscow in mid-October 1942 by State Security Major V.M. Kazakevich. For example, on the Voronezh Front, by order of the military council of the 6th Army, two barrage detachments were attached to the 174th Rifle Division and put into battle. As a result, they lost up to 70% of their personnel, the soldiers remaining in the ranks were transferred to replenish the named division, and the detachments had to be disbanded. How the linear part was used by the detachment of the 29th army Western Front commander of the 246th Infantry Division, in whose operational subordination the detachment was. Taking part in one of the attacks, a detachment of 118 personnel lost 109 people killed and wounded, in connection with which it had to be re-formed.

The reasons for the objections from the special departments are understandable. But, it seems, it is no coincidence that from the very beginning, the barrage detachments were subordinate to the army command, and not to the bodies military counterintelligence. The People's Commissar of Defense, of course, had in mind that the barrage formations would and should be used not only as a barrier for the retreating units, but also as the most important reserve for the direct conduct of hostilities.

As the situation on the fronts changed, with the transition to the Red Army of the strategic initiative and the beginning of the mass expulsion of the occupiers from the territory of the USSR, the need for detachments began to decline sharply. Order "Not a step back!" completely lost its former meaning. On October 29, 1944, Stalin issued an order acknowledging that "due to the change in the general situation on the fronts, the need for further maintenance of barrage detachments has disappeared." By November 15, 1944, they were disbanded, and the personnel of the detachments were sent to replenish rifle divisions.

Thus, the barrage detachments not only acted as a barrier that prevented the penetration of deserters, alarmists, German agents into the rear, not only returned to the front lines the soldiers who had lagged behind their units, but also conducted direct fighting with the enemy, contributing to the achievement of victory over Nazi Germany.