In 1941, having made a treacherous attack on the USSR, the Nazi troops began to move quickly enough deep into the country. Both the Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSRs were occupied. But the partisans of Belarus especially distinguished themselves during the years of a difficult and bloody war.
Let's talk about their feat in more detail.
Reasons for the appearance of a mass partisan movement
Appearing on Belarusian soil in June 1941, the Nazi troops soon captured the entire territory of the BSSR. The German command began to pursue a brutal policy of mass destruction of civilians.
Special detachments were created, the purpose of which was to conduct punitive operations. In all settlements of Belarus, communists, Komsomol members, family members of Red Army commanders, as well as all suspicious elements were identified. All these people were subjected to a painful execution.
There were also special German detachments that identified persons belonging to Jewish and Gypsy nationalities. All Jews (and there were a lot of them in Belarus) and gypsies moved either to the ghetto or to concentration camps.
In total, there were about 200 such camps in the occupied territory.
German soldiers and officers without a twinge of conscience robbed the local population, taking away their food, livestock, valuables, killing people and even children just for fun. About 200,000 Belarusians were driven away for forced labor in Germany.
There was no limit to the arbitrariness of the occupying command, so the Belarusian forests, deaf and impassable swamps became the place where the civilian population went. Some of these people took up arms and became partisans.
The first detachments of partisans
As soon as it became known about the attack of the Nazi troops, some of the former military personnel and party workers left their homes to create the first partisan detachments. Already at the end of June 1941, there were 4 such detachments, and in July there were already 35. By August, the number of detachments had doubled.
The very first detachment consisted of 25 people. They were commanded by F. I. Pavlovsky and T. P. Bumazhkov. Later, this detachment expanded to 100 people.
The chain of command was strict, it included a squad leader, commissar and other superiors. Within the detachment, special groups were also created with a hierarchy of subordination. These were sabotage, propaganda, reconnaissance groups.
The number of such units and the fighters themselves grew very quickly. So, according to historians, by the end of 1941, large partisan formations were operating on the territory of Belarus, which included about 56 thousand people. To communicate with the Sovietthe command of the partisan detachments had both communications and radio stations.
Hitler's troops could not imagine that they would meet such a rebuff from their opponents.
Liberation of territories
The partisans of Belarus already in 1942 began to liberate their lands from the Nazi invaders. Soviet power temporarily returned to cities, villages and towns throughout the BSSR. The German command was forced to carry out constant punitive operations, as well as greatly increase the occupying garrisons in the field. All this contributed to the fact that there was not enough German manpower on the war fronts, so the offensive of the Nazi troops deep into the USSR gradually bogged down.
As a result, by the end of 1942, the partisans of Belarus liberated about 6 bulk zones in the country.
Sabotage work
The German command experienced great difficulties due to the active sabotage work of the Soviet partisans. First of all, this concerned constant sabotage on the railways of Belarus. After all, it was these roads that made it possible to supply ammunition to German troops fighting near Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad.
The number of partisan sabotage increased every month and reached its peak in 1943. In total, the partisans destroyed about 200 locomotives, 750 wagons and thousands of meters of railway tracks.
Guerrilla operations associated with the undermining of railways are still considered the mostextensive on the territory of Belarus for all the years of the war.
Reasons for the success of the guerrilla movement
To counteract the mass resistance of the Belarusians, the Germans decided to carry out the most brutal punitive operations. For the slightest suspicion of links with the partisans, the Germans destroyed entire villages, and they were destroyed in the most cruel way: the entire population, young and old, was either shot or driven into one big house, and then set on fire.
However, this "scorched earth" tactic only led to increased resistance among the people. The partisans were strongly supported by the local population, providing food and trying to hide from the Germans.
Punitive operations against partisans and resistance to them
By the end of 1942, it became clear to the German command that in relation to the partisans it was necessary to change the tactics of the struggle. Now the Germans sought to undermine the movement from within, sending their provocateurs and agitators into the detachments.
However, the Soviet command, realizing that the partisans of Belarus militarily force the Germans to suffer significant losses, also stepped up measures to support them. So, in 1942, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement was organized at the Headquarters of the High Command. It was headed by P. K. Ponomarenko. This headquarters coordinated the activities of all partisan formations. With the help of such close cooperation between the regular army and the partisan detachments, significant successes have been achieved.
At this time, the activities of partisans and underground fighters on the territory of Belarus acquirednature of the mass popular liberation movement.
Liberation of Belarus as a result of the partisan movement
Today there are historians who seek to downplay the results of the partisan movement in Belarus, believing that even without it the Red Army would have been able to liberate the country from the Nazi invaders. However, such a position is considered short-sighted by other historians.
It was the activities of the partisans on the territory of Belarus that led to the fact that the German troops lost many people and material values. And most importantly, they lost time when they could have defeated our country with one powerful blow.
Many partisan formations operated in the BSSR. One of them - the Brest partisan unit - began to function literally from the very beginning of the war.
These people took an important part in the liberation of Belarus, which took place in the summer of 1944. At that time, partisan detachments were the strongest military formations that could cope with almost any task. After the territory of the BSSR was cleared of invaders, tens of thousands of partisans joined the ranks of the Red Army.
