the soviet partisan movement 1941-1944 by edgar m. howell

GERMAN OCCUPATION POLICIES IN OPERATION 91
As late as 1 April Belov with a strong mixed regular-irregular group
still lay between the German front and Smolensk, threatening the
Smolensk-Vyazma rail line from his base at Dorogobuzh. With the
undermanned German security units concentrated in small perimeters
along the railroads and highways, partisan units roamed the rear freely
as far west as Borissov.
The danger posed by Belov's force was clear and as soon as the weather
permitted, elements of two corps, aided by several security units,
launched a concerted attack to clear it from the Fourth Army rear and
secure communications there. Gradually, but with considerable difficulty,
they drove Belov from his base, but despite an overwhelming superiority
of numbers, including armor, they were unable to prevent his
slipping eastward through the Soviet lines near Kirov with a good portion
of his command. 142
As a corollary operation, on 5 June the army group launched a largescale
antipartisan operation, code-named VOGELSANG, in the area
about Bryansk to clear the forests there, of partisans and scattered Red
Army units and to secure the rail lines and highways supplying the
Second Panzer Army and linking-the central sector with the southern
armies. 143 The action was concluded on schedule with some 1,200 irregulars
counted dead, 500 captured, and large quantities of supplies
and materiel taken. Despite the careful manner in which the action
was planned and carried out, however, the bulk of the partisans withdrew
from the area to the west in an orderly manner and according to
a previously formulated plan, leaving specially designated personnel
behind to reorganize the region once the Germans had moved through.
At no point were any large groups brought to bay. 144
Taken as a whole, these efforts to bring the rear area under control
fell somewhat short of the mark. They did clear the Rollbahn Nord and
drive the bands in the immediate rear of the Sixteenth Army to the
west, eliminate the threat of the Belov group, and temporarily break up
the partisan concentrations in the Bryansk forest area. But they failed
to even approach a permanent solution. In combing out these areas
the Germans scattered a number of bands, but nowhere were they able
to trap and annihilate any sizable groups. Under pressure, the partisans
merely dispersed, slipped through the attacking lines, and reassembled
elsewhere. As a result, all during the spring months, and even while
the German clearing actions were in progress, they continued their
activity.
142 See: "Halder's Journal," op cit., VII, pp. 3 16-28; Anl. 19, 75, 76, z. Tgb Ic,
221 Sich. Div., 22.III.-17.VI.42. 22639/6.
143
Bericht ueber Unternehmen Vogelsang der 339 Inf. Div., Nr. 1505 11.VII.42.
Anl. z. KTB Pz AOK 2. 28499/58.
144
Ibid.