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

CHAPTER 10
THE PARTISANS AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1943
Beginning with the campaigns of the summer of 1943, the story of the
partisan movement became in great part the story of the offensive and
defensive moves of the Wehrmacht and the Soviet armed forces, and so
continued as long as the fighting remained on Soviet territory. Before
the opening of the German ZITADELLE offensive in July, the reorganization
of the partisan movement was complete and the bands, greatly
increased in numbers and operationally much improved over their 1941-
1942 counterparts, were ready to take over with some authority the
clearly defined role assigned them in the Soviet war effort. As in the
previous two years, their operations were for the most part confined to
the central and northern sectors where the terrain was favorable.
Partisan Forces
The Winter Period, January to May
At the beginning of 1943 the heaviest concentrations of partisans lay
in three regions of the Army Group Center Rear Area, the wooded Orel-
Bryansk area, the Pripyat Marshes, and the White Russian forests west
of Mogilev-Orsha-Vitebsk. 1 In the rear of Army Group North there
were several sizeable groups behind the Sixteenth Army west of the
Dno-Nevel rail line along the army group boundary and straddling the
Velikiye Luki-Rezekne railroad.2 Other irregular units were scattered
through the occupied areas from the region between Lakes Ilmen and
Peipus behind the Eighteenth Army to the Yaila Mountains in the
Crimea, but for the most part they were weak and ineffective.
Before the middle of February the concentrations in the Central
sector had expanded considerably with the appearance of additional
bands, a number of which had crossed over into the German rear through
gaps in the front lines.' By the end of March they constituted an almost
solid block from Bryansk-Orel through Gomel and Bobruysk and
thence north through the area west of Orsha and Vitebsk where they
1
Bandenlage im Bereich d. H.!Gr. Mitte, Stand: 28.II.43., Anl. 2, Bandenlisten,
Februar bis September 43, H. Gr. Mitte. 65003/4.
2
Veindnachrichtenblaetter, Bandenlage, usw., AOK 16, Tgb., Ic/AO z. KTB 5,
Teil VI, 1.1.31 JII.43. 36588/142.
3
Feindnachrichtenblaetter, Bandenlage, usw., AOK 16, Tgb., Ic/AO z. KTB 5,
Teil VI, 1.1.-31.111.43. 36588/142; 201 Sich Div. Ia. KTB 40, ueber grosse
Bandenunternehmungen, SCHIVEEHASE, 29.1.-12.II.43., Bericht 15.11.43. 38204/2.
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