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

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6 THE SOVIET PARTISAN MOVEMENT miles for European Russia as against 155 miles per 1,000 square miles for Germany. 1 The gauge differed from the standard European gauge, 2 necessitating transshipment at the western border. The three major geographical areas-the Ukraine, White and Great Russia, and the Baltic States-were each served by one heavy-capacity double track rail line. In the Ukraine this was the line Krakow-Lwow Kiev-Kursk or Dnepropetrovsk. Only to a small extent could it be supplemented by the tortuous and winding medium-, and often low-, capacity line Przemy-Stanislaw-Cernauti-Odessa on the southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. Through White Russia to the east the primary trunk was the Warsaw-Brest-Litovsk-Minsk-Smolensk-Moscow. This was paralleled on the south by the low-and medium-capacity line through the Pripyat, Brest-Litovsk, Pinsk-Gomel-Bryansk-Moscow. Several lateral lines of medium capacity, however, and one diagonal route from Kovno in Lithuania southeast through Minsk Bobruysk to Gomel offered possibilities for alternate routes. To the north the one trunk was the Warsaw-Bialystok-Vilnansk-Pskov-Leningrad line. With the exception of the stretch Dvinsk-Ostrov, it was double track. The few alternate lines, for the most part to the north of Pskov, were all of low capacity. Roads The road net was generally poor, comprising some 60,500 miles of all types of surfacing, from plain unimproved dirt track to asphalt and concrete highways, for the whole of the USSR. 3 The majority of this net was in European Russia. Generally the paved arteries paralleled the rail lines. Of the entire net, only the stretch westward from Moscow through Smolensk to Minsk, where it terminated could be classed as a superhighway in the American sense of the term. All but the few hundred miles of concrete and asphalt deteriorated rapidly under heavy use and became bottomless during the spring and fall muddy seasons, thus throwing an added en on the rail system. 1 Militaergeographische Angaben ueber das europaeische land, Allgemeiner Ueberblick, I.IX.41., Gen. St.d.H. Abt. fuer gskarten und Vermessungswesen (IV. Mil.-Geo.), pp. 38-40. 29/IDZ.11. Postwar estimates of the 1940 trackage total have d this estimate to just over 60,000 miles, of which 16,000 were double-track. See: P. E. Garbutt, The Russian Railroads (London, 1949), p. 12; Nikolae A. Voznesensky,. . The Economy of the USSR During World War II (Washington, 1948), p. 59. 2 Standard European gauge: 4 feet 81/2 inches; Russian gauge: 5 feet. 3 Militaergeographische Angaben ueber das europaeische Russland, Allgemeiner Ueberblick,1.IX.41, GenStdH. Abt. fuer Kriegskarten und Vermessungswesen (IV. Mil.-Geo.), pp. 38-40. 29/IDZ.11. A 1938 American estimate placed the total at 64,200 miles, of which some 2,400 miles were believed to be asphalted. See: E. J. Simmons, USSR, A Concise Handbook (Ithaca, 1947), ch. XIV.
BACKGROUND 7 Rivers Despite the fact that rapids were few in the Russian rivers and that canals connected several of the major streams, their extensive use as an aid to invasion was limited by their general north-south courses and by their freezing in the cold months and heavy flooding in the spring. Prior to World War II, less than 8 percent of Russian freight traffic moved over these inland waterways. 4 The Transportation Net and Irregular Resistance The difficulties of Russian terrain and climate pose an added problem to an invader should any determined guerrilla resistance develop, that is, the protection of the lines of communication against organized armed attack. Whereas in the Ukraine the general absence of cover virtually precludes the chance of irregular raiding, in the central and northern sectors the danger is a very real. From the southern edges of the Pripyat to the Gulf of Finland all orderly movement is channeled by the terrain into a few narrow corridors where for long stretches it is exposed to easy interdiction. This is also true of the heavy forests about Gomel and Bryansk and before Moscow. Not only does the terrain offer the attackers protection in the execution of their raids, but secures their movements and hides and protects their bases. The many rivers add to this problem, for the bridges and culverts are very ready targets for sabotage. The climate too exercises a very real effect in this respect. The heavy snows during the winter and the mud in the spring and fall sharply limit the value of the road net which in turn places an added load on the rail system and a few good highways makes any interruption of them doubly effective. 4 Garbutt, op. cit., p. 12.
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Page 6 and 7: DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY WASHINGTON 2
Page 9: PREFACE The purpose of this text is
Page 12 and 13: viii PART TWO . 1941-1942: THE PERI
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EARLY RUSSIAN RESISTANCE AND GERMAN
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CHAPTER 5 GERMAN OCCUPATION POLICIE
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GERMAN OCCUPATION POLICIES IN OPERA
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Chapter 6 THE OCCUPATION FALTERS
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THE OCCUPATION FALTERS 99 The commo
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THE OCCUPATION FALTERS 103 Religion
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F N L A N O Map 4. Period of Soviet
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Chart 3 ORGANIZATIOUIF A PARTISAN B
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THE PARTISAN MOVEMENT REACHES MATUR
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CHAPTER 10 THE PARTISANS AND THE C
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THE PARTISANS AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1
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PARTISAN CONCENTRATIONS IN SECTOR O
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THE DECISIVE MONTHS: JANUARY—JUNE
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THE DECISIVE MONTHS: JANUARY-JUNE 1
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15 Anl. 43 z. KTB, H. Gr. Nord. 14.
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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The Soviet Pa
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the soviet partisan movement 1941-1944 by edgar m. howell

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