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

200 THE SOVIET PARTISAN MOVEMENT
of the 95th Infantry Division, however, the pressure became too heavy,
and the partisans began a series of attempts to break out to the south.
By the middle of May the operation was essentially complete with the
area cleared and the bands badly scattered. Partisan casualties were
listed at slightly in excess of 14,000, with an estimated 3,000-4,000
escaping to the south and southwest.
At the conclusion of the two operations the Ushachi area lay free of
the bands and the Orsha-Lepel rail line-extended, which the Third
Panzer Army felt so vital to the defense of the Orsha-Vitebsk sector of
the front, secured at least momentarily from partisan interdiction. The
threat of the partisans in the Senno area and south of Lepel remained,
however, and to consolidate the gains of the earlier sweeps and to prevent
reinfiltration, the army group first garrisoned the area just cleared and
then mounted a third drive designed to clear the entire region north of
Molodechno-Minsk-Borisov. This was Operation KORMORON.
The operation opened on 22 May with elements of the Third Panzer
Army striking westward through the Senno area, and police and SS units
attacking to the east and northeast from the vicinity of Molodechno. To
prevent a mass escape of bands to the north and south, additional elements
of the Third Panzer Army had set up a blocking line on the north-