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

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EARLY RUSSIAN RESISTANCE AND GERMAN COUNTERMEASURES 45 of whom had to be party members or former members of the Komsomolsk, 14 and the remainder reliable in a political sense. Their primary mission was the maintenance of internal security in the Soviet rear, defense against German parachute attack, and the destruction of all installations not demolished by the Red Army in its retreat. In the event of the continued advance of the enemy, they were to allow themselves to be bypassed and then operate as partisan units in the German rear, carrying out sabotage missions and waging a campaign of terror among the natives to prevent political deviation. 15 They were normally formed into regiments of 10 battalions, each having its own commissar and surgeon. In addition to the commissar, or perhaps to supplement him, in each battalion there was one group entrusted with the political security of the unit with police power over the remainder. The battalions were further subdivided into five groups of 20 to 25 men each, including at least one man considered especially safe politically. A majority of the personnel wore civilian clothes, none a complete uniform. Although they were armed with Red Army ordnance, they were not trained for formal combat and were not expected to be used in the line. Under normal circumstances they lived off the land. At the end of July the 285th Security Division reported it had identified 10 of these regiments in its area of responsibility alone. 16 The Soviets Organize the Movement By the first days of August a definite pattern of insurgent activity was beginning to take form. The appearance of the annihilation battalions, the parachute agent groups, and the local bands formed around Communist Party cells and led by party functionaries and NKVD personnel was the first evidence of any attempt on the part of the Soviet government to set up and sustain a centrally directed irregular movement. On 3 July Stalin had made his first public statement to the Soviet people since the German attack. In this radio broadcast he stated: In case of the forced retreat of Red Army units, all rolling stock must be evacuated; the enemy must not be left a single engine, a single railroad car, not a single pound of grain or a gallon of fuel. Collective farmers 14 The Communist youth organization. 15 KTB, 213 Sich, Div., 14424/4; radio announcement found 3 Jul 41 in Lwow radio station, in Meldung 23, Einsatzgruppe C, 15.VII.41. 62/4; "Political Report of the Administration of the Political Propaganda of the Northwest Front," in Anl. z. KTB. I, H. Geb. Nord, 21. III--19.X.41. 14768/5; Meldung 51, Einsatzgruppe A, 3.VIII.41. 62/6; Meldung 31, Einsatzgruppe B, 23.VI.41. 62/5; rpt 2, 14 Aug 41 (doc. 2652), prosecution document book in N.M.T., op. cit. (Case 9) ; Meldung 95, Einsatzgruppe A, 26.IX.41. Footlocker 62, folder 5. 16 "Final Report on Combating Partisans and Parachutists Along the Slucz River, 213th Security Division," 31 Aug 41. 14424/2; KTB, 285 Sich. Div., 31.VII.41. 14878/3 ; Meldung 51, Einsatzgruppe A, 13. VIII.41. 62/6.
46 THE SOVIET PARTISAN MOVEMENT must drive off their cattle, and turn over their grain to the safekeeping of the state authorities for transportation to the rear. All valuable property, including nonferrous metals, grain and fuel that cannot be withdrawn, must be destroyed without fail. In areas occupied by the enemy, partisan units, mounted and on foot must be formed; sabotage groups must be organized to combat the enemy units, to foment partisan warfare everywhere, blow up bridges and roads, damage telephone and telegraph lines, set fires to forests, stores, and transport. In occupied regions conditions must be made unbearable for the enemy and all his accomplices. They must be hounded and annihilated at every step, and all their measures frustrated. 17 He also announced that "in order to ensure the rapid mobilization of all the strength of the peoples of the USSR" a State Committee of Defense had been set up. 18 The concentration of defense powers in this new agency was necessitated by the obvious need to stiffen the resistance of the entire nation at all levels. At the top of the list was the immediate improvement of the morale and combat initiative of the Red Army. But hardly second in importance was the necessity for reasserting control over the natives of territory overrun by the Germans-and thus no longer under control of the party-where the chances of deviation from Soviet principles under German propaganda were great And finally the need to tighten direction of the Communist Party and NKVD units in the enemy-occupied areas which had been caught as unprepared as the Red Army and had their liaison with Moscow destroyed was recognized. Such a reassertion of party domination behind the enemy lines with the clandestine reconstruction of an underground Soviet administrative and party organization there went hand in hand with the possibilities for developing an effective irregular movement under centralized control. The effects of this tightening of control were felt almost immediately through the entire political structure of the Red Army. Reading into the continued defeats of the Army a lack of initiative on the part of the Army political commissar in matters of morale and leadership, General Mechlis, the head of the armed forces political system, on 15 July issued stringent orders that political agitation and propaganda be immediately intensified, that commissars and party members among the troops be placed in the front lines for morale and leadership purposes, and that units be made to understand that they were never to cease resisting and they had a definite mission of sabotage and terrorism behind the enemy lines should they be cut off. 19 He further ordered all Army political officers to maintain an especially close relationship with local Communist 17 Soviet Foreign Policy During the Patriotic War, trans. Arthur Rothstein (London), I, pp. 21-24. 18 Ibid. 19 Order 81, 15 Jul 41 (signed by Mechlis) in Anl. 1la, 29.VII.41., KTB, AOK 18. 13787/20.
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F I N L A N D Kholrn MOSCOW S. R. A
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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
Page 14 and 15: x PART THREE. 1943-1944: THE PERIOD
Page 16 and 17: 2 THE SOVIET PARTISAN MOVEMENT Euro
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Page 20 and 21: 6 THE SOVIET PARTISAN MOVEMENT mile
Page 22 and 23: Map 3. Period of German Offensives,
Page 24 and 25: PREINVASION PLANNING 9 Still doubti
Page 26 and 27: PREINVASION PLANNING 11 Chart 1 - O
Page 28 and 29: PREINVASION PLANNING 13 visions wer
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Page 32 and 33: PREINVASION PLANNING 17 and philoso
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Page 36 and 37: PREINVASION PLANNING 21 torates, on
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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 101 lective
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THE OCCUPATION FALTERS 103 Religion
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THE OCCUPATION FALTERS 105 was the
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THE OCCUPATION FALTERS 107 The Forc
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THE OCCUPATION FALTERS 109 As the p
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THE OCCUPATION FALTERS 113 . The Pa
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THE OCCUPATION FALTERS 115 tected b
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THE GERMANS CHANGE THEIR TACTICS 11
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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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164 on the rail lines of the centra
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166 Soviet propaganda aimed at the
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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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ARMY GROUP CENTER REAR AREA' WINTER
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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The Soviet Pa
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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 217 United Sta
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the soviet partisan movement 1941-1944 by edgar m. howell

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