Partisan Warfare, an Untold Tale in Soviet Military History

tion of Partisan Warfare, to the reasons Soviets began Partisan Warfare in World War II; from the composition of a partisan band, to specific partisan objectives, and its success on the war measured from the German response; Soviet Partisan Warfare was a highly effective means of un-conventional warfare.

This [guerilla warfare] is often not felt, but these people live, they exist, and they must not be forgotten, for it is dangerous to forget them. Do not forget that if in the rear of Kolchak, Denikin, Wrangel and Yudenich [battles of the Russian Revolution where guerilla warfare took place] we had not had the so-called ‘aliens’, the oppressed peoples, who disorganized the rear of these generals by their tactic sympathy for the Russian proletarians-comrades, this is a specific factor in our development, this tactic sympathy, which nobody hears or sees, but which decides everything-if it were not for this sympathy, we would not have nailed a single one of these generals. (Internet)

In the month after the invasion, the German army encountered little resistance and penetrated 600 kilometers into Soviet territory. Stalin and the Communist Party, while frantically trying to develop the inadequate Soviet war machine, issued a direct order to rural Soviets stating, “…the Communist Party order the immediate mobilization of units of the People’s Defense (Partisans) for the support of the Red Army according to the decree of Comrade Stalin.” (Dixon 59). Aside from the Party’s orders, the Partisan movement grew as a result of the German treatment of Soviet population. “The wholesale slaughter committed by the SD [German security service], the mass-killings by Army Field Police, and the retribution policy carried out by the German Army against innocent hostages, the delay in abolishing the collective farm economy, the requisitioning of horses, vehicles, foodstuffs and fodder, even of the last cow, the reduction of the population to starvation level, the conscription of indigenous personnel for auxiliary services in the Wehrmacht, and last but not least the recruiting campaign for labor allocating in Germany, drove especially the young peasants and workers to join the partisans” (Dixon 45). These actions that Germany carried out were spread by means of newspapers, radio, and most importantly word of mouth from district to district. It can be seen that the origins of the partisan movement were the combination of a centralized authority figure, and rural, independent uprisings.

There were many goals and missions carried though out the war by the partisans. But the main ideas were common among individual bands, allowing for effective and significant outcomes. Three of the primary goals were the destruction of transportation, communication, and mentally and physically exhausting the enemy. The most common means of transportation in World War II was the train. It carried food, supplies, and reinforcements for hundreds of miles and was the lifeline of the German Army. Without a constant flow of these necessities the German advance was put to a halt, and it was seen as absolutely necessary to carry out demolitions along their supply routes. Partisan manuals and newspapers provided easy formulas to carry out such actions. Common instructions were such on how to blow up steel and wooden bridges, railway track demolition, de-rail trains, mine roads and fields, and destroy tanks and other motor vehicles. “These missions usually only required one or two partisans, some dynamite and wires, and thirty minuets in most cases. In a period of eight days, a few groups of Ukrainian partisans mined and blew up eighteen enemy trains en route to the front with ammunition, arms, and men…Not one of them reached the front line” (Manstein 1923). In situations where German supply lines carrying food were destroyed, German rations were often reduced to starvation levels. Similar methods were used by partisans to disrupt German comm

Some topics in this essay:
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