The North-West partisan region is a zone of the partisan movement on the territory of the Byelorussian SSR during the years of the Great Patriotic War , which arose in March-April 1942 and existed until September 1942. The partisans managed to liberate the territory with 230 settlements. Soviet power was restored in 16 of 25 village councils in the territory of the Dukhovshchinsky district of the Smolensk region. On May 1, 1942, the district party committee emerged from the underground. In other areas, a similar situation was observed.
Content
Creation History
The activity of the special group N. Z. Kolyada (the initial pseudonym “Nikita”, after “Batya”) formed the basis of the partisan movement in the region. It was formed by General P. A. Sudoplatov, who headed the Special Group for organizing the partisan struggle in the rear of the enemy. It was created in the first days of the war by order of the Central Committee of the CPSU, in the MGB-MIA of the USSR.
Nikifor Z. Kolyada became a member of the party and the commander of a partisan detachment in 1919; participated in the war with the White Poles, as a military commissar of the division, in 1922 he was deputy commander of the Primorsk partisan army, and then head of the Primorsk militia. At the start of the war, Kolyada was in charge of logging in the USSR Ministry of the Navy in Moscow and knew the forests of Smolensk. He volunteered to organize a partisan movement there.
The group arrived in burning Smolensk on July 9, 1941. After a series of meetings (in the burning city), the group became known as the Smolensk Partisan Detachment, N. Z. Kolyada was chosen as its commander, L. V. Gromova was elected Chief of Staff, and S. Wildman, Deputy Commander. It was assumed that the secretary of the Slobodsky RK party, M. N. Schultz, would become the detachment commissioner. We were given a weapon and assigned a turnout in the village of Korevo of the Slobodsky district. The group was supposed to lead the fighter battalion of the party-economic activist in Demidov (the regional center of the Smolensk region). Log in Demidov failed because of his occupation. The group is located in the village of Baturino, where it was possible to quickly create ten small detachments (Baturinsky, Belsky, Dukhovschinsky, Demidovsky, Slobodsky, Kasplyansky, Rudnyansky, Velizhsky, Smolensky) with a total of about 200 people. Each squad had a commander, a commissar, and a chief of staff. The general leadership of all partisan activities was to be carried out by the central headquarters under the direction of N. Z. Kolyada (Bati) [1] .
Until the winter of 1942, partisan detachments and groups operated separately. After the defeat of the German troops near Moscow, partisan detachments began to grow rapidly at the expense of the local population, surrounded by prisoners of war, who escaped from the camps. “Batya” unites scattered guerrilla groups into detachments, sets specific combat missions before them. In March — April 1942, the Northwestern Partisan Territory appeared.
On February 15, 1942, partisan detachments of A. Sokolov and G. Lugovoy joined together. The detachment was headed by political instructor A. Sokolov. A bit earlier, the partisan groups Apretov, Davydkin (“Bayanista”) and Odintsov (the “Iliyukhi” group) were united. The commander of the joint squad was appointed Lieutenant Apretov.
On March 26, the detachments of Apretov and Sokolov, by decision of Bati, were merged into a partisan battalion. The commander of the battalion was appointed Lieutenant F. Apretova, the Commissioner - Art. political instructor A. Bogdanovich.
The first partisan battalion Apretova (the future brigade) was deployed in the forests of the western part of Dukhovshchinsky district, on the border with Kasplyansky and Demidovsky areas. East of his acted group of the detachment I. Ovcharenko - E. Sevastyanova (the future 2nd Smolensk brigade).
Detachments of I. Shlapakov, Volkov - Anisimov, Voropaeva and others were operated on in the forests of the Kasplyansky district.
The guerrillas actively interacted with the 4th Shock and 41st armies, which came as a result of the winter offensive on the Velizh-Sloboda-Demidov-Bely line. They saddled the Bolshakas Smolensk — Dukhovshchina — Bely, Dukhovshchina — Demidov, Smolensk — Demidov, which greatly helped the advancing units of the Red Army. The Nazis were forced to temporarily abandon these communications and supply the front with the help of transport aircraft.
On May 1, 1942, the partisan battalion of Apretova was reformed into the 1st Smolensk partisan brigade. Apretov remained the commander of the brigade, and the senior political officer N. P. Petrovichev was approved as a commissioner of the brigade (since May 23).
The brigade consisted of 6 partisan detachments. Party and Komsomol organizations were created in the detachments. The brigade’s party bureau was headed by Karpenkov, the Komsomol bureau was D. D. Ivanov, teacher of the Kubarovsk school.
The brigade headquarters was located in the village. Bibiki (Dukhovschinsky district). The brigade kept the partisan region defensive along the lines of the village of Voshkino, Rubtsovo, Shepyrev, Klimovo, Chizhovo, Frolovo, Tikuny, Grishkovo, Voskresenskoye, Izbichna, Donets (Dukhovshchinsky district), Kholm, Divo (Demidovsky district). North, in the direction of Ribshevo, the 2nd Smolensk Partisan Brigade kept the defense. The headquarters of the compound "Batya" was located in the village. Korevo Sloboda region.
At the end of May, a special group of T. Davydkin consisting of two groups was separated from the brigade. Subsequently, these units were divided and served as the basis for the formation of the 3rd and 5th brigades.
The Bati guerrilla unit covered the weakest section of the defense of the Soviet troops. We had to fight for each locality. The unit was under the operational control of the 4th Shock Army, which demanded that the partisans "keep the defense." But along with defensive actions the partisans were active in sabotage and reconnaissance activities. The sabotage groups left for a combat mission sometimes 30–40 km. They derailed enemy trains, blew up bridges and cars.
In the summer of 1942, the partisans established a close relationship with the Smolensk regional party committee. Party political work among partisans and the local population has increased. By July 1942, the 1st (18th) Smolensk partisan brigade had more than 1,000 partisans. On arms there was, in addition to small arms, medium and even heavy artillery. The battery was initially commanded by V.I. Tselishchevsky, later transferred to the 5th brigade as a detachment commander.
In July a brigade was reorganized by order of Bati. On the basis of the two detachments of the T. Davydkin group, the 3rd and 5th brigades were formed. The commander of the 3rd brigade was appointed Captain Ochirov, and the 5th - T. Davydkin. Soon he was replaced by I. Shlapakov.
Punitive operations
At the end of August 1942, the German command developed a plan for a large punitive expedition against the partisans of the North-West Territory of the Smolensk region. On September 7–9, the enemy concentrated punitive forces at Rudnya Station. The punitive detachments included 3 fighter battalions, a battalion of the 51st motorized regiment, a cavalry SS brigade, about two regiments of 330 infantry divisions, 33 construction battalions and 229 artillery regiments with a total number of 7,000 men, 7 tanks and a large number of multi-barreled dogs and dogs. and huskies. Aviation was also involved.
Partisan command was aware of the concentration of this group. It was assumed that the advance punitive will begin on September 9-10. The guerrillas were ready to meet the enemy.
September 10 punitive launched an offensive on the partisan region. The Germans gave their punitive operation the name "Spatlese" (from German: "Last Harvest") - and in 1942 the partisans called it "Yellow Elephant" (the German elephant symbol was painted on the German vehicle). Until October 5, blood-spilled battles took place. They wore a stubborn, fierce character. The decisive role in the defense of Sloboda during this period was played by the detachments of M.I. Badin and N.Lavrentiev. These detachments held Sloboda until October 7, until the partisans changed the sub-divisions of the 43rd Army under the command of General K. Golubev.
The original document was preserved, where the former commander of the 18th Smolensk partisan brigade, N. Petrovichev, left his own account of those battles.
According to his recollections, in April 1942, a large punitive expedition was also organized against the partisans of the north-western direction. On April 23-24, 1942, the Germans tried to block the Apretovo partisan battalion, but the partisans defeated the punishers. The fighting went near the village. Trofimenki and the village of Preobrazhenskoye, on the big Dukhovshchina - Demidov. All the summer of 1942 continued constant battles with the enemy. The detachments of Chuzhova, Sokolov, Burtsev, Shlapakova fought in the Bolshaki near the villages of Novoselki, Kholm, Zagusin'ye, Zakup, Krapivnya, Rubtsovo, Voshkino.
The headquarters of the 1st (18th) Smolensk partisan brigade in the summer of 1942 was located in D. Zagusinye-1, Nikulinka, Basino, Bibiki. Brigadier hospital was in with. Ozeretskoe.
On September 10, the Nazis organized an offensive simultaneously from three sides - from Rudny, Dukhovshchina and Smolensk. The operation involved units of the SS troops, cavalry units, and police units. The total number of punishers reached 6-7 thousand. The Nazis widely used artillery, tanks and even aircraft.
Bloody battles were 19 days. The Nazis lost only a thousand people killed. On September 29, the partisans joined the battle formations of the Red Army units and during the day held back the onslaught of the Hitlerites, who were trying to break through the front line.
On September 30, partisans were withdrawn to the rear, where they handed over heavy weapons (guns, mortars, heavy machine guns) to military units. In exchange, they received automatic rifles and light machine guns.
On October 2, the partisans of the 1st (18th) Smolensk partisan brigade in reduced size (part of the fighters was transferred to the newly formed 6th brigade of Captain Vorotnikov) broke through the front line and went into the rear of the enemy. Their task was to disorganize the rear of the German troops, to thwart the impending offensive in the Sloboda area.
All of October was held in continuous battles in the area assigned to us. In late October, the brigade left for Ozeretsky Forest. Fighting continued until November 25th. Breaking away from the Germans who were pursuing her, on November 26, 1942, the brigade reached the front line. Kombrig Apretov decided to break through the front line.
On November 28, the brigade entered the Soviet rear. Kombrig Apretov could not go beyond the front line (he broke through with the brigade headquarters group). His group returned to the Bukin forest and settled in old dugouts destroyed by punitive agents. In February 1943, F. Apretov died in battle with the punitive. The guerrillas were scattered. Some part of the group headed by I. Odintsov joined the Burevestnik Dukhovschinsky partisan detachment (commander of the Tsurans).
After a two-month rest in the Soviet rear, on February 7, 1943, the 1st Brigade, with the support of the Katyushas, broke through the front line in the area of Svitsky mokh (Prechistensky district) and went into a raid on the enemy’s rear. February 9 there was an unequal battle in the region of the village. The retinue mouth. The guerrillas repelled the punitive attacks and left under cover of night. The rest of February was held in continuous battles. The brigade maneuvered, striking at enemy garrisons.
In August 1943, in connection with the approach of the front, the brigade went to Belarus and joined in the 5th (16th) Smolensk partisan brigade.
On June 25, 1944, the brigade joined up with the advancing units of the Red Army - the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps, Lieutenant General Oslikovsky [2] .
Achievements of the activity of the partisan detachments
In each liberated region, so-called organizational troikas were created, which, as a rule, consisted of secretaries or members of district party committees, employees of district executive committees. These threes became peculiar organs of Soviet power.
The 400 villages that were liberated by the partisans, in their turn, gave the partisan movement immense help. Thanks to the collective farms restored there, state deliveries began. In turn, this gave the partisans the opportunity to solve food problems. Thus, each partisan received 200 grams of meat per day, twice a week 150 grams of honey, and bread was not normalized.
The life of the inhabitants of the liberated territories was also improving. 53 schools began to function. About this, the teachers received rations of 12 kilograms of flour per month for themselves and 6 kilograms for the dependent, as well as meat, lard, cereals, honey and other products.
Rural libraries, medical and veterinary centers worked in the region. By the end of 1941, the film was delivered there.
Villagers collected for partisans rifles, machine guns, grenades, light machine guns and ammunition. They collected everything they collected to the partisans. In addition, the residents helped the partisans to prepare for the winter - they knitted gloves, mittens, rolled up boots, sewed sheepskin coats, repaired sleighs and drovni. Collective farm blacksmiths made "hedgehogs" for installation on the roads along which the enemy vehicles passed.
During the first 6 months of the war, partisans in the North-Western Front (according to far from complete information) destroyed over 700 vehicles, 275 motorcycles, 100 wagons with ammunition and food, 80 bridges. Only killed the enemy lost more than 7,000 people. [3] .
On February 23, 1942, on the day of the Red Army, the detachment of Apretova defeated the garrison in the village of Braklitz (Dukhovshchinsky district). 15 Nazis were killed and 3 Germans captured. A few days later a detachment of Anatoly Sokolov defeated the train in the village. Grishino, destroyed 27 Nazis. On March 23, detachments of Apretov and Sokolov conducted a joint operation against the garrison der. Purchase The operation was directly led by N. 3. Kolyada. The battalion of the Nazis who arrived on vacation from the front was defeated. The enemy lost about 125 soldiers killed. Partisans got rich trophies: weapons and ammunition.
The total number of the Bati guerrilla unit alone reached 3,000 people. The results of their activities were so successful that they regularly appeared in Sovinformburo reports. The name of Nikifor Zakharovich Kolyada - Bati - was recognized by all the Soviet people. In July 1942, he was summoned to Moscow with a report on the accomplishment of the assignment received. Dad was admitted to the TSPPD, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, in the editorial offices of the largest newspapers. On behalf of the English King N. Z. Kolyada, the British Embassy in Moscow was presented with a personalized dirk - the award of top military commanders!
In September 1942, N. Z. Kolyada was awarded the Order of Lenin, he was given the next military rank - Major General [4] .
In June 1942, N. Z. Kolyada wrote an article for the newspaper “Pravda” “330 days of struggle,” in which he spoke about the partisan struggle in the Smolensk region.
For eleven months of fierce struggle with the German invaders, - writes, - the guerrillas carried out over 300 operations, destroyed 4028 Nazi soldiers and officers. 144 cars, 3 tractors, 17 tanks were destroyed. Fights with the enemy go on a daily basis. In the June battles near the village of Ivosheno and Kochergovskaya, we destroyed more than 200 Fritzes. On June 14, an enemy U-88 bomber was shot down by a detachment of partisans of the Ochirov detachment by rifle fire, which was shot from 6 machine guns, a radio station, 800 kg of fuel ...
The article ended with the signature “Batya” and the written date of writing “17. 06. 1942, rear of the enemy.
On July 13, 1942, the Komsomolskaya Pravda exit editorial staff arrived at the Batya partisan unit. The decision to cast it behind enemy lines was made by the secretariat of the Central Committee of the Komsomol. In the Sloboda district, in the village of Korevo, where the headquarters of the Batya unit was located in 1942, journalists arrived. Editor Carl Nepomniachtchi, in his 23 years for military exploits, was already awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The executive secretary and proofreader of the field editorial office was Lyuba Fedorova. Nikolaev A. P. worked as a typesetter and printer. Together with the visiting editorial office, the war correspondent of Pravda Leonid Korobov, the TASS correspondent Lidia Bakasheva and the writer Mikhail Platoshkin came to the Bata.
A typographic machine, a set of fonts, rolls of paper, cliches of posters and cartoons were delivered to the field editorship together. A total of 12 issues of the newspaper and 5 special issues with a total circulation of 33 thousand copies were released in the enemy's rear in three months. The fact that Komsomolskaya Pravda was published in the rear of the Germans strengthened the patriotic spirit of the Soviet people.
The guerrillas sought to alleviate the plight of children and adolescents in the territory of the partisan region. So, the headquarters of Bati organized the mass dispatch of adolescents of 1925-1928. birth in vocational schools and schools FZO Gorky and Gorky region. This legendary transition began on July 23, 1942 in the occupied Smolensk region and ended on August 14, 1942 on Gorky's land. These adolescents were later called Smolensk residents of Nizhny Novgorod. The fighters of the 1st and 2nd partisan brigades participated in ensuring the transition of children. The transition went down in the history of the Bati guerrilla unit, as Operation Children. About one and a half thousand children were taken out, accompanied by the teacher Matryona Isaevna Volskaya and Varvara Sergeyevna Polyakova, and paramedic Ekaterina Ivanovna Gromova [5] .
During the summer of 1943 (from May to the end of August), the demolition men of the 1st (18th) Smolensk partisan brigade lowered 16 enemy echelons (of which 4 echelons with manpower), on the Moscow-Minsk highway blew up two bridges.
In addition to fighting with punitive and sabotage on the railway, the partisans did a great job of decomposing the enemy troops. A Komsomol member Anya Kovaleva from the village of Korobanovo, Rudnyansky District, worked as a part-time laborer in the canteen of one of the units of the military construction organization Todt. She established contact with a group of anti-fascist Poles and through them obtained valuable information about the defensive fortifications built by the Nazis.
Autumn 1943 and winter 1944 The 18th Smolensk Brigade (in September 1943 it was assigned a new number) operated on the territory of the Vitebsk and Minsk regions. Interacting with the Belarusian partisan units, the Smolensk partisans destroyed several dozen enemy garrisons, restored Soviet power in dozens of village councils. Brigade bombers carried out a number of successful sabotage near the stations Krupki and Bogushevsk.
The arrest of Kolyada (Bati)
In the midst of the fighting, September 24, 1942, N. Z. Kolyade received an order to arrive at the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. On September 26, he left for Moscow, and on October 8, N. Z. Kolyada was arrested by the NKVD officers on slanderous accusation of "failing to carry out command assignments and deceiving the decision-making bodies." Despite the fact that Nikifor Zakharovich did not admit a single charge of charges, on July 14, 1943 by a “ troika ” ruling, he was recognized as an enemy of the people and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in labor camps. Stage Kolyada was sent to the Urals.
What was the reason for the arrest is still unknown. In particular, there is information that in May 1942, at a reception at Politburo member Andrei Andreyevich Andreev, Batya, according to the record of Ponomarenko who was present, said fatal words: “The leaflets scattered around the regional committee do not matter. The party organs discredited themselves. Retreat, evacuation, etc., undermined the people's faith in the party organ. Now we need to throw leaflets on behalf of those who have won the people respect with their struggle. My leaflets, my signature in the Smolensk region could play a big role. They know me everywhere. ”
On March 20, 1954, the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the USSR recognized N. Z. Kolyada as innocent. He was fully rehabilitated, restored in his rights and returned home to Moscow. He returned the party card, the Order of Lenin, was given an apartment.
In the camps, Batya suffered two heart attacks. On March 1, 1955, according to the stories of the son with whom he lived, Kolyada was called. After talking on the phone, he told his son that he needed to leave for a while. Only by the evening of the next day, the police reported that he was found dead "without signs of violent death" on Vosstaniya Square, about twenty kilometers from his home.
Nikifor Z. Kolyada died on March 1, 1955 at the age of 64 [6] .
Memorialization
In Staraya Russa, there is the only front-line museum in our country - the Museum of the North-Western Front . It was originally opened in 1984 in the walls of the Resurrection Cathedral. After the church was given to believers in 1992, construction of a separate two-story building began for the museum. On February 18, 2003, the museum, which became known as the “Museum of the North-Western Front and Partisan Territory”, was inaugurated. This event coincided with the 59th anniversary of the liberation of Staraya Russa,
The museum is a branch of the Novgorod State United Museum-Reserve. The exhibition presents 1,5 thousand museum items, more than half of which are originals [7] .
By the 40th anniversary of the Victory in Przhevalsky, the only in the country museum of partisan glory was opened, the overwhelming majority of materials of which are devoted to the Bati union.
Notes
- ↑ Connection "Batya" in the fight against the occupiers .
- ↑ Partisan struggle against the Nazi occupiers in the territory of Smolensk region 1941-1943 »Armor Book - Armor Library . www.armourbook.com. The appeal date is July 8, 2019.
- ↑ Partisan region. Demyanskoy slaughter. "Stalin's missed triumph" or "Hitler's Pyrrhic victory"? history.wikireading.ru. The appeal date is July 8, 2019.
- ↑ HISTORY OF THE PARTISAN CONNECTION BATI NORTH-WESTERN AREAS OF THE SMOLENSK REGION . present5.com. The appeal date is July 8, 2019.
- ↑ History of the Bati Partisan Connection - Presentation 139968 Neopr . 900igr.net. The appeal date is July 8, 2019.
- ↑ Comrade Dad | Newspaper "Work Path" (rus.) (Neopr.) ? . www.rabochy-put.ru. The appeal date is July 8, 2019.
- ↑ Zaifat. Museum of the North-Western Front and the Partisan Territory (Rus.) (Neopr.) ? . ant53.ru. The appeal date is July 8, 2019.