Soviet Partisans in Ukraine

Soon after German invasion, Communist party officials began to organize partisan units behind enemy lines. The Soviet Union organized many partisan bases in the 1920s and early 1930s in case of possible war. Then, at the end of the 1930s a new military doctrine was adopted. According to that doctrine the USSR was supposed to wage only offensive wars and thus did not need partisan bases anymore. As a result, practically all the partisan bases were destroyed. Consequently, partisans could not play important role in 1941. They were badly organized and the population did not support them much. An official German report stated, for example, in August 1941: “Brought by air, Russian partisans do not have any influence on local population. Ukrainians catch them and hand over to us.” As the war continued and Nazi brutalities in occupied areas became widespread, the partisan movement started to grow. In June 1942, in Moscow, the Ukrainian Partisan Command (UPC) was established, led by Tymofii Strokach, General of NKVD. The UPC trained various partisan cadres, reconnaissance and diversion groups for working in German rears. It also coordinated the activity of partisan units, supplied them with weapon and medicines, and sent specially trained officers. The leaders of partisan units had Soviet military ranks and received officers’ salaries as if they were fighting in regular troops. The largest Soviet partisan units numbered several thousand people and made long raids in German rears. Partisans were quite active and efficient. In 1943, for example, they blew up 3688 military trains and destroyed 1469 railway bridges. Germany had to keep numerous garrisons and troops in Ukraine to repulse partisan attacks and protect communications.

Compared to Belorussia with its swampy regions, much of the open Ukrainian countryside was unsuited for partisan warfare. Thus, in Ukraine, Soviet partisans never became as significant as they were in Belorussia. In Galicia, where the OUN was well established, Soviet partisans had no popular base for their activity. Consequently, most of their operations in Ukraine were confined to parts of Volhynia and Polissia. In 1944 there were approximately 40,000 Soviet partisans in Ukraine.[10]

The Soviet partisan movement often complicated the position of peasantry. Many peasants found themselves pressed from both sides (Soviet partisans and Germans). If peasants helped partisans they were punished by Germans. If they refused to help the partisans they could be punished by them. (The help usually included food, shelter, and clothes). Soviet partisans completely or partially burnt 30 Ukrainian villages. Many Ukrainian villages were burnt by Germans as well.

Ukrainians did not play a major role in Soviet partisan movement in Ukraine. They constituted only about one-third of Soviet partisans. Russians, consequently, were overrepresented. The vast majority of Ukraine’s population during the war remained politically neutral and thought more not about resistance but survival.

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