Partisan operation “Concert. "Rail War" Operation Concert. Partisan Heroes
Autumn and spring downpours turned dirt roads into impenetrable mud swamps and made their exploitation impossible. The use of rivers as transport arteries was limited short period navigation - in our climate it is a maximum of 5-7 months. The only all-season way to deliver goods was the railway network. Railways like blood vessels, were supposed to supply active army everything you need all year round. Of course, there was transport aviation, but low power did not allow transporting heavy loads or military equipment with its help.
Thus, the strategic importance of the railways was simply enormous, and their smooth operation was a key factor for successful management military operations.
In the summer of 1943, the Soviet command decided to strike at such an important component of the German military machine, and the role of the main executors of the plan of the Headquarters was assigned to partisan detachments.
It is important to note that from the very first days of the War, a people's liberation movement was born throughout the occupied territory. Formed from local residents and the Red Army soldiers who escaped from the encirclement or fled from captivity, partisan detachments waged a continuous war in the enemy rear: undermining bridges, derailing enemy echelons and destroying garrisons.
Having matured by the summer of 1943, the partisan movement was ready to conduct mass well-coordinated operations.
July 9, 1943 in a letter I.V. Stalin chief of staff P.K.Ponomarenko proposed, in order to disrupt the enemy's railway transportation, to conduct simultaneously and everywhere an operation to destroy the rails on the railway tracks. The central headquarters of the partisan movement adopted in June 1943 a resolution "On the destruction of the enemy's railway communications by the method of rail warfare."
So future operation has acquired the code name " rail war»
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The main goal of the campaign was to inflict maximum damage on the enemy's railway communications in the Oryol-Kursk direction, in order to assist the Soviet Army in completing the defeat of the German fascist troops in Battle of Kursk. The main objects of the future strike were to be railway bridges, junction stations, rolling stock and the railway tracks themselves.
As part of the preparation of the operation, hundreds of tons of explosives were transported to the front line, and the detachments were replenished with demolition men. In some partisan detachments, the production of improvised mines from unexploded shells was launched, and the tol necessary for the bombs was smelted in the so-called "devil's kitchens". Later, in the same kitchens, tol began to be smelted in forms prepared in advance for this, in which it solidified in the form "loaves" as the partisans called them. All members of the detachment, from the cook to the commander, were trained in the basic skills of subversive work.
The Germans also understood the exceptional importance of the railway infrastructure. As part of the prevention of sabotage actions, the German command took a number of countermeasures. Forests were cut down along the railroad tracks for 100 meters, towers, wire fences, and sometimes minefields were installed. Bunkers were installed and permanent garrisons were kept at especially important sections, hauls and junction stations.
Also The Germans carried out a number of operations against the partisans. Their goal was to capture lost territories that could play important role in the upcoming summer offensive.
But partisan intelligence was always on the alert and often punitive operations ended ingloriously for the invaders. One of these German detachments was inflicted big damage their own. The fact that the Nazis were planning an attack on their sector, the partisans learned in advance and, having occupied the most vantage point prepared to face the enemy. Soon a German aircraft appeared, circled over the area for a while to mark targets for destruction, and then called in two bombers. After the first bombs were dropped, the enemy infantry went on the offensive. But when the partisans opened fire, the Nazis turned back. At this time, the German bombers made another call. Noticing the fugitives, the pilots mistook them for partisans and dropped the remaining bombs on them., and then, to be sure, they combed their infantry with machine-gun fire. The punitive operation failed.
German pilots bombed their infantry
5 / YIII-43, Morning issue of RFI sheet 4 VL
Active Army, 5 August. /Special Corr. TASS/. Partisan intelligence reported that the German punitive detachment was preparing an offensive. Having chosen the height that dominated the area and covering the flanks, the partisans prepared to meet the enemy. Soon a fascist spotter appeared. The plane searched for targets for a long time, then called in two bombers.
Enemy planes made a call and dropped a series of bombs. Immediately, the fascist infantry went on the offensive. The enemy expected battle formations the partisans are demoralized. When no more than 50 meters were left to the first chain of Germans, the partisans opened fire from machine guns. The Nazis turned back. German bombers at that time were making another approach. The pilots, noticing the fleeing, decided that they were partisans, and began to drop bombs on them. The planes then descended and combed their infantry with machine-gun fire.
The German punitive detachment suffered heavy losses.
V. Medvedev
On July 22, 1943, the partisans of the Oryol region carried out a massive undermining of the rail- it was a kind of rehearsal before a future large-scale operation. By the end of July, preparations were completed. Operation "Rail War" was decided to begin on August 3.
The start time of the strike was not chosen by chance. Under pressure from the advancing Soviet troops the German command continuously transferred mobile units from one sector of the front to another, trying to patch up holes in the defense. The load on the railway tracks was maximum, which means that the damage caused during the destruction would have been the greatest.
| Operation Rail War | |||
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| Main conflict: Great Patriotic War | |||
| the date | August 3 - September 15 | ||
| Place | Byelorussian SSR, Leningrad Oblast, Kalinin Oblast, Smolensk Oblast, Oryol Oblast, Ukrainian SSR | ||
| Outcome | Operation goals achieved | ||
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The purpose of the operation
Operation preparation
The central headquarters of the partisan movement attracted Belarusian, Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk, Oryol and part of the Ukrainian partisans (a total of 167 brigades and separate detachments) to carry out the operation.
The central headquarters of the partisan movement mistakenly assumed that the enemy was short of rails, although in reality the Germans had a surplus of rails.
On July 14, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered the operation to be carried out. The local headquarters of the partisan movements and their representations at the fronts determined areas and objects of action for each partisan formation. The partisans were provided with explosives and mine-blasting equipment, demolition instructors were sent to them. In June 1943 alone, 150 tons of special-profile heavy bombs, 156,000 meters of igniter cord, 28,000 meters of hemp wick, 595,000 detonator caps, as well as weapons and ammunition were thrown into partisan bases. The exploration of railway communications was actively conducted.
Operation progress
During the first night of the operation, 42,000 rails were blown up. The actions, in which about 100 thousand partisans participated, unfolded in the rear areas of the Army Groups "Center" and "North" (the length along the front is about 1000 kilometers, to a depth of 750 kilometers). At the same time, active fighting Ukrainian partisans in the rear of Army Group South. The German command for some time could not organize opposition to the partisans.
The year 1943 went down in the history of partisan struggle as the year of massive strikes against the railway communications of the Nazi troops. The partisans actively participated in major operations on enemy communications - "Rail War" and "Concert". "Concert" is the code name for the operation carried out during the Great Patriotic War Soviet partisans from September 19 to the end of October 1943
The positive results of Operation Rail War gave grounds for the development of subsequent operations of a similar type. In early September 1943, the head (TSSHPD) at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command approved the Plan of Operation to destroy the enemy's railway tracks (Operation "Concert"). Each partisan formation received a specific combat mission, which included blowing up rails, organizing the collapse of enemy military echelons, destroying road facilities, disabling communication facilities, water supply systems, etc. Detailed plans for combat operations were developed and mass training of partisans in the production of subversive work was organized.
 Head of the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command lieutenant general PC. Ponomarenko |
The purpose of the operation is mass withdrawal failure of large sections of railways in the rear eastern front fascist German troops from Karelia to the Crimea to impede the operational transportation of troops, military equipment and other materiel of the enemy. As a continuation of Operation Rail War, Operation Concert was carried out under the leadership of the TsSHPD and was closely connected with the upcoming offensive of the Soviet troops in the Smolensk and Gomel directions and during the battle for the Dnieper. 193 partisan formations from Belarus, the Baltic states, Karelia, Crimea, Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk and Oryol regions with a total number of 120,615 people who were supposed to undermine more than 272 thousand rails. On the territory of Belarus, about 92 thousand partisans participated in the operation; they were to blow up 140,000 rails. The central headquarters of the partisan movement planned to throw 120 tons of explosives and other cargoes to the Belarusian partisans, 20 tons to the Kalinin and Leningrad partisans. |
Due to the sharp deterioration in weather conditions, by the beginning of the operation, the partisans managed to transfer only about half of the planned amount of cargo, so it was decided to start mass sabotage on September 25th. However, part of the detachments that had already reached their starting lines could not take into account the changes in the timing of the operation and on the night of September 19, when the Red Army, liberating the Oryol, Smolensk regions and Left-bank Ukraine, approached the Dnieper, began its implementation. Only the partisans of Belarus on the night of September 19 blew up 19,903 rails.
Partisans of the "People's Avenger" detachment of the Temkinsky district mine the railway track. Smolensk region. September 1943
Already at 6 o'clock in the morning of this date, the directorate of the German state railways in Minsk announced with alarm: “The situation is very tense! The activities of the partisans are unbearably increasing. All junction stations are overcrowded due to the inability to use the lines ... ".
The bulk of the partisan formations began hostilities on the night of September 25th. Having defeated the enemy's guards and having mastered the railway lines, they proceeded to massive destruction and mining of the railway track. Simultaneous actions were carried out according to the plan of operation "Concert" on a front of about 900 km (excluding Karelia and the Crimea) and in a depth of over 400 km. Only on the territory of Belarus that night another 15,809 rails were blown up.
The fascist German command made desperate efforts to restore traffic on the railways. The Nazis hastily transferred new railway reconstruction battalions from Germany and even from the front line, and the local population was driven to repair work.
The guerrillas are preparing to mine the railway track
Railroad sabotage continued into October. In total, over 148,500 rails were blown up. At this operation "Concert" was actually terminated due to lack of supplies explosives. Despite the fact that the tasks of the operation were not fully completed, its results were significant. Roads located not only in the east of the occupied territory, as was the case in the “Rail War”, but also in the west of Belarus, in the Baltic states and Karelia were subjected to massive blows.
The results of the partisan operations on the massive undermining of the rails were very effective. Only in the course of the first two operations (“Rail War” and “Concert”) from July 22 to October 1943, partisans on the railways behind enemy lines blew up 363,262 rails, which corresponded to 2270 km of a single-track railway track. Especially a lot of rails were destroyed in such sections as Luninets - Kalinkovichi (41,781), Pskov - Dno (23,887), Polotsk - Molodechno (21,243), Leningrad - Pskov (17,659), Mogilev - Zhlobin (15,074), Krichev - Unecha (12,204), Orsha - Minsk (7982), Bryansk - Unecha (7031). The Nazis tried to make up for the shortage in the rails by altering the double-track sections of the track to single-track, welding the broken rails and even importing them from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany. However, the partisans again disabled the repaired sections. This further increased the tension in the work of the enemy's railway transport. According to Colonel A.I. Bryukhanov, head of the operational department of the Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement, in August alone, 5,000 two-axle platforms and hundreds of locomotives were used for this purpose.
According to military experts, the actions of the partisans in the operations "Rail War" and "Concert" were more than 11 times more effective than all the raids of the fascist German aviation, which dropped more than 10 thousand air bombs on the railways in the Soviet rear in about the same period. .
Moreover, the result of partisan operations such as "Rail War" and "Concert" was not only great amount broken rails. They included a large complex of sabotage actions on all communications of the enemy - railway, road, water and air, reinforced by strikes on garrisons and other important objects in the enemy rear.
Simultaneously with undermining the rails, the partisans derailed trains, destroyed bridges, railway stations, disabled other elements of the track facilities. In the same period, as a result of the actions of Ukrainian and Moldovan partisans, hundreds of enemy military echelons collapsed. The capacity of the enemy's railways in the occupied territory of the USSR in September-October 1943, as a result of the partisans' actions, decreased significantly. According to some estimates, it decreased by 35-40%, which greatly hampered the regrouping of fascist troops and provided great assistance to the advancing Red Army.
In the end, the transfer of Wehrmacht units and formations by rail, as well as the delivery and evacuation, were significantly hampered. Operation "Concert" intensified the struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders in the occupied territory. During it, the influx of the local population into partisan formations increased.
, Ukrainian SSR
Operation goals achieved
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Operation Rail War- the code name of the operation of the Soviet partisans, carried out from August 3 to September 15 of the year in the occupied territory of the RSFSR, BSSR and part of the Ukrainian SSR as part of the rail war.
The purpose of the operation
On July 14, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered the operation to be carried out. The local headquarters of the partisan movements and their representations at the fronts determined areas and objects of action for each partisan formation. The partisans were provided with explosives and mine-blasting equipment, demolition instructors were sent to them. In June 1943 alone, 150 tons of special-profile heavy bombs, 156,000 meters of igniter cord, 28,000 meters of hemp wick, 595,000 detonator caps, as well as weapons and ammunition were thrown into partisan bases. The exploration of railway communications was actively conducted.
Operation progress
During the first night of the operation, 42,000 rails were blown up. The actions, in which about 100 thousand partisans participated, unfolded in the rear areas of the Army Groups "Center" and "North" (the length along the front is about 1000 kilometers, to a depth of 750 kilometers). At the same time, Ukrainian partisans were actively fighting in the rear of Army Group South. The fascist German command for some time could not organize opposition to the partisans.
Operation results
During the operation, about 215 thousand rails were blown up, a significant number of trains (only by Belarusian partisans - 836 trains and 3 armored trains), bridges and station buildings were blown up. Particularly significant destruction was carried out in the areas Polotsk - Molodechno, Minsk - Bobruisk, Luninets - Kalinkovichi and Mogilev - Zhlobin. By autumn, enemy operational transport had been cut by 40 percent. On some railways, traffic was delayed for 3-15 days, and the highways Mogilev - Krichev, Polotsk - Dvinsk, Mogilev - Zhlobin did not work throughout August. To restore the destroyed railway tracks, the enemy was forced to turn the double-track sections into single-track sections, weld undermined rails, dismantle individual sections, deliver the missing rails from Poland and Germany, which further increased the intensity of transportation. The German command was forced to use 5,000 platforms and hundreds of locomotives to transport rails, and to attract additional forces to protect the railways. The operation significantly hampered the regrouping and supply of the retreating enemy troops.
see also
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Notes
Literature
- Rail War // / ed. M. M. Kozlova. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1985. - S. 608. - 500,000 copies.
- Rail war // Railway transport: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. N. S. Konarev. - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1994. - S. 363. - ISBN 5-85270-115-7.
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An excerpt characterizing the Operation "Rail War"
He ran his hand through her hair.“I called you all night…” he said.
“If I knew…” she said through her tears. - I was afraid to enter.
He shook her hand.
- Didn't you sleep?
“No, I didn’t sleep,” said Princess Mary, shaking her head negatively. Involuntarily obeying her father, she now, just as he spoke, tried to speak more in signs and, as it were, also with difficulty rolling her tongue.
- Darling ... - or - my friend ... - Princess Marya could not make out; but, probably, from the expression of his look, a tender, caressing word was said, which he never said. - Why didn't you come?
“And I wished, wished for his death! thought Princess Mary. He paused.
- Thank you ... daughter, friend ... for everything, for everything ... sorry ... thank you ... sorry ... thank you! .. - And tears flowed from his eyes. “Call Andryusha,” he suddenly said, and something childishly timid and distrustful expressed itself in his face at this request. It was as if he himself knew that his demand was meaningless. Yes, by at least, it seemed to Princess Mary.
“I received a letter from him,” answered Princess Mary.
He looked at her with surprise and timidity.
- Where is he?
- He is in the army, mon pere, in Smolensk.
He was silent for a long time, closing his eyes; then in the affirmative, as if in answer to his doubts and in confirmation that he now understood and remembered everything, nodded his head and opened his eyes.
“Yes,” he said clearly and quietly. - Russia is dead! Ruined! And he sobbed again, and tears flowed from his eyes. Princess Mary could no longer restrain herself and wept too, looking at his face.
He closed his eyes again. His sobs stopped. He made a sign with his hand to his eyes; and Tikhon, understanding him, wiped away his tears.
Then he opened his eyes and said something that no one could understand for a long time and, finally, he understood and conveyed only Tikhon. Princess Mary was looking for the meaning of his words in the mood in which he spoke a minute before. Now she thought that he was talking about Russia, then about Prince Andrei, then about her, about her grandson, then about his death. And because of this, she could not guess his words.
“Put on your white dress, I love it,” he said.
Understanding these words, Princess Marya sobbed even louder, and the doctor, taking her by the arm, led her out of the room to the terrace, persuading her to calm down and make preparations for her departure. After Princess Mary left the prince, he again spoke about his son, about the war, about the sovereign, twitched his eyebrows angrily, began to raise a hoarse voice, and with him came the second and last blow.
Princess Mary stopped on the terrace. The day cleared up, it was sunny and hot. She could understand nothing, think of nothing, and feel nothing but her passionate love for her father, a love she thought she had not known until that moment. She ran out into the garden and, sobbing, ran down to the pond along the young linden paths planted by Prince Andrei.
“Yes… I… I… I.” I wished for his death. Yes, I wanted it to end soon... I wanted to calm down... But what will happen to me? What do I need peace of mind when he’s gone, ”Princess Marya muttered aloud, walking quickly through the garden and pressing her hands on her chest, from which sobs frantically burst out. Walking around the circle in the garden, which led her back to the house, she saw m lle Bourienne (who had remained in Bogucharovo and did not want to leave) coming towards her and unknown man. It was the leader of the district, who himself came to the princess in order to present to her the need for an early departure. Princess Mary listened and did not understand him; she led him into the house, offered him breakfast, and sat down with him. Then, apologizing to the leader, she went to the door of the old prince. The doctor, with an alarmed face, came out to her and said that it was impossible.
- Go, princess, go, go!
Princess Marya went back into the garden and under the hill by the pond, in a place where no one could see, sat down on the grass. She did not know how long she had been there. Someone's running female steps along the path made her wake up. She got up and saw that Dunyasha, her maid, obviously running after her, suddenly, as if frightened by the sight of her young lady, stopped.
“Please, princess ... prince ...” Dunyasha said in a broken voice.
“Now, I’m going, I’m going,” the princess began hastily, not giving Dunyasha time to finish what she had to say, and, trying not to see Dunyasha, she ran to the house.
“Princess, the will of God is being done, you must be ready for anything,” said the leader, meeting her at the front door.
- Leave me. It is not true! she yelled angrily at him. The doctor wanted to stop her. She pushed him away and ran to the door. “And why are these people with frightened faces stopping me? I don't need anyone! And what are they doing here? She opened the door, and the bright daylight in that previously dim room terrified her. There were women and a nurse in the room. They all moved away from the bed, making way for her. He lay still on the bed; but the stern look of his calm face stopped Princess Marya on the threshold of the room.
Each new generation of Russian people will have their own point of view about armed conflict that will remain in history and our memory as the Second World War (Great Patriotic War). Dates such as the beginning and end of this bloody and senselessly cruel war will never be erased from the memory of a Russian person. And one of the most important parts that fettered the victory of the fraternal peoples of the USSR over the Nazi invaders is the partisan movement.
In the territories occupied by the German troops, the Nazis established the so-called new order. And this new regime led to massive and brutal resistance of the indigenous people of the occupied territories. In all territories occupied by the enemy, guerrilla and sabotage warfare grew.
Struggle partisan detachments and connections on captured Nazi German troops became an integral part of the Great Patriotic War. The actions of partisans in the occupied territories oppressed morally and physically German troops, they felt that they were in constant expectation of sabotage. And these sabotage was not a fictional, but a real danger, because of them the Germans had numerous casualties and a huge loss of military equipment.
On the scale of guerrilla warfare, there is a lot of evidence of complex and dangerous operations involving Soviet army. One of these operations was carried out from August to September 1943 on the lands of Ukraine and Belarus occupied by the enemy. The purpose of this operation was to destroy part of the railway communications. The operation received the secret name "Rail War". Leningrad, Smolensk, Orel partisans were involved in this operation.
The order to start Operation Rail War was signed by the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement on June 14, 1943. All areas falling under the operation of the TsSHPD were divided between partisan groups. The reconnaissance of the partisans regularly monitored the objects on which sabotage was to be carried out. The "rail war" began from the second to the third of August and lasted almost until the end of September. Sabotage and sorties behind enemy lines unfolded throughout the entire territory of the operation, which is about one thousand eight hundred kilometers. Almost one hundred thousand people participated in the operation, with the mass support of local residents.
The sabotage strikes inflicted by partisans on railways, railway bridges and stations were unexpected for the Nazi troops. After committing acts of sabotage, the fascist invaders for a very long time could not recover and organize systematic and effective counter-partisan actions. During the operation "Rail War" a huge number of railway tracks (about two hundred and fifteen thousand rails), bridges were blown up, and echelons with equipment and personnel were derailed. Also, sabotage reduced the frequency of movement of echelons by almost forty percent, which greatly slowed down the movement of the Germans.
Operation "Concert" pursued similar goals and was, as it were, the second part of the operation "Rail War". It was necessary to destroy as many railway communications under the control of the Germans as possible in a short period of time, since a large-scale offensive of Soviet troops on the Dnieper was planned. More than one hundred and ninety-three partisan groups and sabotage detachments, and more than one hundred and twenty thousand people, were involved in it. Operation "Concert" was to begin on September 19 and last until November 1, 1943. But because it got worse weather The start of the operation was decided to be postponed to September 25. And the Soviet aviation simply did not have time to transport all the explosives, but transported only half. However, part of the sabotage groups had already advanced to the points, and could not receive an order to postpone the start of the operation, and began sabotage from September 19th.
On the night of September 24-25, railway tracks and bridges were simultaneously blown up at a distance of nine hundred kilometers. During the sabotage operation, about one thousand trains were derailed, seventy bridges were blown up, and sixty outposts of the Germans were defeated. The operation had to be ended, due to the mistakes of the developers of the operation itself, since the partisan groups ran out of prepared explosives. The Nazi invaders spared no effort, continuously, in several shifts, carried out repair work, but still did not have time. You can also name one minus of the operation, this is that she herself was subjected to sabotage Railway, which later also slowed down the offensive of the Soviet troops. It was much more effective to disable the enemy's echelons themselves.
The tasks of the operation "Concert" were similar to the tasks of the operation "Rail war", to reduce the speed of movement of enemy echelons, and this goal was achieved. The partisan formations flawlessly completed the task before them, and all the shortcomings remained on the conscience of the headquarters authorities. That rendered all possible assistance in the defeat of the Nazi invaders in Ukraine, Belarus, Karelia and the Crimea.
This "concert" shown by the Russian partisan formations, the Nazi troops could not erase from their memory for a long time.