A partisan group ( be, партызанская група) was the smallest organizational form of the
Soviet partisan
Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ...
units, the principal organizational form in the initial phase (1941—1942) of the
partisan war
Partisan may refer to:
Military
* Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon
* Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line
Films
* ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film
* ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also kn ...
in the German rear.
The Partisan groups were formed by
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
bodies on German-occupied territories and in the
Soviet rear. By objective and formation, the partisan groups could be of the special kind (
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
), or one of several other groups operating on
BSSR territory, mostly in 1943—1944, but also in 1942.
[Manayenkaw enumerates 11 special (NKVD of BSSR) groups.] Partisans could specialize in
diversionist,
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
, and other tasks.
In the spring of 1942, the number of partisan groups soared, and the cadres began to be expanded and merged with other
partisan detachment Soviet partisan detachment (1941—1944) (russian: партизанский отряд; be, партызанскі атрад), was the main organisational form of the Soviet partisan units.
Numerical and structural complement of the partisan det ...
s. From winter 1941 to spring 1942, 150 detachments were formed from the groups; during the summer of 1942, another 121.
Sources
* А. Л. Манаенкаў. Партызанская група ў Вялікую Айчынную вайну // Беларуская энцыклапедыя: У 18 т. Т. 12. — Мінск: БелЭн, 2001. — 560 с. p. 123. (т.12). The source references: Беларусь у Вялікай Айчыннай вайне 1941—1945: Энцыкл. Мн., 1990. С. 452—453.
Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Partisan group
Soviet partisans
Military units and formations of the Soviet Union in World War II