Stalin's Commandos: Ukrainian Partisan Forces on the Eastern Front

by Alexander Gogun

At the height of World War II, a number of Soviet partisan organizations fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union. Coordinated and controlled by the Soviet government and modeled on the Red Army, the primary objective of these “Red Partisans” was the disruption of the Eastern Front’s German rear, especially road and railroad communications. Using original Ukrainian, Russian and German sources, Gogun looks at the partisan forces operating in Ukraine. Along with Belarus, Ukraine was the first and most devastated Soviet republic, following the German invasion of 1941. The consequences of the occupation for the Ukrainian population were dire. As a result, the partisan movement spread rapidly over the occupied territory. The fighter groups, supported by the Ukrainian Partisan Movement Headquarters in Moscow, operated throughout occupied Ukraine and numbered over 150,000 combatants.

Genres: History, Ukraine, World War II, Nonfiction, Russia

336 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2015

Reviews

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shows the true brutality of the war fought behind the Eastern front line.

Alexander Gogun has some nuggets of very interesting detail in this book. He has unearthed in the archives some fascinating and horrific accounts of the activities of Soviet Ukrainian partisans as well as the activities of the Ukrainian Nationalists and Polish AK units.

This book isn't for the faint-hearted and the accounts of partisan terror against innocent civilians paint a different picture to the popular one of the heroic partisan fighter.

As in any war nothing is black and white and this book more than most shows the blurring of lines and true brutality of the war fought behind the Eastern front line.

Worth a look if you have an interest in the Eastern Front.

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this is my first book about partisans on the Eastern Front during the Second World War, so I can't compare it to others, but I find this book impressive. It is meticulously researched, thorough and erudite, yet easy to read.

The author examines various aspects of guerrilla warfare on the Eastern Front, including the formation of guerrilla units, the command structure, the tasks assigned to the units, the relationships between units and within them, i.e. between ordinary partisans and between them and their commanders, and also between partisans and the civilian population. The book also covers, albeit to a lesser extent, other partisan units on the Eastern Front, namely the Ukrainian nationalist OUN-UPA units and the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) units. The book is full of quotations from many sources, mainly Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, but also German and Polish.

The author also compares the behaviour and general conduct of all the movements mentioned and finds that the behaviour of the OUN-UPA units towards the civilian population was not so bad compared to the Ukrainian (communist) partisan units. Even the Poles were more tolerant of the civilian population than the Ukrainian partisans.

Overall, this book fills a gap in our knowledge and understanding of the Second World War on the Eastern Front and is highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject.

[Данило Судин · Rating 4 out of 5]

Як виглядали радянські партизани, якщо позбавити їх ідеологічної мішури? Наскільки їхня боротьба з нацистькими окупантами, насправді була ефективною? Чи не приносили дії партизанів більше школи місцевому населенню? Як потім радянська влада визнавала чи не визнавала учасників партизанських загонів? Чому протягом 1946-1948 рр. відбулося забування партизанів - через припинення їм грошових виплат, а також згортання чи навіть закриття музеїв партизанської боротьби в УРСР? Про це коротко в огляді двох книг про радянський рух Опору - Олександра Гогуна "Сталінські коммандос" та Івана Капася "Радянський рух Опору в Україні".
Ласкаво запрошую до перегляду!
https://youtu.be/g42oYeuSznM

[Travis Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a resurgent Russia acting up now on so many fronts, reading this book will show you how history repeats itself. Many of these stories can seem taken right from your favorite news site, provided that site covers world events. There are a lot of insights to "Uncle Joe's" tactics that show why I have warned that the enemy of my enemy is my friend is not the best outlook; they should at best be viewed as a convenient temporary ally. Stalin's Commandos provides a good detailed look at the beginning of the cold war and what was going on behind the scenes.