Partisan Operations & Units of WW2

[Howard]

There was a movie "Allies" that was pretty so-so but it absolutely captured the atmosphere of paranoia that must have pervaded partisan units, a constant fear of being infiltrated or betrayed.

[Jerome]

by Kenneth Slepyan
Description:
When the Wehrmacht rolled into the Soviet Union in World War II, it got more than it bargained for. Notwithstanding the Red Army's retreat, Soviet citizens fought fiercely against German occupiers, engaging in raids, sabotage, and intelligence gathering largely without any oversight from Stalin and his iron-fisted rule.

Kenneth Slepyan provides an enlightening social and political history of the Soviet partisan movement, a people's army of irregulars fighting behind enemy lines. These insurgents included not only civilians-many of them women-but also stranded Red Army soldiers, national minorities, and even former collaborators. While others have documented the military contributions of the movement, Slepyan is the first to describe it as a social phenomenon and to reveal how its members were both challenged and transformed by the crucible of war.

By tracing the movement's origins, internal squabbles, and evolution throughout the war, Slepyan shows that people who suddenly had the autonomy to act on their own came to rethink the Stalinist regime. He assesses how partisan initiative and self-reliance competed with and countered the demands of state control and how social identities influenced relations among partisans, as well as between partisans and Soviet authorities.

Slepyan has tapped newly opened Soviet archives, as well as wartime radio broadcasts and Communist Party publications and memoirs, to depict the partisans as agents actively pursuing their own agendas. His book gives us a picture of their day-to-day struggle that was previously unknown to all but those few who personally survived the experience, paying special attention to questions of nationality, ethnicity, and gender to illuminate the sociopolitical relations within this diverse group. Through these varied accounts, he demonstrates that Soviet citizens reinterpreted Stalinism and the Soviet experience in the context of total war.

Offering numerous fresh insights into the partisans' multifaceted relationship with the state, Slepyan's book reveals the ways in which the war simultaneously reinforced and undermined both Stalinism and the Soviet system. Ultimately, his study rescues the Soviet partisans from obscurity to depict the complexity of their lives and underscore their vital contributions to the defense of their homeland.

[John]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Partisan operations have never grabbed me as much as they probably should, don't know why. I also have not seen a decent bio on Tito that I can recommend, anyone else have any suggestions?"
The Heretic: the life and times of Josip Broz-Tito is one of the best biographies I've read. In conjunction with Eastern Approaches it gives the full story, albeit biased towards him, with no shortage of personal anecdotes. I've heard that Tito: The Story from Inside is good, but I haven't read it.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Thanks for those recommendations John.

[Manray9]

John wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Partisan operations have never grabbed me as much as they probably should, don't know why. I also have not seen a decent bio on Tito that I can recommend, anyone else have any..."

John: I wonder how realistic and fair an account of Tito would come from the pen of Milovan Djilas? Tito held him to prison for years. Djilas was Tito's most prominent critic.

[Scott]

Particularly in the Eastern theatre of war, the operations of partisans, home armies, guerillas and others in the occupied nations shows how complex the history was before the beginning of the war, the complexity of geography and international conflicts.

[Colin]

I interviewed Djilas, fascinating man.

[Joaniepony]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Partisan operations have never grabbed me as much as they probably should, don't know why. I also have not seen a decent bio on Tito that I can recommend, anyone else have any suggestions?"

In some cases the "Partisans" actions, have caused retribution on innocent villagers. Haven't studied much but they seem to do more damage than good. Aren't they the ones that assassinated Mussolini?

[Manray9]

Joaniepony wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Partisan operations have never grabbed me as much as they probably should, don't know why. I also have not seen a decent bio on Tito that I can recommend, anyone else have any..."

Italian leftist partisans were the demise of Il Duce -- although I would describe it as an execution more than an assassination.

[Colin]

I wrote about this crisis in two of my books, analyzing the legal, moral, ethical and military problems with such retaliatory actions. Interviews with participants enlightened me.

[Dimitri]

This blurp is not bullshitting you: a chapter per country written by an expert in the field & backed by a tongue-twisting bibliography

Hitler's Europe Ablaze: Occupation, Resistance, and Rebellion during World War II by Philip Cooke

Local resistance to German-led Axis occupation occurred throughout the European continent during World War II, taking a wide range of forms—noncooperation and disinformation, sabotage and espionage, and armed opposition and full-scale partisan warfare. It is a key element in the experience and the national memory of those who found themselves under Axis government and control. But for decades there has been no systematic attempt to give readers a panoramic yet detailed view of the make-up, actions, and impact of resistance movements from Scandinavia down to Greece and from France through to Russia.

This authoritative and accessible survey, written by a group of the leading experts in the field, provides a reliable, in-depth, up-to-date account of the resistance in each region and country along with an assessment of its effectiveness and of the Axis reaction to it. An extensive introduction by the editors Philip Cooke and Ben H. Shepherd draws the threads of the varied movements and groups together, highlighting the many differences and similarities between them.

True Stories of Resistance in World War II is a significant contribution to the frequently heated debates about the importance of individual resistance movements and thought-provoking reading for everyone who is interested in or studying occupied Europe during the World War II.

the translated standard since 1982

A Civil War: A History of the Italian Resistance by Claudio Pavone

A Civil War is a history of the wartime Italian Resistance, recounted by a historian who took part in the struggle against Mussolini’s Fascist Republic. Since its publication in Italy, Claudio Pavone’s masterwork has become indispensable to anyone seeking to understand this period and its continuing importance for the nation’s identity.

Pavone casts a sober eye on his protagonists’ ethical and ideological motivations. He uncovers a multilayered conflict, in which class antagonisms, patriotism and political ideals all played a part. A clear understanding of this complexity allows him to explain many details of the post-war transition, as well as the legacy of the Resistance for modern Italy. In addition to being a monumental work of scholarship, A Civil War is a folk history, capturing events, personalities
and attitudes that were on the verge of slipping entirely out of recollection to the detriment of Italy’s understanding of itself and its past.

[John]

Jerome wrote: " by Ben Shepherd

Description
Germany’s 1941 seizure of Yugoslavia led to an insurgency as bloody as a..."

Sounds like a fascinating read, albeit focussing it seems on the Wehrmacht's perspective. One of the many Austrians you mention was young SS intelligence officer Kurt Waldheim, who went on to become UN secretary general and then president of Austria. During that period, Tito's "Bihac Republic" in Bosnia was the only free territory in occupied Europe. But beyond the Partisans, who were fighting not only the Wehrmacht, the Italians and their (mainly Croat) Ustaše allies, but also the collaborationist (Serb) Četniks, there were two instances of regions of Bosnia taking their defence into their own hands. In particular in what in the 1990s came to be known as the Bihać pocket, a former Partisan called Huska Miljković managed to play off the various factions against each other, and create a safe area that lasted for 723 days. He was ultimately betrayed and ambushed. Interestingly, the religious differences that were used as a smokescreen to justify and legitimise the 1990s war were less important then, even though it was the Croatian government's policy to exterminate Serbs ("kill a third, expel a third, convert a third to Catholicism"), and the Partisans attracted Muslims and Croats as well as Serbs (Tito himself was a Croat, future Croatian president Tudjman was a Partisan). In 1950 there was a peasants' revolt in the same part of Bosnia, which was also organised by local Muslims and Serbs, some of whom had been deadly enemies only five years earlier.

[Colin]

Yugoslavia was definitely the most enigmatic, confusing and contentious region of WW II that also had the greatest long term ramifications. My interviews with many participants in that war from all sides only added to the confusion.

[John]

Manray9 wrote: "John wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Partisan operations have never grabbed me as much as they probably should, don't know why. I also have not seen a decent bio on Tito that I can recommend, anyone ..."

Yes he was. But he was part of Tito's inner circle during the war before they fell out and he was jailed in 1956 he was tipped to become Tito's successor. But he was not liberal: he said after the crackdown on the 1950 peasants' revolt "They'll think twice about rebelling again", even though many of the participants thought he was behind it. David Owen met him during the 1990s war, and he told him “What brought and held different Yugoslav nationalities together was the common fear of foreign aggression or imperialism”. Đilas wrote several books, one of which Tito: The Story from Inside is specifically about Tito. You've reminded me that I must read that book, it's a glaring gap in my reading on the Balkans.

[John]

Colin wrote: "Yugoslavia was definitely the most enigmatic, confusing and contentious region of WW II that also had the greatest long term ramifications. My interviews with many participants in that war from all..."

That sounds like fascinating and very valuable research. Have you distilled your interviews in the Balkans into a book? How did you go about selecting/finding them?

[Colin]

I published a few of the interviews in Military History and World War II magazines years ago, and used many of the excerpts in German Anti-Partisan Warfare in Europe 1939-1945 which really pissed off a lor of entrenched mindsets and challenged many conventional wisdoms. Unfortunately Schiffer Publishing edited 200 pages out of the book, and ran with the printing early to get it out while I was still doing the index. I had no say so whatsoever, hence never using them again for my later books.

[Jonny]

I was amused by this ruse used by the resistance on Crete to move around unobserved (and save the villages they were passing through any rough handling by the German occupiers):
"Equipped as they were –‘heavily armed as pirates’, Leigh Fermor remarked – it was feared their movements would provoke a flurry of rumours about a guerrilla band travelling through the territory. So Leigh Fermor devised a ruse. When they approached a village, the men, speaking in turn, were to shout German phrases (learned by rote) in order to mimic a careless enemy column on the march. Each player was assigned a set part, to be repeated at every village. ‘The result was perfect,’ Leigh Fermor reflected. ‘Doors were closed, windows hastily shuttered, and lingerers in the street dashed for their houses, terrified of being caught out after curfew, then we clanked through unobserved.’"
The Ariadne Objective: Patrick Leigh Fermor and the Underground War to Rescue Crete from the Nazis

[Gregg]

Witold Pilecki: The Inspiring Story of the Polish Spy Who Took on the Third Reich

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-...

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Great link, thanks for posting the details Gregg.

[Colin]

John wrote: "Jerome wrote: " by Ben Shepherd

Description
Germany’s 1941 seizure of Yugoslavia led to an insurgency..."
Ben is a great guy, spent some time with him when he was teaching at University of Birmingham.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

"Empire of Destruction: A History of Nazi Mass Killing" - Chapter 2: Decapitation of Polish Society:

"The express desire to kill all Poles who 'could be bearers of Polish resistance in the future' meant that not even Polish schoolchildren were safe, especially when German retaliation for even the most trivial of incidents was often barbaric. On one occasion in the village of Obluze, near Gdynia (Gdingen) in what had now become Danzig-West Prussia, the German authorities arrested some fifty Polish schoolboys in response to the alleged smashing of a windowpane in the local police station on the night of 11 November 1939. The Germans demanded that the schoolboys name the culprit. Unable to learn who was responsible, they ordered the boys' parents to thrash them publicly in front of the church. When the parents refused, SS men brutally beat the schoolboys, shot ten of them and forbade the removal of the bodies, which lay for twenty-four hours in front of the church."

Empire of Destruction: A History of Nazi Mass Killing by Alex J. Kay