Book on Soviet Partisan Movement 1941-1944

[John Kettler]

Came across this while trying to find a specific pic of partisans and thought I'd put it here, as well as where I originally did, weirdly enough, on a CMBS thread about a wish list including mine rollers!

The Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941-1944  Major Edgar M. Howell, AUS, Retired.

http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/104/104-19/CMH_Pub_104-19.pdf

Regards,

John Kettler

 

Edited April 3, 2017 by John Kettler

[John Kettler]

Hollywood supported the partisans, too.  Saw this long ago and really enjoyed it. 

"Days of Glory is a 1944 American film which tells the story of a group of Soviet guerrillas fighting back during the 1941 Nazi invasion of Russia. It starred Tamara Toumanova and Gregory Peck (in their feature film debuts). It was also the first film produced by screen writer Casey Robinson, who in early January 1943 had been contracted by RKO Radio Pictures to write and produce the film under the working title This Is Russia."

Part 1/2

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2gmoeq_days-of-glory-1944-1-2-film-about-soviet-partisans_shortfilms

Part 2/2

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2gngxd_days-of-glory-1944-2-2-film-about-soviet-partisans_shortfilms.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Duckman]

I think there's a basic difference in that in Russia, Yugoslavia, and maybe some other places a lot of the partisans were stay-behind soldiers who went to the hills, swamps, and forests during the German invasion. For various reasons this did not happen the same way in Western Europe, meaning they had to start more from scratch. The size and geography of the Eastern front also meant there were much bigger inaccessible areas. Moscow sent a lot of cadres, often well trained and motivated Komsomol types, to the partisan forces which made them sort-of regular (shades of the VC and NVA in Vietnam).

Still, the French resistance managed to get hold of a fair amount of arms and even if bigger operations like the Vercors republic failed they managed to cause a lot of nuisance. Footage from Paris in 1944 shows all-out urban warfare, and the amount of sniping and sabotage endured by German units travelling towards Normandy is also well documented. On top of that France was very important to the German war economy (more so than Russia), which meant ample opportunity for industrial sabotahe and espionage.