Partisan (military)

A partisan is a member of an irregular military force 2 Ukrainian Partisans

formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or
by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activ- Main article: Ukrainian Insurgent Army
ity. The term can apply to the eld element of resistance
movements, examples of which are the civilians that opposed Nazi German or Fascist Italian rule in several coun- The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian: (), Ukrayinska Povstries during World War II.
tanska Armiya; UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist
paramilitary and later partisan army that engaged in a
series of guerrilla conicts during World War II against
1 History
Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and
both Underground and Communist Poland. The group
The French term "partisan", derived from the Latin, rst was the military wing of the Organization of Ukrainian
appeared in the 17th century to describe the leader of a Nationalists Bandera faction (the OUN-B), originally
war-party.
formed in Volyn in the spring and summer of 1943. Its
[3]
The initial concept of partisan warfare involved the use ocial date of creation is 14 October 1942, day of
of troops raised from the local population in a war zone Intercession of the Theotokos feast.
(or in some cases regular forces) who would operate be- The OUNs stated immediate goal was the rehind enemy lines to disrupt communications, seize posts establishment of a united, independent national state on
or villages as forward-operating bases, ambush convoys, Ukrainian ethnic territory. Violence was accepted as a
impose war taxes or contributions, raid logistical stock- political tool against foreign as well as domestic enemies
piles, and compel enemy forces to disperse and protect of their cause, which was to be achieved by a national
their base of operations.
revolution led by a dictatorship that would drive out the
One of the rst manuals of partisan tactics in the 18th occupying powers and set up a government representing
[4]
century was The Partisan, or the Art of Making War in De- all regions and social groups. The organization began
tachment..., published in London in 1760[1] by de Jeney, as a resistance group and developed into a guerrilla
[5]
a Hungarian military ocer who served in the Prussian army.
Army as captain of military engineers during the Seven During its existence, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Years War of 1756-1763. Johann von Ewald described fought against the Poles and the Soviets as their primary
techniques of partisan warfare in detail in his Abhandlung opponents, although the organization also fought against
ber den kleinen Krieg (1789).[2]
the Germans starting from February 1943. From late
The concept of partisan warfare would later form the ba- spring 1944, the UPA and Organization of Ukrainian
sis of the Partisan Rangers of the American Civil War. Nationalists-B (OUN-B) faced with Soviet advances
In that war, Confederate States Army Partisan leaders, also cooperated with German forces against the Sosuch as John S. Mosby, operated along the lines described viets and Poles in the hope of creating an indepen[6]
by von Ewald (and later by both Jomini and Clausewitz). dent Ukrainian state. The army also perpetrated ethnic
In essence, 19th-century American partisans were closer cleansing of the Polish population of Volhynia and East
[7][8][9][10][11]
as well as subsequently defending
to commando or ranger forces raised during World War Galicia,
the
Ukrainian
population
in Poland from deportations;
II than to the partisan forces operating in occupied Eudeportation
of
the Ukrainians in southeastpreventing
the
rope. Mosby-style ghters would have been legally con[12]
ern
Poland.
sidered uniformed members of their states armed forces.
Partisans in the mid-19th century were substantially different from raiding cavalry, or from unorganized/semiorganized guerrilla forces. Russian partisans played a 3 Soviet Partisans
crucial part in the downfall of Napoleon. Their erce resistance and persistent inroads helped compel the French Main article: Soviet partisans
emperor to ee Russia in 1812.
Imperial Russia also made use of partisans in World War Soviet partisans during World War II, especially those
I (see for example Stanisaw Buak-Baachowicz).
active in Belarus, eectively harassed German troops
1

4 YUGOSLAV PARTISANS

Soviet partisans in Belarus, 1944

and signicantly hampered their operations in the region. As a result, Soviet authority was re-established
deep inside the German-held territories. In some areas
partisan kolkhozes raised crops and livestock to produce
food. However this was not usually the case and partisans also requisitioned supplies from the local populace,
sometimes involuntarily.
Soviet partisans in Finland were known to have attacked
villages and indiscriminately targeted the populace.[13]
In East Karelia, most partisans attacked Finnish military supply and communication targets, but inside Finland proper, almost two-thirds of the attacks targeted
civilians,[14] killing 200 and injuring 50, mostly women,
children and elderly.[15][16][17]
Yugoslav partisan Stjepan Filipovi moments before death.

Yugoslav Partisans

Main article: Yugoslav Partisans

The Partisans or the National Liberation Army, (ocially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia) was Europes most eective
anti-Nazi resistance movement.[18][19] It was led by the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia[20] during World War II.
Its commander was Marshal Josip Broz Tito. The communist Yugoslav partisans were a leading force in the liberation of their country during the Peoples Liberation
War of Yugoslavia.
By the middle of 1943 partisan resistance
to the Germans and their allies had grown
from the dimensions of a mere nuisance to
those of a major factor in the general situation.
In many parts of occupied Europe the enemy
was suering losses at the hands of partisans
that he could ill aord. Nowhere were these
losses heavier than in Yugoslavia.[21]
Basil Davidson

and 52 divisions, which engaged in conventional warfare.[22] By April 1945, the Partisans numbered over
800,000.
Shortly before the end of the war, in March 1945, all resistance forces were reorganized into the regular armed
force of Yugoslavia and renamed Yugoslav Army. It
would keep this name until 1951, when it was renamed
Yugoslav Peoples Army.
Main article: Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Postwar Yugoslavia was one of only two European countries that were largely liberated by its own forces during
World War II. It received signicant assistance from the
Soviet Union during the liberation of Serbia, and substantial assistance from the Balkan Air Force from mid-1944,
but only limited assistance, mainly from the British, prior
to 1944. At the end of the war no foreign troops were
stationed on its soil. Partly as a result, the country found
By late 1944, the total forces of the Partisans numbered itself halfway between the two camps at the onset of the
650,000 men and women organized in four eld armies Cold War.

List of notable partisan move- 6 Notable victims

ments and battles
Albanian Partisans
Armenian irregular units
Armia Krajowa
Armia Ludowa
Bataliony Chopskie
Bushwackers
Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II

Marutei Tsurunen, a survivor of a Soviet partisan

raid

7 See also
Fifth column
Asymmetric warfare
Guerilla warfare
Irregular military
Resistance movement

Caucasian Front (Chechen War)

Unconventional warfare

Cursed soldiers

Minutemen

Dutch Resistance
Forest Brothers
Franc Tireurs Partisans
Free French
French Resistance
Greek Resistance
Italian resistance movement
Jewish partisans
Jewish Combat Organization
Kuperjanov Battalion
Lithuanian partisans
Mosbys Rangers
National Armed Forces
Operation Anthropoid
Partisan Ranger Act
Pomeranian Grin
Polish resistance movement in World War II
Romanian anti-communist resistance movement
Soviet Partisans
Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Yugoslav Partisans
Werwolf

8 References
[1] de Jeney, L. M. [Lewis Michael]: The Partisan, or the
Art of Making War in Detachment..."translated from the
French of Mr. de Jeney, by an Ocer of the Army
[Thomas Ellis]. London: 1760. from French edition in
Hag, 1757 see Mihly Lajos Jeney
[2] Ewald J. (ed. & trans. Selig, R. and Skaggs, D) Treatise
on Partisan Warfare Greenwood Press (1991) ISBN 0313-27350-2
[3] Demotix: 69th anniversary of the Ukrainian Insurgent
Army. Kyivpost.com. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
[4] Myroslav Yurkevich, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian
Studies, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Orhanizatsiia ukrainskykh natsionalistiv) This article originally
appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).
[5]
, Lviv, 2007 p.28 (Ukrainian)

[6] Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of

Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 4 pp. 193199 Chapter 5
[7] Norman Davies. (1996). Europe: a History. Oxford:
Oxford University Press
[8] Aleksander V. Prusin. Ethnic Cleansing: Poles from Western Ukraine. In: Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen. Immigration and asylum: from 1900 to the present. Vol. 1.
ABC-CLIO. 2005. pp. 204-205.
[9] Timothy Snyder. The reconstruction of nations: Poland,
Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999. Yale University
Press. 2003. pp. 169-170, 176
[10] John Paul Himka. Interventions: Challenging the Myths of
Twentieth-Century Ukrainian History. University of Alberta. 2011. p.4.

[11] Grzegorz Rossoliski-Liebe. The Ukrainian National

Revolution of 1941. Discourse and Practice of a Fascist
Movement. Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian
History. Vol. 12/No. 1 (Winter 2011). p. 83.
[12] Timothy Snyder. The reconstruction of nations: Poland,
Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999. Yale University
Press. 2003. p. 192.
[13] http://www.aamulehti.fi/Kotimaa/1194840497265/
artikkeli/partisaanit+tappoivat+vaino-pojan+silmien+
edessa+lahes+koko+perheen+nain+han+kertoo+iskusta.
html
[14] Eino Viherivaara, (1982). Partisaanien jljet 1941-1944,
Oulun Kirjateollisuus Oy. ISBN 951-99396-6-0
[15] Veikko Erkkil, (1999). Vaiettu sota, Arator Oy. ISBN
952-9619-18-9.
[16] Lauri Hannikainen, (1992). Implementing Humanitarian
Law Applicable in Armed Conicts: The Case of Finland,
Martinuss Nijo Publishers, Dordrecht. ISBN 0-79231611-8.
[17] Tyyne Martikainen, (2002). Partisaanisodan siviiliuhrit,
PS-Paino Vrisuora Oy. ISBN 952-91-4327-3.
[18] Jereys-Jones, R. (2013): In Spies We Trust: The Story
of Western Intelligence, Oxford University Press, ISBN
9780199580972
[19] Adams, Simon (2005): The Balkans, Black Rabbit Books,
ISBN 9781583406038
[20] Rusinow, Dennison I. (1978). The Yugoslav experiment
19481974. University of California Press. p. 2. ISBN
0-520-03730-8.
[21] Basil Davidson: PARTISAN PICTURE
[22] Perica, Vjekoslav (2004). Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States. Oxford University Press. p.
96. ISBN 0-19-517429-1.

REFERENCES

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