Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of anirregular military forceformed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activ-ity. The term can apply to the field element ofresistance movements, examples of which are the civilians that op-posedNazi GermanorFascist Italianrule in several coun-tries duringWorld War II.
1
History
The French term "partisan", derived from the Latin, first appeared in the 17th century to describe the leader of a war-party.
The initial concept of partisan warfare involved the use of troops raised from the local population in a war zone (or in some cases regular forces) who would operate be-hind enemy lines to disrupt communications, seize posts or villages as forward-operating bases, ambush convoys, impose war taxes or contributions, raid logistical stock-piles, and compel enemy forces to disperse and protect their base of operations.
One of the first manuals of partisantacticsin the 18th century was The Partisan, or the Art of Making War in
De-tachment..., published in London in 1760[1]byde Jeney, aHungarian military officer who served in thePrussian Armyascaptainofmilitary engineersduring theSeven Years’ Warof 1756-1763. Johann von Ewalddescribed techniques of partisan warfare in detail in his Abhandlung
über den kleinen Krieg (1789).[2]
The concept of partisan warfare would later form the ba-sis of the “Partisan Rangers” of theAmerican Civil War. In that war,Confederate States Army Partisan leaders, such asJohn S. Mosby, operated along the lines described by von Ewald (and later by bothJominiandClausewitz). In essence, 19th-century American partisans were closer to commando orrangerforces raised during World War II than to the “partisan” forces operating inoccupied Eu-rope. Mosby-style fighters would have been legally con-sidered uniformed members of their state’s armed forces. Partisans in the mid-19th century were substantially dif-ferent from raiding cavalry, or from unorganized/semi-organized guerrilla forces. Russian partisans played a crucial part in the downfall ofNapoleon. Their fierce re-sistance and persistent inroads helped compel theFrench emperor to flee Russiain 1812.
Imperial Russia also made use of partisans in World War I (see for exampleStanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz).
2 Ukrainian Partisans
Main article:Ukrainian Insurgent ArmyThe Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian: Укра-їнська Повстанська Армія (УПА), Ukrayins’ka
Povs-tans’ka Armiya; UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan armythat engaged in a series ofguerrillaconflicts duringWorld War IIagainst Nazi Germany, theSoviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and both Undergroundand Communist Poland. The group was the military wing of theOrganization of Ukrainian Nationalists—Banderafaction (the OUN-B), originally formed inVolynin the spring and summer of 1943. Its official date of creation is 14 October 1942,[3] day of Intercession of the Theotokosfeast.
The OUN’s stated immediate goal was the re-establishment of a united, independentnational stateon Ukrainian ethnic territory. Violence was accepted as a political tool against foreign as well as domestic enemies of their cause, which was to be achieved by a national revolution led by a dictatorship that would drive out the occupying powers and set up a government representing all regions and social groups.[4] The organization began as a resistance group and developed into a guerrilla army.[5]
During its existence, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought against the Poles and the Soviets as their primary opponents, although the organization also fought against the Germans starting from February 1943. From late spring 1944, the UPA and Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-B (OUN-B) — faced with Soviet advances — also cooperated with German forces against the So-viets and Poles in the hope of creating an indepen-dent Ukrainian state.[6]The army also perpetratedethnic cleansing of the Polish populationofVolhyniaandEast Galicia,[7][8][9][10][11] as well as subsequently defending the Ukrainian population in Poland from deportations; preventing thedeportation of the Ukrainiansin southeast-ern Poland.[12]
3 Soviet Partisans
Main article:Soviet partisansSoviet partisans during World War II, especially those active in Belarus, effectively harassed German troops
Soviet partisans in Belarus, 1944
and significantly hampered their operations in the re-gion. As a result, Soviet authority was re-established deep inside the German-held territories. In some areas partisankolkhozesraised crops and livestock to produce food. However this was not usually the case and parti-sans also requisitioned supplies from the local populace, sometimes involuntarily.
Soviet partisans inFinlandwere known to have attacked villages and indiscriminately targeted the populace.[13] In East Karelia, most partisans attacked Finnish mili-tary supply and communication targets, but inside Fin-land proper, almost two-thirds of the attacks targeted civilians,[14]killing 200 and injuring 50, mostly women, children and elderly.[15][16][17]
4
Yugoslav Partisans
Main article:Yugoslav Partisans
The Partisans or the National Liberation Army, (offi-cially the National Liberation Army and Partisan
De-tachments of Yugoslavia) was Europe’s most effective
anti-Naziresistance movement.[18][19] It was led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia[20]duringWorld War II. Its commander was MarshalJosip Broz Tito. The com-munistYugoslav partisanswere a leading force in the lib-eration of their country during the People’s 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 suffering losses at the hands of partisans that he could ill afford. Nowhere were these losses heavier than in Yugoslavia.[21]
—Basil Davidson
By late 1944, the total forces of the Partisans numbered 650,000 men and women organized in fourfield armies
Yugoslav partisanStjepan Filipovićmoments before death.
and 52 divisions, which engaged in conventional war-fare.[22] By April 1945, the Partisans numbered over 800,000.
Shortly before the end of the war, in March 1945, all re-sistance 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 People’s Army.
Main article:Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Postwar Yugoslavia was one of only two European coun-tries that were largely liberated by its own forces during World War II. It received significant assistance from the Soviet Union during theliberation of Serbia, and substan-tial assistance from theBalkan Air Forcefrom 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 itself halfway between the two camps at the onset of the Cold War.
3
5
List of notable partisan
move-ments and battles
• Albanian Partisans• Armenian irregular units • Armia Krajowa
• Armia Ludowa • Bataliony Chłopskie • Bushwackers
• Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II • Caucasian Front (Chechen War)
• Cursed soldiers • 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 • Mosby’s Rangers • National Armed Forces • Operation Anthropoid • Partisan Ranger Act • Pomeranian Griffin
• Polish resistance movement in World War II • Romanian anti-communist resistance movement • Soviet Partisans
• Ukrainian Insurgent Army • Yugoslav Partisans • Werwolf
6 Notable victims
• Marutei Tsurunen, a survivor of a Soviet partisan raid
7 See also
• Fifth column • Asymmetric warfare • Guerilla warfare • Irregular military • Resistance movement • Unconventional warfare • Minutemen8 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 Officer of the Army” [Thomas Ellis]. London: 1760. from French edition in Hag, 1757 seeMihály Lajos Jeney
[2] Ewald J. (ed. & trans. Selig, R. and Skaggs, D) “Treatise on Partisan Warfare” Greenwood Press (1991)ISBN 0-313-27350-2
[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 (Orha-nizatsiia ukrainskykh natsionalistiv)This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).
[5] Українська Повстанська Армія — Історія нескорених, 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. 193–199
Chap-ter 5
[7] Norman Davies. (1996). Europe: a History. Oxford: Oxford University Press
[8] Aleksander V. Prusin. Ethnic Cleansing: Poles from
West-ern Ukraine. In: Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen.
Im-migration 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 Al-berta. 2011. p.4.
[11] Grzegorz Rossoliński-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 Viheriävaara, (1982). Partisaanien jäljet 1941-1944, Oulun Kirjateollisuus Oy.ISBN 951-99396-6-0 [15] Veikko Erkkilä, (1999). Vaiettu sota, Arator Oy. ISBN
952-9619-18-9.
[16] Lauri Hannikainen, (1992). Implementing Humanitarian
Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts: The Case of Finland,
Martinuss Nijoff Publishers, Dordrecht. ISBN 0-7923-1611-8.
[17] Tyyne Martikainen, (2002). Partisaanisodan siviiliuhrit, PS-Paino Värisuora Oy.ISBN 952-91-4327-3.
[18] Jeffreys-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
1948–1974. University of California Press. p. 2. ISBN 0-520-03730-8.
[21] Basil Davidson: PARTISAN PICTURE
[22] Perica, Vjekoslav (2004). Balkan Idols: Religion and
Na-tionalism in Yugoslav States. Oxford University Press. p. 96.ISBN 0-19-517429-1.
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9
Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses
9.1
Text
• Partisan (military) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partisan_(military)?oldid=663139776 Contributors: The Anome, Robbot,
Pibwl, Altenmann, Humus sapiens, Cyril~enwiki, DocWatson42, Mboverload, Neutrality, Wesha, Kevin Myers, Gunnernett, Idleguy, Pharos, Ahsoous, Wiki-uk, Calton, Hohum, Vuo, BDD, Ghirlandajo, Woohookitty, Cosentino, Lapsed Pacifist, Vanished user 05, Descen-dall, FlavrSavr, Chobot, Shauni, Noclador, Tony1, SmackBot, Bwithh, Aivazovsky, Septegram, Gilliam, Thumperward, Hongooi, Oatmeal batman, Mladifilozof, Dr. Dan, ProtocolOH, Rory096, Luiclemens, Piercetp, Dekaels~enwiki, Heqs, Umedard, Cydebot, Thijs!bot, Z10x, Yannisc, Escarbot, North Shoreman, JAnDbot, Ryan4314, JamesBWatson, Cliché Online, Philg88, Humphrey20020, CommonsDelinker, Svetovid, Grim Revenant, Tntdj, Horst, Sergioroa, Homer slips., Minesweeper.007, Treisijs, VolkovBot, Mnemonic2, Director, Revizion-ist, Mkpumphrey, McM.bot, SieBot, Mazdakabedi, Sf46, Ratnix, PipepBot, David Trochos, Karabinier, Mcampos69, Dzole, DJ Sturm, Cantor, Чръный человек, JCDenton2052, Addbot, Enea95, EjsBot, Favonian, Lightbot, WikiDreamer Bot, Yobot, Nallimbot, Stephus, AnomieBOT, Geogie, Adel.M.Radwan, ArkinAardvark, Papa-Zhuli, Bpselvam, Mshearn, Nima Farid, Winterst, Jandalhandler, Emaus-Bot, Slightsmile, Tommy2010, Mwgf79, T3443, WikiCopter, ClueBot NG, Battlesnake1, MerlIwEmaus-Bot, Helpful Pixie Emaus-Bot, GlaubePL, Crislia, DavidLeighEllis, CdavM, Ruprecht27, Red and black partisan, TheLokov, Johs123, Biscuit Warlord, KasparBot and Anonymous: 96
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