The creation of the Central headquarters of the partisan movement was due to objective reasons. For the effective organization of the actions of a huge number of partisan detachments, it was necessary to create a single governing organization that could coordinate actions.
Guerrilla guards in the first months of the war
Immediately after the outbreak of World War II, the nascent partisan movement did not have a unified leadership in Moscow. After analyzing the situation that developed at that time, we can identify the causes of such disorganization. First, the country's leadership did not consider it necessary to create a central headquarters for the partisan movement because of its confidence in a quick victory over the enemy. Also, Stalin did not allow the possibility of a quick attack by Germany as early as 1941.
For almost a year, the Soviet partisan movement was subordinate to several organizations at once. The leadership of the detachments was carried out by party organizations, the fourth directorate of the NKVD, as well as military commissars of armies and fronts. Often there were situations when opposing orders came from different organizations in the same detachment. Such work of the Soviet authorities introduced a serious disorganization and reduced the effectiveness of the actions of partisan detachments.
The central headquarters of the partisan movement: the creation
Already in the first quarter of 1942, the Soviet leadership began to realize the weak effectiveness of the partisan detachment management system that existed at that time. But it was impossible to instantly change the situation because of the complex bureaucratic decision-making process at that time. By May 1942, the headquarters structure had already been developed. Officially, the partisan headquarters was created by resolution of the State Defense Committee on May 30, 1942. It indicated the goals of the headquarters:
- Establishment of communications with new partisan units;
- centralized command of the troops;
- help to units.
Who led the headquarters of the partisan movement?
As previously emphasized, several organizations led the partisan detachments before the creation of the central headquarters. When organizing the activity of the Central Committee for the Protection of Civil Aviation, this situation was taken into account, so representatives of the party, the NKVD and the army were included in the headquarters leadership.
The honor and at the same time the difficult task of leading the headquarters was entrusted to Ponomarenko Panteleimon Kondratievich. He was born in 1902, had a peasant origin. In those days, mostly people from the village were promoted to leadership positions. This person represented the party line. The chief of staff of the partisan movement Ponomarenko was appointed to the post by chance. It was he who was able to independently organize a good level of guerrilla work in Belarus almost immediately after the outbreak of hostilities. Deputy Ponomarenko became the representative of the NKVD Sergienko V.T. and employee of the General Staff T.F. Korneev
Headquarters structure
The central headquarters of the partisan movement had a rather ramified structure. A large number of employees in different areas is associated with the complexity and danger of the tasks that were set by the headquarters of the partisan groups, as well as with the complexity of organizing the work of the underground in the conditions of the enemy rear.
According to the decree on the creation of the headquarters, the work of 6 departments was organized:
- operational work;
- information and intelligence management;
- communication unit;
- personnel department of partisan groups and detachments;
- Division for ensuring the activities of partisans.
In addition, the following structures were attached to the headquarters: a radio center, a school for training reservists, and points for collecting partisan reserves. After some time, when the work of the headquarters was already well established, there was a need to expand the staff of the organization. At different times, 4 more departments were created: political, cryptographic, financial (dealt with budget issues of the partisan movement) and secret.
Conclusion
The creation of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement had a serious impact on the course of the war. The increase in the number of sabotage in the rear had a bad effect on the process of providing German troops. We all remember very well that at the end of 1942 the Battle of Stalingrad ended, after which the strategic offensive of the Red Army began.
The central headquarters of the partisan movement was able to systematize and direct the activities of partisan detachments in the right direction.