What were the partisans exactly during WW2?

Answer 1

In almost every part of Europe occupied by the Germans and Italians in WW2 ... and also in some parts of Asia occupied by the Japanese ... resistance movements arose to harass the occupying forces. In most cases, these movements adopted violence, such as sabotage and guerilla attacks, as their mode of operation; only in a very few cases did a movement depend on non-violent methods of resistance.

NATIONALISTS and COMMUNISTS

All of these movements were at least partly motivated by patriotism. But many resistance movements were also stimulated by party-political motives; and in this category, Communist movements were the largest and most widespread. It is those Communist-inspired resistance movements that are generally referred to as “Partisans”.

Therefore, until Barbarossa, there were few (Communist) Partisan resistance movements in Europe. Stalin regarded Hitler as his partner up until then; and Communist parties throughout Europe were under orders from Moscow to cooperate with the Germans and Italians, regardless of their patriotic instincts. However, one of Stalin’s first initiatives after he had recovered from his shock in June 1941 was to order Communists everywhere to take up arms against the Nazis.

As a result, to mention just one example, the French resistance movement began to expand very quickly from the second half of 1941. Until then it had consisted mainly of small groups of French soldiers who had hidden themselves rather than surrender in 1940; and larger numbers of Frenchmen seeking to hide in France instead of being shipped to Germany as forced labor; with a sprinkling of British and French secret agents sent over from Britain to organize intelligence and sabotage efforts. The advent of the powerful French Communist party to the Allied cause suddenly added much greater numbers to the French resistance.

Resistance movements were not necessarily unified in their struggle against the occupiers. In areas such as Yugoslavia, Greece and the Ukraine, Communist Partisans put as much effort into fighting Monarchist and/or Nationalist resistance groups as they did in fighting against the occupation forces. Betrayals for party-political purposes were also common. There were numerous instances in which resistance groups were betrayed to the Germans by other, rival resistance groups.

RUSSIAN PARTISANS

The largest Partisan movement developed in the occupied areas of the Soviet Union. At first, Russian Partisans consisted almost entirely of soldiers stranded behind Axis lines as a result of the rapid advance of German units during 1941. These groups began to expand quickly via civilian recruitment, thanks to the atrocious brutality of the Nazi occupation forces. Unlike non-Communist resistance groups, and to a far greater extent than even Partisan groups elsewhere in Europe, these Russian Partisans operated strictly in accordance with orders from Moscow.

They were treated, essentially, as an extension of the Red Army. Indeed, the Red Army deliberately inserted large units with heavy weapons (up to Division size) behind the German lines (via either mass parachute drops, or via breakthrough attacks) to join and strengthen the Partisans.

As the war progressed and as Axis power declined, the Russian Partisans came to control vast areas behind the Axis lines. Eventually, the Germans controlled only the rail-lines in daylight. In the forests and the swamps, and almost everywhere after dark, the Partisans ruled. German supply lines, inadequate as they already were, became hopelessly overstretched by the need to defend them against Partisan attacks.

Driven to desperation by these “terrorist” attacks, the German response was to increase the level of atrocities against the civilian population. The main consequence of this was still more recruits for the Partisans.

From 1943 onwards, the advancing Red Army began to liberate great swathes of land. Partisan units in those areas were simply enrolled en masse into the regular Red Army, and continued their fight against the Axis in that fashion.

YUGOSLAVIA

Yugoslavia produced the second largest Partisan movement of WW2, and the only one that effectively succeeded in liberating an entire country by its own efforts (although with much aid and assistance from the Allies, particularly from the British). This achievement largely explains how, after WW2, Yugoslavia retained a strong and growing measure of independence from Russian control.

The situation in occupied Yugoslavia was very complicated. The occupying forces were a mixture of Italians and Germans, who increasingly failed to cooperate with one another. The resistance movements included two major groups, who sometimes cooperated, but more often hated and fought against one another: Tito’s Communist Partisans; and the Serbian royalist Chetniks. And, weighing in on the side of the occupation forces, there were the Croatian extreme nationalist Ustaše. Politics, religion and nationalism infected the mixture, leading to numerous savage massacres.

OTHER EUROPEAN PARTISANS

Although none came close to the scale of Russia and Yugoslavia, there were also significant (Communist) Partisan resistance movements inFrance, Greece, and Italy (after the Italian surrender).

Smaller-scale Partisan movements also operated throughout the rest of the Balkans; in Hungary and Czechoslovakia; in the Ukraine; and in the Baltic States.
There was virtually no homegrown (Communist) Partisan movement in Poland – although there was a very strong and well-organized nationalist resistance movement, the Home Army ... which was crushed twice: first by the Germans while the Red Army stood by passively at the approaches to Warsaw; and then by the NKVD.

There were no significant (Communist) Partisan groups in Scandinavia, the Netherlands or Belgium.

Answer 2

Ww2 Partisans

Answer 3

Partisans Ww2

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What were the partisans exactly during WW2?

Answer 5

The partisans were the citizens of the Nazi-occupied countries rising up and fighting the Germans. Significant partisan activity happened in France, Italy, Russia, and Poland (culminating there in the Warsaw Uprisings).

Many partisans were allied not only against the Germans but also by political ideology.

Answer 6

russians and the Nazis were one and the same, Barbaric as a wild animals with no regard to human suffering Hitler was guilty of killing 6 million plus Jews. where as Stalin had murdered 26million of his own people. so to try and figure out what went down Would make most everyone sick. Being an older person i can tell you i lived during those days. but soon all of us who saw it will be gone and history will be so confused no one will ever understand the millions that died for nothing. war is hell

Answer 7

Partisans usually refers to the irregular forces on the Eastern Front who fought the Germans in a guerilla war.
Their activites were mainly behind enemy lines where they would fight isolated units or harass the lines of communications.

Answer 8

and in yugoslavia there were actally 2 different grps of partisans, the commuinists under Tito and the chechins.