The War Behind The Eastern Front Soviet Partisans In North West Russia 19411944 1st Edition Hill by Hill, Alexander 9780714657110, 0714657115 instant download after payment.

The author argues that after the virtual annihilation of the partisan movement of 1941, during the period from spring 1942 to autumn 1943, despite improvements in partisan combat effectiveness, ruthless German anti-partisan policies, in combination with other measures described, prevented the partisan movement from achieving the results hoped for by its leadership.

From the autumn of 1943, the prospect of a scorched-earth policy in retreat by a German Army clearly on the run, in combination with the military development of the partisan movement and effective propaganda aimed at the civilian population and military collaborators, provided the foundations for increased partisan success.

The author concludes that, despite not living up to contemporary expectations, or, for much of the war, to the claims of Soviet post-war accounts, the Soviet partisan movement was, for the Soviet government, a cost-effective means of hitting the German war machine in the context of the war effort as a whole and, in particular, of the horrendous loss of life at the front.