The grandfather whom Hitler feared. Sidor Kovpak and his partisan army

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Sometimes not even specific people, but entire nations are overtaken by a temporary clouding of reason. And at this time, they cease to distinguish between good and evil, and instead of genuine heroes they exalt the fake ones.

Smart kid

At the beginning of the XXI century, Ukraine created idols for itself from marauders, rapists and murderers who were in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Cowards and scum, capable of performing only punitive functions, killing "Jews, Muscovites and communists", have been elevated to the status of "heroes of the nation."

One could simply say - "what a nation, such are the heroes." But this would be unfair in relation to Ukraine, because this land gave the world a lot of real warriors and just People with a capital letter.

At the Baikovo cemetery in Kiev, a man who became a legend during his lifetime, a man whose name alone terrified the Nazis, sleeps in eternal sleep - Sidor Artemievich Kovpak.

Monument to Sidor Kovpak in Kiev

He was born on June 7, 1887 in the Poltava region, into a large peasant family. Every penny counted, and instead of school, Sidor mastered the skills of a shepherd and a farmer from a young age.

At the age of 10, he began to help the family, working in a shop for a local merchant. Nimble, quick-witted, observant - "the kid will go far", said the village aksakals, wise by everyday experience, about him.

In 1908, Sidor was drafted into the army, and after four years of military service, he went to Saratov, where he got a job as a laborer.

From the Emperor to Vasily Ivanovich

But just two years later, Sidor Kovpak again found himself in the ranks of the soldiers - the First World War began.

Private of the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment Sidor Kovpak was a brave warrior. Wounded several times, he always returned to duty. In 1916, as a scout, Kovpak distinguished himself during the Brusilov breakthrough. By his exploits, he earned two St. George's crosses, which were presented to him by the emperor Nicholas II.

Perhaps the tsar-father got a little excited here - in 1917 Kovpak chose not him, but the Bolsheviks. Returning to his homeland after the October Revolution, Kovpak discovered that the war was on his heels - the reds and whites came together for life and death. And here Kovpak gathered his first partisan detachment, with which he began to smash the Denikinites, and at the same time, according to old memory, the Germans who occupied Ukraine.

In 1919, Kovpak's detachment joined the regular Red Army, and he himself joined the ranks of the Bolshevik Party.

But Kovpak did not immediately get to the front - he was dumped by typhus raging in the dilapidated country. Having scrambled out of the clutches of the disease, he nevertheless goes to war and finds himself in the ranks of the 25th division, which he himself commands Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev … The commander of the trophy team of the Chapaevites, Sidor Kovpak, was already known for his zeal and thrift - he knew how to collect weapons on the battlefield not only after victories, but also after unsuccessful battles, striking the enemy with such audacity.

Kovpak took Perekop, finished off the remnants of the Wrangel army in the Crimea, liquidated the Makhnovist bands, and in 1921 he was appointed to the post of military commissar in Bolshoy Tokmak. Having changed several more similar posts, in 1926 he was forced to demobilize.

Into the partisans - vegetable gardens

No, Kovpak was not tired of the war, but his health failed - old wounds worried, he was tormented by rheumatism earned in a partisan detachment.

And Kovpak switched to economic activities. Although he lacked education, he had the vein of a strong business executive, observation and ingenuity.

Having started in 1926 as chairman of an agricultural cooperative in the village of Verbki, Kovpak, 11 years later, reached the position of chairman of the Putivl City Executive Committee of the Sumy Region of the Ukrainian SSR.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Sidor Kovpak was 54 years old. Not so much, but not so little for a person whose whole life was connected with the war and hard peasant labor.

But Kovpak in difficult times knew how to forget about age and sores. He took over all the organizational work to create a partisan detachment in the Putivl region. There was very little time to organize - the enemy was approaching rapidly, but Kovpak was busy preparing bases and caches to the last.

He left Putivl in vegetable gardens almost the last from the leadership on September 10, 1941, at the moment when the German units had already appeared in the settlement.

Many partisan detachments died at the very beginning of the war due to the fact that their leaders were simply not prepared for such activities. There were those who, having laid the bases, out of fear preferred to hide, hide, but not join the fight.

But Kovpak was completely different. Behind him is a huge military experience, combined with the experience of a talented business executive. In just a few days, Kovpak created the nucleus of the future detachment from the Putivl activists and scouts who had gone with him to the forests.

Power from the forest

On September 29, 1941, near the village of Safonovka, a detachment of Sidor Kovpak conducted the first military operation, destroying a Nazi truck. The Germans sent a group to destroy the partisans, but she returned with nothing.

On October 17, 1941, when the Nazis were already on the outskirts of Moscow, in the Ukrainian forests, Kovpak's detachment united with the detachment of Semyon Rudnev, a career soldier who participated in battles with Japanese militarists in the Far East.

They appreciated each other's grip and felt mutual respect. They had no rivalry for leadership - Kovpak became the commander, and Rudnev took the post of commissar. This management "tandem" very soon made the Nazis shudder with horror.

Kovpak and Rudnev continued to unite small partisan groups into a single Putivl partisan detachment. Somehow, at a meeting of the commanders of such groups, punishers with two tanks showed up right into the forest. The Nazis still believed that partisans were something frivolous. The result of the battle accepted by the partisans was the defeat of the punishers and the capture of one of the tanks as a trophy.

The main difference between the Kovpak detachment from many other partisan formations was, paradoxically, the almost complete absence of partisanship. Iron discipline reigned among the Kovpakites, each group knew its own maneuver and actions in case of a surprise attack by the enemy. Kovpak was a real ace of covert movement, unexpectedly for the Nazis appearing here and there, disorienting the enemy, inflicting lightning-fast and crushing blows.

At the end of November 1941, the Hitlerite command felt that it practically did not control the Putivl region. The loud actions of the partisans also changed the attitude of the local population, which began to look at the occupiers with almost a mockery - they say, are you in power here? The real power is in the forest!

Coming Kovpak

The irritated Germans blocked the Spadashchansky forest, which became the main base of the partisans, and threw large forces to defeat them. Assessing the situation, Kovpak decided to break out of the forest and go into the raid.

Kovpak's partisan unit grew rapidly. When he went with battles on the rear of the enemy in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, more and more new groups joined him. Kovpak's compound has become a real partisan army.

On May 18, 1942, Sidor Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In August 1942, Kovpak, along with the commanders of other partisan formations, was received in the Kremlin, where Stalin asked about problems and needs. New combat missions were also identified.

The Kovpak unit was ordered to go to the Right-Bank Ukraine in order to expand the zone of partisan operations.

From the Bryansk forests, the Kovpak partisans fought several thousand kilometers across the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kiev regions. Ahead of them, partisan glory was already rolling, overgrown with legends. They said that Kovpak himself is a huge bearded strongman who, with a blow of his fist, kills 10 fascists at a time, that he has tanks, cannons, planes and even Katyushas at his disposal, and that he is personally afraid of him. Hitler.

Hitler is not Hitler, but the smaller Nazis were really afraid. On policemen and German garrisons the news "Kovpak is coming!" acted demoralizing. They tried to evade a meeting with his partisans in any way, because she did not promise anything good.

In April 1943, Sidor Kovpak was awarded the rank of "Major General". So the partisan army got a real general.

Hardest raid

Those who met the legend in reality were amazed - a short old man with a beard, looking like a village grandfather from the rubble (the partisans called their commander - Grandfather), seemed absolutely peaceful and did not in any way resemble the genius of partisan warfare.

Kovpak was remembered by his fighters for a number of sayings that became winged. While developing a plan for a new operation, he repeated: "Before entering God's temple, think about how to get out of it." About ensuring the connection with everything necessary, he laconically and a little mockingly said: "My supplier is Hitler."

Indeed, Kovpak never bothered Moscow with requests for additional supplies, obtaining weapons, ammunition, fuel, food and uniforms from Hitler’s warehouses.

In 1943, Sidor Kovpak's Sumy partisan unit set off on its most difficult, Carpathian raid. You cannot erase a word from the song - in those parts there were many who were quite satisfied with the power of the Nazis, who were glad to hang "Jews" under their wing and rip open the bellies of Polish children. Of course, Kovpak was not a "hero of the novel" for such people. During the Carpathian raid, not only many Hitlerite garrisons were defeated, but also Bandera troops.

The fighting was heavy, and at times the position of the partisans seemed hopeless. In the Carpathian raid, the Kovpak unit suffered the most serious losses. Among the dead were veterans who stood at the origins of the detachment, including Commissioner Semyon Rudnev.

Living legend

Still, Kovpak's unit returned from the raid. Upon his return, it became known that Kovpak himself was seriously wounded, but hid it from his fighters.

The Kremlin decided that it was impossible to risk the hero's life any longer - Kovpak was recalled to the mainland for treatment. In January 1944, the Sumy partisan unit was renamed into the 1st Ukrainian partisan division named after Sidor Kovpak. The command of the division was taken over by one of Kovpak's associates, Peter Vershigora … In 1944, the division made two more large-scale raids - Polish and Neman. In July 1944, in Belarus, the partisan division, which the Nazis did not manage to defeat, joined forces with the Red Army.

In January 1944, for the successful conduct of the Carpathian raid, Sidor Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time.

Sidor Kovpak, 1954 Photo: RIA Novosti

Having healed his wounds, Sidor Kovpak arrived in Kiev, where a new job awaited him - he became a member of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR. Probably, another would be blamed for the lack of education, but Kovpak was trusted by both the authorities and the common people - he earned this trust with his whole life.

In 2012, under Viktor Yanukovych, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, at the suggestion of the communists, adopted a Resolution on the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the birth of Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak. Then Kovpak remained a hero for Ukraine.

What would Sidor Artemyevich say if he saw what has become of his native Ukraine? I probably wouldn't say anything. Having seen a lot in his life, Grandfather, having pokryakhtev, would simply have gone towards the forest. And then … Then you know.