The Partisan War Behind the Frontlines - WW2 Documentary Special
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ธ.ค. 2024
- There is a second war raging on the Eastern Front. From the huge expanses of no man’s land behind the German lines, Moscow’s battle-hardened and well-armed partisan bands are waging a Rail War in support of Red Army offensives. But every successful mission brings down the wrath of the genocidal Axis war machine.
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Hosted by: Spartacus Olsson
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Ian Sowden
Written by: James Newman
Research by: James Newman
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Source literature list: bit.ly/WW2sources
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Leave It All Here - Fabien Tell
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Can you share sources for that "80% reach front" statistics? Thank you!
Hey all, glad for the special episode on the partisans. Didn't notice him in the listed sources, so I wanted to recommend the work of Kenneth Slepyan; he's dedicated much of his academic life to studying the Soviet partisans, and has produced excellent research on them (as well as refuted a number of common persisting myths about the partisans that, as you mentioned at the end, were pushed by the Soviets and later the Russian Federation post-war).
And what about Biography Specials? Those were by far the best specials, and you stopped making them completely. Seeing how many important figures participated in WW2, one Biography Special per week was needed to cover all the major personalities of the war. To say I am very disappointed you stopped making them is an understatement. The Great War channel at least never stopped making them, and had enough of other special episodes to keep the content "fresh" and educational.
Hey, hello. I would ask: 1. to describe the scale of the Nazi genocide in Belarus against the partisans - it was gigantic. 2. for a film about the Polish underground state.
@@alektemkin Belarus was ok under Germans , Moscow Marxists occupiers committed the genocide in Belarus . I am from Belarus by the way
Most maps of Europe showing the Axis at their zenith show a solid colour of their control. I once saw a more accurate map with territories controlled by partisan groups. Particularly in eastern Europe vast areas behind the Axis eastern front looked more like Swiss cheese!
You can do the same with the Japanese and Allied control on Papua New Guinea and other islands. I always wondered if the Allies and the Japanese had such great control over these areas such as schoolbooks portayed. I was really glad when this channel coloured these areas gray with pockets of Japanese and Allied forces.
@@martijn9568 By late 1944 when U.S. forces returned to liberate the Philippines, the Japanese military only had effective control over 12 of the nation's 48 provinces. Partisans held the rest.
The interior of New Guinea was mostly a no mans land where neither allied or Japanese troops operated, because it had no strategic value. In Dutch New Guinea, several small Dutch units did retreat into the jungle when the Japanese came and fought a guerrilla war until the Japanese were routed, but due to their small numbers the effect on the war was very limited. Some Japanese units do the same when the allies advance but most perish of hunger and sometimes attacks by the indigenous population.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 The Japanese placed small groups of soldiers in towns. One town had about 6 to "keep the peace." When the Americans landed the Japanese concentrated their forces in a few areas. Most of the country was abandoned not overrun. The Americans could advance as much as they wanted. The civilians provided information and even food.
@@jameshudkins2210 The Filipino partisans were one of the larger and more successful resistance movements of the war, but they tend to be overlooked in general WW2 histories because of a tendency in the West, at least as far as coverage of the lives of civilians in territories occupied by the Axis, to focus near exclusively on the European experience.
Hopefully the channel goes a little more in depth on them (as it has with the Yugoslav, French, or Soviet partisans) as events in the Philippines start to loom large in the weekly updates.
Come and See (1985) covers this aspect of the Eastern Front pretty well. The Soviets committed to total war well before the Germans ever did.
"Come and See" here for Free
th-cam.com/video/zjIiApN6cfg/w-d-xo.html
A very to the point movie.
I'd be surprised if it's not mentioned at some point.
Maybe you should warn people how rough the movie is to watch. Its not for everyone.
@@jboss119 not for the faint of heart
Our revenge is to live. We may be hunted like animals but we will not become animals. We have all chosen this - to live free, like human beings, for as long as we can. Each day of freedom is a victory. And if we die trying to live, at least we die like human beings.
-Tuvia Bielski
Why I am I reminded of the US army’s policies of “Free Fire Zone” and “Search and Destroy” in Vietnam
"General Chuck Yeager in his autobiography describes his (and his associates') disapproval of shoot-anything-that-moves low level strafing missions during World War II (although they were not necessarily called "freedom zone to fire" missions). He described his feeling that, had the U.S. lost the war, it might have been considered a criminal activity."
At the end of 1943, the Germans actually also started pursuing a limited version of the "strategic hamlets" concept that the US would use in Vietnam. They called them Wehrdöfer. Here's some information from Marston and Malkasian's book Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare.
"...the staff of Army Group Center and the Reichskommissariat Ostland almost simultaneously conceived an identical project promising lasting success: the Wehrdörfer (fortified villages). In a number of selected villages relatively safe from partisan threat, the reliable civilian population was armed to protect itself and enjoyed a certain autonomous administration. The first step of this new project was to halt the losing of ground, the second to stabilize the situation. In the third and final step, the Wehrdörfer expanded into areas hitherto dominated by partisans. A mixture of military action and propagandistic attraction of these villages was considered key to success. By the time the project gained full pace in spring 1944, however, it was already too late..."
@@WorldWarTwo thank you, I’d never heard of this program before. Wonder if the British knew about or were even inspired by during their Malaysian Emergency en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan_Emergency
The Eastern front was absolute hell behind the lines and at the front.
The tank in the photo at 2:58 is a French Somua S-35
It very well may be! Many of the captured weapons were used in behind-the-lines security or anti-partisan warfare. There was a Char B2 moster used in the occupation of one of the Channel Islands.
@@Alex.HFA1 Makes sense, the Germans did use a lot of captured equipment.
@@bloodrave9578 The German-made equipment was usually saved for the front line. The Soviets air-dropped or smuggled thousands of anti-tank rifles to partisans to fight these vehicles.
The partisan wars are even today getting much too little attention. Much thanks to you for shedding light into them! It is a topic that well befits Spartacus' skills as well
The tit for tat with rail mines and counter measures feels awfully familiar to this Iraq War veteran.
The more things change, the more they stay the same... Thanks for watching.
Friction. They added friction. Enough friction that slows down actions of the regular army.
I remember how Smolensk was lost because Henrici's army was out of ammunition. This certainly contributed to that.
“The conventional army loses if it does not win. A guerrilla army wins so long as it does not lose.”
-Henry Kissinger.
how long did it take you to Google that 😂
Расскажите это Вьетконгу.
a nice portrayal of Vietnam war, coming from Kissinger
@@stefenlong Aye. That it is.
May he burn in hell.
@@karlwaltherYes that’s a very good description of the Vietnam war.
My grandmother was a partisan in Belarus
I watched "Come and See" last week about Partizans in Belarus I cried my heart out.
your grandmawas a hero
Really
My great grandmother was a partisan in donetsk oblast
Great content as always on the Partisans by Sparty and the team. Let's hope that more specials like these will reach out to more new people. Thank you and never forget.
Thanks for watching. We hope so too!
Referring to 80% of German trains getting through during one period in a positive (for the Germans) light is peculiar. Imagine how anyone would react if someone had remarked that during a similar period 80% of Allied shipping had made it to port, with 20% failing to.
Germany is using its industry to perpetuate genocide.
Operation Pedestal, the resupply of Malta. The navy tried to get through, and lost 9 out of 14 merchant ships along with an aircraft carrier and 2 light cruisers. That was considered acceptable losses.
In 1941 the British lost 892 cargo ships sunk in the atlantic. those were acceptable losses.
The advantage the allies had is that if a ship sinks it doent block the atlantic behind it, the next convoy just goes around.
the Germans had the same solution, the British designed the liberty ship and gave the design to Kaiser in the US to mass produce, the Germans came up with the Victory railway engines, even going as far as using concret in building them but trains are tied to set routes and exensive switching points, theyre far easier to ambush.
Spartacus is whitout a doubt one of the most dapper presenters across all forms of media.
I'll pass that on to him!
@@WorldWarTwo yes he's really good!
A wonderful historical coverage about USSR Partisan efforts against Nazism invaders during WW2... thanks, Time Ghost Army for sharing this magnificent explained
Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed the episode.
"No plans survive First Contact with the enemy." -H. von Moltke
"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." -M. Tyson
I’m glad to see the comments are encouraging the discussion so valued by the channel
Come and See is a brilliant and harrowing movie about soviet partisan.
Awesome episode!!!!!!!!!
Great Video as always!
Thanks!
The European gauge and Russian guage weren't the same size.What slowed the German down was they had to replace track as they went into Russia at a maximum of about 10km a day.
Excellent job! Keep up the good work!! ❤
Fun fact about sabotageing a train: If you know that the train contains amunition you don't stay to whatch or to finish the job. One of my fathers uncles run away from Spain at the end of the war with the last russian troops and once in Russia he joined the partisans... He told my father that in his first train sabotage they stood there to whatch it... to make it short it ended in two days of not dareing to stand up with the germans in the other side not dareing to try anything but lie down.
Excellent report. Thank You Spartacus 👍🏻
Flown in on Lisunov Li-2's, licensed version of Douglas DC 3, and 708 Lend Lease C 47's.
Li-2's can be distinguished from C47's by passenger hatch on starboard side.
They also used the Po(U)-2 as a super light transport for like grenades and ammo it could only take 2 boxes but could land literally anywhere and was very quiet.
I have seen pictures taken during the Americam Civil War where the rails were not only bent but curved around trees.
Sherman's bow ties!
You need to heat the rails to red hot to do that, I think. So with a response time under an hour or so that probably wasn't viable in WW II Eastern Front.
Steel rails are tough!
Today I know entire assembled sections of rail are just laid down only requires the gravel bed to be prepared. Maybe they had something similiar in WW II?
Sherman's March to the Sea in the American Civil war, there were groups of his army that tore up the timbers of train tressles cut down trees and tore up wood supporting the rails. They then built huge bonfires. When the fires were stoked enough the soldiers would take the rails and lay the middle of sections in the fire until the rails were red hot. Then the rails were shaped around objects or just plain bent so that section of rail becomes unusable.
The Confederate army had a habit of rebuilding railroads with efficiency. This was the Union army's way of giving them the finger.
They were called Sherman's bow ties because of the way they were bent.
And, the Union army marching through Georgia at that time, had the luxury of time as there was no Confederate army left in the theatre to oppose them.
@@Michael-jx9bh from Sparty's description, they did not appeae to tie it around a tree, so they probablt just deformed it while on the ground.
@@freetolook3727 yup, I think that was it was called. If I recall the caption, this was hard to fix.
How about Partisans in Italy? How did the Soviets deal with the Spanish Legion?In comparison to the USSR what was the scale of Partisan warfare in other axis occupied countries?
The partisan movement was massive in both Yugoslavia and Greece en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_Partisans and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_resistance
@@caryblack5985 Thank you.
Your content is always great
Thanks! Glad that you enjoyed the video.
Absolutely brilliant as always 👍
I just can’t get enough of TG videos. Guys, you are SUPERB
That been said… PLEEEEASE organize your series and subseries in video lists! I’m getting lost here and I would like very much if you improve what’s already a GREAT experience
I laughed for 5 straight minutes when I saw the thumbnail.😂
Thomas the train is no longer the same
I recently saw a 2021 film called '1944:Hitlers secret weapon' which was a docudrama about Leonid Berenshtein who was a partisan commander and his group sabotaged railways. I thought it would be another standard WW2 film when it started but they then interviewed Berenshtein just before he died and it was moving how he talked about the moral decisions he had to confront. If you can find it on a streaming service its worth a watch.
Excellent work Sparty & team.
Every German soldier chasing partisans or repairing railways is one less soldier on the front line.
This channel never misses keep up the good work
Thank you Spartacus, your summary of the ruthless and brutal approach forced upon so many partisan groups from 1941 to be effective evokes memories of Anton Walbrook's monologue in The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp: "If you let yourself be defeated by them just because you are too fair to hit back the same way they hit at you, there won't be any methods but Nazi methods." This is what victory at all costs demands: doing what it takes, in order to win.
If you fight fair, while your opponent fights foul, you will lose. If your opponent is slinging mud, you're going to get covered anyway, so you might as well send as much mud and ROCKS as you can back in their direction.. That's why I always say, and I have taught my sons, that there is no such thing as "fighting fair;" there is only fighting to win.
@@ex-navyspook where does that escalation stop, though? Mud? Rocks? Spears? Grenades? Bombs? Nukes? Laws of war exist for a reason, and the reason has nothing to do with fairness or mercy: it’s to prevent mutual annihilation. The first to throw a stone can’t complain when it’s thrown back.
@@davidblair9877 As I said, if you get in the mud, you can't expect to stay clean. The only thing you can do is end it quickly before it escalates or gets out of hand.
@@ex-navyspook"...you can't fight HONORABLY with DISHONORABLE people!!!" - Jason Lewis
@@ex-navyspook...SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO "FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE"- THE FIRE DEPARTMENTS DO THAT ALL THE TIME...
Was waiting for an awesome video on this topic!
What about the size discrepancy between German and Russian track width?
If anyone wants to know more about the Partisan War and other relevant characters, there is an episode about it in the Soviet Storms series that goes into details about its MO (though it is made by the Russians so certain biases applied).
I saw it and it was good
Thank you for your work, team!
Thanks for watching!
Hi guys. Thanks a lot for the great work. Would you present us with the White Rose story (the Scholl brothers and all those heroes from Munick)?
Thanks and....
Never forget.
Adolf the Hate Engine in the thumbnail made me chuckle out loud
Will you be covering the conflict between the Soviet partisans and Polish Home Army in the Polish Kresy? This became especially deadly to the Home Army after Stalin broke off relation with the London Poles following the German revelation of Katyn.
Thanks!
I was wondering whether you guys would do a video on this topic. Great that you did.
Never forget.
This goes some way to explaining how the Soviets were able to teach insurgent warfare to various liberation groups around the world after the war. Compelling viewing
Another great episode
Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
A presentation on the reichsbahn , how it operated across Europe, how it transported everything from timber to people, how it got paid, how the drivers and firemen worked, would be much appreciated
Excellent! 👏
Thank you! 😃
@@WorldWarTwo sometimes I don't agree but always from admiration and respect. ❤️.Your educational job is very great! 👍
Partisans forces on the Eastern Front had great success in 1943-44. Early on, their success was questionable at best. But by now, with Soviet advances ever pushing back the Germans, the partisans will continue to launch attacks against the enemy. The enemy will continue to be ruthless and bloody in their reprisals. The partisans will follow suit, taking no prisoners, murder, rape, etc. The Eastern Front during the Second World War is that similar to the Chinese Front. In these two fronts, the Axis and Allies are engaged in a battle of extermination with extreme prejudice. Those that suffer the most will be the civilians caught in the crossfire. Godspeed to those who died.
I do remember learning that in France, if a German officer or official were killed, several important members of the nearest town of village, would have some of their civilians killed. Often the village doctor would be chosen, someone important to the community and others. This would keep the average French fighter from killing the Germans in charge, BUT the Communist groups (there were many in France), were known never to let this stop them from killing off a German. Other resistance groups did not always like the Communist groups as they were much more ruthless and felt the deaths of innocent civilians was a small price to pay for taking out someone that they wished to exterminate.
In most of the occupied countries, the communists WERE the only active resistance, at least up until VE Day...
A lot of the French partisans weren’t from the town so didn’t matter to them
And yes the communists cared even less which caused friction between the groups
i can't remember who said the quote, but it goes something like this: for every suspected guerilla, partisan or bandit you kill, there's now a brother, a son and a father rushing to join those same partisans, a mother, daughter and sister already gathering supplies to help them, and a community who can never be trusted again.
Hi Sparty
These specials are super to watch.
By seeing movement of train its unbelivable scale of war. So much materials used.
Thanks for covering specials.
Thank you! We looking forward to making more specials for you and everyone else to enjoy.
The US didn't have it as bad as the Germans but there were two case's of sabotage, one near the Canadian border and another near the east coast!! The real interesting thing is that the over a third to half the rail lines in the US Had fallen in disrepair because a lack of funds during the depression and more rail lines were having to be built for the war factories at the same time! So there quite a few accidents in the US because our transport railway system was in a poor state!!!!
I don't think Adolf thought things through for this event.
In 1941 the Germans were more ready for suppressing partisans than they were for the winter, and early mass slaughters of Jews were often carried out under the rubric of "combating bands". But large numbers of Red Army soldiers who had not been rounded up mingled with members of the Communist Party apparatus who were trying to avoid arrest and possible execution, creating the start of partisan warfare. The big problem for them was surviving the winter.
This is an awesome episode.
It is really intersting how Partisans, both in the SSSR and the Yugoslavia, managed to carry out their operations and keep the unity. Even if faced with greater casualties and having to live off harsh land away from centers, they were motivated to protect their lands from the occupators.
@@noName-kn1lx that's one of the points. The Nazis, through their purges and exceedingly violent campaigns, actually pressed for only higher resistance from the populace. For many, it was a fight or flee response, since they did not have any other options
Truly glorious warriors raping little girls and old women in Finland, murdering defenseless villagers far from the front line.
did the us and the uk contribute in managing this supply of weapons and more materials to the eastern front partisans?
Sparty you the Man! Good job 👍👍
That thumbnail is so wrong. Thomas the tank engine meets Hitler.🥺
Never forgotten
love the desk lamp.. bricks need a little help... great video as always
Sparty strikes again. Never forget.
14:29 That's why we need to talk more about the Yugos!
Their partisans literally had tanks and aviation by 1944
Although not the same in intent or intensity. The American and ARVN war against the Vietcong was very similar. Especially in regards to the challenges of guerilla war for the forces not accustomed to the country.
The partisans doen't stop the flow of German troops to the front... They weren't expected to. They were there to harrass. Every nation makes heroes of their fighters and an enemy of its opponents. No enemy is more reviled than the local collaborator. What soldier in the regular army takes a much risk or has a bigger impact than the partisan guerrilla? They deserve all the praise they can get.
The thumbnail looks like the most intense and troubling episode of Thomas the Tank engine ever made
What is the soft background music in these videos ?
This thumbnail is wild.
My great grandfather was Soviet red army special forces that was embedded with some partisans as he was radio operator as he could speak Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, German and some French and English and was an engineering student at Lvov university before the war and was also teaching the partisans where and how to take out rail bridges and tracks and I remember when he told me when some partisans were saying they took out a patrol of Ukrainian SS and he was shocked that Ukrainians were allowed in the SS. He was badly injured by a Stuka bombing on his Radio post and was lucky enough to get to a field hospital and survived bad kidney damage.
I remember watching war of the century , and they covered the partisan war , for example they confronted this still alive Wehrmacht officer who served in army group centre , who signed off in this paperwork regarding too a anti partisan operation in which they killed a few thousand partisan, when they only captured 50 weapons.
How do you style your mustache? Mine is about the same length now and I'd like to stop accidentally eating it.
Wait his real name is Spartacus?
That’s AWESOME!
the doctor: "Hitler the Tank Emgine doesn't exost, he can't hurt you"
Hitler the Tank Engine:
My comment shows my support for the channel, and helps with it's TH-cam algorithm
Wheels of Terror Sven Hassel with Ollie Reed.
My grandmother's brother was sent to Płaszów concentration camp in 1944 because he worked on a train station nearest to a spot where Home Army derailed a supply train. Germans punished all Poles from that station in that way in reprisal.
This guys much better than the channel with bald guy, with the pronounced lisp.
is there any partisan movement in China ?
Not that I know of. When I was a kid, the CIA would have started & supported one, as they should in Iran, N. Korea etc. Nowadays we give them money, hold hands & sing Kumbaya hoping things will get better.
@@robertsansone1680 he is asking of there were partisan group during the japan invasion of china ?
@@potato88872 He may have been. I thought that he was talking about a partisan group among the Uighurs & other oppressed minorities in China, at the present time.
There was although it isn’t documented enough. But there was. Japanese defense tactics was to defend roads, canals, and railway against Chinese partisans. During the Pacific War, as Japanese troops will be siphon off to fight against the Western Allies, the Chinese partisans will continue to launch attacks. But again, many of these attacks are not documented well enough.
Maybe Hitler wasn't as self-destructive after all. Maybe he just underestimated the partisans.
According to Snyder in Bloodlands, Belarus lost more than half its population in large part due to the back and forth of the partisan war.
Belarus was hit much harder than most occupied nations for exactly the reason you mention.
That 50% figure includes about 90% of the original Jewish population.
Never Forget.
Nice to hear you give an in-depth discussion on hos Soviet partisans fight their war behind the lines.
Don't worry, I won't forget. I am constantly reminded via the war in Ukraine. Slava Ukraini.
@@maesterchris2120 We shall see, we shall see.
I had read somewhere that at one time the Soviets had created the infustructure they needed to fight a guerilla war before they signed the Non-Aggression pact with the Nazi's. But because if said pact they got rid of it and had to start from scratch after the Soviet Union was invaded. Oh well.
I love how this guy can’t stand that Germany lost as if he is rooting for the Nazis. His time of voice as if he’s in disgust about the numbers of allied forces against Germany
🤣😂🤣. Maybe you should look at the rest of Spartacus videos in the War Against Humanity to see how patently absurd this comment is. 😂🤣😂
Will there be video about the underground in Asia? WAH in Asia? The hell ships? Slave labor? Why is it so focused on Europe?
This only talks about soviet partisans, but many organizations existed, including nationalist anti-german/anti-communist partisans and communists not aligned with Moskow.
But wasn’t German rails and Russian rails two different gauges??
That thumbnail😭
First- BDR Waller (Retired), 11th FD RGT, RCA!
Yeah with the axis it seems like their major thing as this point is that not a single thing goes over without a hitch. As far as numbers go, 5% of rail traffic going through Belarus being derailed is a staggering figure. I get why a historian would want to under value that.
When you are dealing with logistics, you are constantly trying to push the margin. The business of moving stuff around has probably the thinnest margins of any task known to man. That being said, if 0.1% of the manifest gets wasted, then in terms of trying to beat out your competitors who don't have to deal with that loss, 0.1% is an incredible amount of waste.
From a business perspective and not a political or military perspective, the 5% number would be as if everybody involved in making the material took a 30 minute break every day.
5% of somebody's work in 1944 Germany would be an entire 30 minutes of time each and every workday. What really makes a loser is when these things compound. 5% here, 3% there, 4% here. That's what makes a loser. To say that the number for shipping loss is negligible is kind of surprising. These things are like a snowball.
What was a large battle partisans fight the Germans in battle and won?
Kovpak's unit had a number of this.
Even today vast expanses that rival the American west
coming soon-ish> The Battle of Leyte gulf. Is this a good subject for a "minute-by-minute" treatment as was done for Pearl Harbor?
Probably not as it took several days
A distant relative of mine was a partisan at the Pskov area at the age of 17. He was first put to corvee at the Pantherstellen; he was starved and worked to almost death. A refugee living at the village agreed to take his place in exchange for food for his family. The refugee also concealed his old age, so soon he was back at the village - ordnung ist ordnung.
When Zhenya, - so was the name - came back home, he had to be fed from the spoon, so weak he was. When his health got better, he went for the partisans. There was just no other way - the Germans would've put him to work again, sooner or later.
The partisans near Pskov held a whole partisan republic. Their actions were, of course, heroic, but their methods were not always unquestionable. That's what his sister, then a girl, told me:
"Now, young, beautiful girls go through our village. If they go east, towards the larger village, where the Germans are stationed - we know: they're gathering intel. You *know* how they're going to get it: men are men, Germans or not. In a while one of them disappears and is replaced - that means, we'll see her never more."
Later that year, Zhenya was hit in an ambush, while going to demolish a railroad. His comrades were all killed. He fall from the horse he rode, his foot was caught in a stirrup. The horse went all the way back to the camp, dragging him over the snow - that's how he lived. But a splinter that hit him was stuck in his lung.
After the area was liberated in early 1944, he and the other partisans were to join the Red Army. He got all the way to Berlin: when they arrived, there was shooting all around. They started to shoot in response, knowing not where they shoot at. It was May 8th 1945, the shooting was a celebration of the armistice.
He was pressed to serve in the Red Army for about a decade more - with the splinter still in his lung. At the age of 35 he decided to finally get it taken away. He was admitted to the Leningrad Military Hospital, had to undergo the surgery any time. All of a sudden, he got a fever, and was isolated in a backroom. The next day, they found him dead: apparently, he tried to get up and reach for help, but fell and hit with his temple over a corner of a steel bed. The War took his life almost two decades later.
Operation Uranus II