The Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941-1944 : A Critical Historiographical Analysis

In history guerrilla warfare always played an important role whether it was of a large scale or of a limited character fighting.

Grenkevich traces its impact on military history in the 18th and 19th century in Europe and North America.

He carefully analyses the Russian partisan movement from the first bloody encounters in the 1870s, taking into account the social, economic and political configurations of Russia.

The work details how the Communist Party studied the Red guerrillas' fighting experience at the end of 1918 and included in the Red Army's Field Manual a special chapter named 'Partisan Operations'.

During the Second World War the most significant partisan war took place.

The relationship between the Party, the Red Army and the Partisan Movements is covered in the main body of Grenkevich's historical research.

This study is a response to the lack of a comprehensive bibliography and reliable books on the Partisan Movement.

In preparing this research the author conducted interviews with surviving partisans; in addition, a significant amount of new Russian information on the activity of the Soviet partisans has become available in recent years.