Polish partisans were not
“The underground organizations of the Army of the krai will more likely agree to cooperate with the fascists, rather than begin to fight in the same ranks with us”
After the war, in our country it was considered to be that a network of partisan detachments was successfully operating in the occupied Polish territory even before the approach of the Red Army. This is a myth, as evidenced by radiograms stored in the GRU special archives, which were sent to Moscow by the famous partisan commander, Hero of the Soviet Union, Ivan Nikolaevich Banov.
In the winter of 1943 – 1944, the Red Army was approaching the state border. Ahead went scout saboteurs. One of the tasks assigned to them is to provide the advancing troops with the support of partisans from the enemy rear. But in February 1944, partisan commander Ivan Nikolaevich Banov (alias Cherny), while in Poland in the Lublin area, reported to Moscow: “The Poles are cooperating badly. Across the country, there are 50 of various party groups that are fighting among themselves ... The guerrilla movement is in its infancy here. We create sabotage detachments from Russian prisoners of war. ”
From Bulev to Svaryn
Before moving to Poland by order of Moscow, Cherny manned a mobile maneuverable group of 50 people under the command of his deputy Khadji Britaev. Armed with all the best that was in the squad: machine guns, carbines, light machine guns and even an anti-tank gun.
A combat mission was received from the Center for the Britaev Group: “By one counting of the cars, the enemy grouping and its intentions not to reveal, serious work is needed to capture documentary data. The Britaev Group organizes systematic raids on cars on the Zhitkovichi – Lakhva dirt track. ”
Soon, Khadzhi radioed to the Center: “11.1.44 of the Fourth Sovereign Group in the Milashevichi District - Lakhva set up a car. Destroyed noncommissioned officer field gendarmerie number 581. Taken lists of personnel. 13.1.44. The tenth group of Suraev attacked a convoy leading from Luninets to Milashevichi. 3 trucks, 2 ambulances and 1 cars are broken. 20 was killed by Germans and captured by corporal Paul Osess from the 127 quartermaster control. Previously, he served in the 77 heavy artillery regiment. 17.1.44. In the area of Lakhva a car was crashed. Documents of the 2 Army and letters were taken. ”
The center was pleased, giving orders to intensify actions to seize documents and officers.
The transition of the operational center under the command of Chernoy itself consisted of two stages. At first it was decided to reach the village of Svaryn, which was located near the Western Bug, then make a throw over the Bug, overcome the Vladava-Chelm railway and the Vladava-Parchev highway. But with a detailed study of the movement, it turned out that there were a huge number of obstacles on the way. Such, for example, as the Baranavichy-Luninets and Brest-Pinsk highways, the Dnieper-Bug Canal and the Western Bug River are an extremely serious obstacle to the crossing of a fairly large operational center along with a wagon train and a communications center. At the same time, Moscow did not cease to repeat that the group should have avoided any clashes with the Nazis, so that the enemy would not know its route.
The partisans crossed the Baranavichy-Luninets railroad at night and went into the forest unnoticed. After a short rest, another passage was made - to the village of Svaryn. This stage was more difficult. Places went unfamiliar, low-inhabited partisans, it was possible to run into both the fascists and the nationalist formations. Therefore, Black often changed routes.
On the approach of the group to the Pinsk-Kobrin railway, the snow stopped, the sky cleared and the moon looked out, illuminating two hundred people with a wagon train. Black decided to continue the movement, but they were stopped by a large-caliber German machine gun. The column lay down, responded with fire, and Black commanded to retreat.
In the afternoon, a German reconnaissance aircraft discovered a convoy on the canal. The guerrillas opened fire. Airplane turned away. Black ordered to climb the steep banks of the channel and drive to the forest. When they reached the forest, the partisans rested and moved further along the forest roads. By Svarin came to the evening. The transition of the operational center from the Bulev Lake to Svaryny took more than a month.
War on two fronts
It was rash to rush over the Bug into Polish territory without thorough intelligence. The decision is made to send ahead experienced scouts - officers of Mikhail Gor and Feodor Steppe. The first radiograms from them didn’t inspire much optimism: there was a political confrontation in the country, the partisans wept enough.
Cherny was especially attentive to the alarm messages from Mikhail Gory, who worked in Poland.
“In these local conditions,” Gore wrote, “there are underground organizations of the Kray Army, whose leadership is asleep and sees how to return past pan-Polish Poland. It incites its subordinates to the Russians ... In my opinion, these types would rather agree to cooperate with the Germans or the Polish fascists, rather than begin to fight in the same ranks with us. ”
In the following radiogram, Gore reported: “I have 215 people. We have to fight on two fronts - with the Polish endeks (the abbreviated name of the members of the National Democratic Party of Poland. - Ed.) And the Germans. There are also people in the Army who, in their own circle, declare that the time will come and they will fight with the Soviets. ”
And here is what Fedor Steppe radioed from his region of residence: “In the Yagodinsky forest there are nationalists who call themselves narodites. They are pro-fascists. The number of 200 people. A guide from Warsaw gives them only hostile instructions. With the Germans do not fight. "
Based on these data, Black reports to Moscow the following: “For Bug, you can send groups of 30 – 40 people. Guerrilla fives will be destroyed by nationalists, and larger groups will be able to stand up for themselves if they are well armed. ”
However, Moscow was disturbed not only by the situation in Poland, but also by intelligence information for the advancing armies of the fronts.
“The troops of the 1 of the Ukrainian Front broke through the defenses of the Germans,” the Center radioed, “and are successfully moving in the Ternopil and Proskurov directions. The enemy is trying to hastily send reinforcements to the area of the breakthrough. By all available means, establish continuous control over the movement of the enemy to the area of the breakthrough through the points of Lublin, Brest. Capturing prisoners, set the part numbers and target transfer. Lightning the daily result. ”
In response, Chernoy’s radio sent messages one after another on the air: “Under Brest, units of the 2 Infantry Division arrived on the Finnish front ... The units of the 4 Field Army previously stationed on the English Channel arrive in Chelm ...”
But getting intelligence was becoming more difficult. Concentrating troops to inflict counterstrikes, the fascists tried their best to protect themselves from partisan intelligence. They conducted counter-operations, round-ups. In the forest, the fascists feared to poke themselves, but surrounded it with a dense ring, occupying nearby farms and villages, firing Black troops from guns and mortars.
Pull with the transition for the Bug was no longer. It was necessary to leave, to lead people away from the blow.
Start from scratch
12 April 1944 Black sent a radiogram to the Center: “I’m getting out 13 April. Tell Gore that I will be heading to the area of N. Orekhovo. ”
At night, the partisans went to the Western Bug, found guides who began to ship them across the river in boats. The boats were demolished by rapid flow, they returned only after a quarter of an hour and there were few of them. It was necessary for those who swam well, to take horses by the bridles and row in the icy water. In the second half of the night, the detachment finally found itself on the other side of the river. While people counted weapon, property, guides and a trace of a cold - fled.
By order of Moscow, after the transfer to the territory of Poland, the operational center of Chernoy was to operate in the area of Warsaw, Lublin, Chelm, Demblin, Vladava, Lukov.
The tasks are the same - to penetrate into the cities, deploy agents and provide intelligence about the garrisons, airfields, railway stations and other major life objects of the Nazis. The second direction of work - acts of sabotage.
However, in order to successfully operate in the rear of the enemy, especially on foreign territory, it was necessary to clearly understand the political situation in his area. And she was extremely complex and controversial.
In September 1944 of the year, returning to Moscow, Hero of the Soviet Union, head of the GRU operations center, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Banov writes in his report: “There were no combat groups of Polish partisans behind the Bug. The Poles did not enter into an open struggle with the Germans. There were groups of Russian partisans, but they mostly lived for themselves. In the area that controlled my opera center, there was only one Polish partisan group of Lieutenant Colonel Metek and that was in a semi-legal position. The local partisan asset lived at home and only occasionally went to combat. ”
Thus, I had to start almost from scratch. Moreover, representatives of the Kraiovoy Army directly opposed the Soviet partisans. One of the partisan commanders in May 1944 reported: “Armed Poles destroy our small groups of 5 – 10 people. The guerrillas disappear without a trace. The shelling of partisan groups on the roads and in the villages forced them to respond with fire. Result: protest from representatives of the Army Krai I report that the national Polish groups have not justified themselves. In Lukovsky forests, except for us, there are no partisans. There is a Polish armed group up to 150 people. This group does not openly fight, but in every way impedes our activities, exerting a negative impact on the local population. ”
In turn, the Center warned the partisans: “The situation beyond the Bug is fundamentally different from the situation and working conditions on our territory. In this connection, it is necessary to change the methods of work. Your farm for a short time has grown tremendously. With such growth, the possibility of penetration of cowards, marauders, spies and provocateurs to you is not excluded. There is evidence that Polish nationalist organizations specifically send their people to you. ”
Underground is activated
Soviet partisans decided to establish contact with Lieutenant Colonel Metek. If in combat matters his people were not strong, then he has a strong connection with the local population - his underground fighters were scattered throughout the Lublin province.
It was necessary to go out to the Russian partisans, to intensify their activities, to help with weapons. Then they organized a meeting with the commander of the largest local detachment, Seraphim Alekseev, a sergeant of the Red Army in the past. Alekseev was surrounded by the summer of forty-first, gathered around himself a hundred people, and since then has been partisan.
Next, Black strikes at a local German administration in rural areas. These police posts, scattered around villages, villages, farms, posed a real danger to his operations center, because they were the ears and eyes of the fascists in the area.
In one night, the Black partisans crushed twelve such posts. The remaining policemen in fear fled to their cities.
After the Allies opened the second front, British planes appeared over Poland. They circled over the forests and swamps and dumped bags of cargo, containers intended for the troops of the kraiova army. Some of these gifts fell into the hands of Soviet partisans. In addition to weapons and food in bales were leaflets calling for the support of the London government and the fight against the Soviets.
Meanwhile, tensions in Poland grew. Red Army drove the enemy. The Nazis retreated. Their rears retreated behind the Bug, and the headquarters of armies and corps moved here.
But the activity of the partisans also grew. Frequent sabotage on railways and highways, attacks on carefully disguised airfields, warehouses, and headquarters.
June 21 scouts reported that Hitler's columns were advancing from Lublin, Helm and Parchev. By the end of the day, the Germans appeared on the distant approaches to the village of Volya Vereshchanskaya. Black warned of the approaching Germans detachment of the Army Kraiowa.
The operations center of Chernoy occupied the all-round defense. Having released several bursts from afar, the fighters of the Army of the kraiovoy ran. Black was left alone with the Germans. Even by the most conservative estimates, the fascists were significantly superior to the partisans in manpower.
The Nazis arrived in the carriages, went to the attack in full growth. A fierce battle lasted about two hours. By the middle of the day, the Germans were struck in the rear by reinforcement. The fire was waning. The fascists hastily loaded onto the chaise. Among the fighters of Cherny there was not one killed, only wounded.
One road - east
The center demanded to go further beyond the Vistula, but the situation has not yet allowed it. 7 June 1944, Black radioed to Moscow: “I sent two reconnaissance groups. No group of the Vistula has reached. Immediately there are mass denunciations to the police about the advancement of groups. The population is exclusively Poles. The influence of nationalists, who claim that the Soviet partisans will not be allowed beyond the Vistula, is very strong. According to my intelligence, it is almost impossible to base partisans, especially Russians. Great is the saturation of the Polish nationalist detachments. They are well armed and not only openly oppose the partisans, but also inform the Germans about ours, help them to destroy them. ”
Nevertheless, the Center insisted on relocating beyond the Vistula.
Despite defeats at the fronts, in the rear the fascists did not intend to put up with the partisan movement. The Black detachment was attempted to be blocked from the north and south, forced to go to the Parchevsky forest and intended to surround and destroy it there.
At the breakthrough, they decided to go to the village of Shchivaverba, closer to the city of Parchev: the Germans hardly expect them there. On the day of the breakthrough, the partisans reached the very highway. With the onset of twilight the road was empty. Black gave the breakthrough team at three in the morning.
The fighters rushed forward and within a few minutes they rushed into the trenches of the German observers. The fascist machine-gunners managed to give only a few turns. But after this, the Germans began shelling. The guerrillas went to the forest when suddenly the buzz of guns began to grow ahead. Shells were already whistling over our heads — our artillery was beating at the Germans.
Now Chernoy's group was left with one road - to the east, to the front. And then the group was again awaited by trouble: Soviet attack aircraft appeared, who took the convoy for the Germans and slashed it out of cannons and machine guns, wounding several soldiers. At this very time, the returning scout from the avant-garde reported: "They went to ours."
In the summer of 1944, the war for Ivan Nikolaevich Banov was over. In October he is sent to study at the Higher Academic Courses. His further fate will be connected with military intelligence.
Guerrillas under the leadership of Banov-Chorny only for the period from December 1942 to November 1943, the enemy trains were blown up - 457, the locomotives were broken - 184, the broken-wheeys, the wreckers, the sows, which had been destroyed; technique - 122, with aircraft - 163.
During the sabotage acts fascists were killed and wounded - 13 783 man, burned bread in warehouses - 898 tons, beaten off German cattle - 537 heads, disarmed the policemen and Cossacks - 153, killed the generals - 5, blasted railway bridges - XNUM.
After the war, in our country it was considered to be that a network of partisan detachments was successfully operating in the occupied Polish territory even before the approach of the Red Army. This is a myth, as evidenced by radiograms stored in the GRU special archives, which were sent to Moscow by the famous partisan commander, Hero of the Soviet Union, Ivan Nikolaevich Banov.
In the winter of 1943 – 1944, the Red Army was approaching the state border. Ahead went scout saboteurs. One of the tasks assigned to them is to provide the advancing troops with the support of partisans from the enemy rear. But in February 1944, partisan commander Ivan Nikolaevich Banov (alias Cherny), while in Poland in the Lublin area, reported to Moscow: “The Poles are cooperating badly. Across the country, there are 50 of various party groups that are fighting among themselves ... The guerrilla movement is in its infancy here. We create sabotage detachments from Russian prisoners of war. ”
From Bulev to Svaryn
Before moving to Poland by order of Moscow, Cherny manned a mobile maneuverable group of 50 people under the command of his deputy Khadji Britaev. Armed with all the best that was in the squad: machine guns, carbines, light machine guns and even an anti-tank gun.
Commander of the operational center Ivan Banov
1943 year. Photo from the author's archive
1943 year. Photo from the author's archive
A combat mission was received from the Center for the Britaev Group: “By one counting of the cars, the enemy grouping and its intentions not to reveal, serious work is needed to capture documentary data. The Britaev Group organizes systematic raids on cars on the Zhitkovichi – Lakhva dirt track. ”
Soon, Khadzhi radioed to the Center: “11.1.44 of the Fourth Sovereign Group in the Milashevichi District - Lakhva set up a car. Destroyed noncommissioned officer field gendarmerie number 581. Taken lists of personnel. 13.1.44. The tenth group of Suraev attacked a convoy leading from Luninets to Milashevichi. 3 trucks, 2 ambulances and 1 cars are broken. 20 was killed by Germans and captured by corporal Paul Osess from the 127 quartermaster control. Previously, he served in the 77 heavy artillery regiment. 17.1.44. In the area of Lakhva a car was crashed. Documents of the 2 Army and letters were taken. ”
The center was pleased, giving orders to intensify actions to seize documents and officers.
The transition of the operational center under the command of Chernoy itself consisted of two stages. At first it was decided to reach the village of Svaryn, which was located near the Western Bug, then make a throw over the Bug, overcome the Vladava-Chelm railway and the Vladava-Parchev highway. But with a detailed study of the movement, it turned out that there were a huge number of obstacles on the way. Such, for example, as the Baranavichy-Luninets and Brest-Pinsk highways, the Dnieper-Bug Canal and the Western Bug River are an extremely serious obstacle to the crossing of a fairly large operational center along with a wagon train and a communications center. At the same time, Moscow did not cease to repeat that the group should have avoided any clashes with the Nazis, so that the enemy would not know its route.
The partisans crossed the Baranavichy-Luninets railroad at night and went into the forest unnoticed. After a short rest, another passage was made - to the village of Svaryn. This stage was more difficult. Places went unfamiliar, low-inhabited partisans, it was possible to run into both the fascists and the nationalist formations. Therefore, Black often changed routes.
On the approach of the group to the Pinsk-Kobrin railway, the snow stopped, the sky cleared and the moon looked out, illuminating two hundred people with a wagon train. Black decided to continue the movement, but they were stopped by a large-caliber German machine gun. The column lay down, responded with fire, and Black commanded to retreat.
In the afternoon, a German reconnaissance aircraft discovered a convoy on the canal. The guerrillas opened fire. Airplane turned away. Black ordered to climb the steep banks of the channel and drive to the forest. When they reached the forest, the partisans rested and moved further along the forest roads. By Svarin came to the evening. The transition of the operational center from the Bulev Lake to Svaryny took more than a month.
War on two fronts
It was rash to rush over the Bug into Polish territory without thorough intelligence. The decision is made to send ahead experienced scouts - officers of Mikhail Gor and Feodor Steppe. The first radiograms from them didn’t inspire much optimism: there was a political confrontation in the country, the partisans wept enough.
Cherny was especially attentive to the alarm messages from Mikhail Gory, who worked in Poland.“In these local conditions,” Gore wrote, “there are underground organizations of the Kray Army, whose leadership is asleep and sees how to return past pan-Polish Poland. It incites its subordinates to the Russians ... In my opinion, these types would rather agree to cooperate with the Germans or the Polish fascists, rather than begin to fight in the same ranks with us. ”
In the following radiogram, Gore reported: “I have 215 people. We have to fight on two fronts - with the Polish endeks (the abbreviated name of the members of the National Democratic Party of Poland. - Ed.) And the Germans. There are also people in the Army who, in their own circle, declare that the time will come and they will fight with the Soviets. ”
And here is what Fedor Steppe radioed from his region of residence: “In the Yagodinsky forest there are nationalists who call themselves narodites. They are pro-fascists. The number of 200 people. A guide from Warsaw gives them only hostile instructions. With the Germans do not fight. "
Based on these data, Black reports to Moscow the following: “For Bug, you can send groups of 30 – 40 people. Guerrilla fives will be destroyed by nationalists, and larger groups will be able to stand up for themselves if they are well armed. ”
However, Moscow was disturbed not only by the situation in Poland, but also by intelligence information for the advancing armies of the fronts.
“The troops of the 1 of the Ukrainian Front broke through the defenses of the Germans,” the Center radioed, “and are successfully moving in the Ternopil and Proskurov directions. The enemy is trying to hastily send reinforcements to the area of the breakthrough. By all available means, establish continuous control over the movement of the enemy to the area of the breakthrough through the points of Lublin, Brest. Capturing prisoners, set the part numbers and target transfer. Lightning the daily result. ”
In response, Chernoy’s radio sent messages one after another on the air: “Under Brest, units of the 2 Infantry Division arrived on the Finnish front ... The units of the 4 Field Army previously stationed on the English Channel arrive in Chelm ...”
But getting intelligence was becoming more difficult. Concentrating troops to inflict counterstrikes, the fascists tried their best to protect themselves from partisan intelligence. They conducted counter-operations, round-ups. In the forest, the fascists feared to poke themselves, but surrounded it with a dense ring, occupying nearby farms and villages, firing Black troops from guns and mortars.
Pull with the transition for the Bug was no longer. It was necessary to leave, to lead people away from the blow.
Start from scratch
12 April 1944 Black sent a radiogram to the Center: “I’m getting out 13 April. Tell Gore that I will be heading to the area of N. Orekhovo. ”
At night, the partisans went to the Western Bug, found guides who began to ship them across the river in boats. The boats were demolished by rapid flow, they returned only after a quarter of an hour and there were few of them. It was necessary for those who swam well, to take horses by the bridles and row in the icy water. In the second half of the night, the detachment finally found itself on the other side of the river. While people counted weapon, property, guides and a trace of a cold - fled.
By order of Moscow, after the transfer to the territory of Poland, the operational center of Chernoy was to operate in the area of Warsaw, Lublin, Chelm, Demblin, Vladava, Lukov.
The tasks are the same - to penetrate into the cities, deploy agents and provide intelligence about the garrisons, airfields, railway stations and other major life objects of the Nazis. The second direction of work - acts of sabotage.
However, in order to successfully operate in the rear of the enemy, especially on foreign territory, it was necessary to clearly understand the political situation in his area. And she was extremely complex and controversial.
In September 1944 of the year, returning to Moscow, Hero of the Soviet Union, head of the GRU operations center, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Banov writes in his report: “There were no combat groups of Polish partisans behind the Bug. The Poles did not enter into an open struggle with the Germans. There were groups of Russian partisans, but they mostly lived for themselves. In the area that controlled my opera center, there was only one Polish partisan group of Lieutenant Colonel Metek and that was in a semi-legal position. The local partisan asset lived at home and only occasionally went to combat. ”
Thus, I had to start almost from scratch. Moreover, representatives of the Kraiovoy Army directly opposed the Soviet partisans. One of the partisan commanders in May 1944 reported: “Armed Poles destroy our small groups of 5 – 10 people. The guerrillas disappear without a trace. The shelling of partisan groups on the roads and in the villages forced them to respond with fire. Result: protest from representatives of the Army Krai I report that the national Polish groups have not justified themselves. In Lukovsky forests, except for us, there are no partisans. There is a Polish armed group up to 150 people. This group does not openly fight, but in every way impedes our activities, exerting a negative impact on the local population. ”
In turn, the Center warned the partisans: “The situation beyond the Bug is fundamentally different from the situation and working conditions on our territory. In this connection, it is necessary to change the methods of work. Your farm for a short time has grown tremendously. With such growth, the possibility of penetration of cowards, marauders, spies and provocateurs to you is not excluded. There is evidence that Polish nationalist organizations specifically send their people to you. ”
Underground is activated
Soviet partisans decided to establish contact with Lieutenant Colonel Metek. If in combat matters his people were not strong, then he has a strong connection with the local population - his underground fighters were scattered throughout the Lublin province.
It was necessary to go out to the Russian partisans, to intensify their activities, to help with weapons. Then they organized a meeting with the commander of the largest local detachment, Seraphim Alekseev, a sergeant of the Red Army in the past. Alekseev was surrounded by the summer of forty-first, gathered around himself a hundred people, and since then has been partisan.
Next, Black strikes at a local German administration in rural areas. These police posts, scattered around villages, villages, farms, posed a real danger to his operations center, because they were the ears and eyes of the fascists in the area.
In one night, the Black partisans crushed twelve such posts. The remaining policemen in fear fled to their cities.
After the Allies opened the second front, British planes appeared over Poland. They circled over the forests and swamps and dumped bags of cargo, containers intended for the troops of the kraiova army. Some of these gifts fell into the hands of Soviet partisans. In addition to weapons and food in bales were leaflets calling for the support of the London government and the fight against the Soviets.
Meanwhile, tensions in Poland grew. Red Army drove the enemy. The Nazis retreated. Their rears retreated behind the Bug, and the headquarters of armies and corps moved here.
But the activity of the partisans also grew. Frequent sabotage on railways and highways, attacks on carefully disguised airfields, warehouses, and headquarters.
June 21 scouts reported that Hitler's columns were advancing from Lublin, Helm and Parchev. By the end of the day, the Germans appeared on the distant approaches to the village of Volya Vereshchanskaya. Black warned of the approaching Germans detachment of the Army Kraiowa.
The operations center of Chernoy occupied the all-round defense. Having released several bursts from afar, the fighters of the Army of the kraiovoy ran. Black was left alone with the Germans. Even by the most conservative estimates, the fascists were significantly superior to the partisans in manpower.
The Nazis arrived in the carriages, went to the attack in full growth. A fierce battle lasted about two hours. By the middle of the day, the Germans were struck in the rear by reinforcement. The fire was waning. The fascists hastily loaded onto the chaise. Among the fighters of Cherny there was not one killed, only wounded.
One road - east
The center demanded to go further beyond the Vistula, but the situation has not yet allowed it. 7 June 1944, Black radioed to Moscow: “I sent two reconnaissance groups. No group of the Vistula has reached. Immediately there are mass denunciations to the police about the advancement of groups. The population is exclusively Poles. The influence of nationalists, who claim that the Soviet partisans will not be allowed beyond the Vistula, is very strong. According to my intelligence, it is almost impossible to base partisans, especially Russians. Great is the saturation of the Polish nationalist detachments. They are well armed and not only openly oppose the partisans, but also inform the Germans about ours, help them to destroy them. ”
Nevertheless, the Center insisted on relocating beyond the Vistula.
Despite defeats at the fronts, in the rear the fascists did not intend to put up with the partisan movement. The Black detachment was attempted to be blocked from the north and south, forced to go to the Parchevsky forest and intended to surround and destroy it there.
At the breakthrough, they decided to go to the village of Shchivaverba, closer to the city of Parchev: the Germans hardly expect them there. On the day of the breakthrough, the partisans reached the very highway. With the onset of twilight the road was empty. Black gave the breakthrough team at three in the morning.
The fighters rushed forward and within a few minutes they rushed into the trenches of the German observers. The fascist machine-gunners managed to give only a few turns. But after this, the Germans began shelling. The guerrillas went to the forest when suddenly the buzz of guns began to grow ahead. Shells were already whistling over our heads — our artillery was beating at the Germans.
Now Chernoy's group was left with one road - to the east, to the front. And then the group was again awaited by trouble: Soviet attack aircraft appeared, who took the convoy for the Germans and slashed it out of cannons and machine guns, wounding several soldiers. At this very time, the returning scout from the avant-garde reported: "They went to ours."
In the summer of 1944, the war for Ivan Nikolaevich Banov was over. In October he is sent to study at the Higher Academic Courses. His further fate will be connected with military intelligence.
Guerrillas under the leadership of Banov-Chorny only for the period from December 1942 to November 1943, the enemy trains were blown up - 457, the locomotives were broken - 184, the broken-wheeys, the wreckers, the sows, which had been destroyed; technique - 122, with aircraft - 163.
During the sabotage acts fascists were killed and wounded - 13 783 man, burned bread in warehouses - 898 tons, beaten off German cattle - 537 heads, disarmed the policemen and Cossacks - 153, killed the generals - 5, blasted railway bridges - XNUM.
Information