Sidor Kovpak: Stalin solved problems quickly, calmly and effectively. Kovpak

Sidor Artemyevich

Battles and victories

Legendary partisan leader, commander of a number of partisan formations during the Great Patriotic War Patriotic War, military and party leader, major general, twice Hero Soviet Union.

Kovpak was a genius for covert movement; after complex and lengthy maneuvers, the partisans unexpectedly attacked where they were not expected at all, creating the effect of being present in several places at once. The success of Kovpak's raid tactics was appreciated in Moscow, and his experience was extended to the entire guerrilla war.

Sidor Artemyevich (Artemovich) Kovpak was born on June 7, 1887 in the Ukrainian village of Kotelva in an ordinary peasant family, he had five brothers and four sisters. Since childhood, he helped his parents with housework. Like any peasant, from dawn to dawn he worked hard physical labor. Attended parochial school, where he received the basics primary education. At the age of ten, he began working for a local merchant and shopkeeper, rising to the rank of clerk. Passed military service in the Alexander Regiment, stationed in Saratov. After graduation, he decided to stay in the city, finding work as a loader at a river port.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Kovpak was mobilized into the army, as part of the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment, he took part in the famous Brusilov breakthrough. Sidor Artemyevich was a scout by mentality, standing out among other soldiers for his savvy and ability to find a way out of any situation. He was wounded several times in battles and raids. In the spring of 1916, Tsar Nicholas II, who personally came to the front, among others, awarded young Kovpak two medals “For Bravery” and the Cross of St. George III and IV degrees.

After the start of the revolution, Kovpak joined the Bolsheviks. When in 1917 the Aslanduz regiment went into reserve, ignoring Kerensky’s order to attack, he, along with other soldiers, returned home to his native Kotelva. The civil war forced him to rebel against the regime of Hetman Skoropadsky, learning the basics of partisan military art. The Kotelvsky detachment, led by Kovpak, successfully fought against the German-Austrian occupiers of Ukraine, and later, united with the fighters of Alexander Parkhomenko, against Denikin’s troops. In 1919, when his detachment fought out of war-torn Ukraine, Kovpak decided to join the Red Army.

As part of the 25th Chapaev Division, in the role of commander of a platoon of machine gunners, he first fought on Eastern Front, and then on Yuzhny with General Wrangel. For his courage he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

After graduation Civil War Kovpak was engaged in economic work, was a military commissar, and joined the party. In 1926, he was elected director of the military cooperative farm in Pavlograd, and then chairman of the Putivl agricultural cooperative, which supplied food to the army. After the approval of the USSR Constitution of 1936, Sidor Artemyevich was elected as a deputy of the Putivl City Council, and at its first meeting in 1937 - chairman of the Putivl City Executive Committee of the Sumy Region. In peaceful life he was distinguished by exceptional hard work and initiative.

In the thirties, many former “red” Ukrainian partisans were repressed by the NKVD. Apparently, only thanks to old comrades who occupied prominent positions in the NKVD, Kovpak was saved from inevitable death.

In the early autumn of 1941, when German troops approached Putivl, Kovpak, who at that time was already 55 years old, together with his comrades-in-arms, organized a detachment in the nearby Spadshchansky forest area measuring 10 by 15 kilometers. Kovpak organized a warehouse with food and ammunition in advance. At the end of September, they were joined by Red Army soldiers from the encirclement, and in October - by a detachment led by Semyon Rudnev, who became Kovpak’s closest friend and comrade-in-arms during the Great Patriotic War. The detachment increases to 57 people and becomes quite combat-ready in armed clashes with the enemy - despite the lack of weapons. Kovpak personally declares war against the Nazis “to the bitter end.”

On October 19, 1941, fascist tanks broke into the Spadshchansky forest. In the ensuing battle, the partisans captured 3 tanks. Having lost a large number of soldiers and military equipment, the enemy was forced to retreat and return to Putivl. On December 1, 1941, about three thousand German soldiers, supported by artillery and mortars, began an attack on the Spadshchansky forest. This episode of the war became a turning point in the combat activities of the Kovpak partisan detachment. S.A. Kovpak, being a subtle psychologist and a man “of the people,” closely monitored the mood of the partisans, took into account their opinions and perfectly understood how much the success of the battle meant for raising the morale of the fighters and uniting the detachment. The battle was unequal, lasted the whole day and still ended in victory for the partisans. Inspired by the example of the commander and commissar, who fought together with everyone, the partisans did not retreat a single step from the position they had taken, and all enemy attacks were repulsed. The enemy lost about 200 soldiers and officers, the partisans obtained trophies - 5 machine guns and 20 rifles.

In this and all subsequent battles in a critical situation, the combat experience of the detachment commander always helped; his military talent, courage and bravery were revealed, combined with a deep understanding of partisan tactics, with sober calculation and the ability to navigate in the most difficult situations.

Inspired by the victory over a several times stronger enemy, the fighters further strengthened their faith in victory, and the population began to join forces even more boldly
From the diaries of S.A. Kovpaka

However, it was pointless to remain in the Spadshchansky forest any longer. S.A. Kovpak and S.V. Rudnev changed their tactics: the detachment became mobile, delivering crushing blows to the enemy during raids. In these raids, new tactics and strategies were tested, which became a great contribution to the development of partisan warfare, which distinguished the Putivl detachment from others. Everything that Kovpak did did not fit into the standard framework, the usual way of behavior. His partisans never sat in one place for long. During the day they hid in the forests, and moved and attacked the enemy at night. The detachments always walked in a roundabout way, covering themselves from large enemy units with barriers and folds of terrain, carrying out thorough reconnaissance before maneuvers.

Small German units, outposts, and garrisons were destroyed to the last man. The marching formation of the partisans could take up a perimeter defense in a matter of minutes and begin to fire to kill. The main forces covered mobile sabotage groups, which undermined bridges, wires, rails, distracting and disorienting the enemy. Coming to populated areas, the partisans raised people to fight, armed and trained them.

At the end of 1941, Kovpak’s combat detachment carried out a raid in the Khinelsky forests, and in the spring of 1942 - in the Bryansk forests, during which it was replenished with up to five hundred people and was well armed. The second raid began on May 15 and lasted until July 24, passing through the Sumy district, well known to Sidor Artemyevich. Kovpak was a genius for covert movement; after performing a series of complex and lengthy maneuvers, the partisans unexpectedly attacked where they were not expected at all, creating the effect of being present in several places at once. They sowed panic among the Nazis, blowing up tanks, destroying warehouses, derailing trains and disappearing without a trace. The Kovpakovites fought without any support, not even knowing where the front was. All weapons and ammunition were captured in battles. Explosives were mined from minefields. Kovpak often repeated: “My supplier is Hitler.”

For all his outstanding qualities as a military leader, Kovpak did not look like a gallant warrior at all; he rather resembled an elderly man peacefully taking care of his household. He skillfully combined his personal experience as a soldier with economic activity, and boldly tried new options for tactical and strategic methods of guerrilla warfare. The basis of his detachment were non-military people who had often never held a weapon before - workers, peasants, teachers and engineers. People of peaceful professions, they acted in a coordinated and organized manner, based on the system for organizing the combat and peaceful life of the detachment, established by Kovpak. “He is quite modest, he did not so much teach others as he studied himself, he knew how to admit his mistakes, thereby not exacerbating them,” wrote Alexander Dovzhenko about Kovpak.

Kovpak was simple, even deliberately simple-minded in his communication, humane in his dealings with his soldiers, and with the help of the continuous political and ideological training of his detachment, carried out under the leadership of Commissar Rudnev, he was able to achieve high level consciousness and discipline. This feature - the clear organization of all spheres of partisan life in the extremely difficult, unpredictable conditions of war behind enemy lines - made it possible to carry out the most complex operations, unprecedented in their courage and scope.

Scout P.P. Vershigora described Kovpak’s partisan camp as follows: “The master’s eye, the confident, calm rhythm of camp life and the roar of voices in the thicket of the forest, a leisurely, but not slow life confident people, working with self-esteem - this is my first impression of Kovpak’s detachment.”

During the raid, Kovpak was especially strict and picky, rightly reasoning that the success of any battle depends on minor “little things” that were not taken into account in time: “Before entering God's temple, think about how to get out of it.”

At the end of the spring of 1942, for the exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines and heroism, Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and Stalin, interested in the successes of the partisan movement in Ukraine, decided to take control of the situation. At the very end of the summer of 1942, Sidor Artemyevich arrived in Moscow, where, together with other partisan leaders, he took part in a meeting, which resulted in the creation of the Main Partisan Headquarters, headed by Voroshilov. After this, Kovpak’s detachment began to receive orders and weapons from Moscow. The meeting especially emphasized the importance of the partisan movement, as well as the success of Kovpak’s raid tactics. Its essence was fast, maneuverable, secretive movement behind enemy lines with the further creation of new centers of the partisan movement. Such raids, in addition to causing significant damage to enemy troops and collecting intelligence information, had a huge propaganda effect. “The partisans brought the war closer and closer to Germany,” said Marshal Vasilevsky, Chief of the Red Army General Staff, on this occasion.

Moscow set Kovpak’s first task to carry out a raid across the Dnieper into Right Bank Ukraine, conduct reconnaissance in force and organize sabotage in the depths of German fortifications before the offensive of Soviet troops in the summer of 1943. In mid-autumn 1942, Kovpak’s partisan detachments went on a raid. Having crossed the Dnieper, Desna and Pripyat, they ended up in the Zhitomir region, carrying out the unique operation “Sarnen Cross”: at the same time, five railway bridges on the highways of the Sarnensky junction were blown up and the garrison in Lelchitsy was destroyed. For the operation carried out in April 1943, Kovpak was awarded the rank of “Major General”.

In the summer of 1943, his formation began its most famous campaign - the Carpathian raid. The difficulty for the detachment was that fairly large transitions had to be made without cover, in open areas deep in the enemy’s rear. There was nowhere to wait for supplies, support or help. Compatriots could turn out to be traitors. Kovpak's unit traveled hundreds of kilometers, fighting Bandera's troops, regular German units and the elite SS troops of General Kruger. With the latter, the partisans fought the bloodiest battles of the entire war.

As a result of the operation, the delivery of enemy military equipment and troops to the Kursk Bulge area was delayed for a long time, which helped provide our troops with an advantage during the gigantic battle. The Nazis, who sent elite SS units and front-line aviation to destroy Kovpak’s formation, failed to destroy the partisan column. Finding himself surrounded, Kovpak makes an unexpected decision for the enemy to divide the formation into whole line small groups, and with a simultaneous “fan” strike in various directions, break through back to the Polesie forests. This tactical move brilliantly justified itself - all the disparate groups survived, once again uniting into one formidable force - the Kovpakov formation.

Having crossed the river under the cover of artillery, the heroes opened such hurricane fire and rushed at the enemy with such shouts that no commands could be heard. People, our partisan heroes know very well that if the task is set to take, then we must take! We have nowhere to retreat
From the diaries of S.A. Kovpaka

During the Carpathian raid, Sidor Artemyevich was seriously wounded in the leg. At the end of 1943, he went to Kyiv for treatment and did not take part in hostilities anymore. For the successful conduct of the operation on January 4, 1944, Major General Kovpak received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time, and in February 1944, the partisan detachment of Sidor Kovpak was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division of the same name. It was headed by Lieutenant Colonel P.P. Vershigora. Under his command, the division made two more successful raids, first in the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, and then in Poland.

After the end of the war, Kovpak lived in Kyiv, working in the Supreme Court of Ukraine, where he was Deputy Chairman of the Presidium for twenty years. The legendary partisan commander enjoyed great love among the people. In 1967, he became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. Kovpak died on December 11, 1967 at the age of 81. The hero was buried at the Baikovo cemetery in Kyiv. Sidor Artemovich had no children.

The tactics of Kovpak’s partisan movement received wide recognition far beyond the borders of our Motherland. The partisans of Angola, Rhodesia and Mozambique, Vietnamese field commanders and revolutionaries from various Latin American countries learned from the examples of the Kovpakov raids.

On June 8, 2012, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a commemorative coin with the image of Kovpak. A bronze bust of the Hero of the Soviet Union was installed in the village of Kotelva, monuments and memorial plaques are available in Putivl and Kyiv. Streets in many Ukrainian cities and villages are named after him. In Ukraine and Russia there are a number of museums dedicated to Sidor Artemovich. The largest of them is located in the city of Glukhov, Sumy region. Among other things, you can find here a trophy German road sign with the inscription: “Caution, Kovpak!”

SURGHIK D.V., Institute of World History RAS

Literature

Kovpak S.A.. From Putivl to the Carpathians. M., 1945.

Gladkov T.K., Kizya L.E.. Kovpak. M., 1973.

Internet

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Sidor Kovpak was born on June 7, 1887 in the village of Kotelva, Poltava region of Ukraine. He grew up in a poor, large peasant family. From the age of 10 he worked as a laborer for a local shopkeeper; graduated from parochial school. After serving his military service in the Alexander Infantry Regiment in Saratov, Sidor remained to work in Saratov as a loader in a river port and a laborer in a tram depot.

With the beginning of the First World War, Kovpak was mobilized into the Russian Imperial Army: he served in the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment, fought on the Southwestern Front, and took part in the Brusilov breakthrough. He became famous as a brave intelligence officer and was twice awarded the St. George Cross and medals “For Bravery” of III and IV degrees.

In 1918, Sidor returned to his native Kotelva, where he took an active part in the struggle for Soviet power and headed the land commission for the distribution of landowners' lands among poor peasants. During the Civil War, Kovpak became the head of the Kotelvsky partisan detachment (one of the first in Ukraine), which he organized himself in 1918, after the German occupation of revolutionary Ukraine. Under his command, the partisans fought against the Austro-German occupiers, and after joining with units of the active Red Army, he fought on the Eastern Front as part of the legendary 25th Chapaev Division, and then participated in the defeat of the White Guard troops of generals Denikin and Wrangel on the Southern Front.

After the end of hostilities, Kovpak, who became a member of the RCP (b) back in 1919, was engaged in economic work. In 1921-1926 he was the military commissar of the Pavlograd district of the Ekaterinoslav province of Ukraine.

In 1926, after being transferred to the reserve, he was appointed director of the Pavlograd military cooperative farm, then chairman of the agricultural cooperative in Putivl. Since 1935, he has been the head of the road department of the Putivl district executive committee, since 1937 - chairman of the Putivl city executive committee of the Sumy region of the Ukrainian SSR. Kovpak has been a participant in the Great Patriotic War since September 1941.

He was one of the organizers of the partisan movement in Ukraine - the commander of the Putivl partisan detachment, and then of the formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region. Kovpak's raids behind enemy lines played a big role in the development of the partisan movement against the German occupiers. His partisans avoided long stays within any specific area. They carried out constant long-term maneuvers behind enemy lines, exposing remote German garrisons to unexpected blows. The Sumy partisan unit under the command of Sidor Artemyevich fought in the rear of the fascist German troops for more than 10 thousand kilometers, defeating enemy garrisons in 39 settlements.

Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the medal " Golden Star"May 18, 1942 for exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines, courage and heroism shown during their implementation. In April 1943, he was awarded the military rank of Major General.

Since 1944, Sidor Artemyevich has been a member of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR, since 1947 - Deputy Chairman of the Presidium, and since 1967 - member of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd-7th convocations. Lived in Kyiv.

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of four Orders of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner, Bogdan Khmelnitsky I degree, Suvorov I degree - Kovpak was awarded many Soviet medals, as well as orders and medals of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Monuments to the Hero were erected in different cities of Ukraine, a bronze bust of Kovpak was installed in the village of Kotelva, memorial plaques were opened in Kyiv and Putivl - on the houses where he lived and worked. Streets in many cities and villages of Ukraine are named after him.

Legendary partisan leader, commander of a number of partisan formations during the Great Patriotic War, military and party leader, major general, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Kovpak was a genius for covert movement; after complex and lengthy maneuvers, the partisans unexpectedly attacked where they were not expected at all, creating the effect of being present in several places at once. The success of Kovpak's raid tactics was appreciated in Moscow, and his experience was extended throughout the guerrilla war.

Sidor Artemyevich (Artemovich) Kovpak was born on June 7, 1887 in the Ukrainian village of Kotelva in an ordinary peasant family, he had five brothers and four sisters. Since childhood, he helped his parents with housework. Like any peasant, from dawn to dawn he was engaged in hard physical labor. He attended a parochial school, where he received the basics of primary education. At the age of ten, he began working for a local merchant and shopkeeper, rising to the rank of clerk. He served in the Alexander Regiment, stationed in Saratov. After graduation, he decided to stay in the city, finding work as a loader at a river port.

After the start of the revolution, Kovpak joined the Bolsheviks. When in 1917 the Aslanduz regiment went into reserve, ignoring Kerensky’s order to attack, he, along with other soldiers, returned home to his native Kotelva. The civil war forced him to rebel against the regime of Hetman Skoropadsky, learning the basics of partisan military art. The Kotelvsky detachment, led by Kovpak, successfully fought against the German-Austrian occupiers of Ukraine, and later, united with the soldiers of Alexander Parkhomenko, against Denikin’s troops. In 1919, when his detachment fought out of war-torn Ukraine, Kovpak decided to join the Red Army.

As part of the 25th Chapaev Division, as a commander of a platoon of machine gunners, he fought first on the Eastern Front, and then on the Southern Front with General Wrangel. For his courage he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

After the end of the Civil War, Kovpak was engaged in economic work, was a military commissar, and joined the party. In 1926, he was elected director of the military cooperative farm in Pavlograd, and then chairman of the Putivl agricultural cooperative, which supplied food to the army. After the approval of the USSR Constitution of 1936, Sidor Artemyevich was elected as a deputy of the Putivl City Council, and at its first meeting in 1937 - chairman of the Putivl City Executive Committee of the Sumy Region. In peaceful life he was distinguished by exceptional hard work and initiative.

In the early autumn of 1941, when German troops approached Putivl, Kovpak, who was already 55 years old at that time, together with his comrades, organized a detachment in the nearby Spadshchansky forest area measuring 10 by 15 kilometers. Kovpak organized a warehouse with food and ammunition in advance. At the end of September, they were joined by Red Army soldiers from the encirclement, and in October - by a detachment led by Semyon Rudnev, who became Kovpak’s closest friend and comrade-in-arms during the Great Patriotic War. The detachment increases to 57 people and becomes quite combat-ready in armed clashes with the enemy - despite the lack of weapons. Kovpak personally declares war against the Nazis “to the bitter end.”

Inspired by the victory over a several times stronger enemy, the fighters further strengthened their faith in victory, and the population began to join forces even more boldly
From the diaries of S.A. Kovpaka

Small German units, outposts, and garrisons were destroyed to the last man. The marching formation of the partisans could take up a perimeter defense in a matter of minutes and begin to fire to kill. The main forces were covered by mobile sabotage groups, which blew up bridges, wires, and rails, distracting and disorienting the enemy. Coming to populated areas, the partisans raised people to fight, armed and trained them.

Kovpak partisans

Kovpak and Dina Mayevskaya

Kovpak was simple, even deliberately simple-minded in his communication, humane in his dealings with his soldiers, and with the help of the continuous political and ideological training of his detachment, carried out under the leadership of Commissar Rudnev, he was able to achieve a high level of consciousness and discipline. This feature - the clear organization of all spheres of partisan life in the extremely difficult, unpredictable conditions of war behind enemy lines - made it possible to carry out the most complex operations, unprecedented in their courage and scope.

Scout P.P. Vershigora described Kovpak’s partisan camp in the following way: “The master’s eye, the confident, calm rhythm of camp life and the hum of voices in the thicket of the forest, the leisurely but not slow life of confident people working with self-esteem - this is my first impression of Kovpak’s detachment.”

During the raid, Kovpak was especially strict and picky, rightly reasoning that the success of any battle depends on insignificant “little things” that were not taken into account in time: “Before you enter God’s temple, think about how to get out of it.”

As a result of the operation, the delivery of enemy military equipment and troops to the Kursk Bulge area was delayed for a long time, which helped provide our troops with an advantage during the gigantic battle. The Nazis, who sent elite SS units and front-line aviation to destroy Kovpak’s formation, failed to destroy the partisan column. Finding himself surrounded, Kovpak makes an unexpected decision for the enemy to divide the formation into a number of small groups, and with a simultaneous “fan” strike in various directions, break through back to the Polesie forests. This tactical move brilliantly justified itself - all the disparate groups survived, once again uniting into one formidable force - the Kovpakov formation.

Having crossed the river under the cover of artillery, the heroes opened such hurricane fire and rushed at the enemy with such shouts that no commands could be heard. People, our partisan heroes know very well that if the task is set to take, then we must take! We have nowhere to retreat
From the diaries of S.A. Kovpaka

During the Carpathian raid, Sidor Artemyevich was seriously wounded in the leg. At the end of 1943 he left for

Kyiv for treatment and did not take part in hostilities anymore. For the successful conduct of the operation on January 4, 1944, Major General Kovpak received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time, and in February 1944, the partisan detachment of Sidor Kovpak was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division of the same name. It was headed by Lieutenant Colonel P.P. Vershigora. Under his command, the division made two more successful raids, first in the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, and then in Poland.

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His name was DED

P.P. Vershigora



	Map of the Carpathian roadstead

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

Smart kid

He was born on June 7, 1887 in the Poltava region, into a large peasant family. Every penny counted, and instead of school, Sidor from a young age mastered the skills of a shepherd and a tiller.
At the age of 10, he began helping his family by working in the shop of a local merchant. Smart, quick-witted, observant - “the little guy will go far,” the village elders, wise with worldly experience, said 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 military ranks - the First World War began.

Monument to Sidor Kovpak in Kyiv.

Private 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment Sidor Kovpak was a brave warrior. Having been wounded several times, he always returned to duty. In 1916, as a scout, Kovpak particularly distinguished himself during the Brusilov breakthrough. With his exploits he deserved two St. George's Cross, which were presented to him by Emperor Nicholas II.
Perhaps the Tsar Father got a little carried away here - in 1917 Kovpak chose not him, but the Bolsheviks. Returning to his homeland after the October Revolution, Kovpak discovered that the war was following him on his heels - the Reds and the Whites came together to the death. And here Kovpak assembled his first partisan detachment, with which he began to destroy Denikin’s troops, 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 get to the front right away - he was brought down by the typhus that was raging in the dilapidated country. Having climbed out of the clutches of the disease, he nevertheless goes to war and finds himself in the ranks of the 25th division, commanded by Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev himself. The commander of the captured Chapaev team, 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 insolence.
Kovpak took Perekop, finished off the remnants of Wrangel’s army in the Crimea, liquidated the Makhnovist gangs, and in 1921 he was appointed to the post of military commissar in Greater Tokmak. Having replaced several more similar positions, in 1926 he was forced to demobilize.

To the partisans - vegetable gardens

No, Kovpak was not tired of the war, but his health was failing him - old wounds bothered him, and he was tormented by rheumatism acquired in the partisan detachment.
And Kovpak moved to economic activity. He may have lacked education, but he had the spirit of a strong businessman, observation and intelligence.
Starting in 1926 as chairman of an agricultural artel 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.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Sidor Kovpak was 54 years old. Not so much, but not so little for a man whose whole life was connected with war and hard peasant labor.

But in difficult times, Kovpak knew how to forget about age and illnesses. He took it upon himself 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 until the last moment.
He was almost the last of the leadership to leave Putivl for gardening on September 10, 1941, at the moment when German units had already appeared in the village.
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 also those who, having laid their bases, out of fear, preferred to hide, hide, rather than join the fight.
But Kovpak was completely different. He has vast military experience behind him, combined with the experience of a talented business executive. In just a few days, from the Putivl activists and encirclement scouts who went into the forests with him, Kovpak created the core of the future detachment.

Power from the forest

On September 29, 1941, near the village of Safonovka, Sidor Kovpak’s detachment carried out the first combat operation, destroying a Nazi truck. The Germans sent a group to destroy the partisans, but they returned empty-handed.
On October 17, 1941, when the Nazis were already on the outskirts of Moscow, in the Ukrainian forests Kovpak’s detachment teamed up with the detachment of Semyon Rudnev, a career military man who took part in battles with Japanese militarists in the Far East.

Kovpak (sitting on the left) reads out an encrypted code to the partisans Mainland. Detachment Commissioner S.V. Rudnev (sitting on the right), 1942

They appreciated each other's acumen and developed mutual respect. They had no rivalry for leadership - Kovpak became the commander, and Rudnev took the post of commissar. This managerial “tandem” very soon made the Nazis shudder with horror.
Kovpak and Rudnev continued to unite small partisan groups into a single Putivl partisan detachment. Once, at a meeting of the commanders of such groups, punitive forces with two tanks showed up directly into the forest. The Nazis still believed that partisans were something frivolous. The result of the battle adopted by the partisans was the defeat of the punitive forces and the capture of one of the tanks as a trophy.
The main difference between Kovpak’s detachment and many other partisan formations was, paradoxically, the almost complete absence of partisanship. Iron discipline reigned among the Kovpaks; each group knew its maneuver and actions in the event of a surprise attack by the enemy. Kovpak was a real ace of covert movement, unexpectedly appearing here and there for the Nazis, disorienting the enemy, delivering lightning-fast and crushing blows.
At the end of November 1941, the Nazi command felt that it practically did not control the Putivl area. The loud actions of the partisans also changed the attitude local population, which began to look at the occupiers almost with ridicule - they say, are you the power here? Real power is in the forest!

Sidor Kovpak (center) discusses the details of a military operation with detachment commanders, 1942.

Kovpak is coming!

The irritated Germans blocked the Spadashchansky forest, which became the main base of the partisans, and sent large forces to defeat them. Having assessed the situation, Kovpak decided to break out of the forest and go on a raid.
Kovpak's partisan unit grew rapidly. When he fought behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, more and more new groups joined him. Kovpak's unit turned into 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.
Kovpak’s unit received the task of going to Right Bank Ukraine in order to expand the zone of partisan operations.
From the Bryansk forests of Kovpak, several thousand kilometers were fought through the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kyiv regions. Partisan glory, surrounded by legends, was already rolling ahead of them. They said that Kovpak himself was a huge bearded strongman who killed 10 fascists at a time with a blow of his fist, that he had tanks, guns, planes and even Katyushas at his disposal, and that Hitler personally feared him.

Sidor Kovpak inspecting the new bridgehead, 1943

Hitler is not Hitler, but smaller Nazis were really afraid. On the policemen and German garrisons the news “Kovpak is coming!” was demoralizing. They tried to avoid meeting with his partisans in any way, because it did not promise anything good.
In April 1943, Sidor Kovpak was awarded the rank of Major General. This is how the partisan army got a real general.

The most difficult raid

Those who met the legend in reality were amazed - a short old man with a beard, looking like a village grandfather from the ruin (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 soldiers for a number of sayings that became popular sayings. While developing a plan for a new operation, he repeated: “Before you enter God’s temple, think about how to get out of it.” About providing the connection with everything necessary, he said laconically and a little mockingly: “My supplier is Hitler.”
Indeed, Kovpak never bothered Moscow with requests for additional supplies, obtaining weapons, ammunition, fuel, food and uniforms from Nazi warehouses.
In 1943, the Sumy partisan unit of Sidor Kovpak set off on its most difficult, Carpathian raid. You can’t erase a word from the song - in those parts there were many who were quite satisfied with the power of the Nazis, who were happy to hang “Jews” under their wing and rip open the bellies of Polish children. Of course, for such people Kovpak was not a “hero of a novel.” During the Carpathian raid, not only many Nazi garrisons were defeated, but also Bandera detachments.
The fighting was difficult, and at times the position of the partisans seemed hopeless. In the Carpathian raid, Kovpak’s formation suffered the most serious losses. Among the dead were veterans who were at the origins of the detachment, including Commissar Semyon Rudnev.

Living legend

But still, Kovpak’s unit returned from the raid. Upon his return, it became known that Kovpak himself was seriously wounded, but hid this from his soldiers.
The Kremlin decided that it was no longer possible to risk the hero’s life - Kovpak was recalled for treatment at Mainland. In January 1944, the Sumy partisan unit was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division named after Sidor Kovpak. Command of the division was taken over by one of Kovpak’s comrades, Pyotr Vershigora. In 1944, the division carried out two more large-scale raids - Polish and Neman. In July 1944, in Belarus, a partisan division, which the Nazis never managed to defeat, united with units of 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

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

Commander of the Putivl partisan detachment and formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region, member of the illegal Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine, major general. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

Born on June 7, 1887 in the village of Kotelva (now an urban-type settlement in the Poltava region of Ukraine) into a poor peasant family. Ukrainian. Member of the CPSU(b)/CPSU since 1919. Participant of the First World War (served in the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment) and the Civil War. In the last of them, he led a local partisan detachment that fought in Ukraine against the German occupiers together with the detachments of A. Ya. Parkhomenko, then was a fighter of the legendary 25th Chapaev Division on the Eastern Front, participated in the defeat of the White Guard troops of generals A. I. Denikin and Wrangel on the Southern Front. In 1921-1926 - military commissar in a number of cities in the Ekaterinoslav province (from 1926 and now - the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine). Since 1937 - Chairman of the Putivl City Executive Committee of the Sumy Region of the Ukrainian SSR.

Participant of the Great Patriotic War since September 1941. One of the organizers of the partisan movement in Ukraine is the commander of the Putivl partisan detachment, and then of the formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region.

In 1941-1942, S. A. Kovpak’s unit carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, in 1942-1943 - a raid from Bryansk forests to Right Bank Ukraine in Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kiev regions; in 1943 - Carpathian raid. The Sumy partisan unit under the command of S.A. Kovpak fought in the rear of the Nazi troops for more than 10 thousand kilometers, defeated enemy garrisons in 39 populated areas. Kovpak's raids played a big role in the development of the partisan movement against the Nazi occupiers.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 18, 1942, for the exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines, the courage and heroism shown during their implementation, Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 708) .

In April 1943, S. A. Kovpak was awarded the military rank of “Major General”.

The second Gold Star medal was awarded to Major General Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on January 4, 1944 for the successful conduct of the Carpathian raid.

In January 1944, the Sumy partisan unit was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division named after S. A. Kovpak.

Since 1944, S. A. Kovpak has been a member of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR, since 1947 - Deputy Chairman of the Presidium, and since 1967 - member of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd-7th convocations.

The legendary partisan commander S.A. Kovpak died on December 11, 1967. He was buried in the capital of Ukraine, the hero city of Kyiv.

Awarded 4 orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st degree, Suvorov 2nd degree, medals, foreign orders.

A bronze bust of twice Hero of the Soviet Union S.A. Kovpak was installed in the urban village of Kotelva, monuments are in Kyiv, Putivl and Kotelva. Streets in many cities and villages are named after the Hero.

Monuments

Bronze bust in the urban village of Kotelva

Battles and victories

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Internet

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Monuments

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