Kovpak and Fedorov went down in history as. Biography. The grandfather that Hitler was afraid of. How Sidor Kovpak created a partisan army

Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak was born on June 7, 1887 in the Ukrainian village of Kotelva into an ordinary peasant family. He had five brothers and four sisters. Since childhood, he helped his parents with the housework. He plowed, sowed, mowed grass, cared for cattle. He attended the parochial school, where he received the most elementary education. At the age of ten, young Sidor began working for a local shopkeeper, rising to the age of majority as a clerk. passed military service in the Alexander regiment stationed in Saratov. After graduation, he remained in this city, working as a loader in the river port.

When did the first World War, Kovpak was mobilized into the army. In 1916, fighting as part of the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment, he took part in the famous Brusilov breakthrough. Sidor Artemovich was a scout, already then standing out among the rest with his ingenuity and ability to find a way out of any situation. Was wounded several times. In the spring of 1916, Tsar Nicholas II, who personally came to the front, among others, awarded young Kovpak with two medals "For Courage" and St. George's Crosses III and IV degrees.

After the start of the revolution, Kovpak chose the side of the Bolsheviks. When in 1917 the Aslanduzsky regiment went into reserve, ignoring Kerensky's order to attack, Sidor, along with other soldiers, returned home to his native Kotelva. The civil war forced him to raise an uprising against the regime of hetman Skoropadsky. Hiding in the forests, Sidor Artemovich learned the basics of partisan military art. The Kotelva detachment led by Kovpak bravely fought against the German-Austrian occupiers of Ukraine, and later, having united with the fighters of Alexander Parkhomenko, against Denikin. In 1919, when his detachment fought out of the war-torn Ukraine, Kovpak decides to join the Red Army. In the 25th Chapaev division, in the role of commander of a platoon of machine gunners, he fights at first on Eastern Front, and then on the South with General Wrangel. For his courage he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

After graduation civil war Kovpak decides to do chores. Also, having become a member of the RCP (b) in 1919, he worked as a military commissar. In 1926, he was elected director of the military cooperative economy in Pavlograd, and then chairman of the Putivl agricultural cooperative, which supplied provisions to the army. After the approval of the Constitution of the USSR in 1936, Sidor Artemovich was elected a deputy of the city council of Putivl, and at its first meeting in 1937 - the chairman of the city executive committee of the Sumy region. In civilian life, he was distinguished by exceptional diligence and initiative. In the thirties, many former "red" Ukrainian partisans were arrested by the NKVD. Only in the Poltava region they were shot by several thousand people. Only thanks to the old comrades who occupied prominent positions in the NKVD, Kovpak escaped from inevitable death.

In the early autumn of 1941, the Nazi invaders approached Putivl. Kovpak, who was already 55 years old at that moment, toothless and suffering from old wounds, is hiding with nine friends in the nearby Spadshchansky forest, measuring 10 by 15 kilometers. There, the group finds a food warehouse, which Kovpak prepared ahead of time. At the end of September, the encircled Red Army soldiers join them, and in October - a detachment led by Semyon Rudnev, who became Kovpak's closest friend and ally during the Great Patriotic War. The detachment is increased to 57 people. few, even less ammo. Nevertheless, Kovpak decides to start a war with the Nazis to the bitter end.

The headquarters of the Sumy partisan formation, headed by S.A. Kovpak discusses the upcoming operation. Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak, commander of the formation, and Semyon Vasilyevich Rudnev, sit in the center near the map. In the foreground, one of the partisans is typing something on a typewriter.

In Ukraine, in the first days of the occupation, a huge number of forest groups were formed, but the Putivl detachment immediately managed to stand out among them with its daring and at the same time measured and cautious actions. Everything that Kovpak did did not fit into the normal rules. 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, hiding from large parts of the enemy with barriers. Small German detachments, outposts, garrisons were destroyed to the last man. In a matter of minutes, the marching formation of partisans could take up an all-round defense and start firing to kill. The main forces were covered by mobile sabotage groups that undermined bridges, wires, rails, distracting and disorienting the enemy. Coming in settlements, partisans raised people to fight, armed and trained them.

At the end of 1941, Kovpak's combat detachment carried out a raid into the Khinelsky, and in the spring of 1942 - into the Bryansk forests. The detachment was replenished to five hundred people and well armed. The second raid began on May 15 and lasted until July 24, passing through the Sumy region, well-known to Sidor Artemovich. Kovpak was a genius at stealth. 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 in several places at once. They sowed terror among the Nazis, blowing up tanks, destroying warehouses, derailing trains. The Kovpakovites fought without any support, not even knowing where the front was. Everything was captured in battles. Explosives were mined in minefields.

Kovpak often repeated: "My supplier is Hitler."

In the spring of 1942, on his birthday, he made himself a present and captured Putivl. And after a while he again went into the woods. At the same time, Kovpak did not look like a brave warrior at all. An outstanding partisan resembled an elderly grandfather taking care of his household. He skillfully combined the soldier's experience with economic activity, boldly tried new options for tactical and strategic methods. partisan struggle. Among its commanders and fighters were mainly workers, peasants, teachers and engineers.

Partisan detachment S.A. Kovpak walks along the street of the Ukrainian village

“He is quite modest, not so much teaching others as learning himself, able to admit his mistakes, thereby not aggravating them,” Alexander Dovzhenko wrote about Kovpak.

Sidor Artemovich was easy to communicate with, humane, fair. He was very well versed in people, he knew how to correctly apply, now a whip, then a carrot.

Vershigora described Kovpak’s partisan camp as follows: “The master’s eye, the confident, calm rhythm of camp life and the rumble of voices in the thick of the forest, the unhurried, 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. He said that the success of any battle depends on minor “trifles” not taken into account in time: “Before you enter God’s temple, think about how to get out of it.”

In the late spring of 1942, for exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines and heroism, Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero. Soviet Union, and his colleague Rudnev, who served time before the war as an enemy of the people, was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.

It is indicative that after Kovpak was awarded the order of Commissar Semyon Rudnev, he returned it with the words: “My political officer is not some kind of milkmaid, to award him such an order!”

Iosif Vissarionovich, interested in the success of the partisan movement in Ukraine, decided to take control of the situation. At the very end of the summer of 1942, Sidor Artemyevich visited Moscow, where, together with other partisan leaders, he took part in a meeting, as a result of which the Main Partisan Headquarters was created, which was headed by Voroshilov. After that, Kovpak began to receive orders and weapons from Moscow.

Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of the Sumy partisan unit Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak (sitting in the center, with the star of the Hero on his chest), surrounded by his comrades-in-arms. To the left of Kovpak is the chief of staff G.Ya. Bazyma, to the right of Kovpak - assistant commander for housekeeping M.I. Pavlovsky

Kovpak's first task was to make a raid across the Dnieper to the Right-Bank Ukraine, conduct reconnaissance in force and organize sabotage in the depths of German fortifications before the Soviet offensive 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 Zhytomyr region, having carried out a unique operation "Sarny Cross". At the same time, five railway bridges on the highways of the Sarny junction were blown up and the garrison in Lelchitsy was destroyed. For the operation in April 1943, Kovpak was awarded the rank of Major General.

In the summer of 1943, his formation, under the command of the Central Headquarters, begins his most famous campaign - the Carpathian raid. The path of the detachment ran through the deepest rear of the Nazis. The partisans had to constantly make unusual for them transitions in open areas. There were no supply bases nearby, just like help and support. The formation traveled more than 10,000 kilometers, fighting with Bandera, regular German units and the elite SS troops of General Krueger. With the latter, by the way, the Kovpakovites fought the bloodiest battles in the entire war. As a result of the operation, the delivery of military equipment and enemy troops to the area of the Kursk Bulge was delayed for a long time. Once surrounded, the partisans were able to break out with great difficulty, splitting into several autonomous groups. A few weeks later, in the Zhytomyr forests, they again united into one formidable detachment.

During the Carpathian raid, Semyon Rudnev was killed, and Sidor Artemyevich was seriously wounded in the leg. At the end of 1943, he left for Kyiv for treatment and did not fight again. 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. 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.

The commanders of partisan formations communicate with each other after the presentation of government awards. From left to right: Mikhail Ilyich Duka, commander of the Kravtsov partisan brigade in the Bryansk region; Mikhail Petrovich Romashin, commander of the Bryansk district partisan detachment; and Bryansk regions Alexander Nikolaevich Saburov

After the end of the war, Kovpak lived in Kyiv, finding work in the Supreme Court of Ukraine, where for twenty years he was Deputy Chairman of the Presidium. Among the people, the legendary partisan commander used big love. In 1967 he became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR.

He died on December 11, 1967 at the age of 81. The hero was buried at the Baikove cemetery in Kyiv. Sidor Artemovich had no children.
The tactics of the partisan movement of Kovpak 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 states studied on the examples of Kovpakovsky raids. In 1975 at the film studio. A. Dovzhenko made a feature film-trilogy about Kovpak's partisan detachment called "The Thought of Kovpak". For the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the partisan movement in Ukraine in 2011, the Era TV channel and the Paterik-film studio filmed documentary"His name was DED." On June 8, 2012, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a commemorative coin depicting Kovpak. A bronze bust of the Hero of the Soviet Union was installed in the village of Kotelva, there are monuments and memorial plaques in Putivl and Kyiv. Streets in many Ukrainian cities and villages are named after him. On the territory of 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, here you can find a captured German road sign with the inscription: "Beware, Kovpak!".

His name was DED. Kovpak (Ukraine) 2011

In July 1941, a partisan detachment was formed in Putivl to fight behind enemy lines, the commander of which was approved by S.A. Kovpak. The material and technical base of the detachment was laid in the Spadshchansky forest.
From the very first battles, the detachment was helped by the combat experience of the detachment commander S.A. Kovpak, tactics, courage and the ability to navigate in the most difficult situations.

On October 19, 1941, fascist tanks broke through into the Spadshchansky forest. A battle ensued, as a result of which the partisans captured three tanks. Having lost a large number of soldiers and military equipment, the enemy was forced to retreat and return to Putivl. This was a turning point in the combat activities of the partisan detachment.

Subsequently, Kovpak's detachment changed tactics to mobile raids along the rear, simultaneously striking at the rear of the enemy.

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When the Great Patriotic War began, S. A. Kovpak was 55 years old, this war was his third in a row. In the first partisan detachment, which was headed by Kovpak, only 42 fighters fought. But even with a relatively small number of partisans, Kovpak's detachment successfully repelled even the tank attacks of the Nazis - the partisans mined forest paths and enemy armored vehicles, deepening into the thick of the forest, were undermined.
The first combat banner of the Putivl partisan detachment of S. A. Kovpak was made from a pioneer banner captured during the blowing up of a tractor with a Nazi tank by partisans - the banner was found in a tower, from which all weapons were subsequently removed.
In August 1942, Kovpak met with his colleagues in the Kremlin with Stalin. There, Sidor Artemyevich was presented with the first Golden Star Hero of the Soviet Union. This meeting became a harbinger of the famous Carpathian raid, in which 2,000 partisans had already taken part.

Know the Soviet people that you are the descendants of fearless warriors!
Know, Soviet people, that the blood of great heroes flows in you,
Those who gave their lives for their Motherland, without thinking about the benefits!
Know and honor the Soviet people the exploits of grandfathers and fathers!

Kovpak Sidor Artemevich

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 of covert movement, after complex and long maneuvers, the partisans unexpectedly attacked where they were not expected at all, creating the effect of presence 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 (Artyomovich) 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 the housework. He plowed, sowed, mowed grass, cared for cattle. He attended a parochial school, where he received the most elementary education. At the age of ten, young Sidor began working for a local shopkeeper, rising to the age of majority as a clerk. He served in the Alexander Regiment stationed in Saratov. After graduation, he remained in this city, working as a loader in the river port.

When the First World War began, Kovpak was drafted into the army. In 1916, fighting as part of the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment, he took part in the famous Brusilov breakthrough. Sidor Artemovich was a scout, already then standing out among the rest with his ingenuity and ability to find a way out of any situation. Was wounded several times. In the spring of 1916, Tsar Nicholas II, who personally came to the front, among others, awarded young Kovpak with two medals "For Courage" and St. George's Crosses III and IV degrees.

After the start of the revolution, Kovpak chose the side of the Bolsheviks. When in 1917 the Aslanduz regiment went into reserve, ignoring Kerensky's order to attack, Sidor, along with other soldiers, returned home to his native Kotelva. The civil war forced him to raise an uprising against the regime of hetman Skoropadsky. Hiding in the forests, Sidor Artemovich learned the basics of partisan military art. The Kotelvsky detachment, led by Kovpak, bravely fought against the German-Austrian invaders of Ukraine, and later, having united with the fighters of Alexander Parkhomenko, against Denikin. In 1919, when his detachment fought out of the war-torn Ukraine, Kovpak decides to join the Red Army. In the 25th Chapaev division, in the role of 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 decides to do chores. Also, having become a member of the RCP (b) in 1919, he worked as a military commissar. In 1926, he was elected director of the military cooperative economy in Pavlograd, and then chairman of the Putivl agricultural cooperative, which supplied provisions to the army. After the approval of the Constitution of the USSR in 1936, Sidor Artemovich was elected a deputy of the city council of Putivl, and at its first meeting in 1937 - the chairman of the city executive committee of the Sumy region. In civilian life, he was distinguished by exceptional diligence and initiative.

In the early autumn of 1941, the Nazi invaders approached Putivl. Kovpak, who was already 55 years old at that moment, toothless and suffering from old wounds, is hiding with nine friends in the nearby Spadshchansky forest, measuring 10 by 15 kilometers. There, the group finds a food warehouse, which Kovpak prepared ahead of time. At the end of September, the encircled Red Army soldiers join them, and in October - a detachment led by Semyon Rudnev, who became Kovpak's closest friend and ally during the Great Patriotic War. The detachment is increased to 57 people. Few weapons, even fewer ammo. Nevertheless, Kovpak decides to start a war with the Nazis to the bitter end.

Inspired by the victory over a several times strong enemy, the fighters further strengthened their faith in victory, and the population began to join the detachments even more boldly.

From the diaries of S.A. Kovpak

S.A. Kovpak, I.P. Balyko, P.P. Vershigora (from right to left)

In Ukraine, in the first days of the occupation, a huge number of forest groups were formed, but the Putivl detachment immediately managed to stand out among them with its daring and at the same time measured and cautious actions. Everything that Kovpak did did not fit into the normal rules. 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, hiding from large parts of the enemy with barriers. Small German detachments, outposts, garrisons were destroyed to the last man. In a matter of minutes, the marching formation of partisans could take up an all-round defense and start firing to kill. The main forces were covered by mobile sabotage groups that undermined bridges, wires, rails, distracting and disorienting the enemy. Coming to the settlements, the partisans raised people to fight, armed and trained them.

Kovpak often repeated:

"My supplier is Hitler."

Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak and Commissioner Kizya L.E. in Kyiv. 1947

Sidor Kovpak and Lyudmila Pavlichenko

In the spring of 1942, on his birthday, he made himself a present and captured Putivl. And after a while he again went into the woods. At the same time, Kovpak did not look like a brave warrior at all. An outstanding partisan resembled an elderly grandfather taking care of his household. He skillfully combined the soldier's experience with economic activity, boldly tried new variants of tactical and strategic methods of partisan struggle. Among its commanders and fighters were mainly workers, peasants, teachers and engineers.

“He is quite modest, not so much teaching others as learning himself, able to admit his mistakes, thereby not aggravating them,” Alexander Dovzhenko wrote about Kovpak.

Sidor Artemovich was easy to communicate with, humane, fair. He was very well versed in people, he knew how to correctly apply, now a whip, then a carrot.

Vershigora described Kovpak's partisan camp as follows:

“The master’s eye, the confident, calm rhythm of camp life and the rumble of voices in the thicket of the forest, the unhurried, but not slow life of confident people working with self-respect - this is my first impression of Kovpak’s detachment.”

During the raid, Kovpak was especially strict and picky. He said that the success of any battle depends on minor, “trifles” not taken into account in time:

"Before you enter God's temple, think about how to get out of it."

In the late spring of 1942, for exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines, shown heroism, Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and his colleague Rudnev, who served time before the war as an enemy of the people, was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.

It is significant that after Kovpak was awarded the Order of Commissar Semyon Rudnev, he returned it with the words:

“My political officer is not some kind of milkmaid to award him with such an order!”

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, interested in the success of the partisan movement in Ukraine, decided to take control of the situation. At the very end of the summer of 1942, Sidor Artemyevich visited Moscow, where, together with other partisan leaders, he took part in a meeting, as a result of which the Main Partisan Headquarters was created, which was headed by Voroshilov. After that, Kovpak began to receive orders and weapons from Moscow.

Sidor Artemyevich Povpak and Rudnev Semyon Vasilyevich

In the summer of 1943, his formation, under the command of the Central Headquarters, begins his most famous campaign - the Carpathian raid. The path of the detachment ran through the deepest rear of the Nazis. The partisans had to constantly make unusual for them transitions in open areas. There were no supply bases nearby, just like help and support. The connection traveled more than 10,000 kilometers, fighting with Bandera, regular German units and the elite SS troops of General Kruger. With the latter, by the way, the Kovpakovites fought the bloodiest battles in the entire war. As a result of the operation, the delivery of military equipment and enemy troops to the area of the Kursk Bulge was delayed for a long time. Once surrounded, the partisans were able to break out with great difficulty, splitting into several autonomous groups. A few weeks later, in the Zhytomyr forests, they again united into one formidable detachment.

Partisan detachments of Sidor Kovpak

After the end of the war, Kovpak lived in Kyiv, finding work in the Supreme Court of Ukraine, where for twenty years he was Deputy Chairman of the Presidium. Among the people, the legendary partisan commander enjoyed great love. In 1967 he became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR.

The legendary partisan general Sidor Kovpak died on December 11, 1967 at the age of 81. The hero was buried at the Baikove cemetery in Kyiv. Sidor Artemovich had no children.

The tactics of the partisan movement of Kovpak 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 states studied on the examples of Kovpakovsky raids. In 1975 at the film studio. A. Dovzhenko made a feature film-trilogy about Kovpak's partisan detachment called "Thought about Kovpak".

A bronze bust of the Hero of the Soviet Union was installed in the village of Kotelva, there are monuments and memorial plaques in Putivl and Kyiv. Streets in many Ukrainian cities and villages are named after him. On the territory of 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, here you can find a captured German road sign with the inscription:

"Be careful, Kovpak!"

Stalin, who was talking to another at that time, glanced at me briefly, must have immediately realized from my appearance that I could already answer, I'm waiting for him to turn to me. I was terribly struck when he suddenly turned to me and said:

Please, I'm listening to you, Comrade Kovpak.

I think, Comrade Stalin,” I said, “that we can reach the right bank of the Dnieper.

What do you need for this? Stalin asked.

I replied that most of all we would need guns, machine guns, anti-tank rifles.

Everything will be fine, - said Stalin and ordered me to immediately draw up an application for everything that is required for a raid on the Right Bank.

I wrote an application and then calculated the number of sorties needed to transfer everything I asked for, and was horrified - the figure seemed huge to me. Is it possible to ask so much now, - I thought, and rewrote my application, greatly curtailing it. And yet, when I handed over my application to Comrade Stalin, I was afraid that he would say:

“Yes, you swung, Comrade Kovpak.”

It happened quite differently. Looking at the paper I handed over, Stalin asked:

Will it provide you?

And when I said that I did not dare to ask for more, Stalin returned the application to me and ordered me to draw it up again.

We can give you whatever you need,” he said.

Rewriting the application, I thought that it would be very good to get boots for the fighters, but I decided that this would be too much, and instead of boots I asked for boots. Stalin, having read the new application, immediately crossed out the shoes. Well, I also wanted to ask for boots! But before I had time to scold myself, Stalin had written “boots” above the crossed-out word “boots”.

Comrade Stalin talked to us as if he had a lot of time, did not rush us, let us calmly collect our thoughts, and decided everything right there, in front of us, without delaying even for a minute.

Kovpak Sidor Artyomovich
"From Putivl to the Carpathians"

* * *
A confident man, Stalin instilled confidence in the whole country.
“Our cause is right. Victory will be ours"!

Thinking about Kovpak:

At the beginning of the 21st century, Ukraine created idols for itself from marauders, rapists and murderers who were in the Ukrainian rebel army. Cowards and scum, capable of performing only punitive functions, killing "Kids, Muscovites and Communists", elevated to the status of "heroes of the nation."

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

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

Monument to Sidor Kovpak in Kyiv. Photo: RIA Novosti

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 plowman.

At the age of 10, he began to help the family, working in a shop for a local merchant. Nimble, quick-witted, observant - "the kid will go far," the village aksakals, 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 Emperor to Vasily Ivanovich

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

Private of the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment Sidor Kovpak was a brave warrior. Being wounded several times, he always returned to duty. In 1916, as a scout, Kovpak distinguished himself during the Brusilov breakthrough. With his exploits, he deserved two St. George's crosses, which he presented Emperor Nicholas II.

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

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

But Kovpak did not immediately get to the front - he was brought down by typhus that was raging in a dilapidated country. Having got out of the clutches of the disease, he nevertheless goes to war and finds himself in the ranks of the 25th division, which he commands Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev. Sidor Kovpak, the commander of the captured Chapaev team, was already famous for his diligence and frugality - he knew how to collect weapons on the battlefield not only after victories, but also after unsuccessful battles, hitting the enemy with such audacity.

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

The partisans - vegetable gardens

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

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

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.

By 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 the war and hard peasant labor.

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

From Putivl, he left the gardens almost the last of the leadership on September 10, 1941, at a time when the German units had already appeared in the village.

Very 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 bases, out of fear, preferred to hide, to hide, but not to join the fight.

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

Power from the forest

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

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

Kovpak (sitting on the left) reads out to the partisans a cipher from big land. Commissar of the detachment S. V. Rudnev (sitting on the right), 1942. Photo: RIA Novosti

They appreciated the grip of each other and imbued with 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. Somehow, at a meeting of the commanders of such groups, punishers with two tanks showed up right in the forest. The Nazis still believed that the partisans were something frivolous. The result of the battle accepted by the partisans was the defeat of the punishers and the capture of one of the tanks as a trophy.

Paradoxically, the main difference between Kovpak's detachment and many other partisan formations was the almost complete absence of partisanism. Iron discipline reigned among the Kovpakovites, each group knew its own maneuver and actions in case of a sudden attack by the enemy. Kovpak was a real ace of covert movement, unexpectedly for the Nazis, appearing here and there, disorienting the enemy, inflicting lightning and crushing blows.

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

Sidor Kovpak (center) discusses the details of the military operation with the detachment commanders, 1942. Photo: RIA Novosti / L. Korobov

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. Assessing the situation, Kovpak decided to break out of the forest and go on a raid.

Kovpak's partisan formation grew rapidly. When he fought behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, more and more groups joined him. Kovpak's compound turned into a real partisan army.

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

Connection Kovpak received the task to go to the Right-Bank Ukraine in order to expand the zone of partisan operations.

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

Sidor Kovpak inspects the new bridgehead, 1943. Photo: RIA Novosti / L. Korobov

Hitler is not Hitler, but smaller caliber 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 by any means, because it did not bode well.

In April 1943, Sidor Kovpak was awarded the rank of major general. So the partisan army had a real general.

The hardest raid

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

Kovpak was remembered by his fighters for a number of sayings that became winged. 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 a connection with everything necessary, he said succinctly 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 Hitler's warehouses.

In 1943, the Sumy partisan formation of Sidor Kovpak set off on his 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 glad to hang “Kids” under their wing and rip open the stomachs of Polish children. Of course, Kovpak was not a "hero of the novel" for such people. During the Carpathian raid, not only many Nazi garrisons were defeated, but also Bandera detachments.

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

living legend

But still, Kovpak's unit returned from the raid. Already on his return, it became known that Kovpak himself was seriously injured, but hid this from his fighters.

The Kremlin decided that it was impossible to risk the hero's life any longer - 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. The command of the division was taken over by one of Kovpak's associates, Pyotr Vershigora. In 1944, the division made two more large-scale raids - Polish and Neman. In July 1944, in Belarus, a partisan division, which the Nazis never managed to defeat, joined with units of the Red Army.

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

Sidor Kovpak, 1954 Photo: RIA Novosti

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

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

What would Sidor Artemievich say if he saw what has now become of his native Ukraine? Probably wouldn't say anything. Grandfather, who has seen a lot in his lifetime, groaning, would simply go towards the forest. And then ... Then you know.

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

With the outbreak of World War I, Kovpak was mobilized into the Russian Imperial Army: he served in the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment, fought on the Southwestern Front, and participated in the Brusilov breakthrough. He became famous as a brave scout and was twice awarded the St. George Cross and medals "For Courage" III and IV degrees.

In 1918, Sidor returned to his native Kotelva, where he took an active part in the struggle for the power of the Soviets, headed the land commission for the distribution of landowners' lands among the poor peasants. During the Civil War, Kovpak became the head of the Kotelva 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 invaders, and after joining the 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 had become 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 Yekaterinoslav 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 was the head of the road department of the Putivl district executive committee, since 1937 he was the 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 - the formation of partisan detachments of the Sumy region. Kovpak's raids behind enemy lines played a big role in the deployment of the partisan movement against the German occupiers. His partisans avoided a long stay within any particular area. They made constant long maneuvers behind enemy lines, exposing distant German garrisons to unexpected blows. The Sumy partisan formation under the command of Sidor Artemyevich fought in the rear of the Nazi troops for more than 10 thousand kilometers, defeated the enemy garrisons in 39 settlements.

Kovpak was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal on May 18, 1942 for exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines, courage and heroism shown in their performance. In April 1943 he was awarded military rank"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 - a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet 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, Orders 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 erected 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.