News from Heroes and Leaders mod

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The Yugoslav Partisans, or the National Liberation Army, officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia, was the Communist-led resistance to the Axis powers in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. It is considered to be Europe's most effective anti-Axis resistance movement during World War II, often compared to the Polish resistance movement. The Yugoslav Resistance was led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia during World War II. Its commander was Marshal Josip Broz Tito, who was head of the underground Yugoslav Communist party (KPJ), and received support from Stalin's Soviet Union. .
Germany and Italy occupied Yugoslavia in April 1941, but it was not until Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June of that year that the Yugoslav communists were ordered to mount attacks against Axis units. Partisan detachments conducted small-scale sabotage until September 1941, when they occupied the Serbian town of Užice and proclaimed a liberated Užice Republic.
After the Partisans were forced to retreat into the mountains of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, they attracted enough recruits to designate themselves the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with elite Proletarian Brigades selected for their fighting abilities, ideological commitment, and all-Yugoslav character. While the ethnic composition of partisan units varied widely over time and between regions, Tito's followers on the whole were Serbs. In November 1942 Tito demonstrated the strength of his movement by convening the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia, which eventually became a provisional government. During 1943, the Partisans gained significant ground by spearheading the fight against Axis occupation, while simultaneously paving the way for Socialist Revolution by crushing the Chetniks. In May, the Partisans evaded a large-scale Axis offensive against them. Fearful that a powerful resistance force might encourage the Allies to invade the Balkan Peninsula, the Germans and Italians led seven major offensives against the PLA. The turning point of the war came in May 1943, when Partisans escaped encirclement in Herzegovina by forcing an exit up the Sutjeska Gorge. The battle of Sutjeska was of first importance in persuading the Allies to switch their support from the royalists to the communists. Anglo-American and Soviet arms and equipment thenceforth were supplied in ever-increasing amounts. The Italian surrender in the fall of 1943 relieved the military pressure on the Partisans, who also benefited from the capture of considerable supplies of munitions and equipment. By the end of 1943 the PLA had grown to an estimated 300,000 troops and had diverted a significant number of enemy forces from other Allied fronts. In October 1944 Partisans took part in the liberation of Belgrade by the Soviet Red Army; they were then able to focus their campaigns against the Chetniks and other Yugoslav collaborators.

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"Résistance" when it first began in the summer of 1940 was based upon what the writer Jean Cassou called "refus absurde" (absurd refusal) of refusing to accept that the Reich would win and even if it did, it was better to resist. "La Résistance" was the collection of French movements that fought against the German occupation of France and the collaborationist Vichy régime during the Second World War. Resistance cells were small groups of armed men and women (called the Maquis in rural areas), who, in addition to their guerrilla warfare activities, were also publishers of underground newspapers, providers of first-hand intelligence information, and maintainers of escape networks that helped Allied soldiers and airmen trapped behind enemy lines. A major problem for the Resistance was that, with the exception of a number of Army officers who chose to go underground together with veterans of the Spanish Civil War, none had any military experience. A further difficulty was the shortage of weapons.
From May 1941, Freney founded Combat, one of the first Resistance groups. For security reasons, Combat was divided into a series of cells that were unaware of each other. In the summer of 1940, many les Cheminots (railroad workers) engaged in impromptu resistance by helping French soldiers wishing to continue the struggle together with British, Belgian and Polish soldiers stranded in France escape from the occupied zone into the unoccupied zone or Spain.
On 22 Jun 1941, all communist groups in France merged into a larger group, showing the rest of the resistance groups the effectiveness of more coordinated resistance actions. The military strength of the communists was still relatively feeble at the end of 1941, but the rapid growth of the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP), a radical armed movement, ensured that French communists regained their reputation as an effective anti-fascist force.
Eventually, on 27 May 1943, leaders of all separate and fragmented Resistance organizations were gathered and coordinated by Jean Moulin under the auspices of the National Council of Resistance (CNR), de Gaulle's formal link to the irregulars throughout occupied France.

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The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II. It is considered as one of the strongest resistance movements in German-occupied Europe.
The rise of resistance movements in Greece was precipitated by the invasion and occupation of Greece by Germany (and its allies Italy and Bulgaria) from 1941–44. The first confirmed resistance act in Greece had taken place on the night of 30 May 1941, even before the end of the Battle of Crete. The first wider resistance movements occurred in northern Greece, where the Bulgarians annexed Greek territories. The first mass uprising occurred around the town of Drama in eastern Macedonia, in the Bulgarian occupation zone. During the night of 28–29 September 1941 the people of Drama and its outskirts rose up. This badly-organized revolt was suppressed by the Bulgarian Army.
Greece is a mountainous country, with a long tradition in andartiko ("guerrilla warfare"), dating back to the days of the klephts (anti-Turkish bandits) of the Ottoman period, who often enjoyed folk-hero status. Armed groups consisted of andartes ("guerillas") first appeared in the mountains of Macedonia by October 1941. The first major resistance group to be founded was the National Liberation Front (EAM). On February 16, 1942, EAM gave permission to a communist veteran, called Athanasios (Thanasis) Klaras (later known as Aris Velouchiotis) to examine the possibilities of a victorious armed resistance movement. Soon the first andartes (guerrillas) joined ELAS and many battles were fought and won against both the Italians and Germans.
Until the summer of 1942, the occupation authorities had been little troubled by the armed Resistance, which was still in its infancy. From that point, however, the Resistance gained pace. Armed groups attacked and disarmed local gendarmerie stations and isolated Italian outposts, or toured the villages and gave patriotic speeches.These developments emerged most dramatically as the Greek Resistance announced its presence to the world with one of the war's most spectacular sabotage acts, the blowing up of the Gorgopotamos railway bridge, linking northern and southern Greece, on 25 November 1942. By the late spring of 1943, the Axis forces and their collaborators remained in control only of the main towns and the connecting roads, with the interior left to the andartes. This was "Free Greece", stretching from the Ionian Sea to the Aegean and from the borders of the German zone in Macedonia to Boeotia. The Italian capitulation in September 1943 provided a windfall for the Resistance, as the Italian Army in many places simply disintegrated. In many places significant amounts of weaponry and equipment, as well as men, fell into the hands of the Resistance.

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After the first shock following the Blitzkrieg, people slowly started to get organized, both locally and on a larger scale, especially when Jews and other groups were starting to be deported and used for the Arbeitseinsatz (forced labor for the Germans). Organization was dangerous, so much resistance was done by individuals. The possibilities depended much on the terrain; where there were large tracts of uninhabited land, especially hills and forests, resistance could more easily get organised undetected. This favoured in particular the Soviet partisans in Eastern Europe. In the much more densely populated Netherlands, the Biesbosch wilderness could be used to go into hiding. In northern Italy, both the Alps and the Apennines offered shelter to partisan brigades, though many groups operated directly inside the major cities.
There were many different types of "partisans" groups, ranging in activity from humanitarian aid to armed resistance, and sometimes cooperating to a varying degree. Resistance usually arose spontaneously, but was encouraged and helped mainly from London and Moscow.
Various forms of resistance were developed. The Arbeitseinsatz ("Work Contribution") forced locals to work for the Germans, but work was often done slowly or intentionally badly. There were also other forms of sabotage based on existing organizations, such as the churches, students, communists and doctors (professional resistance) They were made raids on distribution offices to get food coupons or various documents such as Ausweise or on birth registry offices to get rid of information about Jews and others to whom the Nazis paid special attention.
It was achieved temporary liberation of areas, such as in Yugoslavia, Paris, and northern Italy, occasionally in cooperation with the Allied forces, or uprisings such as in Warsaw in 1943 and 1944, and in extermination camps such as in Sobibor in 1943 and Auschwitz in 1944. Also occurred continuing battle and guerrilla warfare, such as the partisans in the USSR and Yugoslavia and the Maquis in France.
The espionage was another way to fight the invader, including sending reports of military importance (e.g. troop movements, weather reports etc.)

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Mordechaj Anielewicz: (1919-1943) Was the leader of the Jewish Fighting Organization, which led the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; the largest Jewish insurrection during the Second World War, which inspired further rebellions in both ghettos and extermination camps. His image represents Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.

Alexander Pechersky: (1909 – 1990) Was the leader of the mass-escape of Jews of the Sobibor extermination camp on 14 October 1943. After, for over a year, Pechersky fought with the Yehiel's Group partisans as a demolition expert and later with the Soviet group of Voroshilov Partisans, until the Red Army drove out the Germans from Belarus. As an escaped POW, Pechersky was conscripted into a special penal battalions and was sent to the front to fight German forces in some of the toughest engagements of the war. For fighting the Germans as part of the penal battalions, Pechersky was promoted to the rank of captain and received a medal for bravery.

Max Manus: (1914 – 1996) Was a Norwegian resistance fighter during World War II, specialising in sabotage in occupied Norway. After fighting as a volunteer for Finland in the Soviet-Finnish Winter War of 1939–40, Manus returned to Norway on the day of the German invasion of Norway, 9 April 1940. He joined up with the Norwegian Army and went to fight in a volunteer detachment with the Finns against the Russians. He was twice awarded Norway's highest decoration for military gallantry, the War Cross with sword.

Petr Braiko: (1919– 2018) Was a Soviet soldier who gained the status of Hero of the Soviet Union. He took part in seven raids by the guerrilla brigade of Sydir Kovpak. He entered action on June 22, 1941 as a Soviet border guard on the border with Romania. He would come to spend years deep behind enemy lines where he took guidance from Soviet guerrilla leaders in Ukraine including Sydir Kovpak, Semyon Rudnev and Pyotr Vershigora.

Manolis Glezos: (1922, 97 years old) On 30 May 1941 Glezos and Apostolos Santas climbed on the Acropolis and tore down the swastika, which had been there since 27 April 1941. Glezos was arrested by the German occupation forces on 24 March 1942 and was subjected to imprisonment and torture. As a result of his treatment, he was affected by tuberculosis. He was arrested on 21 April 1943 by the Italian occupation forces and spent three months in jail.

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Josip Broz Tito (1892 - 1980) Commander in Chief of all Yugoslav national liberation military forces
Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski: (1895–1966) Polish Armia Krajowa commander, and in 1943 Brigadier-General

Sydir Kovpak (1887 - 1967) In 1944 partisans under Kovaak's leadership raided enemy forces throughout western Ukraine and Belarus. Hero of the Soviet Union title twice. Major General in 1943

Pyotr Vershigora (1905 – 1963) Leader of 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division. Was Major General in 1944

Alexander Saburov (1908 - 1974) Hero of the Soviet Union on 18 May 1942. Was Major General in 1944

Oleksiy Fedorov (1901 - 1989) Hero of the Soviet Union twice. Chernigov partisan unit by March 1942 had sixteen engagements with the enemy and killed over a thousand German troops. Was Major General in 1944

Yitzhak Arad (1926 - age 92) In the ghetto from 1942 to 1944 with Markov Brigade. Brigadier General.

Marek Edelman (1922 - 2009) Jewish Combat Organization leader in the Warsaw Ghetto. Commander in 1943

Martin Linge (1894 – 1941) Commander of the 1st Norwegian Independent Company. War Cross with sword.

Luigi Longo (1900 – 1980) Garibaldi Brigades Commander, of the partisan communist forces in the Italia

Dawid Apfelbaum (? - 1943) During the Warsaw Ghetto, Captain Apfelbaum was commander of a squad who took part in the heavy fighting in defense of the Muranowski Square. He was promoted to the rank of Major

Witold Pilecki (1901 – 1948) Served as a captain with the Polish Army and member of the underground Home Army (Armia Krajowa). He took part as a combatant in the Warsaw Uprising in August–October 1944

Pierre Brossolette (1903 - 1944) How captain received two citations for the French War Cross. Major in 1942

Walter Audisio (1909–1973) Possibly was the executioner of Benito Mussolini. Inspector of the Garibaldi Brigades. The "Colonnello Valerio" was the principal figure of the Italian resistance movement in Milan

Pyotr Masherov (1918 – 1980) Hero of the Soviet Union. He led a group of Soviet partisans in Belarus

Imants Sudmalis (1916 – 1944) Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded with two Orders of Lenin

Anthony Morris Brooks (1922 – 2007) Was a SOE British agent. He received the Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, Croix de guerre, and Légion d'honneur. He ended the war as a Major

Gunnar Sonsteby (1918 - 2012) Was the "Agent 24" in the SOE. He enrolled in the Linge Company, and he also became head of the newly established Oslo Gang, a sabotage group "the best group of saboteurs in Europe"

Semyon Rudniev (1899 – 1943) Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin. Was a leader of Soviet partisans and People's Commissar of partisan group operating in Ukraine. Was Major General in 1943

Nikolai Kuznetsov (1911 – 1944) Hero of the Soviet Union. Was a Soviet intelligence agent (NKVD) and partisan. In 1942, he fought as a member of the guerrilla group "Victors"

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The initial concept of partisan warfare involved the use of troops raised from the local population in a war zone (or in some cases regular forces) who would operate behind enemy lines to disrupt communications, seize posts or villages as forward-operating bases, ambush convoys, impose war taxes or contributions, raid logistical stockpiles, and compel enemy forces to disperse and protect their base of operations.
Among the most notable resistance movements were the Polish Resistance, including the Polish Home Army, Leśni, and the whole Polish Underground State; Yugoslav Partisans, the Soviet partisans, the Italian Resistenza led mainly by the Italian CLN; the French Resistance, the Belgian Resistance, the Norwegian Resistance, the Danish Resistance, the Greek Resistance, the Czech resistance, the Albanian resistance, the Dutch Resistance especially the "LO" (national hiding organization) and the politically persecuted opposition in Germany itself (there were 16 main resistance groups and at least 27 failed attempts to assassinate Hitler with many more planned): in short, across German-occupied Europe. An example is the Bielski partisans, that were a unit of Jewish partisans who rescued Jews from extermination and fought the German occupiers and their collaborators around Nowogródek (Navahrudak) and Lida (now in western Belarus) in German-occupied Poland. The partisan unit was named after the Bielskis, a family of Polish Jews who organized and led the organization. The five largest resistance movements in Europe were the Dutch, the French, the Polish, the Soviet and the Yugoslav; overall their size can be seen as comparable, particularly in the years 1941-1944.
While historians and governments of some European countries have attempted to portray resistance to German occupation as widespread among their populations, only a small minority of people participated in organized resistance, estimated at one to three percent of the population of countries in western Europe. In eastern Europe where German rule was more oppressive, a larger percentage of people were in organized resistance movements, for example, an estimated 10-15 percent of the Polish population. Passive resistance by non-cooperation with the occupiers was much more common.
The superior, armed power of the German regime posed a major obstacle to the resistance of mostly unarmed civilians from the very beginning of the German takeover of Germany. It is important to remember that at the outbreak of war in September 1939, Poland was overrun in a few weeks. France, attacked on May 10, 1940, fell only six weeks later. Clearly, if two powerful nations with standing armies could not resist the onslaught of the Germans, the possibilities of success were narrow for mostly unarmed civilians who had limited access to weapons. Also, the German tactic of “collective responsibility” held entire families and communities responsible for individual acts of armed and unarmed resistance.

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"The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy encamps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue." This is the essence of guerrilla warfare practiced by partisans during World War II.
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which a small group of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military. Guerrilla groups are a type of violent non-state actor. Guerrilla warfare is a type of asymmetric warfare: competition between opponents of unequal strength. It is also a type of irregular warfare: that is, it aims not simply to defeat an enemy, but to win popular support and political influence, to the enemy's cost. Accordingly, guerrilla strategy aims to magnify the impact of a small, mobile force on a larger, more-cumbersome one. If successful, guerrillas weaken their enemy by attrition, eventually forcing them to withdraw.
Tactically, guerrillas usually avoid confrontation with large units and formations of enemy troops, but seek and attack small groups of enemy personnel and resources to gradually deplete the opposing force while minimizing their own losses. The guerrilla prizes mobility, secrecy, and surprise, organizing in small units and taking advantage of terrain that is difficult for larger units to use. In addition to traditional military methods, guerrilla groups may rely also on destroying infrastructure, using improvised explosive devices. They typically also rely on logistical and political support from the local population and foreign backers, are often embedded within it, and many guerrilla groups are adept at public persuasion through propaganda.
Contrary to some terrorist groups, guerrillas usually work in open positions as armed units, try to hold and seize land, do not refrain from fighting enemy military force in battle and usually apply pressure to control or dominate territory and population. While the primary concern of guerrillas is the enemy's active military units, terrorists largely are concerned with non-military agents and target mostly civilians. Guerrilla forces principally fight in accordance with the law of war.

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The Bren gun, usually called simply the Bren, are a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also used in the Korean War and saw service throughout the latter half of the 20th century, including the 1982 Falklands War.
The Bren was a licensed version of the Czechoslovak ZGB 33 light machine gun which, in turn, was a modified version of the ZB vz. 26, which British Army officials had tested during a firearms service competition in the 1930s. The later Bren featured a distinctive top-mounted curved box magazine, conical flash hider, and quick change barrel. The name Bren was derived from Brno, the Czechoslovak city in Moravia, where the Zb vz. 26 was designed (in the Zbrojovka Brno Factory) and Enfield, site of the British Royal Small Arms Factory. The designer was Václav Holek, a gun inventor and design engineer.
Although was designed to hold 30 rounds of .303” and care had to be taken during loading to ensure that the cartridge case rim was in front of the previous rim, it was found to be far more reliable if only 28 rounds were loaded into the magazine. The gun had a cyclic rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute and 25 magazines were issued per gun. A spare barrel was carried and this could he changed in 2 to 3 seconds but it was not uncommon to see the barrel glow with heat. The method used to try to cool the replaced barrel was often by unconventional methods, but the rapid change barrel using the carrying handle was a godsend to prolonged fire.
Generally, the Bren was fired from the prone position using the attached bipod. On occasion, a Bren gunner would use his weapon on the move supported by a sling, much like an automatic rifle, and from standing or kneeling positions. Using the sling, Australian soldiers regularly fired the Bren from the hip, for instance in the marching fire tactic, a form of suppressive fire moving forward in assault.
It was "by general consent the finest light machine gun in the world of its period, and the most useful weapon provided to the French "maquis" ... accurate up to 1,000 meters, and it could withstand immense maltreatment and unskilled use. "Resistants" were constantly pleading for maximum drops of Brens".
Since Bren guns had been made the principle machine gun of the front line infantry, it was not surprising that the first British soldier to land in France during the 1944 Normandy invasion was a Bren gunner. At 0002 hours on 6 Jun 1944, Private William Gray of D Company of 2nd Battalion of the airborne infantry regiment Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry arrived by glider to ensure those who landed after him would have the benefit of cover fire from his Bren gun should there be such need immediately upon landing.

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The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and designed by John Browning in 1917 for the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe as a replacement for the French-made Chauchat and M1909 Benét–Mercié machine guns that US forces had previously been issued.
The BAR was designed to be carried by infantrymen during an assault advance while supported by the sling over the shoulder, or to be fired from the hip. This is a concept called "walking fire"—thought to be necessary for the individual soldier during trench warfare. The BAR never entirely lived up to the original hopes of the war department as either a rifle or a machine gun.
The U.S. Army, in practice, used the BAR as a light machine gun, often fired from a bipod (introduced on models after 1938). A variant of the original M1918 BAR, the Colt Monitor Machine Rifle, remains the lightest production automatic firearm chambered for the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, though the limited capacity of its standard 20-round magazine tended to hamper its utility in that role. Although the weapon did see some action in World War I, the BAR did not become standard issue in the US Army until 1938, when it was issued to squads as a portable light machine gun.
During World War II, the BAR saw extensive service, both official and unofficial, with many branches of service. Following World War I, Poland, newly independent after nearly a century and a quarter of foreign occupation, needed to build a national military. The Polish military demanded their own specifications for the BAR including the fittings for an antiaircraft sight. Going into production in 1929, FN produced the first 10,000 Polish BARs themselves, designated by the Polish military as the wz.28 (Model of 1928). The Polish government would later negotiate a contract with Colt and FN to manufacture at their own convenience an additional 12,000–13,000 wz.28s at the State Rifle Factory in Warsaw. The Polish wz.28 saw action during the Spanish Civil War, Hitler’s 1939 invasion of Poland, and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, as well as a variety of Resistance operations. The Resistance initially had few weapons—obsolete World War I pistols, a few hunting rifles and shotguns—and even fewer people who knew how to use them. Nor was there any way to get more guns until the British began air-dropping weapons, ammunition, explosives and other supplies in 1943. As a testament to John Browning’s design, captured Polish wz.28s were gladly 18 put to frontline use by both German and Soviet troops.

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The Fusil-mitrailleur Modèle 1924 M29 was the standard light machine gun of the French Army from 1925 until the 1960s. It fires the French 7.5×54mm round which is equivalent in ballistics and striking power to the later 7.62×51mm NATO and 7.62×54mm cartridge. A robust and reliable weapon partly derived from the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) action, the FM 1924 M29 soldiered on, practically without interruptions, for more than 50 years.
The Chatellerault FM Mle 1924-29 was the French military’s replacement for the 1915 Chauchat automatic rifle. After testing of all the major designs available (Madsen, BAR, Hotchkiss, Lewis and Berthier), the Chatellerault was designed with the best parts of the Hotchkiss and BAR. It fed from a 25-round magazine, with a deliberately slow 450 RPM rate of fire. The FM Mle 1924 entered production in late July 1925 and saw first operational use in Morocco in May 1926. It was immediately well-received and even favorably compared in performance with the much heavier Hotchkiss machine gun. However, problems created by the new 7.5mm ammunition did appear. In particular, 8×57mm Mauser ammunition which was used in captured Mauser rifles carried by auxiliaries in Morocco during the Rif War from 1920–26, could be chambered and fired with disastrous results. This situation led to the development of a slightly shorter 7.5×54mm round, which was retained in 1929 as the standard ammunition for all future rifles and light machine guns in French service. The modified fusil-mitrailleur modèle 1924 modifié 1929 (FM Mle 1924 M29) was mass-manufactured (187,412), beginning in 1930. In addition to these newly manufactured guns some 45,530 older FM Mle 1924s, already in service after phasing out the notoriously unreliable Chauchat, were rebarreled in order to accept the newer 7.5×54mm ammunition. The FM 24/29 was the standard squad-level automatic weapon of the French infantry and cavalry at the start of World War II. After the French surrender in World War II, the Germans captured large quantities of this weapon, which they used operationally until the end of the war. From 1943 on, as the French army was re-equipped and reorganized in North Africa with Allied support, the FM 24/29 was kept in service, as French troops considered it superior to the Browning Automatic Rifle.
The need for more weapons became urgent once the Milice began operating in what had been the Occupied Zone, and as the Resistance threat increased in anticipation of the Western Allies' landings to begin the liberation of France. From the spring of 1943 the Milice were operating throughout the whole country, and this increased tempo of operations, culminating in full mobilization of all part-time francs-gardes in June 1944, put an increasing strain on Milice resources. A significant contribution was made by releasing the captured arsenal of British and US weapons, ammunition and grenades from intercepted Allied air-drops.

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A Molotov cocktail, also known as a petrol bomb or just Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of bottle-based improvised incendiary weapons. A Molotov cocktail is a breakable glass bottle containing a flammable substance such as gasoline, alcohol or a napalm-like mixture, with some motor oil added, and usually a source of ignition such as a burning cloth wick held in place by the bottle's stopper. The wick is usually soaked in alcohol or kerosene, rather than petrol.
Incendiary bottles are one of the simplest and most reliable means for destroying tanks, armored cars, transport trucks, warehouses, landed airplanes, and enemies in cover. In the hands of a brave partisan, they are a fearsome weapon. Skilled and sudden use can not only strike the enemy, but cause panic and compromise enemy organization.
When the bottles hit a solid object, the bottle breaks, and the liquid inside of it ignites, either with a match attached to the bottle, a special metallic igniter, or a capsule inside the bottle. In action, the wick is lit and the bottle hurled at a target such as a vehicle or fortification. When the bottle smashes on impact, the ensuing cloud of fuel droplets and vapor is ignited by the attached wick, causing an immediate fireball followed by spreading flames as the remainder of the fuel is consumed. Other flammable liquids such as diesel fuel, methanol, turpentine, jet fuel, and isopropyl alcohol have been used in place of, or combined with petrol. Thickening agents such as solvents, foam polystyrene, baking soda, petroleum jelly, tar, strips of tire tubing, nitrocellulose, XPS foam, motor oil, rubber cement, detergent and dish soap have been added to help the burning liquid adhere to the target and create clouds of thick, choking smoke.
To destroy the enemy tanks with bottles, each partisan carried 3 bottles, one with liquid KS and two with liquid # 1 and # 3. The partisan had to position himself in a trench, crevice, crater of shells, or any other concealment, camouflage and hide from bullets and shrapnel. The partisan had to watch the movements of the tanks. When they approached, the partisan had prepared their bottles to throw them. When the tank or cart is 15-20 meters away, the partisan takes a KS bottle, holds the cylindrical part and throws it into the tank, followed by one or two bottles # 1 and # 3. Bottles # 1 and # 3 can be held by the neck, if it is more comfortable. The partisans had to throw the bottles while they were standing or crouching, aiming at their target. They pointed to the engine (a tank has it in the back, an armored car in the front), observation ports, poorly sealed hatches; 2-3 well-placed bottles can ignite the tank or cart.

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The PTRD-41 was an anti-tank rifle produced and used from early 1941 by the Soviet Red Army during World War II. It was a single-shot weapon which fired a 14.5×114mm round. Although unable to penetrate the frontal armor of German tanks, it could penetrate the thinner sides of early-war German tanks as well as thinly armored self-propelled guns.
In 1939 the USSR captured several hundred Polish Model 35 anti-tank rifles, which had proved effective in the September Campaign when Poland was invaded by Germany. Vasily Degtyaryov copied its lock and several features of the German Panzerbüchse 38 when hasty construction of an anti-tank rifle was ordered in July 1941.
The PTRD and the similar but semi-automatic PTRS-41 were the only individual anti-tank weapon available to the Red Army in numbers upon the outbreak of the war with Germany. The 14.5 mm armor-piercing bullet had a muzzle velocity of 1,012 m/s. It could penetrate an armor plate up to 35 to thick at a distance of 100 meters at 0 degrees. During the initial invasion, and indeed throughout the war, most German tanks had side armor thinner. However, due to the high velocity and small size of the round, it had a very high chance of shattering or utterly failing against armor it should have penetrated, especially if the target was struck at an oblique angle.
Due to the obsolescence and inadequate ability against tanks, PTRD users were instructed to attempt to shoot view ports rather than actually try to penetrate the vehicles'armour. Despite the good range of fire, this tactic was quickly found ineffective due to the absence of telescopic sights: the simple mechanical iron sights did not allow for proper aiming at the required distances. The muzzle brake, however effective, kicked up a very visible cloud of dust or snow and debris and served to give away the position of the PTRD team. After poor results against the enemy tanks the PTRD and PTRS were finally relegated to anti-materiel duty in 1943[citation needed] as they were still effective against lesser armored vehicles such as armored half-tracks, armored cars and unarmored vehicles. Guns captured by the Germans were given the designation 14.5 mm PaB 783(r).
The PTRD suffered from numerous flaws; the most notable are the lack of penetration versus enemy vehicles and inability to aim accurately with a telescopic sight, which frustrated PTRD teams, its size and weight which hampered its mobility and deployment, and its immense muzzle blast which gave away the unit's firing position. The PTRD also would occasionally jam during shell ejection, leading to a practice of dipping shells in oil before loading. The PTRD was eventually replaced by the RPG series of anti-tank rocket launchers.

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In 1927 Soviet weapons engineer Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyaryov submitted his prototype for what is commonly refer to as the DP-28 Light Machine Gun. The DP-27 was an improvement of the earlier DP-26, both designed by Vasily Degtyaryov. The Degtyaryov machine gun DP-28 is a light machine gun firing the 7.62×54mmR cartridge that was primarily used by the Soviet Union starting in 1928. His new design was exactly what the Red Army was looking for – a highly portable machine gun to serve in support of Infantry attacks. The new machine gun was made by the thousands at the V.A. Degtyarev Weapons Plant located in Kovrov, Russia. The DP-27 was relatively cheap and easy to manufacture – early models had fewer than 80 parts. The DP was especially able to withstand dirt in a reliable fashion. It featured a flapper-locked breech and was gas-operated by way of a long-stroke gas piston. It fed from a narrow, 47-round pan magazine, which gave it its nickname — “record player.” The DP-28’s charging handle was beneath the receiver on the right-hand side. It ejected from the bottom of the receiver. It had a grip safety that protruded from just behind the trigger guard. The DP-28 weighed nine kilograms unloaded and fired between 500 and 600 rounds per minute.
One of the DP's main drawbacks though was its bipod; it could not withstand much abuse and broke easily. Furthermore, the recoil spring was located under the barrel, around the gas piston; this was one of the design problems of the DP, since the spring tended to lose its temper due to overheating. Also, the pan with 47 rounds that fed in from the top, was relatively small and continuous fire for long periods could not be relied on as much as contemporary belt-fed weapons. The ammunition was troublesome for automatic fire. Degtyarov had to use a flat pan magazine, which could feed those cartridges reliably, but was too heavy itself, uncomfortable to carry and prone to damage. Due to the design of the magazine, reloading an empty magazine with cartridges took a very long time. A redeeming factor was that the DP's lower cyclic rate of fire did reduce the risk of barrel overheating. To address the flaws, the Soviets modified the DP in 1943, re-designating it the DPM. DPM, modernized version adopted in 1943–44, with a more robust bipod fastened to the cooling jacket and the recoil spring housed in a tube projecting from the rear of the receiver which necessitated a pistol grip for this model of the weapon. This necessitated a new stock design that incorporated a pistol grip. This change also improved the balance and handling of the gun when firing from the bipod. The Soviet Union manufactured nearly 800,000 DPs and variants. Soviet premier Joseph Stalin made Degtyaryov a Hero of Socialist Labor in 1940. He rose to the rank of major general of engineering and artillery in the Soviet army before dying in 1949 at the age of 69.

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The Soviet RGD-33 is an anti-personnel fragmentation stick grenade developed in 1933. It was designed to replace the ageing Model 1914 grenade and was used during World War II. The grenade was complicated to use and manufacture. After the German invasion of the USSR, the simple and crude RG-42 was developed to slowly replace it.
The grenade was unusual but not unique, in that it had an optional "jacket" – a thick metal fragmentation sleeve weighing an average of 270 grams. When fitted over the grenade the sleeve improves the kill radius by producing a number of diamond-shaped, heavier fragments. With the jacket installed the grenade was said to be in "defensive" mode. The grenade was composed of three separate pieces that were stored in different crates until use: the warhead and sleeve, spring-loaded handle, and fuse tube. They were assembled and issued only before combat. The operator arms the fuse by flipping the switch to the left, exposing the red dot. The operator then throws the grenade; a good throw could send the grenade 30 to 40 meters. The forward momentum of the head and the spring-loaded handle cause the fuse clip to drop back and then move forward, striking the fuse and beginning the time delay. Upon detonation the shell fragments in rectangular, thin fragments, which, along with the casing and detonator fragments, decelerate rapidly in air. Due to the fragments' rapid loss of velocity, the kill radius is small, making this grenade an "offensive" type. The fragmentation kill radius was approximately 15 meters with the sleeve and 10 meters without. As with most grenades of this era, there is potential for large fragment projection a great distance further than the throw.
The Soviet RG-42 was a fragmentation grenade designed by S.G. Korshunov. It was originally introduced during World War II from 1942 onwards as an emergency measure to replace the complex RGD-33 grenade. It continued in use with the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies in the post-war period until replaced in 1954 by the RGD-5 grenade. Stockpiles were held for emergency or reserve issue, military aid, or foreign sales. They were eventually destroyed in the 1980s due to the TNT filling degrading and becoming unsafe.
Unlike the RGD-33, the RG-42's components were simple to produce and assemble. Only the fuse required specialized manufacture and the parts could be easily assembled by hand by cottage labor. Partisans often made copies of the simple design when out of contact. It contained about 200 grams of explosive charge (TNT) in a cylindrical stamped-metal can. It used the 3.2 to 4 second UZRGM fuse, also used in the RGD-5, RG-41, and F1 grenades. The grenade could be thrown about 35–40 meters and has an effective blast radius of around 10 meters. The total weight of the grenade with the fuse was about 500 grams.

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The ZB vz. 26 was a Czechoslovak light machine gun developed in the 1920s. It saw its major use during World War II, and spawned the related ZB vz. 27, vz. 30, and vz. 33. The ZB vz. 26 influenced many other light machine gun designs including the Bren light machine gun and the Type 96 Light Machine Gun. The ZB-26 is famous for its reliability, simple components, quick-change barrel and ease of manufacturing.
The ZB-26 saw service with the Czechoslovak infantry from 1928. It was exported to twenty-four European, South American and Asian countries, both in its original form and in the slightly improved ZB-30 version. Large batches of ZB light machine guns went to Bolivia, Bulgaria, China, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia. Lithunia and Yugoslavia were the first users to adopt the gun, before the Czechoslovak Army. The Wehrmacht soon adopted the ZB-26 after the occupation of Czechoslovakia, renaming it the MG 26(t). In its most famous incarnation, the ZB-26 was modified by ZB and British technicians, entering service as the famous Bren gun.
The partisans took whatever arms they could obtain. In every area it would be assorted Polish, Checks and Soviet arms commonly available in 1939-1941. The partisans did not openly attack Germans much because they weren't strong enough. They usually attacked only easy targets, and thence they wouldn't have many German weapons. In fact, not everyone in the regiment had a gun. The situation would change in 1943, when the Soviets consolidated the partisan movement and started sending trained fighters and supplies across the frontline. Until 1944, when the Partisans began to receive more sophisticated Allied weapons and ammunition, they fought a guerrilla war in which rifles and hand grenades were the main.
Not until the beginning of 1943 did a considerable number of well-armed German units begin to fight an anti-guerrilla war in the Balkans. The Partisans' main source of guns and automatic weapons was what they managed to capture from the enemy. Light machine guns were particularly valued but were difficult to come by. Lack of ammunition was a chronic problem and the difficulties were increased by the number of different calibers needed; the most commonly used on the Yugoslav battlefield were Italian 6.5 and 8mm, German 7.92mm, Soviet 7.62mm and British 7.7mm. It is of interest that the first brigades founded in 1942 had an average of 800-900 rifles, 20-30 heavy and light machine guns and 40-50 cartridges per Partisan soldier which was hardly sufficient for an attack against any sizeable enemy position. Any attack that failed would put a brigade out of action until it was able to capture another supply of ammunition. Careful management of ammunition was one of the basic principles of Partisan warfare, which clashed with the use of automatic weapons. Not until the second half of the war did ammunition become more plentiful. The rare sub-machine guns were used by couriers or at headquarters for close-range defense.

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The RPG-40 was an anti-tank hand grenade developed by the Soviet Union in 1940. Its anti-tank capability came from blast effect produced by the detonation upon contact of 760 grams of explosive contained in it. This effect enabled about 20 mm of armor to be penetrated, and secondary damage, such as spelling, by contact with thicker armor. This made the grenade very effective against earlier German tanks, but ineffective against later models, such as the Panzer IV and the Panzer V, leading to the RPG-43 replacing it in 1943.
The RPG-43 was a high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) hand grenade that entered service in 1943, replacing the earlier model RPG-40. The RPG-43 used a shaped charge HEAT warhead, whereas the RPG-40 used the simpler HE (high explosive) warhead. The RPG-43 had a penetration of around 75 mm of rolled homogeneous armor at a 90 degree angle. Later in the war, it was improved and became the RPG-6.
During the early days of Operation Barbarossa, the USSR's only infantry anti-armor weapons were anti-tank rifles, anti-tank guns, and the RPG-40. These were adequate against early German tanks such as the Panzer I and Panzer II but, as the war progressed, they were found to be nearly useless against the heavier Panthers and Tigers. The RPG-43 was developed as a result, and it was produced in large numbers until the end of the war. The RPG-43 externally was shaped like an oversized stick grenade with a 95 mm HEAT warhead on the end. It weighed 1.247 kg of which 612 g was high explosive. When thrown, a cylindrical metal cone was released from the rear of the grenade and held by fabric strips to stabilize flight and increase the likelihood of a 90 degree hit. Its range was limited by how far the user could throw it, and was obviously shorter than the contemporary rocket-propelled US Bazooka and recoilless German Panzerfaust, so that the user had to get closer and was in more danger of being seen. However, it was much smaller than rocket weapons and produced no sound, smoke, or light when launched, and therefore did not betray the thrower's position. Despite its limitations, it was cheap and quick to manufacture, allowing it to become the main Soviet infantry anti-tank weapon of World War II.
Overall the RPG-43 was an awkward and difficult weapon to use effectively. To use it, the user had to get within throwing range of an enemy tank, which was often dangerous. Despite having a powerful warhead, it took a skilled user to make the most of it as, like all shaped-charge weapons, it was effective only if the striking angle was close to 90 degrees. It also had to hit hard enough to detonate the impact fuse, or it would bounce harmlessly off the tank.

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A satchel charge is a demolition device, primarily intended for combat, whose primary components are a charge of dynamite or a more potent explosive such as C-4 plastic explosive, a carrying device functionally similar to a satchel or messenger bag, and a triggering mechanism; the term covers both improvised and formally designed devices.
Partisans and insurgents who had the backing of official governments used sabotage extensively. Since many times the saboteurs melted into the general populace, the enemy could only speculate as to who they were. To help alleviate the possibility of reprisal, the saboteurs ensured the act of sabotage occurred away from civilian concentrations. This was done by either going to remote areas to commit the sabotage or by using time delays on their explosive/incendiary devices, thus allowing the target to travel away from the civilian concentrations before being destroyed.
The ability to acquire material for sabotage had an impact on a force's reliance on using sabotage. Procuring supplies for sabotage, was done in the following ways: purchase, theft, manufacturing, collections from the populace, parachute drops and previous wartime equipment. People went to the legal market to obtain material from which sabotage material could be derived. Obviously, raids on factories, warehouses, convoys, or depots yielded a vast amount of material. One of the most common means of obtaining sabotage equipment was that of manufacturing it yourself. Grenades, incendiaries, explosives, and mines were but a few of the types of equipment produced by saboteurs or their supporters. The Poles' ingenuity in using basic resources to make sabotage weaponry illustrated the ease of making sabotage instruments. Parachute drops were often used to supply saboteurs into World War II, such as in Yugoslavia. A final source of material for sabotage was wartime equipment stored from previous conflicts. Again, the Yugoslavians provided an example of this when they took the arsenal left by the Italians after Italy fell.
The guerrilla forces often received help from outside governments in the form of trained advisors, instruction and supplies. Having lived in the area of operation all their lives they were intimately familiar with the surroundings, giving them an in-depth knowledge of the best places to commit sabotage. Enemy agents were trained in sabotage and committed sabotage as well. However, they seemed to be mainly used for the establishment, training, and governing of organized underground or guerrilla network. These forces were the ones who in turn committed the actual acts of sabotage. NKVD agents in World War II built up an extremely extensive network of Soviet partisan forces whose sabotage wreaked havoc with the Germans.

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Bicycle infantry are infantry soldiers who maneuver on battlefields using military bicycles. Historically, bicycles lessened the need for horses, fuel and vehicle maintenance. Troops on bikes were able to move through rough territory faster, and could outpace a motor column. Some bikes have racks, some ammunition boxes.
The Resistance in France, and elsewhere, depended upon bicycles to move radios, arms and more. Two of the biggest problems for the resistance fighters were transportation and food, which was also was a problem for the French people in general. Food was rationed and the Germans had confiscated most of the cars. The British supplied weapons and money, but there were no food drops into France. The places where food was available, mainly in rural areas, became thriving black market centers. The Maquis traveled mostly by bicycle, although some had managed to hide a few old cars. Gasoline was not available for most French civilians; only doctors and others who needed to use a car were allowed gasoline.
The Finnish Army alternated between skis and bicycles in their successful, asymmetric war with the Red Army. Air crews on all sides relied upon bicycles to move across vast, flat airfields. Seven-time Giro King of the Mountains Gino Bartali, in his racing kit, aided the Italian Resistance by delivering messages under the pretense that he was on training rides. Chinese partisans used bicycles to make hit and run attacks on Japanese convoys.
The Danish population would prove itself adamantly anti-Nazi, as all over Copenhagen groups of resistance members and ordinary civilians worked to smuggle nearly the whole Jewish population out of Denmark to safety in Sweden. One of the many resistance cells involved was a small student group, of which a young Jargen Kieler was a member. In his memoir he tells the story of his group's swift work to round up and move out the Jews. Moving immediately, with the limited money they had accumulated, the group arranged transport with multiple fishing vessels at the docks. Then they worked to coordinate the movement of Jews in the downtown neighborhoods, using taxis and bicycles to move them to the harbor areas without notice. At the docks they would pay the shipowners and get the Jewish passengers hidden aboard. Out at sea, sometimes the fishing boats actually had to stop and do a little fishing to convince any German patrol boats that nothing unusual was happening. When out of view of the German patrols, they steamed for Swedish harbors.
Spies did have some cool gadgets that helped them with their jobs. Many of these gadgets were used to hide secret messages including hollowed out corks, fake fence spikes, and plaster logs to hide messages. Some spies had bicycle battery chargers they would use to power their radio sets.

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Partisans from all countries used a variety of trucks to transport supplies and fighting units through the areas they occupied. The origin of the trucks used by the partisans was very varied. Some trucks belonged to the Axis occupation forces that, were once captured and repaired, if necessary, were left under the control of partisans. Others were requisitioned from the civilian population, and others were directly stolen.
First they needed to identify a location that allowed the Resistance fighters to hide and ideally fire down on the German columns, and as importantly, a location that would allow them to escape after a minute or so of rapid firing. They instructed their men when ambushing a column to let the leading motorcyclists pass and then fire a bazooka round into the leading vehicle to block the road. Then hidden in the woods along the road as many as a couple of hundred maquis would empty their Sten guns and rifles into the column of trucks, aiming first for the driver and the officers. And as the troops piled out of the trucks, the Maquis would empty their second magazine, and kill as many as possible knowing that careful aiming was less important than laying down a volume of fire. Then in a matter of mere minutes the officers would signal a retreat and the maquisards would disappear into the woods and head for the designated rendezvous. The selection of the ambush site obviously contributed to it its success. Even the most hardened SS soldier would think twice about going into the forest where the maquis may be lying in wait.
It was a common tactic that the Resistance fighters were then introduced on the airdrop site in order to report the location to aircraft and prepare the transport of weapons, with mules and trucks, but also around to block access to the Germans. SAS officers and agents used to be dropped into safe areas dominated by partisans. Many of the resistance actions occurred around the little villages up in the hills, and they got organized up there with the partisans and, all together, were coming down from the hills by trucks, any vehicle possible, into the suburbs of the villages. Some SAS members would lay on the top of the hill giving covering fire for these partisans to attack the town.