Western European countries

            Now let us move on to the states located in Western Europe, Italy and France. These countries were liberated by forces of the Allies with the cooperation of local resistance groups.

Italy

Historical review

            The Kingdom of Italy was the first country in the world where fascism received official status (in 1922), when the leader and founder of the fascist party, B. Mussolini, became the prime minister (fascism must not be confused with German National Socialism). Italy had been a Germany ally since 1937, and its troops fought alongside the Germans in North Africa and the USSR.

            The excessive military hardships led to a deep economic and political crisis, which caused the arrest of B. Mussolini. To conclude a separate peace with Great Britain and the United States was the goal of King Victor Emmanuel and the new head of government, Marshal P. Badoglio.

The Allied forces landed in southern Italy and began advancing towards Rome in early September 1943. A. Hitler responded by occupying of the north of the country, including the capital. From that moment on, the guerrilla struggle began in Italy. — check Documents 1-2.

The Italian Communist Party was the most active one. It formed the Garibaldi Brigades (named after G. Garibaldi (1807-1882), who fought for the united Italy) and created the National Liberation Committee^[1] (NLC). It was possible to achieve by June 1944 the uniting of guerrilla forces of various political orientations into the Volunteers of Freedom Corps^[2] (90 thousand people). The number of guerrillas had grown to 200 thousand people by the end of the year.

A national uprising took place in the north of the country in the spring of 1945, due to the successes of the Allied forces in Europe. During the revolt Bologna, Genoa, Milan, and Turin were liberated. Detachments of Yugoslav guerrillas also took part in the liberation of northwestern Italy.

Kaluga citizens as the participants of the Resistance Movement in Italy

            Contingents of Soviet prisoners of war had been sent to camps in Northern Italy by the Nazi administration since the autumn of 1943. Many of the prisoners escaped from the labour camps and joined the Garibaldi Brigades. The total number of Soviet citizens who fought alongside the Italian guerrillas reached 5 thousand people.

* * *

            The life story of Taras Ivanovich Bobrov, a native of the Altai Krai, who settled in the Kaluga Region after the war, is unusual. Being wounded, he was captured back in September 1941, and had been surviving in Nazi camps for two years. He almost immediately escaped after being transported to a camp in Italy. He wandered through northern Italy for 26 days searching for guerrillas and joined a detachment commanded by Italian officer Arancio Sante. Natives of the Kaluga region Kuzmin I., Kuzmin M., Kuzmin S., Savelyev E., Tikhonov A. served with him there, in the Russian troop. The detachment fought against both the German occupiers and the Italian fascists until June 1944. The soldiers blew up road bridges, seized weapons depots, attacked carabineers’ barracks and fascist institutions. It happened that they fell into German ambushes. They withstood the punitive expedition of the invaders. Bobrov T. was appointed a "full-time squad photographer" when the German Leica camera was captured as a trophy. He captured both serious and funny scenes from the life of the guerrillas. — check Documents 3-12.

Bobrov T.I. wrote a lot of memoirs about his stay in the guerrilla detachment. Here is his description of the fight in the town of Manciano:

«It was reported from Manciano that the fascists were driving people to cut down bushes near roadways (needed a better overview). Italian fascists arrived in the town [of Manciano] from Grosseto, led by Captain Cattoni. There were up to two troops of them. We set off for Manciano for the night, in order to defeat the district [committee] of the fascists, to frighten the newcomers and [those] carabineers who supported the fascists. We reached the town at about 10 o'clock. There were 28 of us. The password was «Ventiotto»^[3]. We blocked the street. On the one side there were the Russians with a Romanian machine gun, on the other one there were the Italians, also with a machine gun. Ivan was in one of the groups, 5 people were with him. [They were] nearby the [fascists'] administration.

Ivan's group's attempt to enter the building without firing a shot failed. The fascists informed the carabineers by phone about the danger. They did not hesitate to send a troop from there. They appeared on the street from the Russian side. After our first shots, someone [of them] fell in the dark, rattling on the pavement with their weapons. The rest disappeared turning the street, having received a burst of machine-gun fire after them, which fell on the corner of the house (as we saw later). A firefight broke out near the building (the Ivan's group was shooting). We ran there. Ours were beating through the door of the first floor. The windows were thrown open on the second floor, the sound of broken glass and pistol shots were heard in the darkness. We were shooting at the windows. In response, they threw grenades on the street. The explosions were deafening and blinding. We hid behind the building. The explosion was very close then. I was knocked off my feet and my arm was thrown up, I barely held the carbine. I figured out that I’d got my arm hurt: when I was crawling and leaning [on it], the arm didn't work. Later, I informed my troop that I was wounded.

We all moved away towards the Italians on the street. There was a firefight there too. I was already running with everyone. We shouted the password. But then, a machine gun was firing along the street. We fell, crouched down in a ditch. In the middle [of the street], a man was writhing and crying for help. We couldn't see anything in the dark. The guys already reached the group of Italians in short runs. The firefight ended. I ran to the wounded man: it was Martino, shot in the stomach. Comrades were running towards us. Soon [we were] already walking from the [central] street to the outskirts of the town. We carried Martino: he was no longer suffering, but falling asleep. Sylvester bandaged him and me outside the town. Ivan ordered me, together with Mishka and Shurka, to go to our dugouts. The others carried Martino, then they took him on a cart pulled by oxen, which they begged for this occasion from the locals.

Martino died in the morning in a local’s padere^[4], where he was placed under the supervision of Dr. Sylvester. He was brought to the hill already in a coffin with a cross on the lid. He was buried on the highest point of the hill. Many locals [and townspeople] from Manciano came to the funeral. There was also a priest^[5]. [The Italians] sang church psalms over the coffin, and the Russians sang the Internationale, then three volleys [were fired] into the air.»

* * *

Vladimir Semenovich Bukhteyev and Nikolay Sergeevich Uksusov fought in the same unit for over a year and a half. The unit was called the 1st Battalion, 5th Garibaldi Brigade "L. Nuvolone", 2nd Division "F. Cascione" and operated in Liguria and Piedmont, the regions of northern Italy. The unit liberated the city of San Remo. Kaluga residents participated in battles against the German occupiers, blew up bridges on mountain roads, attacked small convoys of Nazis. — check Documents 13-18.

Uksusov N.S. did not leave any memoirs, but here is what V.S. Bukhteyev told about one of the battles:

«On December 2, 1943, we went on a mission to the central military road to assassinate or capture the general of the 34th German infantry division. As intelligence reported to us, at 4 p. m. a car with high-ranking military commanders under heavy guard was supposed to pass. I had to participate in this operation. We sat in ambush and waited for them to pass. But we couldn’t complete this mission. There were four of us Russians (Bogatov, Bukhteyev, Uksusov and Mamoshkin), and the rest were 8 Italians, a total of 12 people, and they all were local residents.

My task was to be in ambush on a very sharp turn in the road and to capture the general when this car was being fired upon. I was 10 meters from the road and waited for our guerrillas to fire. But when they saw that the car was being escorted by a large guard — a German military unit was moving to another location along with the general — they did not open fire and go into an unequal fight. But I was deadlocked. There was nothing left to do but fire a burst of machine gun fire and cause panic among the Germans. I threw 2 grenades at the 2nd squad of fascists. There were 4 people killed and 7 people seriously wounded. And I was lucky enough to escape from the hands of the fascists. On the second day, I found my unit. We drank grape wine for my courage and feat, since my comrades considered me dead.»

* * *

In Tuscany, not far from V.S. Bukhteev and N.S. Uksusov, Smolensk resident Alexander Ivanovich Timokhin fought in a guerrilla unit (after the war he would move to the Kaluga region). He had the chance to participate in the liberation of Florence.

«When our command decided to liberate Florence, the entire brigade was pulled closer to the city. Florence was visible through binoculars. The Americans were close. By the way, some of our Soviet people defected to the Americans, hoping that they would send them home faster. But I, the Mukhin brothers, Oragulidze and his comrade Sergo from Armenia remained in the unit. Some others also remained.

The Italians conducted reconnaissance before the assault. They found weak spots in the Nazi defense. Then we broke through the German defense near Florence and joined up with American units. This was in a village across the Arno River. We stopped near the school building. The Americans conducted artillery preparation for three days. The Italians were very worried, as they felt sorry for the city, which was very beautiful. In general, the Americans fought slowly. The Italians and we were eager to fight, but the Americans kept dragging out.

We reached the river on the fourth day after artillery preparation. The Americans went along the outskirts. They wanted to blockade the city so that the Germans would die of hunger there. But Italian civilians would have died along with them. The Americans did not want to storm the city head-on, because they did not want to suffer losses

Then the guerrillas decided to storm the city. We told the Americans about it. They, in response, suggested that we surrender our weapons. The guerrillas refused. We decided to begin the assault on our own. As soon as we crossed the river, an uprising began in Florence. It turned out that the communists had supplied the civilians with weapons. Residents came out of their houses and helped us. They showed us where the fascists were, where their warehouses were, where the equipment was, they led us through the passageways. They were especially helpful to us when crossing the Arno, because the bridges had been destroyed during the artillery preparation.

When the city was cleared, we were taken to the headquarters of the guerrilla brigade. It was in the school building. They started writing out documents for us. They gave each of us 500 lire. We lived in Florence for a whole month in a dormitory. We were dressed in American uniforms. Yegorov tried to persuade us not to give in to American propaganda. The Americans offered everyone to go to America and promised good conditions. None of us agreed. Everyone wanted to get to the Motherland as soon as possible.»

Timokhin A.I. was taken home via Alexandria and Iran. At the border, in Derbent, according to his memories: «As soon as they saw our border guards, they rushed to hug them, kiss them and, for some reason, cry.» — check Documents 36-37.

France

Historical review

France, together with Great Britain, declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, in response to its invasion of Poland. After a long lull on the Western Front, Germany launched its offensive on May 10, 1940, and by June 22, France had capitulated. The country was divided in two: the occupied northern and western regions were governed by German administration, while the southern part came under the so-called «Vichy regime», led by the collaborationist government of Marshal Philippe Pétain. — check Document 22. 

The French Resistance began forming immediately after the occupation. It had two main branches: the external Resistance, led by General Charles de Gaulle, who had fled to Britain, and the internal Resistance, organized by leaders of pre-war political parties, each forming their own underground groups. By 1940, six major resistance networks had emerged in the north and four in the south, along with numerous smaller independent groups across the country. Until 1943, their primary activities included distributing leaflets, organizing demonstrations, sabotage, and armed attacks.

Resistance efforts intensified after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. From Britain, de Gaulle began forming the «Free French Forces» (later renamed «Fighting France») while establishing ties with the internal Resistance. By spring 1942, his envoys had succeeded in uniting various resistance factions in both northern and southern France. — check Document 23.  

Armed resistance against the occupiers and collaborators began in autumn 1942, when guerrilla units known as the «Maquis» formed in southern France. These groups consisted largely of young Frenchmen evading forced labour conscription to German factories. 

By spring 1944, all Resistance units — now collectively called the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) — were placed under the Military Action Committee. Preparations for a nationwide armed uprising began in every French department. — check Document 24.  

After the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, FFI forces rose up in support as the Allies advanced. While the FFI had around 100,000 fighters in June 1944, their numbers swelled to half a million by year’s end. Many regions were liberated by the FFI, culminating in the armed uprising in Paris in August 1944. By mid-September, nearly all of France had been freed, and the FFI units were either disbanded or absorbed into the regular army. 

Kaluga citizens as the participants of the Resistance Movement in France

The Resistance movement included both Russian emigration (numbering up to 400,000 in France) and Soviet prisoners of war who had escaped labour camps (estimates range from 15,000 to 40,000). In December 1943, escaped Soviet officers in Paris formed the Central Committee of Soviet Prisoners of War, which, with FFI support, organized over 20 guerrilla detachments and two separate battalions composed mainly of Soviet citizens, primarily operating in the northeast of France.

* * *

An extraordinary chapter in the history of the French Resistance is the story of the Vesnin family — Boris Mikhailovich and his son Yuri. Their lives were so remarkable that they merit a detailed account.

Boris Mikhailovich Vesnin was born in 1899 into a military family. After graduating from a gymnasium, he volunteered for the German front in 1916, was decorated for bravery, and received the rank of ensign. In 1918, he served in General Anton Denikin’s army. A year later, he emigrated and lived in Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, working various jobs as a dockworker, miner, and sailor.

In 1923, he moved to Marseille, France, and married Irina Orlova in 1925. That same year, the couple settled in Paris, where Boris studied at the Higher School of Agriculture. Upon graduating in 1929, he began working in the capital. However, due to the economic crisis and widespread unemployment, the family relocated back to southern France in 1935 in search of work. By 1940, amid the Second World War, the Vesnins had rented a small farm. That same year, Boris Mikhailovich made contact with local communists and joined the Resistance movement. From 1942, he served as commander of a unit within the “Maquis Bertrand” group. He later described the operations of his detachment:

«I was ordered to gather men and send them into the maquis. Some were to stay with me for sabotage missions and intelligence gathering. I assembled a small mobile unit of 14-15 men. My son Yuri — he was just a boy back then — was an enormous help as a courier. As a child, he could move about unnoticed and often delivered valuable intelligence.

What did our group do? First, reconnaissance; second, transporting people to the maquis. Our farm served as a transit point. A stream called Rieucoulon ran nearby, flanked by dense shrubs — ideal for hiding and crossing to the farm. Many passed through — Czechs, Poles, Russians. About 120 Russians went through us and joined the maquis. Local farmers supported us in every way — they even housed our people as agricultural workers.

I leased the farm from a man named Monsieur Roux, who sympathized with our cause. Once, while checking his barn, he found two men hiding. He pretended not to notice, shut the door, and left.

Our unit kept watch over key roads — Rue de Ganges, Lodève — and the railway line from Montpellier to Sète. We carried out small-scale sabotage: dismantled tracks, blew them up, attacked German supply depots and patrols. I personally took part in these actions. I received orders and reported our activities to leaders of the Maquis Bertrand and communist contacts in Montpellier — people like Adolf Hacker, Costa Greco, and other comrades whose real names I never knew.

In 1943, I was forced to leave the farm and could only visit my family occasionally.»

Boris’s son, Yuri Vesnin (b. 1931), was also a full-fledged member of the detachment and remained active until January 1945.

From late August 1944, Boris Vesnin’s group, operating within the Maquis Bertrand, took part in the liberation of several towns in southern France, including Béziers, Sète, Frontignan, and Montpellier. They also contributed to the liberation of Marseille.

After the southern region was freed, the unit was incorporated into the 81st Infantry Regiment of the regular French army, which then fought in northeastern France. Boris Vesnin, by then a second lieutenant, was awarded a French military decoration for his service.

In 1945, he joined the Union of Russian Patriots and helped repatriate Soviet citizens.

In 1946, the Vesnin family received Soviet citizenship and returned home in 1947. — check Documents 25-30.

* * *

Natives of the Kaluga region, Yakov Fomich Yeremin and Pyotr Andreyevich Nasonov, fought in Ukraine at the onset of the Great Patriotic War. Both were captured by German forces in July 1941 and later sent to labour camps in Germany and France. Nasonov learned French during his captivity. In 1944, the two escaped and joined the same Resistance group — the Groupe de Lorette, which operated near Bordeaux. They took part in sabotage missions, destroying railway lines, liberating small towns and eventually Bordeaux itself. Nasonov was part of a six-man unit that pulled off a daring mission right under the nose of the German garrison—kidnapping the commandant of the town of Marmande. In April 1945, the group was repatriated via ship from Marseille. — check Documents 31-35.

Here is an excerpt from Yeremin’s memoir about his escape and entry into the Resistance:

«… They brought us to Bordeaux.

It’s a large port city, but security was tight because there were many communists in France — Spaniards, Poles, Italians. As we started working, locals would often approach and ask where we were from and how we got there. The Germans kept us under close watch and didn’t allow us to speak with civilians. But the French helped us: gave us bread ration cards, money—francs. That’s when I realized these people were like us. I began studying French and preparing to escape. I got hold of a bilingual French-Russian book.

The German guards often threatened me, saying: “If you keep talking to the French, you’ll be shot as an agitator.” But I wasn’t about to wait for that. I conspired with a comrade from Leningrad, former senior lieutenant Vasily Filippov. One Sunday, the Germans asked for volunteers to pick grass for rabbits. We seized the opportunity. As the guard was distracted, we ran and found shelter in a French home owned by a woman with four children — her husband had died fighting the Germans. We asked to stay and begged her to help us reach the Resistance.

She took us to a damaged house where four other Russians were hiding. That lifted our spirits. She contacted the underground Spanish Communist Party^[6], and on the third day, two Spaniards arrived. They promised us civilian clothes and a route to the guerrillas. They warned us the Germans had destroyed one of the units, so they gave us forged papers and instructions on where to work. My underground identity was “Pierre Saki”.

We worked for a farmer, mowing and storing hay. One night, around 2 a.m., the Spaniards returned with a Pole and told us: “Tonight, we’re forming a new group. You’re going into the field.”»

And here is an excerpt from P.A. Nasonov’s account of the group's combat operations:

«All three units took part in the liberation of Langon. It’s not a big town — maybe the size of Kaluga or a bit smaller. We attacked from the east. During the battle, we lost Stepan Kotsura, our machine gunner. Langon was liberated around August 1944. It was hot. The operation lasted three or four days. We were all armed — I had a submachine gun, a pistol, and grenades. We were ordered to begin the assault at a set hour. We approached in daylight and fought for three days. The fighting started on the outskirts. We tightened the ring around the Germans, going house by house. The French comrades were a great help, guiding us through the streets. We took fire from the church in the centre of town — they used mortars. Once we encircled the church, the Germans began retreating south, and we took the town.

Marmande is a small town. When the Germans occupied it, we were tasked with capturing the commandant — he was French but sided with the Nazis. There were six of us: two Frenchmen and four Russians, including myself and Presnov. A courier arrived on a motorcycle, gave us intel on the commandant’s whereabouts. We went in a civilian car, all armed. No one suspected us — we wore plain clothes. Two French comrades immediately went upstairs to the second floor, where the commandant was. We surrounded the building, ready to give the signal or return fire. The commandant was quickly seized and gagged. Our car was already in position…»

* * *

The fate of Nikolai Ivanovich Sazonov was unusual. — check Document 36. — A simple young man who worked as a bookkeeper on a collective farm before the war, he showed courage and endurance fighting at the front, during captivity, and in the guerrilla struggle. — On the eve of the war, he was drafted into the Red Army. He served in a light artillery regiment of the 157th Rifle Division and fought in Crimea. In January 1942, he was wounded and taken prisoner. Until the summer of 1944, he was held in labour camps on German territory. During the transportation of a group of prisoners of war to France, he escaped by jumping from the window of a moving train.

Here is what he recalls about his time in the camps and his escape:

«… we were soon taken to Germany. And that’s when it all began! — We were immediately brought to the Dachau camp. That’s where the first torture began: we were interrogated, beaten for three days straight, and not given any food. — But after 2–3 months, a recruiter [for labour at German enterprises] arrived. I ended up at a small factory in the village of Kuchen. There, I welded spouts to some pots using carbide, but I didn’t stay there long. — [One day] after work, everyone went to wash up, including me, but I lingered a bit [in the washroom], and the line was already formed waiting for me. Suddenly, the foreman burst into the washroom — I was drying my face — he hit me in the face, and I, instinctively, hit him back. — I was immediately dragged to the chief, beaten half to death, and sent to the Mündingen concentration camp the next day.

I was there for about three months as well. A recruiter, Oberleutnant Schumacher, came to the camp and selected 20 people — I was among them. He brought us to the Black Forest, the Schwarzwald, to the Black Lake (Schwarzsee). — They had an anti-aircraft battery near the Swiss border. — We were housed in two tents, 10 people in each, right in a clearing. Mountains all around. We actually thought they were going to train us in military skills. But that didn’t happen: we built Finnish-style barracks made from panels, unloaded coal, and did all kinds of other [domestic] work.

There was one incident. — Semyon Solomatin stole a loaf of bread, and the [Germans] found out. We were lined up under the command of the Oberleutnant and three sergeants, and they started drilling us: “Down! Up!” — I couldn’t take it and lay down. A German sergeant ran over to me and started beating me. Then he ordered an NCO to drill me alone on the field for about an hour, making me drop and rise every meter. He exhausted me so badly I lost consciousness. I came to in a bunker, don’t know how much later, lying on the cement floor and bleeding. [They] gave me no food or water for three days, then released me.

Soon we saw that our Germans were preparing to leave. The guard who watched over us said: “We’re going to the front.” — Well, thank God, I thought. But where: to Russia or to France? — We had no idea. — Within 2–3 days, we were loaded onto a train. They gave us a cattle car. Two guards came with us: one in the middle of the car, the other on the platform. At night, the guard from our car went to his own compartment. The upper window [of the car] wasn’t covered with wire. I noticed all this and started proposing an escape plan to my close comrades. Not everyone agreed with my idea. But we had to act decisively, because those who didn’t want to escape could betray us [to the Germans]. — As soon as it got dark, and feeling we had already passed beyond Germany, we started jumping out of the window. When 9 people had jumped, I came up to the window and asked: “Anyone else, guys? Let’s go!” — The rest were silent. So I jumped, too. — The escape was successful: not a single shot was fired.»

Sazonov N.I. joined the “Maquis” guerrilla unit named after Eugène Mogué, which operated in the northeast of France, near the city of Saint-Dizier, where he fought from June to September 1944. — check Document 37-38.

He possessed exceptional organizational abilities. — After the liberation of France, N.I. Sazonov served as the head of security for camps housing liberated Soviet citizens. After the war, he was transferred to Germany, where he served with the rank of lieutenant until his demobilization.

A poignant scene occurred when he returned home after demobilization: «At home, I found my father and mother ill. — When I entered the scorched, damp little hut and greeted them, they didn’t recognize me at all! [When] I started calling them “Papa, Mama”, — my father pulled out two notices: one said “missing in action”, and the other said “buried on height 66.9”. — “Here’s where our Nikolai is, son — and this is no time for jokes!”

Then I couldn’t hold back and cried. We sat with my father for 2–3 hours, and he kept saying: “Still, son, I can’t believe it’s really you.”»