Military Studies and History

Abstract

The Partisan War in North-West Russia 1941-44: A Re-Examiniation delineates the extent to which the limited achievements of the Soviet partisan movement in north-west Russia during the first months of the Great Patriotic War can be attributed to inadequacies in the organization, leadership, equipment, and training of the movement.   While this is the position emphasized in Soviet and post-Soveity Russian published works, Alexander hill concludes, on the basis of Soviet archival sources, that although these factors were important, German occupation policies far more effectively inhibited partisan activity in the area than exisiting published material would have us believe.  These policies seem only to be have been effective, however, in the context of the German military successes (or rather, perceived successes) at the front.

The real and perceived threats posed by pastoral nomadic peoples to the security of sedentary societies and states are well known.  Civilized states could, however, sometimes choose from a repertoire of diplomatic, tactical, and strategic measures and cautions in response to present or imminent nomadic onslaughts.  Nomadic Power, Sedentary Security