Resistance during World War II

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Soviet partisan fighters behind German front lines in White Russia, 1943.

Resistance during World War II occurred in every occupied country, including Denmark, by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. Resistance movements are sometimes also referred to as "the underground".

Among the most notable resistance movements were the Polish Home Army, the Yugoslav Partisans (largest resistance movement of the WWII), the Soviet partisans, the French Maquis, the Italian CLN, the Greek Resistance and the Norwegian Milorg.

Many countries had resistance movements dedicated to fighting the Axis invaders, and Germany itself also had an anti-Nazi movement. Although mainland Britain did not suffer invasion in World War II, the British made preparations for a British resistance movement, called the Auxiliary Units, in the event of a German invasion. Various organisations were also formed to establish foreign resistance cells or support existing resistance movements, like the British SOE and the American OSS (the forerunner of the CIA).

There were also resistance movements fighting against the Allied invaders. In Italian East Africa, after the Italian forces were defeated during the East African Campaign, some Italians participated in a guerrilla war against the British (1941 to 1943). The German Nazi resistance movement ("Werwolf") never amounted to much. On the other hand, the "Forest Brothers" of the Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and Polish cursed soldiers included many fighters who fought for the Nazis and operated against the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States into the 1960s. The Forest Brothers were primarily nationalists and, while they were clearly "anti-Soviet," there is little to indicate that they were pro-Nazi. During or after the war, similar "anti-Soviet" resistance rose up in places like Romania, Poland, and the Ukraine. While the Japanese were famous for "fighting to the last man," Japanese holdouts tended to be individually motivated and there is little indication that there was any organized Japanese resistance after the war.

[edit] Organization

Members of the Dutch Eindhoven Resistance with troops of the US 101st Airborne Division in front of Eindhoven cathedral during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.

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 (working for the Germans). Organisation 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 partisans in Eastern Europe. But also in the much more densely populated Netherlands, the Biesbosch wilderness could be used to go into hiding. There were many different types of 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, the "capital of the European resistance" and Moscow (helping the communist partisans).

[edit] Forms of resistance

Various forms of resistance were:

• Sabotage – the Arbeitseinsatz ("Work Contribution") forced locals to work for the Germans, but work was often done slowly or intentionally badly
• Strikes and demonstrations
• Based on existing organizations, such as the churches, students, communists and doctors (professional resistance)

Polish insurgent at a Warsaw Uprising barricade, 1944.

Members of the French resistance group Maquis in La Tresorerie, 14 September 1944, Boulogne, France.

• Armed
  • 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
  • temporary liberation of areas, such as in Yugoslavia and Northern Italy, occasionally in cooperation with the Allied forces
  • uprisings such as in Warsaw in 1943 and 1944
  • continuing battle and guerrilla warfare, such as the partisans in the USSR and Yugoslavia and the Maquis in France
• Espionage, including sending reports of military importance (e.g. troop movements, weather reports etc.)
• Illegal press to counter the Nazi propaganda
• Political resistance to prepare for the reorganization after the war. For instance, the Dutch resistance took part in forming the new government in the Netherlands after the war.
• Helping people to go into hiding (e.g. to escape the Arbeitseinsatz or deportation) – this was one of the main activities in the Netherlands, due to the large number of Jews and the high level of administration, which made it easy for the Germans to identify Jews
• Helping military people caught behind lines get back
• Helping POW with illegal supplies, breakouts, communication,...
• Forgery of documents

[edit] Famous resistance operations

[edit] 1941

In February of 1941, the Dutch Communist Party organized a general strike in Amsterdam and surrounding cities, known as the February strike, in protest against anti-Jewish measures by the Nazi occupying force and violence by fascist street fighters against Jews. Several hundreds of thousands of people participated in the strike. The strike was put down by the Nazis and some participants were executed.

This first World War Two armed resistance unit in occupied Europe was formed on June 22, 1941 (the start-date of Operation Barbarossa) in the Brezovica forest near Sisak, Croatia by the Yugoslav partisans. This launched the largest, and arguably the most successful resistance movement in Europe, as well as marking the beginning of the Yugoslav People's Liberation War.

On 13 July 1941 in Italian-occupied Montenegro Montenegrin separatist Sekula Drljević proclaimed an Independent State of Montenegro under Italian protectorate, upon which a nation-wide rebellion escalated raised by Partisans, Yugoslav Royal officers and various other armed personnel. In quick time most of Montenegro was liberated, but on 12 August 1941 after a major Italian offensive the uprising collapsed as units were disintegrating, poor leadership occurred as well as collaboration.

Operation Anthropoid was a resistance move during the WWII to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi “Protector of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” and the chief of Nazi's final solution, by the Czech resistance in Prague. Over fifteen thousand Czechs were killed in reprisals, with the most infamous incidents being the complete destruction of the towns of Lidice and Ležáky.

[edit] 1942

On 25 November 1942, Greek guerrillas with the help of twelve British saboteurs carried out a successful operation which disrupted the German ammunition transportation to the German Africa Corps under Rommel – the destruction of Gorgopotamos bridge (Operation Harling).

[edit] 1943

In early January 1943, the 20,000 strong main force of the Yugoslav Partisans, stationed in western Bosnia, came under ferocious attack by over 150,000 German and Axis troops, supported by circa 200 Luftwaffe aircraft in what became known as the Battle of Neretva (the German codename was "Fall Weiss" or "Case White"). The Axis rallied eleven divisions, six German, three Italian, and two divisions of the so-called Independent State of Croatia (supported by Ustaše formations) as well as a number of Chetnik brigades. The goal was to destroy the Partisan HQ and main field hospital (all Partisan wounded and prisoners faced certain execution), but this was thwarted by the clever escape across the Neretva river, planned executed by the Partisan high command led by Marshall Josip Broz Tito. The main Partisan force escaped into Serbia where it immediately took the offensive and succeeded in eliminating the Chetnik movement as a fighting force.

On April 19, 1943 three members of the Belgian resistance movement were able to stop the Twentieth convoy, which was the 20th prisoner transport in Belgium organised by the Germans during World War II. The exceptional action by members of the Belgian resistance occurred to free Jewish and gypsy civilians who were being transported by train from the Dossin army base located in Mechelen, Belgium to the concentration camp Auschwitz. The XXth train convoy transported 1,631 Jews (men, women and children). Some of the prisoners were able to escape and marked this kind of liberation action from the Belgian resistance movement unique in the European history of the Holocaust. In October the rescue of the Danish Jews meant that nearly all of the Danish Jews were saved from KZ camps by the Danish resistance. This action is considered one of the bravest and most significant displays of public defiance against the Nazis.

The Battle of Sutjeska from 15 May to 16 June 1943 was a joint attack of the Axis forces that once again attempted to destroy the main Yugoslav Partisan force, near the Sutjeska river in southeastern Bosnia. The Axis rallied 127,000 troops for the offensive, including German, Italian, NDH, Bulgarian and Cossack units, as well as over 300 airplanes (under German operational command), against 18,000 soldiers of the primary Yugoslav Partisans operational group organised in 16 brigades.
Facing almost exclusively German troops in the final encirclement, the Yugoslav Partisans finally succeeded in breaking out across the Sutjeska river through the lines of the German 118th Jäger Division, 104th Jäger Division and 369th (Croatian) Infantry Division in the northwestern direction, towards eastern Bosnia. Three brigades and the central hospital with over 2,000 wounded remained surrounded and, following Hitler's instructions, German commander-in-chief General Alexander Löhr ordered and carried out their annihilation, including the wounded and unarmed medical personnel. In addition, Partisan troops suffered from severe lack of food and medical supplies, and many were struck down by typhoid. However, the failure of the offensive marked a turning point for Yugoslavia during World War II.

[edit] 1944

The Vemork hydroelectric plant in Norway, site of the heavy water production, and a part of the German nuclear program, sabotaged by Norwegians between 1942 and 1944

During April and May 1944, the Axis launched the daring Raid on Drvar aimed at capturing Marshall Josip Broz Tito, the commander-in-chief of the Yugoslav Partisans as well as disrupting their leadership. The Partisan headquarters were in the hills near Drvar, Bosnia at the time. The representatives of the Allies, Britain's Randolph Churchill and Evelyn Waugh, were also present.

German SS and paratrooper units fought their way to Tito's cave and exchanged heavy gunfire resulting in numerous casualties on both sides. Interestingly, Chetnik fighters under Draža Mihailović also flocked to the firefight in their own attempt to capture Tito. By the time German forces had penetrated to the cave, however, Tito had already fled the scene and escaped. Actually, Tito had a train waiting for him that took him to the town of Jajce. It would appear that Tito and his staff were well prepared for emergencies. The commandos were only able to retrieve Tito’s marshal uniform, which was later displayed in Vienna. After fierce fighting in and around the village cemetery, the Germans were able to link up with mountain troops. By that time, Tito, his British guests and partisan survivors were fêted aboard the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Blackmore and her captain Lt. Carson, RN.

An intricate series of resistance operations were launched in France prior to, and during, Operation Overlord. On June 5 1944, the BBC broadcasted a group of unusual sentences, which the Germans knew were code words – possibly for the invasion of Normandy. The BBC would regularly transmit hundreds of personal messages, of which only a few were really significant. A few days before D-Day, the commanding officers of the Resistance heard the first line of Verlaine's poem , "Chanson d'automne", "Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne" (Long sobs of autumn violins) which meant that the "day" was imminent. When the second line "Blessent mon cœur d'une langueur monotone" (wound my heart with a monotonous langour) was heard, the Resistance knew that the invasion would take place within the next 48 hours. They then knew it was time to go about their respective pre-assigned missions. All over France resistance groups had been coordinated, and various groups throughout the country increased their sabotage. Communications were cut, trains derailed, roads, water towers and ammunition depots destroyed and German garrisons were attacked. Some relayed info about German defensive positions on the beaches of Normandy to American and British commanders by radio, just prior to 6 June. Victory did not come easily; in June and July, in the Vercors plateau a newly reinforced maquis group fought more than 10,000 German soldiers (no Waffen-SS) under General Karl Pflaum and was defeated, with 840 casualties (639 fighters and 201 civilians). Following Tulle Murders, Major Otto Diekmann's Waffen-SS company wiped out the village of Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10. The resistance also assisted the later Allied invasion in the south of France (Operation Dragoon). They started insurrections in cities as Paris when allied forces came close

Operation Tempest launched in Poland in 1944 would lead to several major actions by Armia Krajowa, most notable of them being the Warsaw Uprising.

Norwegian sabotages of the German nuclear program (see Norwegian heavy water sabotage). The raid was later dubbed by the British SOE as the most successful act of sabotage in all of World War II, and was used as a basis for the US war movie The Heroes of Telemark.

[edit] Resistance movements during World War II

Plaque to honour the Dutch resistance fighters executed at Sachsenhausen, Germany. The plaque reads, "During 1940 – 1945, more than 100 Dutch resistance fighters were executed here."

• British resistance movement
  • Auxiliary Units (planned British resistance movement against German invaders)
• Albanian resistance movement
• Austrian resistance movement, e.g. O5
• Belarusian resistance movement
• Belgian Resistance
• Bulgarian resistance movement
• Burmese resistance movement (AFPFL – Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League)
• Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian anti-Soviet resistance movements ("Forest Brothers")
• Czech resistance movement
• Danish resistance movement
• Dutch resistance movement
  • Valkenburg resistance
• Estonian resistance movement
• French resistance movement
  • Maquis
  • Francs-tireurs et Partisans (FTP)
  • French Forces of the Interior (FFI)
  • Conseil National de la Résistance (CNR)
  • Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action (BCRA)
  • Free French Forces (FFL)
• German anti-Nazi resistance movement
  • The White Rose
  • The Red Orchestra
  • The Edelweiss Pirates
• The Stijkel Group, a Dutch resistance movement, which mainly operated around the S-Gravenhage area.
• Werwolf, the German resistance against the Allied occupation
• Greek Resistance
  • National Liberation Front (EAM) and the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), EAM's guerrilla forces
  • National Republican Greek League (EDES)
  • National and Social Liberation (EKKA)
• Chinese resistance movements
  • Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
  • Anti-Japanese Army For The Salvation Of The Country
  • Chinese People's National Salvation Army
  • Heilungkiang National Salvation Army
  • Jilin Self-Defence Army
  • Northeast Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army
  • Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
  • Northeast People's Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army
  • Northeastern Loyal and Brave Army
  • Northeastern People's Revolutionary Army
  • Northeastern Volunteer Righteous & Brave Fighters
• Hong Kong resistance movements
  • Gangjiu dadui (Hong Kong-Kowloon big army)
  • Dongjiang Guerrillas (East River Guerrillas, Southern China and Hong Kong organisation)
• Italian resistance movement
  • Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale
• Italian resistance against Allies in East-Africa
• Jewish resistance movement
  • Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB, the Jewish Fighting Organisation)
  • Zydowski Zwiazek Walki (ZZW, the Jewish Fighting Union)
• Korea resistance movement
• Latvian resistance movement
• Lithuanian resistance during World War II
• Malayan resistance movemment
• Norwegian resistance movement
  • Milorg
  • XU
  • Norwegian Independent Company 1 (Kompani Linge)
  • Nortraship
• Philippine resistance movement
  • Hukbalahap
• Polish resistance movement
  • Armia Krajowa (the Home Army)
  • Narodowe Siły Zbrojne
  • Bataliony Chłopskie
  • Armia Ludowa (the Peoples' Army)
  • Gwardia Ludowa (the Peoples' Guard)
  • Polish Secret State
• Romanian resistance movement
• Singaporean resistance movement
  • Dalforce
  • Force 136
• Slovak resistance movement
• Soviet resistance movement
• Thai resistance movement
• Ukrainian Insurgent Army (anti-German, anti-Soviet and anti-Polish resistance movement)
• Viet Minh (Vietnamese resistance organization that had fought Vichy France and the Japanese)
• Yugoslav resistance movement
  • People's Liberation Army – the partisans (Communist)
  • Yugoslav Royal Army in the Fatherland – Chetniks (Royalist)

[edit] Notable individuals

• Mordechaj Anielewicz
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski
• Gaston Vandermeersche
• Pierre Brossolette
• Manolis Glezos
• Stefan Grot-Rowecki
• Jens Christian Hauge
• Roman Shukhevych
• Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
• Martin Linge
• Luigi Longo
• Max Manus
• Jean Moulin
• Christian Pineau
• Hannie Schaft
• Sophie Scholl
• Henk Sneevliet
• Claus von Stauffenberg
• Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović
• Gunnar Sønsteby
• Josip Broz "Tito"
• Aris Velouchiotis
• Nancy Wake
• Luis Taruc
• Napoleon Zervas

[edit] Documentaries

• Confusion was their business (from the BBC series Secrets of World War II is a documentary about the SOE (Special Operations Executive) and its operations
• The Real Heroes of the Telemark is a book and documentary by survival expert Ray Mears about the Norwegian sabotage of the German nuclear program (Norwegian heavy water sabotage)
• Making Choices: The Dutch Resistance during World War II (2005) This award-winning, hour-long documentary tells the stories of four participants in the Dutch Resistance and the miracles that saved them from certain death at the hands of the Nazis.

[edit] Dramatisations

• The Longest Day (1962) features scenes of the resistance operations during Operation Overlord
• The Heroes of Telemark (1965) is very loosely based on the Norwegian sabotage of the German nuclear program (the above Real heroes of Telemark is more accurate)
• L’Armée des ombres(1969) internal and external battles of the French resistance. Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
• Massacre in Rome (1973) is based on a true story about Nazi retaliation after a resistance attack in Rome
• Secret Army (1977) a television series about the Belgian resistance movement, based on real events
• Soldaat van Oranje (1977) (Dutch) is about some Dutch students who enter the resistance in cooperation with England
• 'Allo 'Allo! (1982-1992) a situation comedy about the French resistance movement (a parody of Secret Army)
• Het Meisje met het Rode Haar (1982) (Dutch) is about Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft
• Charlotte Gray (2001) – thought to be based on Nancy Wake
• Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage (2005) is about the last days in the life of Sophie Scholl
• My Opposition: the Diaries of Friedrich Kellner (2007) is a Canadian film about Justice Inspector Friedrich Kellner of Laubach who challenged the Nazis before and during the war

[edit] See also

• Collaborationism (the opposite of resistance)
• Collaboration during World War II
• American O.S.S. – Office of Strategic Services
• British S.O.E. – The Special Operations Executive
• British S.I.S. – The Secret Intelligence Service
• British S.A.S. – The Special Air Service
• Anti-fascism
• Covert cell
• Ghetto uprising
• Quotations about resistance
• List of revolutions and rebellions

[edit] External links

• European Resistance Archive
• Interviews from the Underground Eyewitness accounts of Russia's Jewish resistance during World War II; website & documentary film.

v • d • e World War II
Western Europe · Eastern Europe · Africa · Mediterranean · Asia and the Pacific · Atlantic
Major participants			Timeline		Aspects
To 1945 unless otherwise indicated. Principal co-belligerents in italics.			Prelude • Causes • in Asia • in Europe 1939 • Invasion of Poland • Phoney War • Winter War • Battle of the Atlantic5 1940 • Denmark and Norway • Battle of France • Battle of Britain • Libya and Egypt • British Somaliland • Baltic Occupation • Bessarabia and Bukovina • Invasion of Indochina • Invasion of Greece 1941 • East Africa Campaign • Invasion of Yugoslavia • Invasion of the USSR • Middle East campaign • Siege of Leningrad • Battle of Moscow • Attack on Pearl Harbor 1942 • Battle of Midway • Battle of Stalingrad • 2nd Battle of El Alamein • Operation Torch • Guadalcanal Campaign	1943 • End in Africa • Battle of Kursk • Solomon Islands • Invasion of Sicily • Invasion of Italy5 • Gilbert and Marshall Islands 1944 • Cassino and Anzio • Invasion of Normandy • Mariana and Palau Islands • Operation Bagration • Battle of the Dnieper • Warsaw Uprising • Iassy-Kishinev Operation • Liberation of Paris • Operation Market Garden • Operation Crossbow • Operation Pointblank • Battle of Leyte Gulf 1945 • Battle of Iwo Jima • Battle of Okinawa • Battle of Berlin • Germany surrenders • Hiroshima and Nagasaki • Japan surrenders • List of military engagements	• Attacks on North America • Blitzkrieg • Comparative military ranks • Cryptography • Home front • Military awards • Military equipment • Military production • Nazi plunder • Resistance • Technology • Total war Aftermath /consequences • Effects/Casualties • Expulsion of Germans • Operation Paperclip • Occupation of Germany • Morgenthau plan • Territorial changes • Occupation of Japan • Franco-Vietnamese War • Cold War • in contemporary culture Civilian impact / atrocities • Allied war crimes • German war crimes • Italian war crimes • Japanese war crimes • Soviet war crimes • The Holocaust • Bombing of civilians
Allies		Axis
at war from 1937  China entered 1939  Czechoslovakia  Poland  UK  India  France  Australia  New Zealand  South Africa  Canada entered 1940  Norway  Belgium  Netherlands  Greece	entered 1941  Yugoslavia  USSR  USA entered 1942  Mexico  Brazil entered 1943  Italy   entered 1944  Romania  Bulgaria  Finland • others	at war from 1937  Japan entered 1939  Germany  Slovakia entered 1940  Italy  to 1943 entered 1941  Bulgaria  to 1944 Croatia Finland  to 1944  Hungary  Iraq  to 1941  Romania  to 1944 entered 1942  Thailand entered 1943  RSI • others
• Allied Leaders • Axis Leaders • Commanders
Resistance movements Austria · Baltic1 · Czech lands · Denmark · Ethiopia France · Germany2 · Greece · Italy Jewish2 · Korea · Netherlands · Moldavia2 Norway · Poland · Thailand · Soviet Union Slovakia4 · Ukraine3 · Vietnam Yugoslavia · others
				Lists
				Category · Topics Conferences
1 Anti-Soviet. 2 Anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi. 3 Anti-Nazi, anti-Polish, and anti-Soviet. 4 Anti-Magyar, anti-Nazi, and anti-Soviet. 5 Lasted to May 1945.		World War II at Wiktionary  WWII textbooks at Wikibooks      WWII quotes at Wikiquote  WWII source texts at Wikisource       WWII media at Commons  WWII news stories at Wikinews

[edit] tags

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