Press releases

Partisan Chronicles: Deryabin’s Squad

MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – Vladimir Deryabin took charge of the partisan unit, which would be known as Volodya’s squad, in the spring of 1942. The Iskra partisan unit would kill and injure thousands of German soldiers and officers, derail dozens of enemy trains and blow up dozens of bridges.

But it would be later. In the early days of the war, Volodya Deryabin, a gunsmith from the Lithuanian SSR, retreated to the East together with the Red Army. After being wounded near Molodechno he settled in Berezino District to engage in underground activities and train his partisan squad.

“Partisan Chronicles: Deryabin’s Squad” is a new page of the joint project of BelTA and the Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War History. It is dedicated to the partisans of the Iskra unit of the Razgrom Brigade (Minsk Oblast) and its commander Vladimir Deryabin.

The project is based on a unique collection of handwritten partisan journals provided by the Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War History. The collection was assigned the status of historical and cultural value of international importance (Class 1). Every week BelTA brings these chronicles to light and posts their digital copies. Each of them sheds light on various aspects of partisans’ life, gives a glimpse into thoughts and feelings of people who risked their lives to fight a battle behind enemy lines.

Till 3 July 2019 BelTA will publish digests of these chronicles and upload their digital versions complementing the unique content with photos from its own archives.

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