In 1942, the Germans intensified their clean-up efforts against Ukrainian partisans and anti-German groups of all kinds, and a large number of suspected civilians were imprisoned and then killed.

This method of the German army suppressed the guerrilla movement in Ukraine in a short period of time, and their expanded brutal actions also injured a large number of innocent people. The people suppressed their anger in their hearts, and forced by the power of the German army, there were not many people who dared to directly resist revenge.

Any form of resistance, even insulting gestures against German patrols in the streets, or even spitting in the face, is considered an "anti-German act" and is treated as a "Bolshevik" by the puppet Ukrainian regime under German control.

The fate of those who commit such acts is very simple - hanging.

In this way, several execution grounds have been erected on the streets of Kyiv, and almost every day so-called "partisans" are hanged, in fact, many are innocent! They arrested people at will and sentenced them to death, with the aim of deterring.

Terror and high pressure cannot defeat those underground workers who dare to dance at the tip of a knife, and there are underground organizations of the CPSU in various medium-sized and large cities in Ukraine. At the risk of being captured and killed, they sent telegrams to the command of the partisan movement and carried out sabotage orders from their superiors.

The assassinations of the German defenders and puppet officials in the city never stopped, but unfortunately the results of these sabotage operations were weak.

The Germans had already killed a large number of partisans, much to Ponomarenko's resentment, and the guerrilla movement in many places did not develop as expected, and many people in the upper echelons began to doubt his abilities. There are even rumors that Ponomarenko served as the first secretary of Belarus not because of his ability to work, but simply because he unswervingly followed Stalin!

This made him very dissatisfied, and he had to give the guerrilla movement a shot in the arm through some military operations.

Ponomarenko thus gave the commander of the 17th Partisan Brigade, Alexander Petronko Miroshniko, an operational order to attack the small city of Gorodnia in the north of Chernihiv.

The city of Corodnia, with a peacetime population of more than 50,000 people, is bordered by a forest on the west side, which naturally became an excellent hiding place for the anti-German forces.

The first 1,000 men of the 17th Guerrilla Brigade escaped from the defense of Kiev and fled into the Latiz Forest in western Colombia under the leadership of the battalion commander Miroshniko. It's a vast forest, and it's more than fifty kilometers long! There are only six villages in the forest, and the people of these villages are naturally controlled by these routs.

These villagers were very afraid of the Germans! The Germans occupied the city of Loyev on the Dnieper, and a large number of citizens fled into the forests and into the homes of villagers. The Germans were described as a brutal army, they brazenly shot at the citizens, and those who did not have time to flee were killed!

Similarly, the Germans occupied Corodnia, and they exterminated the Jews in the first place. And go door to door to look for the wounded Soviet soldiers who were hidden by the citizens. Many citizens were killed by the Germans, and many citizens, who feared that they would be killed at any time, took the risk to escape and took refuge in the Latiz Forest.

For a time, the population in the forest exceeded 10,000! Miroshniko undoubtedly became the military commander of these rabble!

Among these people were a large number of wounded Soviet soldiers, who, after recovery, quickly became a combat force. There were also a large number of adult men, all over 28 years old, who were not included in the Soviet army's 1941 recruitment criteria. Now these men have to serve as fighters! There's even an old guy over 60 with a beard!

Miroshniko had 5,000 troops in a short period of time, but only a few more than 1,000 guns could be used, and ammunition was even scarcer.

After settling in the forest, they faced an even more serious problem – food shortages. There are six villages in the forest, and arable land is very limited.

They sowed some potato roots before the onset of winter, praying that they would not freeze to death in the winter.

After the rest of the food was already stretched thin, in order to avoid starvation, Miroshniko decided to attack Gorodnia. He selected 1,000 elite soldiers to participate in the operation, and the target was the grain warehouse.

The operation was a success, after all, many of the soldiers in the team were already citizens of the city, and they knew how to attack the granary! The German troops who remained in the city were also very small, and Miroshniko had the upper hand for a time.

They robbed the city granary, took a large amount of flour, and finally set fire to the granary. Unfortunately, their armament and ammunition were inferior after all, and when the raid became the end of the crossbow, Miroshniko ordered a retreat.

In this battle, the losses of Miroshniko's elite soldiers were not small, more than 200 people were killed! Fortunately, after the melee, they got a lot of food, as well as some weapons that are crucial for future survival!

It soon became known to the Soviet military hierarchy that this had taken place just before the winter of 1941, when the command of the partisan movement did not exist. The guerrilla movement of the Soviet army, for the time being, Beria was in charge, but it was a pity that the man with small glasses knew almost nothing about military command.

Beria at least understood that a large amount of ammunition was needed for the active partisans in the enemy-occupied areas to be able to "stab the knife" continuously. Therefore, before the onset of winter, the Soviet army dispatched many old TB3 bombers to provide air assistance against several stronger guerrilla forces.

Since Kirponos had airdropped the Pripett Marsh once before his death, the airdrop ordered by Beria did not involve the marsh again.

This airdrop was very important for Miroshniko, and the plane dropped a thousand rifles and 200,000 rounds of ammunition, which greatly improved the military strength. And the anti-German forces in the Latiz forest were organized by the 17th partisan brigade, with Miroshniko as the brigade commander.

It was not enough to drop the airdrops, there was not much food to be dropped, and in the cold winter of 1941, the 17th Guerrilla Brigade, with a total population of more than 15,000 people, had 6,000 people killed! That's a crazy statistic. On the one hand, the cold and hunger caused a large number of deaths, and on the other hand, the ensuing attack on Corodnia was retaliated by the Germans, in which hundreds of soldiers were killed and hundreds of wounded died because they were not well treated.

They struggled to get by, and at the end of January, they learned that just across the Dnieper River, there was a new city called Novgomel, which was garrisoned by the 284th Infantry Division, which had the title of "Guards".

Miroshniko wanted to defect there, but was ruthlessly forbidden by his superiors. For no other reason, the 17th Guerrilla Brigade is in charge of the position it is currently sitting in, and when spring comes, it will launch a spring offensive!

Different guerrilla units, in charge of a guerrilla zone. As the Soviet Union continued to send people into the German theater of operations, and a large number of Komsomol and CPSU members entered the command system of the 17th Guerrilla Brigade, Miroshniko's power was somewhat limited.

If you can't defect, it's feasible to try to communicate.

That was still the beginning of winter in 1941, and the continuous snowfall turned directly into a snow disaster, and the Dnieper River was frozen for a time, and some refugees from the Latiz Forest tried to hike across the frozen Dnieper.