Questions of Staffing the Resistance to the German-Fascist Occupants in the Regions of the Central Black Earth Region (1941–1943)

Introduction. The article examines the problems of selection, training, and placement of personnel for participation in resistance to the occupation regime in the Central Black Earth Region. The study of the degree of readiness of the civilian population for armed resistance to the aggressor is an important scientific problem of applied significance. Methods and materials. The study is based on historical-genetic, problem-chronological, and historical-comparative methods. The publication is based on documentary sources identified by the author in the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, the State Archive of the Bryansk Region, the state archives of social and political history of the Voronezh, Kursk, and Tambov Regions, and the archives of the FSB Directorates of Russia for the Voronezh and Kursk Regions. Analysis. The selection of candidates for participation in the resistance to the Nazi occupiers in the Central Black Earth Region was carried out by local party structures and NKVD bodies before the invasion of enemy troops into the region. At the same time as the formation of partisan detachments, reconnaissance and sabotage residencies were created, and the leadership core of future underground organizations was determined. The occupation that began revealed the mistakes made in carrying out this work, which did not allow for the development of a mass partisan struggle against the enemy. The change in the situation at the front, associated with the successes of the Red Army, as well as the cruelty of the occupiers, contributed to the voluntary replenishment of partisan detachments by local residents. The training of partisan personnel in specialized schools of the NKVD contributed to an increase in the effectiveness of the resistance. Results. The author comes to the conclusion that the formal approach to the selection of partisan personnel had a negative impact on the development of the partisan movement in the first months of the occupation. The situation with the replenishment of partisan forces was corrected due to the conscious influx of local residents into their ranks due to the change in the situation at the front and in the rear. Training in special schools of the NKVD contributed to an increase in the effectiveness of the reconnaissance and sabotage activities of the partisans. Funding. The work was carried out within the framework of the State Assignment “Legal Measures to Ensure Strategic Priorities for Countering Threats to National Security” (FENM-2025-0010). Registration number 1024031900131-7-5.5.1.