"Serovsky Worker" from 03.06.1999 #101 (18134). "The Partisans Went on a Campaign." The small town of Klimovichi is lost in the forests and swamps of Belarus. Here, on a bright June day, school children's voices rang joyfully in schools: exams were over. Not just the school year was over, for many people school was over and they needed to get used to a new life, enter higher education institutions or High School or go to a Technical School. Or maybe-to a Vocational School, where one could get a profession. Zoya Rabkova, a pretty teenage girl, dreamed, like everyone else, of a bright and happy future. She grew up in a family of employees and thought about a good peaceful profession. Maybe follow her father's path and become a communications worker. Other professions were also attracted. There was still time to think. But the war destroyed the plans of adults and children. Belarus was under the boot of the German-fascist invaders. Part of the population of Klimovichi was evacuated. It became dangerous to live in the city: enemy planes bombed day and night. Family Rakovich, like many others, was forced to leave the city. Near one of the villages, they dug half-dugouts, half-digs, covered them with a roll of logs, covered them with turf-and so they lived. Somewhere in the middle of August, a heavy artillery cannonade began. Residents of dugouts, afraid of being crushed in their "homes", jumped into the open field. "Tanks, tanks!" someone shouted. Tanks were moving across the field, some of them displaying what appeared to be red flags. But the joy was premature: the refugees saw a fascist swastika on the flags. So came the terrible time of occupation. Yesterday's students could not understand: why did the fascists so quickly captured such large territories of their native country and continued to move rapidly to the East? But not only children and teenagers, but also adults could not quickly recover from the shock state. Only the fascists quickly clarified everything and helped the Soviet people understand what the "new order" brought them. Many years later Zoya recalled: "I remember one of the terrible days. Main street. To the right and left of the road on poles are the corpses of people hanged by the Nazis. Fascist executioners were rampant. Every day brings new massacres... But the first shock and confusion among people has already passed. With each new atrocity of the fascists, hatred for them grew and grew stronger." In the very first days of the Great Patriotic war, the heroic struggle of the Soviet people in the rear of the German fascist army began. The entire Belarusian land from Brest to Orsha was ablaze with partisan bonfires. Partisan detachments began to form and operate in the forests and swampy thickets, and underground organizations began to operate in cities. The core of this popular movement was the Communists and Komsomol members. And in Klimovichi in early 1942, a combat Komsomol group was created. Zoya became a member of this group. She was only 16 years old. But the Komsomol conscience did not allow her to sit at home. The group carried out a variety of work among the citizens: they reproduced and distributed reports of the Soviet Information Bureau, told residents about the situation at the front, collected information about the deployment of German troops, carried out sabotage at enterprises and Railways, and helped Jewish families escape from the city. The activities of underground groups and partisan detachments were united and coordinated by city and district centers. Only in Mogilev region 15 such centers were created. Klimovichi was one of them. Soviet patriots had to conduct underground work and partisan struggle in the context of a brutal occupation regime. As early as May 1941, in preparation for war with the Soviet Union, Hitler's command issued a Directive ordering the merciless extermination of partisans and suspicious individuals. It was explicitly stated: "Any resistance will be eliminated not by judicial punishment of the perpetrators, but by the spread of such fear and horror on the part of the occupation authorities that will discourage the population from any desire to resist...". Therefore, underground organizations were constantly under threat of destruction. Arrests also began in Klimovichi. The fascists conducted constant raids on the streets and bazaars. Several members of the underground group were captured. In such conditions, it became impossible to act, so it was decided to leave the city. For this purpose, armbands with the inscription "Policeman" were prepared for several older guys, and German rifles or submachine guns were handed to them. Under their "supervision" they left in groups of 3-5 people. They were met in the village a contact who was visited by partisan scouts. For a whole month they could not contact the partisans, as the detachment changed its base after the battle with the Germans. But in February 1943, young underground workers still got to the partisan detachment "For the Motherland!", which operated in the nearby forests. Its commander was a young Lieutenant Vladimir Markov. And in March, the young partisan Zoya took the oath of the Belarusian partisans. Together with her comrades, she swore: "I am, a citizen of the Great Soviet Union, a loyal daughter of the heroic Belarusian people, swear that I will not let go of my weapons until the last fascist bastard on our Belarusian land is destroyed." And the young partisans kept their vows firmly, even though it was difficult for them. This is what Zoya said: "it was not Easy for us, teenagers. In the winter they lived in dugouts, in the summer they set up tents, covered huts. Hidden trails in the swampy forest swamps - a whole science for the partisans, without which you can not do anything. It was especially difficult when the Germans were blockading the forest. Then for a week or more they could not light a fire to dry their clothes and warm themselves. But the enemy soon left - they were afraid of our forest, where every tree was fraught with danger for them. But the partisans remained..." Yes, the partisans remained. And for the sake of justice, it should be said that they were a great danger to the Germans. Here's what German officer Friedrich Bushel wrote home, which was later overtaken by partisans: "In the dreary wilderness, we joined on the tanks. Not a single person is around, but everywhere and everywhere, in the woods and swamps, the shadows of the Avengers are flying. These are partisans. Suddenly, as if growing out of the ground, they attack us, chop, cut, and disappear like devils, falling into the underworld. The Avengers are after us at every turn, and there is no escape from them. Damn it! I have never experienced anything like this anywhere in the war. I can't fight the ghosts of the woods. As I write my diary, I look anxiously at the setting sun. Better not to think. Night falls, and I feel the shadows creeping silently out of the darkness, and I am seized with a chilling horror." No wonder the fascists were seized with "chilling horror". The partisans were increasingly active. And in 1943, they declared a rail war on the Nazis. The group in which the young Zoya fought was actively involved in this war. Every partisan of the "For the Motherland!" detachment committed to blow up at least 12 meters of the railway track. An unwritten law was established among the partisans: "One is not a partisan if he did not blow up 12 meters of the rails." And the partisans fulfilled their obligations, although this was fraught with deadly danger. The fascists, taking into account the experience of fighting the partisans, took countermeasures. They cut down the forest near the railroad tracks, increased patrolling on the tracks, and combed nearby forests. But nothing worked. The guerrillas regularly conducted combat operations, destroyed a patrol, attacked a guard... And again, the enemy echelons were flying downhill! Great help to the partisans was provided by the local population. Zoya recalled: "Our contacts were everywhere. There was even a priest in one of the villages. Later, when he came to us in the squad, and walked in his cassock. Women baked our bread secretly, at night, so as not to fall under suspicion. For helping the partisans, they were shot, people knew about it, but they continued to help us." She gives an example full of the tragedy and courage of those days. Two fighters from the partisan detachment went on a scout mission. In one of the villages came across the punishers. As a result of the skirmish, one of the them was killed, the other managed to leave the village. The Germans guessed the close connection of the local population with the partisans. So they herded all the villagers to the square, hoping that someone would identify the deceased. The partisan's parents were also there. But no one identified him, no one gave away his family. The fascists miscalculated. For more than two years, the long-suffering Mogilev Region was under the fascist yoke. But the front was getting closer to the borders of Belarus. And at the end of July 1943, the troops of the Kalinin and Western Fronts began to prepare for the offensive. They were opposed by the army group "Center", whose soldiers were reliably protected by a powerful defense of 5-6 fortified bands. The offensive was also hampered by the conditions of the wooded and swampy area. Early in the morning of August 7, after a powerful artillery preparation, the offensive of the Red Army units began. To help the advancing troops, the Belarusian partisans conducted several bold operations, in which more than 13.5 thousand people participated. They threatened 46 railway sections and crossings withthei attacks, and blew up bridges on Railways and highways. In October alone, the partisans blew up and burned more than 2,000 vehicles and tanks and armored vehicles. In October, the partisan detachment "For the Motherland!" together with the Red Army units, he entered the native streets of the city of Klimovichi. The enemy was driven from the Fatherland. Peaceful life began. Zoya became a signalwoman, just like her father. She married Evoliy Bazhenov. The young family moved to Serov in 1951. Zoya, having two small children (Arkady and Galina), successfully graduated from the financial College and worked for many years in the city financial Department. Later, she worked for the canteens trust. Everywhere Zoya treated her work very responsibly, as evidenced by her numerous certificates of honor and diplomas. And one can write a separate story about this.