To What Extent Did Different Revolutionaries and People in WW2 Show Adaptability and Resilience in Trying to Restore Their Country While Surviving in Response to German Occupation?

Intro

           During WW2, German occupation of defeated countries was often accompanied by harsh repression of the local populace alongside the degradation of human rights for non-Germans and Jews. The impact of German occupation from 1939-45 is still felt today due to the countless loss of lives, which affected many generations to come (Wiener Holocaust library). There were those who were not compliant with German occupation, who were normal members of the populace, or members of the variety of resistance movements in occupied countries (Britannica Editors). In conjunction with noncompliance, resistance movements often impeded German efforts of occupation or other activities, with the Polish Home Army committing 25,145 acts of sabotage (Marek Ney-Krwawicz). According to Martin Evans, Nazi violence escalated in later stages of the war due to the war turning against them (History Today, Volume 68, Issue 8). In response to this, resistance movements began to further adapt to German tactics and show resilience in face of adversity in the process of trying to liberate their country or local area, for instance, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 (American Holocaust Museum). This response to German occupation had been happening ever since these countries were occupied, which brings up the question: To what extent did different revolutionaries and people in WW2 show adaptability and resilience in trying to restore their country while surviving in response to German occupation? Practically all resistance movements alongside a majority of common people showed signs of resilience and adaptability, but select groups showcased these traits to a greater extent like the Polish Home Army, Yugoslav Partisans and French Resistance which in some cases benefited their efforts but in other cases stalled it entirely. These countries were chosen because they showed a much greater degree of resistance than other occupied countries like Austria or Denmark by publicly rising up and often liberating their country.
 

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         Firstly, the French Resistance alongside the French populace employed both open and subversive methods of resisting the German occupation, which involved adapting to German tactics and showing resilience in the face of retaliations (Herbert 139). The initial resistance was much more subversive without much public show such as cutting telephone lines and spraying minor graffiti (Ousby 218). Starting the year of 1941, armed resistance against German occupation began with the assassination of Anton Moser, a German naval officer. Assassinations continued against German officers but were halted due to the fact that the German military would execute 50-100 innocent French citizens for each assassination. This order was not heeded by every resistance group, as communist-aligned groups kept assassinations going as a consequence of the German invasion of the USSR in 1941 (Crowdy 10-11). The resistance didn’t rise to prominence until 1944 when they began to escalate their activities from annoying to full-blown open warfare in accordance with the Normandy landings on the 6th of June 1944 (Crowdy 51). The main contribution to Operation Overlord (D-Day Landings) by the French Resistance was the systematic sabotage of the French railway system at 486 points, which drastically reduced the capacity that German armed forces were able to respond to the landings at Normandy (Crowdy 52 + Ian Wellstead). Throughout the occupation of France in WW2, the French Resistance showed their resilience by using dynamic methods of sabotage against the German occupation government, as well as emboldening their tactics at different stages of the war, which hastened their liberation.

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         In contrast with the French Resistance, who were a resistance group in Western Europe, the Polish Resistance operated in Eastern Europe. Poland was the site of the beginning of WW2 where the German military employed ‘Blitzkrieg,’ a form of lightning warfare, which in conjunction with the Soviet Red Army led to the defeat of Poland in 2 short months (Collier, Martin, and Pedley 146). The consequences of this invasion led to a much more armed and smaller resistance group compared to France in the opening years of their occupation (Lukas 5). The perfect example of the contrasting methods of French Resistance and Polish is the skirmish of Huciska in 1940, where Polish partisans destroyed an entire German battalion while only numbering less than 300 partisans (Boehm). Through the intervening years of 1940-1943, Polish Resistance fighters continued their armed methods of opposing German and Soviet occupation with 3 separate sites of uprising. One was the Zamosc Uprising, which lasted from 1942-1944 due to the Germans forcefully removing Poles in the region (Strzembosz). The largest organized uprising in Poland during WW2 was the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, where 22,000 insurgents rose up to forcefully take the city from the retreating German forces (Włodzimierz 74). The first stages of the uprising went well with resistance fighters capturing German armories and stealing German vehicles, including two tanks (Skotnicki 59 and Warsaw Aflame). The uprising was intended only to last a few days in order to capture the city before Soviet forces arrived, but the German military stopped its retreat westward and began to reinforce the garrison in Warsaw (Britannica Editors). This led to the failure of the uprising, which lasted for 63 days straight, and in the aftermath, 15,000 partisans and 200,000 civilians were massacred. The uprising was also the main cause of the German razing of Warsaw, in which they reduced a majority of the city to dust (Eugeniusz) (Britannica Editors) (Gutschow). The uprising caused the deaths of the majority of the Polish anti-communist resistance fighters, alongside the capture of any remaining resistance leaders by the Red Army. A comparison can be made between Nelson Mandela's imprisonment on Robben Island and Polish Resistance fighters captured by the USSR. Both Mandela and the resistance fighters were treated inhumanely and forced to work to near-death. Sadly, most Polish prisoners were viewed as a threat to the peace of the USSR and were often put on show trials, then executed shortly after like the Polish officer Witold Pilecki in 1947 (Lidia). With the near-disintegration of the Polish Home Army, the Soviets easily put up a puppet government in Poland (Britannica Editors). The final actions of the Polish Resistance can be viewed as detrimental to liberating their country, but in reality, the Polish Resistance had no other viable option as the Soviet Union was closing in on the capital, and they simply tried to adapt to an unwinnable situation.


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         Similarly to the Polish Home Army, the Yugoslav Partisans focused much more on open rebellion and armed resistance, compared to the slow buildup of the French Resistance. According to Dr. Stephen A Hart, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers in 1941, predominantly Germany in order to secure the Balkans for the planned invasion of the USSR. The beginning of the resistance movements in Yugoslavia was a bit more complicated due to the various ethnic groups encapsulated in the region. The first real resistance group were the ‘Chetniks,’ whose leader was Colonel Dragoljub Mihailovic. This group was entirely made of Serbians, who disallowed other groups, like Croatians, into joining the group (Trueman). Alongside this Mihailovic and the Chetniks were generally loyal to the old royalist regime and took directives from the government in exile in London (Britannica Editors). In opposition to both the Axis and at points the Chetniks, were the Yugoslav Partisans, who were led by Josip Broz Tito. He was a former soldier of Austria-Hungary, who was a fanatical communist (Hart). Tito’s tactics of recruitment were distinct from Mihailovic’s Chetniks, because the Partisans called all of the different ethnic groups to rise up against Axis occupation (Trueman). A key difference between these two groups, apart from ethnic composition, was their policy on attacking German forces. The Chetniks usually refrained from these attacks as it caused unneeded loss of civilian life but Tito actively encouraged his Partisans to attack German forces, which would lead to reprisals. For each German soldier killed, 100 Yugoslavian civilians were killed, and because of this, Tito believed more people would join the resistance if they saw these mass atrocities (Hart + Britannica Editors). German forces actually tried to eliminate the Yugoslav Partisans in different offenses, but the Germans were fighting with conventional warfare tactics, while the Partisans utilized asymmetrical warfare, allowing them to simply disappear into the mountains (Trueman). As the war continued, Tito’s Partisans became highly disciplined fighters and fostered goodwill with the common folk. This in tandem with the Chetniks' collaboration with Germany, led to Allied support going to Tito’s partisans (Hart). Some may say that this is another counter to the argument being stated, as the Chetniks started as resistance fighters before turning into German collaborators. But the Chetniks only started to collaborate when the Partisans grew to a greater prominence than their organization, and by this point, the Chetniks lost a majority of their support and couldn’t perform any actions that would affect the fate of Yugoslavia. Adding on, as this shift in support happened, ethnic violence grew with Mihailovic writing, “The Muslim population has, through its behavior [sic] arrived at the situation where our people no longer wish to have them in our midst. It is necessary already now to prepare their exodus to Turkey or anywhere else outside our borders”. As the war neared its end in late 1944 and as the Soviets advanced into Yugoslavia, instead of trying to liberate the country before the Soviets marched in, Tito collaborated with Soviet forces in the liberation of Belgrade from the German garrison due to their shared communist ideology (Britannica Editors). In contrast to the French resistance, the Yugoslavian Partisans adapted as more support was given to them, which eventually led to the Partisans engaging in conventional warfare at the end of the war (Hart). Using a variety of guerrilla warfare tactics—including hit and runs and ambushes conducted from the shadows—the Yugoslav Partisans adapted to developments in Yugoslavia as the war progressed, which coalesced into the formation of a new Yugoslav state with communism as its basis with the aid of the Soviets.

Conclusion
         With the extent of oppression under German occupation in various countries of WW2, it was bound to inspire and foster resistance against itself. The French resistance fought an underground war while adapting to the tides of war, further increasing their military action as liberation neared. The Polish, who from the onset of WW2 fostered a martial resistance against both the German and Soviet occupation of their country, then went out with a blaze of glory in the Warsaw Uprising. Finally, the Yugoslav Partisans fought a guerrilla war, utilizing the ethnic groups and terrain of Yugoslavia, which culminated in the liberation of Belgrade alongside the Soviet Red Army, which established a communist Yugoslavia. With these examples, it is clear to see that resistance groups and civilians of occupied countries by their adaptability and resilience led to the liberation of their country from Nazi tyranny or the attempt which inspires future generations of their heroics.

 

 

 

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