Abstract

The events of the Revolution of Dignity and war in Donbass formed the experience of the armed and sociopolitical confrontation of the Second World War period, especially in the steppe and industrial south of Ukraine. Partisan struggle in this region had its own specifics, which requires its comprehension and generalization. The article is devoted to the final stage of the development of the Soviet partisan movement in Southern Ukraine. This region is characterized by the absence of large forest areas and the presence of large industrial centers. Considering this, underground forms of struggle became the priority ones. Nevertheless, partisan methods of resistance to the invaders were also used actively. Based on the analysis of a wide range of archival documents of the central and regional archives, it has been established that the final stage of development of the partisan movement in its characteristics differed significantly from the initial stage. Its features were: the excellent emergence of partisan formations and a modified tactic of fighting against the invaders. In particular this happened in years 1943–1944. Partisan detachments were formed as a result of the organizational activities of the landing groups, abandoned from «Big Land» or underground. It has been found out during the investigation that they were active in the approaching front line: they attacked the occupation troops and institutions, carried out diversionary acts, conducted reconnaissance in the interests of the Red Army. An outstanding page of the Resistance movement in the south of Ukraine was Pavlograd uprising of 1943. In addition, the quality of the source base has been described in the article. It has been established that the documents of the Soviet archives contain a considerable part of falsifications and exaggerations. Therefore, researchers are being recommended to use the quantitative indicators of Soviet documents very critically and only as approximate, which reflect certain phenomena and general trends, and which are not absolutely reliable facts. In general, the partisan movement in South Ukraine made a significant contribution to the expulsion of the Nazi occupiers from the Ukrainian land. It raised the morale of the local population, disarmed the invaders, distracted the significant military units of the enemy.