Vasily Zakharovich Korzh (, ; 13 January 18995 May 1967), also known under the Soviet partisan ''nom de guerre'' Komarov, was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Byelorussian communist activist, partisan, and one of the leaders of the

Belarusian resistance during World War II Belarusian resistance during World War II opposed Nazi Germany from 1941 until 1944. German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II, Byelorussia was one of the Soviet republics occupied following Operation Barbarossa. The term Belarusian ...

. A

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

chairman,

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

officer, and volunteer with the Spanish Republican forces in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, he is best remembered for organizing and leading one of the first Soviet partisan units during the 1941-1944 occupation of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic by Nazi Germany. On account of his partisan service, Korzh was made a major general of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in 1943 and was awarded the honorary title

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

in August 1944.

Biography

Born into a peasant Belarusian family in Khorostovo (south of

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

) in 1899, Korzh spent his early years assisting his family's toils on the agricultural lands owned by the noble House of Golitsyn.Kvitkevič, Siarhej
"Жыве імя легендарнага камбрыга"
("Long Live the Name of the Legendary Combrig"). ''Minskaja Praŭda''. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009. A supporter of the communist cause, Korzh participated in the guerrilla struggles of the pro-

Belarusian anti-Polish resistance movement in the 1920s in Western Byelorussia (first occupied by Józef Piłsudski and then officially ceded to the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

after the 1921 Treaty of Riga in the aftermath of the 1919-1921 Polish-Soviet War). He had initially been conscripted into the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

during the conflict, but deserted from it after a fight with a Polish commander, provoked by the abuse inflicted on the Belarusian soldiers in the army's ranks.Galinskaya, A. V
"Василий Захарович Корж"
("Vasily Zakharovich Korzh"). Belarusian Great Patriotic War Museum. 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2009. Arriving in the Soviet Union in 1925, Korzh began working in agriculture and became a

chairman after organizing the first peasants' commune in the village of Metyavichi, though not yet a member of the All-Union Communist Party. After joining the party's ranks in 1929, Korzh went on to join the

in 1931. He left in 1936 in order to fight as a volunteer with the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

on the side of the leftist Spanish Republicans against the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

forces of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

in the

, returning to the Soviet Union in 1939 as a decorated fighter. He managed a sovkhoz in 1939-1940 and became head of the local Communist Party's Pinsk Region organization in 1940. Korzh began organizing resistance cells in western Belarus immediately after the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany on 22 June 1941. Within a month, Korzh's unit was already battling the German troops, having first engaged the German tanks accompanying the 293rd Wehrmacht Infantry Division on 28 June. Having served out most of the war in the rank of "brigade commander" or " kombrig" among the Soviet partisans (the

also had not fully transitioned to the traditional officer ranks' system by the beginning of the German invasion), he was made a major general in 1943. He subsequently was recognized with the honorary title of

on 15 August 1944, during the last days of Operation Bagration, the Red Army's successful effort to liberate the remaining German-held Byelorussian territory. Korzh received his discharge from the military on account of poor health in 1946. He subsequently worked as an assistant to the Forestry Minister of the

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a Republics of the Soviet Union, republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 19 ...

in 1949–1953, before returning to the Byelorussian countryside from Minsk in 1953. Upon his return, he was again elected as kolkhoz chairman of a Belarusian village. Korzh died on 5 May 1967.

Honours and awards

* Two Orders of Lenin * Two Orders of the Red Banner * Order of the Patriotic War 1st class * Order of the Red Star * Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1st class * Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korzh, Vasily Zakharovich 1899 births 1967 deaths People from Salihorsk district Belarusian partisans Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Heroes of the Soviet Union NKVD officers Recipients of the Order of Lenin Soviet major generals Soviet people of the Spanish Civil War Soviet partisans International Brigades personnel Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni