Evening star., 1943-08-16
Red GueniI|as Work
With Army and Play
Big Part in Offensive
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
OREL, Russia, Aug. 16.-Heayy-
set, shaven-headed Mikhail Petro-
vich Romashin, the greatest of
Russia's guerrillas, whose band has
been the scourge of Germans in the
Bryansk region, said today the par
tisans have been playing an i'm
portant part in the current Red
Army offensive.
Although the guerrillas abandoned
large-scale operations to save the
local population from mass reprisals,
Romashin said they are still op-
Grating in small but effective groups,
derailing trains, blowing up bridges
and hampering the movement of
enemy troops and supplies.
Coordination between the Red
Army and the guerrillas, he said, was
effected by the partisans them
selves, who carry radios, hear COM
muniques and know the best time
and place to strike.
Romashin, who is 38 but looks so,
has been decorated as a hero of
the Soviet Union for his leader
ship of one of the largest guerrilla
organizations He returned through
the German lines to become mayor
of Orel.
Blasted Well Guarded Bridge.
In slow, solemn voice, but grim
ming occasionally with satisfaction,
r. I'D
band grew from 18 men and Z
women to big, self SUFFICIENT unit.
I'VE had several very successful
operations" he said.
His most famous job was blowing
up the blue bridge" over the Desna
River near Bryansk.
The Germans had 200 men de-
Tending the railroad bridge and an
other 500 in reserve, watching for
guerrillas to come from the forests,
Romashin said.
His band made a 12-mile detour,
approached the bridge through an
open field where the Germans did
not expect them and cut the rail-
road four miles each side of the
bridge to prevent armored trains
from coming to the aid of the de-
tending garrison.
Blocked Railroad Six Months.
The guerrilla units struck simul-
taneously at am. Romashin said
they wiped out most OF the Ger
mans, blew up both spans of the
bridge and escaped before the en-
emy knew what hit them. The en-
tire operation took 26 minutes. An
hour later the Partisan party down.
ed one of two reconnaissance planes
which the Germans sent over.
Another of his celebrated feats
was blocking railroad from Bry-
ansk to a town for six months. The
Germans finally sent q company Of
men to keep the road open, he said,
but the guerillas killed 237 of them.
Again the Germans sent a puni-
tive detachment, Of 1,500 men,
against his band, but he summoned
by telephone another band which
encircies the Germans themselves
in forest and in three days killed
600.
1t is sometimes difficult to be-
lieve accounts of guerilla deeds, but
Romashin supplied convincing de-
tails.
The Germans knew him by name,
he said, and offered $500 rubles.
about 81 acres of land. a house, two
COWS and a horse for his head.
"The people thought 1t was too
cheap" he laughed. They wouldn't
sell me"
Had Everything But Movies.
In some places, he said, the guer-
illas controlled entire regions of as
much as 2,400 square miles and even
maintained local Soviets behind the
German lines, but the Partisans
gave this up and retired to the
forests when the Germans started
to exterminate the population.
His band then lived in dugouts
supplied with everything but
movies" he said. Skilled workmen
belonging to the band produced |
electricity from a dynamo, flour
from hand mills and fuel from kero-
sene.
They read German papers, includ- |
ing denunciations of themselves, as
they smoked German cigarettes, but
complained that the enemy troops
were given only three cigarettes
daily of poor quality. Puf1ng an
American cigarette, he said 1t was
much better"
Sometimes, he said, the Germans
sent Russians to attempt to join and
spy on the band, but 80 per cent
of the local population supported
the Partisans and warned them OF
the traitors. Frankly, we shot
most of them" he said.
Romashin, who looks not at all
bloodthirsty, is former metal
worker, trade union official and
secretary of the Bryansk district
committee of the Communist party.