Dossier: On the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the birth of partisan commander Minay Shmyryov

Minay Shmyrev

The year 2021 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the famous partisan commander Minay Filippovich Shmyrev. Batka Minay – this is how he was called during the Great Patriotic War. The renowned partisan leader operated with his brigade in the Vitebsk region, but the fame of this fearless brigade spread throughout Belarus during the war years.

Minay Shmyrev was born on December 23, 1891, in the village of Punishche, Vitebsk district, Vitebsk region. As a child, he herded cattle for wealthy peasants, then rafted timber down the river, and worked on the estate of a large landowner. He managed to complete only three grades of a parish school, which was considered sufficient for peasants at that time. This school was the only educational institution in his life – life taught Shmyrev everything else.

In 1913, Minay Shmyrev was drafted into the army and assigned to the artillery. Soon, the First World War began. The 23-year-old young man found himself on the Russian-German front. This period of his service is little known – Shmyrev himself was a modest person, and many events of the First World War were forgotten during the Soviet period. However, the fact that during the war years the young man was awarded two medals for his bravery shown in battles, and most importantly, became a full Cavalier of St. George, receiving three Crosses of St. George – the highest soldier's award, speaks volumes.

In 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army, organized the first partisan detachment in the Vitebsk Governorate, and commanded a detachment to combat banditry, for which he was awarded a high award for those times – the Order of the Red Banner.

Since 1923, Minay Filippovich served as the head of the district land department, then as the chairman of a collective farm, director of a flax mill, and a cardboard factory. In December 1934, at the Republican Congress of Soviets, Shmyrev was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee of the BSSR. He dedicated himself entirely to his work everywhere, even though his wife died before the war, and he had to take on the sole responsibility for raising their four children. Minay Filippovich would wake up early in the morning, prepare breakfast, send the older children to school, and then hurry to the cardboard factory. In short, Shmyrev's pre-war biography alone would have been enough for a whole lifetime.

The Great Patriotic War began. In the early days of the war, Shmyrev attempted to evacuate the children to the mainland with the female workers of the cardboard factory he managed. However, the truck they were traveling in did not make it; an enemy paratrooper landing was carried out on the route of the convoy. They had to turn back. Minay Shmyrev then hid the children in the remote forest village of Punichi with his mother, who was already over 100 years old at the time.

Former workers of the cardboard factory and local activists, whom he led into the partisans on the orders of the district party committee after the town of Surazh was occupied by the fascists on July 12, 1941, began to call Minay Filippovich "Batka" (Father). Shmyrev formed a partisan detachment that initially numbered only 22 people. In the very first month of the war, this small partisan detachment received its baptism of fire – on the quiet Turovka River near the village of Timokhi, they defeated a regular fascist unit, killing about 30 fascists.

From there, the proud fame of the unconquered Batka Minay spread through the occupied villages of the Vitebsk region, crushed under the heel of Hitler, a fame that gave the invaders no peace. The people's avengers, led by Shmyrev, instilled terror in the occupiers: they attacked enemy garrisons and strongholds, destroyed warehouses, blew up an oil depot, carried out sabotage on railways, and disrupted fascist punitive operations against the civilian population. They held a bridgehead on the left bank of the Western Dvina.

"Bandit Number One" - the Germans called Minay. They repeatedly tried to eliminate the partisan. For Shmyrev's head, they promised a cow, a horse, a plot of land, tens of thousands of marks. But there was no traitor who would be tempted by the enemy's silver coins.

Photo from the portal of Belarusian history

Having lost hope of dealing with the people's avengers, the Hitlerites organized a punitive expedition, dispersed, albeit briefly, the partisan detachment, and on October 19, 1941, took the commander's young children hostage: Liza (14 years old), Sergey (10 years old), Zina (7 years old), Misha (3 years old). They were taken to Surazh, where a powerful garrison was located after a previous partisan attack. The prisoners were kept in hunger and cold, given a crust of bread and a little water. The children were beaten and frightened. The children first screamed, cried, then stopped. The older children were told that their father had already been caught and hanged, and the youngest, Misha, had the worst of it - he was constantly subjected to "confrontations" with captured partisans in the hope that Misha would recognize and thereby betray his father.

The fascists promised to leave the children alive if Batka Minay surrendered voluntarily. Upon learning that his children had been captured, Shmyrev was in despair – just a couple of days earlier, he had wanted to take them to the forest, but the grandmothers objected. Batka Minay was at a loss: he did not want to storm Surazh, as the partisans suggested – they could not take Surazh, and this was precisely what the fascists were counting on. At first, he wanted to surrender to the Germans alone in exchange for the children's lives, then he decided to commit suicide, hoping that the Germans would not kill the children. But much was decided by a note from his eldest daughter Liza, passed to Shmyrev: "Dad, don't worry about us, don't listen to anyone, don't go to the Germans. If they kill you, we are powerless and will not avenge you. But if they kill us, Dad, then you will avenge us." On February 14, 1942, the Hitlerites shot the children, his sister, and his wife's mother. He had no relatives left. Minay carried Liza's note in his pocket, close to his heart, throughout the war.

The monument to the children of the partisan brigade commander M.F. Shmyrev, shot by the occupiers, was opened in July 1984

After severe trials, the partisan detachments of the Surazh zone merged into a strong combat fist – in April 1942, the First Belarusian Partisan Brigade was created, headed by Minay Filippovich. Together with the Red Army units, the partisans held the famous "Surazh Gate" – a forty-kilometer gap in the German front line. Through the "Surazh Gate," civilians and recruits went to the mainland, cattle were driven, grain was transported, and partisans received weapons here, as did army sabotage and reconnaissance groups. These "gates" existed for about six months, until the end of September 1942.

The partisan brigade of Batka Minay became the full master of its territory. Its headquarters had telephone communication with the headquarters of the 4th Shock Army and with all partisan detachments. In the Surazh zone, also called the Minay zone, the district party committee and the district executive committee, collective farms and state farms operated. It was an island of Soviet power behind enemy lines in 1942.

In the autumn, Minay Filippovich was recalled to the disposal of the Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement.

The Motherland highly appreciated the combat merits of the national hero of the Belarusian people, Batka Minay. In 1944, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, he was awarded four Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class, and many medals.

Life went on. After the war, Minay Shmyrev, with his second wife Irina, two daughters Dina and Klara (born in April 1943), and adopted son Rostislav, lived in Vitebsk. He worked as the deputy chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee. He was repeatedly elected as a deputy of the Vitebsk Regional Council and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR. Minay Shmyrev became the first honorary citizen of the city of Vitebsk. However, he could not get rid of his heartache. In one of his letters to Anna, the wife of his own brother, Minay Filippovich wrote: "...the family is living for now. The little ones are growing up, at least from them you sometimes get some peace of mind. But what has been lost, you will never forget. Since Ivanovna died, my life has been dark days. I often think why not me, but her. There is no doubt that she could have saved the children. But I couldn't. And that thought torments me terribly. True, I have settled down with a person with whom one can live. We have had two children, the children are good. Klarisa is already walking, starting to say something. But the burden on my heart never leaves me about my family. This stone will not leave me all my life…".

Photo of the Belarusian History Portal

Minais Filippovich Arkady Kuleshov wrote about the personal tragedy in the "Ballad of the Four Hostages":

They are led along a rye path of landscape.

Four.

Under escort

From home.

Only fourteen - for the elder girl,

Only three years old for the little boy…

And the fascist,

Pushing them against the wall,

Squints his eye so that the shot is accurate,

Starting with Minai's son.

And the three-year-old boy is already falling.

Again, the flaxen head is before the muzzle…

And the wall…

And the shadows of the hostages…

That's all.

Before Father Minai

All you fathers, get on your knees!

Minais Filippovich Shmyrev can rightfully be called a man from a legend. Poems have been written about him, songs have been composed. Addressing Batka Minai, the People's Poet of Belarus Yanka Kupala wrote in one of his poems in 1942:

A sincere, low bow to you,

Our Batka Minai!

You have become dear and close to us;

You are our land.

Minais Filippovich Shmyrev died in 1964. Monuments have been erected to Minai Shmyrev in Vitebsk and his small homeland, an obelisk with bronze bas-reliefs of Liza, Zina, Seryozha, and Misha Shmyrev has been installed on the territory of Surazh Secondary School. Streets in Vitebsk and the urban settlement of Surazh, as well as Zapolskaya Secondary School in Vitebsk District and Vitebsk State College of Machine Building are named after Minai Shmyrev. A film about the fate of Minai Shmyrev and his family was shot at the Belarusfilm studio.

Monument to Minai Shmyrev in Vitebsk

By the Decree of the Council of Ministers of Belarus dated February 1, 1966, and the Order of the Ministry of Culture of Belarus dated March 24, 1966, the Vitebsk Regional Museum of the Hero of the Soviet Union Minay Filippovich Shmyrev was established. It was opened on July 5, 1969, during the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus.

The museum's exposition acquaints visitors with the life and activities of Shmyrev, the history of the creation and operations of the "Batka Minay" partisan detachment during the Great Patriotic War, the First Belarusian Partisan Brigade, and the battles of partisans for the defense of the Surazh partisan zone. It includes a map-scheme of the defeat of the enemy garrison in the urban settlement of Surazh in 1941, a diagram of the partisan airfield's location, a diorama "Night Partisan Airfield," partisan weapons, leaflets, flags, personal belongings, documents, awards, and photographs of Shmyrev and other partisans.

The museum houses documents on the interaction between partisans and pilots of the 105th Separate Guards Order of Alexander Nevsky Ponevezh Aviation Regiment, on the liberation of Vitebsk and all of Belarus as a result of Operation Bagration, and the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War.

In the exposition, the interior of Minay Filippovich Shmyrev's study is presented with furniture, books, personal belongings, hunting equipment, and materials about the labor and creative successes of the collectives of enterprises and educational institutions named after M.F. Shmyrev. In the park with an oak grove planted by former partisans, a bust of him (sculptor Zair Azgur) is installed, as well as a model of "Rail War," artillery pieces, and a mortar.