On June 29, the war in Ukraine reached its 857th day.
This day is the "Shipbuilders' Day" in Russia, and at the same time the "Day of Partisans and Underground Workers" in Russia. There are so many festivals in Russia, almost every industry has its own festival, so it's not uncommon to have more than one festival in one day. However, Russia, which is rich in thinkers, should have its own deep meaning in being able to set these two holidays on the same day.
On June 29, 1667, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered the construction of the first modern warship in the history of the Russian Navy, the patrol ship "Orel". In 2017, the Russians, who had been fighting for more than two years in the Mediterranean port of Tartus, designated June 29 as "Shipbuilder's Day".
Shipbuilding has always been considered one of the key and priority areas of the Russian domestic industry and the Russian economy as a whole. The Russians have never shied away from saying that as long as it has a strong navy, Russia will be a powerful country on an international level, Moscow's opinion will be taken into account, and Moscow's voice will be heard. And without the navy, Russia will have problems defending its point of view, after all, the voice of the weak is meaningless.
However, even with a strong navy, Russians still feel like a baby carriage with no fence on the edge of a cliff. The stroller on the edge of the cliff is enough to hang, there is no fence, and the sense of crisis of the Russians is really enough.
Of course, there is a reason for this sense of crisis. The European part of Russia is flat and undefendable. Once war breaks out, it is easy for a powerful enemy to quickly advance into the hinterland of Russia. So, in the 17th century, the Poles occupied Moscow for two years; In the 19th century, Napoleon stormed Moscow and destroyed the city by fire; During World War II, Hitler's troops also fought under Moscow. When the enemy army invaded the hinterland of Russia and the Russian army put up frontal resistance, it was natural that there would be underground workers and partisans on the battlefield behind the enemy lines to organize guerrilla warfare.
Six days after the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, on June 29, 1941, the Soviet High Command ordered the establishment of guerrilla detachments and sabotage groups in enemy-occupied areas, creating unbearable conditions for the German army and all its accomplices to pursue and destroy them step by step and sabotage all their activities.
As a result, more than 6,000 guerrilla units operated behind enemy lines during the war, of which more than 1.1 million guerrillas and 220,000 underground workers took part in the fighting. They inflicted huge losses on the "Nazis": more than 4,000 tanks and armored vehicles were blown up, 58 armored trains and more than 12,000 bridges over railways, roads and dirt roads were blown up, 65,000 cars and more than 11,000 aircraft were blown up, and more than 20,000 derailed enemy railway echelons. In all, the partisans pinned down more than 10% of the enemy's ground forces fighting on the Soviet-German front.
In 2009, after being stimulated by the Russian-Georgian Five-Day War of 2008, Moscow officially designated June 29, the day of the Soviet Union's guerrilla warfare during World War II, as "Guerrillas and Underground Workers Day." While commemorating the exploits of Soviet partisans in World War II, it is also a constant reminder to Russians that national security needs to be achieved in various ways. Thus, stimulated by the Russian-Georgian Five-Day War and the war in Syria, June 29 became a common holiday for partisans and shipbuilders.
And as the time advances to 2024, these two festivals are particularly different with the blessing of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian shipbuilders once built 9 aircraft carriers of the Soviet Union, which definitely represent the glory and dream of the Soviet era. And the places where guerrillas were most active in World War II include the places where the war in Ukraine is most affected now: Bryansk, Belarus and Ukraine in Russia.
Moreover, the most famous partisan hero of the Soviet Union was the Ukrainian General Sidor Koopak. Kovpak was born in the Poltava region of Ukraine and fought in World War I and the Soviet Civil War. After the outbreak of World War II, he led a guerrilla force operating in the Sumy region, which eventually grew into the 1st Ukrainian partisan division. Kovpak was awarded not only the rank of major general, but also twice the title "Hero of the Soviet Union".
Therefore, it can only be said that June 29 is a common holiday for shipbuilders and partisans, and it is not a common holiday for Russians and Ukrainians. It's a pity that on this day, Russian missiles attacked Dnipro, Zaporozhye, Kharkiv and other regions of Ukraine; Ukrainian missiles and drones attacked Crimea, Kursk, Belgorod Oblast and other places. The Kerch Bridge was temporarily closed. In the course of this series of air strikes, the guerrillas on both sides should have provided coordinate support to the air raid troops.
After the Russian army took Crimea in 2014, NATO conducted systematic training for the Ukrainian military and police, but only in two subjects: urban guerrilla warfare and sabotage warfare behind enemy lines. Before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, more than 90,000 Ukrainian military and police officers were trained in these two subjects. And the results of the training are all the difficulties that the Russian army is facing now.
Therefore, the Russians have made no secret of the fact that in the era of mobile Internet, the mode of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines has undergone fundamental changes. The guerrillas no longer need to bomb the enemy's warehouses or substations in person, they only need to post important location information on the Internet to deal devastating blows on the enemy's important strategic targets, such as energy infrastructure.
Therefore, in order to meet the drones commanded by pro-Ukrainian partisans and defend the skies of Russia's homeland, Russia is now openly recruiting volunteers to attract sharpshooters and hackers to form an anti-drone mobile team with a high salary of more than $3,000 and the status of a state official.
There is really nothing new under the sun, and after 80 years, Ukraine has once again become the party where the partisans are showing their talents. It's a pity that this time it was the Slavic brothers, whose ancestors fought side by side for a common dream 80 years ago.