Minay Shmyryov was a Soviet partisan. Minay Shmyryov was one of the leaders of the partisan movement in Belarus during World War II. He was the commander of the partisan detachment and the 1st Belorussian partisan brigade. During the last days of Operation Bagration, Shmyryov was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his wartime role in the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Background
Minay Shmyryov was born on December 23, 1891, in a peasant family in Punishche, a village near Vitebsk (then part of the Russian Empire's Vitebsk Governorate), now Belarus. The Shmyryov family included 13 children and was in a bad financial situation, that's why Minay had to work since the very childhood. He grazed cattle, rafted timber and looked after the horses of a wealthy local landowner, Pan Rodzianka.
In 1921-1923, his father and younger brother were killed. He became the eldest male person in the family and had to provide for them. Since that time he became known as "Bats'ka" - Belarussian word for "father."
Education
As soon as Minay was eight years old, he was sent to study at a parish school. He managed to study there for three years.
Career
In 1913 Shmyryov started to serve in the Tsarist Army. He participated in World War I. For the courage he showed in the battles, Minay Shmyryov was awarded three crosses of St. George. In 1918 he voluntarily entered the Red Army and fought against the White Guards Krasnov, Kornilov and Yudenich. Minay Shmyryov organized the first partisan detachment in Vitebsk province, was the commander of the anti-bandit detachment, for which he was awarded the highest award at that time - the Order of the Red Banner.
In the mid-1920s, Minay Shmyryov left military service and took part in various endeavors for 15 years. In 1932, Minay Shmyryov was elected a chairman of the kolkhoz in his native village of Punishche, later he was appointed director of the flax mill, and then - the cardboard factory.
It the beginning of World War II on July 9, 1941, Shmyryov organized the first partisan detachments from factory workers in the region, which later became part of the 1st Belorussian partisan brigade. The detachment initially totaled only 22 people. Quickly, the "Bats'ka's detachment" became a big problem for the Nazis and a hope for local residents. In only two months, partisans fought 27 times with the enemies, destroyed 14 vehicles, 18 fuel tanks, blew up 8 bridges, and defeated the German district council in Surazh. By September the brigade had grown to number about 2000 partisans.
In October 1941, trying to capture the partisan leader, the Nazis took four of his children hostage alongside his sister and mother-in-law. They were taken to Surazh. The Nazis promised to let go the children alive if Bats'ka Minay voluntarily surrenders. Having learned about the capture of the children, Shmyryov was desperate - he wanted to take them out to the forest just a couple of days before, but grandmothers opposed.
At first, he wanted to surrender to the Nazis in exchange for the lives of his children, then he decided to commit suicide, hoping that the Nazis would not kill his children. But much was decided by the note, Lisa, the eldest daughter, transferred to Shmyryov: “Dad, don’t worry about us, don’t listen to anyone, don’t go to the Germans. If you'll be killed, we will remain powerless and we won’t be able to avenge you. And if we'll be killed, dad, then you can avenge us." The partisans' attempts to free them from prison failed. On February 14, 1942, after four months of torment in the Nazi dungeons, Shmyryov’s relatives were shot dead.
In the spring of 1942, on the orders of the Central Committee of Belarus, Shmyryov teamed up with three partisan detachments and led the 1st Byelorussian Partisan Brigade. Together with the units of the Red Army, partisans held the famous Surazh Gate, a forty-kilometer gap in the German front line. Civilians and recruits used the Surazh Gate to took out grain, receive weapons, move millions of cartridges, hundreds of tons of explosives, machine guns, typographical and printing machinery. It also gave the opportunity to leave the territory of Belarus. These "gates" lasted about six months, until the end of September 1942.
Minay's brigade controlled the whole partisan region where Soviet power was actually restored. Since November 1942, Shmyryov worked at the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. On August 15, 1944, he was awarded the honorary title, Hero of the Soviet Union.
After the war, Shmyryov was repeatedly elected a deputy of the Vitebsk Regional Council and a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic; he was a delegate to the XXII Congress of the Communist Party of Belarus. He worked as deputy chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee and supported other former partisans.
Minay had been a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union since 1920 and then the Communist Party of Belarus.
Personality
After his family was killed, Shmyryov began to fight the Nazis with double power, because he had nothing left to lose. He also always kept the note, his daughter Liza wrote to him in his pocket near the heart.
Connections
Shmyryov's first wife died before World War II and left him with four children. Liza, Sergey, Misha, and Zina were killed by the Nazis during the war. Shmyryov married for the second time to a partisan woman, Irina. They had two twin-daughters, Klara and Dina.