The attitude of the German army towards the population in the occupied territories of the USSR caused a response - the creation of resistance units. The partisans blew up bridges, derailed trains, freed prisoners, destroyed invaders, and took possession of military equipment. The very word “partisans” inspired horror in the leadership of the Wehrmacht, forcing them to commit even more brutal actions against the local population. The work of Erich Hesse is based on colossal documentary material: orders, instructions from the German military and political leadership in carrying out measures to destroy the partisan movement, war diaries, summaries of the generalized experience of combat operations of ground forces, memoirs of participants in the events and other documents. The author examines the nature of the emergence of guerrilla warfare, the structure of formations, their leadership, goals, objectives and forms of fighting the occupiers. Finally, Hesse analyzes the results of partisan warfare and its significance in the defensive struggle of the Soviet armed forces against the Wehrmacht.