LJ; I am certain the German troopers crushed by Operation Bagration would disagree with you about the negligibility of the ever snowballing Red Partisan movement. But this was late in the war and it is true that up until that time the Partizani wolves were kept at bay by Axis occupation forces beefed up by sporadic deployments of frontline troops. But even if the guerrillas did not present much of a direct military threat until Bagration how was it that Stavka knew so much about Axis deployments? Spy networks run from guerilla territory and Spetznaz type operations from the same. It is unknown how effective these cloak and dagger efforts were as the records are still sealed-what is known is that the Germans were surprised again and again. Then there were the attacks on the already strained Axis lines of supply and communication that started in 1942 and multiplied as the war behind the lines heated up... JEffinMNUSA