The attitude of the German army towards the population in the occupied territories of the USSR provoked a response - the creation of resistance units. The partisans blew up bridges, derailed echelons, freed prisoners, destroyed the occupiers, seized military equipment. The very word "partisans" terrified 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 of the German military and political leadership in carrying out measures to destroy the partisan movement, military diaries, summaries of the generalized experience of combat operations of the ground forces, memoirs of participants in the events and other documents. The author explores the nature of the emergence of guerrilla warfare, the structure of formations, their leadership, goals, objectives and forms of fighting the invaders. Finally, Hesse analyzes the results of the guerrilla war and its significance in the defensive struggle of the Soviet armed forces against the Wehrmacht.