Page 149 - JSOM Summer 2018

The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands

Statiev, Alexander. The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press;
2013. Paperback: 386 pages. ISBN-10: 1107616476; ISBN-13: 978-1107616479.

Review by COL (Ret) Warner “Rocky” D. Farr, MD, MPH

here is much newly available literature concerning the re- author connects the history of pre-Soviet and early Soviet-era
Tsistance to Soviet reabsorption of the Baltic States (Lith- rebellions with the often Nazi-collaborating background of
uania, Latvia, and Estonia) back into the Soviet Union after the postwar guerillas and their leaders. Russian is criticizing
World War II. They (the “Forest Brothers” group and oth- a current film on the Forest Brothers made by NATO with a
4
ers) fought guerrilla wars against the Soviet occupation until countering Russian news video report entitled “NATO pro-
well into the 1950s and then transitioned into a nonviolent motes armed resistance.” At the time, the West vainly sought
5
underground to continue their struggle when it was obvious to turn these insurgencies into early “contra-style” forces
that no Western support was coming to their but gave no outside (CIA) support to the
aid. This series of unconventional wars has logistics of these revolts behind the “iron
produced several books by guerrilla fighters, curtain” which sentenced them to certain
some of which have been reviewed in this defeat. Afterward, the insurgents turned to
journal. Much has been made of this style nonviolent mass action and political deal
1,2
of warfare as being a possible response to making, not insurgent armies.
current Russian “hybrid warfare” pressure
on Eastern NATO countries. 3 This book is an excellent introduction to the
soviet policy for dealing with partisans, guer-
However, what of the other side of this fight, rillas, and banditry with draconian methods
the Soviet Counterinsurgency side? Few of counterinsurgency, pacification, and gu-
write about guerrilla war and even fewer lag exile. As a byproduct, it gives a detailed
seem to write about counterinsurgency. The look at Nazi antipartisan operations and
Soviet Union’s annexation of Western bor- doctrine employed in the borderlands during
derlands at the end of World War II sparked World War II. Particularly good is Chapter
fierce insurgencies in both Western Ukraine 9, on police tactics, which focuses on the
and the Baltic states. The author draws ex- tactics, techniques, and procedures used, to
tensively on newly opened Russian archival include Soviet use of pseudo-operations and
sources to provide a detailed account of So- units to penetrate, isolate, and eliminate the
viet counterinsurgency doctrine. No previ- partisan and guerrilla human and physical
ous study in English has addressed this topic infrastructure. Overall, this book has every-
as well. He has obviously done a large amount of research, thing you might want to know about the way the Soviets, or
especially on numbers of insurgents, counterinsurgents, and the Russians, do, or did, counterinsurgency warfare.
casualty figures. The book has numerous tables and figures
to include death rates of guerrillas. Because of the nontrans- References
parency of Soviet history, this violent pacification of Soviet 1. Tauras KV. Guerilla Warfare on the Amber Coast. New York, NY:
borderlands occurring at the end of World War II has not been Voyages Press; 1962.
well documented until now. This is the first comprehensive 2. Remeikis T. Opposition to Soviet Rule in Lithuania, 1945–1980.
Chicago, IL: Institute of Lithuanian Studies Press; 1980.
study of Soviet counterinsurgency that ties together the secu- 3. Praks H. Hybrid or Not: Deterring and Defending Russia’s Ways
rity tools and populist policies, including religion, intended to of Warfare in the Baltics – The Case of Estonia. Rome, Italy;
attract and/or subdue the local populations. NATO Defense College; December 2015. Research Paper 124.
http://www.ndc.nato.int/download/downloads.php?icode=472.
Soviet counterinsurgency efforts are explored in detail from Accessed 24 July 2017.
origin, to composition, to conduct as well as delineating the 4. Video. Forest Brothers: Fight for the Baltics. https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=h5rQFp7FF9c. Accessed 24 July 2017.
techniques employed by KGB Special Forces. Some parallels 5. Video. NATO promotes armed resistance in new Forest Brothers
to the American Phoenix Project (targeted assassination and docu-drama. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrM0lTi2I4M.
black operations) in the Vietnam conflict are evident. The Accessed 24 July 2017.

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