H WWII PARTISAN IN EUROPE (FRENCH AND BALKAN)

In almost every country in occupied Europe, the Axis states, especially Germany, had to face resistance from the local population. For example, in the Netherlands, a form of resistance to the occupant was primarily passive resistance and conscious economic sabotage, but also in this country (especially after 1943) the armed resistance movement came to the fore. In France, you can also see all three forms of resistance, with the armed resistance movement called La Resistance being more extensive, which from February 1944 on was called the French Internal Forces. On the other hand, in Yugoslavia and in Poland, the armed resistance movement was probably the largest in the entire occupied Europe. Two very strong organizations were active in Yugoslavia: the communist partisans (headed by Josep Broż Tito - the later dictator of this country - at the head) and the so-called Chetnica, or the Royal Yugoslav Army in the Homeland. It can be properly assumed that the Yugoslav partisans, taking advantage of the mountainous terrain of their country, led to the creation of an almost separate "front" of World War II and involved considerable forces of the Axis states. On the other hand, there were several groups of the armed resistance movement in Poland, the largest of which, however, was the ZWZ (Związek Walki Zbrojnej) established in 1939, which in February 1942 was transformed into ZWZ-AK, often called AK (Army National). At its peak, perhaps 350-380 thousand people served in the ranks of the Home Army. soldiers.