View source for Pyotr Vershigora

{{Short description|Soviet Ukrainian partisan leader (1905–1963)}}

{{Family name hatnote|Petrovich|Vershigora|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{no footnotes|date=February 2013}}

{{Infobox military person
| name          = Pyotr Vershigora
| native_name   = Петро Петрович Вершигора
| native_name_lang = uk
| image         = Советский партизан Герой Советского Союза генерал-майор П.П. Вершигора.jpg
| caption       = Vershigora after receiving the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1944
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1905|5|16|df=yes}}
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1963|3|23|1905|5|16|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Severinovca]], [[Podolia Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]] <small>{{nowrap|(now [[Transnistria]], Moldova)}}</small>
| death_place   = [[Holercani]], [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic|Moldavian SSR]], [[Soviet Union]] <small>(now Moldova)</small>
| allegiance    = {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}}
| branch        = [[Soviet Partisans|Partisans]]
| serviceyears  = 1941–1945
| rank          = [[Major general]]
| commands      = 1st Ukrainian Partisan Division
| battles       = {{tree list}}
* [[World War II]]
** [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]
{{tree list/end}}
}}
'''Pyotr Petrovich Vershigora''' (first name also '''Petr''') ({{lang-ru|Пётр Петро́вич Верши́гора}}) or '''Petro Petrovych Vershyhora''' ({{lang-uk|Петро Петрович Вершигора}}) ({{OldStyleDate|16 May|1905|3 May}} – 23 March 1963) was one of the leaders of the [[Soviet partisan]] movement in [[Ukraine]], [[Belarus]] and [[Poland]] and later a writer.

Petro Vershigora was born in the village of [[Severinovca]] near the [[Transnistria]]n town of [[Rîbnița]]. His parents were ethnic [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] teachers at the local rural school, who died during his childhood. As a young orphan he worked at various jobs, including [[shepherd]], [[miller]], and librarian, as well as amateur actor and musician in his native village. In 1927, after completing his conscript military service, he enrolled in the [[Odessa]] Fine Arts Academy and upon graduation worked as an actor and stage manager. 

In 1936 Vershigora completed his studies at cinema school and worked on several documentary films with the [[Kiev]] cinematographic company. Following the [[German invasion of the Soviet Union]], he joined the [[Red Army]]. On 23 June 1942 he was air dropped on a [[reconnaissance]] mission in the German-occupied [[Oryol Oblast|Oryol]] region with orders to join the underground resistance movement there. 

Within a few months Vershigora joined the partisan units led by [[Sydir Kovpak]] in northeastern Ukraine. After the death of [[Semyon Rudnev]] in the summer of 1943, he became Kovpak's right-hand man and the head of his scouting and reconnaissance elements. Under his leadership, the [[1st Ukrainian Partisan Division]] raided German-occupied western Belarus and eastern Poland, harassing the German rear. On 3 July 1944 they joined the regular Soviet army that was fighting to expel German forces from Belarus. In August 1944, after three years of fighting, Vershigora was promoted to the rank of [[major general]].

After the war Vershigora taught at the military academy in Moscow and wrote a number of books, including ''Lyudi s chistoi sovestyu'' (People with a Clear Conscience, 1947), his memoirs about the war.

==Honours and awards==
* [[Hero of the Soviet Union]]
* Two [[Order of Lenin|Orders of Lenin]]
* [[Order of the Red Banner]]
* [[Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union)|Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky]] 1st class
* [[Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War"]] 1st class
* [[Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]

==References==
*{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=2156 War Hero Pyotr Vershigora]
*{{in lang|ru}} [http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/vershigora/ ''People with a Clear Conscience''] &mdash; Pyotr Petrovich Vershigora's Memoirs

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vershigora}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Camenca District]]
[[Category:People from Olgopolsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Transnistrian people of Ukrainian descent]]
[[Category:Soviet major generals]]
[[Category:Soviet military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Soviet partisans in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Soviet writers]]
[[Category:Ukrainian male writers]]
[[Category:Ukrainian people of World War II]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize]]
[[Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union), 1st class]]
[[Category:Ukrainian anti-fascists]]