Archive footage filmed in 1942, 1943, and 1945 features renowned Soviet partisan leader Sidor Kovpak during and after World War II.

Soviet partisans were resistance fighters who took on the Axis powers, and commander Kovpak, leader of the movement in Ukraine, can be seen giving instructions to his comrades at a meeting in a forest camp ahead of an operation against German Nazi forces.

The video also shows Soviet partisans mining and then blowing up a railway bridge, as well as fighting in the forest.

Two-time Hero of the Soviet Union Kovpak can also be seen receiving a state award in Moscow as well as visiting Kotelva village in the Poltava region where he was born and raised. The footage features Kovpak cutting the grass with a scythe, helping workers harvest vegetables as well as talking with his fellow villagers.

Kovpak's successful guerrilla tactics allowed him to wage warfare against Axis forces across German-occupied territory as well as against the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

His nickname 'Ded' ('old man') came from both his advanced years and white beard. He also famously seized many of his resources from the enemy, jokingly saying his 'supplier is Hitler'.

After the war, 'Ded' held key posts in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialistic Republic, and died on December 11, 1967.

This archive footage is released as part of the '100 Key Events in Russia in the 20th and 21st Centuries', a project with the Russian State Documentary Film and Photo Archive (rgakfd.ru).