‘The fate of a traitor’, Eastern Front, 1943 circa (b/w photo)

‘The fate of a traitor’, 1943 circa. Photograph, World War Two, Eastern Front (1941-1945), 1943 circa. A female civilian beats a collaborator as he is marched through the town of Orlov by Soviet partisans. He was executed shortly afterwards. The Soviet leadership instructed partisans behind the lines to kill anyone whom they believed was disloyal. Although they targeted collaborators, some partisan groups abused their power and extracted whatever they wanted from helpless villagers who found themselves in the middle of a brutal war. The struggle witnessed German atrocities and Soviet reprisals on an enormous scale. One of 26 British and Soviet official photographs.