Byelorussia in World War II

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Soviet partisans in Belarus in 1943.

When the Second World War in Europe began, the territory which now forms the country of Belarus was divided between the Soviet Union (specifically the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic) and the Second Polish Republic. The borders of Soviet Belarus were greatly expanded in the Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939. In 1941, the country was occupied by Nazi Germany. Following the German military disasters at Stalingrad and Kursk, the collaborationist Belarusian Central Council (BCC) was formed by the Germans in order to raise local support for their anti-Soviet operations. The BCC in turn formed the twenty-thousand strong Belarusian Home Defence (BKA), active from 23 February 1944 to 28 April 1945.[1] Assistance to collaborators was offered by the local Soviet administrative governments, and prewar public organizations including the former Soviet Belarusian Youth.[2] The country was soon retaken by the Red Army in 1944. Devastated by the war, Belarus lost significant populations and economic resources. Many battles occurred in Belarusian territory. Belarusians also participated in the advance towards Berlin.

September 1939 – June 1941

Further information: German–Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk
German–Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk. Troops passing the platform with the officers. September 22, 1939

The

protocol described how Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (Second Polish Republic) and Romania
would be divided between them.

In the

Bucovina and Bessarabia
).

The Polish defense was already broken, with their only hope being retreat and reorganisation in the south-eastern region (the

Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Soviet diplomacy were protecting the Ukrainian and Belarusian minorities
inhabiting Poland in view of Polish imminent collapse.

Polish border defence forces (

Skidel, robbing and murdering Poles. Those movements were quickly disciplined by the NKVD
.

Prior to the Soviet partisans support from the East, the Polish military's fall-back plan had called for long-term defence against Germany in the southern-eastern part of Poland (near the Romanian border), while awaiting relief from a Western Allies attack on Germany's western border. However, the Polish government decided that it was impossible to carry out the defence on Polish territories. There was retaliation to surrender or negotiate for peace with Germany and ordered all units to evacuate Poland and reorganize in France.

Meanwhile, Polish forces tried to move towards the Romanian bridgehead area, still actively resisting the German invasion.

From 17 September to 20 September, the Polish Armies Kraków and Lublin were crippled at the

San by September 28, in many cases meeting German units advancing from the other side. The last operational unit of the Polish Army, General Franciszek Kleeberg's Samodzielna Grupa Operacyjna "Polesie", capitulated after the 4-day Battle of Kock near Lublin
on 6 October, marking the end of the September Campaign.


Denmark, and the failed Battle of Britain
.

Polish citizens took an active part in the Soviet partisan movement in the occupied territory of the former USSR. 2,500 Polish citizens took part in the Soviet partisan movement in the territory of the Byelorussian SSR,[3] of which 703 were awarded with Soviet state awards[4] A further 2000 Polish citizens took part in the Soviet partisan movement on the territory of the USSR.[5]

June 1941 – September 1941

At 04:45 on 22 June 1941, four million German soldiers, to be joined by Italian, Romanian and other

Panzer forces encircled hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops in huge pockets that were then reduced by slower-moving infantry divisions while the panzers charged on, following the Blitzkrieg doctrine
.

Dnieper river, which was accomplished by 11 July. Following that, their next target was Smolensk, which fell on 16 July, but the engagement in the Smolensk area
blocked the German advance until mid-September, effectively disrupting the blitzkrieg.

Operation Barbarossa: the German invasion of the Soviet Union, 21 June 1941 to 5 December 1941
  to 9 July 1941
  to 1 September 1941
  to 9 September 1941
  to 5 December 1941

With the capture of Smolensk and the advance to the

Luga river
, Army Groups Centre and North had completed their first major objective: to get across and hold the "land bridge" between the Dvina and Dnieper.

The German generals argued for an immediate drive towards Moscow, but Hitler overruled them, citing the importance of Ukrainian grain and heavy industry if under German possession, not to mention the massing of Soviet reserves in the Gomel area between Army Group Centre's southern flanks and the bogged-down Army Group South to the south.

After a meeting held in

Field Marshal Fedor von Bock
, for them to try their luck on the battlefield rather than just sit and wait while their opponent gathered more strength.

Occupation and Collaboration 1941 – June 1944

Main article:
Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany

Atrocities against the Jewish population in the conquered areas began almost immediately, with the dispatch of Einsatzgruppen (task groups) to round up Jews and shoot them. Local gentiles were encouraged to carry out their own pogroms.[citation needed] By the end of 1941, there were more than 50,000 troops devoted to rounding up and killing Jews.[citation needed] In three years of occupation, between one and two million Soviet Jews were killed.

June 1944 – May 1945

Soviet advances from 1 August 1943 to 31 December 1944
  to 1 December 1943
  to 30 April 1944
  to 19 August 1944
  to 31 December 1944

In the summer of 1944 a balcony-shaped frontline had shaped following advances by the Red Army during late 1943. This invited an encirclement attack to cut off and destroy Army Group Centre. For

Soviet Fronts
name "Byelorussian" kept their name until the end of the war, and were to distinguish themselves in the battles in Poland and Germany in 1944 and 1945.

In the Soviet Union

Victory Day, or День Победы in Belarus, Russia
and some other post-Soviet countries.

Belarusian volunteers in German forces

  • Belarusian Abwehr/Brandenburg Sabouteur agents
  • Vorkommando Einsatzgruppe B,also Vorkommando Moskau
  • Belarusian Interior Guard
  • 29th Waffen-SS Division/(weissruthenische Gr.)
  • Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS (weißruthenische Nr. 1)
  • 30.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (weissruthenische Nr. 1)
  • weissruthenische Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 75
  • I./weissruthenische Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 75
  • II./weissruthenische Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 75
  • III./weissruthenische Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 75
  • weissruthenische Artillerie-Abteilung
  • weissruthenische Panzerjäger-Abteilung
  • weissruthenische Reiter-Schwadron
  • Waffen Sturm-brigade Belarus
  • "Black Cat" Special undercover unit

German commanders and officers linked with Belarus

Belarusian Anti-Soviet commanders

Timeline

1939

  • 14 – 17 September Battle of Brześć Litewski.
  • 17 September The eastern front of the Campaign opens with the invasion of Poland by the
    Brześć Litewski
    falls to the 3rd Army.
  • 18 September
    Brześć
    .
  • 21 – 24 September Battle of Grodno (1939).
  • 2 October The Battle of Kock begins with a German advance.
  • 6 October The Battle of Kock ends with the surrender of defending Polish forces. This is the final significant military resistance to the German or Soviet invasions.

1940

1941

1942

1943

  • March -
    Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive (1943)
    in Russia.
  • 22 July - establishment of the Union of Belarusian Youth, an influential nationalist group
  • 30 July In the largest partisan sabotage action of the entire Second World War, the so-called
    Asipovičy diversion: four German trains with supplies and Tiger tanks
    were destroyed.
  • August Donbas strategic offensive (August 1943)
  • August
    Battle of Belgorod
    .
  • Battle of Smolensk (1943)
    .
  • October Battle of Lenino.
  • 5 December: assassination of
    Vaclaŭ Ivanoŭski
    , mayor of Minsk
  • December: establishment of the
    Belarusian Central Rada
    , a Belarusian self-government.

1944

  • 22 June - the Second All-Belarusian Congress took place in Minsk Opera a few days before the city was recaptured by the Red Army. The Congress gathered 1,039 delegates from all Belarusian provinces and proclaimed the independence of Belarus.
  • 28 June The
    collaborators
    and their families to Germany.
  • June – August Operation Bagration — destruction of German Army Group Centre.
  • Čorny Kot led by Michał Vituška. They had some initial success due to disorganization in the Red Army's rear-guard. Anti-Soviet partisan resistance in Belarus lasted until at least the late 1950s.[6]

1945

  • Čorny Kot carries out guerrilla warfare against Soviet forces.
  • At the end of 1945
    war criminals
    . The BCR was eventually revived in exile by Astroŭski and his group and became one of the political centres of the Belarusian diaspora until its dissolution in the 1980s.

See also

References

  1. ^ Andrew Wilson (2011). "The Traumatic Twentieth Century" (PDF). Belarus: the last European dictatorship. Yale University Press. pp. 109–110. Archived from the original (PDF file, direct download) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  2. ^ BKA (1999–2000). "Belarusian State-Defense Army 23.II.1944-28.IV.1945". Axis Freiwillige: National Volunteer formations in Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS. Вторая Мировая Война. Retrieved 10 July 2014. Национальные Добровольческие формирования в Вермахте и Ваффен-СС
  3. ^ В. С. Толстой. Братское содружество белорусского и польского народов. 1944—1964. Минск, «Наука и техника», 1966. стр.16
  4. ^ Боевое содружество советского и польского народов. / редколл., гл.ред. П. А. Жилин. М., «Мысль», 1973. стр.168
  5. ^ З. А. Богатырь. Патриотическая борьба советского народа в тылу врага в период Великой Отечественной войны. М., «Знание», 1970. стр.11
  6. ^ "КГБ СССР пра пасляваенны антысавецкі супраціў у Беларусі: з першых рук". Наша Ніва (in Belarusian).

Further reading

External links

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