Liberation of Belarus, 1943-44
Belarus suffered from fascist enslavement for 3 years. Among the chief methods that the fascists used to implement their “new order” in Belarus were genocide and mass and bloody terror. Hitler’s soldiers committed unheard atrocities here, regardless of whom they were killing: women, men, old people or children. Concentration camps, prisons and ghettos functioned practically in every region of Belarus. All in all there were 260 death camps and 70 ghettos in the Republic. Only in Trostenz concentration camp about 206.5 thousand people were killed.
Irrespective of the barbaric repressive measures of the fascists against the Belorussians they couldn’t crush the National will for Liberation. On the territory of Belarus there appeared a mass Resistance Movement against the invaders.From the first days of aggressive invasion into the country many underground partisan organizations sprang up encompassing all districts, areas and regions. Among the most well-known were the “Partisan group of Pinsk” led by Korzh, the “Red October” group headed by Bumazhkov and Pavlovskii of October district in Polesskii region, and the “Troop of Shmirev” which started to operate in 1941 in Suruzhskii district of Vitebsk region.
An outstanding underground work was performed by the partisans of Minsk region with their first leader Kovalev. The group estimated at about 9 thousand members including people of 25 nationalities of the former USSR, antifascists from 9 foreign countries, about 3000 workers, 2235 soldiers and 1860 former military men, 1700 students. They prepared and disseminated hand-written leaflets with the information from the Soviet Information Bureau, gathered and transmitted weapons to guerilla groups as well as medical supplies and committed diversions in fascist establishments.
The Liberation of Belarus from the German aggressors began in autumn 1943. On the 26th of November the Troops of the Belorussian front headed by General Rokossovkii liberated Gomel (the major city of Gomelsk region) and the Belorussian Government re-evacuated there at once. Numerous Belorussian cities were freed in summer 1944 during the prominent military operation called “Bagration”. In the course of the opetation the troops of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts in cooperation with partisan groups and brigades defeated the armies of the German group “Center”. 17 German divisions and 3 brigades were annihilated completely and what is more 50 fascist divisions lost over 50% of their soldiers over there. It was a disaster for Germany and even its Army Chiefs had to acknowledge the fact. Over 1600 generals, officers and soldiers were awarded the honourable title of the Hero of the USSR for courage and heroism revealed in the battles with the Germans on the Belorussian land. Besides more than 400 thousand military men and guerillas were honoured with special orders and medals; they were people of all natinalities of the former USSR: Belorussians, Russians, Tatars, Ukranians, Kazachs and others.
As a result of the offensive operation “Bagration” the whole territory of Belarus, the greatest part of Lithuania, a considerable part of Latvia, East Poland were liberated from the aggressors, the Red Army approached the border of Eastern Prussia. But even after its Liberation our country did everything to win a glorious Victory over the enemy. At the restored plants and factories workers completed military orders before terms, fallow citizens gave their money, obligations and even products (bread, potatoes) to special Funds to help soldiers on front.
After the Red Army had driven away the enemy from the Soviet territory in the second half of 1944 it rendered its help to the people of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania to free their lands from the Nazi invaders. In January 1945 our troops passed to offensive on a vast territory from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians.
Belorussian offensive operation, 1944
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