Belarusian resistance during World War II The Belarusian Resistance during World War II opposed Nazi Germany from 1941 until 1944 . Belarus was one of the Soviet republics occupied during Operation Barbarossa . However , segments of the Belarusian population cooperated with the Nazi occupation government and continued until the end of the war . Resistance . After the victories of the Wehrmacht against the Red Army in 1941 , Belarus was one of the Soviet republics that came under control of Nazi Germany . The official government of the occupation forces was established on August 23 , 1941 under the direction of Wilhelm Kube . While the resistance movement first consisted of cut - off Soviet soldiers , some civilians began joining them around the summer of 1942 . From that time until the end of the year , the Central Committee of the Communist Party ( of Bolsheviks ) of Byelorussia formed courses and offices helping those wishing to fight the Nazi Government . On September 22 , 1943 , Kube was assassinated in his Minsk home by a bomb as part of Operation Blow - up ; the bomb was placed by a Soviet partisan Yelena Mazanik , a Belarusian woman who had managed to find employment in Kube ' s household as a maid in order to assassinate him . The first partisan detachments were composed mostly of Red Army personnel , but also included local people ; they were commanded by Red Army officers or local Soviet or Communist activists . These detachments dated back to the early days of World War II : the detachment " Starasyel ' ski " of major Dorodnykh in Zhabinka district ( June 23 , 1941 ) , the detachment of Vasily Korzh in Pinsk on June 26 , 1941 and others . First awards to the partisans with order of Hero of the Soviet Union occurred on August 6 , 1941 ; they were given to detachment commanders Pavlovskiy and Bumazhkov . Throughout 1941 , the core of the partisan movement consisted of the straggling remains of the Red Army units destroyed in Operation Barbarossa , personnel of the destruction battalions , and local Communist Komsomol and Soviet activists . The most common unit of the period was the detachment . The " seed " partisan detachments , diversionist and organizational groups were actively formed and inserted into German - occupied territories beginning in the summer of 1941 . Urban underground groups were formed as a force complementing the activities of partisan units , which operated in rural terrains . Organization . As a controlling body , a network of underground Communist structures was actively developed on German - occupied territories , and it received an influx of specially picked Communist activists . By the end of 1941 , more than two thousand partisan detachments ( with more than 90 , 000 personnel ) operated in German - occupied territories . However , the activities of the partisan forces weren ' t centrally coordinated or logistically provided for until spring of 1942 . In order to coordinate partisan operations , the Headquarters of the Partisan Movement , headed by Ponomarenko , was organised on May 30 , 1942 . The Staff had its liaison s in the Military Councils of the fronts and armies . The territorial Staffs were subsequently created , dealing with the partisan movement in the respective Soviet Republics and in the occupied provinces of the Soviet Russia . While in Ukraine and Belarus some of the local population was initially supportive to the German occupation , hoping it would end harsh Stalinist rule , they soon found that the Nazi regime was far more brutal . Such excesses included looting , mass transfers of working age population to the Reich to serve as slave labourers , and arbitrary and severe punishment for infractions ; the Nazis also employed collective punishment , including burning entire villages with their residents ( e . g . see Khatyn ) . Under these circumstances , many locals were motivated to join the anti - Nazi resistance , and the majority of the populace became passive supporters to partisans . Later NKVD , SMERSH and GRU began training special groups of future partisans ( effectively , special forces units ) in the rear and dropping them in the occupied territories . The candidates for these groups were chosen among volunteers from regular Red Army , NKVD ' s Internal Troops , and also among Soviet sportsmen . When dropped behind Axis lines , the groups were to organize and guide the local self - established partisan units . Radio operators and intelligence gathering officers were the essential members of each group since amateur fighters could not be trusted with these tasks . Some commanders of these special units ( like Dmitry Medvedev ) later became well - known partisan leaders . Logistics difficulties . The Soviet authorities considered Belarus to be of the utmost importance to the development of the Soviet partisan war from the very beginning . The main factors were its geography , with lots of dense forests and swamps , and its strategical position on the communications going from West to Moscow . In fact , Belorussian Communist bodies in the Eastern provinces of Belarus began to organize and facilitate organization of the partisan units on the day after the first directive issuing ( directives No . 1 of 1941 - 07 - 30 and No . 2 of 1941 - 07 - 01 ) . By the Soviet estimates , in August 1941 about 231 detachments were operating already . The « seed » units , formed and inserted into Belarus , totaled 437 by the end of the 1941 , comprising more than 7 . 2 thousand personnel . However , as the frontline moved further away , the logistical conditions steadily worsened for the partisan units , as the resources ran out , and there was no wide - scale support from over the frontline until March 1942 . One outstanding difficulty was the lack of radio communication , which wasn ' t addressed until April 1942 . The support of the local people was also insufficient . So , for several months , partisan units in Belarus were virtually left to themselves . Especially difficult for the partisans was the winter of 1941 - 1942 , with severe shortages in ammunition , medicine and supplies . The actions of partisans were generally uncoordinated . In the circumstances , the German pacification operations in Summer and Fall 1941 were able to curb the partisan activity significantly . Many units went underground , and generally , in the late Fall 1941 — early 1942 , the partisan units weren ' t undertaking the significant military operations , limiting themselves to sorting out the organizational problems , building up the logistics support and gaining influence with the local people . By the incomplete data , in the end of the 1941 , 99 partisan detachments and about 100 partisan groups operated in Belarus . In Winter 1941 — 1942 , 50 partisan detachments and about 50 underground organization and groups operated in Belarus . In the period ( 1941 - 12 - 01 ) , the German guard forces in the Army Group « Center » rear comprised 4 security divisions , 2 SS brigades , 260 companies of different branches of service . The Moscow Battle turned the tide in the morale of the partisans and of the local people in general . However , the real turning point in the development of the partisan movement in Belarus , and , in fact , on the German - occupied territories in general , came in the course of the Soviet Winter 1942 offensive . 1942 , Vitebsk Gate . The turning point in the development of the Soviet partisan movement came with the opening of the Vitsyebsk gate in February 1942 . The partisan units were included in the overall Soviet strategical developments shortly after that , and the centralized organizational and logistical support had been organized , with Gate ' s existence being the very important facilitating factor . " See also " : Central Headquarters of Partisan Movement , Special Belarusian courses . The Germans treated the local population abysmally ( with the notable exception of the fraction of the civil administration headed by Wilhelm Kube ) , maintained kolkhozes in East and restored land possessions in West , collecting heavy food taxes , rounded up and sent young people to work in the Germany . Overwhelmingly , Jews and even small - scale Soviet activists would feel more secure in the partisan ranks . The direct boost to the partisan numbers were the Red Army POWs of the local origin , who were let out " to the homes " in Fall 1941 , but ordered by Germans to " return to the concentration camps " in March 1942 . In the Spring 1942 , the aggregation of the smaller partisan units into brigades began , prompted by the experience of the first year of war . The coordination , numerical buildup , structural rework and now established logistical feed all translated to the greatly increased partisan units military capability , which showed , e . g . , in the increased number of diversions on the railroads , reaching hundreds of engines and thousands of cars destroyed by the end of the year . In 1942 , the terror campaign against the territorial administration , which was manned by the local people ( " collaborators and traitors " ) was additionally emphasized . This resulted , however , in the definite split of the local people ' s sympathies , resulting in the beginning of the organization of the Anti - Partisan units with native personnel in 1942 . By the November 1942 , Soviet partisan units in Belarus numbered about 47 . 3 thousand personnel . 1942 , West Belarus . In January 1943 , of 56 , 7 thousand Partisan personnel , 11 , 1 thousand were operating in the West Belarus , which was 3 , 5 less per 10 thousand local people than in the East , and even more so ( up to 5 — 6 factor ) if accounting for the much more efficient evacuation measures in the East in 1941 . This discrepancy wouldn ' t be sufficiently explained by the German treatment of local people , nor by the quick German advance in 1941 , nor by the social circumstances then existing in these regions . There is strong evidence , that this was a decision of the central Soviet authorities , who abstained from the greater buildup of the Partisan forces in West Belarus , and left Polish underground military structures to grow unopposed in these lands in 1941 — 1942 , in the context of relations with the Polish government in exile of Sikorsky . Certain level of military cooperation , imposed by the respective commands , was noted between Soviet partisans and Armia Krajowa ( AK ) , the people of Polish nationality were , to a degree , exempted from the terror campaign in 1942 . After the break of diplomatic relations between USSR and Polish government in exile in April 1943 , the situation changed radically . From this moment on , AK was treated as a hostile military force . 1943 . The buildup of the Soviet partisan force in the Western Belarus was ordered and implemented during 1943 , with 9 brigades , 10 detachments and 15 operational groups transferred from the Eastern to Western lands , effectively tripling the Partisan force there ( to 36 , 8 thousand in December 1943 ) . It is estimated that ~ 10 - 12 thousand personnel were transferred , and about same number came from the local volunteers . The buildup of the military force was complemented by the ensuing buildup of the underground Communist Party structures and propaganda activity . The Stalingrad victory , certain curbing of the terror campaign ( actually since December 1942 , formally in February 1943 ) and amnesty promised to repenting collaborants were a significant factors in the 1943 growth of the Soviet partisan forces . Desertions from the ranks of the German - controlled Hilfspolizei and military formations strengthened , with sometimes whole units coming over to Soviet partisan side — Volga Tartars battalion ( 900 personnel , February 1943 ) , Gil - Rodionov 1st Russian People ' s brigade of the SS ( 2500 personnel , August 1943 ) . Summarily , about 7 thousand people of miscellaneous anti - Soviet formations joined the Soviet partisan force . About 1 , 9 thousand specialists and commanders were inserted in the Belarusian lands in 1943 . However , the local people comprised the core of the personnel influx in the Soviet partisan force . In the Fall 1943 , the partisan force in BSSR totaled about 153 , 700 , and by the end 1943 about 122 , 000 , with about 30 , 800 put behind the frontline in the course of liberation of eastern parts of BSSR ( end 1943 ) . After the liberation of BSSR , about 180 , 000 partisans joined the Soviet Army in 1944 . During the 1941 — 1944 period , the turnaround in the Soviet partisan force in Belarus was about 374 , 000 , about 70 , 000 in urban underground , and about 400 , 000 in the reserve of the partisan force . Among Soviet partisans in Belarus were people of 45 different ethnic backgrounds and 4 , 000 foreigners ( including 3 , 000 Poles , 400 Czechs and Slovaks , 300 Yugoslavians , etc . ) . Around 65 % of Belarusian partisans were local people . The partisan movement was so strong that by 1943 - 44 there were entire regions in occupied Belarus , where Soviet authority was re - established deep inside the German held territories . There were even partisan kolkhoz es that were raising crops and livestock to produce food for the partisans . . During the battles for liberation of Belarus , partisans were considered the fourth Belarusian front . As early as the spring of 1942 the Soviet partisans were able to effectively harass German troops and significantly hamper their operations in the region . The resistance movement in Belarus was depicted accurately in the movie Come and See . Jewish forces . During the same period , Jewish residents of Belarus also took part in partisan activities . The units , based on family camps , was devised by Tuvia Bielski with his brothers in Western Belarus . Based from the forests near the Neman River , the family units was home to mostly women , children and elderly . The men who were able to carry weapons either guarded the camps or took part in partisan activities . While the main purpose of the camps was to shelter Belarusian Jews and create villages to survive , there were some camps that were set up to militarily combat the occupation government . One group , from 1941 until 1944 , attacked or destroyed bridges , factories , railroad tracks and killed police and Nazi officials . The family camps also prevented the deportation of residents to either labor or concentration camp s . Relations with Poles . The Polish underground operated over the whole pre - war territory of Poland , including the Polish territories annexed by the Soviet Union . As non - communist Poles tended to consider the Soviets as occupiers even after the German invasion of the Soviet Union there was some conflict between Polish and Soviet partisans . June 22 , 1943 Central Committee of the Belarusian Communist Party received orders in Moscow to destroy Armia Krajowa in Belarus . Since then , the number of conflicts between Soviet Belorussian and non - communist Polish partisans intensified . One Polish unit was arrested December 1 , 1943 , some Polish officers were executed , the commander major Wacław Pełka transported to Moscow .