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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 total, Belarus lost a quarter of its pre-war population in the Second World War, including practically all its intellectual elite. About 9,200 villages and 1,200,000 houses were destroyed. The major towns of Minsk and Vitebsk lost over 80% of their buildings and city infrastructure.
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.The term Belarusian partisans may refer to Soviet-formed irregular military groups fighting Germany, but has also been used to refer to the disparate independent groups who also fought as guerrillas at the time, including Jewish ...
The republic was devastated as a result of the German occupation during World War II, and its territory was expanded after Western Belorussia was annexed by the Soviet Union as a result of the war. Belarus became an independent state in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In western Belarus, under Polish control until World War II, Byelorussia became commonly used in the regions of Białystok and Grodno. [10] Upon the establishment of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1920, the term Byelorussia (its names in other languages such as English being based on the Russian form) was only used officially.
Mobilised Russian reservists near the Belarusian city of Baranovichi have been supplied with WW2 weapons and helmets, some machine guns are out of order. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces ...
World War II (1941–1944) Soviet Union Byelorussian SSR Nazi Germany. Belarusian Central Council; Victory: Belarusian Central Council dissolved, results include the Independence Day (Belarus) Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) Soviet Union Byelorussian SSR Afghanistan. Afghan mujahideen: Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
The massacre was not an unusual incident in Belarus during World War II. At least 5,295 Belarusian settlements were burned and destroyed by the Nazis, and often all their inhabitants were killed (some amounting to as many as 1,500 victims) as a punishment for collaboration with partisans.