Poland was annexed and partitioned by Germany and the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Polish September Campaign of 1939. On the pre-war Polish territory annexed by Soviets (Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, Lithuania and Białystok area, known to Poles as Kresy) the first Soviet partisan groups were formed in 1941, soon after the German’s invasion of the Soviet Union. Initially the Soviet partisan groups were formed primarily in the areas of Nowogródek (modern Navahrudak), Lida and Wilno (modern Vilnius) out of Red Army solders who evaded capture by the advancing German forces. Lacking support of the local population, the Soviet partisan groups retreated to various large forest complexes in the area, where they hid from the German rear and anti-partisan units.^{[1] [2]} Annexation is the legal merging of some territory into another body. ... Combatants Poland Germany Soviet Union Slovakia Commanders Edward Rydz-ÅšmigÅ‚y Fedor von Bock (Army Group North) Gerd von Rundstedt (Army Group South) Ferdinand ÄŒatloÅ¡ (Field Army Bernolak) Strength 39 divisions 16 brigades 4,300 guns 880 tanks 400 aircraft Total: 1,000,000[1] 56 German divisions, 33+ Soviet... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, adjusted by agreement on 28 September 1939, the Soviet Union annexed all Polish territory east of the line of the rivers Pisa, Narew, Western Bug, and San, except for Wilno country with its capital Wilno (Vilnius), which was given to Lithuania, and... Western Ukraine (Західно-українська Народна Республіка, West-Ukrainian Peoples Republic) was a short-lived republic that existed in late 1918 and early 1919 in eastern Galicia, Bukovina and Transcarpathia and included the cities of Lviv, Kolomyja, and Stanislav. ... West Belarus is the name used by Russian and Belarusian government to denote the territory of modern Belarus that belonged to Second Polish Republic between World War I and World War II. The term is used mostly in historic context. ... BiaÅ‚ystok (pronounced: , Belarusian: , Lithuanian: , Yiddish ביאַליסטאָק) is the largest city (pop. ... The name Kresy (Polish for borderlands, or more correctly Kresy Wschodnie, Eastern Borderlands) is used by Poles, mostly in historical context, to refer to the eastern part of Poland before the II World War. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Supreme commander: Adolf Hitler Supreme commander: Josef Stalin Strength ~ 3. ... Navahradak (Нава́градак in Belarusian; Polish: Nowogródek; Russian: Novogrudok, Lithuanian: Naugardukas) is a Belarusian city with an old history, the first capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. ... Lida (Belarusian: Лі́да, Russian: Ли́да, Lithuanian: Lyda) is a small city located in western Belarus, approximately 70 km west of Minsk. ... Vilnius Old Town Vilnius (sometimes Vilna; Polish Wilno, Belarusian Вільня, Russian Вильнюс, see also Cities alternative names) is the capital city of Lithuania. ... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ...

Initially, until early 1943, the Soviet partisans focused primarily on survival deep behind enemy lines, with their activity limited mostly to sabotage and diversion rather than armed struggle against German forces and Lithuanian collaborationist police. During that period various Soviet partisan groups also collaborated with the local Polish resistance of ZWZ, later renamed to AK. The Polish underground was established in the area in fall 1939. It was both anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet. The latter attitude stemmed from the memories of Soviet terror between 1939 and 1941, and was reinforced by the conduct of the Soviet partisans.^[2] Stalin's aim to ensure that an independent Poland would never reemerge in the postwar period.^[3] The inhuman policies of both Hitler and Stalin were clearly aimed at the total extermination of Polish citizens, both Jews and Christians^[3] As the eastern front was nearing the area, and diplomatic relations between Polish government in exile and the Soviet Union were broken off in the aftermath of the discovery of the Katyn Massacre, most of the collaboration between Polish and Soviet partisans came to an end, and as ordered by Moscow on June 22 1943^[4] the Soviet partisans started an open fight both against the German forces and the local Polish partisans^{[5] [2]}. Frequent requisitions of food in local villages and brutal reprisal actions against villages considered disloyal to the Soviet Union sparked creation of numerous self-defence units, often joining the ranks of the Armia Krajowa^[5][1]. Similar assaults on the Polish resistance organizations took place also in the Ukraine^[6]. The Soviet partisans were despised by local population, as they engaged in plunder and terrorised the locals ^[7] 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Lithuanian Security Police also referred to as Saugumas (Lithuanian: ) was a Lithuanian Nazi-sponsored collaborationist Police from 1941 to 1944. ... German supply train blown up by the Armia Krajowa during World War II. Polish resistance movement was a resistance movement in Poland, part of the anti-fascist resistance movement which fought against the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany during World War II. Resistance to the Nazi German occupation began... ZwiÄ…zek Walki Zbrojnej (ZWZ; Association of Armed Struggle) was a cryptonym of the Polish Army formed in Poland after it was occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union as a resultof the Polish Defence War. ... The Armia Krajowa (Home Army) or AK functioned as the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II in German-occupied Poland, which was active in all areas of the country from September 1939 until its disbanding in January 1945. ... This article deals with the the treatment of Polish citizens by occupation forces during the Second World War (1939 - 1945). ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... The Eastern Front of World War II was the theatre of war covering the conflict in central and eastern European regions from June 1941 to May 1945. ... The Government of the Polish Republic in exile was the government of Poland after the German occupation of Poland in September 1939. ... Mass graves at Katyn war cemetery. ... The Armia Krajowa (Home Army) or AK functioned as the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II in German-occupied Poland, which was active in all areas of the country from September 1939 until its disbanding in January 1945. ...

Communist propaganda routinely referred to the pro-Western Polish underground army as “bands of the White Poles”. According to another propaganda directive, the Polish underground was to be referred to as “the protégés of the Gestapo”.^[2] On 23 June 1943, the Soviet partisan leadership authorized denouncing the Polish underground to the Nazis. Later, orders went out to “shoot the [Polish] leaders” and “discredit, disarm, and dissolve” their units.^[2] Feigning friendship, the Soviets lured at least two sizable Polish guerrilla detachments to their destruction.^[2]

The Soviets partisants preferred to assault the poorly armed and trained Belarusan and Polish self-defense forces much more often then German military and police targets like military transports and or other hard targets^[2]. By the end of 1943, the Soviet could claim a significant victory in their war aganst the Poles: most large landed estates, owned by the Poles, had been destroyed by the Soviet partisans.^[2]

In late 1943, the actions of Soviet partisans, who were ordered to liquidate tha AK forces^[4] resulted in a limited amount of uneasy cooperation between some units of AK and the Germans. While AK still treated Germans as the enemy and conducted various operations against them^[4], when Germans offered AK some arms and provisions to be used against the Soviet paristans, some Polish units in the Nowogródek and Wilno are decided to accept them. However any such arrangments were purerly tactical and did not evidenced a type of ideological collaboration as shown by Vichy regime in France, Quisling regime in Norway or closer to the region, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.^[4] The Poles main motivation wast to gain intelligence on German morale and preparedness and to acquire some badly needed weapons.^[8] There are no known joint Polish-German actions, and the Germans were unsuccesfull in their attempt to turn the Poles toward fighting exclusively against Soviet partisans.^[4] Even so, most of such collaboration of local commanders with the Germans was condemned by AK High Command^[4]. Tadeusz Piotrowski quotes Joseph Rotschild saying "The Polish Home Army was by and large untained by collaboration" and adds that "the honor of AK as a whole is beyond reproach".^[4]. Navahradak (Нава́градак in Belarusian; Polish: Nowogródek; Russian: Novogrudok, Lithuanian: Naugardukas) is a Belarusian city with an old history, the first capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. ... Vilnius Old Town Vilnius (sometimes Vilna; Polish Wilno, Belarusian Вільня, Russian Вильнюс, see also Cities alternative names) is the capital city of Lithuania. ... Vichy France (French: now called Régime de Vichy or Vichy; called itself at the time État Français, or French State) was the French state of 1940-1944 which was a puppet government under Nazi influence, as opposed to the Free French Forces, based first in London and later in Algiers. ... Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (July 18, 1887–October 24, 1945) was a Norwegian fascist politician and officer. ... Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists or OUN (Ukrainian: or ОУН) was a Ukrainian political movement whose immediate purpose was to protect the Ukrainian population from repression and exploitation by governing authorities; its ultimate goal was an independent and unified Ukrainian state. ... Tadeusz Piotrowski can refer to: Tadeusz Piotrowski (mountaineer). ...

The struggle continued until the arrival of the Red Army in 1944. From then, over the period of the next few years, Soviets and their proxies, the Polish communists, would work to succesfully eradicate the remains of the pro-Western Polish underground. The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of Soviet Communist dominance over the Peoples Republic of Poland in the decades following World War II. These years, while featuring many improvements in the standards of living in Poland, were marred by political instability, social unrest, and... Polish communists can trace their origins to early 1900s and the works tor the first Polish Marxist, Stanisław Brzozowki (1878-1911). ...

See also

• Koniuchy massacre
• The Bielski Brothers

The Kaniūkai massacre is a massacre that took place during the World War II in lithuanian village of Kaniūkai (Koniuchy in polish), in the Šalčininkai region of Lithuania. ... The Bielski Brothers is a book by Peter Duffy published in 2003. ...

References

1. ^ ^a b (Polish) Zygmunt Boradyn (1999). Niemen rzeka niezgody. Polsko-sowiecka wojna partyzancka na Nowogródczyźnie 1943-1944, 336, Warsaw: Rytm. ISBN 8387893080.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Review of Sowjetische Partisanen in Weißrußland, by Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, in Sarmatian Review, Arpil 2006
3. ^ ^a b Judith Olsak-Glass, Review of Piotrowski's Poland's Holocaust in Sarmatian Review, January 1999.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Tadeusz Piotrowski, Poland's Holocaust, McFarland & Company, 1997, ISBN 0786403713. Google Print, p.88, p.89, p.90
5. ^ ^a b (Polish) Michał Patyna; Zbigniew Cierpiński (April 2004). “Raport z badań przeprowadzonych podczas obozu naukowego KWSM na Białorusi i Litwie w lipcu 2003 r.”, Marian Wolański Zeszyty Naukowe Koła Wschodnioeuropejskiego Stosunków Międzynarodowych (pdf), Zdzisław J. Winnicki, 7-17, Wrocław: Wrocław University. ISSN 1730-654X.
6. ^ (Polish) Ryszard Zieliński. W sierpniu 1943 r. partyzantka dokonała dywersji na torach kolejowych między Ostrogiem a Sławutą. Na Wołyniu i Podolu, Polacy Donbasu. Towarzystwo Kultury Polskiej na Donbasie. Retrieved on 2006-05-01.
7. ^ (Polish) "Forms of constraint applied by the Soviet authorities in relation to the people of Wilejka region". Professor Franciszek Sielicki. Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie, Wrocław, 1997 Villagers couldn't stand Soviet partisans because they conducted shamefull robberies. They stole whatever they could, even children't toys .One doesn't have to mention they stealed horses, cows, pigs, underwear, etc. They were many cases, when faced with resistance, they hanged poor peasents by their legs, upside down, to force them into giving something. Behind Willa, in forests and swamps, they formed new units constantly-otriads, which opressed our villages
8. ^ Review by John Radzilowski of Yaffa Eliach's Big Book of Holocaust Revisionism, Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 1, no. 2 (June 1999), City University of New York.