THE BELARUSIAN NATIONAL DEFENCE: THE HISTORY OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT AND ACTIVITY (1944-1945).

After a number of events, during World War II in Belarus collaboration of the local people with the German occupation authorities took place. One of the most obvious episodes of collaboration was the establishment and the activity of the Belarusian National Defence. The armed unit was formed at the end of spring and in the beginning of summer 1944 through mobilization and was intended for armed combat with Soviet partisans and the Red Army. The article analyzes the process of establishing the unit, its numbers, the degree of combat readiness and participation in warfare. In summer 1944, after withdrawal of German forces from Belarus some of the soldiers of the Belarusian National Defence turned up at the Western front. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]