The history of one of the Belarusian partisan brigades has been published as a separate book for the first time

February 1, Vitebsk / Sergey Kotovets - BELTA/. The history of the 4th Belarusian Partisan Brigade became the basis for a documentary publication of the same name, prepared by the State Archive of the Vitebsk Region and the National Archive of Belarus. As reported today at the book presentation by the director of the regional archive, Tatyana Svistunova, this is the first such project implemented by domestic archivists, BELTA correspondent reports. The book was prepared as part of the documentary publication series "Memory of Vitebsk Region," which is being implemented by Vitebsk archivists in conjunction with the National Archive of Belarus. The originality of the publication lies in the fact that the basis of the publication is a single document, which is titled "History of the 4th Belarusian Partisan Brigade." The multifaceted document reflects the history of one of the 13 partisan brigades that operated in the Vitebsk region (as of July 1944). The documentary source contains information about the creation of the brigade, its composition and structure, deployment locations, and interaction with the Red Army and the "mainland." The publication is accompanied by facsimile copies of newspapers, leaflets, partisan wall newspapers, and combat bulletins. In addition, a list of 229 fallen partisans of the brigade is provided. Significant attention is paid to the description of specific combat operations of the brigade, some of which are illustrated with schematic drawings. The book contains data on punitive operations carried out by occupation forces against the brigade's units. Of particular interest are the descriptions of the military, political, and economic situation in the brigade's area of operation, as well as the description of the situation in the area after its occupation by German fascist troops. The 4th Belarusian Partisan Brigade was formed in June 1942, numbered up to 1,000 people at certain periods, and operated in the Gorodok, Rossony, Miory, and Sharkovshchina districts. Its history makes it possible to illustrate the development of the partisan movement in both the eastern and western parts of the modern Vitebsk region, noted Tatyana Svistunova. During the German occupation, over 374,000 people resisted on Belarusian soil, united in over 1,200 detachments (997 of them were part of 213 brigades and regiments, and 258 detachments fought independently). In Vitebsk region alone, over 100,000 residents joined the fight against the occupiers. By the end of 1943, partisan formations controlled 108,000 sq. km, or 58.4% of the occupied territory of Belarus. -0-