Operation Cottbus was an anti-partisan operation during the occupation of Belarus by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. The operation began on 20 May 1943 during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

occupation of northern

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

in the areas of Begoml,

Lepel Lyepyel ( be, Ле́пель, Liepieĺ; pl, Lepel; russian: Ле́пель, Lepel, ; yi, ליעפּליע, Li'epli'e) is a town located in the center of the Lyepyel Raion (district) in the Vitebsk Province of Belarus near Lyepyel Lake. Lyepy ...

and

Ushachy Ushachy ( be, Ушачы, russian: Ушачи) is a town, the capital of the Ushachy Raion, Vitsebsk Voblast, Belarus. The city is located 101 kilometers west of Vitebsk Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; ...

. A number of Belarusian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian collaborationist units took part in the operation, along with the SS Special Battalion Dirlewanger.

Richard Breitman Richard David Breitman, born in 1947, is an American historian best known for his study of the Holocaust. Richard Breitman is an American historian who has written extensively on modern German history, the Holocaust, American immigration and refuge ...

(1997
Himmler's Police Auxiliaries in the Occupied Soviet Territories
Museum of Tolerance Online. Retrieved 2009-03-15 Numerous villages were depopulated and burned as part of the operation. The officially communicated result of the operation was that about 9,800 people had been killed (6,087 killed in battle and 3,709 executed) and 4,997 men, but only 1,056 women, had been collected as

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

. These figures are likely to be underestimates of the dead. German radio reported 15,000 dead, although Einsatzgruppe Dirlewanger alone reported enemy losses as about 14,000 dead, although this report does not refer to the whole operation. Taking into account that another two combat groups took part in the operation the likely number of dead during the operation is estimated to have been at least 20,000.

Christian Gerlach Hans Christian Gerlach is professor of Modern History at the University of Bern. Gerlach is also Associate Editor of the ''Journal of Genocide Research'' and author of multiple books dealing with the Hunger Plan, the Holocaust, and genocide. Wri ...

, Kalkulierte Morde. Die deutsche Wirtschafts- und Vernichtungspolitik in Weißrußland 1941 bis 1944. Studienausgabe, pages 943 and following It is likely that the majority of those killed were unarmed civilians. Contemporary German reports described the dead as members of "bands",Nizokar Projec
Archive File: imt/nca/nca-02//nca-02-15-criminality-05-13
Retrieved 2009-03-15 although later in the report doubt is expressed as to the accuracy of these figures, with the assumption that "numerous peasants" must have been among the dead and noting that "Dirlewanger especially has a reputation for destroying many human lives".Nizokar Projec
Nizokar Project Archive File: imt//tgmwc/tgmwc-03/tgmwc-03-24-05
. Retrieved 2009-03-15 The same report indicates that there were 59 German dead. About 950 weapons were captured during the operation.

References

{{coord missing, Belarus Belarus in World War II Military history of Belarus during World War II Nazi war crimes in Belarus Bandenbekämpfung

Cottbus Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exte ...

Mass murder in 1943