LIENIN

ˈLienin

Agrotown in Zhytkavichy Rajon, Gomiel Voblasc, on the right bank of the Sluch River. It is located 46 km northwest of Zhytkavichy, 273 km of Gomiel, 186 km of Minsk, 18 km from the Mikashevichy railway station; connected with Mikashevichy and Sluck by highways.

In 1940–1950, centre of Lienin Rajon.

In 1940–1952, urban settlement.

In 1940, 1,650 inhabitants lived in Lienin.

During the Great Patriotic War

In July 1941, in the Lienin area, defensive battles were fought by the 28th Regiment of the 75th Rifle Division (major general S.I.Nedvigin) of the 21st Army of the Western Front, as well as combat soldiers of the 18th Border Detachment.

The urban settlement of Lienin was invaded on July 16, 1941; according to other sources, the troops defending Lienin were threatened with encirclement and left it on July 18. 4,474 people died in the urban settlement and rajon at the hands of German Nazi invaders. During the destruction of the ghetto in Lienin on August 14, 1942, the Hitlerites killed 1,850 people (according to other sources, appr. 2,000 people) were killed.

From July 1941, the Partisan Detachment under the command of V.Z.Korzh (formed on June 26, 1941, in Pinsk) operated in the area.

The “Kamarova” (nickname of V.Z.Korzh) [V.Z.Korzh; see in the article Partisan Brigade S.M.Budennyj (of Pinsk Voblasc)], “Piatrovicha” (see in the article Partisan Detachment S.M.Kirov of Pinsk Voblasc), and M.T.Shysh (see in the article Partisan Brigade V.M.Molotov) Partisan detachments routed the enemy garrison in Lienin on September 12, 1942 (see Lienin Battle of 1942).

The Lienin Underground Rajon Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus and Lienin Underground Rajon Committee of the Lenin Young Communist League (LKSMB); the S.M.Budennyj Partisan Brigade and S.M.Kirov Partisan Brigade (of Pinsk Voblasc), the M.A.Shchors Partisan Detachment, and I.I.Chuklaj Partisan Detachment operated in Lienin and its rajon.

During 1942, the partisans completely mopped Lienin, partially Luniniec, and Gancavichy rajons, up invaders, forming the Lienin Partisan Zone; in 1943, it joined the Akciabrski-Liuban Partisan Zone. In December 1942, all rural Soviets (councils) in Lienin Rajon resumed their functions. A partisan airfield operated near Navina village (Naviny; now in Saligorsk Rajon). The partisans had held the urban settlement until February 1943, when punitive forces captured and destroyed it.

During the Hornung punitive operation on February 16, 1943, they killed 1,046 people in Lienin, burned 351 households (not a whole building remained); according to other records, more than 1,200 people died in the urban settlement after the invasion of punitive forces.

In May 1944, during the Marabou punitive operation, fierce battles took place between the partisans and punitive forces in Lienin Rajon.

Lienin was liberated on July 6, 1944, by the soldiers of the 55th Rifle Division (colonel K. M. Andrusienka) of the 89th Rifle Corps of the 61st Army of the 1st Belarusian Front during the Belarusian Operation of 1944 (Operation Bagration of 1944).

In Lienin, there are:

• mass graves of Soviet soldiers and partisans; ones of seven Komsomol members, who were shot by the Hitlerites in July 1941; ones of 1250 Soviet war prisoners and fascism victims; grave of Soviet patriot N. V. Aliejnik; grave of the Chopchyts family who were underground members; graves of the fascism victims, i.e. five civilians shot in November 1941; ones of ghetto prisoners; ones of the civilians killed by the punitive forces in February 1943 (monuments were raised on the graves);

• monument to the partisans who routed the German Nazi garrison in Lienin in 1942.