BARANAVICHY

Baˈranavichy

City, centre of Baranavichy Rajon, Brest Voblasc. It was located 206 km from Brest, 149 km from Minsk. Name of the major railway junction (lines to Minsk, Brest, Luniniec, Lida, and Vawkavysk) and a highway junction.

In 1939–1954, centre of Baranavichy Voblasc.

In 1939, there were 27,400 inhabitants in Baranavichy.

During the Great Patriotic War

In the first days of the war, the units of the 155th (major general P. A. Aleksandrov) and 55th (colonel D. I. Ivaniuk) Rifle divisions fought against Nazi invaders in the Baranavichy area. On June 25, 1941, during the whole day, the enemy launched attacks on the Baranavichy — Siniawka line, but it was unsuccessful. The invaders managed to force Soviet troops to retreat on June 26, but they (the Nazi) did not get close to the city. Many subunits distinguished themselves in difficult defensive battles, including the 129th Independent Anti-Tank Fighter Artillery Battalion.

Baranavichy was invaded on June 27, 1941. The German Nazi invaders killed 128,110 people in the city and its surroundings, including 31,000 Soviet war prisoners in the Liasnaja death camp branch established in the Baranavichy Central Prison and over 18,000 ghetto prisoners in Baranavichy, i.e. inhabitants of the city and its surroundings as well as 3,000 Czechoslovak Jews who in June 1942 were transported by special echelon from Terezin (town in the Czech Republic) and executed in Urochyshcha Gaj. The Nazi destroyed 80 % of industrial enterprises, educational and cultural institutions, 2,5 thousand residential buildings.

The struggle against the invaders was conducted by the Baranavichy Underground City Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus, the Baranavichy City Patriotic Underground, the Baranavichy Underground Voblasc Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus, Baranavichy Underground Voblasc Committee of the Leninist Young Communist League of Belarus, the Baranavichy Akruga (circuit) Anti-Fascist Organisation. The Baranavichy Partisan Formation and Baranavichy Southern Zone Partisan Formation operated in the territory of the voblasc. The Za Rodinu («За Родину», lit. ‘for the Motherland’) underground newspaper, i.e. the body of the Baranavichy Underground City Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus, and Chyrvonaja Zviazda («Чырвоная звязда», lit. ‘red star’) underground newspaper, i.e. the body of the Baranavichy Underground Voblasc Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus, were published.

Baranavichy was liberated on July 8, 1944, in the course of the troops offensive of the 1st Belarusian Front in the Baranavichy-Slonim direction during the Belarusian Operation of 1944 (Operation Bagration of 1944). The city was liberated by the troops of the 65th Army (colonel general P. I. Batov), i.e. the 37th (colonel V. L. Morozov) and 75th (major general V. A. Garyshny) Guards Rifle divisions, 15th (major general K. E. Grebennik) and 69th (major general J. J. Sankowski) Rifle divisions of the 18th Rifle Corps, 193rd Rifle Division (major general A. G. Frolenkov) and part of the forces of the 44th Guards Rifle Division (major general V. A. Borisov) of the 105th Rifle Corps, 251st Independent Tank Regiment (Lt.Col. F. S. Vierlań), 922nd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (Lt.Col. A. V. Sokolov); by the troops of the 28th Army (lieutenant general A. A. Luchynski), i.e. the 50th Guards Rifle Division (major general A. S. Vladychanskij) of the 3rd Guards Rifle Corps, 130th Rifle Division (colonel K. V. Sychev) of the 123rd Rifle Corps, 881st Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (captain P. M. Khachaturjants) of the 3rd Tank Corps; by the troops of the 16th Air Army (colonel general of aviation S. I. Rudenka), i.e. the 283rd Fighter Aviation Division (colonel S. M. Chyrva), part of the forces of the 2nd Guards Assault Aviation Division (major general of aviation G. O. Komarov), 323rd Fighter Aviation Division (colonel P. P. Rybakov) of the 8th Fighter Aviation Corps, 234th (colonel E. Z. Tatanashvili), and 273rd (colonel N. V. Isaev) Fighter Aviation divisions of the 6th Fighter Air Corps.

28 military formations and units of the Red Army which liberated the city (see Baranavichy Military Formations and Units) were awarded the Baranavichy honorary title.

In Baranavichy, there are:

• mass graves of Soviet soldiers; ones of Soviet soldiers and partisans; ones of underground members, including on the military plot of the civilian cemetery; ones of Soviet war prisoners; graves of Heroes of the Soviet Union V. I. Matronin, I. P. Lisin, A. G. Nakonechnikov, two-time Hero of the Soviet Union M. T. Stepanischev, major general I. L. Ragulia, Soviet soldiers F. V. Chorny and A. I. Astrowski, underground member M. F. Darashevich and his relatives; graves of fascism victims; monuments were raised on these graves;

• the Urochyshcha Gaj memorial complex;

• the Memory memorial complex at the place of annihilation and burial of 31 thousand Soviet war prisoners;

• memorial complex on the grave of the fascist terror victims, i.e. ghetto prisoners (at the reinterment of 12,000 Jews from Baranavichy);

• the Liberation monument (to the soldiers and partisans who were liberating Baranavichy from the German Nazi invaders);

• monument to motorist warriors;

• monument to artillerymen;

• memorial sign in honour of the partisans of the Baranavichy Formation;

• memorial sign to fascism victims;

• memorial sign to the persons who were detained in the camp of the civilian population at the Baranavichy-Tsentralnyja railway station in the period from March 1943 to July 1944;

• memorial plaques in honour of Heroes of the Soviet Union A. G. Nakonechnikov, I. P. Lisin, A. I. Kazakov, U. Z. Tsaruk, A. G. Frolenkov, V. E. Chernyshov, I. K. Kabushkin, Ja. F. Pavlov; underground members L. P. Baradzinski, M. F. Darashevich; Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov; Marshal of the Soviet Union K. K. Rokossovskij; major general I. L. Ragulia who died during the liberation of Baranavichy; were installed in honour of the underground members at the place of their death; the fascism victims (ghetto prisoners executed in March 1942 near the Zialiony Most [green bridge] on the city skirts).

By Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus № 44 on February 2, 2024, Baranavichy city was awarded the ‘For Courage and Fortitude during the Great Patriotic War’ pennant.