in Skidel, robbing and murdering Poles. Those movements were quickly disciplined by the NKVD. Prior to the Soviet partisans support from the East, the Polish military's fall-back plan had called for long-term defence against Germany in the southern-eastern part of Poland (near the Romanian border), while awaiting relief from a Western Allies attack on Germany's western border. However, the Polish government decided that it was impossible to carry out the defence on Polish territories. There was retaliation to surrender or negotiate for peace with Germany and ordered all units to evacuate Poland and reorganize in France. Meanwhile, Polish forces tried to move towards the Romanian bridgehead area, still actively resisting the German invasion. From 17 September to 20 September, the Polish Armies Kraków and Lublin were crippled at the Battle of Tomaszów Lubelski, the second largest battle of the campaign. Oksywie garrison held until 19 September. Polish gained victory at the battle of Szack, and the Red Army reached the line of rivers Narew, Bug, Vistula and San by September 28, in many cases meeting German units advancing from the other side. The last operational unit of the Polish Army, General Franciszek Kleeberg's Samodzielna Grupa Operacyjna "Polesie", capitulated after the 4-day Battle of Kock near Lublin on 6 October, marking the end of the September Campaign. Adolf Hitler had argued in Mein Kampf of the necessity of acquiring new territory for German settlement (Lebensraum) in Eastern Europe. However, these plans were delayed through the period of the Phoney War, followed by the Nazi invasions of Norway, France and Benelux, Denmark, and the failed Battle of Britain. Polish citizens took an active part in the Soviet partisan movement in the occupied territory of the former USSR. 2,500 Polish citizens took part in the Soviet partisan movement in the territory of the Byelorussian SSR, of which 703 were awarded with Soviet state awards A further 2000 Polish citizens took part in the Soviet partisan movement on the territory of the USSR. June 1941 – September 1941 At 04:45 on 22 June 1941, four million German soldiers, to be joined by Italian, Romanian and other Axis troops over the following weeks, burst over the borders and stormed into the Soviet Union, including the Byelorussian SSR. For a month the offensive was completely unstoppable north of the Pripiet marshes, as the Panzer forces encircled hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops in huge pockets that