After twenty months of Soviet rule, Nazi Germany and its Axis allies invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. Soviet authorities immediately evacuated about 20% of the population of Belarus, killed thousands of prisoners and destroyed all the food supplies. Mironowicz, Eugeniusz (1999) Białoruś, Trio, Warsaw, p. 136. The country suffered particularly heavily during the fighting and the German occupation. Minsk was captured by the Germans on 28 June 1941. Following bloody encirclement battles, all of the present-day Belarus territory was occupied by the Germans by the end of August 1941.
After twenty months of Soviet rule, Nazi Germany and its Axis allies invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. Soviet authorities immediately evacuated about 20% of the population of Belarus, killed thousands of prisoners and destroyed all the food supplies. Mironowicz Eugeniusz (1999) Białoruś Trio, Warsaw, p 136. The country suffered particularly heavily during the fighting and the German occupation. Minsk was captured by the Germans on 28 June 1941 Following bloody encirclement battles, all of the present-day Belarus territory was occupied by the Germans by the end of August 1941.