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60-783: The XXII (Motorized) Army Corps was created on 26 August 1939 in Wehrkreis X . The Corps participated the next month in the Invasion of Poland , during which it broke through the southern wing of the Polish Army. In May 1940, the High Command of the XXII Corps also received command over the XIV ( von Wietersheim ), XXXXI ( Reinhardt ) and XIX Army Corps ( Guderian ), and renamed as Panzer Group Kleist ( Panzergruppe Kleist ),

120-698: A population of 1,383,000 inhabitants, which included 980,000 (70.9%) ethnic Poles , 200,000 (14.5%) Belarusians , 120,000 (8.7%) Jews , 80,000 (5.8%) Ukrainians , and 2,000 (0.1%) ethnic Germans . The district was divided into eight county-level administrative units, called district police stations ( German : kreiskommissariate , Polish : komisariaty powiatowe ). These were the police stations Bialystok (Kreiskommissariat Nikolaus), Bielsk-Podlaski (Kreiskommissariat Tubenthal), Grajewski (Kreiskommissariat Piachor, then Knispel), Grodno (Kreiskommissariat Plötz), Łomża (Kreiskommissariat Gräben), Sokolski (Kreiskommissariat Seiler), Volkovysk (Kreiskommissariat Pfeifer) and

180-513: The 2nd Division of the Reichswehr. Wehrkreis III was headquartered at Berlin and contained roughly the territories of the modern-day German state of Brandenburg and the historic province of Neumark . Wehrkreis III was the home district of III Army Corps (after June 1942: III Panzer Corps), which was formed in October 1934 from the 3rd Division of the Reichswehr. Wehrkreis IV

240-708: The Białystok Ghetto Uprising began. This was an insurrection in Poland's Białystok Ghetto by several hundred Polish Jews who began an armed struggle against the German troops finishing off the liquidation of the people still living in the Ghetto. This Ghetto's victims were ultimately destined for the Treblinka extermination camp . It was organized and led by Antyfaszystowska Organizacja Bojowa , an organisation that

300-620: The General Offensive of 1 March 1949 . Bialystok District Bialystok District ( German : Bezirk Bialystok ) was an administrative unit of Nazi Germany created during the World War II invasion of the Soviet Union. It was to the south-east of East Prussia , in present-day northeastern Poland as well as in smaller sections of adjacent present-day Belarus and Lithuania . It was sometimes also referred to by

360-653: The Neman River up to Mosty (excluding Grodno ), including Volkovysk and Pruzhany up to the Bug River to the west of Brest-Litovsk and then following the border of the General Government to East Prussia. Bialystok District was established on 1 August 1941; it was simultaneously excluded from the operational zones of the German Army in the Soviet Union. At the same time, some small areas to

420-572: The Operation Product that mounted by the Dutch East Indies , which caused Renville Agreement . The agreement forced Indonesian military commanders such as Sudirman , T. B. Simatupang , and Abdul Haris Nasution to abandon the traditional linear defense formation of their army; this was formalized in a "strategy command order" issued by Sudirman that same year, which formally adopted the Wehrkreis system, since they viewed

480-853: The Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), due to reports of Soviet guerrilla activity in the area with Jews being of course immediately suspected of helping them out. The first stage of the Nazi persecutions mainly involved applying collective punishment to various villages where any form of real-or-imagined threat had been identified. Terror operations were enacted to prevent assistance to independence movements but mostly to round-up and persecute local Jews. Targeted buildings were being destroyed, possessions robbed, communities mass murdered or sent to labor camps or prisons. SS- Gruppenführer Nebe reported to Berlin on 14 November 1941 that, up to then 45,000 persons had been eliminated. The situation of

540-515: The Wehrkreis passed to the corps second-in-command at the outbreak of war. At the start of the war, there were fifteen Districts in Germany. Two Austrian Districts had been added after the Anschluss of 1938. During the war, four were added, and some Districts had territory added to them from other countries conquered by Germany. Wehrkreis I was headquartered at Königsberg and contained

600-567: The "Zielona" penal camp located between Zaścianki and the Skorupa district where people were arrested for violating German regulations, such as being late for work or alcohol abuse. Following the German occupation, most Jews had been rounded up and forced into some 60 ghettos throughout the District. On 2 November 1942 Nazi SS and police forces, in a coordinated operation with help from the local gendarmerie, suddenly encircled and quarantined all

660-425: The 1st through 7th Divisions of the Reichswehr, with the divisional ordinal number matching the cardinal number of the respective Wehrkreis). These seven (infantry) divisions were additionally joined by three cavalry divisions. In peacetime, the 13 Wehrkreise were the home to the army corps of the same number and all subordinate units of that formation. The corps commander also commanded the Wehrkreis . Command of

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720-974: The Armed Confederation. As a result of the talks, the National Armed Forces branch was established in the region. Initially, the ranks of this organization included the Białystok ZJ and KZ Districts, as well as small groups from the Eastern Combat Organization, the Defenders of Poland Command , the Union for the Reconstruction of the Republic, and the Home Army. During the night of 15–16 August 1943,

780-575: The Białystok district. On July 25, 1941, police units commanded by Colonel Max Montua forced 183 families from the villages of Budy , Pogorzelce , and Teremiski in the Białowieża Forest . They were forcibly moved to Pruzhany . The next day, they drove 1,240 people out of the villages around Narewka. In the following days, further populations from the towns of Leśna, Mikłaszew, Olchówka and Zabrod were made to leave. Another 1133 people were displaced to

840-606: The German North Sea coast, as well as parts of the Baltic Sea coast. Wehrkreis X was the home district of the X Army Corps , which was formed on 15 October 1935 from the Cavalry Corps. Wehrkreis XI was headquartered at Hanover . It contained territories in northern-central Germany, including large parts of what in the modern day is southeastern Lower Saxony and northern Saxony-Anhalt . Wehrkreis XI

900-585: The German military district system enabled the Defence in depth in response to the Dutch positional advantages in artificial line that covered in that agreement. General Simatupang noted that he use the term of Wehrkreise from a german book. The establishment of this doctrine resulted in the formation of five Wehrkreise districts in West Java . Historian Robert Elson rationalize that this strategy enabled

960-621: The Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) of Russland Mitte (Central Russia) headquartered in Mogilev until July 1943 and thereafter in Minsk . This was SS- Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski (May 1941 – June 1944) and then SS- Obergruppenführer Curt von Gottberg (June – August 1944). The center of administration for the district was the Polish city of Białystok . The area had

1020-598: The Indonesian army to conduct guerilla warfare in following conflict with Dutch army during Operation Kraai . General Nasution viewed the Wehrkreise system were important for each Indonesian army districts to mount resistance independently. Barry Turner has noted the similarities of Indonesian Wehrkreise implemented by Nasution with the Germans in aspect of dividing of tier forces between the mobile force units and

1080-599: The NKVD collaborators across the local villages and towns. On July 3 additional formation of Schutzpolizei arrived in Białystok, summoned from the General Government. It was led by SS- Hauptsturmführer Wolfgang Birkner , veteran of Einsatzgruppe IV from the Polish Campaign of 1939. The relief unit, called Kommando Bialystok , was sent in by SS- Obersturmbannfuhrer Eberhard Schöngarth on orders from

1140-570: The NSZ-AK Headquarters established a new district command, appointing Captain Waclaw Nestorowicz as acting commander. Meanwhile, in Białystok, Roman Jastrzebski ("Ślepowron"), supported by supporters of Stanislaw Nakoniecznikow ("Kmicic"), took over as commander. There were therefore two district commands of NSZ. The organizational breakdown and chaos reigning in the ranks of this organization facilitated an agreement between

1200-467: The Red Army's rapid retreat left behind a security vacuum, which required the urgent deployment of additional personnel. Scrambling to meet this "new threat", Gestapo headquarters formed Kommando SS Zichenau-Schroettersburg which departed from sub-station Schröttersburg ( Płock ) under the leadership of SS- Obersturmführer Hermann Schaper (born 1911) with express mission to murder Jews, communists and

1260-565: The Soviet Union following the Second World War, most of the territory was later returned to Poland. After the start of Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union, the invading Wehrmacht soldiers murdered 379 people, 'pacified' 30 villages, burned down 640 houses and 1,385 industrial buildings in the area. Police Battalion 309 burned about 2000 Jews in Great Synagogue, Białystok on 27 June 1941. The first decree for

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1320-734: The Spanish border. In July 1940, the Corps was again reverted from a Panzer Group to the XXII Army Corps. On 16 November 1940 the XXII Corps was converted into Panzergruppe 1 , still under command of Von Kleist. Wehrkreis X The military districts , also known in some English-language publications by their German name as Wehrkreise (singular: Wehrkreis ), were administrative territorial units in Nazi Germany before and during World War II . The task of military districts

1380-701: The aftermath of the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, the westernmost portion of Soviet Belarus (which, until 1939, belonged to the Polish state ), was placed under the German Civilian Administration ( Zivilverwaltungsgebiet ). As Bialystok District, the area was under German rule from 1941 to 1944 without ever formally being incorporated into the German Reich . The district

1440-579: The camp, of which approximately 3,000 were killed. After its liquidation in 1943, a transit camp was set up there for the Jewish population. Several other camps were also established: a transitional camp for people taken to forced labor into the Third Reich consisting of 3 barracks, a penal camp in Starosielce located in the triangle between the railway lines Białystok - Ełk and Białystok - Warsaw, and

1500-475: The city of Białystok. Until the end of July 1941, the city of Białystok was under controlled by Wehrmacht , it was then subordinated to the civil administration. Shortly before the handover, General Max von Schenckendorff , commander of Army Group Centre Rear Area ordered the Order Police battalions , which were part of Police Regiment Centre , to embark on pacification operations against civilians in

1560-650: The designation South East Prussia ( German : Südostpreußen - see the map below) along with the Regierungsbezirk Zichenau , although in contrast to the latter, it was not incorporated into, but merely attached to East Prussia. The territory lay to the east of the Molotov–Ribbentrop line and was consequently occupied by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic . In

1620-817: The direct command of the SS and Police Leader (SSPF) of the District. This officer commanded all SS personnel and police in his jurisdiction, including the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo; regular uniformed police), the SD ( intelligence service ) and the SiPo (security police), which included the Gestapo ( secret police ). The commanders were SS- Standartenführer Werner Fromm (January 1942 – January 1943), SS- Brigadeführer Otto Hellwig (May 1943 – July 1944) and SS- Oberführer Heinz Roch (July – October 1944). The SSPF reported to

1680-504: The east of the 1939–1941 German-Soviet border were incorporated into the East Prussian district of Scharfenwiese (now Ostrołęka ). With this the city of Scharfenwiese henceforth held more hinterland to the east. On August 1, Erich Koch took over the Białystok district and subsequently, on 15 August, he was appointed as Chief of Civil Administration ( Chef der Zivilverwaltung ) of Bialystok District. During this period, he also

1740-540: The former barracks of the 10th Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment at 70 Kawaleryjska Street. It was the first one of its kind, except for the makeshift camp that was set up in September 1939 in the building of the Secondary School No. 6. Up to twelve thousand people could stay there at one time. Prisoners were used for construction works at the nearby "Krywlany" airport . Tens of thousands of people passed through

1800-535: The ghettos. Between November 1942 and February 1943, approximately 100,000 Jews in the District, including some 10,000 from Bialystok proper, were sent to the Treblinka and Auschwitz death camps. The final liquidation of the Bialystok Ghetto took place in August 1943, when the remaining 30,000 Jews there were sent to be murdered. The Home Army operated within the Białystok region. Aside from attacking

1860-586: The implementation of civil administration in these newly occupied territories was issued on 17 July 1941. It was announced that the Bialystok district will implement civil administration at a time to be determined. On July 22, Hitler announced that from August 1, Erich Koch would take over the Bialystok district and demarcate the borders of the district. The borders of this area ran from the southeastern protrusion of East Prussia (the Suwalki triangle ) following

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1920-550: The local population did improve after the Raid on Mittenheide . The Germans introduced the policy of finding and forcing anyone who could be of German ancestry, even based on the "pure German looks" in some cases, to accept the German ancestry card (usually 4th category "The Traitors of the German Nation," in spite of the ominous-sounding name, it meant elevation above the rest of the population). The Germans were harkening back to

1980-539: The occupying forces, it ran intelligence and propaganda networks and collected a V2-rocket , parts of which were transported to London . The National Armed Forces branch was established in the region, with the initiative to establish the NSZ came from the Military Organization Lizard Union . The Lizard Union envoy, 2nd Lt. Feliks Mazurek, pseudonym "Zych", began talks with representatives of

2040-408: The partisan elements. He also noted the similarities of Nasution Wehrkreise with theterritorial warfare conducted by Josip Broz Tito. This system also served as basis for Indonesian army Military Regional Command or KODAM. Suharto , the second and longest serving president Indonesian republic, once serving as brigade commander under jurisdiction of Yogyakarta Wehrkreise III district during

2100-547: The ranks of the Home Army, led to the commencement of talks between representatives of the district commands of NOW and NSZ in 1944. The talks led to the unification of both organizations. The talks were facilitated by the situation in the National Armed Forces. The division into NSZ-ZJ and NSZ-AK also affected the District. Boleslaw Kozlowski ("Grot") and Waclaw Nestorowicz ("Kalina"), opponents of Stanislaw Nakoniecznikow ("Kilinski") sided with NSZ-NOW. The envoy of

2160-647: The region's Home Army began participating in Operation Tempest launching a series of uprisings throughout Białystok. In July and August 1944, the territory of Bialystok District was taken over by the Red Army up to the Narew-Bobr line. The government seat for the Chief of Civil Administration was then moved to Bartenstein . In January 1945, the Red Army overran the last areas of Bialystok District, namely

2220-716: The remaining parts of the districts Łomża and Grajewo , driving the Germans completely out of the territory. At the end of May 1944, the Government Delegate for the Białystok Voivodeship, Józef Przybyszewski, a prominent activist of the National Party, arrived in Białystok. The Białystok Voivode settled in the St. Roch rectory with Father Adam Abramowicz , who provided him with all-round assistance. Przybyszewski, wanting to strengthen national influence in

2280-409: The territory of the German exclave of East Prussia , making it also a coastal state on the Baltic Sea coast. Wehrkreis I was the home district of the I Army Corps , which was formed in October 1934 from the 1st Division of the Reichswehr . Wehrkreis I was expanded to include the Memel Territory after the German ultimatum to Lithuania (accepted by Lithuania on 23 March 1939); the Wehrkreis

2340-663: The thirteen original districts as well as the two Austrian districts being assigned an army corps of the matching ordinal number with its headquarters in that Wehrkreis), these numbers were skipped as they were taken up by the motorized corps ( XIV Army Corps , XV Army Corps , XVI Army Corps , XIX Army Corps ). The four corps were not inherently bound to one particular military district (but naturally ended up with some connections to their respective peacetime headquarters regardless). The concept of Wehrkreise were adopted in Indonesian military in 1948, during Indonesian National Revolution . The background of such formations were caused by

2400-411: The times of the New East Prussia . On 1 November 1941, the city of Grodno (location of the Grodno Ghetto set up at the same time) including its surroundings, were transferred from the Reichskommissariat Ostland to Bialystok. Already on 27 June 1941, a camp for Soviet prisoners of war was established in Bialystok named Stalag 57. On 1 August 1942, it was renamed Stalag 316 . It was located in

2460-449: The type Reichswehrgruppenkommando were created, as well as seven Wehrkreiskommando commands, each assigned to one of the seven initial Wehrkreise of the Weimar Republic (numbered I through VII). The Reichswehrgruppenkommandos (which combined under them several military units across Wehrkreis lines) were soon reduced in number from four to two. Each of the Wehrkreise was tasked to deploy one division by 1 October 1920 (resulting in

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2520-414: The vicinity of Zabłudów. The brutal Police Battalion 322 burned 12 Polish and Belarusian villages, shot 42 people in the Lacka Forest near Waniek and more in the Osuszek forest near the village of Piliki . Heinrich Himmler visited the newly formed Bialystok District on 30 June 1941 and pronounced that more forces were needed in the area, due to potential risks of partisan warfare. The chase after

2580-425: Was also a Wehrkreis, with respective institutions being created in late 1942. The General Government was also a Wehrkreis, with respective institutions being created in 1943. Several cardinal numbers were not assigned to a particular Wehrkreis and skipped in the numbering. These were 14 (XIV), 15 (XV), 16 (XVI) and 19 (XIX). As the Wehrkreis system was initially tightly bound to the army corps (with each of

2640-427: Was engaged in the Battle of France under command of Ewald von Kleist . It played a crucial role in the German victory, when it overwhelmed the French defenses at Sedan, and advanced west reaching the sea at Abbeville. In June 1940, during Fall Rot , the second phase in the Battle of France, Panzergruppe von Kleist was in control of the XIV ( von Wietersheim ) and XVI Panzer Corps ( Hoepner ), and advanced as far as

2700-433: Was established because of its perceived military importance as a bridgehead on the far bank of the Neman . Germany had desired to annex the area even during the First World War, based on the historical claim arising from the Third Partition of Poland , which had delegated Białystok to Prussia from 1795 to 1806 (see New East Prussia ). In contrast to other territories of Eastern Poland which were permanently annexed by

2760-537: Was formed in October 1934, initially disguised as "Heeresdienststelle Breslau". The corps was then given its proper designation as VIII Army Corps in 1935. After the Munich Agreement (1938), parts of northern Moravia were added to the district. After the German invasion of Poland (1939), the territory was further extended to include parts of East Upper Silesia . Wehrkreis IX was headquartered at Kassel and contained territories in central Germany, including parts of modern-day Hesse and Thuringia . Wehrkreis IX

2820-434: Was formed on 1 April 1938 with headquarters at Vienna. The district was expanded after the Munich Agreement (1938) to include parts of southern Bohemia. Wehrkreis XVIII was headquartered at Salzburg . It contained the southwestern and southeastern thirds of Austria , added to the German Reich after the 1938 Anschluss . Wehrkreis XVIII was the home district of XVIII Army Corps (after 1940: XVIII Mountain Corps), which

2880-432: Was formed on 1 April 1938 with headquarters in Salzburg. Wehrkreis XX was headquartered at Danzig . It contained the historic province of West Prussia , occupied by Germany in the 1939 Invasion of Poland . Wehrkreis XXI was headquartered at Posen . It contained the territories of the historic region by the same name , occupied by Germany in the 1939 Invasion of Poland . The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

2940-427: Was formed on 1 October 1936 with headquarters at Wiesbaden. After the German victory over France (1940), Wehrkreis XII was expanded through the addition of parts of Lorraine (such as the Nancy area). Wehrkreis XIII was headquartered at Nuremberg . It contained the territories of the historic provinces of Franconia and Upper Palatinate in what is today the northern half of modern-day Bavaria . Wehrkreis XIII

3000-426: Was headquartered at Dresden and contained the territories of the modern-day German state of Saxony as well as some southern parts of modern-day Saxony-Anhalt . Wehrkreis IV was the home district of IV Army Corps , which was formed in October 1934 from the 4th Division of the Reichswehr. It was later expanded through the addition of parts of northern Bohemia after the Munich Agreement of 1938. Wehrkreis V

3060-417: Was headquartered at Munich and contained the south of the modern-day German state of Bavaria . Wehrkreis VII was the home district of VII Army Corps , which was formed in October 1934 from the 7th Division of the Reichswehr. Wehrkreis VIII was headquartered at Breslau and contained the territory of the historic province of Silesia . Wehrkreis VIII was the home district of VIII Army Corps , which

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3120-405: Was headquartered at Münster and contained the historic province of Westphalia , much of the Lower Rhine , and parts of modern-day Lower Saxony . Wehrkreis VI was the home district of VI Army Corps , which was formed in October 1934 from the 6th Division of the Reichswehr. After the German occupation of Belgium (1940), parts of eastern Belgium were added to Wehrkreis VI. Wehrkreis VII

3180-448: Was headquartered at Stuttgart , containing roughly the historic provinces of Baden , Württemberg , and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (about equivalent to the modern-day German state of Baden-Württemberg ). Wehrkreis V was the home district of V Army Corps , which was formed in October 1934 from the 5th Division of the Reichswehr. After the German victory over France (1940), it was extended to include parts of Alsace. Wehrkreis VI

3240-413: Was later fed yet more territory in the form of the Bialystok District and the Sudauen region. Wehrkreis II was headquartered at Stettin and included the territories of the historic provinces of Mecklenburg and Pomerania , which also gave Wehrkreis II the largest share of the German Baltic Sea coast. Wehrkreis II was the home district of the II Army Corps , which was formed in October 1934 from

3300-414: Was part of the Anti-Fascist Block , and was the second largest ghetto uprising , after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising , in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. On 20 October 1943, the southern border between the East Prussian district Sudauen ( Suwałki ) in the Province of East Prussia and the Bialystok District was adjusted and moved back to the northern side of the Augustów Canal . In January 1944,

3360-504: Was the Gauleiter of the Gau East Prussia , Oberpräsident of the Prussian Province of East Prussia , and Reichskommissar in Reichskommissariat Ukraine . Day-to-day activities were handled by his permanent deputy head of the Nazi Party in Königsberg , East Prussia, Waldemar Magunia from 15 August 1941 to 31 January 1942. He was replaced from 1 February 1942 to 27 July 1944 by Friedrich Brix , Landrat (District Mayor) of Tilsit . In addition, SS and security forces were under

3420-432: Was the home district of XIII Army Corps , which was formed on 1 October 1937 with headquarters at Nuremberg. The district was expanded after the Munich Agreement (1938) to include parts of western Bohemia. Wehrkreis XVII was headquartered at Vienna . It contained the northeastern third of Austria , added to the German Reich after the 1938 Anschluss . Wehrkreis XVII was the home district of XVII Army Corps , which

3480-414: Was the home district of the IX Army Corps , which was formed in October 1934, initially disguised as "Heeresdienststelle Kassel". The corps was then given its proper designation as IX Army Corps in 1935. Wehrkreis X was headquartered at Hamburg . It contained the territories of modern-day Schleswig-Holstein and most of the north of modern-day Lower Saxony , placing Wehrkreis X exclusively in charge of

3540-417: Was the home district of the XI Army Corps , which was formed on 1 October 1936 with headquarters at Hanover. Wehrkreis XII was headquartered at Wiesbaden . Its territory was roughly equivalent to the modern-day German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland , with the addition of a small part of northern Baden (around Heidelberg ). Wehrkreis XII was the home district of the XII Army Corps , which

3600-442: Was the organization and the handling of reinforcements and resupplies for local military units. The Replacement Army ( Ersatzheer ) managed the districts. Responsibilities such as training, conscription , supply, and equipment were (at least partially) entrusted to the Ersatzheer. On 30 September 1919, much of the Imperial German Army was dissolved. The Reichswehr (of the Weimar Republic ) took its place, and four commands of

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