Originally published at: http://timeghost.tv/operation-barbarossa-biggest-land-invasion-in-history-ww2-096a-june-22-1941/
June 22 1941. The first day of Operation Barbarossa begins as Adolf Hitler’s German armies invade Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union with the largest force on the longest front every seen in human history… Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory Or join The TimeGhost Army directly at: https://timeghost.tv Check out our TimeGhost History YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/timeghost?sub_confirmation=1 Follow…
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Finally! The greatest land invasion begins!
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SIDES AT PRESENT:
World War Two
Allies: Albanian resistance, Andorra), Australia +, Bahrain-, Belgium*+, Canada, China^^, Costa Rica), Czechoslovakia*, Danish resistance, Ethiopia, Free France+’’, Greece*, Iceland~’’’, Luxembourg*, Nepal, Netherlands*+, New Zealand+, Norway*+, Oman-, Poland*, South Africa, United Kingdom+, Yugoslavia*))
Axis: Bulgaria, Chechnya-Ingushetia^, Croatia~)), Estonian resistance’, Germany+, Hungary, Italy+, Japan+^^^, Latvian resistance’, Lithuanian resistance’, Manchukuo~, Mengkukuo~, Ngolok Tibetans^^^^, Reorganized ROC~, Romania, Slovakia~, Vichy France+’’
3rd Parties: Denmark’’’’’, Tannu Tuva~’’’’, USSR’’’’
Under United States occupation: Greenland)))
Italics: Non-state forces
~puppet
*occupied with a government-in-exile & resistance movement.
+Includes the country’s colonies, overseas territories, or reichskommissariats
-self-governing protectorate or territory
)Because both Andorra & Costa Rica were not present at the Treaty of Versailles, they were still technically at war with Germany. SPOILER WARNING: While Andorra will act as & be treated as a neutral country for the deration of the war, Costa Rica takes a more active role after Pearl Harbor by declaring war Italy & Japan.
))After Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis, the “Independent State of Croatia” was established as a puppet state made up of Croatians separatists opposed to the government’s centralization programs. In opposition to the invasion, SPOILER WARNING: resistance movements such as the Communist “National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia” & the Royalist “Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army” formed. Later, these movements would fight each other as well.
)))Under his own initiative, Danish ambassador to the United States Henrik Kauffmann allowed American forces to occupy Greenland to protect it from invasion by belligerents of the 2nd World War. As Denmark proper had already been invaded, its government was in no position to rule the island, so administration fell to the Sheriffs or Landsfogeder.
‘The official governments of the Baltic States reluctantly accepted the USSR’s ultimatums, resulting in their occupation & the installation of new Soviet friendly regimes. This led to the creation of irregular national resistance movements. As Germany & all three resistance movements are currently fighting the USSR, I have placed them in the Axis. SPOILER WARNING: Later, I will move the Baltic resistance movements to the 3rd Parties List after they start fighting the Germans.
‘’When newly appointed Prime Minister Philippe Pétaind announced his intentions to seek an armistice with the Axis powers, General Charles de Gaulle established a government-in-exile that would continue the war on the Allied side. French colonies had to decide whether to remain loyal to the Vichy Regime or join the Free French. Chad under Governor Félix Éboué was the first to join De Gaulle & soon all of French Equatorial Africa was in Free French hands, with its capital Brazzaville serving as headquarters for the movement. SPOILER WARNING: By late 1943, all French oversea possessions except in Indochina were controlled by Free France. Although the French government in Vichy is officially neutral, I have placed them with the Axis. The main reason being that Allied forces would continue to attack & occupy the territory it claimed throughout the war. At the same time, the Vichy government collaborated with Germany by providing war materials, allowing them use of their territory for strategic operations, & in implementing the Holocaust.
‘’’Although the Icelandic government issued a formal protest, the British invasion was not contested because Iceland lacked a military to fight back with & so told its people to treat the occupiers as guests. Even to this day, the "Lovely War" is controversial. Many Icelanders view the Allied occupation very negatively for the loss of their country’s sovereignty & for foreign troops fraternizing with local women. Others point to economic & infrastructural benefits the happened during the war. SPOILER WARNING: Iceland’s occupation is transferred to the Neutral USA on July 7th, 1941. At that point, I will take Iceland off the overview until Pearl Harbor.
’’’’With the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact over after Operation Barbarossa, the USSR is at war with both the Allied country of Poland & the European Axis powers. As such, I have placed them to the 3rd parties list(See my policy on country placement below) as well as their puppet state Tannu Tuva SPOILER WARNING: I will move both to the Allies after the signing of the Sikorski–Mayski agreement in July 1941 between the Polish government-in-exile & the USSR.
‘’’’’In the 2nd week of April, both Germany & the United Kingdom invaded & occupied parts of Danish territory(Germany occupied Denmark proper & the United Kingdom occupied the Faroe Islands) to “guarantee their independence & neutrality.” Everyday life went on mostly as before with Local authorities in both areas cooperating with the occupiers. Hitler hoped that Denmark would be “a model protectorate” that would aide his larger goals. Despite this, the Danish national government resisted calls by Germany for legal discrimination against Jewish Danes, the death penalty, & German military courts to have jurisdiction over Danish citizens. The Danish colony of Greenland(being de facto independent at the time) asked the neutral USA to protect them from invasion by the warring powers. Throughout this time, Denmark remained officially neutral despite having Axis & Allied forces on its soil. SPOILER WARNING: On August 29, 1943, after refusing to submit to any further German demands, the Danish government was dissolved & the German military took direct control of the country. At that point, I’ll take Denmark off the 3rd parties list & replace the Danish resistance with Denmark(with an occupied disclaimer).
^The Provisional Popular Revolutionary Government of Chechnya-Ingushetia is currently engaged in a guerrilla war against the USSR for independence. Since I have the Soviets in the 3rd Parties list for reasons stated above & SPOILER WARNING: will soon join the Allies, I‘m placing Chechnya-Ingushetia with the Axis.
^^The Kuomintang & Communist Parties have signed a truce to fight the Japanese as part of the Second United Front lead by Chiang Kai-shek, but coordination is minimal & both deeply mistrust the other.
^^^I’ve combined the European & Asian wars at this point because Japan has now officially joined a military alliance with Germany & Italy in the form of the Tripartite Pact & is occupying Northern French Indochina, which is land the Free French government recognizes as its own. Despite the government in Vichy agreeing to the occupation after months of pressure, impatient Japanese forces rushed across the border & clashed with their Vichy French counterparts in the first few days. Since the fighting stopped before this week’s post, Vichy France & Japan are listed together as part of the Axis.
^^^^The Ngolok rebellions were a brutal ethnic conflict fought in Qinghai/Amdo between Ngolok Tibetans & the Hui dominated Ma clique who were loyal to the Kuomintang government of China. Despite having a common enemy in the Kuomintang, the Ngolok Tibetans & Japan were only co-belligerents as they didn’t have a formal alliance & didn’t coordinate in military planning.
MY POLICY ON COUNTRY PLACEMENT
If a country declares war on or attacks another country & at least one of them is already involved in World War II, I’ll list the other as a part of the opposing faction. That is why the events of the Winter War are included in the main World War II list & the events of the War of ‘41(Ecuador vs. Peru) will not be. The countries listed in the factions above are comprised of both official members & co-belligerents. The terms “Allies” & “Axis” are used for both kinds of belligerents as a convenient way to distill the world war & it’s adjoining conflicts, with disclaimers used to elaborate on some of the more complicated situations. If a country or resistance movement is at war with at least one country form both factions, I’ll add them to the 3rd Parties list with a disclaimer. The 3rd Parties list is not a faction, but a collection of warring parties who act independently of one another. I have to consolidate factions along co-belligerency or else the number of factions will balloon out of control. Finally, each post only represents the factions as they were 79 years ago to the day. Many countries will join, leave, or switch sides before the war ends for various reasons & I strongly encourage you to look into the situation of each country for yourself.
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Good day
Situation in the east with Slavic units of anti communist side.
Ukrainian nationalists. They were formed in start of 1941, units like Ukrainian legion, Roland Battalion and Nachtigall Battalion (both part of Brandenburgers battalion) based in Poland at the start of invasion, Bergbauernhilfe (based in Slovakia also known as Legion of Sushko) were preparing for German invasion and as most of them have seen liberation of Ukraine. There was also OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) of Bandera, who were fighting the soviets, they will welcome Germans but since Germany will not recognize Ukrainian independence, they will split with some fighting the Germans and others cooperation with Germans. Major units will be formed in 1942.
Belarusian were mainly small, one unit of 50-man sturm group in Brandenburgers battalion as well as former leaders of Independent Belarussian Republic supported Germans. Any major units and government would be formed with Germans entering Belarus or in 1942.
Russians had many underground resistance units, ROVS, NTS, Russian truth. Krasnov lived in Germany at the time. Howevers Germans did not make any contact with them because they did not really see the establishment of Russian independent states. the first pro German unit was only formed in July 1941, it was First Russian National Army (1941 - Sonderdivision Russland)) under command of Boris Smyslovsky. their job would be mainly counter intelligence and anti-partisan operations, most of them were former white army officer at that moment. Later there will be 2 republics formed, one in Belarus - Republic of Zuev and one in Bryansk - Lokot Autonomy. Any major units would be only formed in 1942 or late 1941. (There was also Russian Fascist Party in Harbin, but they were not really relevant to WW2 and would be forbiden by japanese uthorities in 1943)
In the start of Barbarossa nkvd will start executing political prisoners in thousands especially in Ukraine. Thus swaying even more people there to the German side. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NKVD_prisoner_massacres
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Welcome to the forum Sergei!
Although I type these overviews myself, others on the forum have sometimes helped me with suggestions on format & reminding me of countries or partisan movements I had forgotten. I am only human. While I do not list volunteer units, I will add the OUN to the next overview. I admit my knowledge on the Lokot Autonomy, Byelorussian Central Rada, & the like is limited, so any information you can provide(particularly when they were formed & when they started to fight someone else) would be most appreciated.
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Good day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokot_Autonomy
Here is some info about Lokot in English, but it is very limited. The size of the Autonomy was about 10 300 km square. 
Bryansk was a region where after gulags Russians would be sent, there were many regions like this but in Lokot german army was greeted by groups under the Russian flag, all armed and with no communists insight. After German army command approved their initiative Konstantin Voskoboinik became the official leader in November 1941. Voskoboinik was part of the “Green Rebelion” in 1920-21. 
They had their own political party, called VIKING (Vityaz), it was established as Peoples National - Socialist Party in Siberian gulags, possibly around 1935s.
The party program had 10 points:
- Полное уничтожение в России коммунистического и колхозного строя.
- Бесплатная передача крестьянству в вечное, наследственное пользование всей пахотной земли с правом аренды и обмена участков, но без права их продажи. (В руках одного гражданина может быть только один участок). Размер участка около 10 гектар в средней полосе России.
- Бесплатное наделение в вечное, наследственное пользование каждого гражданина России усадебным участком, с правом обмена, но без права продажи. Размер участка в средней полосе России определяется приблизительно в 1 гектар.
- Свободное развёртывание частной инициативы, в соответствии с чем разрешается частным лицам свободное занятие всеми ремёслами, промыслами, постройка фабрик и заводов. Размер капитала в частном владении ограничивается пятью миллионами золотых рублей на каждого совершеннолетнего гражданина.
- Установление на всех видах производств 2-х месячного годового отпуска в целях использования его для работы на собственных усадебных участках.
ПРИМЕЧАНИЕ: На вредных производствах продолжительность отпуска увеличивается до 4-х месяцев. - Наделение всех граждан бесплатно лесом из государственных дач для постройки жилищ.
- Закрепление в собственность Государства лесов, железных дорог, содержимого недр земли и всех основных фабрик и заводов.
- Амнистия всех комсомольцев.
- Амнистия рядовых членов партии, не запятнавших себя издевательством над народом.
- Амнистия всех коммунистов, с оружием в руках участвовавших в свержении сталинского режима.
- Амнистия Героев Советского Союза.
- Беспощадное уничтожение евреев, бывших комиссарами.
They had their own laws, and army, in 1942 they were officially recognized by Germany. There is I case that I learned in Russian that once they executed 2 Hungarian soldiers who stole some food and killed a local farmer. They had their own courts, independent from germans. The most famous was their executioner, partisans were normally executed and the girl Antonina Makarova 
would personally do it. According to the courts she executed 168 partisans, soviet sources say she executed personally 1500 people.
The army would fight partizans and successfully clear out Bryansk forests. Soviets had to create the myth about how strong partisans were in that region and never brought up Lokot autonomy. After the death of Voskoboynik, Branislav Kaminsky took charge. 
under him, the autonomy grew even bigger, he organized draft for example. Russian National Liberation Army (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.S._Sturmbrigade_R.O.N.A.) was established there they would participate in Sevsk and Kursk battles, they had their own tank corps for example. Later in 1944 they would become 29th SS Waffen-Sturmbrigade RONA (ss badge) 
Chevrons 
With the evacuation of the front Lokot Autonomy was evacuated in Belarus to create the Lepel Republic and fight partisans. Some of them would stay in Bryansk and fight the red army until 1951 others would leave with Kaminsky.
they would get their infamy during warsaw uprising where SS RONA would loot and kill. There is some debate about them, doing it because germans basically blamed RONA for everything and since there was no one to say that it was not true german command established that. The picture is of RONA officer during the warsaw uprising 
RONA armored car and tank (picture of the tank is during the evacuation of Lokot Autonomy to Belarus) 
.
The Belarussian army and government were formed only in 1943. except for the Zuev Republic that was established in 1941near city Polotsk. It was basically nothing like Lokot, they had their own police force and were under German command. they would produce food and fight partisans. they would fight in the forests against the red army up to 1947. there is information in National Archive in Washington «Zuyev’s Republic» (1951), NA RG 338, P-124. If anyone could get it it would help. 
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