MINSK, 2 July (BelTA) – In the run-up to the 70th anniversary of Belarus' liberation from Nazi invaders the department of archives and records under the Justice Ministry and the National Archives issued a collection of documents and materials "Partisans in Operation Bagration". Its presentation was held in Minsk on 1 July, BelTA has learned.

The archivists have not dealt with the theme of the book before though for the last 20 years the archive service of the country has published 69 collections of documents and reference books of different types, said Vladimir Adamushko, the director of the department of archives and records. The book "Partisans in Operation Bagration is the 70th edition, which is especially significant in the year of the 70th anniversary of Belarus' liberation from Nazi occupation," said the representative of the Justice Ministry.

"Much time has passed since then, but the archivists find more new themes which they want to present to the general public," said Vladimir Adamushko. He said that next year will mark the 70th anniversary of Great Victory, and the department is planning to publish the books to celebrate the date as well.

The book "Partisans in Operation Bagration" includes 200 documents from the National Archive of Belarus about the third phase of the partisan "rail war" that began on the night of 20 June 1944 and active cooperation of the partisans with the Red Army units during Operation Bagration.

The book features orders, directives, code telegrams, radiograms, plans, reports, memoranda, reports, dispatches. Of particular interest are operational documents: the code telegrams of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus P. Ponomarenko, head of the Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement P. Kalinin and his deputy I. Ganenko, the chiefs of the operational groups and guerrilla commanders. The documents allow the readers to literally trace, day by day, the partisan actions and the events that led to the complete liberation of Belarus.

The book is illustrated with photographs and facsimile copies of the archival documents that are kept in the National Archives and the Belarusian State Archives of Films, Photographs and Documents.