Operation Hermann

Operation Hermann was a German anti-partisan clearing operation in the Naliboki Forest area carried out between 13 July 1943 and 11 August 1943. The German battle groups destroyed human settlements in the area, deported able bodied males for slave labor, and killed anyone else.

The Bielski partisans, managed to evade capture and escaped to the Jasinowo forest after splitting into small groups. A Home Army unit led by Kacper Miłaszewski lost 120 men and was forced out of the forest.

Following the operation, the communities around the Naliboki forest were devastated, the Germans deported the non-Jewish residents fit for work to Germany for slave labor and murdered most of the rest. Prior to the manhunt, homeless refugees were mainly Jews who had escaped the ghetto, but in the fall of 1943 non-Jewish Belorussian, Polish, and Gypsies who managed to flee roamed in the forest. Many joined Partisan units, special family camps set up by the Soviets, and some joined the Bielski group who returned to the area and accepted anyone willing to join. While the Germans wrecked many communities, much was left behind in and around the forest that could sustain life. Fields, orchards, and beehives all had their produce and farm animals roamed the area around the forest.