Chorny Kot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Čorny Kot (Black Cat) was a German-trained Belarusian nationalist, anti-Soviet guerrilla unit during World War II. As part of the Nazis' effort to combat the enormous Soviet partisan movement in Belarus during the war, special units of local collaborationists were trained by the SS's Otto Skorzeny to infiltrate the Soviet rear. In 1944 thirty Belarusians (known as "Čorny Kot" (Black Cat) and personally led by Vituška) were airdropped by the Luftwaffe behind the lines of the Red Army, which had already liberated Belarus during Operation Bagration. They experienced some initial success due to disorganization in the rear of the Red Army, and some other German-trained Belarusian nationalist units also slipped through the Białowieża Forest in 1945. The NKVD, however, had already infiltrated these units, and they were quickly neutralized. Vituška managed to escape to the West following the war, along with several other Central Rada leaders.