chernobyl

[Petro_moskal]

Ivan_Mazepa
You have no reason whatsoever to insult the brave people of Belarus. Especially given West Ukraine's "gallant" part in the war.

Those same Belorusian partisans also were hiding in the forest. Hiding in the forest (till 1950) is what you do when you're outnumbered.

Yes, except the actions of the Belarusians were completely different from those of the banderovcy. The first attacked German troops, sabotauged communications and supplies, and basically fought as soldiers without the right to be taken prisoner.
The UPA emerged from the woods to terrorize the local populace and kill Jews. In its "war" against the USSR it killed 1,5000 Soviet security troops and lost 15,000 of its own (roughly), while over 75,000 turned themselves over to the NKVD. Now compare that to the damage that the Belarusians inflicted on the Germans. Of course, if you add the 120,000 Poles and 100,000+ Jews that the UPA killed...
The banderovcy were just a gang of cutthroats and terrorists.

Because they're small (around 10 mill population), the territory is mostly swamps and woods and they haven't developed a strong distinct Belorusian nationality different from Russian like Ukrainians did.

How is being nationally consious masculine?
So if your country is small in population it's a "she". By that logic, that's Hungary, Serbia, Czechia, not to mention the Baltic States and the Low Countries. And West Ukraine.

[Ivan_Mazepa]

Originally posted by Petro_moskal
You have no reason whatsoever to insult the brave people of Belarus.

I don't mean anything by it. I do that sometimes. Back in Chernivtsi it's "Moldavan this, Moldavan that." Even the word "Moldavan" itself is a funny word.

[eroem]

There's a horribly good film about the Belarus pertizans and the German war crimes during WWII in Belarus:
"Idi i Smotri" ("Go and See"). I've never seen a movie so shocking and so true about the war in the Western cinematographie.