1st Belarusian Regiment

These plans were abandoned after the creation of the Belarusian People's Republic in March 1918, but were revived in November in the face of pressure from the Bolsheviks.

And on December 1, the Ministry of Belarusian Affairs was established in the Lithuanian government, headed by Jazep Varonka.

The formation of the 1st Belarusian Infantry Regiment began in Vilnius, but in the face of pressure from the Bolsheviks it was moved to Grodno on December 27, 1918.

[5] Due to intra-Belarusian conflicts and the reluctance of the German army, which actually controlled the Grodno region, no progress was made in organizing the regiment until February 1919.

The arming of the army was done in consultation with the German command, funding came from grants from the Lithuanian government and taxes levied on the local population.

First Lieutenant Jan Kwiatkowski was active there, while from the beginning of 1919 Stanisław Iwanowski (brother of Vacłaŭ Ivanoŭski), who succeeded in dragging an entire single Belarusian battalion (about 500 soldiers), which was incorporated into the Kaunas Rifle Regiment of the Lithuanian-Belarusian Division.

[15] On April 16, 1919, the Polish Army launched a wide-ranging offensive against the Bolsheviks from Lida to Vilnius, and entered Grodno.

On April 24, Jezavitaŭ returned to Grodno and defied this agreement, he wanted to evacuate the regiment, but the German and Lithuanian commands ordered him to stay.

Poland feared a conflict with Germany at the time, so it could not condone the stationing of an alien unit in Grodno,[19] so they decided to disarm the regiment on June 1.

According to the relations of Aleksandr Uspensky soldiers were disarmed, looted, and publicly humiliated by the Polish soldiers, who even ripped off the Belarusian officers' insignias from their uniforms and trampled these symbols with their feet in public, because this unit refused to carry out the Polish orders and remained loyal to Lithuania.

On this occasion, the guard was removed from the Belarusian barracks, and soldiers were allowed to move freely around the city.

[22] A part of the Belarusian regiment's soldiers and officers escaped to Kaunas to continue serving Lithuania.