The 20,000 strong Belarusian Home Defence Force was formed under the leadership of Commissioner-General Curt von Gottberg,[5] with logistical help from the German 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS known as the "Poachers' Brigade" commanded by Oskar Dirlewanger.

Some 40,000 individuals reported to recruitment bureaus set up in seven cities; although 30% of them were sent back home on German orders for overcrowding.

"The oath was accepted by the BKA commander Ivan Yermachenka,[8] in the presence of the SS and Police Leader Curt von Gottberg.

The president of the Belarusian Central Council, Radasłaŭ Astroŭski, had concerns that some Soviet partisans might have infiltrated the new BKA structures and that therefore it would need a thorough inspection afterwards.

[7] In mid-June 1944 an officer school for BKA volunteers was started by the German SS in Minsk, but the city was overrun by the Soviets only two weeks later.

Later propagandists hold that the Belarusian Liberation Armies 1st personnel battalion in Berlin in fact was a reserve for the 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Russian).