The operation began on 20 May 1943 during the World War II occupation of northern Belarus in the areas of Begoml, Lepel and Ushachy.
A number of Belarusian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian collaborationist units took part in the operation, along with the SS Special Battalion Dirlewanger.
[1] Numerous villages were depopulated and burned as part of the operation.
The officially communicated result of the operation was that about 9,800 people had been killed (6,087 killed in battle and 3,709 executed) and 4,997 men, but only 1,056 women, had been collected as forced labour.
[1] Contemporary German reports described the dead as members of "Banden" (Gangs),[3] although later in the report doubt is expressed as to the accuracy of these figures, with the assumption that "numerous peasants" must have been among the dead and noting that "Dirlewanger especially has a reputation for destroying many human lives".