Chechnya's WWII

1940 written statement addressed by Hassan Israilov to Chechen Communist party authorities (as translated in an article by Jeffrey Burds):

I have decided to become the leader of a war of liberation of my own people. I understand all

too well that not only in Checheno-Ingushetia, but in all nations of the Caucasus it will be difficult to win freedom from the heavy yoke of Red imperialism. But our fervent belief in justice and our faith in the support of the freedom-loving peoples of the Caucasus and of the entire world inspire me toward this deed, in your eyes impertinent and pointless, but in my conviction, the sole correct historical step. The valiant Finns are now proving that the Great Enslaver Empire is powerless against a small but freedom-loving people. In the Caucasus you will find your second Finland, and after us will follow other oppressed peoples.

That chap was evidently a descendent of Muhammad Shamil, the 19th Century nationalist that I've mentioned before. Other WWII Chechen leaders include Maibrek Sheripov, Rasul Sakhabov and Sarali Makhmudov. All came to unpleasant ends, I understand.

The ‘Chechevitsa’ — the plan to deport the entire indigenous native population of the Northern Caucasus to Central Asia — was carried out from mid-February until mid-March 1944. In all, 602,193 persons were deported from the region: 496,460 Chechens and Ingushi, 68,327 Karachaevtsy and 37,406 Balkars.

from the article

It was a forcible deportation and thousands if not tens of thousands died in the process of being deported from mainly Chechnya-Ingushetia to mainly Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzsia. They were replaced by mainly Russians and Georgians.