As Allied troops entered and occupied German territory during the later stages of World War II, mass rapes took place both in connection with combat operations and during the subsequent occupation. Most Western scholars agree that the majority of the rapes were committed by Soviet servicemen, while some Russian historians maintain that these crimes were not widespread. The wartime rapes had been surrounded by decades of silence. According to Antony Beevor, whose books were banned in 2015 from some Russian schools and colleges, NKVD files have revealed that the Soviet leadership knew what was happening, including about the rape of Soviet women liberated from labour camps, but did nothing to stop it. Some Russian historians disagree, claiming that the Soviet leadership took swift action.