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{{short description|Paramilitary wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists}} | |||
] | |||
{{for|the 2022 partisan movement|Ukrainian resistance during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine}} | |||
{{distinguish|Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army|Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine|Ukrainian People's Army}} | |||
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}} | |||
{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} | |||
{{Infobox War Faction | |||
| name = Ukrainian Insurgent Army | |||
| native_name = Українська повстанська армія | |||
| war = ] | |||
| image = ] | |||
| caption = ] | |||
| active = {{ubl|14 October 1942–1949|1949–1956 (localized)}} | |||
| ideology = {{ubl|]|]|]|]|]|] (factions)}} | |||
| leaders = {{ubl|]|Vasyl Ivakhiv|]|]|]}} | |||
| area = {{ubl|]|]|]|]||]}} | |||
| partof = ]–] | |||
| size = 20,000–200,000 (estimated) {{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} | |||
| allies = * {{flag|Nazi Germany}} <small>(varied)</small> | |||
| opponents = * {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} | |||
* {{flag|Nazi Germany|1935}} <small>(varied)</small> | |||
* {{flag|Polish Underground State}} | |||
* {{flagdeco|Poland|1928}} ] | |||
| battles = | |||
}} | |||
The '''Ukrainian Insurgent Army''' ({{langx|uk|Українська повстанська армія, УПА|translit=Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiia}}, abbreviated '''UPA''') was a ] ] and ] formation founded by the ] on 14 October 1942.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Arad |first1=Yitzhak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NH0K92ZcNN0C |title=In the Shadow of the Red Banner: Soviet Jews in the War Against Nazi Germany |last2=Arad |first2=Yitzchak |date=2010 |publisher=Gefen Publishing House Ltd |isbn=978-965-229-487-6 |page=189 |language=en |quote=The first UPA unit was officially established on October 14, 1942. …The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainska Povstanska Armia-UPA) was an arm of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Orhanizatsia Ukrainskikh Nationalistiv – OUN). |author-link=Yitzhak Arad}}</ref> During ], it was engaged in ]. However, the UPA later launched ] warfare against ], the ],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kondor |first1=Katherine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMnOEAAAQBAJ&dq=in+armed+confrontation+against+both+Nazi+and+Soviet+forces+and+is+infamous&pg=PA2018-IA3 |title=The Routledge Handbook of Far-Right Extremism in Europe |last2=Littler |first2=Mark |date=2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-89703-6 |pages=22 |language=en}}</ref> and both the ] and ].<ref>{{Cite journal |at=p. 14 |doi=10.5195/cbp.2011.164 |quote=While anti-German sentiments were widespread, according to captured activists, at the time of the Third Extraordinary Congress of the OUN(b), held in August 1943, its anti-German declarations were intended to mobilize support against the Soviets, and stayed mostly on the paper.|title=The OUN, the UPA and the Holocaust: A Study in the Manufacturing of Historical Myths |journal=The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies |issue=2107 |year=2011 |last1=Rudling |first1=Per A.|doi-access=free }}</ref> It conducted the ], which are recognized by Poland as a ]. | |||
The goal of the ] (OUN) was to drive out occupying powers in a national revolution and set up an independent government headed by a dictator; OUN accepted violence as a political tool against enemies of their cause.<ref name="IEU">Myroslav Yurkevich, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, ''This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).''</ref> In order to achieve this goal, a number of partisan units were formed, merged into a single structure in the form of the UPA,{{refn|OUN-UPA was a terrorist organization,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Snyder |first=Timothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xSpEynLxJ1MC |title=The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 |date=2004 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-10586-5 |page= |quote=The OUN was an illegal, conspirational, and terrorist organization bound to destroy the status quo. The OUN counted on German help ... Germany was the only possible ally.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Katchanovski |first=Ivan |date=2013 |title=The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and the Nazi Genocide in Ukraine |url=https://www.academia.edu/6414323 |journal=Paper Presented at the "Collaboration in Eastern Europe During World War II and the Holocaust" Conference, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust MemorialMuseum & Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies |quote=The OUN and the UPA can both be classified as terrorist organizations because their actions correspond to academic definitions of terrorism as the use of violence against civilians by non-state actors in order to intimidate and to achieve political goals.}}</ref> relying on terrorist tactics and collaboration with ] that favoured the ] (OUN) at the expense of more moderate Ukrainian organizations, such as the ]; not all UPA soldiers were members of the OUN or shared OUN's ideology. UPA was also responsible for the large-scale ] of Poles, such as with the ], the mass murders of Jews, such as the ],<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Delphine |first=Bechtel |url=https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/20130500-holocaust-in-ukraine.pdf |title=The Holocaust in Ukraine – New Sources and Perspectives – The 1941 pogroms as represented in Western Ukrainian historiography and memorial culture |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. |year=2013 |pages=3, 6 |quote=Some Ukrainian immigrant circles in Canada, the United States, and Germany had been active for decades in trying to suppress the topic and reacted to any testimony about Ukrainian anti-Jewish violence with virulent diatribes against what they dismissed as 'Jewish propaganda' ... the Ukrainian Insurrectional Army (UPA), which was responsible for ethnic 'cleansing' actions against Poles and Jews in Volhynia and Galicia.}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii |url=https://wcfia.harvard.edu/publications/gates-europe-history-ukraine |title=The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine |date=2015 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |pages=320 |quote=The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which had close to 100,000 soldiers at its height in the summer of 1944, was fighting behind the Soviet lines, disrupting Red Army communications and attacking units farther from the front ... Among the UPA's major successes was the killing of a leading Soviet commander, General Nikolai Vatutin. On 29 February 1944, UPA fighters ambushed and wounded Vatutin as he was returning from a meeting with subordinates in Rivne, the former capital of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. He died in Kyiv in mid-April. Khrushchev, who attended Vatutin's funeral, buried his friend in the government center of Kyiv ... not all the UPA fighters shared the nationalist ideology or belonged to the OUN. |author-link=Serhii Plokhy}}</ref> as well as of Ukrainians during the World War II and post-war anti-Soviet terror campaign in western Ukraine.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Philip |url=http://archive.org/details/roadstoextinctio00frie |title=Roads to Extinction: Essays on the Holocaust |last2=Friedman |first2=Ada June |date=1980 |location=New York|publisher= Conference on Jewish Social Studies: Jewish Publication Society of America |via=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8276-0170-3 |page=179 |quote=After the outbreak of World War II, the Germans constantly favored the OUN, at the expense of more moderate Ukrainian groups. The extremist Ukrainian nationalist groups then launched a campaign of vilification against moderate leaders, accusing them of various misdeeds ... As early as the spring of 1940, a central Ukrainian committee was organized in Cracow under the chairmanship of Volodimir Kubiovitch ... Shortly before the outbreak of Russo-German hostilities, the Germans, through Colonel Erwin Stolze, of the Abwehr, conducted negotiations with both OUN leaders, Melnyk and Bandera, requesting that they engage in underground activities in the rear of the Soviet armies in the Ukraine.}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Piotrowski|first= Tadeusz |url=http://archive.org/details/polandsholocaust00piot |title=Poland's Holocaust |date=1998 |publisher=McFarland |via=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7864-0371-4 |pages=224, 233, 234 |quote=... after the massive exodus of the Polish people created a hiatus in the flow of requisitions, the Germans decided to stop the UPA terrorist attacks against civilians ... These anti-Jewish actions were carried out by the members of the Ukrainian police who eventually joined the UPA ... By October (1944), all of Eastern Poland lay in Soviet hands. As the German army began its withdrawal, the UPA began to attack its rearguard and seize its equipment. The Germans reacted with raids on UPA positions. On July 15, 1944, the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (Ukrainska Holovna Vyzvolna Rada, or UHVR, an OUN-B outfit) was formed and, at the end of that month, signed an agreement with the Germans for a unified front against the Soviet threat. This ended the UPA attacks as well as the German countermeasures. In exchange for diversionary activities in the rear of the Soviet front, Germans began providing the Ukrainian underground with supplies, arms, and training materials. |author-link=Tadeusz Piotrowski (sociologist)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Katchanovski|first=Ivan |date=2015 |title=Terrorists or national heroes? Politics and perceptions of the OUN and the UPA in Ukraine |url=https://www.academia.edu/16854200 |journal=Communist and Post-Communist Studies – Paper Prepared for Presentation at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Political Science Association, Montreal, June 1–3, 2010 |volume=48 |issue=2–3 |page=15 |doi=10.1016/j.postcomstud.2015.06.006 |issn=0967-067X |quote=However, historical studies and archival documents show that the OUN relied on terrorism and collaborated with Nazi Germany in the beginning of World War II. The OUN-B (Stepan Bandera faction) by means of its control over the UPA masterminded a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Poles in Volhynia during the war and mounted an anti-Soviet terror campaign in Western Ukraine after the war. These nationalist organizations, based mostly in Western Ukraine, primarily, in Galicia, were also involved in mass murder of Jews during World War II. The 2009 Kyiv International Institute of Sociology survey shows that only minorities of the residents of Ukraine have favorable views of the OUN-B and the UPA and deny involvement of these organizations in mass murders of Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews in the 1940s.}}</ref>|group=nb}} which was created on 14 October 1942. From February 1943, the organization fought against the Germans in ] and ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Piotrowski |first=Tadeusz |url=http://archive.org/details/polandsholocaust00piot |title=Poland's holocaust |date=1998 |publisher=McFarland |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7864-0371-4 |page=234 |quote=By October (1944), all of Eastern Poland lay in Soviet hands. As the German army began its withdrawal, the UPA began to attack its rearguard and seize its equipment. The Germans reacted with raids on UPA positions. On July 15, 1944, the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (Ukrainska Holovna Vyzvolna Rada, or UHVR, an OUN-B outfit) was formed and, at the end of that month, signed an agreement with the Germans for a unified front against the Soviet threat. This ended the UPA attacks as well as the German countermeasures. In exchange for diversionary activities in the rear of the Soviet front, Germans began providing the Ukrainian underground with supplies, arms, and training materials}}</ref> At the same time, its forces fought an evenly matched war against the Polish resistance,<ref name=":2">Timothy Snyder. ''The reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999''. Yale University Press. 2003. pp. 175–178.</ref> during which the UPA carried out ],<ref name="Le Monde">{{cite web|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/01/12/stepan-bandera-the-ukrainian-anti-hero-glorified-following-the-russian-invasion_6011401_4.html|title=Stepan Bandera, the Ukrainian anti-hero glorified following the Russian invasion|website=] |date=12 January 2023|access-date=1 May 2024}}</ref> resulting in between 50,000 and 100,000 deaths.<ref name=":0a">{{Cite journal |last=Motyka |first=Grzegorz |date=2016 |title=Czy zbrodnia wołyńsko-galicyjska 1943–1945 była ludobójstwem |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=509529 |journal=Rocznik Polsko-Niemiecki / Deutsch-Polnisches Jahrbuch |language=Polish |volume=2 |issue=24 |pages=45–71 |doi=10.35757/RPN.2016.24.15 |issn=1230-4360 |quote=|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>Aleksander V. Prusin. ''Ethnic Cleansing: Poles from Western Ukraine''. In: Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen. Immigration and asylum: from 1900 to the present. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. 2005. pp. 204–205.</ref><ref>]. ''"The Ukrainian National Revolution" of 1941. Discourse and Practice of a Fascist Movement''. Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. Vol. 12/No. 1 (Winter 2011). p. 83.</ref> Soviet ] units fought against the UPA, which led armed resistance against Soviets until 1949. On the territory of ], the UPA tried to prevent the ] from western Galicia to the Soviet Union until 1947.<ref name=":2" /> | |||
The '''Ukrainian Insurgent Army''' ({{lang-ua|Українська Повстанська Армія, ''Ukrayins’ka Povstans’ka Armiya'', '''UPA'''}}) was a ] ] army formed on ], ], in ]. The UPA was the ] branch of the ]. The main goal of the UPA was an independent ]. Its leaders were ] and ]. | |||
The UPA was a decentralized movement widespread throughout Ukraine, divided into three operational regions; each region followed a somewhat different agenda, given the circumstances of a constantly moving front line and a double threat from Soviet and Nazi opponents.<ref>{{cite book |last=Snyder |first=Timothy |date=2012 |title=Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin |publisher=Basic Books}}</ref> The UPA was formally disbanded in early September 1949, but some of its units continued operations until late 1956. Officially, the UPA's last military engagement occurred in October 1956, when remnants of the group fought on the Hungarian border region in support of ].<ref>Logusz, Michael O. (1997). Galicia Division: The Waffen-SS 14th Grenadier Division 1943–1945. p. 49.</ref> In March 2019, surviving UPA members were officially granted the status of veterans by the ].<ref name="veteransUK38171U" /> | |||
The UPA fought a broad spectrum of military forces in the area: the German ], the Polish ] and the ] ]. After ], UPA ] units continued fighting the ] and ] ] until the early 1950s, especially in ] regions. It was unique among practically all resistence movements in Nazi-occupied Europe in that it had no significant foreign support, making its growth and strength an indication of its popularity among the Ukrainian people.<ref name=Subtelny>{{cite book| author=Subtelny, O. | title=Ukraine: A History| location= Toronto | publisher= University of Toronto Press | year = 1988| page = 474 }}</ref> | |||
== Organization == | |||
== UPA's struggle against Germany == | |||
] | |||
The UPA's command structure overlapped with that of the OUN-B—local OUN and UPA leaders were frequently the same person.{{Sfn|Zhukov|2007|pp=442–443}} The OUN's military referents were the superiors of UPA unit commanders.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|pp=138–139}} The UPA was established in Volhynia and initially limited its activities to this region. Its first commander was the OUN military referent for Volhynia and Polesie, Vasily Ivachiv. In July, the UPA Supreme Command was organized with ] at its head.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=139}} | |||
Organizationally, the UPA was divided into regions. UPA West operated in ];<ref name="auto">Петро Мірчук, Українська Повстанська Армія. 1942–1952. Мюнхен, 1953. – 233–234 ст.</ref> UPA South, in the centre-southern regions of ], parts of ], and parts of ] and ];<ref name="auto" /> UPA North, in the northern regions of ], ], and parts of Kiev and Zhytomyr regions;<ref name="auto" /> in ], the UPA fled north, as ] dictatorship had executed a number of the UPA's participants. The members of UPA East joined other UPA units in ] and in ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 September 2011 |title=БОРОТЬБА УКРАЇНСЬКОГО НАРОДУ НА СХІДНОУКРАЇНСЬКИХ ЗЕМЛЯХ 1941–1944 (Спомини очевидця і учасника) |url=https://bandera.lviv.ua/borotba-ukrajinskoho-narodu-na-shidnoukrajinskyh-zemljah-1941-1944-spomyny-ochevydcja-y-uchasnyka/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206100754/https://bandera.lviv.ua/borotba-ukrajinskoho-narodu-na-shidnoukrajinskyh-zemljah-1941-1944-spomyny-ochevydcja-y-uchasnyka/ |archive-date=February 6, 2023 |website=Bandera.lviv.ua :: Бібліотека націоналіста}}</ref> | |||
UPA was formed in late 1942 for three reasons: in order to serve as a foundation for a Ukrainian army; in response to the needs of Ukrainian villagers who demanded protection against German repression; and in order to prevent ]s who had begun penetrating into northwestern Ukraine from assuming the role of the people's protector. During this struggle it grew in size and its activities increased in scope to cover much of western Ukraine, and were able to send small groups of raiders deep into eastern Ukraine. German estimates stated that UPA had up to 100,000 soldiers (other estimates are as low as 35,000 and as high as 200,000), and they conducted hundreds of raids on German police stations and military convoys. By late ] and early ], UPA controlled much of the territory in Volyn outside of the major cities, and was able to organize basic services for the villagers such as schools, hospitals, and the printing of newspapers. In the region of ], for example, Ukrainian fighters were estimated by the German General-Kommisar Leyser to be in control of 80% of the forests and 60% of the farmland.<ref name=Childs>{{cite book| author=Toynbee, T.R.V. | title=Survey of International Affairs: Hitler's Europe 1939-1945| location= Oxford | publisher= Oxford University Press | year = 1954}}</ref> | |||
In November 1943, the UPA adopted a new structure, creating a Main Military Headquarters and the General Staff. ] headed the HQ, while ] became chief of staff.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|pp=139–140}} The General Staff consisted of operations, intelligence, logistics, personnel, training, political education, and military inspectors departments.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=140}} In addition to the three regions named above, there was also an attempt to create a UPA-East region, including Kiev and Zhytomyr regions, but the project never came to fruition. Similarly, the UPA-South region ceased to exist in the summer of 1944, but continued to appear in documents.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=140}} Three military schools for low-level command staff were also established.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} | |||
The ] saw some of the heaviest fighting between UPA and German forces in late 1943 and early 1944, as the UPA struggled to maintain control over several of the mountain passes. In November 1943, UPA battle groups Black Forest and Makivka defeated 12 German battalions supported by the German airforce, in a battle over control of UPA-held territory. In May and July 1944, two more attempts by the Germans to capture Carpathian mountain passes were repulsed. The latter victory involved the defeat of two German divisions supported by artillery. On July 26, 1944, near the village of Nedilna, the UPA defeated another German division, and captured its entire supply column, including many officers and soldiers.<ref name=Krohmaliuk>{{cite book| author=Krokhmaluk, Y. | title=UPA Warfare in Ukraine| location= New York | publisher= Vantage Press | year = 1973}}</ref> | |||
UPA's largest unit type, the '']'', consisting of 500–700 soldiers,<ref name="UPA12_p169">Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 169</ref> was equivalent to a ], and its smallest unit, the ''rii'' (literally bee swarm), with eight to ten soldiers,<ref name="UPA12_p169" /> equivalent to a ].{{Sfn|Zhukov|2007|p=443}} Occasionally, and particularly in Volyn, during some operations three or more kurins would unite and form a ''zahin'' or ].<ref name="UPA12_p169" /> Organizational methods were borrowed and adapted from the German, Polish and Soviet military, while UPA units based their training on a modified ] field unit manual.{{Sfn|Zhukov|2007|pp=442–443}} | |||
In a debriefing before U.S. authorities in ], a Committee of former German commanders on the Eastern front claimed that "the Ukrainian Nationalist movement formed the strongest partisan movement in the East, with the exception of the Russian Communists." <ref name="German commanders">{{cite book| title=Russian Combat Methods in World War II| location= Washington, D.C. | publisher= U.S. Army Center of Military History | year = 1950| page = 111 }}</ref> | |||
In terms of UPA soldiers' social background, 60 percent were peasants of low to moderate means, 20 to 25 percent were from the working class (primarily from the rural lumber and food industries), and 15 percent were members of the ] (students, urban professionals). The latter group provided a large portion of the UPA's military trainers and officer corps.{{Sfn|Zhukov|2007|p=444}} The number of UPA fighters varied: a German ] report from November 1943 estimated that the UPA had 20,000 soldiers; other estimates at that time placed the number at 40,000.<ref name="Magosci">{{cite book|last=Magoscy |first=R. |title=A History of Ukraine |location=Toronto |publisher=] |year=1996}}</ref> By the summer of 1944, estimates of UPA membership varied from 25,000 to 30,000 fighters,<ref>{{cite book|first=Petro |last=Sodol |title=Ukrainian Insurgent Army 1943–1949 |date=1994 |page=28}}</ref> up to 100,000,<ref name="Magosci" /><ref>{{cite book|first=John |last=Armstrong |date=1963 |title=Ukrainian Nationalism |location=New York |publisher=] |pages=156}}</ref><ref name="Stiftung 2022">{{cite web |author1=Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe |author2=Bastiaan Willems | title=Putin's Abuse of History: Ukrainian 'Nazis', 'Genocide' and a Fake Threat Scenario | website=L.I.S.A. Science Portal Gerda Henkel Foundation| date=24 February 2022 | url=https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/putins_abuse_of_history?language=en|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001183932/https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/putins_abuse_of_history?language=en|archive-date=October 1, 2022 | access-date=9 December 2022}}</ref> or even 200,000 soldiers.{{sfn|Taubman|2004|p=193}} | |||
== UPA's struggle against Soviet forces == | |||
=== Structure === | |||
UPA's struggle against Soviet forces began when they encountered Soviet partisans in late 1942 and early 1943. In early 1943, the famous Communist partisan leader ] established himself in Ukraine and in the summer of 1943, well-armed with supplies delivered to secret airfields and with several thousand soldiers (only one third of whom were ethnic Ukrainians)<ref name=Subtelny>{{cite book| author=Subtelny, O. | title=Ukraine: A History| location= Toronto | publisher= University of Toronto Press | year = 1988| page = 476 }}</ref> , launched a raid deep into the Carpathians. Attacks by the German air force and military forced Kovpak to break up his force into smaller units, which were mostly destroyed by UPA in the Carpathian mountains. During this time, famous Soviet ] agent ] was captured and executed by UPA. | |||
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army was structured into three units:<ref name="auto"/> | |||
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em| | |||
# ''']'''<br />Regions: ], ]. | |||
#* '''Military District "Turiv"'''<br />Commander – Maj. Rudyj.<br />Squads: "Bohun", "Pomsta Polissja", "Nalyvajko". | |||
#* '''Military District "Zahrava"'''<br />Commander – Ptashka (Sylvester Zatovkanjuk).<br />Squads: "Konovaletsj", "Enej", "Dubovyj", "Oleh". | |||
#* '''Military District " Volhynia-South"'''<br />Commander – Bereza.<br />Squads: "Kruk", "H.". | |||
# ''']'''<br />Regions: ], ], ], ]. | |||
#* '''Military District "Lysonja"'''<br />Commander – Maj. Hrim, V.<br />Kurins: "Holodnojarci", "Burlaky", "Lisovyky", "Rubachi", "Bujni", "Holky". | |||
#* '''Military District "Hoverlja"'''<br />Commander – Maj. Stepovyj (from 1945 – Major Hmara).<br />Kurins: "Bukovynsjkyj", "Peremoha", "Hajdamaky", "Huculjskyj", "Karpatsjkyj". | |||
#* '''Military District "Black Forest"'''<br />Commander – Col. Rizun-Hrehit (Mykola Andrusjak).<br />Kurins: "Smertonosci", "Pidkarpatsjkyj", "Dzvony", "Syvulja", "Dovbush", "Beskyd", "Menyky". | |||
#* '''Military District "Makivka"'''<br />Commander – Maj. Kozak.<br />Kurins: "Ljvy", "Bulava", "Zubry", "Letuny", "Zhuravli", "Bojky of Chmelnytsjkyj", "Basejn". | |||
#* '''Military District "Buh"'''<br />Commander – Col. Voronnyj<br />Kurins: "Druzhynnyky", "Halajda", "Kochovyky", "Perejaslavy", "Tyhry", "Perebyjnis" | |||
#* '''Military District "Sjan"'''<br />Commander – Orest<br />Kurins: "Vovky", "Menyky", Kurin of Ren, Kurin of Eugene. | |||
# '''UPA-South'''<br />Regions: ], ], southern region of ], southern regions of Ukraine,<br />and especially in cities ], ], ], ], ]. | |||
#* '''Military District "Cholodnyj Jar"'''<br />Commander – Kost'.<br />Kurins: Kurin of Sabljuk, Kurin of Dovbush. | |||
#* '''Military District "Umanj"'''<br />Commander – Ostap.<br />Kurins: Kurin of Dovbenko, Kurin of Buvalyj, Kurin of Andrij-Shum. | |||
#* '''Military District "Vinnytsja"'''<br />Commander – Jasen.<br />Kurins: Kurin of Storchan, Kurin of Mamaj, Kurin of Burevij. | |||
}} | |||
The fourth region, UPA-East, was planned, but never created.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=140}} | |||
=== Greeting === | |||
UPA began fighting Soviet military units when they appeared on its territory as the Soviet Army advanced into western Ukraine. UPA tried to avoid clashes with the regular units of the Soviet military because many of them were ethnic Ukrainians and were seen as a source of recruits into UPA. Instead, UPA focused its energy on ] units and Soviet officials of all levels, from high rank ] and military officers to the school teachers and postal workers attempting to establish Soviet control over Ukraine after the front line had passed. UPA also disrupted Soviet efforts at ]. In March 1944, UPA insurgents ambushed and killed ], the famous commander of the ], who led the liberation of ]. Several weeks later an NKVD battalion was annihilated by UPA near ], beginning the full-scale struggle in the summer of 1944, involving 30,000 Soviet troops against UPA in Volyn that, despite heavy casualties on both sides, was inconclusive. As late as summer ], many battalion-size UPA units continued to control and administer large areas of territory in western Ukraine. | |||
], ], Ukraine]] | |||
The greeting ''"]"'' ({{lang|uk-latn|Slava Ukrayini! Heroiam slava!}}) was used among members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).<ref>Ivan Katchanovski (2004). "". The Journal of Slavic Military Studies. p. 214.</ref> | |||
=== Anthem === | |||
In November 1944, ] launched the first of several large-scale Soviet assaults on UPA throughout western Ukraine, involving at least 20 NKVD combat divisions supported by artillery and armored units. They blockaded villages and roads and set parts of the forests on fire; NKVD units dressed as UPA soldiers and committed atrocities in order to demoralize the civilian population. Areas of UPA activity were depopulated. An estimated 500,000 Ukrainians were sent to the North between ] and ].<ref name=Subtelny>{{cite book| author=Subtelny, O. | title=Ukraine: A History| location= Toronto | publisher= University of Toronto Press | year = 1988| page = 489 }}</ref> Although the Soviets failed to wipe out UPA, heavy casualties forced UPA to split into small units consisting of 100 soldiers, and many of the troops demobilized and returned home. For this reason, by 1946, UPA was reduced to a a core group of 5-10 thousand fighters, and large-scale UPA activity shifted to the Soviet-Polish border, where in ], Polish general ] was killed by UPA insurgents. During the latter phase of its struggle, UPA obtained help from the CIA and British intelligence, although the operation was betrayed by ]. Only in 1947-1948 was UPA resistence broken enough to allow the Soviets to implement large-scale ] throughout western Ukraine. Sporadic UPA raids continued until the mid 1950's, and UPA's leader, general ], was killed in an ambush near ] in March ]. | |||
The anthem of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was called the '']'', also known as ''We were born in a great hour'' ({{langx|uk|Зродились ми великої години}}). The song, written by Oles Babiy, was officially adopted by the leadership of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in 1932.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ua-orden.org/simvolika-ukra%D1%97nskix-nacionalistiv.html |script-title=uk:Символіка Українських Націоналістів |trans-title=The symbolism of Ukrainian Nationalists |language=uk |publisher=Virtual museum of Ukrainian phaleristics |date=22 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208025621/http://ua-orden.org/simvolika-ukra%D1%97nskix-nacionalistiv.html |archive-date=8 December 2013}}</ref> The organization was a successor of the ], whose anthem was "]". Leaders of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, ] and ], were founding members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. For this reason, "Chervona Kalyna" was also used by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://edufuture.biz/index.php?title=12._%D0%A1%D1%82%D1%80%D1%96%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%86%D1%8C%D0%BA%D1%96_%D0%BF%D1%96%D1%81%D0%BD%D1%96._%C2%AB%D0%9E%D0%B9_%D1%83_%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B7%D1%96_%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%8F%C2%BB_%D0%A1._%D0%A7%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%86%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D1%96_%D0%93._%D0%A2%D1%80%D1%83%D1%85%D0%B0,_%C2%AB%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%B9,_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE_%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%C2%BB_%D0%91._%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE |title=Avramenko, O.M., Shabelnykova, L.P. ''Chapter 12. Riflemen songs.'' Ukrainian literature. Sixth grade. (textbook) |language=ru |publisher=School.xvatit.com |access-date=15 October 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404102007/https://edufuture.biz/index.php?title=12._%D0%A1%D1%82%D1%80%D1%96%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%86%D1%8C%D0%BA%D1%96_%D0%BF%D1%96%D1%81%D0%BD%D1%96._%C2%AB%D0%9E%D0%B9_%D1%83_%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B7%D1%96_%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%8F%C2%BB_%D0%A1._%D0%A7%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%86%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D1%96_%D0%93._%D0%A2%D1%80%D1%83%D1%85%D0%B0,_%C2%AB%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%B9,_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE_%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%C2%BB_%D0%91._%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2023}} | |||
=== Flag === | |||
Metropolitan Oleksiy (Hromadsky) of the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church was also killed by UPA insurgents. | |||
The flag of the UPA was a red-and-black banner,<ref name=":1" /> which continues to be a symbol of the Ukrainian nationalist movement. The colors of the flag symbolize "red Ukrainian blood spilled on the black Ukrainian earth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://donbass.comments.ua/news/91450-svobodovtsi-poslali-lukyanchenko.html |title="Свободовцы" послали Лукьянченко красно-черный флаг – Донбасс.comments.ua |publisher=Donetsk.comments.ua |access-date=4 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413171522/http://donbass.comments.ua/news/91450-svobodovtsi-poslali-lukyanchenko.html |archive-date=13 April 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Use of the flag is also a "sign of the stubborn endurance of the Ukrainian national idea even under the grimmest conditions."<ref name=":1">{{cite news|first=Christian |last=Carlyl |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/05/09/in_a_divided_ukraine_even_victory_over_hitler_isn_t_what_it_used_to_be |title=In a Divided Ukraine, Even Victory Over Hitler Isn't What It Used to Be |work=Foreign Policy |date=9 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512203523/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/05/09/in_a_divided_ukraine_even_victory_over_hitler_isn_t_what_it_used_to_be |archive-date=12 May 2014}}</ref> | |||
=== Awards === | |||
== UPA and the destruction of Western Ukraine's Polish community == | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
== Military ranks == | |||
The UPA strove to remove ] from areas that it regarded as indigenously Ukrainian, and often succeeded. Most estimates have put the Polish death toll between 35,000 and 60,000 in Volhyn alone (see ] for more details). Many historians, particularly in Poland, use the term ] or ] to denote the events; some estimates of all Polish dead in Ukraine run as high as 100,000 or even 500,000. | |||
The UPA made use of a dual rank system that included functional command position designations and traditional ]s. The functional system was developed due to an acute shortage of qualified and politically reliable officers during the early stages of organization.<ref>Major Petro R. Sodol, USA (ret.). ''UPA: They Fought Hitler and Stalin''. New York 1987. p. 34</ref> | |||
{|class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; text-align:center;" | |||
The UPA's activities are sometimes seen as a response to actions of the inter-war Polish government, which sought to limit the number of ] institutions in the same areas, often regarded as indigenously Polish. However, the scope of such actions, although unquestionably anti-Ukrainian, was mostly limited to cultural suppression, such as closing Ukrainian-language schools and shutting down Ukrainian churches. | |||
|- | |||
|] || ] || ] || ] || ] || ] || ] || ] | |||
|- | |||
|<small>Supreme<br />commander</small> || <small>Regional<br />commander</small> || <small>Division<br />(military district)<br />commander</small> || <small>Brigade<br />(tactical sector)<br />commander</small> || <small>Battalion<br />commander</small> || <small>Company<br />commander</small> || <small>Platoon leader</small> || <small>Squad leader</small> | |||
|} | |||
UPA rank structure consisted of at least seven commissioned officer ranks, four non-commissioned officer ranks, and two soldier ranks. The hierarchical order of known ranks and their approximate U.S. Army equivalent is as follows:<ref>Major Petro R. Sodol, USA (ret.). ''UPA: They Fought Hitler and Stalin''. New York 1987. p. 36</ref> | |||
Retaliation by ] forces resulted in the deaths of 10,00 to 60,000 Ukrainian civilians; the exact number is not documented. | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; width:400px; text-align:left; font-size:85%;" | |||
|- | |||
! scope="col" style="width:200px" | UPA RANKS | |||
! scope="col" | US ARMY EQUIVALENTS | |||
|- | |||
| Heneral-Khorunzhyj || Brigadier General | |||
|- | |||
| Polkovnyk || Colonel | |||
|- | |||
| Pidpolkovnyk || Lieutenant Colonel | |||
|- | |||
| Major || Major | |||
|- | |||
| Sotnyk || Captain | |||
|- | |||
| Poruchnyk || First Lieutenant | |||
|- | |||
| Khorunzhyj || Second Lieutenant | |||
|- | |||
| Starshyj Bulavnyj || Master Sergeant | |||
|- | |||
| Bulavnyj || Sergeant First Class | |||
|- | |||
| Starshyj Vistun || Staff Sergeant | |||
|- | |||
| Vistun || Sergeant | |||
|- | |||
| Starshyj Strilets || Private First Class | |||
|- | |||
| Strilets || Private | |||
|} | |||
The rank scheme provided for three more higher general officer ranks: Heneral-Poruchnyk (Major General), Heneral-Polkovnyk (Lieutenant General), and Heneral-Pikhoty (General with Four Stars).{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} | |||
== Aftermath == | |||
During the Soviet years, UPA was officially mentioned only in negative terms, and was considered to have been a terrorist organization. After Ukraine gained independence in ], former UPA members struggled for official recognition as legitimate combatants, with the accompanying pensions and benefits due to war veterans. They have also striven to hold parades and commemorations of their own, especially in Western Ukraine. This, in turn, led to opposition from the Ukrainian veterans of the ], and disapproval from the ]n government too. So far the attempts to reconcile the two groups of veterans have made little progress. An attempt to hold a joint parade in ] in May, ], to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of ], proved unsuccessful. The assessment of the historical role of UPA remains a controversial issue in Ukrainian society, although ] ] joined several public Ukrainian organizations in calls for reconciliation, pensions, and other benefits for UPA veterans that would equate them in status with the veterans of the ], and aid the understanding of their role in the chaotic times of UPA operations. | |||
== Armaments == | |||
Recently, attempts to reconcile former ] and UPA soldiers have been made by both the Ukrainian and Polish sides. Individual former members UPA have expressed their readiness for mutual apology . Some of the past soldiers of both organisations have met and asked for forgiveness for the past misdeeds. | |||
Initially, the UPA used weapons collected from the battlefields of 1939 and 1941.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} Later, they bought weapons from peasants and individual soldiers or captured them in combat. Some light weapons were also brought by deserting ]. For the most part, the UPA used light infantry weapons of Soviet and, to a lesser extent, German origin (for which ammunition was less readily obtainable). In 1944, German units armed the UPA directly with captured Soviet arms. Many ]s were equipped with light ] and ] ]. During large-scale operations in 1943–1944, insurgent forces also used artillery (] and ]).<ref name=motyka148>Motyka, p. 148</ref> In 1943 a light Hungarian tank was used in Volhynia.<ref name=motyka148 /><ref>However it is not true that UPA had a Soviet ] tank.</ref> | |||
Restoration of graves and cementeries in Poland, where fallen UPA soldiers were placed have been agreed to by the Polish side. | |||
In 1944, the Soviets captured a ] aircraft and one armored car and one personnel carrier from the UPA; however, it was not stated that they were in operable condition, while no OUN/UPA documents noted the usage of such equipment.<ref>Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917–1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 {{ISBN|5-325-00599-5}} p. 585</ref> By the ], the ] had captured 45 artillery pieces (45 and 76.2 mm calibres) and 423 ] from the UPA. In attacks against Polish civilians, axes and pikes were used.<ref name=motyka148 /> However, the light infantry weapon was the basic weapon used by the UPA.<ref>{{in lang|uk}} Українська Повстанська Армія – Історія нескорених – Львів, 2007 p. 203</ref> | |||
==See also== | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ], ] | |||
== |
== Formation == | ||
=== 1941 === | |||
:'''Inline''' | |||
] | |||
<references/> | |||
:'''General''' | |||
* , ''"War Criminality: A Blank Spot in the Collective Memory of the Ukrainian Diaspora"'', from , Lviv, 2003 (also available at , Vol. 5, pp. 9-24, ISSN 1496-6778). | |||
*], "God's playground : a history of Poland : in two volumes", Vol. 2, Chapter 19, Oxford; New York, Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0199253404. | |||
* {{cite book | author = Orest Subtelny | title = Ukraine: A History | location= Toronto | publisher= University of Toronto Press | year = 1988 | id= ISBN 0-8020-5809-6}} | |||
* {{pl icon}} ],, Memory of the Polish Diaspora | |||
* {{pl icon}} Andrzej Sowa, ''"Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie 1939-1947"'', Kraków 1998, ISBN 839093158 | |||
* {{uk icon}} | |||
In a memorandum from 14 August 1941, the OUN (B) petitioned the Germans to create a Ukrainian Army "which unite with the German Army ... until final victory", in exchange for German recognition of an allied, independent Ukrainian state.<ref>Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 1 p. 69</ref> At the beginning of October 1941, during the first OUN Conference, the OUN formulated its future strategy. This called for transferring part of its organizational structure underground, in order to avoid conflict with the Germans. It also refrained from open anti-German propaganda activities.<ref>Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 2, p. 92</ref> A captured German document of 25 November 1941 (] O14-USSR) ordered:<blockquote>"It has been ascertained that the Bandera Movement is preparing a revolt in the ] which has as its ultimate aim the establishment of an independent Ukraine. All functionaries of the Bandera Movement must be arrested at once and, after thorough interrogation, are to be liquidated..."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/NT_Vol-XXXIX.pdf|title=Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 14 November 1945 – 1 October 1946|publisher=The International Military Tribunal|volume=39|year=1949|location=Nuremberg|pages=269–270|access-date=31 March 2016}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
==External links== | |||
* | |||
* | |||
=== 1942 === | |||
] | |||
At the Second Conference of the OUN-B, held in April 1942, the policies for the "creation, build-up and development of Ukrainian political and future military forces" and "action against partisan activity supported by Moscow" were adopted. Although German policies were criticized, the ] were identified as the primary enemy of the OUN (B) and its future armed wing.<ref>Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 2, pp. 95–97.</ref> The Military Conference of the OUN (B) met in December 1942 near ]. The conference resulted in the adoption of a policy of building up the OUN-B's military forces. The conference emphasized that "the entire combat capable population must support, under the OUN banner, the struggle against the Bolshevik enemy". On 30 May 1947, the Main Ukrainian Liberation Council (Головна Визвольна Рада) adopted the date of 14 October 1942—the feast of the ], and Ukrainian Cossacks' Day—as the official anniversary of the UPA.<ref>{{cite web|first=Dmytro |last=Shevchuk |url=http://www.ukrnationalism.org.ua/publications/?n=674 |script-title=uk:Бандерівці ідуть! |trans-title=The Banderists are coming! |language=uk |publisher=ukrnationalism.org.ua |date=20 January 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130041730/http://www.ukrnationalism.org.ua/publications/?n=674 |archive-date=30 January 2009}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=some weird Ukrainian nazi site|date=August 2024}} | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
== Germany == | |||
] | |||
The relationship between Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Nazi Germany was complex and varied on account of the intertwined interests of the two actors, as well as the decentralized nature of the UPA.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Collaboration-of-the-OUN-B-and-UPA-leaders-with-Nazi-Germany-and-other-Axis-countries_tbl1_262727967|title=Collaboration of the OUN-B and UPA leaders with Nazi Germany and other... | Download Table}}</ref> | |||
Despite the stated opinions of ] and ] that the Germans were a secondary threat compared to their main enemies (the Communist forces of the Soviet Union and Poland), the Third Conference of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, held near Lviv from 17 to 21 February 1943, decided to begin open warfare against the Germans<ref name="TwoFront43-44">{{cite web|url=http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/11.pdf|script-title=uk:Розділ 4 – 'Двофронтова' боротьба УПА (1943 – перша половина 1944 рр.)|trans-title=Chapter 4 – The 'two front' combat of the UPA (1943 – first half of 1944)|language=uk|publisher=history.org.ua|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411144040/http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/11.pdf|archive-date=11 April 2008}}</ref> (OUN fighters had already attacked a German garrison earlier that year on 7 February).<ref name="AntiGermanFront">{{cite web |title= |script-title=uk:Розділ 4. – 4. Протинімецький фронт ОУН і УПА |trans-title=Chapter 4. – 4. Anti-German front of the OUN and UPA |url=http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/14.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411143921/http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/14.pdf |archive-date=11 April 2008 |website=Institute of History of Ukraine |publisher= |language=uk}}</ref> Accordingly, on 20 March 1943, the OUN-B leadership issued secret instructions ordering their members who had joined the collaborationist ] in 1941–1942 to desert with their weapons and join with UPA units in Volhynia. This process often involved armed conflict with German forces trying to prevent this. The number of trained and armed personnel who joined the ranks of the UPA was estimated to be between 4 and 5 thousand.<ref name="TwoFront43-44" /> | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
Anti-German actions were limited to situations where the Germans attacked the Ukrainian population or UPA units.<ref name="2FrontStrategy">{{cite web |url=http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/13.pdf |script-title=uk:3. Стратегія 'двофронтової' боротьби ОУН і УПА |trans-title=3. Strategy for the 'two front' combat of the OUN and UPA |language=uk |publisher=history.org.ua |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411144028/http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/13.pdf |archive-date=11 April 2008}}</ref> According to German general ], UPA fighters "fought almost exclusively against German administrative agencies, the German police and the SS in their quest to establish an independent Ukraine controlled by neither Moscow nor Germany."<ref>''Debriefing of General Kostring'' Department of the Army, 3 November 1948, MSC – 035, cited in Sodol, Petro R., 1987, ''UPA: They Fought Hitler and Stalin'', New York: Committee for the World Convention and Reunion of Soldiers in the UIA, p. 58.</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=August 2024|reason=Subject-affiliated source}} During the German occupation, the UPA conducted hundreds of raids on police stations and military convoys. In the region of ] insurgents were estimated by the German General-Kommissar Leyser to be in control of 80% of the forests and 60% of the ].<ref name="Toynbee">{{cite book| author=Toynbee, T.R.V.|title=Survey of International Affairs: Hitler's Europe 1939–1945|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1954|page=}}{{page needed|date=July 2023}}</ref> According to the OUN/UPA, on 12 May 1943, Germans attacked the town of Kolki using several SS-Divisions (SS units operated alongside the ] who were responsible for intelligence, central security, policing action, and mass extermination), where both sides suffered heavy losses.<ref>Yuriy Tys-Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army {{LCCN|7280823}} pp. 58–59</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Subject-affiliated publisher|date=August 2024}} ] reported the reinforcement of German auxiliary forces at Kolki from the end of April until the middle of May 1943.<ref>Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917–1953 Vol. 2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 {{ISBN|5-325-00599-5}} pp, 384, 391</ref> | |||
] | |||
] | |||
In June 1943, German SS and police forces under the command of ], the head of ]-directed '']'' ("bandit warfare"), attempted to destroy UPA-North in Volhynia during Operation BB (Bandenbekämpfung).<ref name=Anderson>James K. Anderson, Unknown Soldiers of an Unknown Army, ''Army'' Magazine, May 1968, p. 63</ref> According to Ukrainian claims, the initial stage of the operation produced no results whatsoever. This development was the subject of several discussions by Himmler's staff that resulted in General von dem Bach-Zelewski being sent to Ukraine.<ref>Yuriy Tys-Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army {{LCCN|7280823}} pp. 238–239</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Subject-affiliated publisher|date=August 2024}} He failed to eliminate the UPA, which grew steadily, and the Germans, apart from terrorizing the civilian population, were virtually limited to defensive actions.<ref>Yuriy Tys-Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army {{LCCN|7280823}} pp. 242–243</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Subject-affiliated publisher|date=August 2024}} | |||
From July through September 1943, in an estimated 74 clashes between German forces and the UPA, the Germans lost more than 3,000 men killed or wounded, while the UPA lost 1,237 killed or wounded. According to post-war estimates, the UPA had the following number of clashes with the Germans in mid-to-late 1943 in Volhynia: 35 in July, 24 in August, 15 in September and 47 during October–November.<ref name="AntiGermanFront" />{{rp|186}}<ref name="MukovskyLysenko2002">{{cite journal|first1=Ivan|last1=Mukovsky|first2=Oleksander|last2=Lysenko|url=http://warhistory.ukrlife.org/5_6_02_3.htm|script-title=uk:Українська повстанська армія та збройні формування ОУН у другій світовій війни|trans-title=Ukrainian Insurgent Army and armed formations of the OUN in World War II|language=uk|journal=Military History|year=2002|issue=5–6|access-date=31 March 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403233619/http://warhistory.ukrlife.org/5_6_02_3.htm|archive-date=April 3, 2023|quote=(Translation) ... 35 clashes took place in July, 24 in August, 15 in September; the insurgents lost 1,237 soldiers and officers, enemy losses amounted to 3000 people.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=L. Shankovskyy|title=History of Ukrainian Army (Історія українського війська)|location=Winnipeg|year=1953|page=32}}</ref> In the fall of 1943, clashes between the UPA and the Germans declined, so that ] in his November 1943 report and New Year 1944 speech could claim that "nationalistic bands in forests do not pose any major threat" for the Germans.<ref name="AntiGermanFront" />{{rp|190}} | |||
In the autumn of 1943, some detachments of the UPA attempted to find rapprochement with the Germans, despite a 25 November OUN/UPA order to the contrary.<ref name="AntiGermanFront" />{{rp|190–194}} In early 1944, UPA forces in several Western regions cooperated with the German '']'', '']'', ] and ].<ref name="AntiGermanFront" />{{rp|192–194}}<ref>Yaroslav Hrytsak, "History of Ukraine 1772–1999"</ref> Nevertheless, the winter and spring of 1944 did not see a complete cessation of armed conflict between UPA and German forces, as the UPA continued to defend Ukrainian villages against the repressive actions of the German administration.<ref name="AntiGermanFront" />{{rp|196}} For example, on 20 January, 200 German soldiers on their way to the Ukrainian village of ] were forced to retreat after a several-hour long firefight with 80 UPA soldiers after having lost 30 killed and wounded.<ref name="AntiGermanFront" />{{rp|197}} In March–July 1944, a senior leader of OUN-B in Galicia conducted negotiations with SD and SS officials, resulting in a German decision to supply the UPA with arms and ammunition. In May of that year, the OUN issued instructions to "switch the struggle, which had been conducted against the Germans, completely into a struggle against the Soviets."<ref name="AntiGermanFront" /> | |||
In a top-secret memorandum, General-Major Brigadeführer Brenner wrote in mid-1944 to SS-Obergruppenführer General ], the highest ranking German SS officer in Ukraine, that "The UPA has halted all attacks on units of the German army. The UPA systematically sends agents, mainly young women, into the enemy-occupied territory, and the results of the intelligence are communicated to Department 1c of the Army Group" on the southern front.<ref name="BurdsGender">{{cite web|first=Jeffrey|last=Burds|url=http://www.history.neu.edu/fac/burds/Gender.pdf|title=Gender and Policing in Soviet West Ukraine, 1944–1948|publisher=history.neu.edu|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127004924/http://www.history.neu.edu/fac/burds/Gender.pdf|archive-date=27 January 2007}}</ref> By the autumn of 1944, the German press was full of praise for the UPA for their anti-Bolshevik successes, referring to the UPA fighters as "Ukrainian fighters for freedom"<ref>Martovych O. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Munchen, 1950 p. 20</ref> After the front had passed, by the end of 1944 the Germans supplied the OUN/UPA by air with arms and equipment. In the ], there even existed a small landing strip for German transport planes. Some German personnel trained in terrorist and intelligence activities behind Soviet lines, as well as some OUN-B leaders, were also transported through this channel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.org.ua/LiberUA/Book/Upa/18.pdf|script-title=uk:Розділ 6 – 2. Самостійницький рух у 1944 р.|trans-title=Chapter 6 – 2. Independence Movement in 1944|language=uk|publisher=history.org.ua|page=338|access-date=31 March 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531052241/http://history.org.ua/LiberUA/Book/Upa/18.pdf|archive-date=May 31, 2023}}</ref> | |||
Adopting a strategy analogous to that of the ] leader General ],<ref name=upa13>, pp. 174–180</ref> the UPA limited its actions against the Germans in order to better prepare itself for and engage in the struggle against the Communists. Because of this, although the UPA managed to limit German activities to a certain extent, it failed to prevent the Germans from deporting approximately 500,000 people from Western Ukraine and from economically exploiting Western Ukraine.<ref name=upa13/> Due to its focus on the Soviets as the principal threat, the UPA's anti-German struggle did not contribute significantly to the recapture of Ukrainian territories by Soviet forces.<ref name="AntiGermanFront" />{{rp|199}} | |||
== Poland == | |||
=== Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia === | |||
{{Main|Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia}} | |||
{{See also|Sluzhba Bezpeky|Polish-Ukrainian ethnic conflict}} | |||
]]] | |||
] and OUN in May of 1945 near ]]] | |||
In 1943, the UPA adopted a policy of massacring and expelling the Polish population east of the ].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Martin |first=Terry |format=PDF |url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3229636/Martin%201998.pdf?sequence=2 |date=December 1998 |access-date=3 May 2018 |title=The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing |journal=The Journal of Modern History|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613013830/https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3229636/Martin%201998.pdf?sequence=2|archive-date=June 13, 2023 |publisher=The ] |volume=70 |issue=4 |page=820 |doi=10.1086/235168|s2cid=32917643 }}</ref><ref name="Snyder2">Timothy Snyder. ''The Reconstruction of Nations. Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999.'' ]. 2003. pp. 168–170, 176</ref> In March 1943, the OUN-B (specifically ]<ref>. Sevdig.sevastopol.ws. Retrieved on 11 July 2011.</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=August 2024|certain=Some weird geocities-style website. From a quick look at the machine-translated text, it seems to be a polemical first-person account}}) imposed a collective death sentence on all Poles living in the former east of the Second Polish Republic, and a few months later, local units of the UPA were instructed to complete the operation soon.<ref>Karel Cornelis Berkhoff, "Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine Under Nazi Rule", Harvard University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-674-01313-1}} </ref> Among those who were behind the decision, Polish investigators singled out ], Vasyl Ivakhov, Ivan Lytvynchuk and Petro Oliynyk.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://artukraine.com/historical/volyn_trag2.htm|title=Historical Gallery|date=28 August 2003|access-date=9 July 2022|archive-date=28 August 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030828170530/http://artukraine.com/historical/volyn_trag2.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
The ] operation against the Poles began on a large scale in Volhynia in late February (or early Spring<ref name=Snyder2 />) of that year and lasted until the end of 1944.<ref name="HistoryOrgPDF16">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/16.pdf |title=Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army |chapter=16 |publisher=Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |pages=247–295}}{{dead link|date=March 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> ], the founder of the UPA, criticized the attacks as soon as they began: {{blockquote|The axe and the flail have gone into motion. Whole families are butchered and hanged, and Polish settlements are set on fire. The “hatchet men,” to their shame, butcher and hang defenceless women and children.... By such work Ukrainians not only do a favor for the SD , but also present themselves in the eyes of the world as barbarians. We must take into account that England will surely win this war, and it will treat these “hatchet men” and lynchers and incendiaries as agents in the service of Hitlerite cannibalism, not as honest fighters for their freedom, not as state-builders.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Himka |first1=John-Paul |title=The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army: Unwelcome Elements of an Identity Project |journal=Ab Imperio |date=2010 |volume=2010 |issue=4 |pages=83–101 |doi=10.1353/imp.2010.0101|s2cid=130590374 }}</ref>}} | |||
11 July 1943, the ], was one of the deadliest days of the massacres, with UPA units marching from village to village, killing Polish civilians. On that day, UPA units surrounded and attacked 99 Polish villages and settlements in three counties – ], ], and ]. On the following day, 50 additional villages were attacked.<ref>Grzegorz Motyka, Ukraińska Partyzantka 1942–1960, Warszawa 2006, p. 329</ref> In January 1944, the UPA campaign of ethnic cleansing spread to the neighboring province of Galicia. Unlike in Volhynia, where Polish villages were destroyed and their inhabitants murdered without warning, Poles in eastern Galicia were in some instances given the choice of fleeing or being killed.<ref name=Snyder2 /> Ukrainian peasants sometimes joined the UPA in the violence,<ref name=Snyder2 /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/11.pdf |script-title=uk:11. Українсько-польське протистояння |trans-title=11. Ukrainian-Polish confrontation |language=uk |publisher=Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |page=24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828210758/http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/11.pdf |archive-date=28 August 2008}}</ref> and large bands of armed marauders, unaffiliated with the UPA, brutalized civilians.<ref name="Burds1996">{{cite journal|url=http://www.history.neu.edu/fac/burds/agentura1.pdf |last1=Burds |first1=Jeffrey |title=Agentura: Soviet Informants' Networks & the Ukrainian Underground in Galicia, 1944–48 |journal=] |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=89–130 |year=1996 |issn=0888-3254 |doi=10.1177/0888325497011001003 |s2cid=144312569 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031005141138/http://www.history.neu.edu/fac/burds/agentura1.pdf |archive-date=5 October 2003}}</ref> In other cases however, Ukrainian civilians took significant steps to protect their Polish neighbors, either by hiding them during the UPA raids or vouching that the Poles were actually Ukrainians. | |||
] killed by the UPA, ], Poland]] | |||
The methods used by the UPA to carry out the massacres were particularly brutal and were committed indiscriminately without any restraint. Historian ] describes the killings: <blockquote>"Villages were torched. Roman Catholic priests were axed or crucified. Churches were burned with all their parishioners. Isolated farms were attacked by gangs carrying pitchforks and kitchen knives. Throats were cut. Pregnant women were bayoneted. Children were cut in two. Men were ambushed in the field and led away."<ref name="no simple victory">], '']'' Publisher: Pan Books, 2007, 544 pages, {{ISBN|978-0-330-35212-3}}</ref> </blockquote>In total, the estimated numbers of Polish and Jewish civilians killed in Volhynia and Galicia is between 50,000 and 100,000.{{refn|The exact number of ethnic Polish fatal victims is unknown. Most estimates vary between 50,000,<ref name=Snyder1999>{{cite journal |last1=Snyder |first1=Timothy |title='To Resolve the Ukrainian Problem Once and for All': The Ethnic Cleansing of Ukrainians in Poland, 1943–1947 |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |date=1999 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=86–120 |doi=10.1162/15203979952559531|s2cid=57564179 }}</ref> or 100,000,<ref name="Himka2">J. P. Himka. . University of Alberta. 28 March 2011. p. 4</ref><ref name=":0b">{{Cite news|url=http://volhyniamassacre.eu/zw2/history/179,The-Effects-of-the-Volhynian-Massacres.html|title=The Effects of the Volhynian Massacres|last=Massacre|first=Volhynia|work=Volhynia Massacre|access-date=2018-03-10|language=en|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529094412/https://volhyniamassacre.eu/zw2/history/179,The-Effects-of-the-Volhynian-Massacres.html|archive-date=May 29, 2023}}</ref><ref name="ahonen">{{cite book|title=Peoples on the Move: Population Transfers and Ethnic Cleansing Policies During World War II and Its Aftermath |last=Pertti |first=Ahonen |publisher=] |year=2008 |page=99}}</ref> depending on the source used;<ref>Grzegorz Motyka, ''Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji "Wisła"'', Kraków 2011, p. 447.</ref> lower and higher numbers are occasionally cited too when different regions and perpetrators are included. A neutral halfway point between the most often cited numbers that was mentioned in an IPN conference of Polish and Ukrainian scholars is 85,000 deaths.<ref name="rozlicz">{{Citation | last = | first = | url = https://ipn.gov.pl/download/1/169564/Wolyn-1943-rozliczenie-Konferencja-IPN.pdf | title = Wołyń 1943 – Rozliczenie | journal = Konferencje IPN | volume = 41 | pages = 27–30 | date = 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322160800/https://ipn.gov.pl/download/1/169564/Wolyn-1943-rozliczenie-Konferencja-IPN.pdf|archive-date=March 22, 2023}}</ref>}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rudling |first=Per Anders |date=2012-07-01 |title='They Defended Ukraine': The 14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (Galizische Nr. 1) Revisited |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13518046.2012.705633 |journal=The Journal of Slavic Military Studies |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=329–368 |doi=10.1080/13518046.2012.705633 |s2cid=144432759 |issn=1351-8046 |quote=In 1943–44 the OUN(b) and its armed wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) carried out a brutal campaign of mass murder of the Polish, Jewish, and other minorities in Volhynia and Galicia which claimed up to 100,000 lives}}</ref><ref name=":0a" /> Victims of the UPA included Ukrainians who did not adhere to its form of nationalism and so were considered traitors.<ref name="Snyder B">{{cite web|author=Timothy Snyder|title=A Fascist Hero in Democratic Kiev|url=http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2010/02/24/a-fascist-hero-in-democratic-kiev/|work=NYR Daily|date=24 February 2010 |publisher=The New York Review of Books|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528223405/https://www.nybooks.com/online/2010/02/24/a-fascist-hero-in-democratic-kiev/|archive-date=May 28, 2023}}</ref> After the initiation of the massacres, Polish self-defense units responded in kind. Estimates of Ukrainians killed in acts of reprisal range from 2,000 to 30,000.<ref name="Rudling2">]. ''Theory and Practice. Historical representation of the wartime accounts of the activities of OUN-UPA (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists–Ukrainian Insurgent Army)''. East European Jewish Affairs. Vol. 36. No. 2. December 2006. pp. 163–179.</ref><ref name="Liebe2">G. Rossolinski-Liebe. ''Celebrating Fascism and War Criminality in Edmonton. The Political Myth and Cult of Stepan Bandera in Multicultural Canada''. Kakanien Revisited. 29 December 2010.</ref><ref>Kataryna Wolczuk, "The Difficulties of Polish-Ukrainian Historical Reconciliation," Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, 2002.</ref> On 22 July 2016, the ] passed a resolution declaring the massacres committed by the UPA a ].<ref>Radio Poland "Polish MPs adopt resolution calling 1940s massacre genocide" http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/263005,Polish-MPs-adopt-resolution-calling-1940s-massacre-genocide {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119172309/http://archiwum.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/263005 |date=19 November 2020 }}</ref> | |||
=== Post-war === | |||
{{See also|Operation Vistula|Repatriation of Ukrainians from Poland to the Soviet Union|Freedom and Independence Association}} | |||
], ] and ] populations were expelled.]] | |||
After Galicia had been taken over by the Red Army, many units of the UPA abandoned the anti-Polish course of action and some even began cooperating with local ] against the Soviets and the NKVD. Many Ukrainians, who had not participated in the anti-Polish massacres, joined the UPA after the war on both the Soviet and Polish sides of the border.<ref> ]. New York Review of Books. 24 February 2010.</ref> Local agreements between the UPA and the Polish post-] units began to appear as early as April/May 1945 and in some places lasted until 1947, such as in the ]. One of the most notable joint actions of the UPA and the post-Home Army ] (WiN) took place in May 1946, when the two partisan formations coordinated their attack and took over of the city of ].<ref name=Mot1>Grzegorz Motyka, "W Kregu ''Lun w Bieszczadach'', Rytm, Warsaw, 2009, pp. 12–14, 43</ref> | |||
The cooperation between the UPA and the post-Home Army underground came about partly as a response to increasing Communist terror and the forced population exchange between Poland and Ukraine. According to official statistics, between 1944 and 1956 around 488,000 Ukrainians and 789,000 Poles were transferred.<ref name=Mot1 /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/roman-kabachiy/ukraine-poland-history-wars-rage-on|title=Ukraine-Poland: history wars rage on|publisher=Opendemocracy.net|date=26 October 2011|access-date=4 August 2014|archive-date=8 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808220149/https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/roman-kabachiy/ukraine-poland-history-wars-rage-on|url-status=dead}}</ref> On the territories of present-day Poland, 8,000–12,000 Ukrainians were killed and 6,000–8,000 Poles, between 1943 and 1947. However, unlike in Volhynia, most of the casualties occurred after 1944 and involved UPA soldiers and Ukrainian civilians on one side, and members of the Polish Communist ] (UB) and ] (WOP).<ref name=Mot1 /> Out of the 2,200 Poles who died in the fighting between 1945 and 1948, only a few hundred were civilians, with the remainder being functionaries or soldiers of the Communist regime in Poland.<ref name=Mot1 /> | |||
== Soviet Union == | |||
{{main|Anti-Soviet resistance by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army}} | |||
=== German occupation === | |||
{{Eastern Bloc sidebar}} | |||
The total number of local ] acting in Western Ukraine was never high, due to the region enduring only two years of German rule (in some places even less).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vkpb.ru/gpw/guerrilla_ukr.shtml |script-title=ru:Партизанское движение на Украине |trans-title=The Partisan Movement in Ukraine |language=ru |work=] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224080545/http://www.vkpb.ru/gpw/guerrilla_ukr.shtml |archive-date=24 February 2008}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=No particular reason to doubt this claim as source has no incentive to lie about it, but the source is nevertheless some anonymous, unsourced article by a small Russian Communist party and it's anyone's guess how rigorous their research was. If the site is merely reproducing an old CPSU document, it could be considered provisionally reliable, but an academic source would still be preferable.|date=August 2024}} In 1943, the Soviet partisan leader ] was sent to the ], with help from ]. He described his mission to western Ukraine in his book ''Vid Putivlia do Karpat'' (From ] to the ]). Well armed by supplies delivered to secret airfields, he formed a group consisting of several thousand men which moved deep into the Carpathians.<ref name="Subtelny476">Subtelny, p. 476</ref> Attacks by the German ] and military forced Kovpak to break up his force into smaller units in 1944; these groups were attacked by UPA units on their way back. Soviet ] agent ] was captured and executed by UPA members after unwittingly entering their camp while wearing a Wehrmacht officer uniform.<ref>Ihor Sundiukov, "The Other Side of the Legend: Nikolai Kuznetsov Revisited", 24 January 2006. on 18 December 2007.</ref> | |||
=== Fighting === | |||
As the Red Army approached Galicia, the UPA avoided clashes with the regular units of the Soviet military.<ref name="Perekrest">{{cite news|first=Yanina |last=Sokolovskaia |url=http://www.fsb.ru/fsb/history/author/single.htm%21_print%3Dtrue%26id%3D10318128%40fsbPublication.html |script-title=ru:Последний Бандеровец: Командир украинских повстанцев Василь Кук прекратил войну с Россией |trans-title=The last Banderovets: Ukrainian rebel commander Vasyl Kuk stopped the war with Russia |language=ru |publisher=] of the Russian Federation |agency=] |date=13 October 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224035831/http://www.fsb.ru/history/autors/sokolovskaya.html |archive-date=24 December 2007}}</ref> Instead, the UPA focused its energy on NKVD units and Soviet officials of all levels, from NKVD and military officers to the school teachers and postal workers attempting to establish Soviet administration.<ref name="Krohmaliuk">{{cite book|last=Krokhmaluk |first=Y. |title=UPA Warfare in Ukraine |location=New York |publisher=Vantage Press |year=1972 |page=242}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=August 2024|certain=yes}} | |||
In March 1944, UPA insurgents mortally wounded front commander Army General ], who captured Kiev when he led Soviet forces in the ].<ref name="Grenkevich,">{{cite book|last=Grenkevich |first=L. |title=The Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941–1944: Critical analysis of |publisher=] |year=1999 |page=134}}</ref> Several weeks later an NKVD battalion was annihilated by the UPA near ]. This resulted in a full-scale operation in the spring of 1944, initially involving 30,000 Soviet troops against the UPA in Volhynia. Estimates of casualties vary depending on the source. In a letter to the ], ] stated that in spring 1944 clashes between Soviet forces and the UPA resulted in 2,018 killed and 1,570 captured UPA fighters and only 11 Soviets killed and 46 wounded. A captured UPA member, quoted in Soviet archives, stated that he received reports about UPA losses of 200 fighters against 2,000 Soviet losses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/15.pdf |script-title=uk:Розділ 4 – 5. Боротьба ОУН і УПА на протібільшовицькому фронті |trans-title=Chapter 4 – 5. Battle of the OUN and UPA on the Anti-Bolshevik Front |language=uk |publisher=history.org.ua |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411144138/http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/15.pdf |archive-date=11 April 2008}}</ref>{{rp|213–214}} The first significant sabotage operations against communications of the Soviet Army before their offensive against the Germans was conducted by the UPA in April–May 1944. Such actions were promptly stopped by the Soviet Army and NKVD troops, after which the OUN/UPA submitted an order to temporarily cease anti-Soviet activities and prepare for the further struggle against the Soviets.<ref name="Bilas1994">{{cite book|last=Bilas |first=Ivan |script-title=uk:Репресивно-каральна система в Україні (1917–1953) |trans-title=The Repressive-Punitive System in Ukraine (1917–1953) |language=uk |publisher=Lybid |location=Kyïv |year=1994 |volume=2 |pages=549–570 |isbn=5-325-00599-5}}</ref> | |||
Despite heavy casualties on both sides during the initial clashes, the struggle was inconclusive. New large-scale actions of the UPA, especially in ], were launched in July–August 1944, when the Red Army advanced West.<ref name="Bilas1994" /> By the autumn of 1944, UPA forces enjoyed virtual freedom of movement over an area of 160,000 square kilometers in size and home to over 10 million people, and had established a shadow government.{{Sfn|Zhukov|2007|p=446}} | |||
] made and distributed by the UPA, 1945]] | |||
In November 1944, Khrushchev launched the first of several large-scale Soviet assaults on the UPA throughout Western Ukraine, involving—according to OUN/UPA estimates—at least 20 NKVD combat divisions supported by artillery and armoured units. Soviet forces blockaded villages and roads, and set forests on fire.<ref name="Krohmaliuk" />{{Self-published inline|date=August 2024|certain=yes}} Soviet archival data states that on 9 October 1944, one NKVD Division, eight NKVD brigades, and an NKVD cavalry regiment with a total of 26,304 NKVD soldiers were stationed in Western Ukraine. In addition, two regiments with 1,500 and 1,200 persons, one battalion (517 persons) and three armoured trains with 100 additional soldiers each, as well as one border guard regiment and one unit were starting to relocate there in order to reinforce them.<ref>According to Soviet archives, the NKVD units located in Western Ukraine were: the 9th Rifle division; 16, 20, 21, 25, 17, 18, 19, 23rd brigades; 1 cavalry regiment. Sent to reinforce them: 256, 192nd regiments; 1 battalion three armoured trains (45, 26, 42). The 42nd border guard regiment and another unit (27th) were sent to reinforce them. From Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917–1953 Vol. 2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 {{ISBN|5-325-00599-5}} pp. 478–482</ref> | |||
During late 1944 and the first half of 1945, according to Soviet data, the UPA suffered approximately 89,000 killed, approximately 91,000 captured, and approximately 39,000 surrendered while the Soviet forces lost approximately 12,000 killed, approximately 6,000 wounded and 2,600 MIA. In addition, during this time, according to Soviet data UPA actions resulted in the killing of 3,919 civilians and the disappearance of 427 others.<ref name="UPA 1944">Exact statistics of UPA casualties by the Soviets and Soviet casualties by UPA, in specific time periods, according to data compiled by the NKVD of the Ukrainian SRR: during February – December 1944 the UPA suffered the following casualties: 57,405 killed; 50,387 captured; 15,990 surrendered. During the period from 1 January 1945 until 1 May 1945 the following casualties were reported: 31,157 killed; 40,760 captured; 23,156 surrendered. The UPA's actions numbered 2,903 in 1944, and from 1 January 1945 until 1 May 1945 – 1,289. During February until December 1944 Soviet losses were: 9,521 "killed and hanged"; 3,494 wounded; 2,131 MIA; amongst them NKVD-NKGB suffered 401 killed and hanged, 227 wounded, 98 MIA and captured. From January 1, 1945 until May 1, 1945 the NKVD and Soviet Army troops suffered 2,513 killed, 2,489 wounded, 524 MIA and captured. Soviet Authorities personnel suffered 1,225 killed or hanged, 239 wounded, 427 MIA or captured. In addition, 3,919 civilians were killed or hanged, 320 wounded, and 814 MIA or captured. From Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917–1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 {{ISBN|5-325-00599-5}} pp. 604–605</ref> Despite the heavy losses, as late as summer 1945, many ]-size UPA units still continued to control and administer large areas of territory in Western Ukraine.<ref name="Subtelny2000">{{cite book|first=Orest|last=Subtelny|author-link=Orest Subtelny|title=Ukraine: A History|url=https://archive.org/details/ukrainehistory00subt_0|url-access=registration|access-date=20 January 2016|year=2000|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-8390-6}}</ref>{{rp|489}} In February 1945 the UPA issued an order to liquidate ''kurins'' (battalions) and ''sotnyas'' (companies) and to operate predominantly in ''chotys'' (]s).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/20.pdf |script-title=uk:4. Протистояння ОУН та УПА і радянської системи у 1945 р. |trans-title=4. The confrontation of the OUN and UPA and the Soviet system in 1945 |language=uk |publisher=history.org.ua |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411144114/http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/20.pdf |archive-date=11 April 2008}}</ref> | |||
=== Spring 1945–late 1946 === | |||
{{Further|Sluzhba Bezpeky}} | |||
After Germany surrendered in May 1945, the Soviet authorities turned their attention to the guerrilla wars taking place in Ukraine ]. Combat units were reorganized and special forces were sent in. One of the major complications that arose was the local support the UPA had from the population.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} Areas of UPA activity were depopulated. The estimates on numbers deported vary; officially Soviet archives state that between 1944 and 1952 a total of 182,543 people<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uvkr.com.ua/ua/visnyk/visnyk2005/april2005/komar.html |script-title=uk:Складна доля української діаспори |trans-title=The complicated fate of the Ukrainian diaspora |language=uk |work=Ukrainian World Coordinating Council |date=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305223743/http://www.uvkr.com.ua/ua/visnyk/visnyk2005/april2005/komar.html |archive-date=5 March 2007}}</ref><ref>Theses include deported (1944–47): families of OUN/UPA members – 15,040 families (37,145) persons; OUN/UPA underground families – 26,332 (77,791 persons) taken from: Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917–1953 Vol. 2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 {{ISBN|5-325-00599-5}} pp. 545–546</ref> were deported while other sources indicate the number may have been as high as to 500,000.<ref name="Subtelny489">Subtelny, p. 489</ref> | |||
Mass arrests of suspected UPA informants or family members were conducted; between February 1944 and May 1946 over 250,000 people were arrested in Western Ukraine.<ref name=Burds97>Burds, p.97</ref> Those arrested typically experienced beatings or other violence. Those suspected of being UPA members underwent torture; reports{{Specify|date=August 2024|reason=This is presumably from the Burds source cited after the following sentence, but I would clarify whose 'reports' if possible}} exist of some prisoners being burned alive. The many arrested women believed to be affiliating with the UPA were subjected to torture, deprivation, and rape at the hands of Soviet security in order to "break" them and get them to reveal UPA members' identities and locations or to turn them into Soviet double-agents.<ref name="BurdsGender" /> Mutilated corpses of captured rebels were put on public display.<ref name="Burds1996" /> Ultimately, between 1944 and 1952 alone as many as 600,000 people may have been arrested in Western Ukraine, with about one-third executed and the rest imprisoned or exiled.{{sfn|Taubman|2004|p=195}} | |||
], the leader of the UPA]] | |||
The UPA responded to the Soviet methods by unleashing their own terror against Soviet activists, suspected collaborators and their families. This work was particularly attributed to the ] (SB), the anti-espionage wing of the UPA. In a typical incident in the Lviv region, in front of horrified villagers, UPA troops gouged out the eyes of two entire families suspected of reporting on insurgent movements to Soviet authorities, before hacking their bodies to pieces. Due to public outrage concerning these violent punitive acts, the UPA stopped the practice of killing the families of collaborators by mid-1945. Other victims of the UPA included Soviet activists sent to Galicia from other parts of the Soviet Union; heads of village Soviets, those sheltering or feeding Red Army personnel, and even people turning food into collective farms. The effect of such terrorist acts was such that people refused to take posts as village heads, and until the late 1940s villages chose single men with no dependents as their leaders.<ref name="Burds1996" />{{rp|109}} | |||
The UPA also proved to be especially adept at assassinating key Soviet administrative officials. According to ] data, between February 1944 and December 1946 11,725 Soviet officers, agents and collaborators were assassinated and 2,401 were "missing", presumed kidnapped, in Western Ukraine.<ref name="Burds1996" />{{rp|113–114}} In one ] in ] alone, from August 1944 until January 1945 Ukrainian rebels killed 10 members of the Soviet active and a secretary of the county Communist party, and also kidnapped four other officials. The UPA travelled at will throughout the area. In this county, there were no courts, no prosecutor's office, and the local NKVD only had three staff members.<ref name="Burds1996" />{{rp|113–114}} | |||
According to ], from May to September 1945 the UPA fought more than 80 battles and lost 5,000 men (killed and wounded); the Soviet losses were 7,400 killed and more than 9,000 wounded.<ref name=":9">Otto Skorzeny (1975). My Commando Operations. p. 375.</ref> During the night of October 31, 1945 the UPA captured ], the former capital of ].<ref name=":9"/> From Ukrainian Christmas Day, January 7, until October 1946 the UPA was forced to fight more than 1,000 battles: Soviet losses were more than 15,000 killed.<ref name=":9"/> | |||
According to a 1946 report by Khrushchev's deputy for West Ukrainian affairs A. A. Stoiantsev, out of 42,175 operations and ambushes against the UPA by ] in Western Ukraine, only 10 percent had positive results – in the vast majority there was either no contact or the individual unit was disarmed and pro-Soviet leaders murdered or kidnapped.<ref name="Burds1996" />{{rp|123}} Morale amongst the NKVD in Western Ukraine was particularly low. Even within the dangerous context of Soviet state service in the late-Stalin era, West Ukraine was considered to be a "hardship post", and personnel files reveal higher rates of transfer requests, alcoholism, nervous breakdowns, and refusal to serve among NKVD field agents there at that time.<ref name="Burds1996" />{{rp|120}} | |||
The first success of the Soviet authorities came in early 1946 in the Carpathians, which were blockaded from 11 January until 10 April. The UPA operating there ceased to exist as a combat unit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/22.pdf |title=Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army |publisher=Institute of Ukrainian History, ] |access-date=26 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060529064950/http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/22.pdf |archive-date=29 May 2006 |language=uk |url-status=dead}}</ref> The continuous heavy casualties elsewhere forced the UPA to split into small units consisting of 100 soldiers. Many of the troops demobilized and returned home, when the Soviet Union offered three amnesties during 1947–1948.<ref name="Perekrest" /> By 1946, the UPA was reduced to a core group of 5,000–10,000 fighters, and large-scale UPA activity shifted to the Soviet-Polish border. Here, in 1947, they killed the Polish Communist deputy defence minister General ]. In spring 1946, the OUN/UPA established contacts with the Intelligence services of France, Great Britain and US.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/23.pdf |title=Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army |publisher=Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |access-date=26 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411143934/http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/23.pdf|archive-date=11 April 2008 |language=uk |url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
=== End of UPA resistance === | |||
{{Infobox military conflict | |||
| conflict = Guerrilla war in Ukraine | |||
| image = | |||
| image_size = | |||
| caption = | |||
| partof = ] from 1944–1945 and the ] | |||
| place = ] and ] | |||
| date = 1944–1956 | |||
| result = Soviet-Polish victory | |||
* Defeat of national partisans | |||
| combatant1 = {{flag|Soviet Union}}<br />{{flagicon|Poland|(1928–1980).svg}} ] | |||
| combatant2 = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.svg}} Ukrainian Insurgent Army | |||
| commander1 = {{flagicon|Soviet Union}} ]<br />{{flagicon|Poland|(1928–1980).svg}} ] | |||
| commander2 = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.svg}} ]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.svg}} ]{{KIA|Suicide}}<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.svg}} ]{{POW}} | |||
| strength1 = Variable | |||
| strength2 = ~100,000 partisans (peak)<br />300,000+ partisans (total)<ref>Going by Soviet claims of killed and arrested members.</ref> | |||
| casualties1 = {{flagicon|Soviet Union}} '''Soviet Union:'''<br />'''Source 1:''' '''8,786 dead'''<br />5,587 paramilitaries<br />3,199 regular soldiers<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://history.org.ua/LiberUA/Book/Upa/24.pdf|script-title=uk:Розділ 7 – 3. Націоналістичне підпілля в 1949–1956 рр.|trans-title=Chapter 7 – 3. Nationalist Underground During 1949–1956|language=uk|publisher=history.org.ua|page=439|access-date=31 March 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407160435/http://history.org.ua/LiberUA/Book/Upa/24.pdf|archive-date=April 7, 2023}}</ref><br />'''Source 2:'''<br />12,000 dead<br />2,600 missing<br />(late 1944 to early 1945)<ref name="UPA 1944"/><br />'''Source 3:'''<br />15,000 dead<br />(January–July 1946)<ref name=":8">Yuri Tys-Krokhmaliuk (1972). UPA Warfare in Ukraine: Strategical, Tactical, and Organizational Problems of Ukrainian Resistance in World War II. p. 310.</ref><br />'''Source 4:'''<br />7,400 dead<br />9,000+ wounded<br />(May–September 1945)<br />15,000+ dead<br />(January–October 1946)<ref name=":9"/><br />{{flagicon|Poland|(1928–1980).svg}} '''Polish People's Republic:'''<br />'''Source 3:'''<br />5,325+ dead<ref>Yuri Tys-Krokhmaliuk (1972). UPA Warfare in Ukraine: Strategical, Tactical, and Organizational Problems of Ukrainian Resistance in World War II. p. 347, 351, 370-371, 376, 378-380, 382.</ref> | |||
| casualties2 = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.svg}} '''Ukrainian Insurgent Army:'''<br />'''Soviet claim:'''<br />153,000 dead<br />134,000 arrested<ref name="UIAunconquered2007" /><br />'''Source 3:'''<br />5,000 dead<br />(January–July 1946)<ref name=":8"/><br />'''Source 4:'''<br />5,000 dead or wounded<br />(May–September 1945)<ref name=":9"/> | |||
| casualties3 = 21,888 civilians killed by insurgents<ref name="auto1"/><br />Unknown number of civilians killed by Soviets | |||
}} | |||
The turning point in the struggle against the UPA came in 1947 when the Soviets established an intelligence gathering network within the UPA and shifted the focus of their actions from mass terror to infiltration and espionage. After 1947 the UPA's activity began to subside. On May 30, 1947, Shukhevych issued instructions for joining the OUN and UPA in underground warfare.<ref name="Mykola Vladzimirsky">{{cite web|first=Mykola|last=Vladzimirsky|url=http://warhistory.ukrlife.org/5_6_02_7.htm|title='Воєнна історія' #5–6 за 2002 рік Війна після війни|publisher=Warhistory.ukrlife.org|access-date=15 October 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404064307/http://warhistory.ukrlife.org/5_6_02_7.htm|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref> In 1947–1948 UPA resistance was weakened enough to allow the Soviets to begin implementation of large-scale ] throughout Western Ukraine.{{sfn|Zhukov|2016}} | |||
In 1948, the Soviet central authorities purged local officials who had mistreated peasants and engaged in "vicious methods". At the same time, Soviet agents planted within the UPA had taken their toll on morale and on the UPA's effectiveness. According to the writing of one slain Ukrainian rebel, "the Bolsheviks tried to take us from within...you can never know exactly in whose hands you will find yourself. From such a network of spies, the work of whole teams is often penetrated...". In November 1948, the work of Soviet agents led to two important victories against the UPA: the defeat and deaths of the heads of the most active UPA network in Western Ukraine, and the removal of "Myron", the head of the UPA's counter-intelligence SB unit.<ref name="Burds1996" />{{rp|125–130}} | |||
The Soviet authorities tried to win over the local population by making significant economic investments in Western Ukraine,{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} and by setting up rapid reaction groups in many regions to combat the UPA. According to one retired ] major, "By 1948 ideologically we had the support of most of the population."<ref name="Perekrest" /> The UPA's leader, ], was killed during an ambush near ] on 5 March 1950. Although sporadic UPA activity continued until the mid-1950s, after Shukhevich's death the UPA rapidly lost its fighting capability. An assessment of UPA manpower by Soviet authorities on 17 April 1952 claimed that UPA/OUN had only 84 fighting units consisting of 252 persons. The UPA's last commander, ], was captured on 24 May 1954. Despite the existence of some insurgent groups, according to a report by the ] of the Ukrainian SSR, the "liquidation of armed units and OUN underground was accomplished by the beginning of 1956".<ref name="Mykola Vladzimirsky" /> | |||
]<ref name="Wilson">{{cite book|first=A.|last=Wilson|title=Virtual Politics: Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World|location=New Haven|publisher=]|year=2005|page=15}}</ref> are known to have committed atrocities against the ] population in order to discredit the UPA.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Taras|last=Kuzio|author-link=Taras Kuzio|url=http://ukrweekly.com/Archive/2002/300202.shtml|title=Ukrainian government prepares bill on recognition of OUN-UPA|journal=]|volume=LXX|issue=30|date=28 July 2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930031611/http://ukrweekly.com/Archive/2002/300202.shtml|archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> Among these NKVD units were those composed of former UPA fighters working for the NKVD.<ref>Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917–1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 {{ISBN|5-325-00599-5}} pp. 460–464, 470–477</ref> The ] (SBU) recently published information that about 150 such special groups consisting of 1,800 people operated until 1954.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/84498.html|title=SBU Unveils Documents About Operations Of Soviet Security Ministry's Special Groups In Western Ukraine In 1944–1954|publisher=Ukranews.com|date=30 November 2007|access-date=15 October 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203015442/http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/84498.html|archive-date=3 December 2007}}</ref> Prominent people killed by UPA insurgents during the anti-Soviet struggle included Metropolitan Oleksiy (Hromadsky) of the ], killed while traveling in a German convoy,<ref name="Armstrong">John Armstrong (1963). ''Ukrainian Nationalism''. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 205–206</ref> and pro-Soviet writer ].<ref name="Perekrest" /> | |||
In 1951, CIA covert operations chief ] estimated that some 35,000 Soviet police troops and Communist party cadres had been eliminated by guerrillas affiliated with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the period after the end of World War II. Official Soviet figures for the losses inflicted by all types of Ukrainian nationalists during the period 1944–1953 referred to 30,676 persons; amongst them were 687 NKGB-MGB personnel, 1,864 NKVD-MVD personnel, 3,199 Soviet Army, Border Guards, and NKVD-MVD troops, 241 Communist party leaders, 205 ] leaders and 2,590 members of self-defense units. According to Soviet data, the remaining losses were among civilians, including 15,355 peasants and kolkhozniks.<ref name="auto1" /> Soviet archives state that between February 1944 and January 1946 the Soviet forces conducted 39,778 operations against the UPA, during which they killed a total of 103,313, captured a total of 8,370 OUN members and captured a total of 15,959 active insurgents.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/21.pdf|script-title=uk:Розділ 6 – 5. Боротьба радянських силових структур проти ОУН і УПА в 1944 р.|trans-title=Chapter 6 – 5. Combat of the Soviet power structures against the OUN and UPA in 1944|language=uk|publisher=Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine|pages=385–386|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411144123/http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/21.pdf|archive-date=11 April 2008}}</ref> Many UPA members were imprisoned in the Gulag. They actively participated in Gulag uprisings of ], ], and ].{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}<!--- | |||
== Women in the UPA == | |||
{{POV|section|date=July 2008}} | |||
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2008}} | |||
The all-national character of the liberation struggle of Ukrainian insurgents is confirmed by the large-scale participation of women. Ukrainian women were amongst the first to assist UPA soldiers, providing them with food, clothing and shelter. This support resulted in the arrest of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian women as "bandit supporters", and their later deportation or execution. At the same time, many women were active members of the UPA. In 1943–44 there was an autonomous women's network. Certain aspects of insurgent activity depended mainly on women. Most couriers and messengers, medical personnel, and workers in the underground printing establishments were women, and women were also active as intelligence agents. Some women occupied high posts in the underground. Kalyna Lukan ("Halyna") was the leader of the Kosiv nadryon leadership, Iryna Tymochko ("Khrytsia") supervised the Verkhovyna nadryon in ], and Daria Rebet was a member of the OUN Leadership and a member of th presidium of the underground parliament.<ref>(Ukrainian) Українська Повстанська Армія – Історія нескорених – Львів, 2007 p. 211</ref> | |||
== Publishing activity of the UPA == | |||
{{POV|section|date=July 2008}} | |||
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2008}} | |||
One of the more important aspects of the Ukrainian national liberation movement was its publishing activity. Its principal activities were the publication of propaganda-ideological materials, textbooks, works of military-theoretical character, periodicals and literary works. The first leaflets appeared in 1943, as a way for the Ukrainian movement to wage war against the enemy. The most renowned publicists of the time were Petro Fedun ("Poltava"), Osyp Diakiv ("Hornovy"), Dmyro Mayivsky ("Petro Duma"). In their works they concentrated on the principles of the Ukrainian national liberation struggle, the geopolitical situation in Europe and the world in connection with the Ukrainian question, and problems of national transformations in the USSR and its socialist satellites. | |||
UPA periodicals contained ideological articles, informational reports and decrees, interesting facts from Ukrainian history, and training materials, as well as prose and poetry written by Ukrainian underground members. | |||
Over 130 periodicals were published, along with 500 brochures, dozens of training manuals, memoirs, poetic collections, thousands of leaflets, appeals and responses.<ref>(Ukrainian) Українська Повстанська Армія – Історія нескорених – Львів, 2007 p. 227</ref> | |||
---> | |||
=== Soviet infiltration === | |||
In 1944–1945 the NKVD carried out 26,693 operations against the Ukrainian underground. These resulted in the deaths of 22,474 Ukrainian soldiers and the capture of 62,142 prisoners. During this time the NKVD formed special groups known as ''spetshrupy'' made up of former Soviet partisans. The goal of these groups was to discredit and disorganize the OUN and UPA. In August 1944, ] was placed under NKVD authority. Posing as Ukrainian insurgents, these special formations used violence against the civilian population of Western Ukraine. In June 1945 there were 156 such special groups with 1,783 members.<ref name="UIAunconquered2007">{{cite book|editor-first=Volodymyr |editor-last=Viatrovych |editor-link=Volodymyr Viatrovych |last1=Viatrovych |first1=V. |author-link1=Volodymyr Viatrovych |last2=Hrytskiv |first2=R. |last3=Dereviany |first3=I. |last4=Zabily |first4=R. |last5=Sova |first5=A. |last6=Sodol |first6=P. |script-title=uk:Українська Повстанська Армія – Історія нескорених |trans-title=Ukrainian Insurgent Army – History of the unconquered |language=uk |publisher=Lviv Liberation Movement Research Centre |year=2007 |pages=307–310}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (]). see ]|date=January 2023}} | |||
From December 1945 to 1946, 15,562 operations were carried out in which 4,200 were killed and more than 9,400 were arrested. From 1944 to 1953, the Soviets killed 153,000 and arrested 134,000 members of the UPA. 66,000 families (204,000 people) were forcibly deported to Siberia and half a million people were subject to repression. In the same period, Polish Communist authorities deported 450,000 people.<ref name="UIAunconquered2007" /> Soviet infiltration of British intelligence also meant that MI6 assisted in training some of the guerrillas in parachuting and unmarked planes used to drop them into Ukraine from bases in Cyprus and Malta, were counter-acted by the fact that one MI6 agent with knowledge of the operation was ]. Working with ], he alerted Soviet security forces about planned drops. Ukrainian guerrillas were intercepted and most were executed.<ref>Ben McIntyre, ''A Spy Amongst Friends'' pp. 134–136</ref> | |||
== Holocaust == | |||
{{POV section|date=November 2021}} | |||
] | |||
The OUN pursued a policy of infiltrating the German police to obtain weapons and training for fighters. In that role, it helped the Germans to carry out the ]. The ], working for the Germans, played a crucial supporting role in the murder of 200,000 Jews in Volhynia in the second half of 1942.<ref name="Nations. pg. 162">]. (2004) ''The Reconstruction of Nations.'' New Haven: Yale University Press: p. 162</ref> Most of the police deserted in the following spring and joined the UPA.<ref name="Nations. pg. 162" /> Historian ] estimated in 1990 that the UPA and OUN together hunted down and killed several thousand Jews.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burzlaff |first1=Jan |title=Confronting the Communal Grave: a Reassessment of Social Relations During the Holocaust in Eastern Europe |journal=The Historical Journal |date=2020 |volume=63 |issue=4 |pages=1054–1077 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X19000566|s2cid=212957318 }}, citing {{cite book |last1=Spector |first1=Shmuel |title=The Holocaust of Volhynian Jews, 1941–1944 |date=1990 |publisher=Yad Vashem |isbn=978-965-308-014-0 |page=256 |language=en}}</ref> With the first antisemitic ideology and acts traced back to the ],{{vague|date=June 2022}} by 1940–1941 the publications of Ukrainian terrorist organizations{{vague|date=June 2022}} became explicitly antisemitic.<ref>{{cite book|first=Elazar |last=Barkan |title=Shared History- Divided Memory: Jews and Others in Soviet Occupied Poland, 1939–1941 |pages=311 |publisher=Leipziger Universitätsverlag |date=2007}}</ref> German documents of the period give the impression that Ukrainian ]{{vague|date=June 2022}} were indifferent to the plight of the Jews and would either kill them or help them, whichever was more appropriate for their political goals.<ref>{{cite book|last=Himka |first=John-Paul |author-link=John-Paul Himka |editor-first=Jonathan |editor-last=Frankel |title=Studies in Contemporary Jewry: Volume XIII: The Fate of the European Jews, 1939–1945: Continuity or Contingency? |chapter-url=http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje16/text11.htm |access-date=31 March 2016 |year=1997 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-19-535325-9 |pages=170–189 |chapter=Ukrainian Collaboration in the Extermination of the Jews during the Second World War: Sorting Out the Long-Term and Conjunctural Factors |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224172959/http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje16/text11.htm |archive-date=24 February 2017 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> | |||
According to ], the Soviet partisans were known for their brutality by retaliating against entire villages suspected of working with the Germans, killing individuals deemed to be ], and provoking the Germans to attack villages.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} The UPA would later attempt to match that brutality.<ref name="Snydershoah">Timothy Snyder. (2008). "The life and death of Volhynian Jewry, 1921–1945." In Brandon, Lowler (Eds.) ''The Shoah in Ukraine: history, testimony, memorialization.'' Indiana: Indiana University Press, p. 101</ref> By early 1943, the OUN had entered into open armed conflict with Nazi Germany. According to Ukrainian historian and former UPA soldier ], immediately upon assuming the position of commander of the UPA in August 1943, ] issued an order banning participation in anti-Jewish activities. No written record of this order, however, has been found.<ref name=Friedman1>{{cite journal|last=Friedman |first=Filip |author-link=Filip Friedman |title=Ukrainian-Jewish Relations During the Nazi Occupation. In: Roads to Extinction: Essays on the Holocaust. |journal=New York: Conference on Jewish Social Studies |page=203 |date=1980}}</ref> In 1944, the OUN formally "rejected racial and ethnic exclusivity".<ref name="Subtelny2000" />{{rp|474}} Nevertheless, ] were often killed by the UPA along with their Polish saviors, although in at least one case, they were spared as the Poles were murdered.<ref name="Snydershoah" /> Some Jews who fled the ghettos for the forests were killed by members of the UPA.<ref>The World Reacts to the Holocaust edited by David S. Wyman, Charles H. Rosenzveig с. 320</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=April 2023}} | |||
According to ], Soviet propaganda complained about Zionist membership in the UPA,<ref>{{cite journal|first=Herbert |last=Romerstein |author-link=Herbert Romerstein|url=http://www.iwp.edu/news_publications/detail/divide-and-conquer-the-kgb-disinformation-campaign-against-ukrainians-and-jews |title=Divide and Conquer: the KGB Disinformation Campaign Against Ukrainians and Jews |journal=Ukrainian Quarterly |year=2004 |publisher=Iwp.edu |access-date=31 March 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405190737/https://www.iwp.edu/papers-studies/2004/11/01/divide-and-conquer-the-kgb-disinformation-campaign-against-ukrainians-and-jews/|archive-date=April 5, 2023}}</ref> and during the persecution of Jews in the early 1950s, they described the alleged connection between Jewish and Ukrainian nationalists.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Iwan S. |editor-last=Koropecky |title=The Selected Works of Viacheslav Holubnychy |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press |page=123}}</ref> One well-known claimed example of Jewish participation in the UPA was most likely a hoax, according to sources such as Friedman.<ref>John Paul Himka. . Himka notes that Bohdan Kordiuk, an OUN member who had been incarcerated in Auschwitz, described Krenzbach's memoirs as false in the newspaper ''Suchasna Ukraina'' (no. 15/194, 20 July 1958), and he wrote, "None of the UPA men known to the author of these lines knows the legendary Stella Krenzbach or have heard of her. The Jews do not know her either. It is unlikely that anyone of the tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees after the war met Stella Krenzbach". Himka also noted that Friedman failed to find evidence of her existence.</ref><ref name="Friedman5">{{cite journal|last=Friedman |first=Filip |author-link=Filip Friedman |title=Ukrainian-Jewish Relations During the Nazi Occupation. In: Roads to Extinction: Essays on the Holocaust. |journal=New York: Conference on Jewish Social Studies |pages=203–204 |date=1980}}</ref> According to the report, ], the daughter of a rabbi and a Zionist, joined the UPA as a nurse and intelligence agent. She is alleged to have written, "I attribute the fact that I am alive today and devoting all the strength of my thirty-eight years to a free Israel only to God and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. I became a member of the heroic UPA on 7 November 1943. In our group I counted twelve Jews, eight of whom were doctors".<ref> posted on the website of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine</ref> Later, Friedman concluded that Krenzbach was a fictional character, as the only evidence for her existence was in an OUN paper. No one knew of such an employee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she supposedly worked after the war. A Jew, ], pretended to be Ukrainian.<ref name="mcbride">{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/ukraine-nationalists-are-using-a-jew-to-whitewash-their-nazi-era-past-1.5464194 |title=Ukraine's Invented a 'Jewish-Ukrainian Nationalist' to Whitewash Its Nazi-era Past |last=McBride |first=Jared |work=] |date=9 November 2017 |access-date=16 July 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126220733/https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2017-11-09/ty-article/ukraine-nationalists-are-using-a-jew-to-whitewash-their-nazi-era-past/0000017f-e717-d97e-a37f-f777b9fe0000|archive-date=November 26, 2022}}</ref> | |||
== Reconciliation == | |||
{{POV section|date=July 2013}} | |||
During the following years, the UPA was officially taboo in the Soviet Union, mentioned only as a terrorist organization.<ref name=washpost>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/05/AR2010010503610.html |title=In Ukraine, movement to honor members of WWII underground sets off debate |first=John |last=Pancake |newspaper=] |date=6 January 2010 |access-date=7 March 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106113401/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/05/AR2010010503610.html|archive-date=6 January 2010}}</ref> Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, there have been heated debates about the possible award of official recognition to former UPA members as legitimate combatants, with the accompanying pensions and benefits due to war veterans.<ref name=washpost /> UPA veterans have also striven to hold parades and commemorations of their own, especially in Western Ukraine. This, in turn, led to opposition from ] veterans and some Ukrainian politicians, particularly from the south and east of the country.<ref name=washpost /> Attempts to reconcile former Polish ] and UPA soldiers have been made by both the Ukrainian and Polish sides. Individual former UPA members have expressed their readiness for a mutual apology. Some of the past soldiers of both organizations have met and asked for forgiveness for their past misdeeds.<ref>{{cite web|first=Jadwiga |last=Nowakowska|url=http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=46245 |title=Pojednanie na cmentarzu |trans-title=Reconciliation in the cemetery |language=pl |publisher=Wprost.pl |date=13 July 2003 |access-date=15 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040823013446/http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=46245 |archive-date=23 August 2004}}</ref> Restorations of graves and cemeteries in Poland where fallen UPA soldiers were buried have been agreed to by the Polish side.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.money.pl/archiwum/wiadomosci/artykul/85,0,70741.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211095446/http://www.money.pl/archiwum/wiadomosci/artykul/85,0,70741.html |archive-date=11 February 2009 |first=A. |last=Przewoźnik |title=w Polsce nie można stawiać pomników UPA |language=pl |trans-title=UPA monuments cannot be erected in Poland |publisher=Money.pl |access-date=15 October 2013}}</ref> | |||
== 2019 official veteran status == | |||
In late March 2019 former members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (and other living former members of Ukrainian irregular nationalist armed groups that were active during World War II and the first decade after the war) were officially granted the status of veterans.<ref name="veteransUK38171U"/> This meant that for the first time they could receive veteran benefits, including free public transport, subsidized medical services, annual monetary aid, and public utility discounts (and will enjoy the same social benefits as former Ukrainian soldiers who served in the ]'s ]).<ref name="veteransUK38171U">{{cite news|url=https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/former-wwii-nationalist-guerrillas-granted-veteran-status-in-ukraine.html |title=Former WWII nationalist guerrillas granted veteran status in Ukraine |work=] |date=26 March 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817100723/https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/former-wwii-nationalist-guerrillas-granted-veteran-status-in-ukraine.html|archive-date=August 17, 2022}}</ref> | |||
There had been several previous attempts to provide former ] fighters with official veteran status, especially during the 2005–2009 administration of ] ], but all failed.<ref name="veteransUK38171U"/> Prior to December 2018, legally only former UPA members who "participated in hostilities against Nazi invaders in occupied Ukraine in 1941–1944, who did not commit crimes against humanity and were rehabilitated" were recognized as war veterans.<ref name="7200429UPAv">{{in lang|uk}} , ] (6 December 2018)</ref> | |||
== Monuments for combatants == | |||
Without waiting for official notice from Kyiv, many regional authorities have already decided to approach the UPA's history on their own. In many western cities and villages monuments, memorials and plaques to the leaders and troops of the UPA have been erected. In ]'s city of ], a memorial to the soldiers of the UPA was erected in 1992.<ref name=DATA>{{cite web|first=Aleksei|last=Grishenko|url=http://www.sq.com.ua/rus/news/obschestvo/12.01.2015/v_etom_godu_v_harkove_vosstanovyat_pamyatnik_upa/|script-title=ru:В Харькове восстановят памятник УПА|trans-title=The monument to the UPA in Kharkov will be restored|language=ru|publisher=sq.com.ua|date=12 January 2015|access-date=7 March 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608134512/http://www.sq.com.ua/rus/news/obschestvo/12.01.2015/v_etom_godu_v_harkove_vosstanovyat_pamyatnik_upa/|archive-date=June 8, 2023}}</ref> In response, many southern and eastern provinces, although the UPA had not operated in those regions, have responded by opening memorials of their own dedicated to the UPA's victims. The first one, "]", was unveiled by the ] in ], Crimea in September 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://lenta.ru/news/2007/09/14/monument/|script-title=ru:В Крыму открыт монумент жертвам бандеровцев|trans-title=In Crimea, a monument to the victims of Bandera has opened|language=ru|publisher=]|date=14 September 2007|access-date=7 March 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404134713/https://lenta.ru/news/2007/09/14/monument/|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref> In 2008, one was erected in ], ], and another in Luhansk on 8 May 2010 by the city deputy, Arsen Klinchaev, and the ].<ref name="Luhansk" /> The unveiling ceremony was attended by ] ], the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Pro-Russian ] ], Russian ] deputy ], Luhansk Regional Governor Valerii Holenko, and Luhansk Mayor Serhii Kravchenko.<ref name="Luhansk">{{cite news|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/66171/|title=Luhansk unveils monument to victims of OUN-UPA|newspaper=]|date=9 May 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606024712/http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/66171/|archive-date=6 June 2011}}</ref><gallery> | |||
File:UPA Monument 2.jpg|Monument to UPA veterans at St. Volodymyr Cemetery, ] | |||
File:Ukraine-Skole-Minipark.JPG|Monument to soldiers of UPA, ], Lviv Oblast, Ukraine | |||
File:Повстанський цвинтар.jpg| Cemetery of UPA soldiers, Antonivci, ], Ukraine | |||
File:Berezhany- (93).jpg|Monument to the soldiers of UPA, ], Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine | |||
File:Пам'ятний хрест Климу Савуру.jpg|Monument to senior UPA commander ] near ], Ukraine | |||
File:Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and other UPA graves in the Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery in South Bound Brook, New Jersey..JPG|Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and other UPA graves in the ] Cemetery in ] | |||
File:The Monument to the soldiers of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) Kharkiv, Ukraine.jpg|Memorial for UPA soldiers, ], Ukraine | |||
</gallery> | |||
== Commemoration in Ukraine == | |||
] of ] and ] wave the UPA flag in May 2011.]] | |||
According to John Armstrong, | |||
<blockquote>"If one takes into account the duration, geographical extent, and intensity of activity, the UPA very probably is the most important example of forceful resistance to an established Communist regime prior to the decade of fierce Afghan resistance beginning in 1979... the Hungarian revolution of 1956 was, of course, far more important, involving to some degree a population of nine million... however it lasted only a few weeks. In contrast, the more-or-less effective anti-Communist activity of the Ukrainian resistance forces lasted from mid-1944 until 1950."<ref>John Armstrong, ''Ukrainian Nationalism'', 3rd edition. Englewood, Colorado: Ukrainian Academic Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0-87287-755-8}} (2nd ed.: New York: Columbia University Press, 1963) pp. 223–224</ref></blockquote> | |||
] on 100th anniversary (2007) of his birth]] | |||
] | |||
Since 2006, the SBU has been actively involved in declassifying documents relating to the operations of Soviet security services and the history of the liberation movement in Ukraine. The SBU Information Centre provides an opportunity for scholars to get acquainted with electronic copies of archive documents. The documents are arranged by topics (1932–1933 Holodomor, OUN/UPA Activities, Repression in Ukraine, Movement of Dissident).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.for-ua.com/analytics/2008/10/15/120230.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106205108/http://en.for-ua.com/analytics/2008/10/15/120230.html |archive-date=6 January 2009 |title=Articles. Analysis of events in Ukraine. Political and economical Ukraine – ForUm |publisher=En.for-ua.com |date=15 October 2008 |access-date=15 October 2013}}</ref> In 2007, the ] (SBU) set up a special working group to study archive documents of the activity of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) to make public original sources.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=57477 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223135403/http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=57477|archive-date=23 February 2012 |title=SBU to study archive documents on activity of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists / News / NRCU |publisher=Nrcu.gov.ua |access-date=15 October 2013}}</ref> | |||
On 10 January 2008, Ukrainian President ] submitted a draft law "on the official Status of Fighters for Ukraine's Independence from the 1920s to the 1990s". Under the draft, persons who took part in political, guerrilla, underground and combat activities for the freedom and independence of Ukraine from 1920 to 1990 as part of or assisting the ] (UVO), Karpatska Sich, OUN, UPA, and Ukrainian Main Liberation Army would be recognised as war veterans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://zik.ua/en/news/2008/01/11/yushchenko_pushes_for_official_recognition_of_ounupa_combatants_121551|title=Yushchenko pushes for official recognition of OUN-UPA combatants|publisher=Zik.com.ua|date=11 January 2008|access-date=7 March 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224231401/https://zik.ua/en/news/2008/01/11/yushchenko_pushes_for_official_recognition_of_ounupa_combatants_121551|archive-date=February 24, 2019}}</ref> Since September 2009, Ukrainian schoolchildren take a more extensive course of the history of the ] and the fighters of the OUN and the UPA fighters.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-320611.html |title=Schoolchildren to study in detail about Holodomor and OUN-UPA |work=] |date=12 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615153042/http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-320611.html |archive-date=15 June 2009 }}</ref> Yushchenko took part in the celebration of the 67th anniversary of the UPA and the 65th anniversary of ] on 14 October 2009.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/nation/50694 |title=President takes part in celebration of the 67th anniversary of the UPA |work=] |date=14 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016103113/http://www.kyivpost.com/nation/50694 |archive-date=16 October 2009 }}</ref> | |||
On 16 January 2012, the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine upheld the presidential decree of 28 January 2010 "About recognition of OUN members and soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army as participants in the struggle for independence of Ukraine" after it was challenged by the leader of the ], ], recognising the UPA as war combatants.<ref>. 2013-2-5</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Mark |last=Rachkevych |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/high-court-upholds-decree-recognizing-upa-partisans-as-world-war-ii-combatants-320057.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208014932/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/high-court-upholds-decree-recognizing-upa-partisans-as-world-war-ii-combatants-320057.html |archive-date=8 February 2013 |title=High court upholds decree recognizing UPA partisans as World War II combatants |date=7 February 2013 |publisher=] |access-date=15 October 2013}}</ref> On 10 October 2014, the date of 14 October as ] was confirmed by Presidential decree, officially granting state sanction to the date of the anniversary of the raising of the Insurgent Army, which has been celebrated in the past by Ukrainian Cossacks as the ].{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} The date would be moved to 1 October in 2023 with the move of all Orthodox fixed solemnities to the Revised Julian Calendar, but minor commemorations on the 14th continue as usual it was the date in 1942 wherein the UIA was founded. | |||
On 15 May 2015, Ukrainian President ] signed a bill into law "On the legal status and commemoration of the fighters for the independence of Ukraine in the 20th century", including Ukrainian Insurgent Army combatants.<ref name="decommuUPA">. ]. 15 May 2015</ref> In June 2017, the ] renamed the city's General Vatutin Avenue into Roman Shukhevych Avenue.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kyiv's General Vatutin Avenue renamed Roman Shukhevych Avenue |url=https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/kyivs-general-vatutin-avenue-renamed-roman-shukhevych-avenue.html |work=] |date=1 June 2017|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230614150920/https://www.kyivpost.com/post/7766|archive-date=June 14, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Court leaves avenues named after Bandera, Shukhevych in Kiev |url=https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/court-leaves-avenues-named-after-bandera-shukhevych-in-kyiv.html |work=] |date=9 December 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211100535/https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/court-leaves-avenues-named-after-bandera-shukhevych-in-kyiv.html|archive-date=February 11, 2021}}</ref> According to Russia's ] in 2018, in ], ], ] and ], the UPA flag may be displayed on government buildings "on certain holidays".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ria.ru/world/20180330/1517631589.html |title=Vinnitsa, a deputy and an activist quarreled because of the banner of the flag |publisher=] |language=ru |date=30 March 2018 |access-date=31 March 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404202942/https://ria.ru/20180330/1517631589.html|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref> In December 2018, Poroshenko confirmed the status of veterans and combatants for independence of Ukraine for UPA fighters.<ref>{{cite news |title=Poroshenko enacts law granting fighters for Ukraine's independence in 20th century combatant status |url=https://www.unian.info/politics/10388085-poroshenko-enacts-law-granting-fighters-for-ukraine-s-independence-in-20th-century-combatant-status.html |work=] |date=23 December 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404132327/https://www.unian.info/politics/10388085-poroshenko-enacts-law-granting-fighters-for-ukraine-s-independence-in-20th-century-combatant-status.html|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref> | |||
On 5 March 2021, the ] named the largest stadium in the city of ] after Roman Shukhevych as the ].<ref name="ukrweekly"/> On 16 March 2021, the ] approved the renaming of their largest stadium after Roman Shukhevych.<ref name="ukrweekly">{{cite news |title=Local governments name stadiums after Bandera and Shukhevych, provoking protest from Israel and Poland |url=http://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/local-governments-name-stadiums-after-bandera-and-shukhevych-provoking-protest-from-israel-and-poland/ |work=The Ukrainian Weekly |date=19 March 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405212519/https://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/local-governments-name-stadiums-after-bandera-and-shukhevych-provoking-protest-from-israel-and-poland/|archive-date=April 5, 2023}}</ref> | |||
== Popular culture == | |||
The Ukrainian ] band ] recorded a song entitled ''Ukrainian Insurgent Army'' on its 2006 release, ''Кров у Наших Криницях'' ('']''), dedicated to ]. Ukrainian Neo-Nazi black metal band ] have a song titled "Hailed Be the Heroes" (''Слава героям'') on the ]/''Мировоззрение'' album which contains lyrics pertaining to World War II and Western Ukraine (Galicia), and its title, ''Slava Heroyam'', is a traditional UPA salute.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} | |||
] | |||
Two ] by ], '']'' (''Stíny horkého léta'', 1977) and '']'' (''Pasáček z doliny'', 1983) are set in 1947, and feature UPA guerrillas in significant supporting roles. The first film resembles ]'s '']'' (1971), in that it is about a farmer whose family is taken hostage by five UPA guerrillas, and he has to resort to his own ingenuity, plus reserves of violence that he never knew he possessed, to defeat them. In the second, the shepherd boy (actually a cowherd) imagines that a group of UPA guerrillas is made up of fairytale characters of his grandfather's stories, and that their leader is the Goblin King.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} | |||
Also films such as ''Neskorenyi'' ("]"), ''Zalizna Sotnia'' ("The Company of Heroes") and ''Atentat'' ("Assassination. An Autumn Murder in Munich") feature more description about the role of the UPA on their terrain. ''The Undefeated'' is about the life of ] and the hunt for him by both German and Soviet forces, ''The Company of Heroes'' shows how UPA soldiers had everyday life as they fight against ], ''Assassination'' is about the life of ] and how ] agents murdered him.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} | |||
] | |||
], a 20th-century Ukrainian nationalist.]] | |||
The red-and-black ] of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was a popular ], and the wartime insurgents have acted as a large inspiration for them.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ukraine Radicals Steer Violence as Nationalist Zeal Grows |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-11/ukraine-radicals-steer-violence-as-nationalist-zeal-grows.html |agency=] |date=11 February 2014|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20210409195224/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-11/ukraine-radicals-steer-violence-as-nationalist-zeal-grows|archive-date=April 9, 2021}}</ref> Serhy Yekelchyk of the ] says the use of UPA imagery and slogans was more of a potent symbol of protest against the current government and Russia rather than adulation for the insurgents themselves, explaining "The reason for the sudden prominence of in Kiev is that it is the strongest possible expression of protest against the pro-Russian orientation of the current government."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nst.com.my/world/upa-controversial-partisans-who-inspire-ukraine-protesters-1.474365#ixzz2uUbUWYKi |title=UPA: Controversial partisans who inspire Ukraine protesters |work=New Straits Times |date=31 January 2014 |access-date=16 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303045230/http://www.nst.com.my/world/upa-controversial-partisans-who-inspire-ukraine-protesters-1.474365#ixzz2uUbUWYKi |archive-date=3 March 2014 }}</ref> | |||
=== Films ===<!-- PLEASE RESPECT CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER --> | |||
{{more citations needed|date=February 2024}} | |||
* 1951 – '']'' (]) | |||
* 1961 – '']'' (]) | |||
* 1962 – '']'' (Polish People's Republic) | |||
* 1968 – '']'' (]) | |||
* 1970 – '']'' (USSR) | |||
* 1976 – '']'' (USSR) | |||
* 1977 – '']'' (Czechoslovakia) | |||
* 1983 – '']'' (Czechoslovakia) | |||
* 1991 – ''The Last Bunker'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 1991 – ''Carpathian Gold'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 1992 – ''Cherry Nights'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 1993 – ''Memories about UPA'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 1994 – ''Goodbye, Girl'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 1995 – ''Assassination. An Autumn Murder in Munich'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 1995 – ''Executed Dawns''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nashformat.ua/catalog/video/ukrainski_filmy/stracheni_svitanky/ |script-title=uk:Українські фільми: Страчені світанки |trans-title=Ukrainian films: Executed Dawns |publisher=Nashformat.ua |access-date=30 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316111926/http://nashformat.ua/catalog/video/ukrainski_filmy/stracheni_svitanky/ |archive-date=16 March 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> (Ukraine) | |||
* 2000 – '']'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 2004 – ''One – the soldier in the field'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 2004 – ''The Company of Heroes'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 2004 – '']'' (Canada) | |||
* 2006 – '']'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 2006 – ''OUN – UPA war on two fronts'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 2006 – ''Freedom or death!'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 2007 – ''UPA. Third Force'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 2010 – ''We are from the Future 2'' (Russia) | |||
* 2010 – ''Banderovci'' (]) | |||
* 2012 – ''Security Service of OUN. "Closed Doors"'' (Ukraine) | |||
* 2016 – '']'' (Poland) | |||
=== Fiction === | |||
* '']'' ({{lang|uk|Вогненні стовпи}}) by ], 2006. | |||
=== Songs === | |||
The most obvious characteristic of the insurgent songs genre is the theme of rising up against occupying powers, enslavement and tyranny. Insurgent songs express an open call to battle and to revenge against the enemies of Ukraine, as well as love for the country and devotion to her revolutionary leaders (], ] and others). UPA actions, heroic deeds of individual soldiers, the hard underground life, longing for one's girl, family or boy are also important subject of this genre.<ref>Zenon Lavryshyn. Songs of the UPA. Toronto: Litopys UPA, 1996, p. 19</ref> | |||
* Taras Zhytynsky "To sons of UPA"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1xDgcubiWE&feature=player_embedded#! | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211110/m1xDgcubiWE |archive-date=10 November 2021 |url-status=live |title=Синам УПА. Тарас Житинський |trans-title=Sinam UPA. Taras Zhytynsky |language=uk |publisher=YouTube |date=11 February 2010 |access-date=15 October 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref> | |||
* Tartak "Not saying to anybody"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJUCvvJ6puc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727082954/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJUCvvJ6puc&feature=related |archive-date=27 July 2013 |url-status=dead |title=Не кажучи нікому Пісня про УПА Тартак.avi |trans-title=Without telling anyone Song about the UPA Tartak.avi |language=uk |publisher=YouTube |access-date=15 October 2013}}</ref> | |||
* Folk song "To the source of Dniester"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3yK97egw-A |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211110/n3yK97egw-A |archive-date=10 November 2021 |url-status=live |title=До витоку Дністра! Ой у лісі, на полянці.УПА |trans-title=To the source of the Dniester! Oh in the woods, on the glade |language=uk |publisher=YouTube |date=23 September 2009 |access-date=15 October 2013 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> | |||
* ] – "Ukrainian Insurgent Army"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPKUxiQUnrQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211110/lPKUxiQUnrQ |archive-date=10 November 2021 |url-status=live |title=Drudkh – Ukrainian Insurgent Army |publisher=YouTube |date=16 October 2015 |access-date=8 September 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> | |||
== See also == | |||
{{portal|Ukraine}} | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
== References == | |||
=== Notes === | |||
{{reflist|group=nb}} | |||
=== Citations === | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
=== Books === | |||
'''English''' | |||
{{refbegin}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Davies |first=Norman |author-link = Norman Davies |title=God's playground: a history of Poland: in two volumes, Vol. 2, Chapter 19 |location=Oxford, New York |publisher=] |year=2005 |isbn=0-19-925340-4}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Subtelny |first=Orest |author-link=Orest Subtelny |title=Ukraine: A History |location=Toronto |publisher=] |year=1988 |isbn=0-8020-5808-6}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Taubman |first=William |author-link=William Taubman |date=2004 |title=] |publisher=] |isbn=0-393-05144-7}} | |||
* , ''East European Politics and Societies v. 11'' | |||
* ], Roman Hrytskiv, Ihor Derevianyj, Ruslan Zabilyj, Andrij Sova, Petro Sodol'. ''''. Lviv 2009. | |||
{{refend}} | |||
* {{cite journal|format=PDF |last1=Zhukov |first1=Yuri |url=http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/zhukov/files/2007_Zhukov_SWI.pdf?m=1360038945 |title=Examining the Authoritarian Model of Counter-insurgency: The Soviet Campaign Against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army |journal=Small Wars & Insurgencies |volume=18 |issue=3 |year=2007 |access-date=20 January 2016 |pages=439–466 |issn=0959-2318 |doi=10.1080/09592310701674416 |s2cid=9491204|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204005053/http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/zhukov/files/2007_Zhukov_SWI.pdf?m=1360038945|archive-date=February 4, 2017}} | |||
'''Ukrainian''' | |||
{{refbegin}} | |||
* Антонюк Ярослав Діяльність СБ ОУН на Волині. – Луцьк : "Волинська книга", 2007. – 176 с. | |||
* Антонюк Ярослав Діяльність СБ ОУН(б) на Волині та Західному Поліссі (1946–1951 рр.) : Монографія. – Луцьк:"Надстир'я-Ключі", 2013. – 228 с. | |||
* (За матеріалами звіту робочої групи істориків Інституту історії НАН України під керівництвом проф. Станіслава Кульчицького) | |||
* Володимир В'ятрович, Ігор Дерев'яний, Руслан Забілий, Петро Солодь. ''Українська Повстанська Армія. Історія Нескорених. Третє видання''. Львів (2011). {{ISBN|978-966-1594-03-5}}. | |||
* Петро Мірчук. ''''. Львів 1991. {{ISBN|5-7707-0602-3}}. | |||
* Юрій Киричук. ''''. Тернопіль 1991. | |||
* С.Ф. Хмель. ''''. Львів 1993. | |||
* Іван Йовик. ''''. Київ 1995. {{ISBN|5-7707-8609-4}}. | |||
* Анатоль Бедрій. ''''. New York – London – Munich – Toronto. 1983. | |||
* Litopys Online. ''''. Various works. | |||
* В´ятрович В. М. Друга польсько-українська війна. 1942–1947. – Вид. 2-е, доп. – К.: Вид. дім "Києво-Могилянська академія", 2012. – 368 с. | |||
{{refend}} | |||
'''Polish''' | |||
{{refbegin}} | |||
* Wołodymyr Wiatrowycz, Druga wojna polsko-ukraińska 1942–1947, Warszawa 2013, {{ISBN|978-83-935429-1-8}} | |||
* Za to że jesteś Ukraińcem ... : wspomnienia z lat 1944–1947 / wybór, oprac., wstęp i posłowie Bogdan Huk. Koszalin : Stowarzyszenie Ukraińców Więźniów Politycznych i Represjonowanych w Polsce, 2012. 400 s. : il.; 23 cm. {{ISBN|978-83-935479-0-6}} | |||
* {{Cite book| first = Andrzej | last = Sowa | title = Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie 1939–1947 | location= Kraków | year = 1998 | oclc=48053561}} | |||
* {{Cite book | first = Grzegorz | last = Motyka | author-link = Grzegorz Motyka (historian) | title = Ukraińska partyzantka 1942–1960 | location = Warszawa | publisher = ISP PAN / RYTM | year = 2006 | url = https://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/12960/file.pdf| isbn = 978-83-7399-163-7 |language=pl |trans-title=Ukrainian partisans 1942–1960. Activities of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102171149/https://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/12960/file.pdf|archive-date=January 2, 2023}} | |||
* {{Cite book| first1 = Grzegorz | last1 = Motyka | first2 = Rafał | last2= Wnuk | author1-link = Grzegorz Motyka (historian) | author2-link = Rafał Wnuk | title = Pany i rezuny: współpraca AK-WiN i UPA 1945–1947 | language= pl | location= Warszawa | publisher= Oficyna Wydawnicza Volumen | year = 1997 | isbn = 83-86857-72-2|url=https://diasporiana.org.ua/ukrainica/12961-motyka-g-wnuk-r-pany-i-rezuny-wsp-praca-ak-win-i-upa-1945-1947/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128064623/https://diasporiana.org.ua/ukrainica/12961-motyka-g-wnuk-r-pany-i-rezuny-wsp-praca-ak-win-i-upa-1945-1947/|archive-date=November 28, 2022}} | |||
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420092333/http://pamiec.pl/pa/biblioteka-cyfrowa/publikacje/12487,quotKresowa-ksiega-sprawiedliwych-19391945quot-w-formatach-pdf-epub-i-mobi.html |date=20 April 2019 }} | |||
{{refend}} | |||
== External links == | |||
{{Commons category|Ukrainian Insurgent Army}} | |||
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* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225044414/http://www.upa.com.ua/ |date=25 February 2021 }} | |||
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* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126174158/http://oun-upa.ga/ |date=26 November 2015 }} {{in lang|uk}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 09:29, 24 December 2024
Paramilitary wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists For the 2022 partisan movement, see Ukrainian resistance during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Not to be confused with Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army, Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, or Ukrainian People's Army.
Ukrainian Insurgent Army | |
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Українська повстанська армія | |
Flag of the UPA | |
Leaders | |
Dates of operation |
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Active regions | |
Ideology | |
Size | 20,000–200,000 (estimated) |
Part of | Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists–Bandera faction |
Allies |
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Opponents |
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian: Українська повстанська армія, УПА, romanized: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and partisan formation founded by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists on 14 October 1942. During World War II, it was engaged in Nazi collaborationism. However, the UPA later launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and both the Polish Underground State and Polish Communists. It conducted the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, which are recognized by Poland as a genocide.
The goal of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) was to drive out occupying powers in a national revolution and set up an independent government headed by a dictator; OUN accepted violence as a political tool against enemies of their cause. In order to achieve this goal, a number of partisan units were formed, merged into a single structure in the form of the UPA, which was created on 14 October 1942. From February 1943, the organization fought against the Germans in Volhynia and Polesia. At the same time, its forces fought an evenly matched war against the Polish resistance, during which the UPA carried out massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, resulting in between 50,000 and 100,000 deaths. Soviet NKVD units fought against the UPA, which led armed resistance against Soviets until 1949. On the territory of Communist Poland, the UPA tried to prevent the forced deportation of Ukrainians from western Galicia to the Soviet Union until 1947.
The UPA was a decentralized movement widespread throughout Ukraine, divided into three operational regions; each region followed a somewhat different agenda, given the circumstances of a constantly moving front line and a double threat from Soviet and Nazi opponents. The UPA was formally disbanded in early September 1949, but some of its units continued operations until late 1956. Officially, the UPA's last military engagement occurred in October 1956, when remnants of the group fought on the Hungarian border region in support of that country's revolution. In March 2019, surviving UPA members were officially granted the status of veterans by the government of Ukraine.
Organization
The UPA's command structure overlapped with that of the OUN-B—local OUN and UPA leaders were frequently the same person. The OUN's military referents were the superiors of UPA unit commanders. The UPA was established in Volhynia and initially limited its activities to this region. Its first commander was the OUN military referent for Volhynia and Polesie, Vasily Ivachiv. In July, the UPA Supreme Command was organized with Dmytro Klyachkivsky at its head.
Organizationally, the UPA was divided into regions. UPA West operated in Western Ukraine; UPA South, in the centre-southern regions of Podolia, parts of Kyiv region, and parts of Zhytomyr region and Odesa; UPA North, in the northern regions of Volhynia, Rivne, and parts of Kiev and Zhytomyr regions; in eastern Ukraine, the UPA fled north, as Stalinist dictatorship had executed a number of the UPA's participants. The members of UPA East joined other UPA units in Dnipro and in Chernihiv region.
In November 1943, the UPA adopted a new structure, creating a Main Military Headquarters and the General Staff. Roman Shuchevych headed the HQ, while Dmytro Hrytsai became chief of staff. The General Staff consisted of operations, intelligence, logistics, personnel, training, political education, and military inspectors departments. In addition to the three regions named above, there was also an attempt to create a UPA-East region, including Kiev and Zhytomyr regions, but the project never came to fruition. Similarly, the UPA-South region ceased to exist in the summer of 1944, but continued to appear in documents. Three military schools for low-level command staff were also established.
UPA's largest unit type, the kurin, consisting of 500–700 soldiers, was equivalent to a battalion, and its smallest unit, the rii (literally bee swarm), with eight to ten soldiers, equivalent to a squad. Occasionally, and particularly in Volyn, during some operations three or more kurins would unite and form a zahin or brigade. Organizational methods were borrowed and adapted from the German, Polish and Soviet military, while UPA units based their training on a modified Red Army field unit manual.
In terms of UPA soldiers' social background, 60 percent were peasants of low to moderate means, 20 to 25 percent were from the working class (primarily from the rural lumber and food industries), and 15 percent were members of the intelligentsia (students, urban professionals). The latter group provided a large portion of the UPA's military trainers and officer corps. The number of UPA fighters varied: a German Abwehr report from November 1943 estimated that the UPA had 20,000 soldiers; other estimates at that time placed the number at 40,000. By the summer of 1944, estimates of UPA membership varied from 25,000 to 30,000 fighters, up to 100,000, or even 200,000 soldiers.
Structure
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army was structured into three units:
- UPA-North
Regions: Volhynia, Polissia.- Military District "Turiv"
Commander – Maj. Rudyj.
Squads: "Bohun", "Pomsta Polissja", "Nalyvajko". - Military District "Zahrava"
Commander – Ptashka (Sylvester Zatovkanjuk).
Squads: "Konovaletsj", "Enej", "Dubovyj", "Oleh". - Military District " Volhynia-South"
Commander – Bereza.
Squads: "Kruk", "H.".
- Military District "Turiv"
- UPA-West
Regions: Halychyna, Bukovina, Zakarpattia, Zakerzonia.- Military District "Lysonja"
Commander – Maj. Hrim, V.
Kurins: "Holodnojarci", "Burlaky", "Lisovyky", "Rubachi", "Bujni", "Holky". - Military District "Hoverlja"
Commander – Maj. Stepovyj (from 1945 – Major Hmara).
Kurins: "Bukovynsjkyj", "Peremoha", "Hajdamaky", "Huculjskyj", "Karpatsjkyj". - Military District "Black Forest"
Commander – Col. Rizun-Hrehit (Mykola Andrusjak).
Kurins: "Smertonosci", "Pidkarpatsjkyj", "Dzvony", "Syvulja", "Dovbush", "Beskyd", "Menyky". - Military District "Makivka"
Commander – Maj. Kozak.
Kurins: "Ljvy", "Bulava", "Zubry", "Letuny", "Zhuravli", "Bojky of Chmelnytsjkyj", "Basejn". - Military District "Buh"
Commander – Col. Voronnyj
Kurins: "Druzhynnyky", "Halajda", "Kochovyky", "Perejaslavy", "Tyhry", "Perebyjnis" - Military District "Sjan"
Commander – Orest
Kurins: "Vovky", "Menyky", Kurin of Ren, Kurin of Eugene.
- Military District "Lysonja"
- UPA-South
Regions: Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Zhytomyr Oblast, southern region of Kyiv Oblast, southern regions of Ukraine,
and especially in cities Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk, Mariupol, Donetsk.- Military District "Cholodnyj Jar"
Commander – Kost'.
Kurins: Kurin of Sabljuk, Kurin of Dovbush. - Military District "Umanj"
Commander – Ostap.
Kurins: Kurin of Dovbenko, Kurin of Buvalyj, Kurin of Andrij-Shum. - Military District "Vinnytsja"
Commander – Jasen.
Kurins: Kurin of Storchan, Kurin of Mamaj, Kurin of Burevij.
- Military District "Cholodnyj Jar"
The fourth region, UPA-East, was planned, but never created.
Greeting
The greeting "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!" (Slava Ukrayini! Heroiam slava!) was used among members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
Anthem
The anthem of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was called the March of Ukrainian Nationalists, also known as We were born in a great hour (Ukrainian: Зродились ми великої години). The song, written by Oles Babiy, was officially adopted by the leadership of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in 1932. The organization was a successor of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, whose anthem was "Chervona Kalyna". Leaders of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, Yevhen Konovalets and Andriy Melnyk, were founding members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. For this reason, "Chervona Kalyna" was also used by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
Flag
The flag of the UPA was a red-and-black banner, which continues to be a symbol of the Ukrainian nationalist movement. The colors of the flag symbolize "red Ukrainian blood spilled on the black Ukrainian earth. Use of the flag is also a "sign of the stubborn endurance of the Ukrainian national idea even under the grimmest conditions."
Awards
Military ranks
The UPA made use of a dual rank system that included functional command position designations and traditional military ranks. The functional system was developed due to an acute shortage of qualified and politically reliable officers during the early stages of organization.
Supreme commander |
Regional commander |
Division (military district) commander |
Brigade (tactical sector) commander |
Battalion commander |
Company commander |
Platoon leader | Squad leader |
UPA rank structure consisted of at least seven commissioned officer ranks, four non-commissioned officer ranks, and two soldier ranks. The hierarchical order of known ranks and their approximate U.S. Army equivalent is as follows:
UPA RANKS | US ARMY EQUIVALENTS |
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Heneral-Khorunzhyj | Brigadier General |
Polkovnyk | Colonel |
Pidpolkovnyk | Lieutenant Colonel |
Major | Major |
Sotnyk | Captain |
Poruchnyk | First Lieutenant |
Khorunzhyj | Second Lieutenant |
Starshyj Bulavnyj | Master Sergeant |
Bulavnyj | Sergeant First Class |
Starshyj Vistun | Staff Sergeant |
Vistun | Sergeant |
Starshyj Strilets | Private First Class |
Strilets | Private |
The rank scheme provided for three more higher general officer ranks: Heneral-Poruchnyk (Major General), Heneral-Polkovnyk (Lieutenant General), and Heneral-Pikhoty (General with Four Stars).
Armaments
Initially, the UPA used weapons collected from the battlefields of 1939 and 1941. Later, they bought weapons from peasants and individual soldiers or captured them in combat. Some light weapons were also brought by deserting Ukrainian auxiliary policemen. For the most part, the UPA used light infantry weapons of Soviet and, to a lesser extent, German origin (for which ammunition was less readily obtainable). In 1944, German units armed the UPA directly with captured Soviet arms. Many kurins were equipped with light 51 mm and 82 mm mortars. During large-scale operations in 1943–1944, insurgent forces also used artillery (45 mm and 76.2 mm). In 1943 a light Hungarian tank was used in Volhynia.
In 1944, the Soviets captured a Polikarpov Po-2 aircraft and one armored car and one personnel carrier from the UPA; however, it was not stated that they were in operable condition, while no OUN/UPA documents noted the usage of such equipment. By the end of World War II in Europe, the NKVD had captured 45 artillery pieces (45 and 76.2 mm calibres) and 423 mortars from the UPA. In attacks against Polish civilians, axes and pikes were used. However, the light infantry weapon was the basic weapon used by the UPA.
Formation
1941
In a memorandum from 14 August 1941, the OUN (B) petitioned the Germans to create a Ukrainian Army "which unite with the German Army ... until final victory", in exchange for German recognition of an allied, independent Ukrainian state. At the beginning of October 1941, during the first OUN Conference, the OUN formulated its future strategy. This called for transferring part of its organizational structure underground, in order to avoid conflict with the Germans. It also refrained from open anti-German propaganda activities. A captured German document of 25 November 1941 (Nuremberg Trial O14-USSR) ordered:
"It has been ascertained that the Bandera Movement is preparing a revolt in the Reichskommissariat which has as its ultimate aim the establishment of an independent Ukraine. All functionaries of the Bandera Movement must be arrested at once and, after thorough interrogation, are to be liquidated..."
1942
At the Second Conference of the OUN-B, held in April 1942, the policies for the "creation, build-up and development of Ukrainian political and future military forces" and "action against partisan activity supported by Moscow" were adopted. Although German policies were criticized, the Soviet partisans were identified as the primary enemy of the OUN (B) and its future armed wing. The Military Conference of the OUN (B) met in December 1942 near Lviv. The conference resulted in the adoption of a policy of building up the OUN-B's military forces. The conference emphasized that "the entire combat capable population must support, under the OUN banner, the struggle against the Bolshevik enemy". On 30 May 1947, the Main Ukrainian Liberation Council (Головна Визвольна Рада) adopted the date of 14 October 1942—the feast of the Intercession of the Theotokos, and Ukrainian Cossacks' Day—as the official anniversary of the UPA.
Germany
The relationship between Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Nazi Germany was complex and varied on account of the intertwined interests of the two actors, as well as the decentralized nature of the UPA.
Despite the stated opinions of Dmytro Klyachkivsky and Roman Shukhevych that the Germans were a secondary threat compared to their main enemies (the Communist forces of the Soviet Union and Poland), the Third Conference of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, held near Lviv from 17 to 21 February 1943, decided to begin open warfare against the Germans (OUN fighters had already attacked a German garrison earlier that year on 7 February). Accordingly, on 20 March 1943, the OUN-B leadership issued secret instructions ordering their members who had joined the collaborationist Ukrainian Auxiliary Police in 1941–1942 to desert with their weapons and join with UPA units in Volhynia. This process often involved armed conflict with German forces trying to prevent this. The number of trained and armed personnel who joined the ranks of the UPA was estimated to be between 4 and 5 thousand.
Anti-German actions were limited to situations where the Germans attacked the Ukrainian population or UPA units. According to German general Ernst August Köstring, UPA fighters "fought almost exclusively against German administrative agencies, the German police and the SS in their quest to establish an independent Ukraine controlled by neither Moscow nor Germany." During the German occupation, the UPA conducted hundreds of raids on police stations and military convoys. In the region of Zhytomyr insurgents were estimated by the German General-Kommissar Leyser to be in control of 80% of the forests and 60% of the farmland. According to the OUN/UPA, on 12 May 1943, Germans attacked the town of Kolki using several SS-Divisions (SS units operated alongside the Wehrmacht who were responsible for intelligence, central security, policing action, and mass extermination), where both sides suffered heavy losses. Soviet partisans reported the reinforcement of German auxiliary forces at Kolki from the end of April until the middle of May 1943.
In June 1943, German SS and police forces under the command of Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, the head of Himmler-directed Bandenbekämpfung ("bandit warfare"), attempted to destroy UPA-North in Volhynia during Operation BB (Bandenbekämpfung). According to Ukrainian claims, the initial stage of the operation produced no results whatsoever. This development was the subject of several discussions by Himmler's staff that resulted in General von dem Bach-Zelewski being sent to Ukraine. He failed to eliminate the UPA, which grew steadily, and the Germans, apart from terrorizing the civilian population, were virtually limited to defensive actions.
From July through September 1943, in an estimated 74 clashes between German forces and the UPA, the Germans lost more than 3,000 men killed or wounded, while the UPA lost 1,237 killed or wounded. According to post-war estimates, the UPA had the following number of clashes with the Germans in mid-to-late 1943 in Volhynia: 35 in July, 24 in August, 15 in September and 47 during October–November. In the fall of 1943, clashes between the UPA and the Germans declined, so that Erich Koch in his November 1943 report and New Year 1944 speech could claim that "nationalistic bands in forests do not pose any major threat" for the Germans.
In the autumn of 1943, some detachments of the UPA attempted to find rapprochement with the Germans, despite a 25 November OUN/UPA order to the contrary. In early 1944, UPA forces in several Western regions cooperated with the German Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, SiPo and SD. Nevertheless, the winter and spring of 1944 did not see a complete cessation of armed conflict between UPA and German forces, as the UPA continued to defend Ukrainian villages against the repressive actions of the German administration. For example, on 20 January, 200 German soldiers on their way to the Ukrainian village of Pyrohivka were forced to retreat after a several-hour long firefight with 80 UPA soldiers after having lost 30 killed and wounded. In March–July 1944, a senior leader of OUN-B in Galicia conducted negotiations with SD and SS officials, resulting in a German decision to supply the UPA with arms and ammunition. In May of that year, the OUN issued instructions to "switch the struggle, which had been conducted against the Germans, completely into a struggle against the Soviets."
In a top-secret memorandum, General-Major Brigadeführer Brenner wrote in mid-1944 to SS-Obergruppenführer General Hans-Adolf Prützmann, the highest ranking German SS officer in Ukraine, that "The UPA has halted all attacks on units of the German army. The UPA systematically sends agents, mainly young women, into the enemy-occupied territory, and the results of the intelligence are communicated to Department 1c of the Army Group" on the southern front. By the autumn of 1944, the German press was full of praise for the UPA for their anti-Bolshevik successes, referring to the UPA fighters as "Ukrainian fighters for freedom" After the front had passed, by the end of 1944 the Germans supplied the OUN/UPA by air with arms and equipment. In the Ivano-Frankivsk region, there even existed a small landing strip for German transport planes. Some German personnel trained in terrorist and intelligence activities behind Soviet lines, as well as some OUN-B leaders, were also transported through this channel.
Adopting a strategy analogous to that of the Chetnik leader General Draža Mihailović, the UPA limited its actions against the Germans in order to better prepare itself for and engage in the struggle against the Communists. Because of this, although the UPA managed to limit German activities to a certain extent, it failed to prevent the Germans from deporting approximately 500,000 people from Western Ukraine and from economically exploiting Western Ukraine. Due to its focus on the Soviets as the principal threat, the UPA's anti-German struggle did not contribute significantly to the recapture of Ukrainian territories by Soviet forces.
Poland
Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia
Main article: Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia See also: Sluzhba Bezpeky and Polish-Ukrainian ethnic conflictIn 1943, the UPA adopted a policy of massacring and expelling the Polish population east of the Bug River. In March 1943, the OUN-B (specifically Mykola Lebed) imposed a collective death sentence on all Poles living in the former east of the Second Polish Republic, and a few months later, local units of the UPA were instructed to complete the operation soon. Among those who were behind the decision, Polish investigators singled out Dmytro Klyachkivsky, Vasyl Ivakhov, Ivan Lytvynchuk and Petro Oliynyk.
The ethnic cleansing operation against the Poles began on a large scale in Volhynia in late February (or early Spring) of that year and lasted until the end of 1944. Taras Bulba-Borovets, the founder of the UPA, criticized the attacks as soon as they began:
The axe and the flail have gone into motion. Whole families are butchered and hanged, and Polish settlements are set on fire. The “hatchet men,” to their shame, butcher and hang defenceless women and children.... By such work Ukrainians not only do a favor for the SD , but also present themselves in the eyes of the world as barbarians. We must take into account that England will surely win this war, and it will treat these “hatchet men” and lynchers and incendiaries as agents in the service of Hitlerite cannibalism, not as honest fighters for their freedom, not as state-builders.
11 July 1943, the Volhynian Bloody Sunday, was one of the deadliest days of the massacres, with UPA units marching from village to village, killing Polish civilians. On that day, UPA units surrounded and attacked 99 Polish villages and settlements in three counties – Kovel, Horokhiv, and Volodymyr. On the following day, 50 additional villages were attacked. In January 1944, the UPA campaign of ethnic cleansing spread to the neighboring province of Galicia. Unlike in Volhynia, where Polish villages were destroyed and their inhabitants murdered without warning, Poles in eastern Galicia were in some instances given the choice of fleeing or being killed. Ukrainian peasants sometimes joined the UPA in the violence, and large bands of armed marauders, unaffiliated with the UPA, brutalized civilians. In other cases however, Ukrainian civilians took significant steps to protect their Polish neighbors, either by hiding them during the UPA raids or vouching that the Poles were actually Ukrainians.
The methods used by the UPA to carry out the massacres were particularly brutal and were committed indiscriminately without any restraint. Historian Norman Davies describes the killings:
"Villages were torched. Roman Catholic priests were axed or crucified. Churches were burned with all their parishioners. Isolated farms were attacked by gangs carrying pitchforks and kitchen knives. Throats were cut. Pregnant women were bayoneted. Children were cut in two. Men were ambushed in the field and led away."
In total, the estimated numbers of Polish and Jewish civilians killed in Volhynia and Galicia is between 50,000 and 100,000. Victims of the UPA included Ukrainians who did not adhere to its form of nationalism and so were considered traitors. After the initiation of the massacres, Polish self-defense units responded in kind. Estimates of Ukrainians killed in acts of reprisal range from 2,000 to 30,000. On 22 July 2016, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland passed a resolution declaring the massacres committed by the UPA a genocide.
Post-war
See also: Operation Vistula, Repatriation of Ukrainians from Poland to the Soviet Union, and Freedom and Independence AssociationAfter Galicia had been taken over by the Red Army, many units of the UPA abandoned the anti-Polish course of action and some even began cooperating with local Polish anti-Communist resistance against the Soviets and the NKVD. Many Ukrainians, who had not participated in the anti-Polish massacres, joined the UPA after the war on both the Soviet and Polish sides of the border. Local agreements between the UPA and the Polish post-Home Army units began to appear as early as April/May 1945 and in some places lasted until 1947, such as in the Lublin Voivodeship. One of the most notable joint actions of the UPA and the post-Home Army Freedom and Independence Association (WiN) took place in May 1946, when the two partisan formations coordinated their attack and took over of the city of Hrubieszów.
The cooperation between the UPA and the post-Home Army underground came about partly as a response to increasing Communist terror and the forced population exchange between Poland and Ukraine. According to official statistics, between 1944 and 1956 around 488,000 Ukrainians and 789,000 Poles were transferred. On the territories of present-day Poland, 8,000–12,000 Ukrainians were killed and 6,000–8,000 Poles, between 1943 and 1947. However, unlike in Volhynia, most of the casualties occurred after 1944 and involved UPA soldiers and Ukrainian civilians on one side, and members of the Polish Communist Security Office (UB) and Border Protection Troops (WOP). Out of the 2,200 Poles who died in the fighting between 1945 and 1948, only a few hundred were civilians, with the remainder being functionaries or soldiers of the Communist regime in Poland.
Soviet Union
Main article: Anti-Soviet resistance by the Ukrainian Insurgent ArmyGerman occupation
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The total number of local Soviet partisans acting in Western Ukraine was never high, due to the region enduring only two years of German rule (in some places even less). In 1943, the Soviet partisan leader Sydir Kovpak was sent to the Carpathian Mountains, with help from Nikita Khrushchev. He described his mission to western Ukraine in his book Vid Putivlia do Karpat (From Putyvl to the Carpathian Mountains). Well armed by supplies delivered to secret airfields, he formed a group consisting of several thousand men which moved deep into the Carpathians. Attacks by the German Luftwaffe and military forced Kovpak to break up his force into smaller units in 1944; these groups were attacked by UPA units on their way back. Soviet NKVD agent Nikolai Kuznetsov was captured and executed by UPA members after unwittingly entering their camp while wearing a Wehrmacht officer uniform.
Fighting
As the Red Army approached Galicia, the UPA avoided clashes with the regular units of the Soviet military. Instead, the UPA focused its energy on NKVD units and Soviet officials of all levels, from NKVD and military officers to the school teachers and postal workers attempting to establish Soviet administration.
In March 1944, UPA insurgents mortally wounded front commander Army General Nikolai Vatutin, who captured Kiev when he led Soviet forces in the Second battle of Kiev. Several weeks later an NKVD battalion was annihilated by the UPA near Rivne. This resulted in a full-scale operation in the spring of 1944, initially involving 30,000 Soviet troops against the UPA in Volhynia. Estimates of casualties vary depending on the source. In a letter to the State Defense Committee of the USSR, Lavrentiy Beria stated that in spring 1944 clashes between Soviet forces and the UPA resulted in 2,018 killed and 1,570 captured UPA fighters and only 11 Soviets killed and 46 wounded. A captured UPA member, quoted in Soviet archives, stated that he received reports about UPA losses of 200 fighters against 2,000 Soviet losses. The first significant sabotage operations against communications of the Soviet Army before their offensive against the Germans was conducted by the UPA in April–May 1944. Such actions were promptly stopped by the Soviet Army and NKVD troops, after which the OUN/UPA submitted an order to temporarily cease anti-Soviet activities and prepare for the further struggle against the Soviets.
Despite heavy casualties on both sides during the initial clashes, the struggle was inconclusive. New large-scale actions of the UPA, especially in Ternopil Oblast, were launched in July–August 1944, when the Red Army advanced West. By the autumn of 1944, UPA forces enjoyed virtual freedom of movement over an area of 160,000 square kilometers in size and home to over 10 million people, and had established a shadow government.
In November 1944, Khrushchev launched the first of several large-scale Soviet assaults on the UPA throughout Western Ukraine, involving—according to OUN/UPA estimates—at least 20 NKVD combat divisions supported by artillery and armoured units. Soviet forces blockaded villages and roads, and set forests on fire. Soviet archival data states that on 9 October 1944, one NKVD Division, eight NKVD brigades, and an NKVD cavalry regiment with a total of 26,304 NKVD soldiers were stationed in Western Ukraine. In addition, two regiments with 1,500 and 1,200 persons, one battalion (517 persons) and three armoured trains with 100 additional soldiers each, as well as one border guard regiment and one unit were starting to relocate there in order to reinforce them.
During late 1944 and the first half of 1945, according to Soviet data, the UPA suffered approximately 89,000 killed, approximately 91,000 captured, and approximately 39,000 surrendered while the Soviet forces lost approximately 12,000 killed, approximately 6,000 wounded and 2,600 MIA. In addition, during this time, according to Soviet data UPA actions resulted in the killing of 3,919 civilians and the disappearance of 427 others. Despite the heavy losses, as late as summer 1945, many battalion-size UPA units still continued to control and administer large areas of territory in Western Ukraine. In February 1945 the UPA issued an order to liquidate kurins (battalions) and sotnyas (companies) and to operate predominantly in chotys (platoons).
Spring 1945–late 1946
Further information: Sluzhba BezpekyAfter Germany surrendered in May 1945, the Soviet authorities turned their attention to the guerrilla wars taking place in Ukraine and the Baltics. Combat units were reorganized and special forces were sent in. One of the major complications that arose was the local support the UPA had from the population. Areas of UPA activity were depopulated. The estimates on numbers deported vary; officially Soviet archives state that between 1944 and 1952 a total of 182,543 people were deported while other sources indicate the number may have been as high as to 500,000.
Mass arrests of suspected UPA informants or family members were conducted; between February 1944 and May 1946 over 250,000 people were arrested in Western Ukraine. Those arrested typically experienced beatings or other violence. Those suspected of being UPA members underwent torture; reports exist of some prisoners being burned alive. The many arrested women believed to be affiliating with the UPA were subjected to torture, deprivation, and rape at the hands of Soviet security in order to "break" them and get them to reveal UPA members' identities and locations or to turn them into Soviet double-agents. Mutilated corpses of captured rebels were put on public display. Ultimately, between 1944 and 1952 alone as many as 600,000 people may have been arrested in Western Ukraine, with about one-third executed and the rest imprisoned or exiled.
The UPA responded to the Soviet methods by unleashing their own terror against Soviet activists, suspected collaborators and their families. This work was particularly attributed to the Sluzhba Bezpeky (SB), the anti-espionage wing of the UPA. In a typical incident in the Lviv region, in front of horrified villagers, UPA troops gouged out the eyes of two entire families suspected of reporting on insurgent movements to Soviet authorities, before hacking their bodies to pieces. Due to public outrage concerning these violent punitive acts, the UPA stopped the practice of killing the families of collaborators by mid-1945. Other victims of the UPA included Soviet activists sent to Galicia from other parts of the Soviet Union; heads of village Soviets, those sheltering or feeding Red Army personnel, and even people turning food into collective farms. The effect of such terrorist acts was such that people refused to take posts as village heads, and until the late 1940s villages chose single men with no dependents as their leaders.
The UPA also proved to be especially adept at assassinating key Soviet administrative officials. According to NKVD data, between February 1944 and December 1946 11,725 Soviet officers, agents and collaborators were assassinated and 2,401 were "missing", presumed kidnapped, in Western Ukraine. In one county in Lviv region alone, from August 1944 until January 1945 Ukrainian rebels killed 10 members of the Soviet active and a secretary of the county Communist party, and also kidnapped four other officials. The UPA travelled at will throughout the area. In this county, there were no courts, no prosecutor's office, and the local NKVD only had three staff members.
According to Otto Skorzeny, from May to September 1945 the UPA fought more than 80 battles and lost 5,000 men (killed and wounded); the Soviet losses were 7,400 killed and more than 9,000 wounded. During the night of October 31, 1945 the UPA captured Stanislavov, the former capital of Volhynia. From Ukrainian Christmas Day, January 7, until October 1946 the UPA was forced to fight more than 1,000 battles: Soviet losses were more than 15,000 killed.
According to a 1946 report by Khrushchev's deputy for West Ukrainian affairs A. A. Stoiantsev, out of 42,175 operations and ambushes against the UPA by destruction battalions in Western Ukraine, only 10 percent had positive results – in the vast majority there was either no contact or the individual unit was disarmed and pro-Soviet leaders murdered or kidnapped. Morale amongst the NKVD in Western Ukraine was particularly low. Even within the dangerous context of Soviet state service in the late-Stalin era, West Ukraine was considered to be a "hardship post", and personnel files reveal higher rates of transfer requests, alcoholism, nervous breakdowns, and refusal to serve among NKVD field agents there at that time.
The first success of the Soviet authorities came in early 1946 in the Carpathians, which were blockaded from 11 January until 10 April. The UPA operating there ceased to exist as a combat unit. The continuous heavy casualties elsewhere forced the UPA to split into small units consisting of 100 soldiers. Many of the troops demobilized and returned home, when the Soviet Union offered three amnesties during 1947–1948. By 1946, the UPA was reduced to a core group of 5,000–10,000 fighters, and large-scale UPA activity shifted to the Soviet-Polish border. Here, in 1947, they killed the Polish Communist deputy defence minister General Karol Świerczewski. In spring 1946, the OUN/UPA established contacts with the Intelligence services of France, Great Britain and US.
End of UPA resistance
Guerrilla war in Ukraine | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of World War II from 1944–1945 and the anti-communist insurgencies in Central and Eastern Europe | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Soviet Union Polish People's Republic | Ukrainian Insurgent Army | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Joseph Stalin Bolesław Bierut |
Dmytro Klyachkivsky † Roman Shukhevych † Vasyl Kuk (POW) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Variable |
~100,000 partisans (peak) 300,000+ partisans (total) | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Soviet Union: Source 1: 8,786 dead 5,587 paramilitaries 3,199 regular soldiers Source 2: 12,000 dead 2,600 missing (late 1944 to early 1945) Source 3: 15,000 dead (January–July 1946) Source 4: 7,400 dead 9,000+ wounded (May–September 1945) 15,000+ dead (January–October 1946) Polish People's Republic: Source 3: 5,325+ dead |
Ukrainian Insurgent Army: Soviet claim: 153,000 dead 134,000 arrested Source 3: 5,000 dead (January–July 1946) Source 4: 5,000 dead or wounded (May–September 1945) | ||||||
21,888 civilians killed by insurgents Unknown number of civilians killed by Soviets |
The turning point in the struggle against the UPA came in 1947 when the Soviets established an intelligence gathering network within the UPA and shifted the focus of their actions from mass terror to infiltration and espionage. After 1947 the UPA's activity began to subside. On May 30, 1947, Shukhevych issued instructions for joining the OUN and UPA in underground warfare. In 1947–1948 UPA resistance was weakened enough to allow the Soviets to begin implementation of large-scale collectivization throughout Western Ukraine.
In 1948, the Soviet central authorities purged local officials who had mistreated peasants and engaged in "vicious methods". At the same time, Soviet agents planted within the UPA had taken their toll on morale and on the UPA's effectiveness. According to the writing of one slain Ukrainian rebel, "the Bolsheviks tried to take us from within...you can never know exactly in whose hands you will find yourself. From such a network of spies, the work of whole teams is often penetrated...". In November 1948, the work of Soviet agents led to two important victories against the UPA: the defeat and deaths of the heads of the most active UPA network in Western Ukraine, and the removal of "Myron", the head of the UPA's counter-intelligence SB unit.
The Soviet authorities tried to win over the local population by making significant economic investments in Western Ukraine, and by setting up rapid reaction groups in many regions to combat the UPA. According to one retired MVD major, "By 1948 ideologically we had the support of most of the population." The UPA's leader, Roman Shukhevych, was killed during an ambush near Lviv on 5 March 1950. Although sporadic UPA activity continued until the mid-1950s, after Shukhevich's death the UPA rapidly lost its fighting capability. An assessment of UPA manpower by Soviet authorities on 17 April 1952 claimed that UPA/OUN had only 84 fighting units consisting of 252 persons. The UPA's last commander, Vasyl Kuk, was captured on 24 May 1954. Despite the existence of some insurgent groups, according to a report by the MGB of the Ukrainian SSR, the "liquidation of armed units and OUN underground was accomplished by the beginning of 1956".
NKVD units dressed as UPA fighters are known to have committed atrocities against the civilian population in order to discredit the UPA. Among these NKVD units were those composed of former UPA fighters working for the NKVD. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) recently published information that about 150 such special groups consisting of 1,800 people operated until 1954. Prominent people killed by UPA insurgents during the anti-Soviet struggle included Metropolitan Oleksiy (Hromadsky) of the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church, killed while traveling in a German convoy, and pro-Soviet writer Yaroslav Halan.
In 1951, CIA covert operations chief Frank Wisner estimated that some 35,000 Soviet police troops and Communist party cadres had been eliminated by guerrillas affiliated with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the period after the end of World War II. Official Soviet figures for the losses inflicted by all types of Ukrainian nationalists during the period 1944–1953 referred to 30,676 persons; amongst them were 687 NKGB-MGB personnel, 1,864 NKVD-MVD personnel, 3,199 Soviet Army, Border Guards, and NKVD-MVD troops, 241 Communist party leaders, 205 Komsomol leaders and 2,590 members of self-defense units. According to Soviet data, the remaining losses were among civilians, including 15,355 peasants and kolkhozniks. Soviet archives state that between February 1944 and January 1946 the Soviet forces conducted 39,778 operations against the UPA, during which they killed a total of 103,313, captured a total of 8,370 OUN members and captured a total of 15,959 active insurgents. Many UPA members were imprisoned in the Gulag. They actively participated in Gulag uprisings of Norilsk, Vorkuta, and Kengir.
Soviet infiltration
In 1944–1945 the NKVD carried out 26,693 operations against the Ukrainian underground. These resulted in the deaths of 22,474 Ukrainian soldiers and the capture of 62,142 prisoners. During this time the NKVD formed special groups known as spetshrupy made up of former Soviet partisans. The goal of these groups was to discredit and disorganize the OUN and UPA. In August 1944, Sydir Kovpak was placed under NKVD authority. Posing as Ukrainian insurgents, these special formations used violence against the civilian population of Western Ukraine. In June 1945 there were 156 such special groups with 1,783 members.
From December 1945 to 1946, 15,562 operations were carried out in which 4,200 were killed and more than 9,400 were arrested. From 1944 to 1953, the Soviets killed 153,000 and arrested 134,000 members of the UPA. 66,000 families (204,000 people) were forcibly deported to Siberia and half a million people were subject to repression. In the same period, Polish Communist authorities deported 450,000 people. Soviet infiltration of British intelligence also meant that MI6 assisted in training some of the guerrillas in parachuting and unmarked planes used to drop them into Ukraine from bases in Cyprus and Malta, were counter-acted by the fact that one MI6 agent with knowledge of the operation was Kim Philby. Working with Anthony Blunt, he alerted Soviet security forces about planned drops. Ukrainian guerrillas were intercepted and most were executed.
Holocaust
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The OUN pursued a policy of infiltrating the German police to obtain weapons and training for fighters. In that role, it helped the Germans to carry out the Holocaust. The Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, working for the Germans, played a crucial supporting role in the murder of 200,000 Jews in Volhynia in the second half of 1942. Most of the police deserted in the following spring and joined the UPA. Historian Shmuel Spector estimated in 1990 that the UPA and OUN together hunted down and killed several thousand Jews. With the first antisemitic ideology and acts traced back to the Russian Civil War, by 1940–1941 the publications of Ukrainian terrorist organizations became explicitly antisemitic. German documents of the period give the impression that Ukrainian ultranationalists were indifferent to the plight of the Jews and would either kill them or help them, whichever was more appropriate for their political goals.
According to Timothy D. Snyder, the Soviet partisans were known for their brutality by retaliating against entire villages suspected of working with the Germans, killing individuals deemed to be collaborators, and provoking the Germans to attack villages. The UPA would later attempt to match that brutality. By early 1943, the OUN had entered into open armed conflict with Nazi Germany. According to Ukrainian historian and former UPA soldier Lew Shankowsky, immediately upon assuming the position of commander of the UPA in August 1943, Roman Shukhevych issued an order banning participation in anti-Jewish activities. No written record of this order, however, has been found. In 1944, the OUN formally "rejected racial and ethnic exclusivity". Nevertheless, Jews hiding from the Germans with Poles in Polish villages were often killed by the UPA along with their Polish saviors, although in at least one case, they were spared as the Poles were murdered. Some Jews who fled the ghettos for the forests were killed by members of the UPA.
According to Herbert Romerstein, Soviet propaganda complained about Zionist membership in the UPA, and during the persecution of Jews in the early 1950s, they described the alleged connection between Jewish and Ukrainian nationalists. One well-known claimed example of Jewish participation in the UPA was most likely a hoax, according to sources such as Friedman. According to the report, Stella Krenzbach, the daughter of a rabbi and a Zionist, joined the UPA as a nurse and intelligence agent. She is alleged to have written, "I attribute the fact that I am alive today and devoting all the strength of my thirty-eight years to a free Israel only to God and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. I became a member of the heroic UPA on 7 November 1943. In our group I counted twelve Jews, eight of whom were doctors". Later, Friedman concluded that Krenzbach was a fictional character, as the only evidence for her existence was in an OUN paper. No one knew of such an employee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she supposedly worked after the war. A Jew, Leiba Dubrovskii, pretended to be Ukrainian.
Reconciliation
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During the following years, the UPA was officially taboo in the Soviet Union, mentioned only as a terrorist organization. Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, there have been heated debates about the possible award of official recognition to former UPA members as legitimate combatants, with the accompanying pensions and benefits due to war veterans. UPA veterans have also striven to hold parades and commemorations of their own, especially in Western Ukraine. This, in turn, led to opposition from Soviet Army veterans and some Ukrainian politicians, particularly from the south and east of the country. Attempts to reconcile former Polish Home Army and UPA soldiers have been made by both the Ukrainian and Polish sides. Individual former UPA members have expressed their readiness for a mutual apology. Some of the past soldiers of both organizations have met and asked for forgiveness for their past misdeeds. Restorations of graves and cemeteries in Poland where fallen UPA soldiers were buried have been agreed to by the Polish side.
2019 official veteran status
In late March 2019 former members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (and other living former members of Ukrainian irregular nationalist armed groups that were active during World War II and the first decade after the war) were officially granted the status of veterans. This meant that for the first time they could receive veteran benefits, including free public transport, subsidized medical services, annual monetary aid, and public utility discounts (and will enjoy the same social benefits as former Ukrainian soldiers who served in the Soviet Union's Red Army).
There had been several previous attempts to provide former Ukrainian nationalist fighters with official veteran status, especially during the 2005–2009 administration of President Viktor Yushchenko, but all failed. Prior to December 2018, legally only former UPA members who "participated in hostilities against Nazi invaders in occupied Ukraine in 1941–1944, who did not commit crimes against humanity and were rehabilitated" were recognized as war veterans.
Monuments for combatants
Without waiting for official notice from Kyiv, many regional authorities have already decided to approach the UPA's history on their own. In many western cities and villages monuments, memorials and plaques to the leaders and troops of the UPA have been erected. In eastern Ukraine's city of Kharkiv, a memorial to the soldiers of the UPA was erected in 1992. In response, many southern and eastern provinces, although the UPA had not operated in those regions, have responded by opening memorials of their own dedicated to the UPA's victims. The first one, "The Shot in the Back", was unveiled by the Communist Party of Ukraine in Simferopol, Crimea in September 2007. In 2008, one was erected in Svatove, Luhansk oblast, and another in Luhansk on 8 May 2010 by the city deputy, Arsen Klinchaev, and the Party of Regions. The unveiling ceremony was attended by Vice Prime Minister Viktor Tikhonov, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Pro-Russian Party of Regions Oleksandr Yefremov, Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin, Luhansk Regional Governor Valerii Holenko, and Luhansk Mayor Serhii Kravchenko.
- Monument to UPA veterans at St. Volodymyr Cemetery, Oakville, Ontario
- Monument to soldiers of UPA, Skole, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine
- Cemetery of UPA soldiers, Antonivci, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine
- Monument to the soldiers of UPA, Berezhany, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine
- Monument to senior UPA commander Dmytro Klyachkivsky near Orzhiv, Ukraine
- Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and other UPA graves in the Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery in South Bound Brook, New Jersey
- Memorial for UPA soldiers, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Commemoration in Ukraine
According to John Armstrong,
"If one takes into account the duration, geographical extent, and intensity of activity, the UPA very probably is the most important example of forceful resistance to an established Communist regime prior to the decade of fierce Afghan resistance beginning in 1979... the Hungarian revolution of 1956 was, of course, far more important, involving to some degree a population of nine million... however it lasted only a few weeks. In contrast, the more-or-less effective anti-Communist activity of the Ukrainian resistance forces lasted from mid-1944 until 1950."
Since 2006, the SBU has been actively involved in declassifying documents relating to the operations of Soviet security services and the history of the liberation movement in Ukraine. The SBU Information Centre provides an opportunity for scholars to get acquainted with electronic copies of archive documents. The documents are arranged by topics (1932–1933 Holodomor, OUN/UPA Activities, Repression in Ukraine, Movement of Dissident). In 2007, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) set up a special working group to study archive documents of the activity of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) to make public original sources.
On 10 January 2008, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko submitted a draft law "on the official Status of Fighters for Ukraine's Independence from the 1920s to the 1990s". Under the draft, persons who took part in political, guerrilla, underground and combat activities for the freedom and independence of Ukraine from 1920 to 1990 as part of or assisting the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO), Karpatska Sich, OUN, UPA, and Ukrainian Main Liberation Army would be recognised as war veterans. Since September 2009, Ukrainian schoolchildren take a more extensive course of the history of the Holodomor and the fighters of the OUN and the UPA fighters. Yushchenko took part in the celebration of the 67th anniversary of the UPA and the 65th anniversary of Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council on 14 October 2009.
On 16 January 2012, the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine upheld the presidential decree of 28 January 2010 "About recognition of OUN members and soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army as participants in the struggle for independence of Ukraine" after it was challenged by the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Nataliya Vitrenko, recognising the UPA as war combatants. On 10 October 2014, the date of 14 October as Defenders of Ukraine Day was confirmed by Presidential decree, officially granting state sanction to the date of the anniversary of the raising of the Insurgent Army, which has been celebrated in the past by Ukrainian Cossacks as the Feast of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary. The date would be moved to 1 October in 2023 with the move of all Orthodox fixed solemnities to the Revised Julian Calendar, but minor commemorations on the 14th continue as usual it was the date in 1942 wherein the UIA was founded.
On 15 May 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a bill into law "On the legal status and commemoration of the fighters for the independence of Ukraine in the 20th century", including Ukrainian Insurgent Army combatants. In June 2017, the Kyiv City Council renamed the city's General Vatutin Avenue into Roman Shukhevych Avenue. According to Russia's RIA Novosti in 2018, in Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zhytomyr, the UPA flag may be displayed on government buildings "on certain holidays". In December 2018, Poroshenko confirmed the status of veterans and combatants for independence of Ukraine for UPA fighters.
On 5 March 2021, the Ternopil City Council named the largest stadium in the city of Ternopil after Roman Shukhevych as the Roman Shukhevych Ternopil city stadium. On 16 March 2021, the Lviv Oblast Council approved the renaming of their largest stadium after Roman Shukhevych.
Popular culture
The Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh recorded a song entitled Ukrainian Insurgent Army on its 2006 release, Кров у Наших Криницях (Blood in our wells), dedicated to Stepan Bandera. Ukrainian Neo-Nazi black metal band Nokturnal Mortum have a song titled "Hailed Be the Heroes" (Слава героям) on the Weltanschauung/Мировоззрение album which contains lyrics pertaining to World War II and Western Ukraine (Galicia), and its title, Slava Heroyam, is a traditional UPA salute.
Two Czech films by František Vláčil, Shadows of the Hot Summer (Stíny horkého léta, 1977) and The Little Shepherd Boy from the Valley (Pasáček z doliny, 1983) are set in 1947, and feature UPA guerrillas in significant supporting roles. The first film resembles Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs (1971), in that it is about a farmer whose family is taken hostage by five UPA guerrillas, and he has to resort to his own ingenuity, plus reserves of violence that he never knew he possessed, to defeat them. In the second, the shepherd boy (actually a cowherd) imagines that a group of UPA guerrillas is made up of fairytale characters of his grandfather's stories, and that their leader is the Goblin King.
Also films such as Neskorenyi ("The Undefeated"), Zalizna Sotnia ("The Company of Heroes") and Atentat ("Assassination. An Autumn Murder in Munich") feature more description about the role of the UPA on their terrain. The Undefeated is about the life of Roman Shukhevych and the hunt for him by both German and Soviet forces, The Company of Heroes shows how UPA soldiers had everyday life as they fight against Armia Krajowa, Assassination is about the life of Stepan Bandera and how KGB agents murdered him.
The red-and-black battle flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was a popular symbol among Euromaidan protesters, and the wartime insurgents have acted as a large inspiration for them. Serhy Yekelchyk of the University of Victoria says the use of UPA imagery and slogans was more of a potent symbol of protest against the current government and Russia rather than adulation for the insurgents themselves, explaining "The reason for the sudden prominence of in Kiev is that it is the strongest possible expression of protest against the pro-Russian orientation of the current government."
Films
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- 1951 – Akce B (Czechoslovakia)
- 1961 – The Artillery Sergeant Kalen (Polish People's Republic)
- 1962 – Zerwany most (Polish People's Republic)
- 1968 – Annychka (USSR)
- 1970 – The White Bird Marked with Black (USSR)
- 1976 – The Troubled Month of Veresen (USSR)
- 1977 – Shadows of the Hot Summer (Czechoslovakia)
- 1983 – The Little Shepherd Boy from the Valley (Czechoslovakia)
- 1991 – The Last Bunker (Ukraine)
- 1991 – Carpathian Gold (Ukraine)
- 1992 – Cherry Nights (Ukraine)
- 1993 – Memories about UPA (Ukraine)
- 1994 – Goodbye, Girl (Ukraine)
- 1995 – Assassination. An Autumn Murder in Munich (Ukraine)
- 1995 – Executed Dawns (Ukraine)
- 2000 – The Undefeated (Ukraine)
- 2004 – One – the soldier in the field (Ukraine)
- 2004 – The Company of Heroes (Ukraine)
- 2004 – Between Hitler and Stalin (Canada)
- 2006 – Sobor on the Blood (Ukraine)
- 2006 – OUN – UPA war on two fronts (Ukraine)
- 2006 – Freedom or death! (Ukraine)
- 2007 – UPA. Third Force (Ukraine)
- 2010 – We are from the Future 2 (Russia)
- 2010 – Banderovci (Czech Republic)
- 2012 – Security Service of OUN. "Closed Doors" (Ukraine)
- 2016 – Wołyń (Poland)
Fiction
- Fire Poles (Вогненні стовпи) by Roman Ivanchuk, 2006.
Songs
The most obvious characteristic of the insurgent songs genre is the theme of rising up against occupying powers, enslavement and tyranny. Insurgent songs express an open call to battle and to revenge against the enemies of Ukraine, as well as love for the country and devotion to her revolutionary leaders (Bandera, Chuprynka and others). UPA actions, heroic deeds of individual soldiers, the hard underground life, longing for one's girl, family or boy are also important subject of this genre.
- Taras Zhytynsky "To sons of UPA"
- Tartak "Not saying to anybody"
- Folk song "To the source of Dniester"
- Drudkh – "Ukrainian Insurgent Army"
See also
- Banderite
- Defenders Day (Ukraine)
- Galicia (Eastern Europe)
- List of Nazi monuments in Canada
- Marianna Dolińska
- Zakerzonia
References
Notes
- OUN-UPA was a terrorist organization, relying on terrorist tactics and collaboration with Nazi Germany that favoured the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) at the expense of more moderate Ukrainian organizations, such as the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance; not all UPA soldiers were members of the OUN or shared OUN's ideology. UPA was also responsible for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of Poles, such as with the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, the mass murders of Jews, such as the Lviv pogroms (1941), as well as of Ukrainians during the World War II and post-war anti-Soviet terror campaign in western Ukraine.
Citations
- Arad, Yitzhak; Arad, Yitzchak (2010). In the Shadow of the Red Banner: Soviet Jews in the War Against Nazi Germany. Gefen Publishing House Ltd. p. 189. ISBN 978-965-229-487-6.
The first UPA unit was officially established on October 14, 1942. …The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainska Povstanska Armia-UPA) was an arm of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Orhanizatsia Ukrainskikh Nationalistiv – OUN).
- Kondor, Katherine; Littler, Mark (2023). The Routledge Handbook of Far-Right Extremism in Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-000-89703-6.
- Rudling, Per A. (2011). "The OUN, the UPA and the Holocaust: A Study in the Manufacturing of Historical Myths". The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies (2107). p. 14. doi:10.5195/cbp.2011.164.
While anti-German sentiments were widespread, according to captured activists, at the time of the Third Extraordinary Congress of the OUN(b), held in August 1943, its anti-German declarations were intended to mobilize support against the Soviets, and stayed mostly on the paper.
- Myroslav Yurkevich, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Orhanizatsiia ukrainskykh natsionalistiv) This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).
- Snyder, Timothy (2004). The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999. Yale University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-300-10586-5.
The OUN was an illegal, conspirational, and terrorist organization bound to destroy the status quo. The OUN counted on German help ... Germany was the only possible ally.
- Katchanovski, Ivan (2013). "The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and the Nazi Genocide in Ukraine". Paper Presented at the "Collaboration in Eastern Europe During World War II and the Holocaust" Conference, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust MemorialMuseum & Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies.
The OUN and the UPA can both be classified as terrorist organizations because their actions correspond to academic definitions of terrorism as the use of violence against civilians by non-state actors in order to intimidate and to achieve political goals.
- Delphine, Bechtel (2013). The Holocaust in Ukraine – New Sources and Perspectives – The 1941 pogroms as represented in Western Ukrainian historiography and memorial culture (PDF). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 3, 6.
Some Ukrainian immigrant circles in Canada, the United States, and Germany had been active for decades in trying to suppress the topic and reacted to any testimony about Ukrainian anti-Jewish violence with virulent diatribes against what they dismissed as 'Jewish propaganda' ... the Ukrainian Insurrectional Army (UPA), which was responsible for ethnic 'cleansing' actions against Poles and Jews in Volhynia and Galicia.
- Plokhy, Serhii (2015). The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine. New York: Basic Books. p. 320.
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which had close to 100,000 soldiers at its height in the summer of 1944, was fighting behind the Soviet lines, disrupting Red Army communications and attacking units farther from the front ... Among the UPA's major successes was the killing of a leading Soviet commander, General Nikolai Vatutin. On 29 February 1944, UPA fighters ambushed and wounded Vatutin as he was returning from a meeting with subordinates in Rivne, the former capital of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. He died in Kyiv in mid-April. Khrushchev, who attended Vatutin's funeral, buried his friend in the government center of Kyiv ... not all the UPA fighters shared the nationalist ideology or belonged to the OUN.
- Friedman, Philip; Friedman, Ada June (1980). Roads to Extinction: Essays on the Holocaust. New York: Conference on Jewish Social Studies: Jewish Publication Society of America. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-8276-0170-3 – via Internet Archive.
After the outbreak of World War II, the Germans constantly favored the OUN, at the expense of more moderate Ukrainian groups. The extremist Ukrainian nationalist groups then launched a campaign of vilification against moderate leaders, accusing them of various misdeeds ... As early as the spring of 1940, a central Ukrainian committee was organized in Cracow under the chairmanship of Volodimir Kubiovitch ... Shortly before the outbreak of Russo-German hostilities, the Germans, through Colonel Erwin Stolze, of the Abwehr, conducted negotiations with both OUN leaders, Melnyk and Bandera, requesting that they engage in underground activities in the rear of the Soviet armies in the Ukraine.
- Piotrowski, Tadeusz (1998). Poland's Holocaust. McFarland. pp. 224, 233, 234. ISBN 978-0-7864-0371-4 – via Internet Archive.
... after the massive exodus of the Polish people created a hiatus in the flow of requisitions, the Germans decided to stop the UPA terrorist attacks against civilians ... These anti-Jewish actions were carried out by the members of the Ukrainian police who eventually joined the UPA ... By October (1944), all of Eastern Poland lay in Soviet hands. As the German army began its withdrawal, the UPA began to attack its rearguard and seize its equipment. The Germans reacted with raids on UPA positions. On July 15, 1944, the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (Ukrainska Holovna Vyzvolna Rada, or UHVR, an OUN-B outfit) was formed and, at the end of that month, signed an agreement with the Germans for a unified front against the Soviet threat. This ended the UPA attacks as well as the German countermeasures. In exchange for diversionary activities in the rear of the Soviet front, Germans began providing the Ukrainian underground with supplies, arms, and training materials.
- Katchanovski, Ivan (2015). "Terrorists or national heroes? Politics and perceptions of the OUN and the UPA in Ukraine". Communist and Post-Communist Studies – Paper Prepared for Presentation at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Political Science Association, Montreal, June 1–3, 2010. 48 (2–3): 15. doi:10.1016/j.postcomstud.2015.06.006. ISSN 0967-067X.
However, historical studies and archival documents show that the OUN relied on terrorism and collaborated with Nazi Germany in the beginning of World War II. The OUN-B (Stepan Bandera faction) by means of its control over the UPA masterminded a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Poles in Volhynia during the war and mounted an anti-Soviet terror campaign in Western Ukraine after the war. These nationalist organizations, based mostly in Western Ukraine, primarily, in Galicia, were also involved in mass murder of Jews during World War II. The 2009 Kyiv International Institute of Sociology survey shows that only minorities of the residents of Ukraine have favorable views of the OUN-B and the UPA and deny involvement of these organizations in mass murders of Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews in the 1940s.
- Piotrowski, Tadeusz (1998). Poland's holocaust. Internet Archive. McFarland. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-7864-0371-4.
By October (1944), all of Eastern Poland lay in Soviet hands. As the German army began its withdrawal, the UPA began to attack its rearguard and seize its equipment. The Germans reacted with raids on UPA positions. On July 15, 1944, the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (Ukrainska Holovna Vyzvolna Rada, or UHVR, an OUN-B outfit) was formed and, at the end of that month, signed an agreement with the Germans for a unified front against the Soviet threat. This ended the UPA attacks as well as the German countermeasures. In exchange for diversionary activities in the rear of the Soviet front, Germans began providing the Ukrainian underground with supplies, arms, and training materials
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(Translation) ... 35 clashes took place in July, 24 in August, 15 in September; the insurgents lost 1,237 soldiers and officers, enemy losses amounted to 3000 people.
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{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Yaroslav Hrytsak, "History of Ukraine 1772–1999"
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In 1943–44 the OUN(b) and its armed wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) carried out a brutal campaign of mass murder of the Polish, Jewish, and other minorities in Volhynia and Galicia which claimed up to 100,000 lives
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- According to Soviet archives, the NKVD units located in Western Ukraine were: the 9th Rifle division; 16, 20, 21, 25, 17, 18, 19, 23rd brigades; 1 cavalry regiment. Sent to reinforce them: 256, 192nd regiments; 1 battalion three armoured trains (45, 26, 42). The 42nd border guard regiment and another unit (27th) were sent to reinforce them. From Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917–1953 Vol. 2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 pp. 478–482
- ^ Exact statistics of UPA casualties by the Soviets and Soviet casualties by UPA, in specific time periods, according to data compiled by the NKVD of the Ukrainian SRR: during February – December 1944 the UPA suffered the following casualties: 57,405 killed; 50,387 captured; 15,990 surrendered. During the period from 1 January 1945 until 1 May 1945 the following casualties were reported: 31,157 killed; 40,760 captured; 23,156 surrendered. The UPA's actions numbered 2,903 in 1944, and from 1 January 1945 until 1 May 1945 – 1,289. During February until December 1944 Soviet losses were: 9,521 "killed and hanged"; 3,494 wounded; 2,131 MIA; amongst them NKVD-NKGB suffered 401 killed and hanged, 227 wounded, 98 MIA and captured. From January 1, 1945 until May 1, 1945 the NKVD and Soviet Army troops suffered 2,513 killed, 2,489 wounded, 524 MIA and captured. Soviet Authorities personnel suffered 1,225 killed or hanged, 239 wounded, 427 MIA or captured. In addition, 3,919 civilians were killed or hanged, 320 wounded, and 814 MIA or captured. From Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917–1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 pp. 604–605
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- John Paul Himka. Falsifying World War II history in Ukraine. Himka notes that Bohdan Kordiuk, an OUN member who had been incarcerated in Auschwitz, described Krenzbach's memoirs as false in the newspaper Suchasna Ukraina (no. 15/194, 20 July 1958), and he wrote, "None of the UPA men known to the author of these lines knows the legendary Stella Krenzbach or have heard of her. The Jews do not know her either. It is unlikely that anyone of the tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees after the war met Stella Krenzbach". Himka also noted that Friedman failed to find evidence of her existence.
- Friedman, Filip (1980). "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations During the Nazi Occupation. In: Roads to Extinction: Essays on the Holocaust". New York: Conference on Jewish Social Studies: 203–204.
- Moses Fishbein, transcript of a delivered at the 26th Conference on Ukrainian Subjects at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 24–27 June 2009 posted on the website of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine
- McBride, Jared (9 November 2017). "Ukraine's Invented a 'Jewish-Ukrainian Nationalist' to Whitewash Its Nazi-era Past". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ^ Pancake, John (6 January 2010). "In Ukraine, movement to honor members of WWII underground sets off debate". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
- Nowakowska, Jadwiga (13 July 2003). "Pojednanie na cmentarzu" [Reconciliation in the cemetery] (in Polish). Wprost.pl. Archived from the original on 23 August 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
- Przewoźnik, A. "w Polsce nie można stawiać pomników UPA" [UPA monuments cannot be erected in Poland] (in Polish). Money.pl. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
- (in Ukrainian) The Council recognized all the soldiers of the OUN-UPA as combatants, Ukrayinska Pravda (6 December 2018)
- Grishenko, Aleksei (12 January 2015). В Харькове восстановят памятник УПА [The monument to the UPA in Kharkov will be restored] (in Russian). sq.com.ua. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
- В Крыму открыт монумент жертвам бандеровцев [In Crimea, a monument to the victims of Bandera has opened] (in Russian). Lenta.ru. 14 September 2007. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
- ^ "Luhansk unveils monument to victims of OUN-UPA". Kyiv Post. 9 May 2010. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011.
- John Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, 3rd edition. Englewood, Colorado: Ukrainian Academic Press, 1990. ISBN 0-87287-755-8 (2nd ed.: New York: Columbia University Press, 1963) pp. 223–224
- "Articles. Analysis of events in Ukraine. Political and economical Ukraine – ForUm". En.for-ua.com. 15 October 2008. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
- "SBU to study archive documents on activity of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists / News / NRCU". Nrcu.gov.ua. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
- "Yushchenko pushes for official recognition of OUN-UPA combatants". Zik.com.ua. 11 January 2008. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
- "Schoolchildren to study in detail about Holodomor and OUN-UPA". UNIAN. 12 June 2009. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009.
- "President takes part in celebration of the 67th anniversary of the UPA". Kyiv Post. 14 October 2009. Archived from the original on 16 October 2009.
- Historic Pravda. 2013-2-5
- Rachkevych, Mark (7 February 2013). "High court upholds decree recognizing UPA partisans as World War II combatants". Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
- Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization. Ukrayinska Pravda. 15 May 2015
- "Kyiv's General Vatutin Avenue renamed Roman Shukhevych Avenue". Kyiv Post. 1 June 2017. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023.
- "Court leaves avenues named after Bandera, Shukhevych in Kiev". Kyiv Post. 9 December 2019. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021.
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- "Poroshenko enacts law granting fighters for Ukraine's independence in 20th century combatant status". UNIAN. 23 December 2018. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023.
- ^ "Local governments name stadiums after Bandera and Shukhevych, provoking protest from Israel and Poland". The Ukrainian Weekly. 19 March 2021. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023.
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- Українські фільми: Страчені світанки [Ukrainian films: Executed Dawns]. Nashformat.ua. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- Zenon Lavryshyn. Songs of the UPA. Toronto: Litopys UPA, 1996, p. 19
- "Синам УПА. Тарас Житинський" [Sinam UPA. Taras Zhytynsky] (in Ukrainian). YouTube. 11 February 2010. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
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- "До витоку Дністра! Ой у лісі, на полянці.УПА" [To the source of the Dniester! Oh in the woods, on the glade] (in Ukrainian). YouTube. 23 September 2009. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
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Books
English
- Davies, Norman (2005). God's playground: a history of Poland: in two volumes, Vol. 2, Chapter 19. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-925340-4.
- Subtelny, Orest (1988). Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5808-6.
- Taubman, William (2004). Khrushchev: The Man and His Era. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-05144-7.
- Jeffrey Burds (1997). "Agentura: Soviet Informants' Networks & the Ukrainian Underground in Galicia, 1944–48", East European Politics and Societies v. 11
- Volodymyr Viatrovych, Roman Hrytskiv, Ihor Derevianyj, Ruslan Zabilyj, Andrij Sova, Petro Sodol'. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army: A History of Ukraine's Unvanquished Freedom Fighters (exhibition brochure). Lviv 2009.
- Zhukov, Yuri (2007). "Examining the Authoritarian Model of Counter-insurgency: The Soviet Campaign Against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (PDF). Small Wars & Insurgencies. 18 (3): 439–466. doi:10.1080/09592310701674416. ISSN 0959-2318. S2CID 9491204. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
Ukrainian
- Антонюк Ярослав Діяльність СБ ОУН на Волині. – Луцьк : "Волинська книга", 2007. – 176 с.
- Антонюк Ярослав Діяльність СБ ОУН(б) на Волині та Західному Поліссі (1946–1951 рр.) : Монографія. – Луцьк:"Надстир'я-Ключі", 2013. – 228 с.
- УПА розпочинає активні протинімецькі дії (UIA Start the Active anti-German actions) (За матеріалами звіту робочої групи істориків Інституту історії НАН України під керівництвом проф. Станіслава Кульчицького)
- Володимир В'ятрович, Ігор Дерев'яний, Руслан Забілий, Петро Солодь. Українська Повстанська Армія. Історія Нескорених. Третє видання. Львів (2011). ISBN 978-966-1594-03-5.
- Петро Мірчук. Українська Повстанська Армія 1942–1952. Львів 1991. ISBN 5-7707-0602-3.
- Юрій Киричук. Історія УПА. Тернопіль 1991.
- С.Ф. Хмель. Українська партизанка. Львів 1993.
- Іван Йовик. Нескорена армія. Київ 1995. ISBN 5-7707-8609-4.
- Анатоль Бедрій. ОУН і УПА. New York – London – Munich – Toronto. 1983.
- Litopys Online. The website of the chronicles of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Various works.
- В´ятрович В. М. Друга польсько-українська війна. 1942–1947. – Вид. 2-е, доп. – К.: Вид. дім "Києво-Могилянська академія", 2012. – 368 с.
Polish
- Wołodymyr Wiatrowycz, Druga wojna polsko-ukraińska 1942–1947, Warszawa 2013, ISBN 978-83-935429-1-8
- Za to że jesteś Ukraińcem ... : wspomnienia z lat 1944–1947 / wybór, oprac., wstęp i posłowie Bogdan Huk. Koszalin : Stowarzyszenie Ukraińców Więźniów Politycznych i Represjonowanych w Polsce, 2012. 400 s. : il.; 23 cm. ISBN 978-83-935479-0-6
- Sowa, Andrzej (1998). Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie 1939–1947. Kraków. OCLC 48053561.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Motyka, Grzegorz (2006). Ukraińska partyzantka 1942–1960 [Ukrainian partisans 1942–1960. Activities of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army] (PDF) (in Polish). Warszawa: ISP PAN / RYTM. ISBN 978-83-7399-163-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2023.
- Motyka, Grzegorz; Wnuk, Rafał (1997). Pany i rezuny: współpraca AK-WiN i UPA 1945–1947 (in Polish). Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza Volumen. ISBN 83-86857-72-2. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022.
- Kresowa księga sprawiedliwych 1939–1945 Archived 20 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Electronic archive of ukrainian liberation movement
- UPA – Ukrainian Insurgent Army Archived 25 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine
- Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Encyclopedia of Ukraine
- Chronicle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
- ОУН-УПА. Легенда Спротиву. Archived 26 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Ukrainian)
- Postcards of Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Kyiv-Toronto, 2008.
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Anti-communist resistance | |
Anti-fascist resistance |
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- Ukrainian Insurgent Army
- 1942 establishments in Ukraine
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- History of Ukraine (1918–1991)
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