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|war= ] |war= ]


|image=] |image=]
|caption=UPA propaganda poster. written in Ukrainian : “For Ukraine, for Freedom, For Peoples” . “300 near Kruty; 359 near Bazar” - Both “legendary” battle place of ] times when OUN/UPA does not exist – figures – alleged number of UNR fighters participated in each. “And endless in OUN-UPA struggle”. OUN/UPA formal greetings is written in Ukrainian bold on two horizontal lines ''Glory to Ukraine (Glory to (her) Heroes'' |caption=UPA recruitment poster. Its motto is written in Ukrainian on two horizontal lines ''Glory to Ukraine. Glory to (her) Heroes''


|active= 1943-1955
|active= 1943<ref></ref>-1949 <ref> Encyclopedia of Ukraine</ref>


|leaders= Vasyl Ivakhiv, Dmytro Klyachkivskyy, ], ] |leaders= Vasyl Ivakhiv, Dmytro Klyachkivskyy, ], ]


|area= primarily in territories of prewar ], ] and ] populated with Ukrainian majority, with raids in 1943-45 to eastern region of ] |area= primarily in territories of prewar ], ] and ] populated with Ukrainian majority, with raids as far east as Kiev region


|strength= Estimates of armed personnel at various times ranged from 15,000 - 100,000
|strength= Estimated armed personnel: mid 1943 - 15,000<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http://www.history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/index.htm ''Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army'' </ref>; late 1943 - 20,000<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http://www.history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/index.htm ''Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army'' </ref> ; spring 1944 - 25,000 - 35,000<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http://www.history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/index.htm ''Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army'' </ref>; spring 1946 - 3,500 - 5,000<ref> Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5</ref>


|allies= temporary arrangements with Nazi Germany |allies= temporary arrangements with Nazi Germany
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|opponents= ] ], the ] ], |opponents= ] ], the ] ],
], the ] ], ] ], the ] ], ]

|battles= mainly guerrilla activity |battles= mainly guerrilla activity
}} }}


The '''Ukrainian Insurgent Army''' ({{lang-ua|Українська Повстанська Армія, '''''U'''krayins’ka '''P'''ovstans’ka '''A'''rmiya'', '''UPA'''}}) was a Ukrainian military formation<ref> Encyclopedia of Ukraine</ref> formed at spring-summer 1943<ref></ref> in ] (located in north-western Ukraine). <!-- To protect their interests, the Ukrainians started forming resistance groups that grew into a ]. --> UPA was the ] branch of the ] (OUN)<!-- , a political movement that espoused violence as a means for achieving Ukrainian independence --> and formed to be the base for a future Ukrainian Army in mono-ethnical Ukrainian Independent State. UPA was responsible for the ] of much of western Ukraine's Polish population<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http://www.history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/16.pdf ''Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army'', Chapter 16 </ref> The '''Ukrainian Insurgent Army''' ({{lang-ua|Українська Повстанська Армія, '''''U'''krayins’ka '''P'''ovstans’ka '''A'''rmiya'', '''UPA'''}}) was a Ukrainian military organization formed in ] (located in north-western Ukraine). UPA's primary purpose was to protect the interests, of Ukrainians. UPA started as a resistance group that grew into a ]. UPA was the ] branch of the ] (OUN). Some UPA units were involved in the ] of much of western Ukraine's Polish population.
<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http://www.history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/16.pdf ''Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army'', Chapter 16 </ref>


During its existence, the UPA fought a large variety of military forces, including: During its existence, the UPA fought a large variety of military forces, including:
* ] ], * ] ]
* ] resistance movement (]) * ] resistance movement (])
* ] * ]
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* ] * ]
* ], NKGB, ] (Soviet anti-espionage and police forces) * ], NKGB, ] (Soviet anti-espionage and police forces)
After ], UPA ] continued fighting against ] until 1947 and the ] until the 1949. It was especially strong in the ] and ] regions until spring 1946. According to Canadian Ukrainian historian, UPA was unique among practically all resistance movements in Nazi-occupied Europe in that it had no significant foreign support. Its growth and strength reflected its popularity among the Ukrainian people.<ref name="Subtelny474">Subtelny, p. 474</ref>
While core majority peoples of ], with exempt of Western region, assume Ukrainian nationalists (OUN/UPA) as collaborators of Germans occupants. , p. 180</ref>


After ], UPA ] continued fighting against ] until 1947 and the ] until the 1949. It was especially strong in the ] and ] regions. UPA was unique among practically all resistance movements in Nazi-occupied Europe in that it had no significant foreign support. Its growth and strength reflected its popularity among the people of Western Ukraine.<ref name="Subtelny474">Subtelny, p. 474</ref> In other regions of Ukraine, on the other hand, the majority of the people assumed that Ukrainian nationalists (OUN/UPA) were collaborators of the Germans occupants. <ref name="UPA13_p180"> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 180</ref>


<small>''(Note: Another UPA also existed in ]. It was nominally formed earlier in late November 1941 before initially known as the ] and had no connections with the ](B) but tied with OUN(M) and OUN(UNR). This UPA, led by ] & had links to the ] in exile. It was renamed to the ] in July 1943 before being later partially and forcibly absorbed and disbanded by the UPA of the OUN(B). )''</small>

<small>''(Note: Another UPA also existed in ]. It was nominally formed earlier in late November 1941 before initially known as the ] and had no connections with the ](B) but tied with OUN(M) and OUN(UNR). This UPA, led by ] & had links to the ] in exile. It was renamed to the ] in July 1943 before being later in August partially and forcibly absorbed and disbanded by the UPA of the OUN(B). )''</small>

==Background==
;1941<br>
In Memorandum from August, 14 1941 OUN (B) proposed to Germans to create an Ukrainian Army “which join the German army … until last will win”, if Germans will recognize allied Ukrainian independent 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> Ukrainian Army planned to be formed on the base of DUN (detachments of Ukrainian nationalists - druzhyny ukrainskykh natsinalistiv) and specifically on the base of “Ukrainian legion” currently composed from two battalions (kurins) “Nachtigal” and “Roland” which by the time were included in Abwehr special regiment “Brandenburg-800”. However such propositions were not adopted by Germans. Moreover, by mid of September 1941 Germans started a repression campaign against most proactive OUN members which has awesome results. On First OUN Conference which held at the beginning of October 1941 was adopted an OUN strategy for future, which expect moving some part of organizational structure to underground, no conflicts with Germans and no anti-Germans 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> At same time in some areas OUN tried to establish own network in Auxiliary Police. By end of November 1941 remains of “Ukrainian Legion” (approximately 650 persons) signed contract for military service with Germans and transferred to Germany for military training for further usage at Eastern Front. At same time (end of November 1941) Germans started second wave of repression at ] specially targeted on OUN (B) members. However, most of captured OUN activists at ] belong to OUN (M) wing. <br>
;1942<br>
In April 1942 at Second OUN(B) Conference was adopted policy of “creation, build-up and development of own political and future military forces”, “action against own partisan activity inflicted by Moscow”, main enemy to fight – Soviet partisans. German policy was criticized, but no more.<ref>Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 2 P.95-97.</ref> July 1942 OUN (B) issued a statement in which main enemy was mentioned “Moscow”, while Germans was ephemerally criticized for their policy concerning Ukrainian independent state. Till December 1942 OUN(B) main activity was propaganda and own network development, at same time any actions against Germans mentioned as undesirable and provocative. At beginning of December 1942 near Lviv was held “Military conference of OUN(B)” which result was an adopted a speed-up the build-up process for creation of Military forces of OUN(B). Conference Statement underlined what “all combat capable population must stand straight under OUN banners for fight against dreadful bolsheviks enemy”. From beginning of December 1942 till beginning of January 1943 Germans relocated to ] disbanded “Ukrainian Legion” which used as battalion in 201 Wehrmacht Guard (Defense) Division at Belarus against ] . During service from May till October 1942 “Ukrainian Legion” were Shukhevych was deputy commander lost 49 killed and 40 wounded (all of them in 5 clashes with soviet partisans) while claimed more than 2000 killed soviet partisans. Later most of them joined the UPA or Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (galizische Nr.1) at spring 1943.<ref>Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 1,2,3 </ref>


==Organization of UPA== ==Organization of UPA==
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UPA's leaders were: Vasyl Ivakhiv (spring – 13 of May 1943), ], ] (January 1944 until 1950)<ref> in Ukrainian-Russian "Zerkalo Nedeli" Magazine</ref> and finally ]. In November 1943, UPA adopted a new structure, creating a Main Military Headquarters and three areas (group} commands: UPA-West, UPA-North and UPA-South. Three military schools for low-level command staff were established. UPA's leaders were: Vasyl Ivakhiv (spring – 13 of May 1943), ], ] (January 1944 until 1950)<ref> in Ukrainian-Russian "Zerkalo Nedeli" Magazine</ref> and finally ]. In November 1943, UPA adopted a new structure, creating a Main Military Headquarters and three areas (group} commands: UPA-West, UPA-North and UPA-South. Three military schools for low-level command staff were established.


UPA's membership is estimated to have consisted of 60% peasants, 20-25% industrial working class most of them from rural lumber and food industries, and 15% from the intelligentsia (students, urban professionals). The latter group provided a large portion of UPA's military trainers and officer corps.<ref name="Zhukov"> [http://yurizhukov.com/doc/070900_Zhukov_UPA_Final.pdf Yuri Zhukov, "Examining the Authoritarian UPA's membership is estimated to have consisted of 60% peasants of low to moderate means, 20-25% workers (primarily rural lumber and food industries), and 15% from the intelligentsia (students, urban professionals). The latter group provided a large portion of UPA's military trainers and officer corps.<ref name="Zhukov"> [http://yurizhukov.com/doc/070900_Zhukov_UPA_Final.pdf Yuri Zhukov, "Examining the Authoritarian
Model of Counter-insurgency: The Soviet Campaign Against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army", ''Small Wars and Insurgencies'', v.18, no. 3, pp.439-466] </ref> However, according to one of UPA commander data referred to 1944, UPA predominantly composed from peasants (poor and moderate in wealth) from western Ukraine (60% from ] and 30% from in ] and ]). <ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 12, p. 127 </ref> Model of Counter-insurgency: The Soviet Campaign Against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army", ''Small Wars and Insurgencies'', v.18, no. 3, pp.439-466] </ref> Sixty percent of UPA's membership was from ] and 30% from ] and ]<ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 12, p. 127 </ref>
The number of UPA fighters varied with time. A German ] report from November 1943 estimated that UPA had 20,000 soldiers;<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 188</ref> other estimates at that time placed the number at 40,000.<ref name=Magosci>{{cite book| author=Magoscy, R. | title=A History of Ukraine| location= Toronto | publisher= University of Toronto Press | year = 1996 }}</ref> By the summer of 1944, estimates of UPA membership varied from 25-30 thousand fighters<ref> Petro Sodol - Ukrainian Insurgent Army 1943-1949. Handbook. New – York 1994 p.28 </ref> Canadian Ukrainian historian claims as high as up to 100,000 soldiers.<ref name=Magosci/> By late 1943 and early 1944, the UPA controlled much of the territory of ], outside of the major cities, and was able to organize basic services for the villagers such as schools, hospitals, and the printing of newspapers. The number of UPA fighters varied with time. A German ] report from November 1943 estimated that UPA had 20,000 soldiers;<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 188</ref> other estimates at that time placed the number at 40,000.<ref name=Magosci>{{cite book| author=Magoscy, R. | title=A History of Ukraine| location= Toronto | publisher= University of Toronto Press | year = 1996 }}</ref> By the summer of 1944, estimates of UPA membership varied from 25-30 thousand fighters<ref> Petro Sodol - Ukrainian Insurgent Army 1943-1949. Handbook. New – York 1994 p.28 </ref> up to 100,000 soldiers.<ref name=Magosci/>

==UPA military gendarmerie and security service (SB) ==
{{more|Sluzhba_Bezbeky}}
According to the plans adopted December 1942 “Military conference of OUN(B)” there will be expected to development of intelligence and counterintelligence service (SB) and military gendarmerie). However should be noted what OUN(B) already has SB which acted since 1941 under command of M.Arsenych. By the 15 of May 1943 order of D.Klaychkivskyy in UPA established “revolutionary tribunals” and military courts, death sentences can be applied for persons since 17 years old. Military gendarmerie of UPA were established in June 1943, amongst other relevant for such service duties, it was responsible for mobilization – because mobilization (in most case non voluntary and even forcible) was a main source of manpower of UPA – man at age 15-50 years. Main activities in 1943 – arrests (and in most case extermination) of suspected “agents of soviets” and OUN(M), disarming of “shuma”- policeman, clashes with Poles and OUN(M) units, etc.
By end of 1943 there was established a disciplinary companies and even concentration camp “Centaur”. Since 1944 military gendarmerie was acted as more separate authority (before if was under directly command by SB), but still under SB order. Most activities in late 1944 targeted to handle a mass desertion from UPA and on mobilization (predominantly forcible) to UPA, with common usage of terror. As for instance, during November 1944 – May 1945 only in one area for “unwillingness to be in UPA” were executed up to 240 persons. Due the heavy losses, and significant shortage of UPA manpower military gendarmerie was liquidated in April 1945. <ref> Військово-польова жандармерія - спеціальний орган Української повстанської армії http://warhistory.ukrlife.org/5_6_02_4.htm </ref>

As regards to the UPA-SB here would be noted the words of one of the OUN(M) commander – “it’s hard to distinct were ended UPA and begins OUN under Bandera…”. Almost same situation with UPA and OUN SB. In 1941-42 main OUN SB activities were targeted “internal threat” – it’s name of OUN (B) for their political opponents (mainly from Melnyk wing of OUN) and those “who act against party line”. <!-- – for instance one of former OUN (B) military detachment commander which, against general directives of Second OUN(B) Conference, began military action against Germans in late 1942, was executed by SB order too specifuc-->.
From the date of UPA establishing SB became a responsible authority for intelligence and counterintelligence actions – however numerous attempts to infiltrate agents into soviet partisans detachments has very limited success. On other hand, on the “Polish- thread” field they have a much more success. For instance at one of the SB report for beginning of September 1943 mentioned ”during reporting period (1-10 Sept) 17 Poles families liquidated (58 persons)… Area in generally clean. There no pure-breed Poles. Issues of mixed families under resolving” ;<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 249-250</ref> At same time actions against “internal threat” were not halted – all absorbed non OUN (B) military formation and especially their commanders has own “SB-Angels with hanging wire in hands.” Such terror also not excluded SB and UPA itself – only in one military area at autumn 1943 were liquidated several units of SB and almost 70 insurgents.
After the Soviet Army approaching main target of SB activities becomes a “soviet agents and collaborates” as also their families – as such they were exterminated (in many case in sadistic way). Same fate awaited the families of man which don’t want “to take an arms in hands and join the struggle”, as only for one instance, 26 November 1944 in village Ispas (Chernivetska region) were exterminated 15 families (41 persons) because of village men refusal to join UPA. ; <ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 374</ref>
Soviet investigative files are filled with references to follow-up investigations of
brutal reprisals carried out by SB units against women suspected of “pro-
Soviet sympathies” - heartily welcoming of Red Army soldiers, feeding them, allow them to stay in house, be a family member of mobilized Red Army soldiers etc . <!--“In village Diadkovichi SB unit murdered
Sofia PAVLIUK, who heartily welcomed soldiers of the advancing Red Army.”
“On the night of 19 September in the village Bolshaia-Osneshcha,
Kolkovskyi raion the STRESHA band murdered four women, in whose apartments
lived Red Army soldiers.” “On the night of 23 September in village
Mikhlin, Senkovichi raion, a SB unit of four persons killed four women and
injured one. had gotten together to write letters to their husbands and
sons in the Red Army.” –too detailed info -->
While targets of SB violence were certainly not exclusively
women and girls, a close look at patterns of rebel violence against local citizens
suggests that reprisals against “collaborators” was a euphemism for violence
against ethnic Poles during World War II and the first two postwar years, when
three quarters of the violence against “locals” was directed against ethnic Poles.
Following the forced deportation of over 800,000 ethnic Poles from West
Ukrainian oblasti in 1945-1946, however, available evidence suggests that as many
as four of five of victims of rebel violence against suspected “collaborators” were
ethnic Ukrainian women, especially young women allegedly suspected of sexually
fraternizing with men of the Soviet occupation. <ref>http://www.history.neu.edu/fac/burds/Gender.pdf </ref>
Soviet authorities successfully used paranoia spy-mania of OUN/UPA SB – they posed known for collaboration with OUN/UPA persons like as if they worked for NKVD and SB, without any delay liquidated such “suspected”. As for instance from January 1, 1945 till spring 1945 only in one area of OUN/UPA activity from 938 suspected 889 were liquidated. Despite the fact what the SB has able to conduct some counterintelligence actions against soviet agents and even to infiltrate few former UPA members which worked in the militia in 1945 <ref> Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 </ref> it actions has “ compromise the Movement” even by own OUN/UPA vision <ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 375</ref>
The repeated OUN/UPA SB violence against women was certainly noticed and feared by the local population. As peasant A. V. Vasilev wrote from Stryi raion to his cousin on 1 September 1946: “Bandits cut the throats of six women in one night! It’s horrifying here now — you go to sleep and don’t know if you’ll ever wake up again.”
Brutality action were not halted until full extermination of OUN/UPA SB units – even in 21 June 1948 at Lviv State University stable Soviet investigators uncovered eighteen naked and mutilated corpses — seventeen women and one adolescent boy which were killed since November 1947 by OUN/UPA SB unit. Nearly all of the corpses were so badly decomposed that only six could be identified by family members (mainly through personal objects or clothing). In each case, the victim had been beaten to death on the back of the skull with an ax, hammer, or pipe. As a reflection of the macabre ritual interrogation that usually preceded SB executions of “suspected collaborators”, one corpse still had more than a meter of noose around her neck. SB assassination squad responsible for such crime had nine members, and acted on the direct instructions of the commander of an UPA regiment based in a nearby forest. All of the executions had been perpetrated under orders. One of the SB unit members had been recruited into the unit by an old friend, an officer from the Ukrainian SS Galicia Division, who was arrested in 1946. <ref>http://www.history.neu.edu/fac/burds/Gender.pdf </ref>
Information of OUN(B)/UPA SB terror and atrocities hard to find in post-war Ukrainian Diaspora publication,- only traces of them and only in publications by opposed to OUN(B) OUN wings (Melnik, UNR). However many persons of involved in mass and brutal civil population extermination still listed as “fallen heroes for Ukrainian liberation” at nationalistic publications.


==UPA's History== ==UPA's History==
===Background===
Strategy of beginning of warfare was adopted at 3-d Conference of OUN which was held near Lviv 17-21 Febuary 1943. According to visions of D.Klyachkivskyy and R.Shukhevych, the main threat were Soviet partisans and Poles while actions against German should be conducted in form of “self defense for people”.
====1941====


Initially military formation of OUN under Bandera lead was called "military detachment of OUN (SD)". Initial talks at February and April 1943 on cooperation with already existed UPA under Bulba-Borovets more oriented to UNR <ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapt 2.</ref> has no success because he not accept exclusive Bandera power and proposed plans for actions (against Poles). However since April 1943 as official name for OUN-SD by decree D.Klyachkivskyy of was adopted UPA <ref> http://warhistory.ukrlife.org/5_6_02_3.htm </ref>, a name more known and popular among Ukrainians. In a Memorandum from August, 14 1941 OUN (B) proposed to the Germans, to create a Ukrainian Army “which will join the German army until the latter will win”, in exchange for German recognition of an allied Ukrainian independent 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> The Ukrainian Army was planned to have been formed on the basis of DUN (Detachments of Ukrainian nationalists - ''Druzhyny Ukrainskykh Natsinalistiv'') and specifically on the basis of the “Ukrainian legion”, at that time composed of two battalions (kurins) “]” and “].” At this time these two battalions were included in the Abwehr special regiment “Brandenburg-800”. However, such propositions were not adopted by the Germans, and by the middle of September 1941 the Germans began a repression campaign against the most proactive OUN members.


According to OUN under Bandera orders - OUN (B) members who had joined in 1941-42 the German auxiliary police, deserted with their weapons to join the units of UPA at Volhynia. Their number was estimated from 4 to 5 thousands <ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army </ref>. During the first OUN Conference which held at the beginning of October 1941, the OUN formulated its strategy for the future. It called on moving some part of its organizational structure to underground, avoiding conflicts with Germans and refraining from 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> At the same time, in some areas the OUN tried to infiltrate its own members into and create its own network within the German ].


A captured German document of November 25, 1941 (] O14-USSR) ordered: "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>http://www.infoukes.com/history/ww2/page-08.html</ref> By the end of November 1941, the remains of the “Ukrainian Legion” (approximately 650 persons) signed a contract for military service with the Germans and transferred to Germany for military training for further usage at Eastern Front. At the same time (end of November 1941) the Germans started a second wave of repression in ] specially targetting OUN (B) members. However, most of the captured OUN activists in ] belonged to OUN (M) wing.
No later then 20 of March UPA submit an order “to form Ukrainian national army from policeman, Cossacks and local Ukrainians oriented for OUN(B) and UNR”. Such formation in large extent include a forcible acquire of other then Bandera groups of Ukrainian nationalist.


====1942====
May, 1943 General Command (Головна команда,ГК, військова Влада) of UPA started) their work under command of Klyachkivskiy.
In June 1943 established military gendarmerie service of UPA – UPA-SB.


In April 1942 at the Second OUN(B) conference, the policies of “creation, build-up and development of own political and future military forces”, “action against own partisan activity inflicted by Moscow” were adopted. The primary enemy to fight against were the Soviet partisans. German policy was criticized, but no more.<ref>Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 2 P.95-97.</ref>
In July 1943 in ] begins formation of first UNS (Ukrainian National Self-defense) detachment which should oppose to Soviet Partisans, by end of 1943 – beginning of 1944 UNS transformed into UPA units.
At Third Great Extraordinary Meeting of OUN in August 1943 was adopted a “two front warfare – against German Imperialism and Moscow Bolshevizm”, while last was mentioned as major threat.


During service from May till October 1942 the “Ukrainian Legion” in which Shukhevych was deputy commander lost 49 killed and 40 wounded (all of them in 5 clashes with soviet partisans) while claiming more than 2000 killed Soviet partisans.
By August, 18 1943 decree Klyachkivskiy disband ] and some of their remains forcibly absorbed by UPA, some commanders were killed.


In July 1942 OUN (B) issued a statement in which the main enemy mentioned was “Moscow”, while the Germans was ephemerally criticized for their policy concerning the Ukrainian independent state. Unil December 1942, OUN(B)'s principal activity was propaganda and the development of its own underground network, while any current actions against the Germans were described as undesirable and provocative.
In November 1943 adopted new structure of UPA - created Main Military Headquarter and three area (group} commands UPA-West (based on UNS), UPA-North and UPA-South. Tactical units were: brigades, kurins (]), sotnya (companies), choty (]s) and royi (]). There exist three military schools for low-level command staff. Also established a system of military honors – Cross of different grade.


In the beginning of December 1942 near Lviv the “Military conference of OUN(B)” was held. It resulted in the adoption of a speed-up of the build-up process for the creation of Military forces of OUN(B). The Conference Statement underlined what “all combat capable population must stand straight under OUN banners for fight against dreadful bolsheviks enemy”.
From January –March 1944 UPA in many areas started cooperation with Wehrmacht. In March OUN/UPA representatives negotiated with SS and SD officials. Not later than beginning of May, 1944 OUN submitted instructions to "switch the struggle, which was conducted against Germans, completely into a struggle against the Soviets."


====1943====
In July 1944 UPA and OUN established Ukrainian General Liberation Council (Українська головна визвольна рада – УГВР). First meeting of UGLC conducted 11-14 of July 1944.


* Jan: From beginning of December 1942 till beginning of January 1943 Germans relocated to ] disbanded “Ukrainian Legion” which used as battalion in 201 Wehrmacht Guard (Defense) Division at Belarus against ] .
After 5-6 February 1945 meeting of OUN/UPA High command staff was been adopted a new strategy: a) “clearing of UPA” from weak elements, through demobilization, liquidate kurins (battalions) and sotnya’s (companies) and act predominantly by choty’s (]s). Main units of UPA should be relocated to more calm territories of Poland, Belarus and east Ukraine.


In February 1945 created 5 General Areas (generalni Okrugy), each of it consist of 3 military areas (VO- viyskovi okrugy). During spring-summer 1945 reorganization of OUN/UPA continued –gendarmerie and military intelligence were liquidated; military areas was transformed into “UPA-groups”. etc.<ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army </ref> * Apr: Later most of the “Ukrainian Legion” joined the UPA or Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (galizische Nr.1) at spring 1943.<ref>Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 1,2,3 </ref>


In August 1945 UPA units transferred under command of regional centers of OUN. <ref> http://warhistory.ukrlife.org/5_6_02_4.htm </ref> <ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army </ref>

During Great Blockade by MVD troops from January 11 till April 10 1946 UPA in Carpathian region suffered main losses and from this time end it existence as combat unit.” <ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army </ref>

At spring 1946 OUN/UPA established contacts with Intelligence services of France, Great Britain and USA. <ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army </ref>

May 30, 1947 R.Shukhevych issued instructions joining the OUN and UPA in underground warfare.

On May 30, 1947 the Main Ukrainian Liberation Council (Головна Визвольна Рада) adopted the date of October 14, 1942 as the official day for celebrating UPA's creation.

September 3, 1949 R.Shukhevych issued an order, According with the decision of UGLC, about liquidation of UPA units and headquarters as combat and managing structures. All their personnel should be joining the OUN (B) undergrounds. <ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army </ref>


===UPA's warfare against Germany=== ===UPA's warfare against Germany===


Despite the stated opinions of D.Klyachkivskyy and ] that the Germans were a secondary threat compared to the main enemies, the Soviet partisans and Poles, the Third Conference of ] which was held near Lviv 17-21 February 1943, adopted the decision to begin open warfare against the Germans,<ref> p.164 </ref> although OUN fighters had already attacked a German garrison on February 7th of that year.<ref> p.181 </ref> Accordingly, the OUN (B) leadership issued secret instructions ordering their members who had infiltrated the German auxiliary police in 1941-1942 to desert with their weapons to join the units of UPA at Volhynia. This process often involved engaging in armed conflict with German forces trying to prevent them from doing so. The number of well-trained and well-armed policemen deserting into the ranks of UPA was estimated as being between 4 to 5 thousand.<ref> p.165 </ref> Initially, the military formation of the OUN under Bandera's leadership was called "military detachment of OUN (SD)" but after April 1943 UPA, a name more well-known and popular among Ukrainians, was adopted as the official name . On May 30, 1947<ref> in Націоналістичний портал {{uk icon}}</ref> the Main Ukrainian Liberation Council (Головна Визвольна Рада) adopted the date of ], ] as the official day for celebrating UPA's creation.
Under German occupation, since spring 1943, the UPA conducted hundreds of raids on German police stations and military convoys.
By late 1943 and early 1944, the UPA controlled much of the territory of ], outside of the major cities, and was able to organize basic services for the villagers such as schools, hospitals, and the printing of newspapers. Under German occupation, the UPA conducted hundreds of raids on German police stations and military convoys. In the region of ] (which was taken from the Nazi by the Red Army in November 1943-January 1944, with groups of ]s moving there by February-March 1943<!-- link does not work: -->), the 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 | pages = (page # missing)}}</ref> The UPA were able to send small groups of ]ers deep into eastern Ukraine.


As a rule the UPA did not attack units of the Wehrmacht, knowing that they were fighting against Russian Communism. Likewise, the frontline forces of the German army did not take any part in manhunts and operation against the UPA, sometimes even refusing to assist the German security and police forces against UPA.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.232 </ref> Indeed, according to German General Ernst Kostring, responsible for non-German units in Wehrmacht, 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 or 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, pg. 58. </ref> As a rule the UPA did not attack units of the Wehrmacht, knowing that they were fighting against Russian Communism. Likewise, the frontline forces of the German army did not take any part in manhunts and operation against the UPA, sometimes even refusing to assist the German security and police forces against UPA.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.232 </ref> Indeed, according to German Eastern Front General Ernst Kostring, 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 or 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, pg. 58. </ref>


According to the OUN/UPA, on May 12, 1943 Germans attacked the town of Kolki using several ] (SS units operated alongside the Nazi Army who were responsible for intelligence, central security, policing action, and the mass extermination), but the Germans as well as insurgents suffered heavy losses.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.58-59</ref> Although there were no SS-divisions mentioned at this time in the identified areas according to mainstream historians,<ref> Wegner, B. (1990). The Waffen-SS. Padstow: TJ Press.</ref>,<ref> Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004a). The Waffen-SS (2): 6 to 10 Divisions. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. </ref><ref> Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004b). The Waffen-SS (3): 11 to 23 Divisions. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. </ref> Soviet partisans reported about the reinforcement of German auxiliary forces at Kolki for the end of April until mid 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 p, 384 p.391</ref> According to the OUN/UPA, on May 12, 1943 Germans attacked the town of Kolki using several ] (SS units operated alongside the Nazi Army who were responsible for intelligence, central security, policing action, and the mass extermination), but the Germans as well as insurgents suffered heavy losses.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.58-59</ref> Although there were no SS-divisions mentioned at this time in the identified areas according to mainstream historians,<ref> Wegner, B. (1990). The Waffen-SS. Padstow: TJ Press.</ref>,<ref> Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004a). The Waffen-SS (2): 6 to 10 Divisions. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. </ref><ref> Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004b). The Waffen-SS (3): 11 to 23 Divisions. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. </ref> Soviet partisans reported about the reinforcement of German auxiliary forces at Kolki for the end of April until mid 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 p, 384 p.391</ref>


In June 1943 German SS and police forces under the command of ], seen as an expert in fighting against guerrillas, attempted to destroy UPA-North in Volyn during Operation "BB" (''Bandenbekampfung''). He was chosen specifically by Himmler to destroy the UPA in this operation.<ref name=Anderson>James K. Anderson, Unknown Soldiers of an Unknown Army, ''Army'' Magazine, May 1968, p. 63 </ref> In June 1943 German SS and police forces under the command of ], seen as an expert in fighting against guerrillas, attempted to destroy UPA-North in Volyn during Operation "BB" (''Bandenbekampfung''). He was chosen specifically by Himmler to destroy the UPA in this operation.<ref name=Anderson>James K. Anderson, Unknown Soldiers of an Unknown Army, ''Army'' Magazine, May 1968, p. 63 </ref> <!-- However ], accordingly to German data, was responsible for Central Russia (present ] territory) and never for Ukraine. Find academic reference please -->

However ], According to German data since spring 1943, was responsible for overall command of anti-partisan’s actions at controlled by Germans territory and especially he involved in actions in Central Russia (present ] territory) and never for Ukraine. Such data also confirmed by him during interrogation at ] <ref> IMT materials Vol.7</ref> <ref>Höhne, Heinz The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS. (Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf: Die Geschichte der SS). First published in 1967</ref>


According to the UPA/OUN, the initial stage of “BB” (Bandenbekempfung) operation under the command of Sturbahnfuehrer SS General Platle and later under General Hintzler against the UPA produced no results whatsoever. This catastrophic development was the subject of several discussions by Himmler's staff that resulted in the sending to Ukraine of ], responsible only to Hitler himself.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 p.238-239 </ref> According to the UPA/OUN, the initial stage of “BB” (Bandenbekempfung) operation under the command of Sturbahnfuehrer SS General Platle and later under General Hintzler against the UPA produced no results whatsoever. This catastrophic development was the subject of several discussions by Himmler's staff that resulted in the sending to Ukraine of ], responsible only to Hitler himself.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 p.238-239 </ref>


However “General Platle” “General Hintzler” does not mentioned amongst high command staff of the SS . <ref> IMT official text Vol.XXX </ref> <ref> Höhne, Heinz The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS. (Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf: Die Geschichte der SS). First published in 1967. </ref> <!-- However “General Platle” “General Hintzler” does not mentioned amongst high command staff of the SS .-->


According to UPA/OUN(B) estimates, during Operation "BB" Bach-Zalewski had under his disposal 10 battalions of motorized SS troops with heavy weapons and artillery, 10,000 German and Polish police, 2 regiments of the Hungarian army, and three battalions of ] organized from among Soviet POWs and 50 tanks, 27 planes and 5 armoured trains.<ref name="Krohmaliuk242">{{cite book| author=Krokhmaluk, Y. | title=UPA Warfare in Ukraine| location= New York | publisher= Vantage Press | year = 1973| pages = p. 242}}</ref> Another UPA estimate assessed the situation during Operation "BB" as follows: Germans send military division which formed from SS regiment, 2 Hungarian regiments, Cossacks regiment and unit of German gendarmes. Their losses from UPA was – 193 persons.<ref> P.Mirchuk “Ukrainian Insurgent Army 1942-1952” –Munich; 1953 p.41-42 </ref> By August, the operation proved to be a military failure.On August 19-20, the UPA captured the military center of Kamin Koshyrsky, <!-- defeating several German battalions and--> capturing large quantities of arms and ammunition.<ref name="Krohmaliuk">{{cite book| author=Krokhmaluk, Y. | title=UPA Warfare in Ukraine| location= New York | publisher= Vantage Press | year = 1973| pages = (page 242)}}</ref>As a result of the complete failure of the operations General von dem Bach-Zalewski recalled from his command.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 p.140-142 </ref> According to UPA/OUN(B) estimates, during Operation "BB" Bach-Zalewski had under his disposal 10 battalions of motorized SS troops with heavy weapons and artillery, 10,000 German and Polish police, 2 regiments of the Hungarian army, and three battalions of ] organized from among Soviet POWs and 50 tanks, 27 planes and 5 armoured trains.<ref name="Krohmaliuk242">{{cite book| author=Krokhmaluk, Y. | title=UPA Warfare in Ukraine| location= New York | publisher= Vantage Press | year = 1973| pages = p. 242}}</ref> Another UPA estimate assessed the situation during Operation "BB" as follows: Germans send military division which formed from SS regiment, 2 Hungarian regiments, Cossacks regiment and unit of German gendarmes. Their losses from UPA was – 193 persons.<ref> P.Mirchuk “Ukrainian Insurgent Army 1942-1952” –Munich; 1953 p.41-42 </ref> By August, the operation proved to be a military failure.On August 19-20, the UPA captured the military center of Kamin Koshyrsky, <!-- defeating several German battalions and--> capturing large quantities of arms and ammunition.<ref name="Krohmaliuk">{{cite book| author=Krokhmaluk, Y. | title=UPA Warfare in Ukraine| location= New York | publisher= Vantage Press | year = 1973| pages = (page 242)}}</ref>As a result of the complete failure of the operations General von dem Bach-Zalewski recalled from his command.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 p.140-142 </ref>


However , the “Bandenbekempfung” operations were not conducted exclusively against UPA <ref> Blood, Philip W.Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe Potomac Books Inc.ISBN: 159797157X</ref>. In August 1942, Hitler directed all German state institutions to assist Heinrich Himmler, the chief of the SS and the German police, in eradicating armed resistance in the newly occupied territories of Eastern Europe and Russia. The directive for "combating banditry" (Bandenbekampfung) became the third component of the Nazi regime's three-part strategy for German national security, with genocide (Endlosung der Judenfrage, or "the Final Solution of the Jewish Question") and slave labor (Erfassung, or "Registration of Persons to Hard Labor") being the better-known others. <!--Also, the “BB” operation were not conducted only against UPA <ref> Blood, Philip W.Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe Potomac Books Inc.ISBN: 159797157X</ref>. In August 1942, Hitler directed all German state institutions to assist Heinrich Himmler, the chief of the SS and the German police, in eradicating armed resistance in the newly occupied territories of Eastern Europe and Russia. The directive for "combating banditry" (Bandenbekampfung) became the third component of the Nazi regime's three-part strategy for German national security, with genocide (Endlosung der Judenfrage, or "the Final Solution of the Jewish Question") and slave labor (Erfassung, or "Registration of Persons to Hard Labor") being the better-known others. This is of questionable relevance to this article. Whether BB was limited to UPA or not doesn't matter, and doesn't deserve an entire paragraph. Let's stick to the article's subject, which is UPA. -->

According to post war OUN/UPA estimates, General Prutzmann, von dem Bach-Zalewski's successor as commander of the "BB" did not introduce any new methods in combating the UPA. The UPA-North 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 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 p.242-243 </ref>

According to post-war estimates, the UPA had the following number of clashes with the Germans in mid to late 1943: in July, 35; in August, 24; in September, 15; October-November, 47. "<ref name=""Muk> Ukrainian Institute of Military History, </ref> During the summer of 1943, according to post-war estimates, the Germans lost over 3,000 men killed or wounded while the UPA lost 1237 killed or wounded.<ref name="UPA14_p186"> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 186</ref><ref> {{cite book | author = L. Shankovskyy | title = History of Ukrainian Army (Історія українського війська) | location = Winnipeg | year = 1953 | pages = p.32 }} </ref> Ultimately the German forces failed to destroy the UPA or to establish control over the Volyn countryside.

According to post-war OUN(B)/UPA publication 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 one engagement, Ukrainian insurgents numbering about 600 men (including numbers of Ukrainian self-defense force), invoked the panic and retreat of 2 German divisions which initially took up positions in the villages of Maidan, Posich and Zaviy on November 27, 1943. As the result of this operation the Ukrainian insurgents captured a great quantity of arms and ammunition at the cost only 4 dead and 11 wounded.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.67 </ref>
However German sourced does not mentioned such battles. <ref> V. Kosyk “Ukraine and Germany in WWII” 1993) </ref> Also Erich Koch in his November 1943 report and New Year 1944 speech mentioned what “nationalistic bands in forests does not have any major threat” for Germans <ref name=""UPA14_p190> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, </ref>.

Same information mentioned in top secret report as of January 21 1944 from famous soviet partisan commander General-Major Feodorov: “while acting from July 1943 till January 1944 in Volynskaya and Rovenskaya regions we did have any facts, were Ukrainian nationalists, excluding numerous brave reports in own press, conduct any action against German occupants” <ref> Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 pp.425-431 </ref>
According to the UPA/OUN post-war claim, in July 1944, two more attempts by the Germans to capture the Carpathian mountain passes were repulsed. Near the villages of Kamyanka and Lypa, 3 insurgent battalions repulsed the incursions of 2 German SS divisions, totaling 30,000 soldiers (7-9 July), and on the 12th of July Germans reinforced them with a 3rd division. These Divisions were alternatively described as SS and as police Divisions by UPA/OUN sources, Avoiding direct confrontation, the UPA battalions inflicted a high number of casualties through sniping, ambushes, and attacks from the flanks and rear while abandoning their fixed positions. On 14-16 of July all of the German Divisions retreated with the loss over 600 dead. The insurgents suffered only a dozen casualties.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.69-73 </ref>
Although according to German data and mainstream historians there were no SS divisions at this time in the mentioned area.<ref> Wegner, B. (1990). The Waffen-SS. Padstow: TJ Press. </ref>.<ref> Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004a). The Waffen-SS (2): 6 to 10 Divisions. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.</ref><ref> Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004b). The Waffen-SS (3): 11 to 23 Divisions.
Oxford: Osprey Publishing. </ref><ref> Tieke, W. (1999). In the Firestorm of the Last Years of the War: II SS-Panzerkorps
with the 9 and 10 SS-Divisions "Hohenstaufen" and Frundsberg". Winnipeg: JJ Fedorowicz Publishing </ref>
<!-- In November 1943, UPA battle groups "Black Forest" and "Makivka" defeated 12 German ]s supported by the ]. -->
In May 1944 the OUN submitted instructions to "switch the struggle, which was conducted against Germans, completely into a struggle against the Soviets."<ref name=""UPA14> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, </ref>.

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| pages = 111 }}</ref>

<!-- On ], ], 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| pages = (page # missing)}}</ref> -->
While in general OUN and UPA actions on anti-German front do not play an important role in liberation of Ukrainian territory from Germans occupants.
, p. 199</ref>
At same time, despite post war OUN/UPA claims (1947), they unable to prevent German deportation for slave works 500,000 of Ukrainians from west regions of Ukraine, nor “Ukrainian peoples looting” by Germans since OUN/UPA does not control German road and especially railways communication network. , p. 180</ref>


===UPA's cooperation with Germany===
OUN under Bandera actively cooperate and acted in favors of Germans military and intelligence authorities before and few months after German invasion to Soviet Union in 1941 , p. 15-47</ref>

In autumn 1943 some detachments of UPA in many areas begins to find a reconciliation with Germans and despite what such actions was condemned by OUN/UPA order from November 25, 1943 such actions were not halted <ref></ref>
In order to fight the mutual Soviet enemy in early January-February 1944, UPA forces in some regions engaged in cooperation with the German Wehrmacht (as for instance with 4-th Tanks Army) . <ref></ref> <!--<ref>Yaroslav Hrytsak, "History of Ukraine 1772-1999"</ref>--> In March UPA detachments concluded a deal with Germans SD and SS in selected regions. In March-July senior leader of OUN(B) in Galicia conducted negotiations with SD and SS officials, which has as a result German decision to supply UPA with arms and ammunitions. However, in the winter and spring of 1944 it would be incorrect to state that there was a complete cessation of armed conflict between UPA and Nazi forces because UPA continued to defend Ukrainian villages against repressive actions of the German administration.<ref></ref> For example, According to OUN/UPA data, on January 20th, 200 German soldiers on their way to the Ukrainian village of Pyrohivka were forced to retreat after a several-hours long firefight with a group of 80 UPA soldiers after having lost 30 killed and wounded.<ref name=""UPA14> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, </ref>.
While, at German document dated March 13, 1944 mentioned “Bandera group preserve full loyalty to all German interests”
In a top secret memorandum, General-Major Brigadefuhrer Brenner wrote in mid-1944 to SS- Obergruppenfuhrer General Hans Prutzmann, 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 enemy-occupied territory, and the results of the intelligence are communicated to Department 1c of the Army Group” on the southern Front.<ref>http://www.history.neu.edu/fac/burds/Gender.pdf </ref> By the autumn of 1944, the German press was full of praise for 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> Germans released all OUN commands including S.Bandera and Y. Stetsko.


===UPA and the destruction of Western Ukraine's Polish community===
{{more|Wartime Massacres of Poles in Volhynia}}

The UPA was active in the ] of Poles from areas that it regarded as indigenously Ukrainian. The methods used included ] and mass-murder of Polish civilians. ] began on a large scale in February-March 1943 in Volhynia region and since autumn 1943 spread over the Galicia and other territories of ]. <ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, </ref> Soviet partisans in the ] region reported that mass terror committed by “nationalists” against the Polish population started in April 1943<ref> Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 p.391</ref>). According to the vision of the Polish historians decision about “cleaning of Volhynia from Polish element” was adopted at February 1943 at Third Conference of OUN(B), however According to the vision of some modern Ukrainian historians it was happened by the sole order of Klym Savur (D.Klyachkivskyy) and must be adopted at least on regional level of OUN (B).<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, </ref> Professor Władysław Filar from Polish ], an eyewitness to the massacres, claims that it is impossible to establish whether these events were ever planned. Although in August 1943 UPA placed notices in every Polish village stating ''"in 48 hours leave beyond the ] or the Sian river - otherwise Death"''<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, </ref> no known documents exist proving that UPA-OUN made a decision to exterminate Poles in Volhynia.<ref name="FILAR"> </ref> In addition to UPA, Ukrainian peasants also participated in the violence <ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, </ref>, and large groups of armed "bandit" marauders unaffiliated with UPA brutalized civilians. <!-- serving as a useful propaganda tool for the Soviets .<ref> </ref> 1943 event and 1944-48 book--> so the exact number of Poles killed specifically by UPA is unknown. Brutal methods such as beheadings, disemboweling, and killing with knives and axes were employed against Polish villagers. OUN(B) war-time (1943-44) claims as a reasons for anti-polish actions mentioned the AK action against Ukrainians which worked in German Occupancy Administration at end of 1942. Later OUN(B) blamed Poles for cooperation with Germans and Soviet Partisans and since the approaching of Soviet Army – with such. In anti-polish actions since autumn 1943 in Galicia UPA conducted cooperative actions with detachments of regiments of Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (galizische Nr.1) ).<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, </ref>. The estimates of the number of Poles murdered in Ukraine range from 100,000 to 500,000;{{dubious}}<ref name="DAVIES"> Norman Davies. (1996). ''Europe: a History''. Oxford: Oxford University Press </ref> many more Poles left the area because of the UPA actions.

The post war claims what UPA's activities can be seen as a reaction to past ] of the inter-war Polish government, such as shutting down Ukrainian schools and churches or encouraging Polish settlement in the regions considered by OUN to be "ethnically Ukrainian". However, UPA also killed ethnic Ukrainians, those who did not cooperate with them, as well as those Ukrainians who had Polish wives. That statement was dismissed by recent conclusion by Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, work were main reason of such action given as both party chauvinism. ).<ref name> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, </ref>

The UPA actions resulted in similar reaction of the Polish ] and the extremely brutal conflict escalated out of control with many thousand of civilians being murdered by both Ukrainian and Polish forces.<ref name="Subtelny475">Subtelny, p. 475</ref><ref> Speaking of the escalation in violence, a former soldier in a Polish nationalist partisan unit stated "The ethnic Ukrainians responded by wiping out an entire Polish colony, setting fire to the houses, killing those inhabitants unable to flee and raping the women who fell into their hands, no matter how old or how young...we retaliated by attacking an even bigger Ukrainian village and... killed women and children. Some of our men were so filled with hatred after losing whole generations of their family in the Ukrainian attacks that they swore they would take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth...This was how the fighting escalated. Each time more people were killed, more houses burnt, more women raped." Taken from the chapter Ethnicity, Memory, and Violence: Reflections on Special Problems in Soviet and East European Archives, by Jeffrey Burds, 2005, in ''Archives, Documentation, and the Institutions of Social Memory: Essays from the Sawyer Seminar'', Francis X. BLouin and William G. Rosenberg, eds. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.</ref> Estimates of the death tolls from the retaliatory actions of the Polish ] forces include 2 thousand Ukrainian civilians.<ref>J. Turowski, ''Pożoga. Walki 27 Wołyńskiej dywizji AK'', Warszawa 1990, p. 513</ref>, as little as eight hundred,<ref>W.Siemaszko, E.Siemaszko, ''Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów Ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939-1945, Warszawa 2000</ref> or as high as 20 thousand in ] alone.<ref name="RFE"> , Jan Maksymiuk, RFE/RL, May 12, 2006 </ref>

===UPA's war with Soviets===

UPA's struggle against Soviet forces began when they encountered ] 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 his men were ethnic Ukrainians),<ref name="Subtelny476">Subtelny, p. 476</ref> launched a raid deep into the ]. According to the some of post-war claims, attacks by the German air force and military forced Kovpak to break up his force into smaller units, which were then mostly destroyed by UPA in the Carpathian mountains.<ref name="Krohmaliuk">{{cite book| author=Krokhmaluk, Y. | title=UPA Warfare in Ukraine| location= New York | publisher= Vantage Press | year = 1973| pages =}}</ref>. In 1944, famous 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 Jan. 2006. on 18 December 2007.</ref> According to some sources claims the total number of Soviet partisans in Ukraine is estimated anywhere from 47,800 to 500,000, only 46% of whom were ] Ukrainians.<ref name="Subtelny476"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\S\O\SovietpartisansinUkraine1941hD75.htm |title=Soviet partisans in Ukraine, 1941–5. |accessdate=2007-12-20 |work=Encyclopedia of Ukraine }}</ref>

However, According to own ] remembrance and recently opened soviet archival sources (which subsidized by Germans archives) ] established himself in Ukraine immediately after German occupation of north-east territories of Ukraine (Sumy and Chernigivska regions) in late 1941. Under his command in his famous June-September 1943 raid to ] were 1600-2500 partisans. Most of losses inflicted by air-attack and actions of Mountain regiments of SS and Hungarian army; 226 KIA, 200 MIA and more then 350 wounded partisans mentioned ] in his remembrances. <ref> S.Kovpak “From Putivl to Carpathian pre 1970 editions” </ref> . As regards to soviet official Soviet data for partisans in Ukrainian SSR mentioned approximately 50 thousand as of 1 of January 1944 and roughly twice less as of 1 of January 1943 <ref> History of WWII Vol.7 page 301-305, Vol.8 page 156-160 </ref>

UPA began fighting Soviet military units when they appeared on its territory as the Soviet Army advanced into western Ukraine. According post war OUN/UPA claims, 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.

While soviet archival data reflect the UPA attacks on small units and groups of Soviet Army soldiers, commonly ended with brutal killing (burning alive, cutting noses and ears etc) of captured and wounded. Also UPA acted against mobilization of able-bodied man into Soviet Army through propagandistic extermination of whole families of man who joined Soviet Army to fight with Nazi. First significant sabotage operations against communications of Soviet Army before their offensive against Germans and Allies UPA-South conducted in April-May 1944. However such actions was promptly solved by Soviet Army and NKVD troops. After initial defeat OUN/UPA submitted an order “to halt all activities, no clashes with forces, preserve old and training the new personnel, prepare to act against soviet in the future.” New large scale actions of UPA, especially in Ternopilska region, lunched in July-August 1944, when Soviet Army advanced to West, while remain only few battalions in UPA activities areas <ref> Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 pp.549-570</ref>

According to post-war claim, UPA focused its energy on ] units and Soviet officials of all levels, from high rank NKVD and military officers to the school teachers and postal workers attempting to establish Soviet control over western Ukraine after the front line had passed.<ref name="Krohmaliuk">{{cite book| author=Krokhmaluk, Y. | title=UPA Warfare in Ukraine| location= New York | publisher= Vantage Press | year = 1973| pages =}}</ref> UPA also disrupted Soviet efforts at ]. While Soviet archival data for 1944 reported about NKVD-NKGB losses: 221 KIA, 61 MIA and 121 wounded; at same time losses amongst civilians due the UPA actions: 2857 murdered and hanged, 866 missed and 414 wounded. <ref> Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 p.605 </ref>

In March 1944, UPA insurgents mortally wounded ], the famous commander of the ], who led the liberation of ].<ref name="Grenkevich,">{{cite book| author=Grenkevich, L., translated by David Glantz. | title=The Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941-1944: Critical analysis of | publisher= Routledge | year = 1999 | pages = 134}}</ref> According to OUN/UPA claims, several weeks later an NKVD battalion was annihilated by UPA near ], beginning the full-scale struggle in the spring and summer of 1944, involving 30,000 Soviet troops against UPA in Volyn. However Soviet sources for same place and date mentioned Soviet Army communication battalion (women and non fully combat able men) suffered a heavy losses due the “nationalists band” unexpected attack <ref> http://warhistory.ukrlife.org/5_6_02_3.htm </ref>. Estimates of casualties vary depending on the source. In a letter to the state defense committee of the USSR, ] stated that 21-27 of April 1944 in 26 clashes between Soviet forces and UPA resulted in 2018 killed and 1570 captured UPA fighters and 11 Soviet killed and 46 wounded. At same time, Soviet archives show that a captured UPA member, responsible for only on battle report compilation, stated that he received a reports about UPA losses of 200 fighters while their Soviet enemies lost 2,000.<ref name="UPA15_p213"> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 213-214</ref>, Despite heavy casualties on both sides, the struggle was inconclusive. <!--By the autumn of 1944, UPA forces enjoyed virtual freedom of movement over an area 160,000 kilometers in size and home to over 10 million people and had established a shadow government.<ref name="Zhukov"> [http://yurizhukov.com/doc/070900_Zhukov_UPA_Final.pdf Yuri Zhukov, "Examining the Authoritarian
Model of Counter-insurgency: The Soviet Campaign Against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army", ''Small Wars and Insurgencies'', v.18, no. 3, pp.439-466] </ref> Unreliable data – as for territory, as for population -->

According to post-war OUN/UPA claims, in November 1944, ] launched the first of several large-scale Soviet assaults on UPA throughout western Ukraine, involving according to OUN/UPA estimates at least 20 ] combat divisions supported by artillery and armored units. They blockaded villages and roads and set parts of the forests on fire.<ref name="Krohmaliuk">{{cite book| author=Krokhmaluk, Y. | title=UPA Warfare in Ukraine| location= New York | publisher= Vantage Press | year = 1973| pages =}}</ref> Soviet archival data states that on October 9, 1944 1 NKVD Division, eight NKVD brigades, and an NKVD cavalry regiment with the total number of 26, 304 NKVD soldiers stationed in Western Ukraine. In addition, 2 regiments with 1500 and 1200 persons, 1 battalion (517 persons) and three armored trains with 100 additional soldiers each, as well as 1 border guards regiment and 1 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 armored 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 P.478-482 </ref> During late 1944 and the first half of 1945, according to Soviet data, UPA suffered approximately 89,000 killed, approximately 91,000 captured, and approximately 39,000 surrendered while the Soviet forces lost approximately 12,000 "killed or hanged", 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 disappearance of 427 othersExact 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 “OUN –bandits” suffered the following casualties: 57,405 killed; 50,387 captured; 15,990 surrendered. During the period from January 1, 1945 until May 1,1945 the following casualties were reported: 31,157 killed; 40,760 captured; 23,156 surrendered. “OUN –bandits'” actions numbered 2,903 in 1944, and from January 1, 1945 until May 1, 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. <ref> 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> According to Toronto historian vision, despite the heavy losses, as late as summer ], many ] UPA units still continued to control and administer large areas of territory in western Ukraine.<ref name=Subtelny367>], '''', pp. 489, University of Toronto Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8020-8390-0</ref>
However in February 1945 UPA HQ order to liquidate kurins (battalions) and sotnya’s (companies) and act predominantly by choty’s (]s). ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army </ref>


During the Great Blockade by MVD troops from January 11 until April 10, 1946 UPA in the Carpathian region suffered very heavy losses and ceased to exist as a combat unit.<ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army </ref> Although the Soviets failed to wipe out UPA, the continuous heavy casualties forced UPA to split into small units consisting of 50-80 soldiers. After the huge winter 1945/46 operation by the NKVD, UPA/OUN fielded 479 units and had 3,735 fighters, according to an NKVD estimate from April 1, 1946. By January 1, 1947 MGB estimated OUN and UPA as having 530 fighting units with 4,456 fighters. For this reason, by 1946, UPA was reduced to a core group of 4-7 thousand fighters, and large-scale UPA activity shifted to the Soviet-Polish border. Here, in 1947, they allegedly killed the Polish Communist deputy defense minister General ]. In spring 1946, the OUN/UPA established contacts with the Intelligence services of France, Great Britain and the USA.<ref> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army </ref> Although the UPA obtained support from the CIA and British intelligence during the latter phase of its struggle, the operation was betrayed by ]. On May 30, 1947 Shukhevych issued instructions joining the OUN and UPA in underground warfare . Only in 1947-] was UPA resistance broken enough to allow the Soviets to implement large-scale ] throughout western Ukraine.<ref name="Zhukov">{{cite journal | first = Yuri | last = Zhukov | authorlink = Y. Zhukov | year = 2007| month = | title = Examining the Authoritarian Model of Counterinsurgency: The Soviet Campaign Against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army | journal = Small Wars and Insurgencies | volume = 18 | issue = 3 | pages = 439-466 | id = | url= http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a785924288~db=all~order=page }}</ref> On September 3, 1949 Shukhevych issued an order, liquidating UPA units and headquarters and integrating UPA's personnel in the OUN (B) underground.

UPA's leader, general ], was killed in an ambush near ] on March 5, ] after Shukhevich's assassination UPA rapidly lost its fighting capability. Although sporadic OUN/UPA underground actions continued until the mid 1950's but on very insignificant level. An assessment of OUN/UPA's manpower by Soviet authorities in April 17, 1952 indicated that UPA/OUN had only 84 fighting units consisting of 252 persons. UPA's last commander, Vasyl Kuk, was captured on May, 24 1954. Despite the existence of few insurgent groups and individuals, according to a report by the MGB of the Ukrainian SSR, the "liquidation of armed units and OUN underground was accomplished at the beginning of 1956". .

Prominent people killed by the UPA insurgents during the anti-Soviet struggle included Metropolitan Oleksiy (Hromadsky) of the ] and pro-Soviet writer ].

In 1951 CIA covert operations chief ] estimated that some 35,000 Soviet police troops and Communist party cadres had been eliminated by guerrillas connected with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army after the end of World War II.<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Simpson
| first = Christopher
| authorlink = ]
| authorlink = David Mumford
| title = - America's recruitment of Nazis, and its disastrous effect on our domestic and foreign policy
| publisher = ] / ]
| year = 1988
| pages = 148
| chapter = Guerrillas for World War III
| chapterurl = http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Fascism/Guerrillas_B_CS.html
| isbn = 978-0020449959 }}
</ref> 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.<ref>http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/24.pdf p.439</ref> Soviet archives state that between February 1944 and January 1946 the Soviet forces conducted 39,778 operations against 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> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, ''Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army'', Chapter 21, pp. 385-386 </ref> According to ] professor 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."<ref> John Armstrong, ''Ukrainian Nationalism'' New York: Columbia University Press, 1963 </ref>.

====Soviet Counterinsurgency Tactics and UPA's Response ====
{{POV}}
The Soviets were ultimately successful in subduing UPA. They used multiple methods to defeat UPA. ]<ref name="Wilson">{{cite book| author=Wilson, A. | title=Virtual Politics: Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World| location= New Haven | publisher= Yale University Press | year = 2005 | pages = 15}}</ref> and committed atrocities in order to demoralize the ] population.<ref> </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 P 460-464, 470-477</ref> According to Toronto historians visions areas of UPA activity were depopulated, while According to Soviet archival data from 1944 till January, 1 1949 were deported 115,820 “supporters of bandits” <ref> Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 p 685</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> </ref> Those arrested typically experienced beatings or other violence. Those suspected of being UPA members underwent extensive torture; some prisoners were burned alive. The many arrested women believed to be affiliating with UPA were subjected to months of torture, deprivation, and rape at the hands of Soviet security in order to "break" them reveal UPA members' identities and locations or to turn them into Soviet double-agents. Mutilated corpses of captured rebels were frequently put on public display.

UPA responded to the Soviet terror by unleashing their own terror against Soviet activists, suspected collaborators and their families. In a typical incident in 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 about such acts UPA stopped killing the families of those it deemed collaborators by mid 1945. Other victims of UPA included Soviet civilian activists sent to Galicia from other parts of the Soviet Union, who were often forced to recite anti-Stalinist slogans before being brutally executed in public; heads of village Soviets, those sheltering or feeding Red Army personnel, and even people turning food in to collective farms. The effect of such terror was such that people refused to take posts as village heads, and until the late 1940's villages chose single men with no dependents as their leaders. When committing such acts, UPA fighters generally targeted specifically those people who were seen as cooperating with the Soviet authorities and were expressly forbidden from spreading terror to the general population. This contrasted with the Soviet practice of mass terror.<ref> </ref>

Particularly during the first years of Soviet occupation, UPA 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. However, NKVD reformed in spring 1946, so there no “December 1946 NKVD data” possible. In one ] in ] alone, from August 1944 until January 1945 Ukrainian rebels killed ten members of the Soviet activ and a secretary of the county Communist party, and kidnapped four other officials. 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> </ref>

Initially, in the first years of the struggle, the OUN was able to establish its own network of informants within the NKVD, compromising many anti-insurgency missions. In the first quarter of 1947, bandit and rebel activity in Western Ukraine increased by over 100 percent compared to the last quarter of 1946.

The turning point in the struggle against UPA did not come until 1947, when the Soviets were able to establish their own spy network within UPA and when they shifted their struggle from one of mass terror to one of infiltration and espionage. By 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 UPA had taken their toll on morale and on UPA's effectiveness. According to the writing on one slain Ukrainian rebel, "the Bolsheviks try to take us from within...you can nebver know directly in whose hands you will find yourself. From such a network of spies, thw work of whole teams is often penetrated..." In November 1948, the work of Soviet agents led to two important victories against UPA: the defeat and deaths of the heads of the most active UPA network in Western Ukraine, and the annhialiation of "Myron", the head of the UPA's counterintelligence SB unit. <ref> </ref>

In 2008, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has published information about the actions of special groups from the NKVD posing as fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in the western regions of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic during the 1944-1954 period. About 150 such special groups consisting of 1,800 people operated until 1954. <ref>http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/84498.html</ref>

===OUN/UPA's and Jews===
Despite that fact what by the time of UPA establishing at ] (spring-summer 1943) and ] (summer-winter 1943) almost all Jewish population of that areas were exterminated by Nazi’s there is a lack of consensus among historians about the involvement of UPA in the massacre of western Ukraine's Jews.
However should be noted the OUN (B) General Instruction adopted in 1941 “UPA Fights and activities during the war” stated “enemies to us are: moskali (Russians), Poles, Jews…” and thus them must be“… exterminated in fight, especially whom which protect regime: remove to their land, assassinate, predominantly intelligentsia… Jews assimilation is impossible.” , moreover, in minutes of OUN (B) July 1941 Conference of OUN (B) clear visible a plan for partially Jewish population extermination and “ghettoizetion”. Captured ] and ] reports till end of October 1941, which were presented at ] noted about active role especially of OUN (B) groups in “communists and Jewish extermination” at ] <ref> IMT Document 2693-PS, Vol. XXXVIII</ref>. Also ''Ukrainian Auxiliary Police'' and some Schutzmannschaftsbataillons in 1941-42 also consist significant number of OUN (B) proponents.
However, according to a report to the Chief of the Security Police in Berlin dated March 30, 1942, "...it has been clearly established that the Bandera movement provided forged passports not only for its own members, but also for Jews." Such fact also confirmed by few survivors from Lviv Ghetto – they noted what ''Ukrainian Auxiliary Police'' Guards of Ghetto sold faked documents for most richest Jewish families, and some of them able to escape from ghetto, but after some of them were looted and killed by Ukrainian Police, while some returned to ghetto and executed <ref> http://www.archives.gov.ua </ref>
Numerous accounts ascribe to UPA a role in the tragic fate of the Ukrainian Jews under the German occupation.<ref name=EncHol>''Ukrainian Insurgent Army'' in the '']'', Israel Gutman, editor-in-chief. New York: Macmillan, 1990. 4 volumes. ISBN 0-02-896090-4.</ref><ref name=Piotr>], ''Ukrainian Collaboration'' in ''Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918–1947'' pp. 220–59, McFarland & Company, 1998, ISBN 0-7864-0371-3</ref> However some historians (especially from Canadian Ukrainian Diaspora) , do not support the claims that UPA was involved in anti-Jewish massacres.<ref name=Subtelny367>], '''', University of Toronto Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8020-8390-0</ref><ref name="Himka">{{cite journal | first = John-Paul | last = Himka | authorlink = John-Paul Himka | year = | month = | title = War Criminality: A Blank Spot in the Collective Memory of the Ukrainian Diaspora | journal = Spaces of Identity | volume = 5 | issue = 1 | pages = 5-24 | id = | url= http://www.univie.ac.at/spacesofidentity/_Vol_5_1/_PDF/Himka.pdf }}</ref>

It has proven to be difficult to ascribe the particular numbers of Jews alleged to have been killed specifically by UPA. Ukrainians fought in many German military and paramilitary forces such as the ''Ukrainian Auxiliary Police'' , Schutzmannschaftsbataillons and military formation under ] and ] and ] command. However should be noted what on initial stage of UPA formation (late March – beginning of April 1943), it was absorbed from 4 to 6 thousands of ''Ukrainian Auxiliary Police'' as from ], as from ]. Also many high ranked UPA commanders (as also a ]) served in under German command in same areas (Ukraine, Belarus) and in a same time were ] actions taken place.

<!--The Second General Congress of OUN-B (April, 1941, ]) held when the ], the political force behind UPA, had been in alliance with Nazi Germany, declared that the ''"Jews of the USSR the most faithful supporters of the Bolshevik regime and the vanguard of the Muscovite imperialism in the Ukraine."'' Not long afterwards, a slogan put forth by the Bandera faction (recorded in the July 16, 1941 Einsatzgruppen report){{Fact|date=January 2008}} stated: ''"Long live Ukraine without Jews, Poles and Germans; Poles behind the river San, Germans to Berlin, and Jews to the gallows"'' {{Fact|date=December 2007}}. Referenced data included earlier -->According to Canadian Ukrainian historian, by the time of UPA's formation over a year later, the OUN was already at war against Germany and its stance towards national minorities had changed. By 1944, it formally "rejected racial and ethnic exclusivity"<ref name=Subtelny367>], '''', p. 474, University of Toronto Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8020-8390-0</ref>
However, amongst list of “friendly nations”, adopted on III Extraordinary meeting of OUN at August 1943, with which UPA planned to fight “Moscow imperialism” still there no Jews nor Poles nor Russians. Even more, in late 1944 in UPA commanders reports were used Nazi’s propaganda words construction - “Jew-Communist-Bolsheviks” <ref>http://www.history.neu.edu/fac/burds/Gender.pdf </ref>.

There were few cases of Jewish participation within the UPA. Most of such cases reveled in the pro-UPA articles or published by Wester Ukrainian Diaspora, but in same time reliability of such information widely criticized in Jewish community media <ref> http://www.jew.spb.ru/ami/A392/A392-041.html </ref> Jewish participation was particularly visible among its medical personnel. These included Dr. Margosh, who headed UPA-West's medical service, Dr. Marksymovich, who was the Chief Physician of the UPA's officer school, and Dr. Abraham Kum, the director of an underground hospital in the Carpathians. The latter individual was the recipient of UPA's Golden Cross of Merit. Isolated reports of the Jewish families being sheltered by UPA have also surfaced.<ref name= Friedman>{{cite journal | author=Friedman, P. | title=Ukrainian-Jewish Relations During the Nazi Occupation, ''YIVO Annual of Jewish Social Science'' v. 12, pp. 259–96, 1958–59}}</ref> One can conclude that the relationship between UPA and Ukraine's Jews was complex and not one-sided.

== Aftermath ==

During the period of Soviet regime at Ukraine before 1970, UPA was mentioned by Soviet officials and historians as “German-Ukrainian nationalist bands”, since 1970 word of “UPA” removed from usage and replaced with words “banderovtsy” or “Ukrainian nationalists”. Facts which were provided listed OUN/UPA as Nazi puppet organization with similar methods and ideology. 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.

] 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.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Some of the past soldiers of both organisations have met and asked for forgiveness for the past misdeeds.
Restoration of graves and cemeteries in Poland, where fallen UPA soldiers were placed have been agreed to by the Polish side.

In late 2006 the ] city administration announced the future transference of the tombs of ], ], ] and other key leaders of ]/UPA to a new area of ] specifically dedicated to Ukrainian nationalists.

In October of 2007, the city of Lviv erected, after many years of delays, a statue dedicated to the OUN and UPA leader Stepan Bandera. The appearance of the statue has engendered a far-reaching debate about the role of Stepan Bandera and UPA in Ukrainian History.

On January 10, 2008 Viktor Yushchenko, Presidents of Ukraine submitted a draft law "On the Official Status of Fighters for Ukraine’s Independence in 20s-90s of the 20th century". Under the draft, persons who took part in political, guerrilla, underground and combat activities for the freedom and independence of Ukraine from 1920 -1990 as part of the:
* Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO)
* Karpatska Sich
* OUN
* ''UPA''
* Ukrainian Main Liberation Army,
as well as persons who assisted these organizations shall be recognized as war veterans. <ref>http://zik.com.ua/en/news/2008/01/11/121551</ref>

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 Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in order to make public original sources. This will help to determine what is the "truth" and what is "fabrication". <ref>http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=57477</ref>

==See also==
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
==Footnotes==
==References==
{{reflist|2}}

== Books and Articles ==
* {{cite book | first = Orest | last = Subtelny | authorlink = Orest Subtelny | title = Ukraine: A History | location= Toronto | publisher= University of Toronto Press | year = 1988 | id= ISBN 0-8020-5808-6}}
* {{cite book | first = Norman | last = Davies | authorlink = Norman Davies | title = God's playground: a history of Poland: in two volumes, Vol. 2, Chapter 19 | location = Oxford, New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005| id= ISBN 0-19-925340-4}}
* {{pl icon}} {{cite book | first = Andrzej | last = Sowa | title = Stosunki polsko-ukraińskie 1939-1947 | location= Kraków | publisher= | year = 1998 | id= ISBN 83-909631-5-8}}
* {{pl icon}} {{cite book | first = Grzegorz | last = Motyka | title = Ukraińska partyzantka 1942-1960 | location= Warszawa | publisher= ISP PAN / RYTM | year = 2006 | isbn = 83-788373-163-8 }}
* {{uk icon}} (За матеріалами звіту робочої групи істориків Інституту історії НАН України під керівництвом проф. Станіслава Кульчицького)
*

==External links==
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General Prutzmann, von dem Bach-Zalewski's successor as commander of the "BB" did not introduce any new methods in combating the UPA. The UPA-North 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 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 p.242-243 </ref>
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According to post-war estimates, the UPA had the following number of clashes with the Germans in mid to late 1943 in Volyn: in July, 35; in August, 24; in September, 15; October-November, 47. "<ref name=""Muk> Ukrainian Institute of Military History, </ref> During the summer of 1943, according to post-war estimates, the Germans lost over 3,000 men killed or wounded while the UPA lost 1237 killed or wounded.<ref name="UPA14_p186"> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 186</ref><ref> {{cite book | author = L. Shankovskyy | title = History of Ukrainian Army (Історія українського війська) | location = Winnipeg | year = 1953 | pages = p.32 }} </ref> <!-- Ultimately the German forces failed to destroy the UPA or to establish control over the Volyn countryside. -->
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]
in July, 35; in August, 24; in September, 15; October-November, 47. "<ref name=""Muk> Ukrainian Institute of Military History, </ref> During the summer of 1943, according to post-war estimates, the Germans lost over 3,000 men killed or wounded while the UPA lost 1237 killed or wounded.<ref name="UPA14_p186"> Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, , p. 186</ref><ref> {{cite book | author = L. Shankovskyy | title = History of Ukrainian Army (Історія українського війська) | location = Winnipeg | year = 1953 | pages = p.32 }} </ref> <!-- Ultimately the German forces failed to destroy the UPA or to establish control over the Volyn countryside. -->


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 one engagement, Ukrainian insurgents numbering about 600 men (including numbers of Ukrainian self-defense force), invoked the panic and retreat of 2 German divisions which initially took up positions in the villages of Maidan, Posich and Zaviy on November 27, 1943. As the result of this operation the Ukrainian insurgents captured a great quantity of arms and ammunition at the cost only 4 dead and 11 wounded.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.67 </ref> 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 one engagement, Ukrainian insurgents numbering about 600 men (including numbers of Ukrainian self-defense force), invoked the panic and retreat of 2 German divisions which initially took up positions in the villages of Maidan, Posich and Zaviy on November 27, 1943. As the result of this operation the Ukrainian insurgents captured a great quantity of arms and ammunition at the cost only 4 dead and 11 wounded.<ref> Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.67 </ref>
Line 419: Line 191:
]During the period of Soviet occupation of Ukraine, UPA was mentioned by Soviet officials only in negative terms. They considered UPA to be 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. ]During the period of Soviet occupation of Ukraine, UPA was mentioned by Soviet officials only in negative terms. They considered UPA to be 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.


] 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.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Some of the past soldiers of both organisations have met and asked for forgiveness for the past misdeeds. ] 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.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Some of the past soldiers of both organisations have met and asked for forgiveness for the past misdeeds.
Restoration of graves and cemeteries in Poland, where fallen UPA soldiers were placed have been agreed to by the Polish side. Restoration of graves and cemeteries in Poland, where fallen UPA soldiers were placed have been agreed to by the Polish side.



Revision as of 05:51, 19 March 2008

Ukrainian Insurgent Army
File:UPA.jpgUPA recruitment poster. Its motto is written in Ukrainian on two horizontal lines Glory to Ukraine. Glory to (her) Heroes
LeadersVasyl Ivakhiv, Dmytro Klyachkivskyy, Roman Shukhevych, Vasyl Kuk
Dates of operation1943-1955
Active regionsprimarily in territories of prewar Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia populated with Ukrainian majority, with raids as far east as Kiev region
Alliestemporary arrangements with Nazi Germany
OpponentsNazi German SS, the Polish Armia Krajowa, Soviet partisans, the Soviet Red Army, NKVD
Battles and warsmainly guerrilla activity

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Template:Lang-ua) was a Ukrainian military organization formed in Volhynia (located in north-western Ukraine). UPA's primary purpose was to protect the interests, of Ukrainians. UPA started as a resistance group that grew into a guerrilla army. UPA was the military branch of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Some UPA units were involved in the killing and ethnic cleansing of much of western Ukraine's Polish population.

During its existence, the UPA fought a large variety of military forces, including:

After World War II, UPA partisans continued fighting against Poland until 1947 and the Soviet Union until the 1949. It was especially strong in the Carpathian Mountain and Volhynia regions. UPA was unique among practically all resistance movements in Nazi-occupied Europe in that it had no significant foreign support. Its growth and strength reflected its popularity among the people of Western Ukraine. In other regions of Ukraine, on the other hand, the majority of the people assumed that Ukrainian nationalists (OUN/UPA) were collaborators of the Germans occupants.

(Note: Another UPA also existed in Volhynia. It was nominally formed earlier in late November 1941 before initially known as the Polissian Sich and had no connections with the OUN(B) but tied with OUN(M) and OUN(UNR). This UPA, led by Taras Bulba-Borovets & had links to the UNR in exile. It was renamed to the Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army in July 1943 before being later partially and forcibly absorbed and disbanded by the UPA of the OUN(B). )

Organization of UPA

UPA's command structure overlapped with that of the OUN in a sophisticated and highly centralized way. UPA was responsible for operations while the OUN was in charge of administrative duties; each had their own chain of command. The six main departments were military, political, security service, mobilization, supply, and the Ukrainian Red Cross. There was overlap between OUN and UPA posts and the local OUN and UPA leader were frequently the same person. Organizational methods were borrowed and adapted from German, Polish and Soviet armed forces, while UPA units trained based on a modified Red Army field unit manual. The General Staff consisted of operations, intelligence, training, logistics, personnel and political education departments. UPA's largest units, Kurins, consisting of 500-700 soldiers [, were equivalent to battalions in a regular army, and its smallest units, Riys, with 8-10 soldiers [, were equivalent to squads. Occasionally, and particularly in Volyn, during some operations three or more Kurins would unite and form a Zahon or Brigade [.

UPA's leaders were: Vasyl Ivakhiv (spring – 13 of May 1943), Dmytro Klyachkivskiy, Roman Shukhevych (January 1944 until 1950) and finally Vasyl Kuk. In November 1943, UPA adopted a new structure, creating a Main Military Headquarters and three areas (group} commands: UPA-West, UPA-North and UPA-South. Three military schools for low-level command staff were established.

UPA's membership is estimated to have consisted of 60% peasants of low to moderate means, 20-25% workers (primarily rural lumber and food industries), and 15% from the intelligentsia (students, urban professionals). The latter group provided a large portion of UPA's military trainers and officer corps. Sixty percent of UPA's membership was from Galicia and 30% from Volhynia and Podolia By late 1943 and early 1944, the UPA controlled much of the territory of 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. The number of UPA fighters varied with time. A German Abwehr report from November 1943 estimated that 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 25-30 thousand fighters up to 100,000 soldiers.

UPA's History

Background

1941

In a Memorandum from August, 14 1941 OUN (B) proposed to the Germans, to create a Ukrainian Army “which will join the German army … until the latter will win”, in exchange for German recognition of an allied Ukrainian independent state The Ukrainian Army was planned to have been formed on the basis of DUN (Detachments of Ukrainian nationalists - Druzhyny Ukrainskykh Natsinalistiv) and specifically on the basis of the “Ukrainian legion”, at that time composed of two battalions (kurins) “Nachtigal” and “Roland.” At this time these two battalions were included in the Abwehr special regiment “Brandenburg-800”. However, such propositions were not adopted by the Germans, and by the middle of September 1941 the Germans began a repression campaign against the most proactive OUN members.

During the first OUN Conference which held at the beginning of October 1941, the OUN formulated its strategy for the future. It called on moving some part of its organizational structure to underground, avoiding conflicts with Germans and refraining from anti-German propaganda activities. At the same time, in some areas the OUN tried to infiltrate its own members into and create its own network within the German Auxiliary police.

A captured German document of November 25, 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..." By the end of November 1941, the remains of the “Ukrainian Legion” (approximately 650 persons) signed a contract for military service with the Germans and transferred to Germany for military training for further usage at Eastern Front. At the same time (end of November 1941) the Germans started a second wave of repression in Reichskommissariat Ukraine specially targetting OUN (B) members. However, most of the captured OUN activists in Reichskommissariat Ukraine belonged to OUN (M) wing.

1942

In April 1942 at the Second OUN(B) conference, the policies of “creation, build-up and development of own political and future military forces”, “action against own partisan activity inflicted by Moscow” were adopted. The primary enemy to fight against were the Soviet partisans. German policy was criticized, but no more.

During service from May till October 1942 the “Ukrainian Legion” in which Shukhevych was deputy commander lost 49 killed and 40 wounded (all of them in 5 clashes with soviet partisans) while claiming more than 2000 killed Soviet partisans.

In July 1942 OUN (B) issued a statement in which the main enemy mentioned was “Moscow”, while the Germans was ephemerally criticized for their policy concerning the Ukrainian independent state. Unil December 1942, OUN(B)'s principal activity was propaganda and the development of its own underground network, while any current actions against the Germans were described as undesirable and provocative.

In the beginning of December 1942 near Lviv the “Military conference of OUN(B)” was held. It resulted in the adoption of a speed-up of the build-up process for the creation of Military forces of OUN(B). The Conference Statement underlined what “all combat capable population must stand straight under OUN banners for fight against dreadful bolsheviks enemy”.

1943

  • Jan: From beginning of December 1942 till beginning of January 1943 Germans relocated to General Government disbanded “Ukrainian Legion” which used as battalion in 201 Wehrmacht Guard (Defense) Division at Belarus against soviet partisans .
  • Apr: Later most of the “Ukrainian Legion” joined the UPA or Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (galizische Nr.1) at spring 1943.

UPA's warfare against Germany

Despite the stated opinions of D.Klyachkivskyy and Roman Shukhevych that the Germans were a secondary threat compared to the main enemies, the Soviet partisans and Poles, the Third Conference of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists which was held near Lviv 17-21 February 1943, adopted the decision to begin open warfare against the Germans, although OUN fighters had already attacked a German garrison on February 7th of that year. Accordingly, the OUN (B) leadership issued secret instructions ordering their members who had infiltrated the German auxiliary police in 1941-1942 to desert with their weapons to join the units of UPA at Volhynia. This process often involved engaging in armed conflict with German forces trying to prevent them from doing so. The number of well-trained and well-armed policemen deserting into the ranks of UPA was estimated as being between 4 to 5 thousand. Initially, the military formation of the OUN under Bandera's leadership was called "military detachment of OUN (SD)" but after April 1943 UPA, a name more well-known and popular among Ukrainians, was adopted as the official name . On May 30, 1947 the Main Ukrainian Liberation Council (Головна Визвольна Рада) adopted the date of October 14, 1942 as the official day for celebrating UPA's creation.

By late 1943 and early 1944, the UPA controlled much of the territory of 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. Under German occupation, the UPA conducted hundreds of raids on German police stations and military convoys. In the region of Zhytomyr (which was taken from the Nazi by the Red Army in November 1943-January 1944, with groups of Soviet partisans moving there by February-March 1943), the insurgents were estimated by the German General-Kommissar Leyser to be in control of 80% of the forests and 60% of the farmland. The UPA were able to send small groups of raiders deep into eastern Ukraine.

As a rule the UPA did not attack units of the Wehrmacht, knowing that they were fighting against Russian Communism. Likewise, the frontline forces of the German army did not take any part in manhunts and operation against the UPA, sometimes even refusing to assist the German security and police forces against UPA. Indeed, according to German Eastern Front General Ernst Kostring, 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 or Germany."

According to the OUN/UPA, on May 12, 1943 Germans attacked the town of Kolki using several SS-Divisions (SS units operated alongside the Nazi Army who were responsible for intelligence, central security, policing action, and the mass extermination), but the Germans as well as insurgents suffered heavy losses. Although there were no SS-divisions mentioned at this time in the identified areas according to mainstream historians,, Soviet partisans reported about the reinforcement of German auxiliary forces at Kolki for the end of April until mid of May, 1943

In June 1943 German SS and police forces under the command of General von dem Bach-Zalewski, seen as an expert in fighting against guerrillas, attempted to destroy UPA-North in Volyn during Operation "BB" (Bandenbekampfung). He was chosen specifically by Himmler to destroy the UPA in this operation.

According to the UPA/OUN, the initial stage of “BB” (Bandenbekempfung) operation under the command of Sturbahnfuehrer SS General Platle and later under General Hintzler against the UPA produced no results whatsoever. This catastrophic development was the subject of several discussions by Himmler's staff that resulted in the sending to Ukraine of General von dem Bach-Zalewski, responsible only to Hitler himself.


According to UPA/OUN(B) estimates, during Operation "BB" Bach-Zalewski had under his disposal 10 battalions of motorized SS troops with heavy weapons and artillery, 10,000 German and Polish police, 2 regiments of the Hungarian army, and three battalions of Cossacks organized from among Soviet POWs and 50 tanks, 27 planes and 5 armoured trains. Another UPA estimate assessed the situation during Operation "BB" as follows: Germans send military division which formed from SS regiment, 2 Hungarian regiments, Cossacks regiment and unit of German gendarmes. Their losses from UPA was – 193 persons. By August, the operation proved to be a military failure.On August 19-20, the UPA captured the military center of Kamin Koshyrsky, capturing large quantities of arms and ammunition.As a result of the complete failure of the operations General von dem Bach-Zalewski recalled from his command.


General Prutzmann, von dem Bach-Zalewski's successor as commander of the "BB" did not introduce any new methods in combating the UPA. The UPA-North grew steadily, and the Germans, apart from terrorizing the civilian population, were virtually limited to defensive actions.

According to post-war estimates, the UPA had the following number of clashes with the Germans in mid to late 1943 in Volyn: in July, 35; in August, 24; in September, 15; October-November, 47. "Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). During the summer of 1943, according to post-war estimates, the Germans lost over 3,000 men killed or wounded while the UPA lost 1237 killed or wounded.

The Carpathian mountains 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 one engagement, Ukrainian insurgents numbering about 600 men (including numbers of Ukrainian self-defense force), invoked the panic and retreat of 2 German divisions which initially took up positions in the villages of Maidan, Posich and Zaviy on November 27, 1943. As the result of this operation the Ukrainian insurgents captured a great quantity of arms and ammunition at the cost only 4 dead and 11 wounded.

UPA's cooperation with Germany

In autumn 1943 some detachments of UPA began to find reppoachment with Germans. Although doing so was condemned by an OUN/UPA order from November 25, 1943 such actions were not halted In May 1944 the OUN submitted instructions to "switch the struggle, which was conducted against Germans, completely into a struggle against the Soviets."Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).. Nevertheless, according to the UPA/OUN, in July 1944, two more attempts by the Germans to capture the Carpathian mountain passes were repulsed. Near the villages of Kamyanka and Lypa, 3 insurgent battalions repulsed the incursions of 2 German SS divisions, totaling 30,000 soldiers (7-9 July), and on the 12th of July Germans reinforced them with a 3rd division. These Divisions were alternatively described as SS and as police Divisions by UPA/OUN sources, Avoiding direct confrontation, the UPA battalions inflicted a high number of casualties through sniping, ambushes, and attacks from the flanks and rear while abandoning their fixed positions. On 14-16 of July all of the German Divisions retreated with the loss over 600 dead. The insurgents suffered only a dozen casualties. Although according to German data and mainstream historians there were no SS divisions at this time in the mentioned area..


In order to fight the mutual Soviet enemy in early 1944, UPA forces in Volyn and Lviv regions engaged in limited cooperation with the German Wehrmacht contingent upon leaving Ukrainian villagers and UPA undisturbed by the Germans. However, in the winter and spring of 1944 it would be incorrect to state that there was a complete cessation of armed conflict between UPA and Nazi forces because UPA continued to defend Ukrainian villages against repressive actions of the German administration. For example, on January 20th, 200 German soldiers on their way to the Ukrainian village of Pyrohivka were forced to retreat after a several-hours long firefight with a group of 80 UPA soldiers after having lost 30 killed and wounded.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).. Such hostilities ended by late spring 1944 due to much of the disputed territory no longer being under German occupation, and to negotiations between UPA and the Germans.


In a top secret memorandum, General-Major Brigadefuhrer Brenner wrote in mid-1944 to SS- Obergruppenfuhrer General Hans Prutzmann, 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 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 UPA for their Anti-Bolshevik successes, referring to the UPA fighters as "Ukrainian fighters for freedom"


In a debriefing before U.S. authorities in 1948, 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."

UPA and the destruction of Western Ukraine's Polish community

Further information: Wartime Massacres of Poles in Volhynia

The UPA was active in the ethnic cleansing of Poles from areas that it regarded as indigenously Ukrainian. The methods used included terrorist acts and mass-murder of Polish civilians. Massacres of Polish civilians began on a large scale in February-March 1943, although these early actions occurred in areas under the control of Taras Bulba-Borovets rather than of the OUN Soviet partisans in the Rivne region reported that mass terror committed by “nationalists” against the Polish population started in April 1943) and lasted until 1944. Professor Władysław Filar from Polish Institute of National Remembrance, an eyewitness to the massacres, claims that it is impossible to establish whether these events were ever planned. Although in August 1943 UPA placed notices in every Polish village stating "in 48 hours leave beyond the Buh or the Sian river - otherwise Death" no known documents exist proving that UPA-OUN made a decision to exterminate Poles in Volhynia. In addition to UPA, Ukrainian peasants also participated in the violence , and large groups of armed "bandit" marauders unaffiliated with UPA brutalized civilians, serving as a useful propaganda tool for the Soviets . so the exact number of Poles killed specifically by UPA is unknown. Brutal methods such as beheadings, disemboweling, and killing with knives and axes were employed against Polish villagers. In anti-Polish actions since autumn 1943 in Galicia UPA conducted cooperative actions with detachments of regiments of the Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (galizische Nr.1) ).Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).. The estimates of the number of Poles murdered in Ukraine range from 100,000 to 500,000; many more Poles left the area because of the UPA actions.

The UPA's activities can be seen as a reaction to past policies and actions of the inter-war Polish government, such as shutting down Ukrainian schools and churches or encouraging Polish settlement in the regions considered by OUN to be "ethnically Ukrainian". However, UPA also killed ethnic Ukrainians, those who did not cooperate with them, as well as those Ukrainians who had Polish wives.

The UPA actions resulted in similar reaction of the Polish Armia Krajowa and the extremely brutal conflict escalated out of control with many thousand of civilians being murdered by both Ukrainian and Polish forces. Estimates of the death tolls from the retaliatory actions of the Polish Home Army forces include 2 thousand Ukrainian civilians., as little as eight hundred, or as high as 20 thousand in Volhynia alone.

UPA's war with Soviets

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 Sydir Kovpak 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 his men were ethnic Ukrainians), 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, whose remnants were subsequently mostly destroyed by UPA in the Carpathian mountains. In 1944, famous Soviet intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov was captured and executed by UPA members, after unwittingly entering their camp while wearing a Wehrmacht officer uniform. The total number of Soviet partisans in Ukraine is estimated anywhere from 47,800 to 500,000, only 46% of whom were ethnic Ukrainians.

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 NKVD units and Soviet officials of all levels, from high rank NKVD and military officers to the school teachers and postal workers attempting to establish Soviet control over western Ukraine after the front line had passed. Soviet archival data shows that UPA attacks were focussed on small units and groups of Soviet Army soldiers, commonly ending with brutal killing (burning alive, cutting noses and ears etc) of the captured and wounded. UPA also acted against the mobilization of able-bodied men into the Soviet Army through the extermination of whole families of those who joined the Soviet Army. UPA also disrupted Soviet efforts at collectivization. In March 1944, UPA insurgents mortally wounded Nikolai Vatutin, the famous commander of the Battle of Kursk, who led the liberation of Kiev. Several weeks later an NKVD battalion was annihilated by UPA near Rivne, beginning the full-scale struggle in the spring and summer of 1944, involving 30,000 Soviet troops against UPA in Volyn. 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 UPA resulted in 2018 killed and 1570 captured UPA fighters and only 11 Soviet killed and 46 wounded. However, Soviet archives show that a captured UPA member stated that he received a reports about UPA losses of 200 fighters while their Soviet enemies lost 2,000.. The first significant sabotage operations against communications of Soviet Army before their offensive against the Germans was conducted by UPA in April-May 1944. However, such actions was promptly stopped by Soviet Army and NKVD troops. OUN/UPA submitted an order temporarily cease anti-Soviet activities and prepare for further struggle against the Soviets. Despite heavy casualties on both sides, the struggle was inconclusive. New large scale actions of UPA, especially in Ternopilska region, were launched in July-August 1944, when the Soviet Army advanced West. By the autumn of 1944, UPA forces enjoyed virtual freedom of movement over an area 160,000 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 UPA throughout western Ukraine, involving according to OUN/UPA estimates 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. Soviet archival data states that on October 9, 1944 1 NKVD Division, eight NKVD brigades, and an NKVD cavalry regiment with the total number of 26, 304 NKVD soldiers stationed in Western Ukraine. In addition, 2 regiments with 1500 and 1200 persons, 1 battalion (517 persons) and three armored trains with 100 additional soldiers each, as well as 1 border guards regiment and 1 unit were starting to relocate there in order to reinforce them. During late 1944 and the first half of 1945, according to Soviet data, UPA suffered approximately 89,000 killed, approximately 91,000 captured, and approximately 39,000 surrendered while the Soviet forces lost approximately 12,000 "killed or hanged", 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 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 UPA issued an order to liquidate kurins (battalions) and sotnya’s (companies) and to act predominantly by choty’s (platoons).

During the Great Blockade by MVD troops from January 11 until April 10, 1946 UPA in the Carpathian region suffered very heavy losses and ceased to exist as a combat unit. Although the Soviets failed to wipe out UPA, the continuous heavy casualties forced UPA to split into small units consisting of 100 soldiers. Many of the troops demobilized and returned home. For this reason, by 1946, UPA was reduced to a core group of 5-10 thousand fighters, and large-scale UPA activity shifted to the Soviet-Polish border. Here, in 1947, they allegedly killed the Polish Communist deputy defense minister General Karol Świerczewski. In spring 1946, the OUN/UPA established contacts with the Intelligence services of France, Great Britain and the USA. Although the UPA obtained some help from the CIA and British intelligence during the latter phase of its struggle, the operation was betrayed by Kim Philby. After the huge winter 1945/46 operation by the NKVD, UPA/OUN fielded 479 units and had 3,735 fighters, according to an NKVD estimate from April 1, 1946. By January 1, 1947 MGB estimated OUN and UPA as having 530 fighting units with 4,456 fighters. [

UPA fighters in Rivnenschina, in 1947

On May 30, 1947 Shukhevych issued instructions joining the OUN and UPA in underground warfare . Only in 1947-1948 was UPA resistance broken enough to allow the Soviets to implement large-scale collectivization throughout western Ukraine. On September 3, 1949 Shukhevych issued an order, liquidating UPA units and headquarters and integrating UPA's personnel in the OUN (B) underground.

UPA's leader, general Roman Shukhevych, was killed in an ambush near Lviv on March 5, 1950. Although sporadic UPA raids continued until the mid 1950's, after Shukhevich's assassination UPA rapidly lost its fighting capability. An assessment of UPA's manpower by Soviet authorities in April 17, 1952 indicated that UPA/OUN had only 84 fighting units consisting of 252 persons. UPA's last commander, Vasyl Kuk, was captured on May, 24 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 at the beginning of 1956". .

Prominent people killed by the UPA insurgents during the anti-Soviet struggle included Metropolitan Oleksiy (Hromadsky) of the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church 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 connected with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army 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 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. According to Columbia University professor 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.".

Soviet Counterinsurgency Tactics and UPA's Response

The Soviets were ultimately successful in subduing UPA. They used multiple methods to defeat UPA. NKVD units dressed as UPA fighters and committed atrocities in order to demoralize the civilian population.; among these NKVD units were those composed of former UPA fighters working for the NKVD. Areas of UPA activity were depopulated; the estimates of Ukrainians deported from 1944 to 1952 range from 182,543 in official Soviet archives to 500,000 . The Soviets skillfully exploited Polish-Ukrainian ethnic hatred by using Poles as informants. 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 extensive torture; some prisoners were burned alive. The many arrested women believed to be affiliating with UPA were subjected to months of torture, deprivation, and rape at the hands of Soviet security in order to "break" them reveal UPA members' identities and locations or to turn them into Soviet double-agents. Mutilated corpses of captured rebels were frequently put on public display.

UPA responded to the Soviet terror by unleashing their own terror against Soviet activists, suspected collaborators and their families. This work was particularly attributed to the feared Sluzhba Bezbeky (SB), the anti-espionage and punishment wing of UPA. In a typical incident in 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 about such acts UPA stopped killing the families of those it deemed collaborators by mid 1945. Other victims of UPA included Soviet civilian activists sent to Galicia from other parts of the Soviet Union, who were often forced to recite anti-Stalinist slogans before being brutally executed in public; heads of village Soviets, those sheltering or feeding Red Army personnel, and even people turning food in to collective farms. The effect of such terror was such that people refused to take posts as village heads, and until the late 1940's villages chose single men with no dependents as their leaders. When committing such acts, UPA fighters generally targeted specifically those people who were seen as cooperating with the Soviet authorities and were expressly forbidden from spreading terror to the general population. This contrasted with the Soviet practice of mass terror.

Particularly during the first years of Soviet occupation, UPA 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 ten members of the Soviet activ and a secretary of the county Communist party, and kidnapped four other officials. 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.

Initially, in the first years of the struggle, the OUN was able to establish its own network of informants within the NKVD, compromising many anti-insurgency missions. In the first quarter of 1947, bandit and rebel actiivty in Western Ukraine increased by over 100 percent compared to the last quarter of 1946.

The turning point in the struggle against UPA did not come until 1947, when the Soviets were able to establish their own spy network within UPA and when they shifted their struggle from one of mass terror to one of infiltration and espionage. By 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 UPA had taken their toll on morale and on UPA's effectiveness. According to the writing on one slain Ukrainian rebel, "the Bolsheviks try to take us from within...you can nebver know directly in whose hands you will find yourself. From such a network of spies, thw work of whole teams is often penetrated..." In November 1948, the work of Soviet agents led to two important victories against UPA: the defeat and deaths of the heads of the most active UPA network in Western Ukraine, and the annhialiation of "Myron", the head of the UPA's counterintelligence SB unit.

In 2008, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has published information about the actions of special groups from the NKVD posing as fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in the western regions of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic during the 1944-1954 period. About 150 such special groups consisting of 1,800 people operated until 1954.

UPA's relationships with Western Ukraine's Jews

In contrast to the well established links between UPA and atrocities committed on Polish civilians, there is a lack of consensus among historians about the involvement of UPA in the massacre of western Ukraine's Jews. Numerous accounts ascribe to UPA a role in the tragic fate of the Ukrainian Jews under the German occupation. Some historians, however, do not support the claims that UPA was involved in anti-Jewish massacres.

Prior to the formation of UPA, in 1941-1942, the political organization from which it was formed, the OUN, made numerous violently antisemitic statements. For example, in instructions to its members concerning how the OUN should behave during the war, it declared that "in times of chaos...one can allow oneself to liquidate Polish, Russian and Jewish figures, particularly the servants of Bolshevik-Muscovite imperialism" and further, when speaking of Russians, Poles, and Jews, to "destroy in the struggle, especially those, who defend the regime: send them to their lands, destroy them especially the intelligentsia...assimilation of the Jews is ruled out." Nevertheless, some Jews were protected by the OUN. According to a report to the Chief of the Security Police in Berlin dated March 30, 1942, "...it has been clearly established that the Bandera movement provided forged passports not only for its own members, but also for Jews."


By early 1943 the OUN had entered into open armed conflict with Nazi Germany. In 1944, the OUN formally "rejected racial and ethnic exclusivity" Despite the allegations of UPA's involvement in the killing of Jews and earlier anti-Jewish statements by the OUN, there were cases of Jewish participation within the ranks of UPA, some of whom held high positions. Jewish participation included fighters but was particularly visible among its medical personnel. These included Dr. Margosh, who headed UPA-West's medical service, Dr. Marksymovich, who was the Chief Physician of the UPA's officer school, and Dr. Abraham Kum, the director of an underground hospital in the Carpathians. One Ukrainian historian has claimed that almost every UPA unit included Jewish support personnel. The latter individual was the recipient of UPA's Golden Cross of Merit. Isolated reports of the Jewish families being sheltered by UPA have also surfaced. UPA's cooperation with Jews was extensive enough that, according to former head of the Office to Counter Soviet Disinformation at the USIA, some Soviet propoganda works complained about Zionists "closely cooperating with" Bandera ringleaders. One can conclude that the relationship between UPA and Western Ukraine's Jews was complex and not one-sided.

Aftermath

File:320px-Szuchewycz naPolskiejSzkole weLwowie.jpg
Monument in Lviv honouring Roman Shukhevych

During the period of Soviet occupation of Ukraine, UPA was mentioned by Soviet officials only in negative terms. They considered UPA to be a terrorist organization. After Ukraine gained independence in 1991, 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 Soviet Army, and disapproval from the Russian 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 Kiev in May, 2005, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, proved unsuccessful. The assessment of the historical role of UPA remains a controversial issue in Ukrainian society, although Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko 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 Soviet Army, and aid the understanding of their role in the chaotic times of UPA operations.

File:Former UPA and SS-Galizien members in Berezhany 2006.jpg
Former UPA and UNA members with Plast Scout Organization pose for photos shortly after the Anniversary of the UPA ceremony in Berezhany, Ukraine

Recently, attempts to reconcile former Armia Krajowa 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.

Restoration of graves and cemeteries in Poland, where fallen UPA soldiers were placed have been agreed to by the Polish side.

In late 2006 the Lviv city administration announced the future transference of the tombs of Stepan Bandera, Yevhen Konovalets, Andriy Melnyk and other key leaders of OUN/UPA to a new area of Lychakivskiy Cemetery specifically dedicated to Ukrainian nationalists.

In October of 2007, the city of Lviv erected, after many years of delays, a statue dedicated to the OUN and UPA leader Stepan Bandera. The appearance of the statue has engendered a far-reaching debate about the role of Stepan Bandera and UPA in Ukrainian History.

On January 10, 2008 Viktor Yushchenko, Presidents of Ukraine submitted a draft law "On the Official Status of Fighters for Ukraine’s Independence in 20s-90s of the 20th century". Under the draft, persons who took part in political, guerrilla, underground and combat activities for the freedom and independence of Ukraine from 1920 -1990 as part of the:

  • Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO)
  • Karpatska Sich
  • OUN
  • UPA
  • Ukrainian Main Liberation Army,

as well as persons who assisted these organizations shall be recognized as war veterans.

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 Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in order to make public original sources. This will help to determine what is the "truth" and what is "fabrication".

See also

Footnotes

References

  1. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, [http://www.history.org.ua/oun_upa/oun/16.pdf Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 16
  2. Subtelny, p. 474
  3. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 4, p. 180
  4. ^ [http://yurizhukov.com/doc/070900_Zhukov_UPA_Final.pdf Yuri Zhukov, "Examining the Authoritarian Model of Counter-insurgency: The Soviet Campaign Against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army", Small Wars and Insurgencies, v.18, no. 3, pp.439-466] Cite error: The named reference "Zhukov" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 12, p. 169
  6. Пастка для «Щура» 4 листопада одному з засновників УПА Дмитрові Клячківському виповнилося 95 років in Ukrainian-Russian "Zerkalo Nedeli" Magazine
  7. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 12, p. 127
  8. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 14, p. 188
  9. ^ Magoscy, R. (1996). A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
  10. Petro Sodol - Ukrainian Insurgent Army 1943-1949. Handbook. New – York 1994 p.28
  11. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 1 p.69
  12. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 2 P.92
  13. http://www.infoukes.com/history/ww2/page-08.html
  14. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 2 P.95-97.
  15. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Chapter 1,2,3
  16. p.164
  17. p.181
  18. p.165
  19. Бандерівці ідуть! in Націоналістичний портал Template:Uk icon
  20. Toynbee, T.R.V. (1954). Survey of International Affairs: Hitler's Europe 1939-1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. (page # missing).
  21. Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.232
  22. 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, pg. 58.
  23. Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.58-59
  24. Wegner, B. (1990). The Waffen-SS. Padstow: TJ Press.
  25. Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004a). The Waffen-SS (2): 6 to 10 Divisions. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
  26. Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004b). The Waffen-SS (3): 11 to 23 Divisions. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
  27. Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 p, 384 p.391
  28. James K. Anderson, Unknown Soldiers of an Unknown Army, Army Magazine, May 1968, p. 63
  29. Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 p.238-239
  30. Krokhmaluk, Y. (1973). UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York: Vantage Press. pp. p. 242. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  31. P.Mirchuk “Ukrainian Insurgent Army 1942-1952” –Munich; 1953 p.41-42
  32. ^ Krokhmaluk, Y. (1973). UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York: Vantage Press. pp. (page 242). Cite error: The named reference "Krohmaliuk" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  33. Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 p.140-142
  34. Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 p.242-243
  35. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 14, p. 186
  36. L. Shankovskyy (1953). History of Ukrainian Army (Історія українського війська). Winnipeg. pp. p.32. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  37. Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.67
  38. p.190-194
  39. Yuriy Tys- Krokhmaluk, UPA Warfare in Ukraine. New York, N.Y. Society of Veterans of Ukrainian Insurgent Army Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-80823 P.69-73
  40. Wegner, B. (1990). The Waffen-SS. Padstow: TJ Press.
  41. Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004a). The Waffen-SS (2): 6 to 10 Divisions. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
  42. Williamson, G., & Andrew, S. (2004b). The Waffen-SS (3): 11 to 23 Divisions. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
  43. Tieke, W. (1999). In the Firestorm of the Last Years of the War: II SS-Panzerkorps with the 9 and 10 SS-Divisions "Hohenstaufen" and Frundsberg". Winnipeg: JJ Fedorowicz Publishing
  44. p.192
  45. Yaroslav Hrytsak, "History of Ukraine 1772-1999"
  46. p.196
  47. http://www.history.neu.edu/fac/burds/Gender.pdf
  48. Martovych O. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). – Munchen, 1950 p.20
  49. Russian Combat Methods in World War II. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History. 1950. p. 111.
  50. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 16, pg. 242
  51. Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 p.391
  52. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 11, pg. 24
  53. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 11, pg. 24
  54. Jeffrey Burds (1997). "Agentura: Soviet Informants' Networks & the Ukrainian Underground in Galicia, 1944-48", East European Politics and Societies v.11 p 96
  55. Norman Davies. (1996). Europe: a History. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  56. Subtelny, p. 475
  57. Speaking of the escalation in violence, a former soldier in a Polish nationalist partisan unit stated "The ethnic Ukrainians responded by wiping out an entire Polish colony, setting fire to the houses, killing those inhabitants unable to flee and raping the women who fell into their hands, no matter how old or how young...we retaliated by attacking an even bigger Ukrainian village and... killed women and children. Some of our men were so filled with hatred after losing whole generations of their family in the Ukrainian attacks that they swore they would take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth...This was how the fighting escalated. Each time more people were killed, more houses burnt, more women raped." Taken from the chapter Ethnicity, Memory, and Violence: Reflections on Special Problems in Soviet and East European Archives, by Jeffrey Burds, 2005, in Archives, Documentation, and the Institutions of Social Memory: Essays from the Sawyer Seminar, Francis X. BLouin and William G. Rosenberg, eds. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
  58. J. Turowski, Pożoga. Walki 27 Wołyńskiej dywizji AK, Warszawa 1990, p. 513
  59. W.Siemaszko, E.Siemaszko, Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów Ukraińskich na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939-1945, Warszawa 2000
  60. Analysis: Ukraine, Poland Seek Reconciliation Over Grisly History, Jan Maksymiuk, RFE/RL, May 12, 2006
  61. ^ Subtelny, p. 476
  62. Ihor Sundiukov, "The Other Side of the Legend: Nikolai Kuznetsov Revisited", 24 Jan. 2006. Retrieved on 18 December 2007.
  63. "Soviet partisans in Ukraine, 1941–5". Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
  64. Grenkevich, L., translated by David Glantz. (1999). The Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941-1944: Critical analysis of. Routledge. p. 134.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  65. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 15, p. 213-214
  66. Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 pp.549-570
  67. Ivan Bilas. Repressive-punishment system in Ukraine. 1917-1953 Vol.2 Kyiv Lybid-Viysko Ukrainy, 1994 ISBN 5-325-00599-5 pp.549-570
  68. 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 armored 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 P.478-482
  69. 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 “OUN –bandits” suffered the following casualties: 57,405 killed; 50,387 captured; 15,990 surrendered. During the period from January 1, 1945 until May 1,1945 the following casualties were reported: 31,157 killed; 40,760 captured; 23,156 surrendered. “OUN –bandits'” actions numbered 2,903 in 1944, and from January 1, 1945 until May 1, 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
  70. ^ Orest Subtelny, Ukraine: a history, pp. 489, University of Toronto Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8020-8390-0 Cite error: The named reference "Subtelny367" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
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  75. http://history.org.ua/oun_upa/upa/24.pdf p.439
  76. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 21, pp. 385-386
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  78. Wilson, A. (2005). Virtual Politics: Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 15.
  79. Ukrainian Weekly, July 28, 2002, written by Dr. Taras Kuzio
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  81. The exact figures of deportees according to Soviet archives - 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 P.545-546
  82. Subtelny, p. 489
  83. Jeffrey Burds (1997). "Agentura: Soviet Informants' Networks & the Ukrainian Underground in Galicia, 1944-48", East European Politics and Societies v.11 pg. 97
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  91. Institute of History, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Insurgent Army
  92. Institute of Ukrainian History, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 2, pp.62-63
  93. Divide and Conquer: the KGB Disinformation Campaign Against Ukrainians and Jews. Ukrainian Quarterly, Fall 2004. By Herbert Romerstein
  94. Leo Heiman, "We Fought for Ukraine - The Story of Jews Within UPA", Ukrainian Quarterly Spring 1964, pp.33-44.
  95. Friedman, P. "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations During the Nazi Occupation, YIVO Annual of Jewish Social Science v. 12, pp. 259–96, 1958–59". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  96. Divide and Conquer: the KGB Disinformation Campaign Against Ukrainians and Jews. Ukrainian Quarterly, Fall 2004. By Herbert Romerstein
  97. http://zik.com.ua/en/news/2008/01/11/121551
  98. http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=57477

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