Ukrainian Galician Army - abstract. Ukrainian nationalists carried out terror in Poland

They carried out terror in Poland. They were blessed by Hitler himself.

After expelling the Poles, whites and interventionists from most of Ukraine, the Bolsheviks, hoping for the loyalty of the nationalist-minded population, enthusiastically took up the fight against Great Russian chauvinism and the total Ukrainization of Little Russia.

The situation was fundamentally different in Western Ukraine, which was almost completely part of Poland. The Poles, as centuries before, considered Ukrainians to be cattle, in every possible way preventing their national self-determination. In such a situation, the most active figures of Ukraine went underground, moving from political discussions to armed struggle. On this path, they did not hesitate to collaborate with the Nazis and brutal reprisals

On guard of fictitious “ideals”

Two men walked through the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris. One was clearly over forty, the other no more than 30. Their fit figures and strong-willed faces revealed that they were former military men. Having reached almost the end of the cemetery, they stopped at a modest tombstone with the name of Symon Petliura. The men crossed themselves. There was silence.

The younger one took a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped a handful of earth in it from the grave of the former ruler. In response to his comrade’s surprise, the young man explained: “I will take this soil from Petliura’s grave to Ukraine, we will plant a tree in his memory and take care of it.” The action delighted his senior comrade. It was Yevhen Konovalets, leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. He had lived in exile for more than 10 years and believed that one day he would be able to return and seize power in Ukraine. Such young and ideological fighters as his companion, a member of the nationalist underground in the Ukrainian SSR Pavel Valyukh, should have helped him in this.

Konovalets didn’t know that he was moved to tears by the act of a man who would become a living legend .

Evgeniy Konovalets

The struggle for an independent Ukrainian state during the Civil War ended in the defeat of the national forces. In 1919-1920, the Sich Riflemen, the Galician Army and other Ukrainian formations virtually ceased to exist and were interned by the Poles, who captured Western Ukraine. Not counting those who joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Galician Army (UGA). When the situation on the outskirts of the former Russian Empire calmed down, tens of thousands of emigrants were left out of work. The same cannot be said about their leaders.

The leaders of the Ukrainian national movement dreamed of creating a fundamentally new organization that could effectively fight the occupying Polish and Bolshevik regimes from underground.

M1: Here it should be clarified that because Ukraine as a state never existed (thousand-year-old myths do not count),The Ukrainian SSR, organized by the Bolsheviks, and its government could not possibly be an occupation one. Just as before 2014, there were no Ukrainian national fighters for anything at all. Just keep in mind that this article was written at the request of Lenta.ru.

In the summer of 1920 in Prague they founded the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO). Its leader was Colonel of the Ukrainian* Sich Riflemen Yevgeny Konovalets, known for the brutal suppression of the January Uprising in Kyiv in 1918. The participants of the UVO proclaimed the struggle for “full conciliarity and independence of Ukraine,” which was not achieved during the Civil War. This goal was supposed to be achieved thanks to the “revolutionary explosion of the Ukrainian people.”

* - M1: not Ukrainian, but Austro-Hungarian. It was the Austrians who created these units for the war with Russia and exactly the same Ukrainians, only they did not live in Galicia. This is where the hatred of the Galicians began for 7 centuries, who did not live with the others. Now they have imposed their Bandera power on the whole of Ukraine. 100 years ago they were created for this purpose.

The nation justifies the means

How exactly Konovalets and his comrades planned to achieve their goal became clear very soon. In November 1921, in Lviv, a former officer of the Galician Army, Stepan Fedak, attempted to assassinate the dictator of Poland, Jozef Pilsudski. He turned out to be a lousy shooter and only wounded Pilsudski's comrade-in-arms, the Lvov governor Grabowski. Interestingly, two years before the assassination attempt, at the end of 1919, Konovalets sought the assistance of the Polish dictator in creating a Ukrainian national army.

Jozef Pilsudski with his associates

Any terror must be justified somehow. If only to justify the bloodshed. Dmitry Dontsov (quite a Russian man) began to spiritually nourish the fighters for Ukrainian independence. On the eve of the First World War, he, while in the pay Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, justified the need for Ukrainians to fight Russia and advocated the creation of an “independent” Ukraine under Austrian protectorate. At the UVO, he became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Literary and Scientific Bulletin.

M1: Please note that this “under protectorate” remains unchanged for 100 years. The rest of Ukraine and Ukrainians live well together with the other branches of the Russian (and non-Russian) peoples. And this nickname haunts the Galicians and their “protectors.”

The theorist developed the ideology of integral Ukrainian nationalism. This differed from other types of nationalism by its refusal to engage in any discussions with opponents and promoted rapid radical action to achieve national interests. For Dontsov, the nation was an absolute value. The highest goal for him was the independence of the state, and achieving this goal justified all means. The future independent Ukraine, according to the ideologist, was to be headed by a Leader with unlimited powers.

His ideas later formed the basis of the Decalogue of the Ukrainian Nationalist (also known as the Ten Commandments), the key ideological document of the OUN. In particular, his first point was: “You will win the Ukrainian state or you will die in the fight for it.” The Ukrainian nationalist was asked to hate the enemies of the nation, avenge the death of his comrades and be proud of the trident.

It was separately stipulated that the nationalist must unquestioningly carry out any orders if they are aimed at a good cause. The leaders of the organization had to determine how good certain deeds were.

Beat your own so that strangers will be afraid

In the 1920s, the UVO launched large-scale terrorist activities in Western Ukraine. The militants organized acts of sabotage, arson, explosions, robberies, and political assassinations. The first targets of the nationalists were representatives of the Polish, as they believed, occupation authorities. Therefore, their victims were officials, police officers and even employees of educational institutions.

The latter were especially hated, because they acted as conductors of Polish culture and ideology on Ukrainian lands. In October 1926, in Lviv, 19-year-old Roman Shukhevych, a future German Hauptmann and leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), shot and killed Polish school curator Jan Sobinsky. He was accused of persecuting Ukrainian schoolchildren, and therefore, according to nationalists, he deserved to die. The general account was replenished every year with dozens of killed.

M1: They killed primarily those Poles and Ukrainians who spoke out for the political rights of Ukrainians in Poland. Most of all, the OUN feared that political reforms in Poland would lead to the Galicians themselves taking up arms against them.

Despite the terror, among the Poles there were those who tried to find mutual understanding with the Ukrainians. Still, nationalists were, although active, a minority of the Ukrainian population of Poland. Some Polish politicians believed that mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence within a single state could be achieved with the majority of Ukrainians. One of these was Tadeusz Gołówko. He advocated granting cultural autonomy to Ukrainians and a general liberalization of Poland's generally chauvinistic state ideology. All in vain. Ukrainian militants killed him while he was undergoing treatment at a monastery in the city of Truskavets.

In addition to the Poles, Ukrainians themselves - communists, supporters of cooperation with the Poles, and even those who simply did not share radical views - became victims of the nationalists. The first “wrong” Ukrainian who became a victim of his compatriots was the poet, journalist and public figure Sidor Tverdokhleb. He believed that it was most effective to fight for the cultural and political rights of Ukrainians through legal means; he ran for this purpose in the Polish Sejm, but after the next rally at which he spoke with his program, he was shot by nationalists.

Stepan Bandera

The organization of Yevgeny Konovalets was the largest and most radical, however, besides it, there were other fighters for Ukrainian happiness, such as the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine and the Union of Ukrainian Fascists. In 1929, they gathered in Vienna and proclaimed the creation of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The OUN was conceived as a political party, distanced from the terror of the UVO. She was supposed to be a legitimate spokesman for the Ukrainian national idea. However, once the terror had begun, it could no longer be stopped.

1934 was a landmark year for the Ukrainian national movement. The old leaders, personified by Konovalets, were gradually crowded out by the young ones. One of them was Stepan Bandera. Despite the direct ban on terrorist activities, he organized a number of political assassinations. Schoolteacher Babiy and student Bachinsky paid with their lives for collaborating with the Poles, then Soviet diplomat Mailov and Minister of Internal Affairs Bronislav Peratsky.

As Bandera later said at trial: “We know how to value our lives and those of others, but our idea is worth devoting millions of sacrifices to its implementation" There were many victims on his conscience, but it was the daring actions of 1934 that elevated him to the Ukrainian nationalist Olympus.

Sweets "Sudoplatovskie"

Another area of ​​activity that today’s Ukrainian ideologists do not like to remember was the cooperation of the UVO-OUN with the Germans. These contacts began in 1921, shortly after the creation of the UVO. At that time, Germany was not going through the best of times, but military intelligence (Abwehr) found people and money to help the enemies of their enemies.

The Germans were primarily interested in information about the Soviet Union. In particular, the degree of support for Soviet power in society and the state of the Red Army. Another interest of the Abwehr was Poland, which had significantly strengthened as a result of the First World War at the expense of German lands. Acts of sabotage in Western Ukraine, capable of shaking Polish power, fully met German interests.

Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany did not weaken Ukrainian-German contacts at all. On the contrary, in the 1930s Konovalets met with the Fuhrer twice. Thanks to these meetings, in particular, Ukrainian nationalists had the opportunity to study at the Nazi party school in Leipzig. As OUN ideologist Dontsov wrote: “For us, the most important thing in Hitlerism is the covenant of a decisive struggle against Marxism.”

Ukrainian militants began to study in special educational institutions of the Abwehr back in the 1920s. Two centers in Munich and one in Gdansk trained intelligence officers and saboteurs to conduct subversive activities in the interests of the German intelligence services. There was a school in Berlin that trained police personnel for the future occupation administration.

The UVO’s connections with the Abwehr had previously caused concern among the USSR leadership, and after the murder of the Soviet diplomat Mailov in 1934, the Soviet intelligence services took decisive action. To do this, NKVD foreign intelligence agent Pavel Sudoplatov was sent to Konovalets. According to legend, he was a member of the nationalist underground in Soviet Ukraine, Pavel Valyukh. That young fighter who so touched Konovalets with his act at Petliura’s grave in Paris. Valyukh-Sudoplatov repeatedly demonstrated his devotion to the common cause and personally to Konovalets, warning him about the excessive strengthening of Bandera in the OUN, and quite quickly was able to win the trust of the leader.

The body of Yevgeny Konovalets, covered with cloth, at the scene of the explosion

Image: Public Domain/Wikimedia

Knowing the OUN leader’s love for sweets, Sudoplatov prepared a box of chocolates with a “surprise” for him. On May 23, 1938, at the Atlanta Hotel in Rotterdam, underground fighter Valyukh presented Konovalets with a modest present and slowly left. A few minutes later there was an explosion.

Ukrainian revenge

The removal of Konovalets caused a split in the OUN. Formally, his associate Andrei Melnik became the new leader. A conservative and an “intellectual,” he advocated the continuation of the policies of his deceased patron. However, younger nationalist leaders believed that the time had come for more decisive action, and therefore more decisive commanders.

In 1940, the revolutionary wing of the OUN was created in the party - the OUN (R), or more precisely, the OUN (B), since its sole leader was Stepan Bandera. The ideology of the OUN (B) had a clearly defined Nazi character. The main enemies here were seen as “Jews and Muscovites”, who were to be mercilessly destroyed when seizing power in Ukraine. As Bandera expressed the essence of his policy: “Our power will be terrible!” (“Our government will be terrible!”). However, the “Jews and Muscovites” still needed to be reached.

The Second World War was approaching, in which Ukrainian nationalists had high hopes for the Germans. They believed that with the help of Berlin they would still be able to create a Ukrainian state. Contacts with the Germans were so serious that in the summer of 1939, just weeks before the start of World War II, OUN leader Melnik personally met with the Abwehr chief, Admiral Canaris. As a result of those negotiations, the nationalists received specific instructions from the German command on how to conduct subversive activities on Polish territory. They were expected to commit sabotage at industrial and infrastructure facilities, terrorist attacks, murders of representatives of the Polish government, and create an atmosphere of fear and instability. Bandera’s supporters did not stand aside either. Under the leadership of the head of the military reference office of the OUN (B), Roman Shukhevych, two Abwehr sabotage battalions were formed - “Nachtigall” and “Roland”.

Parade of Ukrainian nationalists in Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk), October 1941

Immediately after the start of the Great Patriotic War, sabotage detachments crossed the Soviet-German border along with the Germans. By order of Bandera’s deputy Yaroslav Stetsk, combat detachments of Banderaites were created throughout the “liberated” territories, who were tasked with “cleaning out” the Jews. On June 29, 1941, advanced units of the German army and Ukrainian saboteurs entered Lviv, where the next day they announced the “Act of Proclamation of the Ukrainian State.”

Meanwhile, a fierce struggle for power flared up within the OUN itself. Ukrainian nationalists will spend the next 10 years in a fierce war of all against all.

To be continued…

* - legend of the Soviet special services, Lieutenant General Sudoplatov.

The basis of the army was the legion of Sich Riflemen, located on November 1, 1918 in the Chernivtsi region (270 km from Lviv). It was created on the basis of units of the Austro-Hungarian army, consisting entirely or mostly of Ukrainians. These on November 1, 1918 were the 15th Infantry Regiment (Ternopil), the 19th Infantry Regiment (Lvov), the 9th and 45th Infantry Regiments (Przemysl), the 77th Infantry Regiment (Yaroslav), the 20th 1st and 95th Infantry Regiments (Stanislav, now Ivano-Frankivsk), 24th and 36th Infantry Regiments (Kolomyia), 35th Infantry Regiment (Zolochev). The conscription of men 18-35 years old into the army was carried out on the basis of the Law on Universal Military Service of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. Thus, the territory of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic was divided into 3 military regions (Lviv, Ternopil, Stanislav), each of which was divided into 4 military districts. Commanders - Anton Kravs, Miron Tarnavsky, Osip Mikitka.

From November 1918 to July 1919, the Galician Army took part in the siege of Lvov, the Vovchukhov and Chertkov operations. From July to September 1919, together with the Active Army of the UPR, it took part in the liberation of Right Bank Ukraine from Soviet troops. From September to November 1919, together with the Active Army of the UPR, it took part in battles against the Armed Forces of Southern Russia. In November 1919, according to an agreement between the Supreme Command of the Galician Army and the commander of the Novorossiysk region of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, the Galician Army (renamed the Ukrainian Galician Army) went over to the side of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. Being completely incapacitated as a result of the typhus epidemic, the Ukrainian Galician Army went over to the side of the advancing Red Army at the beginning of 1920, after which it was renamed CHUGA (Chervona Ukrainian Galician Army), or the Red Ukrainian Galician Army, and reorganized. Dissatisfaction among personnel with the conditions of service (ban on national symbols, persecution of clergy in the army, instilling enmity between officers and soldiers) led to the fact that in April 1920, most of the CHUGA personnel went over to the side of the Poles during the spring offensive of the Polish army.

Branch of the military

70% of the personnel consisted of infantry(buttonholes and sleeve patches are blue).

Artillery It was also a priority branch of the military and was armed with more than 60 batteries; the high combat effectiveness of the UGA artillery was noted (buttonholes and red sleeve patches).

Cavalry was not given much importance, since it was supposed to conduct trench warfare, it was formed mounted brigade(buttonholes and sleeve patches are yellow).

There was also aviation regiment with an airbase in the village. Krasne, created, among other things, with the help of former officers of the Russian Imperial Army and was armed with about 40 aircraft, including 16 Brandenburg types, 12 L.F.G, Nieuwports from the army of the former Russian Empire and German Fokkers. The regiment was commanded by Colonel B. Guber, after his death in an explosion at the airfield - Colonel Kanukov. The regiment included a flight school, hundreds of technical and airfield services. The result of the regiment's military operations was the downing of 16 Polish aircraft. Also carried out reconnaissance and bombing missions of enemy positions.

Parts of technical support included 5 sapper hundreds, communications regiment with telephone hundreds. The UGA convoy consisted of 36 cars, 42 motorcycles and was reorganized into self-propelled smokehouse. Technical and engineering units had gray buttonholes and sleeve patches. Armored vehicles in the UGA it was represented by 8 armored cars and 2 armored trains.

Sanitary service was organized on the model of the Austrian-Hungarian sanitary service and had at its disposal 2-5 field hospitals and a sanitary train. In addition there was field gendarmerie, intelligence service, veterinary departments at headquarters, field mail posts, etc.

Organization

The Ukrainian Galician Army (UGA) did not have divisions, but only corps and brigades. The brigade consisted of a headquarters, a headquarters (mace) hundred, 4 kurens (battalions) of infantry, one cavalry hundred, one artillery regiment with an artillery workshop and an ammunition depot, one engineer hundred, one communications department, a supply depot and a brigade hospital. Some brigades had more infantry kurens (5-6), and in some these kurens were also united into regiments of three kurens. The cavalry brigade consisted of 2 cavalry regiments, to which 1-2 cavalry artillery batteries, a cavalry technical hundred and a cavalry communications hundred could be attached. The beginnings of them already existed in the cavalry brigade.

Individual UGA brigades had the following names:

• 1st Ukrainian Sich Riflemen
• 4th Zolochivskaya
• 6th Sokalskaya

Command

All military affairs in the Western Ukrainian People's Republic were in charge of the State Secretariat (Ministry) of Military Affairs. It operated until June 9, 1919 and consisted of 16 departments and an office. It was headed by Colonel Dmitry Vitovsky, and after his death in a plane crash in German Silesia (he flew to Berlin for German help) - Colonel Viktor Kurmanovich. From the moment of the proclamation of the dictatorship (June 9, 1919), the functions of the department passed partly to the Supreme Command of the UGA, and partly to the newly created Military Chancellery of the dictator (chief - Colonel Karl Dolezal, a Czech by nationality). The High Command headed all units located at the front and conducting combat operations. All other units were subordinated through the rear district commands of the State Military Internal Affairs Directorate. The structure of command and staff completely copied the Austro-Hungarian one.

Formation

The first field units of the UGA were created spontaneously at the time of the creation of the independent Western Ukrainian state. This was a response to the creation of Polish military organizations. Already on November 1, 1918, the Poles raised an uprising in Lviv, and on the 11th they occupied the strategically important city of Przemysl. Until the end of December 1918, the UGA consisted of heterogeneous combat groups that could not be called a regular army. There were 15 of them in total. The strongest groups were those operating near Lvov: “Navariya”, “Staroe Selo” and “Vostok”. In the north of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, the "North" group was created by Colonel Osip Mikitka. South-west of Lvov, the regional command in Stryi (Colonel Grits Kossak) had at its disposal the groups “Comancha”, “Lyutoviska”, “Stary Sambir”, “Glyboka”, “Krukenichi”, “Rudki”, “Yug-1” and “ South-2". All of them practically acted in isolation from each other and often had no connection with the High Command. As a result of the replenishment, the size of the army increased. On December 10, 1918, when General Omelyanovich-Pavlenko led the army, its strength was about 30,000 people with 40 guns, not counting the Dnieper units. At that time, the front ran from Tisna in the southwest to Khirov and, bypassing Przemysl, to Lvov, went around the city, then went to Yavorov and past Lyubachev to Rava-Russkaya - Belz, joining the UPR forces in the Kholm region. In January-February 1919, the UGA was reorganized into three corps and became a truly regular army.

During the Civil War, a large number of different armies and groups operated on the territory of present-day Ukraine. Naturally, in the light of recent events, such a formation from the Civil War as the Ukrainian Galician Army (UGA) is also of interest, especially since its path most clearly and correctly shows the path and fate of modern Ukraine.
The UGA arose in November 1918 on the territory of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (oh, what a wonderful name!) from units of the Austro-Hungarian army formed from Galicians, the basis of which were the so-called. "Sich Riflemen" Since the population of Galicia at that time was very mixed, and the majority were Ukrainians, the Poles, who numbered about a quarter of the total population, still saw Galicia as part of the Polish state. On November 1, 1918, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed, to which the Poles immediately responded with an uprising. Clashes began between Poles and Galicians, primarily in Lviv. Already on November 21, 1918, Polish troops took Lviv and the UGA, together with the leadership of the republic, was forced to retreat from the city.

On December 1, 1918, delegates of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic, led by Semyon Petliura, signed an agreement in the city of Fastov on the unification of both Ukrainian states into one. By this time, most of the WUNR was already controlled by the Poles, and the fighting was not going well for the Galicians. Thanks to Semyon Petlyura, the Ukrainian People's Republic during this period was, on the contrary, at the peak of its power and it seemed that with such an ally the UGA would go from victory to victory.

The strength of the CAA was more than 30 thousand people and included artillery - more than 60 batteries. There was also an aviation regiment with an air base in the village. Krasne, created, among other things, with the help of former officers of the Russian imperial army, which was armed with about 40 aircraft.

In fact, having united with the Galicians, Petliura was not eager to fight with the Poles. Khokhol cheated the Galicians (who would doubt it!). From November 1918 to July 1919, the Ukrainian Galician Army independently, practically without the support of the UPR, took part in the siege of Lviv, the Vovchukhov and Chertkov operations, which ended unsuccessfully and led to the final loss of control over the territory of Galicia. After this, units of the UGA were transferred to the south and from July to September 1919, together with the current Army of the UPR (commonly called “Petliurists”), they took part in battles with the Red Army during its capture of Right Bank Ukraine. Having met in August 1919 with units of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (Denikin White Guards) advancing from Donbass and Odessa, the Galicians did not engage in hostilities, rightly fearing battles with a well-organized and armed enemy.

In September 1919, the UGA was forced to take part in battles against the White Guards together with the Active Army of the UPR, but the fighting ardor quickly cooled. In November 1919, the Galicians abandoned their Petliura brothers and the Galician Army, after the agreement in Zyatkovtsy of November 6, 1919, entered into a military alliance with the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, essentially going over to the side of the White Guards.

What was this connected with? The White Guards carried out a number of successful operations in August-October 1919 and occupied Kyiv on August 31, 1919. To the north, they successfully developed an attack on Moscow and on October 13 occupied Oryol and threatened Tula. It seemed that in just a little while the White Guards would win, which meant we had to be closer to the winner. But here, too, the Galicians made a mistake. From December 1919 and the winter of 1920, the Red Army launched a powerful offensive and began to crush the White Guards on all fronts. In the winter of 1919/20, Denikin’s troops abandoned Kharkov, Kyiv, Donbass, and Rostov-on-Don.

Realizing the changing situation, the Ukrainian Galician Army at the beginning of 1920 went over to the side of the advancing Red Army, after which it was renamed and reformed into CHUGA (Chervona Ukrainian Galician Army), or the Red Ukrainian Galician Army. From December 1919 to April 1920, the army was stationed mainly in the Baltic and Olgopol districts of the Podolsk province. The army headquarters was located in Balta.

But the Galicians did not stay in the service of the Bolsheviks. The Red Army of the beginning of 1920 was already a well-organized army with strict discipline, complete subordination of all units to a single command, denial of nationalism, with the idea of ​​internationalism and class unity, rejection of priests in the army and denial of religion. All these things were completely incomprehensible to the Galicians.
In April 1920, the Poles, having defeated Tukhachevsky’s army near Warsaw, this event went down in Polish history under the name “miracle on the Vistula” (although there was no miracle - the criminal arrogance and negligence of the commander) began to actively attack Ukraine. And here she is the new winning star! Most of the personnel of the Red Ukrainian Galician Army rebel and immediately go over to the side of the Poles. The same ones with whom they fought so desperately back in November 1918, hoping for the weakness of the newly created Poland.
The commanders and military personnel of the UGA (CHUGA) who were in Odessa at the time of the uprising, about 600 people in total, were arrested, several dozen of them were executed in the case of the “Petliura military organization.” It was decided to remove the rest from Odessa. During loading into the cars at the Odessa railway station, a shootout began during which most of the six hundred Galicians were shot. Some sources say that it was the notorious security officers who carried out the bloody massacre. Other sources say that it was the Galicians who were the first to start shooting, outraged by their being sent to the remote rear of the Red Army, away from Ukraine.

Thus, in two years, the Ukrainian Galician Army (initially, by the way, simply the “Galician Army”) managed to change and serve the following masters: at first they were part of the Austro-Hungarian army; then a short period of independence: October-November 1918. Unsuccessful battles against the Poles and switching to the side of the Petliurists. They fought on the side of the Petliurists until November 1919 and went over to the side of the White Guards. A few months later they abandoned the White Guards and went over to the Reds. And a few months later, in April 1920, they abandoned the Reds and went over to the side of the Poles. The last period is especially remarkable, since in six months, from November 1919 to April 1920, the Galicians managed to change three armies for which they fought. It seems to me that this is an absolute record for betrayal and prostitution in a short period of time, and even in the absence of significant military successes.
In general, the history of the Ukrainian Galician Army is especially revealing and probably most accurately reflects the essence of modern Ukraine, as well as the essence of modern Ukraine, which is trying to take Galician ideas as its new basis and new ideology.

Myths about the origin of Ukraine and Ukrainians - 3

Myth 3. Historically foreign flag of Ukraine.

The history of the Ukrainian flag, like all of Ukraine, is shrouded in myths and lies and is based on historical fraud and fantastic nonsense. The main thesis of the created myth is that “the yellow-blue colors symbolized the Kiev state, ... over time they were revived on the coats of arms of Ukrainian cities, ... almost all the coats of arms of the cities of the Kiev region and Ukraine as a whole were framed with yellow-blue flowers, ... since the 18th century, regimental and centurion Cossack flags of the Zaporozhian Army are increasingly made of blue cloth..."

Officially, the meaning of the blue and yellow colors on the flag is traditionally interpreted as a combination of a clear, peaceful, cloudless sky over the yellow color of a grain field - a symbol of peaceful labor and prosperity.

But even a superficial examination of this legend reveals the absurdity of pseudo-historical statements. Let's take Kievan Rus, for example, although it has nothing to do with modern Ukraine. What colors of banners prevailed in the ancient Russian principalities?

In these principalities, banners were a symbol of princely power, and since the 9th century, in the lands that are now part of Ukraine, the symbolism has always been dominated by red, crimson, white, less often blue and green colors, but not yellow-blue. For example, Russian troops that took part in the Battle of Grunwald against the Teutonic Order in 1410 marched with banners of different colors. The yellow-blue color was characteristic only of Lvov; other colors of banners predominated in other units. So the lie about the dominance of yellow-blue banners in Kievan Rus is far-fetched.

If we take the Cossack period, then all statements about yellow-blue Cossack banners also turn out to be lies. On the banners of the Little Russian Cossacks, who considered and called themselves Russians, the historical colors of Rus' prevailed. Bogdan Khmelnytsky went into battle with a white banner in his left hand, and he was followed by two general cornets with purple and white banners flowing.

There is not a word about the yellow color and the trident on the ensigns of the regiments and hundreds of the Left Bank Hetmanate and on the flags of the Slobozhanshchina regiments. To distinguish Cossack regiments and hundreds in battle, flags of different colors were used. This was not caused by their national differences, but by military necessity to determine the place in battle of this or that regiment or hundreds. So attempts to trace the history of the Ukrainian flag also from the flags of Cossack hundreds and regiments are the blatant ignorance of their authors.

Where did the yellow-blue flag come from in Ukraine? It turns out that this myth, like everything “Ukrainian,” was born in Galicia, Austria at that time, and has nothing to do with the history of Ukrainian lands. This flag is not so ancient and it appeared in the middle of the 19th century. The combination of yellow-blue colors of the banners is characteristic of the provinces of the Austrian Habsburg Empire - Dolmatia, Lower Austria, Galicia and Lodomeria and Rus'-Ruthenia. All these lands were Austrian provinces and had nothing to do with Greater Rus'. The Galician Rusyns received a flag of this color from the hands of the Austrian royal family for their faithful service.

In 1848, a revolution broke out in Austria, and the emperor brought in the Rusyns of Galicia to suppress it, who showed themselves well as punitive forces against the rebels. For their faithful service to Franz Joseph, they were awarded the latter nickname “Tyroleans of the Middle East” and he granted them a yellow-blue flag as a symbol of the Galician regiment, and the Russian Council, created by the Austrian authorities and loyal to them, approved this flag as a symbol of Galicia and called on the Rusyns to support Emperor. According to one version, on the ribbon to the Ruthenian flag, the emperor’s mother, Archduchess Sophia, embroidered the slogan: “Loyalty leads to victory. Sophia, Archduchess of Austria."

As we see, modern myth-makers are trying to make the symbol of loyalty to the Austrian throne a symbol of “independent Ukraine” and hide the role of the Habsburgs in the history of its emergence. Cossacks with their regimental badges appeared as arguments much later, when the population of Little Russia had to come up with a new story in which it would appear as a special non-Russian people of the outskirts of Poland.

On the territory of modern Ukraine, with the exception of Galicia, until 1914 this flag was never a symbol of any kind and, moreover, was not used by military, political or public structures. No one knew anything about this flag on the territory of Little Russia.

The yellow-blue flag resurfaces along with the Sich Riflemen on the eve of the First World War. Under the Austrian command, units of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and other Galician formations are created, which the Austrian monarchy, under this flag, prepares for combat operations against the Russian army.

Streltsy emissaries under the leadership of Grushevsky are sent to Kyiv to conduct subversive activities. They attracted Kiev students and organized a demonstration in March 1914 to honor Shevchenko, where they marched under the yellow-blue flag for the first time in Little Russia. This is how the colors of the Habsburg Empire penetrated the territory of Little Russia and began to poison the lives of the local population.

The Sich Riflemen under this flag were defeated by Russian troops in 1915 on Mount Makovka. Ukrainian myth-makers are trying to present this defeat as a “great” victory of Ukrainian weapons and, instead of Victory Day, celebrate May 8 as the day of remembrance of the Sich Riflemen, teaching everyone to lay not carnations, but poppies on the graves of the fallen.

The Sich Riflemen Corps was eventually defeated by Russian troops, and many of the Riflemen were captured, including Konovalets, the future leader of the OUN. Immediately after the February Revolution, immigrants from Galicia established a self-styled Central Rada in Kyiv, headed by Grushevsky (out of 18 members, 12 were representatives of Galicia) and attracted former captured Sich Riflemen to demonstrations under the yellow-blue flag. Konovalets created from them in November 1917 in Kyiv military formations, which distinguished themselves by suppressing the uprising of the Arsenal workers

When Grushevsky created the Ukrainian People's Republic in January 1918, the flag of the Austrian province became the state flag of this operetta state. With the liquidation of the UPR, the flag passes to Hetman Skoropadsky, he changes the colors the other way around, but this does not help, and this regime fell. The next champion of independence, Petlyura, returns to the UPR flag with Polish bayonets, but the curse of the Austrian flowers overtakes him too, another pseudo-state has sunk into oblivion. In November 1918, the Ukrainian Galician Army was formed in Galicia under this flag, which suffered the same fate.

With the end of the civil war, the yellow-blue flag was practically forgotten on Ukrainian lands; it was used only by OUN militants and in the foreign diaspora, represented by immigrants from Galicia. It resurfaces during the Great Patriotic War and unites Ukrainian punitive forces and police officers.

Under this flag, in occupied Ukraine and Belarus, the punitive battalions “Nachtigall” and “Roland”, the SS division “Galicia” and the ruthless beasts from the UPA dealt with civilians. The yellow-blue flag flew next to the Hitler flag over all police stations and city councils and in the eyes of the population remained a symbol of betrayal and treason.

With the beginning of the next unrest in the late 80s, the yellow-blue flag appears again, and not just anywhere, but at demonstrations in Galicia; in other regions it was and remained an alien symbol. Gradually, under the pressure of Galician emissaries who flooded Kyiv and the Supreme Council, this flag was imposed as a symbol of independent Ukraine, and after the well-known events in Moscow in August 1991, on the wave of general permissiveness at the request of the Russian Rukh, it was raised above the building of the Supreme Council.

No one has ever publicly discussed what the national flag of Ukraine should be. Behind the scenes, under the leadership of Kravchuk, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council in September 1991, it began to be used in official events. Under pressure from the leadership of the Supreme Council, deputies approved it as the state flag in January 1992. This is how the yellow-blue banner, presented by the Austrian monarch to the Sich Riflemen of Galicia for their faithful service to the Habsburg crown during the suppression of the Hungarian uprising, became the state flag of Ukraine.

Plan
Introduction
1 Branch of the military
2 Organization
Bibliography
Ukrainian Galician Army

Introduction

Galician Army (Ukrainian: Galician Army) - regular army of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (WUNR).

The basis of the army was the legion of Sich Riflemen. The conscription of men 18-35 years old into the army was carried out on the basis of the Law on Universal Military Service of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. Thus, the territory of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic was divided into 3 military regions (Lviv, Ternopil, Stanislav), each of which was divided into 4 military districts. Commanders - Anton Kravs, Miron Tarnavsky, Osip Mikitka.

Later, part of the GA personnel went to serve in the Armed Forces of the South of Russia under the command of Denikin, and two months later - to the Reds, which was the reason for the renaming of the Galician Army to CHUGA (Chervona Ukrainian Galician Army), or the Red Ukrainian Galician Army, and part - into the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

1. Branch of troops

70% of the personnel consisted of infantry .

Artillery It was also a priority branch of the military and was armed with more than 60 batteries; the high combat effectiveness of the UGA artillery was noted.

Cavalry was not given much importance, since it was supposed to conduct a positional war, it was formed mounted brigade .

There was also aviation regiment with an airbase in the village. Krasne, created, among other things, with the help of former officers of the Russian imperial army and was armed with about 40 aircraft, the regiment included a flight school, hundreds of technical and airfield services.

Parts of technical support included 5 sapper hundreds, communications regiment with telephone hundreds. The UGA convoy consisted of 36 cars, 42 motorcycles and was reorganized into self-propelled smokehouse . Armored vehicles in the UGA it was represented by 2-3 armored cars and 2 armored trains.

Sanitary service was organized on the model of the Austrian-Hungarian sanitary service and had at its disposal 2-5 field hospitals and a sanitary train. In addition there was field gendarmerie, veterinary departments at headquarters, field mail posts, etc.

2. Organization

The Ukrainian Galician Army (UGA) did not have divisions, but only corps and brigades. The brigade consisted of a headquarters, a headquarters (mace) hundred, 4 infantry kurens, one cavalry hundred, one artillery regiment with an artillery workshop and an ammunition depot, one engineer hundred, one communications department, a supply depot and a brigade hospital. Some brigades had more infantry kurens (5-6), and in some these kurens were also united into regiments of three kurens. The cavalry brigade consisted of 2 cavalry regiments, to which 1-2 cavalry artillery batteries, a cavalry technical hundred and a cavalry communications hundred could be attached. The beginnings of them already existed in the cavalry brigade.

Individual UGA brigades had the following names:

· 1st Ukrainian Sich Riflemen

· 2nd Kolomyia

· 3rd Berezhanskaya

· 4th Zolochivskaya

· 5th Ravskaya

· 6th Sokalskaya

· 7th Lvovskaya

· 8th Samborskaya

· 9th Belzkaya

· 10th Yavorovskaya

· 11th Stryyskaya

· 14th Stanislavovskaya

· 15th Stanislavovskaya

· 16th Chortkovskaya

· 17th Buchachskaya

· 18th Ternopil

· 21st Ternopil

The I Galician Corps included the following brigades:

Bibliography:

1. Great Galician Zrada of Ukraine