Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

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Gorque
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Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#1

Post by Gorque » 02 Oct 2021, 23:27

Karel Berkhoff mentions certain Ukrainian organizations that sprang-up within the Reichskommissariat in 1941 without delving to deep as to what became of their members once they were dissolved by Koch & co.

For instance: There is the Ukrainian Council of Trust, formed in Volhynia and headed by Stepan Skrypnyk; The Ukrainian Central Committee based in the General Government; The Ukrainian National Council, formed by Oleh Kandyba and chaired by Mykola Velychkivsky. Can anyone flesh out the organizations' membership roster and their fates?

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#2

Post by Dann Falk » 03 Oct 2021, 17:04

I think this is related to your question. A small section from my (almost finished) book The 7 Guards Army from Kursk to Prague 1943-1945. on page 226 talking about the UPA.

28 February 1944
David Glantz, in his book Fallen Soviet Commanders, on page 203, relates how General N. F Vatutin, commander of the 1 UF (former commander of the Voronezh Front during the battle for Kursk) was traveling between HQs far behind the front lines when he and his escort were ambushed by Ukrainian nationalists of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Vatutin was seriously wounded in the leg and was quickly taken to a hospital in Kiev. He died on 15 April 1944 from sepsis (blood infection).

The UPA was a force to be reckoned with as it controlled large sections of Ukrainian territory. In response to this attack upon Vatutin and the destruction of an entire NKVD battalion, the Soviets deployed 30,000 troops on an anti-partisan sweep against the UPA throughout the Volyn province in northwest Ukraine . Losses were heavy on both sides during this fighting, but the UPA survived to fight on for independence long after the war.

I hope this helps.

Dann


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Gorque
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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#3

Post by Gorque » 03 Oct 2021, 17:39

Hi Dann Falk:

Thank you for the information. I have tried searching for some of the leaders/organizers, but the results can be confusing and even wrong depending upon the spelling of the individual's name as well as that much of the information is provided in Cyrillic text.

Much appreciated. :thumbsup:

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#4

Post by gebhk » 04 Oct 2021, 14:35

Hi Gorque

I think ypou would find a lot of information on Polish websites which translate (admittedly variously) using translator porgrammes. Also try the English-language Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine.

Operation Wisla (Akcja Wisla) is a useful search term. While the operation itself spelled one of the last 'chords' of the UPA saga, a number of papers on 'Akcja W' go into quite a lot of detail on its antecedents.

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#5

Post by Art » 04 Oct 2021, 21:42

Dann Falk wrote:
03 Oct 2021, 17:04
The UPA was a force to be reckoned with as it controlled large sections of Ukrainian territory. In response to this attack upon Vatutin and the destruction of an entire NKVD battalion
What is the destruction of the NKVD battalion exactly?

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#6

Post by Dann Falk » 05 Oct 2021, 01:19

Hi Art.

This was taken from an article by Kelly Bell, The Ukrainian Underground Army, Strategy & Tactics Magazine #324 Sep-Oct 2020, p 73.

This section is short but it says at the time of Vatutin's death, spring 1944, the UPA wiped out an entire NKVD battalion outside the town of Rivne. This prompted the Soviets to send in 30,000 Red Army troops to the Volyn region.

Hope this helps.

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#7

Post by Gorque » 05 Oct 2021, 09:13

gebhk wrote:
04 Oct 2021, 14:35
Hi Gorque

I think ypou would find a lot of information on Polish websites which translate (admittedly variously) using translator porgrammes. Also try the English-language Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine.

Operation Wisla (Akcja Wisla) is a useful search term. While the operation itself spelled one of the last 'chords' of the UPA saga, a number of papers on 'Akcja W' go into quite a lot of detail on its antecedents.
Hi gebhk:

Thank you for the information. I'll give those suggestions a try. :thumbsup:

EDIT: The Encyclopaedia of Ukraine is a great general reference resource. It fleshed out the numerous individuals biographies and added much needed context to the reasons behind their actions that Berkhoff's study only generally referred to.

Thanks again.
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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#8

Post by Art » 05 Oct 2021, 11:27

Dann Falk wrote:
05 Oct 2021, 01:19
This section is short but it says at the time of Vatutin's death, spring 1944, the UPA wiped out an entire NKVD battalion outside the town of Rivne.
And the exact date was?
I suspect, that was somewhat exaggerated, as losses of the Ukrainian district of NKVD forces during the entire year 1944 were 861 men killed, missing and dead of wounds.
06.jpg

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#9

Post by Dann Falk » 05 Oct 2021, 18:28

Hi Art

There was no exact date, just after 28 February 1944.

During this Soviet anti-partisan operation (30,000 troops) the UPA claimed to have killed 2,000 Russians while Beria claimed to have killed 2,018 UPA, and captured 1,570 while loosing just 11 dead and 46 wounded.

So it would appear there were exaggeration on both sides.

Dann

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#10

Post by Steve » 05 Oct 2021, 23:43

In early 44 anticipating the advance of the Red Army into Western Ukraine the UPA organised battalions of up to 600 men. These battalions engaged the Red Army and NKVD in conventional fighting and usually came off badly. On April 9 1944 the UPA attacked a dug in NKVD company three times and according to a Soviet account lost 300 men. UPA propaganda may have portrayed this defeat as a victory. However, a regular Soviet rifle battalion was attacked in August 44 and destroyed and perhaps this was changed to an NKVD battalion. In February 45 the UPA ordered their battalions to avoid conventional combat and split them up.

It seems that UPA losses in 1944 were very heavy. According to Soviet reports 57,405 guerrillas and “other anti Soviet elements” were killed in the western Ukraine. This figure may have been inflated by including an unknown number of civilian casualties.

From The Soviet Counterinsurgency In The Western Borderlands by Alexander Statiev p 108/9/10

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#11

Post by tigre » 15 Oct 2022, 21:39

Hello to all :D; a complement............................

Guerrilla Warfare in the Ukraine.

The Ukraine had declared its independence from Russia in 1917 and in 1920 was subjugated by the Red Army. Since then, various secret Ukrainian anti-Communist movements have operated with the objective of liberating their country from Soviet rule (Until finally achieving its independence again, today put to the test). Thus, because of a well-defined patriotic and political feeling, it was not astonishing that the Ukrainian people welcomed the German troops as liberators when they invaded Russia on 22 June 1941. The German political administration, however, always in disagreement with the German Army authorities, bungled this mutual understanding which would have gained for Hitler the collaboration of a country of 40 million inhabitants and, more important, the security of his rear area.

On 30 June 1941, scarcely one week after the invasion started, the Ukrainian people liberated the city of Lvov/Lviv and announced over the radio the restoration of their national independence. This surprised the German politicians who ordered that the members of the recently formed Ukrainian national government be arrested and confined in various concentration camps. This action served as a warning that the German "liberators" were not going to recognize their independence - they were merely new oppressors.

Thus, in 1941 the first anti-German guerrilla bands were formed and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists came into being. Finally, on 14 October 1942 the small detachments of guerrilla fighters were organized under one single command, taking the name of Ukrainska Povstancha Armia (UPA), Ukrainian Guerrilla Army. The Ukrainian resistance movement had the following missions:

1. To organize politically and militarily the mass of the Ukrainian population, and reorient them to oppose the new invader.
2. To organize a network of revolutionary forces in the Ukraine and instruct them in anti-German sabotage (disobedience to German orders and instruction in self-defense against the Gestapo).
3. To organize campaigns against the forced employment of laborers in German agriculture and industry.
4. To organize activities to prevent grain exports to Germany and to instruct the people in how to hide provisions, clothing, and other goods from the German requisitioning patrols.
5 .To organize an information and propaganda campaign to expose the true purposes of the Nazis and Bolsheviki in the Ukraine.
6. To organize schools to teach clandestine resistance procedures to political and military leaders.
7. To collect arms, ammunition, and other military equipment to be used by the future Ukrainian armed forces.
8. To clear the Ukrainian territory of Bolshevik secret agents, who under various guises were able to join the German agencies, including the Gestapo, to help the Germans destroy the Ukrainian resistance.

Reinforced by the transfer of members from the police forces of the principal Ukrainian cities and other Sources, the UPA promptly acquired an unexpected capability for combat action. Numerous contingents of Ukrainian troops which had deserted the Red Army joined the UPA, as well as contingents from other traditionally anti-Communist nationalities, such as Georgians, Tartars, Azerbaijani, and Turki.

Source: Military Review. November 1960.

Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#12

Post by Art » 16 Oct 2022, 10:57

tigre wrote:
15 Oct 2022, 21:39
Since then, various secret Ukrainian anti-Communist movements have operated with the objective of liberating their country from Soviet rule (Until finally achieving its independence again, today put to the test).
Throughout the interwar period Ukrainian naitonalists were mostly active in Polish Ukraine and focused on secession from Poland. Only after September 1939 they switched to predominately anti-Soviet activity. The strength of separatist movement in Soviet Ukraine was negligible.
On 30 June 1941, scarcely one week after the invasion started, the Ukrainian people liberated the city of Lvov/Lviv
Lvov was abandoned by the Soviet Army under German pressure. Despite clashes in the city between 22 and 30 June Ukrainian nationalist insurgents were unable to seize it on their own.

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#13

Post by tigre » 16 Oct 2022, 16:41

Hello Art :D; thanks for joining and complement this thread :wink:. Cheers. Raúl M 8-).

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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#14

Post by tigre » 22 Oct 2022, 16:19

Hello to all :D; more..........................

Guerrilla Warfare in the Ukraine.

UPA Organization in 1944.

By the end of the German occupation it is estimated that the UPA had about 200,000 armed guerrillas organized in units assigned to four territorial operational regions and to a series of independent operational groups. (See Figure 2). These regions were:
• The Northern Region, comprising the province of Polesie and the northern part of the Volyn province.
• The Southern Region, formed by the northern part of Bukovina and the provinces of Kamenets Podolski and Vinnitsa.
• The Eastern Region, formed by the northern forest sectors of Kiev and Zhitomir.
• The Western Region, the best organized of all, comprising the provinces of Galitzia and the Carpathian Ukraine (sectors of Lvov, Ternopol, Stanislav, Chernovtsy, Drogobych, Przemysl, Lemkishchyna, and Kholm).

The independent operational groups carried on their activities with success in the Donets River Basin, in Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Krivoi Rog, Odessa, Kremenchug, the city of Kiev, Uman, and other Ukrainian cities and in the Crimean Peninsula. Each region was subdivided into military districts, each consisting of a determined number of guerrillas formed in companies, battalions, and regiments.

The tactical operational unit was the company. Only in special situations would three or four companies units to form a battalion, or two or three battalions to form a regiment. Battalions and regiments were formed only on personal orders from the commander of the military district who would generally assume command of the larger unit thus formed. The most able and competent company commanders were assigned as battalion commanders.

Only in exceptional defensive situations were the battalions allowed to join on their own accord if it was not possible to obtain orders or the consent of the district commander. This was rare because the command posts of the military districts were mobile and were continuously supervising the situation where danger was the greatest.

Source: Military Review. November 1960.

Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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Re: Ukrainian National Organizations 1941

#15

Post by Orlov » 22 Oct 2022, 16:50

Dear Gorque,
Please reading a book available in English will help a lot
Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe, Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist: Fascism, Genocide, and Cult: Fascism, Genocide & Cult.
Unfortunately, the author too often includes integral Ukrainian nationalism as a form of fascism, but the book is interesting
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The second book worth recommending is the monograph by Grzegorz Motka
Ukrainian partisans 1942-1960. Activities of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
[Ukrainian partisans 1942-1960. Activities of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army]
In the introduction there are references to 1941 - but unfortunately the book is in Polish.
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The Russian historian working in Berlin - Alexander Gogun (https://gogun.org) - is excellent - only his book about Soviet partisans in Ukraine is available in English - a stunning reading. But you would probably be interested in his book about the UPA, unfortunately it is only in Russian, Romanian and Ukrainian.
Stalin's Commandos: Ukrainian Partisan Forces on the Eastern Front
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Между Гитлером и Сталиным. Украинские повстанцы
Between Hitler and Stalin. Ukrainian rebels
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Regards Orlov

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