Second Winter Campaign

The Second Winter Campaign was a military campaign by the Ukrainian National Army in November of 1921. The general commander was Yurii Tiutiunnyk.

The main aim of this campaign was to unify many of the partisan units which were active in many parts of Ukraine, and to create a unified military force to drive communist forces from Ukraine.

Participating units

There were three main army groups which took part in the campaign. The main group was known as the Volynhia group, and consisted of 800 men. It was under the command of general Tiutiunnyk.

The second group, known as the Podillia group, consisted of 400 men. It was commanded by Lt Col M. Palii and, later, Col S. Chorny.

The third group, the Bessarabia group, under the command of general Andrii Huly-Hulenko, was based in Romania.

The campaign

The campaign suffered from lack of coordination of units. The plan was very bold - to move into central Ukraine and unify many of the partisan units. Lack of communication proved to be the downfall of the campaign.

The Bessarabia group was active in Ukraine for only a few days, and then returned back to Romania.

The Podillia group met with early success. It began the campaign on October 25, 1917. It engaged a soviet cavalry regiment, and transformed itself into a cavalry unit. It continued on to the village of Vakhnivka, 60 km north of Kyiv, before being forced back by soviet forces. It crossed the Polish border on November 29.

The Volynhia group began operations on November 4, 1917, and it also met with early successes. It won the city of Korosten, but was unable to defend it. When news of the retreat of the Podillia group became known, the Volynhia group was also forced to retreat west. However, it was encircled by Hryhorii Kotovsky's cavalry regiment near the village of Bazar. Although there was a brief battle, most of the regiment was captured. On November 22, 1917, 359 members of the regiment were executed by firing squad. The remaining prisoners were handed over to soviet authorities.

Outcome

The Second Winter Campaign was the final battle by the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic against Bolshevik forces in Ukraine.

References

[http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pagesWIWintercampaigns.htm Encyclopedia of Ukraine]