The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (УПА)

It was in Polissia and Volhynia that the first Ukrainian nationalist partisan units appeared and, surprisingly, at the outset they were not associated with OUN. As soon as the Nazi-Soviet war broke out, Taras Bulba-Borovets, a local Ukrainian activist, formed an irregular unit called “Polissian Sich”, later renamed the UPA (Ukrainska Povstanska Armiia – Ukrainian Insurgent Army), for the purpose of cleansing his region of the remnants of the Red Army. He proclaimed himself the major otaman of Ukraine. When the Germans tried to disband his unit in late 1941, he started to fight both the Germans and the Soviets. In 1942, members of both OUN-M and OUN-B also established small units in Volhynia.

In early 1943 almost all units of OUN-M, OUN-B, and Borovets were united into the UPA under leadership of OUN-B. D. Kliachkovsky (Klym Savur), a member of the OUN-B leadership, was elected commander-in-chief of the UPA. The UPA quickly grew into a large, well-organized partisan army, which took control of large parts of Volhynia, Polissia, and, later, Galicia. Its numbers reached close to 40,000 fighters.[11] Compared to other underground movements in Nazi-occupied Europe, the UPA was unique in that it had practically no foreign support. Its growth and strength were, therefore, an indication of the very considerable popular support it enjoyed among the Ukrainians.

Compared to Soviet partisans, the UPA tried to avoid direct anti-German actions. The UPA units fought against the Germans only when being attacked or when it was necessary. They tried to spare local population from Nazi’s retaliating actions. More than 250 villages in Ukraine were burned with their inhabitants as punishments for Soviet partisan actions (the so-called collective responsibility practice). Moreover, in many regions of Volhynia and Polissia the UPA managed to protect German communications from diversions of Soviet partisans. By protecting German communications they protected Ukrainian civilians from retaliating actions. On the other hand the UPA did not want to help the Soviet army by attacking the German army and thus loosing their men. Regular fighting between the UPA and Germans started only from February 1943 and was not large-scale. The major enemies of the UPA were Soviet and Polish partisans.

In the course of war the OUN changed its totalitarian ideology to get broader support. At its major large meetings in August 1943 and July 1944 the organization proclaimed democratization of the national movement. The OUN allowed the existence of several political parties instead of one, and gave up their slogan “Ukraine for Ukrainians!” Such democratic freedoms as those of speech, meetings, the press, consciousness, etc were also proclaimed, mostly to attract attention of the old western democracies (USA and Great Britain). The OUN hoped to get their help in the ‘fight against both dictators’: Hitler and Stalin. In general, the number 1 enemy of the UPA was the Soviet Union, the number 2 – Poland, and the number 3 – Germany.

When Soviet troops came to Western Ukraine in 1944 the UPA concluded an armisticewith the Germans to spare its men for the fight against the Soviets. The retreating Germans even left military supplies for the UPA and continued to supply the nationalists by air. Some Russian historians and pro-Russian politicians from Eastern Ukraine (N.Vitrenko, P.Simonenko) stress these facts as signs of collaboration between the Nazis and the UPA. Most Ukrainian historians, however, say that it was practical decision on both sides as the Germans and the UPA had now a very powerful common enemy.

Поиск по сайту: