Winter offensive in Ukraine (1918-1919)

Street battles in the cities of Galicia

Mastery of Ukrainians by Galicia. Fight for Przemysl

On the night of November 1, 1918, 1,500 armed soldiers and officers of the Austro-Hungarian army of Ukrainian origin entered Lviv without warning ( ^[1] ). The armed groups of Ukrainians in one night occupied all the most important institutions of the city: the building of the Austrian headquarters of the military command and the administration building of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria , the Sejm of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, the railway station, army and police barracks, mail. Ukrainian formations took the garrison of the city by surprise, so he practically did not show resistance. All Austrian soldiers were disarmed, the commandant general of the city was taken into custody, having previously resigned. The headquarters of the Ukrainian troops is located in the Lviv People’s House.

The Austrians in this situation declared neutrality. In the morning, the city was completely controlled by Ukrainian troops. On the same night, power passed into the hands of Ukrainians bloodlessly in Stanislavov (Ivano-Frankivsk) , Tarnopol (Ternopol) , Zolochev , Sokal , Rava-Russian , Kolomyia , Snyatyn , Pechenezhin , Borislav , etc. ^[2]

The Poles of Galicia did not expect such a turn of events. They hoped that in the near future Galicia would bloodlessly become part of a resurgent Poland. Therefore, on November 1, in Przemysl , the first clashes took place between Polish police units and irregular armed formations of Poles on the one hand and formations of Ukrainians on the other. The reason for the start of hostilities was the incident on November 2 at the railway station, which killed 7 Galician-Ukrainians. On November 3, 220 armed Ukrainian peasants from neighboring villages entered the Przemysl, who drove the Polish police out of the city. During the battle, the villagers were able to arrest the Austrian commandant of the city and the commander of the Polish police. For one week in Przemysl, relative calm remained. The city was controlled by Ukrainian troops, to which another 500 people were called up ^[3] .

On November 10, regular Polish troops came to the Przemysl from the west, numbering 2,000 infantry, several armored vehicles , one armored train, and several artillery pieces. The Galician Ukrainians who opposed them had 700 infantry and 2 guns. On the outskirts of Premyshl, a battle broke out, as a result of which the city came under the control of the Polish army. The capture of Przemysl by the Poles allowed them to launch an offensive on Lviv, where intense street fighting took place.

Fight for the Lions

Fights in Lviv began a day later than in Przemysl. On the morning of November 1 , immediately after the transfer of power in the city into the hands of Ukrainians, the Polish leaders of Lviv announced the beginning of mobilization. At the same time, the strengthening of the Polish city quarters began. In the first half of the day the tense situation remained, although there were no clashes. In the afternoon, the Polish formations turned the Lviv Polytechnic Institute and St. George's Cathedral into fortified points for collecting conscripts. The streets around these buildings were blocked by barricades ^[4] .

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities in Lviv could not come to a joint decision on how to respond to "Polish activity in the city." Despite this, preparations for battles also began on the Ukrainian side. On the night of November 1 to 2, a lull was established in the city, which both Ukrainians and Poles used as time to build up strength.

In the early morning of November 2, the first shots rang out in Lviv. Fighting began in different parts of the city, which took on a fierce character near the station, freight station, arms depots and foodstuffs. As a result, the Poles took possession of these key points, which allowed them to additionally arm another 3,000 people. Initially, only 200 World War Veterans from the Polish Troops Organization , who had 64 rifles and were based at the Senkevich school on the western outskirts of the city, offered resistance to the Ukrainian warriors ; however, the very next day, the ranks of the Polish defenders of Lviv totaled 6,000 people, of which 1,400 adolescents were scouts , gymnasium students and students who received the nickname “ Lviv eagles ” for their courage (the most famous among them was the thirteen-year-old Antos Petrikevich , who died in battle and was posthumously awarded the order Virtuti Military ). Despite the fighting, negotiations began on the same day between the Poles and Ukrainians on working out joint agreements and a ceasefire. Negotiations failed, and on November 3, street fighting resumed. By that day, the Poles managed to mobilize another 1150 soldiers, who were opposed by 2050 fighters of Ukrainian forces. But the Poles had a numerical superiority in the number of professional fighters and officers, while on the Ukrainian side ordinary soldiers fought mainly ^[4] .

Strengthening Polish forces in Lvov

The Ukrainian commandant of the city was elected on the night of November 1 to 2, so the Poles decided to elect their commandant. November 3 was Cheslav Monchinsky . At the same time, the People’s Polish Committee was created. On the same day, Polish formations raided the center of Lviv, which was reflected by the Ukrainians. Meanwhile, from the east, 1000 Ukrainian Sich Riflemen entered the city under the command of Gryts Kossak , who were already thrown into battle under the railway station on November 4 . On November 5, the Poles repulsed the attack of the Ukrainians and themselves went on the offensive. As a result of street fighting, the center of Lviv was surrounded by Polish formations on three sides - from the south, west and north. In the center were the Ukrainian authorities of the city and all of Galicia.

From November 5 to 11, a positional war was fought near the center of Lviv. Major battles were fought near the Lviv Citadel , the barracks and the cadet school. All attempts by the parties to start negotiations were interrupted, since each of the opponents considered the city to be their own. On November 12, Ukrainians broke through the front, and the Poles began a retreat from the city center. On November 13, Lviv proclaimed the creation of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic , whose president was Yevgeny Petrushevich . Meanwhile, the Poles broke into the southern part of Lviv, stopping the advance of the Ukrainians on the outskirts of the city and leaving behind the rear units of Ukrainian troops. On November 14, the front changed again: Ukrainians entered the northern quarters of the city, driving the Poles out of there. November 15, Polish troops in cars broke into the northern quarters of Lviv, again regaining control of them. On November 16, battles again became positional.

After long, unsuccessful battles for Lviv for both sides, negotiations began. On November 17, a two-day ceasefire was signed in Lviv. During these two days, the ZUNR government turned to the provinces of the republic untouched by the war with a request to send reinforcements. But the poorly organized mobilization system did not allow us to send additional forces to the city on time, so the soldiers who arrived in Lviv in the following days could not turn the tide in favor of the Ukrainians. Meanwhile, the Poles, who had been able to take possession of Przemysl a week earlier, sent 1,400 foot soldiers, 8 artillery pieces and 11 machine guns by rail to Lviv. Also, a Polish armored train arrived in the city. This greatly changed the balance of power in the city. Now the superiority was on the side of the Poles - 5800 people, when the Ukrainians had only 4600 people, of which half were unprofessional volunteers. Now the battles were between two full-fledged armies, Polish and Ukrainian, which had already formed by that time, and not between semi-professional irregular formations ^[4] .

Ukrainian Retreat from Lviv

The ceasefire expired on November 21 . At 6 a.m., the Poles launched a general offensive. The Polish 5th Infantry Regiment under the command of Major Mikhail Karshevich-Tokarzhevsky (a Lviv native) broke into Lvov from the side of Przemysl, thanks to which the Poles gained an edge and in the evening took the Ukrainians in the center of Lviv into the ring. The Pole was occupied by the cemetery - a strategically key point in the city. On the night of November 22, Colonel Stefanov ordered the Ukrainian units to leave Lviv. The Ukrainian units concentrated 30 kilometers in the south, east and north of the city, besieging it.

In the morning, the Poles entered the city center. However, the Polish command was disappointed that it was able to lose 4,000 enemy troops from the "boiler". Immediately after the capture of the city in Lviv, a Jewish pogrom took place. Jews remained neutral in the Polish-Ukrainian confrontation. As a result of the pogrom, 500 Jews were injured to varying degrees, about 70 more were killed ^[4] .

Meanwhile, in the Ukrainian part of Galicia, from November 22 to 25, elections were held for 150 members of the Ukrainian National Council, which was supposed to act as the legislative body of the ZUNR. Almost a third of the seats were reserved for national minorities (primarily Poles and Jews ). The Poles boycotted the elections, unlike the Jews, who made up almost 10% of the composition of the deputies ^[2] .

In memory of the pro-Polish defenders of the city in the 1920s, a memorial was erected at the Lychakiv Cemetery , from where in 1925 the ashes of a soldier who died in Lviv were taken to Warsaw , where he was reburied in the tomb of the Unknown Soldier .

Opening of the front in Volyn and a campaign in Transcarpathia

The formation of the Ukrainian - Polish front with a total length of about 200 kilometers from Volyn in the north to the Romanian border in the south began in mid-November. This length was due to the numerous uprisings of Poles against Ukrainian Galicians, not only in large cities, but also in small towns of Galicia. By the end of November, the front passed along the Tesnaya - Khirov - Przemysl river - the eastern outskirts of Lviv - Yaroslav - Lyubachev - Rava-Russkaya - Belz - Krylov ^[2] .

On December 5, 1918, the battle for Khirov took place, in which 2,000 Poles and 1,000 Galician Ukrainians took part. Although the advantage was on the side of the Polish troops, the Ukrainians managed to take over the city. Thanks to this, they were able to launch an attack on Przemysl. On December 9, Ukrainian Galician units came close to the city, but could not take it, since the city was a powerful fortress of the former Austro-Hungarian army. The Poles took advantage of this, and on December 12 launched a counterattack from Przemysl to Khirov. On December 16, during the battles with the Galician Ukrainians, the Poles again captured Khirov. Until January 1919, the front line did not change (except for Volhynia ), a calm was observed at the front in winter ^[5] .

On January 3, 1919, Polish forces entered Volyn territory, which the German occupation forces left. By January 14, all the key settlements of the region were controlled by the Poles. During the campaign to Volhynia, Polish troops encountered armed groups of the UNR Directory , which resisted the Poles, but were forced to retreat. Simon Petlyura immediately reacted to this, who, together with units of the ZUNR army, created the Kholm-Volyn Front and the North-Western Front in Volyn. The front was faced with the task of pushing back the Polish troops beyond the Bug and San rivers , occupying Vladimir-Volynsky and Kovel .

Meanwhile, in the south of the Polish-Ukrainian front, Ukrainian Galician troops made an attempt to annex Transcarpathia to the ZUNR. Using the Czechoslovak-Hungarian war , several battalions of Galicians penetrated into this region. By that time, two states were already located on the territory of Transcarpathia - Carpathian Rus , which aspired to join Czechoslovakia, and Russian Kraina, autonomy within Hungary . However, the campaign failed, and hostilities were limited to minor battles with Czechoslovak volunteers and the Hungarian police. However, the war with Czechoslovakia was not beneficial to the West Ukrainian People’s Republic, so the Ukrainian Galician troops left the region after several days in Transcarpathia.

In January, Yevgeny Petrushevich ordered the formation of regular military units of the former Austro-Hungarian army , consisting mainly of Galician Ukrainians, of the Galician Army (GA) . Galician Ukrainians took advantage of the lull to form this army and reorganize troops ^[5] .

Offensive of the Polish Army

On January 21, the troops of the Ukrainian People’s Republic of up to 6,500 men with 8 guns moved towards Kovel and Vladimir-Volynsky. On January 22, as a result of fierce battles, Ukrainian units captured the cities. However, Kovel and Vladimir-Volynsky were under the control of the Ukrainians for a short time, as the Ukrainian Soviet forces advanced westward in the rear of the ZUNR and UNR. At the end of January, Ukrainian Soviet troops of the Ukrainian SSR struck the UPR troops in the Polesie region near Sarn , Korosten and Kovel. The Poles took advantage of this, launching a general offensive on the northern part of the entire Polish-Ukrainian front. Thus, in Volhynia, parts of the Ukrainian people's republic were “crushed” between two opponents - Poland and the Ukrainian SSR . Despite this, they were able to stay in this region thanks mainly to mass anti-Bolshevik uprisings in the rear of the Ukrainian Soviet army .

The next Polish offensive in Volhynia began on March 3 and ended on March 8 . The regular Polish army was actively helped by local residents - ethnic Poles. They were operating in the rear of the UPR army, engaged in sabotage. As a result, the Polish units took control of several settlements of Volyn, but the large cities of Lutsk and Rivne were still held by units of the UPR army .

On January 6, Poles from Rava-Russkaya attacked the North group of troops of the Galician army. The main blow came in Zhovkva , and the North group suffered huge losses. As a result of the offensive, on January 11, the Polish group of troops of Romera made their way to Lviv. However, the Galicians quickly regained their strength and again occupied Zholkva, capturing there Polish carts with food and ammunition, following Romer. In response, the Poles attempted to help Romer’s units by attacking the Galician troops north of Lviv. The attack failed ^[5] .

At the same time, the process of combining ZUNR with the UNR ( Simon Petlyura's Directory ) was taking place. The union was proclaimed on January 3 ; On January 22, the “ Zluka Act ” was signed, and ZUNR became part of the UPR as the Western region of the Ukrainian People’s Republic . On January 28 , after a ceremonial rally in Kiev and the official announcement of reunification, Petlyura sent weapons, ammunition and several military leaders to ZUNR. However, help from Petliura did not last long. Already in February, parts of the GA felt an acute shortage of ammunition ^{[2] [3]} .

Vovchukhovskaya operation. Peace Talks

In February, fights near Lviv again began to receive much attention from both sides. Galician-Ukrainians wanted to take the city, which they considered the capital of ZUNR, despite the fact that the Poles considered Lviv their original Polish city. In the meantime, Poland could not adequately support its units in Galicia due to several border conflicts with Czechoslovakia, which the GA command took advantage of.

To storm Lviv, GA colonels Mishkovsky and Kakurin began to develop a plan for the Vovchukhov operation . The main blow was to be inflicted in the direction of Lviv from the village of Vovchukhi . The GA command believed that the city should be taken at all costs, regardless of the losses. After the capture of Lviv, the assault of Przemysl was planned, after which it was possible to begin negotiations with Poland with the support of the Entente mission ^[5] .

February 16, Ukrainian troops struck in the direction of Lviv. After fierce fighting on February 18, the Civil Aviation Administration cut the railway line from Przemysl to Lviv, depriving the Polish troops of support from Poland. Because of this, panic began in Lviv, the commanders of the Polish army were preparing for the voluntary surrender of the city. At the same time, the Ukrainians launched an attack on Ravu Russkaya. In connection with the aggravated situation, 10 500 soldiers were urgently sent from Poland to the Lviv Front. On February 20, reinforcements reached the front line, and the Poles launched a counterattack. On February 23, the front line that existed before the Vovchukhov operation was restored.

On the same day, the Entente peacekeeping mission arrived in Lviv, the main purpose of which was to create a demarcation line in Galicia between the Poles and Ukrainians and end the war. The mission was led by General Barthelemy. Despite its peaceful goals, the mission brought 100 machine guns, 18 aircraft and 10,000 rifles for the Polish army.

After arriving in Galicia, Barthelemy proposed his line of dividing Galicia, while Lviv and Drohobych crossed over to Poland, which did not suit ZUNR. The general demanded that the Polish army withdraw from Galicia to the Western Bug . On February 2, Barthelemy held talks with the ZUNR government, where the UNR delegation categorically refused to accept the opponent’s terms. The next stage of the negotiations took place on February 22 in Khodorov , where Simon Petlyura also arrived. These negotiations failed, and their failure seriously affected the UNR. The recent unification of the ZUNR and the UPR virtually nullified due to a quarrel between Petlyura and the Western Ukrainian government over peace with Poland. Despite this, the Entente was able to achieve a ceasefire in Galicia on February 24 , and in the following days negotiations between ZUNR and Poland resumed. On February 28, the third stage of negotiations failed, and ZUNR completely broke relations with Poland ^[5] , and then denounced the “Act of Seriousness” with the UNR .