1st Ukrainian building

On January 22, 1917, Lieutenant General P.P. Skoropadsky was appointed All-Russian Emperor commander of the 34th Army Corps .

After the general failure of the June (1917) offensive of the Russian Army and the Ternopil breakthrough of the Austro-German forces, the commander of the 8th Army, General L. G. Kornilov , who managed to keep the front in a difficult situation, was appointed commander in chief of the armies of the Southwestern Front and dispatched the same day A telegram to the Provisional Government describing the situation at the front ("Army of distraught dark people ... flees ...") and its proposals for correcting the situation (the introduction of the death penalty and field courts at the front). Two weeks later he took the highest post - he was appointed Supreme Commander. Before accepting this position, he stipulated the conditions under which he would agree to do so - one of the conditions was the implementation of the army reorganization program. To restore discipline at the request of General Kornilov, the Provisional Government returned the death penalty to the army. By decisive and severe methods, with the use of deserters in exceptional cases, General Kornilov returned the army to combat effectiveness and restored the front.

One of the measures that, according to Kornilov, could radically increase the fighting efficiency of the troops, was the creation of large national military units - primarily Ukrainian: according to Kornilov, it was the Ukrainians who directly defended their native land who showed the greatest stamina and discipline in battle. In August 1917, at the suggestion of L. G. Kornilov, Skoropadsky set about “Ukrainizing” his corps ^{[1] [2]} (the 104th and 153rd infantry divisions). To reform the corps was transferred to the district of Medzhibozh .

"Ukrainization" consisted in the fact that Russian soldiers and officers of the 34th AK were transferred to the 41st AK , and in their place were taken from other parts of the front soldiers and officers - Ukrainians; in the shelves, along with the all-Russian, national symbols and the Ukrainian language were introduced.

It was assumed that the 1st Ukrainian Corps consisting of 8 regiments, combined into two divisions, will have a total number of 60 thousand soldiers.

The date of creation of the 1st Ukrainian Corps in a number of sources is called July 2, 1917 ^[1] , although in fact, Ukrainization began only in August and ended at the end of September.

In October 1917, after the Bolsheviks came to power , Skoropadsky, changing the oath to the emperor, recognized the power of the Ukrainian Central Council , although the socialist ideas of its leaders seemed alien and unacceptable to him.

In November-December, the corps implemented a plan developed by the chief of staff of the corps, General Ya. V. Safonov, to neutralize the "Bolshevized" military units of the 2nd Guards Corps , which left the front and attacked Kiev. Parts of the corps occupied strategically important railway stations - Vinnitsa , Zhmerinka , Kazatin , Berdichev , Bila Tserkva and Fastov - and blocked the Bolsheviks from the south to Kiev. The "red" trains were intercepted, disarmed and sent to Soviet Russia.

However, the leadership of the Central Council and the UPR continued to treat Skoropadsky with prejudice, considering him as a future rival in the struggle for power or not believing that the aristocrat and one of the wealthiest people of the former empire could sincerely defend the interests of the UPR. The aggravation of relations with the Central Rada was also facilitated by the growing popularity of Skoropadsky, who was elected General Ataman on October 6, 1917 at the All-Ukrainian Congress of Free Cossacks in Chyhyryn. This was a manifestation of special trust and respect, testified to great authority among the masses.

After the removal of Simon Petlyura from the post of General Secretary of Military Affairs and the appointment of Nikolai Porsh in his place, Skoropadsky’s relations with the leaders of the UCR deteriorated completely. The combat general, marked by the highest military awards, could not understand why the urgent problems of the organization of the army are solved by a person who has never had anything to do with it.

All efforts of Skoropadsky to prove the need for the existence of the Ukrainian regular army were in vain. The corps on the eve of winter was without food, winter clothes and shoes. This attitude demoralized the fighters, and they began to disperse home. Under constant pressure from the leadership of the Central Council, General Skoropadsky was forced to resign from the post of chieftain-in-chief of the Central Council troops to save the corps on the eve of 1918. At the same time, he left the post of commander of the 1st Ukrainian Corps ^[3] . With the departure of Skoropadsky from the post of commander in chief, the Ukrainian army almost fell apart.

Formally, the 1st Ukrainian Corps until the end of 1917 was part of the 7th Army of the Southwestern Front , although both the front and the army as a single structure did not actually exist.

After the resignation of General Skoropadsky, the corps was actually headed by General Ya. G. Gandzyuk , head of the 1st Ukrainian Division ^[4] .

On January 3 (16), 1918, the Central Rada issued a provisional “Law on the Education of the Ukrainian National Army,” according to which the Ukrainian regiments of the regular army should be dissolved, replacing them with the people's police. On January 4 (17), Nikolai Porsch ordered the army to be completely demobilized, which completely disoriented and demoralized the Ukrainianized units.

In January 1918, the corps was fragmented and housed in the White Church, Berdichev, Fastov and Vinnitsa to maintain order there and protect the local population from deserters and local gangs. Covering Kiev from the south, the corps did not have sufficient forces to effectively resist the advance of Kiev by the Bolshevik troops Mikhail Muravyov , which unfolded in January 1918. January 27 (February 9), Kiev was taken by Soviet troops, and the day before, on the night of January 25 to 26 (February 7-8), the Ukrainian government and the rest of the UPR troops left Kiev along the Zhytomyr Highway. On one of the last days of the defense of Kiev, General Gandzyuk and the chief of staff, General Safonov, left the corps headquarters for a meeting in Kiev, not assuming such a drastic change in situation. At one of the outposts of the Soviet troops, they were captured and sent for interrogation to the commander in chief Muravyov. Refusing to accept his offer to go to the service of Soviet Russia, on January 27 (February 9) both generals were shot.

Left without command, parts of the corps in an atmosphere of general anarchy also lost discipline, and by the middle of February general desertion began. In February 1918, the corps was demobilized. A small part of it, led by Colonel Nikonov, had already joined the army of the Ukrainian state, the hetman Skoropadsky, after the Germans arrived ^[5] .

The 1st Ukrainian Corps included 8 infantry and two artillery regiments and other formations.

• 1st Division (commander Major General Jacob Gandzyuk, Chief of Staff Colonel Nikolai Kapustyansky);
  • 1st Kiev regiment named after Bogdan Khmelnitsky (commander - Colonel Mayevsky),
  • 2nd Starodubsky regiment named after the hetman Skoropadsky (Colonel Masalitinov),
  • 3rd Poltava regiment named after the hetman Sagaidachny (Colonel Nikonov),
  • 4th Chernihiv regiment named after the hetman Half-training (Colonel Porokhovsky),
• 2nd Division (commander, Major General V. Klimenko, chief of staff, Major General Kramarenko).

Commander

• P.P. Skoropadsky (2.07 - 12.29.1917) ^[2] ;
• Ya. G. Gandzyuk (12/29/1917 - 01/27/1918).

Chief of Staff

• Y. V. Safonov , Major General.

• Zalessky K. A. Who was who in the First World War. Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary. Moscow , 2003
• Military Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., Military Publishing House , 1984. Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty 1918. S. 100-101; Southwestern Front 1914-1917, p. 838;
• Valery Klaving, Civil war in Russia: White armies. Military historical library. M., 2003.
• Y. Tynchenko. Ukrainian Armed Forces. K .: Tempora, 2009 - S. 246.

• The Russian army in the First World War. Skoropadsky Pavel Petrovich.