Taras Shevchenko Company
The Taras Shevchenko Company (Compañía "Taras Shevchenko") was a largely western Ukrainian company of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War . It was named after the most important Ukrainian lyric poet Taras Shevchenko . The Taras Shevchenko Company fought with other Slavic units, such as B. the Dąbrowski battalion , among other things in the XIII. International Brigade .
The first Ukrainians in Spain
The first West Ukrainian militiamen were among others members of the West Ukrainian Communist Party . After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in August 1936, 37 Western Ukrainians who were working in Belgian and French mines reached Spain. Another 180 Polish West Ukrainians, who came from Galicia and Volhynia , traveled to Spain via the Polish-Czechoslovak Javorník Pass . Two of the brigadists, Dmitry Zaharuk Krajewski and Simon Krajewski, were escaped political inmates of the Dubno prison . According to the sources, 498 western Ukrainian brigadists fought for the Second Spanish Republic .
On July 8, 1937, the leadership of the West Ukrainian Communist Party decided to form a military unit called " Taras Shevchenko ". After their arrival in Albacete , the western Ukrainian brigadists were assigned to the XIII. International Brigade . The first company commander was Stanislav Tomasevic from Belarus . Deputy company commander was Pavel Ivanovich , an emigrant from France. Political commissioner was Nazar.
Battle of Brunete
The baptism of fire of the west Ukrainian brigadists in July 1937 was the battle of Brunete , in the west of Madrid . The unit repelled an attack by Moroccan cavalry near Villafranca del Castillo and Romanillos during the battle . In these fierce fighting, the unit lost more than half of the brigadists.
Battle of Belchite
In further fighting during the Battle of Belchite on August 25, 1937, the Polish West Ukrainians broke through Italian positions on the Aragon Front with other Slavic formations of the International Brigades. During these battles, the units gained 10 km of terrain in one day. According to a legend, the western Ukrainian brigadists are said to have managed to prevent a mass panic by the Republicans during a Falangist attack. In one of the front sections of the front at a strategic height, the republican units failed to withstand the Falangist onslaught. Although the republican units retreated in disorder, the western Ukrainian brigadists managed to stabilize the front through their intervention and even to regain the strategic height.
Battle of Teruel
From December 1937 to February 1938, the company fought during the Battle of Teruel in the Sierra de Quemado at an altitude of 2000 meters. During these battles, the company managed to capture a large number of Falangist rifles, pistols and several armed trucks. During these fighting the company commander Tomasevic , the political commissar Demyanchuk Sergeant Sieradz and Polycarp Krajewski were killed.
Aragon offensive
In March 1938, the company in Aragon was included four times in the Aragon offensive . However, the company succeeded time and again in evading complete encirclement . During these battles the commander Stanislav Voropai (Nikolaev) and the political instructor Simon Krajewski fell . From March 23, 1938, the company succeeded with other republican forces, under the command of Valentín González , to stop Franco's advance near Lleida for a week . This delay made it possible for the Republicans to withdraw in an orderly manner and with the valuable war material.
Catalonia
From July to September 1938 the company fought in Catalonia . The company managed to repel seven Francoist attacks in fierce fighting on September 2nd . Commanders Yang and Ivan Hasek Gritsyuk, among others, were killed in this fighting.
Dissolution of the company
In September the Republican government decided to disband the International Brigades , partly because of pressure from the League of Nations . The International Brigades were withdrawn from the front by the decision of the Spanish Prime Minister Juan Negrín , in the hope that the nationalists, the German Condor Legion and the Italian Corpo Troop Volontarie, would also withdraw from Spain. After the farewell parade in Barcelona on October 28, 1938 , the International Brigades were officially dissolved. Most of the brigadists were interned in the Bereza Kartuska camp on their return to Poland .
Aftertaste
In contrast to Poland, where the history of the Polish West Ukrainian Taras Shevchenko Company was forgotten, the Soviet Union honored the West Ukrainian Taras Shevchenko Company with a memorial in Lviv . Company commander Yuri Velikanovichu was honored with the monument in 1982. Following the proclamation of Ukraine's independence , the monument in which the head was cut off was destroyed. In the meantime the monument has been restored.
Members of the Taras Shevchenko Company
- Stanislav Tomasevic (Commander)
- Yuri Velikanovich (commander)
- Stanislav Voropai (Nikolaev) (Commander)
- Simon Krajewski (Commander)
- Ivan Hasek Gritsyuk (Commander)
- Pavel Ivanovich (Deputy Company Commander)
- Nazar (Political Commissar)
- Demyanchuk Sergeant Sieradz (political instructor)
- Polycarp Krajewski (political instructor)
- Vasily Lozovoy Joseph Konovalyuk (Brigadist)
- Valentin Pavlusevich (Brigadist)
- Josip Petrash (Brigadist)
- Dmitry Zaharuk (Brigadist)
- Simon Krajewski (Brigadist)
- Mikhail Litvin (Brigadist)
- Pavel Ivanovich (Brigadist)
- Shister Velikanovich (Brigadist)
- Yuri (Brigadist)
- Yang (Brigadist)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Прачик И. А. Фронтовое небо. - М .: Воениздат, 1984.