Ukrainian Legion

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The Ukrainian Legion was a combat unit of Austria-Hungary formed shortly after the beginning of the First World War as a volunteer Ukrainian Rifle (also Ukrainian Rifle Division , Ukrainian Free Riflemen or Ukrainian Volunteer Corps ) .

Officers of the Ukrainian Legion in 1915

construction

The Legion consisted of Galician Ukrainian ( Ruthenian ) volunteers, including women. Like the Polish Legion, it emerged from rifle organizations and was part of the Imperial and Royal Landwehr .

Jarema Kuz as a female sergeant in the Ukrainian Legion

The initiative to found the volunteer association came from the Ukrainian main council in Galicia. In connection with the tradition of the Cossacks , it was then renamed the Ukrainian Sitschower Schützen (also Ukrainian Sitscher or Sič Schützen , Ukrainian Українські січові стрільці, Ukraïnski sichovi stril'tsi , Ukraïns'ki Sičovi Stril'ci , on August 9, 1915, USS) to a regular regiment . The military importance of the Legion was far less than its political one, it was a propagandistic weapon against Russian Pan-Slavism , because it was supposed to strengthen the independence of the Ukrainians. By September 1, 1914, 2000 mostly very young volunteers in Lemberg were equipped with rifles and assigned to exercise. The troops were only deployed after taking the oath on the Landwehr on September 2, 1914.

In Vienna , Ruthenian MPs tried to influence the organization by forming a “central management of the Imperial and Royal Ukrainian Legion” and to represent the interests of the troops vis-à-vis the Army High Command (AOK). However, the AOK rejected this as interference in military affairs.

The Legion fought as part of the 55th Austro-Hungarian Infantry Division and was limited to 2500 soldiers. Group commander was Major General Peter Freiherr von Hofmann (1865–1923). An increase to 5,000 soldiers was later approved, but the recruitment of Russian prisoners of war of Ukrainian origin was refused. Garrison locations were Lemberg and Stryj . The first commanders were Theodor Rozhankovski (* 1875) and Michael Haluszczynski (* 1878), other well-known officers Jewhen Konowalez and Andrij Melnyk . In the late autumn of 1914, an equestrian department was also set up. Equipped with Russian prey horses and mostly recruited from the sons of large farmers who knew how to ride, the small unit was used from the spring of 1915 mostly for enemy reconnaissance and messenger services between the units.

commitment

Before and during the battle in the Carpathian Mountains , the Legion was deployed in reconnaissance and small-scale service, or intervened between regular troops to keep them under control. The initial distrust of the army leadership turned out to be unfounded, the officers and men were officially given the “best certificate”. Field Marshal Lieutenant Hofmann particularly praised the Legion's abilities in reconnaissance in small companies. The Legion was also successful in the battle of Gorlice-Tarnów and in the Bug Offensive as part of the Hofmann Corps.

On September 30, 1916, the Legion was almost completely wiped out in a battle at Potutory , near Bereschany . Because of a breakthrough in the neighboring section of the front, Russian troops were able to completely enclose and capture the legion. When it was reorganized, the "Kuk Huzulenkompanie " (the former "Ruthenian" or " Bukovina Volunteer Battalion") was incorporated as a separate company. Something similar happened on July 1, 1917, when at the beginning of the Kerensky offensive again almost the entire part of the legion in action was surrounded by a Russian attack near Bereschany.

With the German occupation of Ukraine in early 1918 and the establishment of the government under the hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyj , the Habsburg monarchy ran the risk of falling behind Germany. Thereupon, Emperor Karl created the special unit "Battle Group Archduke Wilhelm" under the command of Archduke Wilhelm with around 4000 soldiers. This also included the Ukrainian Legion. It operated in the south of the country during and after the conquest of Ukraine by the Central Powers in 1918. The legion reached Cherson and Odessa , and because of the low resistance, even the Dnepr could be used as a transport route. The Legion's last battle under the Habsburg banner took place on April 16, 1918 in Zaporizhia . The Bolsheviks had to evacuate the city.

Ukrainian Rifle Cossack Division

In the spring of 1918 the 1st Ukrainian Rifle Cossack Division was formed from Ukrainian prisoners . A handover to the Ukrainian government under Skoropadskyj was only planned "on paper", the kuk AOK wanted to keep control of the "police force". The troops, which had meanwhile been weakened by desertions, were handed over to Kiev only at the end of August 1918.

After the world war

After the end of the war Wilhelm went back to Ukraine, the Ukrainian Sitschow Riflemen became part of the regular army of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and Wilhelm became its colonel. On November 6, 1918, a division of the Legion under Wilhelm's orders occupied the capital of Bukovina, Chernivtsi . The troops had been summoned by Ukrainian officials in the country to support Romania . A few days later, however, the Legion had to withdraw from the advancing Romanian army without a fight.

After the proclamation of the West Ukrainian People's Republic on November 1, 1918, the Legion formed the organizational core of their army and later became the first brigade to join the Sitsch Riflemen of the Ukrainian People's Republic .

literature

  • Ernst Rutkowski: The Imperial and Royal Ukrainian Legion 1914–1918. (= Austrian military historical research , Volume 9/10). Holzhausen, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-85493-166-9 .
  • Socrates Ivanyckyj: The Ukrainian Legion and its role in the fight for the freedom of Ukraine. In: Mitteilungen der Arbeits- und Förderungsgemeinschaft der Ukrainischen Wissenschaften , No. 2, Munich 1965, pp. 5–13.

Web links

Commons : Ukrainian Legion  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Darko Pavlović (ed.), Peter Jung: Austro Hungarian Forces in World War I. Volume 1: The Austro-Hungarian Forces in World War I: 1914-1916. Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2003, ISBN 1-84176-594-5 , pp. 41f; and Women in Austrian Military History: The Ukrainian Legion ( Memento from May 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).
  2. ↑ Peter Broucek: Military Resistance: Studies on the Austrian state sentiment and National Socialist defense. Böhlau, Vienna 2008, ISBN 3-205-77728-X , p. 217.
  3. ↑ Wolfdieter Bihl : Contributions to Austria-Hungary's Ukraine policy in 1918. In: Yearbooks for the History of Eastern Europe , NF 14 (1966), p. 51–62, here: p. 51.
  4. ^ Theophil Hornykiewicz (ed.): Events in the Ukraine 1914–1922. Their meaning and historical background. Volume 1: Status of the Ukrainian question in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy during the First World War. WK Lypynsky East European Research Institute, Philadelphia 1966, p. 134.
  5. ^ Ernst Rutkowski: The kk Ukrainian Legion 1914-1918. (= Austrian military historical research , Volume 9/10), Holzhausen, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-85493-166-9 , p. 13 f.
  6. ^ A b Günter Rosenfeld (ed.): Pavlo Skoropads'kyi. Memories 1917 to 1918. Steiner, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-515-07467-8 , p. 269 f.
  7. ^ Theophil Hornykiewicz (ed.): Events in the Ukraine 1914–1922. Their meaning and historical background. Volume 1: Status of the Ukrainian question in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy during the First World War. WK Lypynsky East European Research Institute, Philadelphia 1966, p. 136.
  8. ↑ Ukrainian Sich Riflemen in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  9. ↑ Rutkowski: The Imperial and Royal Ukrainian Legion 1914–1918. P. 57 f.
  10. ↑ Rutkowski: The Imperial and Royal Ukrainian Legion 1914–1918. P. 24.
  11. ↑ Rutkowski: The Imperial and Royal Ukrainian Legion 1914–1918. P. 31 ff.
  12. ↑ Rutkowski: The Imperial and Royal Ukrainian Legion 1914–1918. P. 15 and 72 ff.
  13. ↑ Rutkowski: The Imperial and Royal Ukrainian Legion 1914–1918. P. 78 ff.
  14. ↑ Timothy Snyder : The King of Ukraine. The secret life of Wilhelm von Habsburg. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-552-05478-3 , p. 128 f.
  15. ↑ Rutkowski: The Imperial and Royal Ukrainian Legion 1914–1918. P. 89 ff.
  16. ↑ Peter Broucek: Military Resistance: Studies on the Austrian state sentiment and National Socialist defense. Böhlau, Vienna 2008, ISBN 3-205-77728-X , p. 220.
  17. ↑ Wolfdieter Bihl: Contributions to Austria-Hungary's Ukraine policy in 1918. In: Yearbooks for the History of Eastern Europe NF 14 (1966), p. 51–62, here: p. 57 f.
  18. ^ Mariana Hausleitner : The Romanization of Bukovina. The enforcement of the nation-state claim of Greater Romania 1918–1944 . Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-486-56585-0 , pp. 98f.