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SERIES 1
VOLUME 4
Facts available to us concerning the journal, "Chornyi Lis", as well
as all necessary explanations and historical information about the
journal, were presented in the first collection of "Chornyi Lis", in
the previous volume of "Litopys UPA". For this reason, we will
consider here only these matters which apply specifically to this, the
fourth volume of "Litopys UPA".
There is a need for some explanation of the UPA documents which have been printed in "Chornyi Lis" without being attributed to any author. These are the lists of fallen UPA soldiers (section: "Fallen on the Field of Glory), as well as lists of those promoted, decorated or singled out for distinguished service. Awards of crosses of battle merit and promotions to the rank of major or higher were the prerogative of the Ukrains'ka Holovna Vyzvol'na Rada ( the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council -UHVR). Promotions to lower officer ranks were decided by the Supreme Command (HK) of the UPA. Noncommissioned officer ranks were bestowed by following bodies: the higher ranks, by the UPA command for each krai; the lower ranks, by the command of each military region (VO). For the Stanyslaviv Military District (TV), these bodies were the UPA-West Command (UPA Zakhid) and the Command of the Stanyslaviv Military Region (VO), which was code named "Hoverlia". Thus, the lists printed in "Chornyi Lis" of UPA soldiers decorated or promoted are excerpts of those materials from the UPA higher command documents which applied to the Stanyslaviv TV. Some of these had already been published earlier, as for example, "Resolutions of the UHVR" (see "Litopys UPA", Vol. 3, pp. 176-179). The lists of the fallen were compiled on the spot, probably by the Command of the Stanystaviv TV.
Why are the lists of decorated and fallen soldiers incomplete and why are they not signed by the command staff who prepared them? Full lists of decorated and fallen UPA soldiers were never published, because they contained vital information about UPA cadres which had to be kept secret from the enemy. For this reason, the lists were considered top secret documents. Even the lower UPA commands had access only to those lists which applied directly to their own territory. The only facts that were made generally known were those concerning decorations or deaths of prominent UPA officers, and then only if it was certain that the enemy knew of the deaths of the given individuals or if, for some reason, the UPA command deemed it necessary to announce certain awards of battle merit. Because of this need for secrecy, the lists of soldiers fallen, decorated or promoted are incomplete. Perhaps for the same reason, and also to avoid imparting them with official status, the lists were not signed by the Command of the Stanyslaviv TV; instead, they were presented as unsigned editorial material. Nevertheless, it seems to us that these lists should be viewed as official material of the Command of the Stanyslaviv TV, for only members of the command staff were in a position to decide which pseudonyms could be included in the lists. In any case, it was the command staff who had the fullest data concerning decorated and fallen UPA soldiers. Later issues of the journal also include information about fallen members of the underground. We assume that the decision to publish this material was made by the leadership of the Stanyslaviv Okruh, or by the leaderships of smaller OUN territories.
In this volume of "Litopys UPA", we are reprinting six more issues of
the journal, "Chornyi Lis", those appearing between May 1948, and May,
1950. It is not known whether any further issues, published later than
May, 1950, ever appeared. (This matter is discussed in greater detail
in the introduction to the first collection of "Chornyi Lis, Litopys
UPA," Vol. 3). In that introduction, we stated that issue No. 1 ( 10),
July, 1949, was being reprinted not from the original edition, but
from a typewritten copy. Since then, however, the original version of
this issue has been found. Thus, the whole reprint of "Chornyi Lis" is
being done from the original copies of the journal. All the originals
can be found in the Archives of the ZP UHVR (Foreign Representation of
the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council). The photographs included in
this volume have also been drawn from the ZP UHVR Archives;
photographs from 1944 were taken by Mykola Lebed.
All issues of the journal are reprinted without any omissions. The material is left in the same order as it was in the original issues. Only the contents that was included at the end of each issues has been left out; instead, there is a general contents for each volume of "Litopys UPA" in which the journal is reprinted. We have corrected printer's errors, as well as spelling and grammatical mistakes. All corrections made in the documents are indicated by square brackets or by footnotes.
The editors wish to express their thanks to all the institutions and individuals who assisted in the production of this volume of "Litopys UPA". in particular, we would like to thank Mykola Lebed for his work with materials and photographs in the ZP UHVR Archives and for providing us with information about the journal; Volodymyr Makar for researching through the Archives of the OUNr (OUN revolutionaries) and for his assistance in proofreading; Antin Iwachniuk, for correcting texts; Zonia Keywan, for doing translations into English; Mykhailo Pitiura, for providing maps and drawings; and Halyna Malyk, for retyping often-illegible photocopies of original texts.
Compilers of this volume of "Litopys UPA"
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