![[LITOPYS UPA: Chronicle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army]](/upa/images/litopys.jpg)
SERIES 1
VOLUME 13
I first encountered the journals, or chronicle, reprinted here of the
UPA company commanded by Second Lieutenant Volodymyr Shchybelskyi
("Burlaka") in 1978, in the Archives of the ZP UHVR. The more I read
these materials, the more I became convinced that I had "discovered"
not only an important document relating to the history of an UPA
company, but also a talented author. The author wrote his work in the
calm, dignified style of a chronicler; he seemed unaffected by the
events taking place around him. Yet, he was writing at a time when the
entire Ukrainian population was being brutally deported, when villages
were being burned and his closest friends were being killed, a time
when all that was heard in the Polish Communist press, radio and other
means of propaganda was demagogy, hysteria and abuse. Many Ukrainian
underground authors and activists unwittingly fell into this same
tone when they spoke of the wrongs done to their nation. But the
author of the journal remained untouched by these things. His language
was straightforward. his vocabulary simple, but the words captured his
thoughts exactly. There were no empty phrases, no superfluous
patriotic expressions, no thundering at the enemy, no words of
abuse. Thus, for example, the author refrained from applying the word
"bandits" to the Polish army (WP), or using similar expressions,
unless they were part of some specific terminology.
Another notable feature of the author's work was the conscientiousness of his approach to his duty as chronicler. Over the ten months that the journal encompassed, there was an entry for every day. There were daily entries even in June, 1947, when. the author's UPA unit was encircled by four Polish divisions, had skirmishes every day, broke out of the encirclement, had forced matches and moved from one location to another. All the soldiers in the unit were debilitated, swollen from hunger and at the end of their endurance; many were psychologically unable to continue and they asked for discharges from the company or deserted. But even at that time the author found the time and energy to record the events of each day and he maintained his inner equilibrium. As a result. w now have an intact chronicle of the activities of the company of Second Lieutenant V. Shchyhelskyi from the most important period when it was battling numerous Polish and Czech Communist divisions and, in August, 1947, was disbanded.
A year after I had found the journal, l learned that its author was the Warrant Officer of the Company, "Burkun'. He had brought out to the West not only his own journal and the documents of the company, but also the journals of the company commanders V. Shchyhelskyi ("Burlaka") and Iaroslav Kotsiolok ("Krylach"), their personal notes and about 100 photographs of the company.
"Burkun" recounted to me how he became the company's Warrant
Officer. The company commander Shchyhelskyi announced at assembly
that any soldiers who had "some high school" and "liked to write"
should report to him. He talked with each of the volunteers and picked
out three to take an exam.. One of this trio was "Burkun." For the
exam they were asked to write a description of the last skirmish of
the company, the events of the week and some other minor
matters. "Burkun" won the competition and thus was named Warrant
Officer. Commander Shchyhelskyi did not err in this choice; he knew
how to pick personnel. We see from this that Shchyhelskyi was not only
a company commander and tactician of the partisan war but also a
highly cultured person. Actually, Shchyhelskyi also left a
journal. That journal more emotional in tone, stands at the same high
level as Warrant Officer "Burkun's." Unfortunately, Shchyhelskyi's
talent was destroyed by the Polish Communist judiciary.
Further searches for journals and materials relating to the companies of the UPA's Peremyshl battalion also proved successful. In the Archives of the ZP UHVR were found the journals of company commander-Iaroslav Kotsiolok ( "Krylach") and of his company (Warrant Officer "Orest"), and various documents of Krylach's and Burlaka's companies. Bohdan Huk ("Skala") had in his possession copies of the journals of company commander V. Shchyhelskyi and, in addition, those of company commander Iaroslav Kotsiolok and TV warrant Officer "Burkun", and an epilogue written by Huk. As well, former Warrant Officer Ivan Iovyk ("Sokolenho"), from the company of commander Mykhailo Duda ("Hromenko"), preserved the journals of his unit.
A shortcoming of the journals is the fact that they contain very little about personal affairs, conferences, plans and other things that had to be kept secret from the enemy. There was always a possibility that the journal would fall into the hands of the enemy; thus, care had to be taken that it not become the source of sensitive information.
It was thought at the time that in future it would he possible to fill out in greater detail sections of the journal which only hinted at certain things. In spite of the shortcomings in the journals, the editors of LITOPYS UPA decided to reprint them and the documents exactly as they had been written, for only in that way could they serve as true historical records. The editors also decided to fill out abbreviations with complete words, in particular names of places and people, so that the text would be understandable to every reader, and to add footnotes, which would identify people mentioned in the text, give more complete information (about events) or explain unclear places. The journals and documents published together in a single volume will give an all-sided picture of the organization and activity of each particular UPA company.
In this volume we are reprinting the following documents and materials:
The official chronicle (journal) of the UPA company "Udarnyky" 4, code number 94a, commanded by Second Lieutenant Volodymyr Shchyhelskyi ("Burlaka"). This company was part of the UPA's Peremyshl battalion commanded by Second Lieutenant Petro Mykolenko ("Baida"). [1] The chronicle encompasses the period from October 1, 1946, to August 3, 1947. The author of the chronicle was Warrant Officer "Burkun." The chronicle has survived in its original version in two scribblers. The first scribbler is lined, 70 pages in length, 21 x 15 cm. in size, it is filled with text from the first page to the last and on third page of the COVC?'. This scribbler encompasses the period1 from October 1, 1946, to June 13, 1947. The second scribbler is an account book, 44 pages long, 21 x 15 cm. in size; it is filled with text from the first to the 44th page and covers the period from June 14 to August 5, 1947. The entries were usually made in non-erasable pencil; in the second scribbler, in particular, the writing is tiny. It is very difficult to read the journals, for the text has faded, the hand writing is not very legible and there are many abbreviations. The originals are being kept in the Archives of the ZP UHVR.
We have called the chronicle the "battalion journal", for it also covers, at least in part, the activities of other UPA companies. As of the winter of 1947, the company "Udarnyky" 6 (96a), commanded by Second Lieutenant Iaroslav Kotsiolok, stayed almost permanently with the company of V. Shchyhelskpi ("Burlaka"). Sometimes they u ere also joined by the company "Udarnyky" (94 b), commanded by Hryhorii Iankivskyi ("Lastivka") and the unit "Mriyi", from the Lviv Military Region (VO) "Buh". When several companies were together and there u as no battalion commander, the group was commanded usually by V. Shchyhelskyi, who was the senior and experienced officer of those company commanders. At the end of May, 1947, Shchyhelskyi was selected to command the detachment during its raid to the west. The detachment was also to include the companies of Ia. Kotsiolok and H. Iankivskyi.
Among the surviving journals of Warrant Officer "Burkun," one month was missing - August, 1947. [2] "Burkun" wrote up that period recently, basing himself on Commander Volodymyr Shchyhelskpi's [3] journal and on his own memory. Thus the gap in the surviving original journals was filled. The author tried to write his addition in the same style as the original journal of 58 years ago.
The journal of Warrant Officer "Burkun" for the period from September 1 to October 24, 1947, is a record of the march of the author and two soldiers from the medical service, Bohdan Huk ("Skala") and "Hordyi", from Slovakia to the American zone of occupation in West Germany.
On August 16, 1947, commander V. Shchyhelskyi ("Burlaka") divided his
unit into seven groups, which were each independently, to break
through the encirclement by Czechoslovak troops and made their way
into West Germany. "Burkun's" group was broken up along the way, so
that only three of its members set out for the longer journey. The
events Warrant Officer "Burkun" describes as taking place during the
long march can probably be regarded as typical for all the groups of
UPA soldiers who raided through Czechoslovakia. Naturally, not all of
them made it to West Germany. Some groups were destroyed, or were
captured by the Czechoslovak Communists, and later handed over to the
Polish People's Republic.
The "Epilogue by UPA physician Bohdan Huk" is the continuation of the story of the same UPA soldiers in prison in West Germany from October 24 to December 15, 1947. The author wrote his epilogue a year after the events, sometime at the end of 1948 or at the beginning of 1949. He was, at that time, retyping the journals mentioned earlier of V. Shchyhelskyi, Ia. Kotsiolok and "Burkun" (for September - October 1947) for the Z Ch OUN Archives. Apparently he decided that those journals needed a conclusion, so he penned his "epilogue," also written in the form of a journal, based on the notes he had made while in prison and his own memory. The editors of LITOPYS UPA were not able to find the originals of those journals. What u.e are reprinting here is the typewritten copies which Bohdan Huk made in 1948-49 and preserved in his own archives.
We are also reprinting in this volume more than 50 documents of the "Udarnyky" company 4 (94a), which was commanded by V. Shchyhelskyi ("Burlaka"). We have classed these documents into three groups - general, personnel and supplies - and ordered them chronologically. We have also added titles wherever they were missing. Under some titles, we grouped together several related documents. We also added footnotes with necessary explanations. We obtained the original versions of the documents from the ZP UHVR Archives.
Of the general documents, the most important is the "Memorandum of Instructions Concerning UPA Company Administration and Record-keeping." This is a short record, in note form, of the oral instructions given by the Commander of the UPA's Zakerzon Military Region (VO) "Sian", Major Myroslav Onyshkevych ("Orest"), about administrative procedures in UPA units. Major Onyshkevych issued these instructions in the fall of 1945, when he returned to the Zakerzon region from a meeting at the Headquarters of the UPA-West. [4] Also included here is the operations report of the company for April, 1947 (unfortunately in a rough draft and not complete), as an example of the reports, that each company commander was obliged periodically to make to a higher command.
Among the documents about the personnel affairs of the company are 11 registers of the company's soldiers taken at different periods, the first being from July 5, 1946 and the last, from August, 1947, in Slovakia. Included here is an exact inventory of the company's armaments and ammunition. The weapons of every individual soldier are listed, with a note of the model and serial number of each rifle or revolver. There are also several reports of platoon leaders about the weapons held by their platoons. The documents include daily orders of the company, as well as a "special order" about the court martial. In this group of documents are also found various notes about personnel matters such as lists of soldiers fallen, wounded, sick, discharged, deserters and the like.
Among the business documents are the company's account book for 1947, business reports, a document about the auditing of the books and so on. In addition to these official documents there are many notes made by Warrant Officer "Burkun,' about such things as dispensing clothing to soldiers, repairing footwear and the like.
Overall, the documents of the company are very varied and shed light on various aspects of the UPA company's life. On some matters, we have sufficient documentation to have a very clear picture - for example, about the numbers of the company. In other cases documents only serve as samples, which show us how certain matters were dealt with, as for example, the order about the court martial, or a note about the transfer of a horse. However, in some of these documents give us an all-around picture of how the business affairs of the UPA unit were conducted.
This volume is the first book of materials and documents relating to the history of the Peremyshl battalion of the UPA. The second volume will be devoted to the company "Udarnyky" 6 (96a), which was commanded by Second Lieutenant Iaroslav Kotsiolok (Krylach"). It will also include the journal of commander Shchyhelskyi, which he intended to be a continuation of the journal kept by Ia. Kotsiolok. In any case, the two companies merged into one unit after Kotsiolok's death. We will not lay out a more exact plan of further volumes about Peremyshl region, for we do not yet have on hand all the materials for the books. In any event, we expect to publish at least another two or three volumes dedicated to the UPA's Peremyshl battalion and the Peremyshl nadraion "Kholodnyi Yar." A separate series of volumes will be published about the Lemko UPA battalion and the Lemko nadraions "Beskyd" and "Verkhovyna." Thus, the UPA 26 Military District (TV) "Lemko" will be covered in two series of volumes of LITOPYS UPA and perhaps some separate books as well. The materials available outside Ukraine concerning the UPA 26 TV allow for this. Other tactical districts - the 27 TV of the Sian Valley, "Bastion" (Iaroslav and Liubachiv counties) and 28 TV "Danyliv", from the Kholm region, will have fewer volumes, for there is little documentation in the West concerning these military districts.
We should also take a closer look at some questions from the history of the UPA in this territory that have not been researched, have been forgotten or remain unknown. It is time to bring out of obscurity the first commander of the UPA 6 Military Region (V0.), "Udarnyk," in whose honour all the companies of the 26 TV "Lemko" were named "Udarnyky." There are very few mentions of the 6 VO or of ''Udarnyk'' in underground literature. Only in the ninth issue of Ideya i chyn do we see the following note: "The Commander of the VO UPA-West, "Udarnyk," was killed on December 23, 1944, in combat with the Bolsheviks." [5] Also in a report by political instructor "Vadym" we are told that at the oath- taking ceremony of the Non-commissioned Officers' School of the 6 VO "Sian," the speaker "N" mentioned ''Udarnyk'' among officers who fell in the defense of the "western boundaries' of Ukraine: "Among the dear shades of the heroes (he) mentions the commander of the VO, "Udarnyk," company commanders "Khoma" and "Osyp," Col. "Konyk," Major "Iahoda," First Lieutenant "Orskyi," platoon leader "Pavlenko," OUN leaders "Surmach" ("Stal" and "Letun." [6] Probably because of the lack of underground documentation, there is no mention of "Udarnyk" or the beginnings of this VO by I. Bulkovskyi in his article about the organizational structure of the UPA [7] or by other authors. It was generally accepted that the 6 VO "Sian" was organized in 1945 together with the Zakerzon krai. Prior to this time the units of the UPA 26 TV "Lemko" were part of the Lviv VO "Buh.)
During the German occupation, the underground OUN network had a separate Peremyshl province (oblast). So, when the UPA West high command was organizing military regions (V.O.s) within the provinces at the end of 1943 (officially, in January, 1944), the Peremyshl 6 VO "Sian" [8] was also established. We know so far that the commanding staff of the region included "Udarnyk" ("Kulia," "Mushka") - commander, and "Ishra" and "Pavuk," (the latter was referred to as battalion commander) as members. Little research has been done on the beginnings of the UPA in this region. The few memoirs we have from that period tell us that the earliest companies of the UPA suffered various difficulties - lack of weapons and training and discipline problems. Only in the summer of 1944, when First Lieutenant (later Captain) Vasyl Mizernyi ("Ren") was named the battalion commander of the first companies, was an iron discipline brought in and solid training of the companies begun on the mountain Bukove Bedro. At first, the battalion was composed of four companies, led by "Veselyi," "Bulba," "Burlaka" and "Iskra." These were later joined by the companies of "Osyp," "Ievhen," and "Krisovyi" which were organized in the Peremyshl region, the company of "Baida" composed of Eastern Ukrainians, the trained companies of "Hromenko" and 'Nechai," and "Chornyi s" company from the Chornyi Forest in the Stanyslaviv area. When the front came near, this detachment, led by Mizernyi, succeeded in crossing the front in the Carpathian Mountains to the rear of the Soviet army.
The various reorganizations which took place on this territory in the years 1944- 1945 remain unexplained. All local units of the detachment (zahin) returned from the raid in late fall of 1944. The Sian Valley and Lemko region were then within the front line which was full of the support units of the Red Army and special units of the NKVD including the border guards. The underground territorial command and administration of the 6. VO UPA saw no possibility of maintaining various UPA units during the winter and ordered their "demobilization". The companies were divided into squads, and platoons which were attached to local self-defence units (SKY) and many soldiers were released from duty. The battalion of V. Mizernyi ("Ren") which was active in Lemko region was also subdivided in the spring of 1945 but there no "demobilization" took place.
Already in August 1944 the Military Headquarters UPA-West "Carpathians'; (VSh UPA-Z Karpaty) was created to which Military Region "Sian" VO "Sian") was subordinated. [9] In underground documents from later years the name "VSh UPA-Zakhid Karpaty," however, does not appear.
Later on this designation was replaced by 4. VO "Hoverlia", which prior to this time encompassed only the territory of Stanyslaviv oblast. After the new organization 4 VO "Hoverlia" encompassed all the UPA units of Carpathian Krai. The Military Region "Hoverlia" as well as other V.O.s were subdivided into T.V.s each with their own UPA units.
At the end of 1944 another reorganization took place of underground and OUN administrations. Former krais, oblasts, okruhs, povits and raions were liquidated and replaced by smaller krais which were subdivided into somewhat larger okruhs which in turn were divided into nadraions (approximately two former povits) and raions, the latter being territorily synonymous with the Soviet administrative raions. Peremyshl oblast was renamed into an okruh and the 6. VO UPA into T.V. UPA. It is not yet clear when precisely these reorganizations took place and whether Peremyshl okruh was part of the Carpathian krai, or whether T.V. "Lemko" (if it already existed at this time) was part of "Hoverlia".
The first commander of this T.V. was probably First Lieutenant "Konyk", [10] former Commanding Officer of the UPA Officers School, and former staff member of the Headquarters of the 6. V.O.
In the spring of 1945 the underground Zakerzon krai was created which included also the Peremyshl okruh. At that time the 6. V.O. "Sian" was reestablished to which all units of UPA in Zakerzon krai were to be subordinated.
Another pivotal point in the organization of the UPA in the area was the inspection by General Dmytro Hrytsai ("Perebyinis ) and Dmytro Mayivskyi ("Kosar"), in November of 1945. As early as the spring of 1945, UPA units began to be re-established spontaneously in order to resist the deportation of Ukrainian populace and the plundering attacks by bands of Polish riff-raff, who were organized by the Communists. General D. Hrytsai condemned the policy of disbanding the UPA units and began a reorganization of the 26 TV "Lemko," which was completed by Captain (later major) M. Onyshkevych. First Lieutenant (later Captain) Vasyl Mizernyi ("Ren"), was named commander of the TV and remained, at the same time, commander of the Lemko UPA battalion. His deputy was Petro Mykolenko ("Baida"). First Lieutenant "Konyk" was named commander of the Peremyshl battalion. [11] After the death of "Konyk," in January, 1946, P. Mykolenko became commander of the Peremyshl battalion. These nominations remained in force to the end of UPA activity in Zakerzon krai.
Many matters relating to the raid of UPA units into Western Europe also have not been elucidated. In an interview with General Taras Chuprynka we are told that the raid by UPA units "took place in accordance with a directive of the UHVR in this matter and on orders of the Supreme Command of the UPA." [12] From information later received from Major M. Onyshkevych, it is known that the instructions concerning the raid came to the Zakerzon krai already during the summer of 1946. At that time, it was expected that in the winter of 1946-47 there would be a blockade of territories in the Zakerzon area where the UPA was active, on the pattern of the great blockade of UPA territories in Ukraine during the winter of 1945-46. The following plan was conceived: in the event of a blockade of UPA territories some units were to break through to Slovakia, make their way to western Slovakia, then make their way quickly into West Germany. According to the original plan, the raid was to be carried out by the companies of First Lieutenant Mykhailo Duda ( 'Hromenko"), First Lieutenant Vasyl Shyshkanynets ("Bir") and Second Lieutenant V'olodyrmyr Shchyhelskyi ("Burlaka"), under the command of M. Duda (the senior company commander), or V. Shchyhelskyi (who knew the Slovak and Czech languages and local conditions). The rest of the UPA soldiers and underground members were to pass the winter and the blockade in underground bunkers. Only a few people knew of this plan - officers of the V.O., V. Mizernyi and members of the OUN krai leadership (KP).
However, no winter blockade took place in the Zakerzon area. The Polish Communists were preparing for "elections" and were liquidating the remains of the Polish democratic parties. Meanwhile, Stalin was readying for Ukrainians in the Polish People's Republic a genocide on the pattern of his actions against the Kalmyks, Crimean Tatars, Chechens and other small nations. The genocidal operation - the so-called Operation "Vistula" (Akcja Wisla) - was to be carried out by Communist Poland, in league with the USSR and the Czechoslovak Republic, which were to seal off their borders. According to the plan, Polish troops were to blockade the territories of UPA activity, move out the entire population and strike a decisive blow against UPA units and the armed underground. Operations began at the end of April, 1947, against 26 TV "Lemko," where against every UPA company one Polish division and a number of support units were put into action. [13]
Because of the massive deportation of the Ukrainian population, it was not possible for the UPA to continue its struggle in the Zakerzon area; in any case, it would make no sense to do so. Thus the OUN Leadership (KP) and the high command of 6 VO worked out a plan for the "demobilization" of underground cadres and UPA units. Some were to go to Western Europe, others to Ukraine, while yet others were to take on civilian status. The companies of the Peremyshl battalion were to be the first to set out westward. The first to be informed of the decision in this matter was KP member "Orlan" ("Nazar"), sometime before the end of May, 1947; [14] he sent okruh leader "Hryhor" to the command of the battalion. "Hryhor" succeeded in making contact with the companies of V. Shchykelskyi ("Burlaka") and la. Kotsiolok ("Krylach"), which were joined on April 30, 1947, by the company of H. Iankivskyi ("Lastivka") as well. At the conference "Hryhor" passed on the order about the raid to the company commanders. Commander of the detachment for the raid was to be V. Shchyhelskyi. Two days later, company commander H. Iankivskyi and part of his company were killed, so only the platoon led by "Zymnyi" joined "Burlaka's" detachment. Just at that time Shchyhelskyi's detachment was encircled by Polish divisions; only on June 22 did it break out of the encirclement into the territory of Czechoslovakia. Battalion commander Petro Mykolenko ("Baida") received the order to carry out a raid on June 15, while he was with the company of M. Duda ("Hromenko"). [15] He had already been informed about Shchyhelskyi's raid. He sent Duda on the westward raid, while he himself returned to the commander of 26 TV, V. Mizernyi ("Ren"), to give him and the Lemko companies orders from the command of 6 VO "Sian."
A number of people worked on the preparations of our first two volumes on the Peremyshl battalion. When I found the first two scribblers of "Burkun's" chronicle in the archives, I copied the first scribbler. Further work on these materials was done by Major Pet o Mykolenko ("Baida"), former commander of the Peremyshl battalion. However, he had time to copy only the second scribbler before dying suddenly of a heart attack on January 1,1979. There were still a number of abbreviations in the first and second scribblers that had not been deciphered, in particular names of places and people. Petro Potichnyj prepared for copying the documents of the battalion's companies; the originals of these documents had been found in the ZP l, UHVR Archives.
In the meantime, the editors located the authors whose works are reprinted in this book of journals, "Burkun ' and Bohdan Huk, and additional journals in the possession of Bohdan Huk. We asked the authors to work with us, to help decipher unclear places and abbreviations, prepare footnotes and biographical references and in general, ready the journals for print. Unfortunately, Bohdan Huk was already critically ill and died on July 12, 1981. However, "Burkun" took on the task; he deciphered abbreviations, clarified what was unclear in the text, added footnotes and compiled a good deal of biographical data about UPA soldiers and underground activists, which have been used to some extent in the footnotes and will be used in the index "Biographical Data About Officers and Units of the UPA," which will be established in one of the books about the Peremyshl battalion.
In order to prepare the Peremyshl volumes, a special committee was established. Its original members were Ie. Shtendera - chairman, Bohdan Huk, Volodymyr Dashko, Volodymyr Makar, Petro Mykolenko and Petro Potichnyj. Later, Stepan Goliash, Ivan Iovyk and Osyp Levytskyi also joined. The committee held several meetings, at which were established the general plan of publication and the principles concerning the reprinting of journals and documents. At one of the meetings, the soldiers in the photographs were identified. The members of this committee and of the publishing committee, in particular M. Ripetskyi and Volodyntyr Sorochak, provided biographical data and information about events described in the journals.
On behalf of the editors of Litopys UPA, I wish to thank all the above mentioned people as well as others who helped in the preparation of this volume. The photographs published in this volume have been taken from "Burkun's" collection, collections of the "Litopys UPA" (from the Archives of the UPA Mission), Former Members of Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Canada, and S. Goliash. These photographs were all the property of V. Shchyhelskyi's unit and were brought out to the West by Warrant Officer "Burkun". We thank ,M Lebed and P. Sodol for their help in the archives and I. P. Manastyrskyi for editing the texts; Stepan Szpak for help in compiling the index, Volodymyr Makar for help in proofreading, Zonia Keywan for doing translation into English and Nadia Rzhesha and N. Tarnavetska for recopying the journals and documents.
Yevhen Shtendera
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