page_title: Panteleimon Belochub
section_title: Revolution and Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Panteleimon Belochub / Revolution and Civil War
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Слева направо Нижний ряд: И. Лютый, П. Белочуб, Н. Махно, В. Куриленко, Ф. Щусь, Я. Озеров и А. Чубенко Верхний ряд: А. Ольховик, П. Пузанов и Новиков Бердянск, 1919 год Українська: Зліва направо Нижній ряд: І. Лютий, П. Білочуб, Н. Махно, В. Куриленко, Ф. Щусь, Я. Озеров і А. Чубенко Верхній ряд: А. Ольховик, П. Пузанов і Новіков Бердянськ, 1919 рік English: From left to right Bottom row: I. Lyuty, P. Belochub, N. Makhno, V. Kurylenko, F. Schus, Y. Ozerov, and A. Chubenko Top row: A. Olkhovik, P. Puzanov, and Novikov Berdyansk, 1919
context_page_description: Panteleimon "Panteley" Fedorovich Belochub, was a Ukrainian soldier best known as one of the commanders of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, a major belligerent force during the Russian Civil Wars of 1917 – 1921.
context_section_description: Shortly after the February Revolution of 1917, Panteleimon Belochub was transferred from the front to Tsarskoe Selo as a specialist in the formation of a new artillery battalion.
  Viktor Belash, Chief of Staff of the Anarchist Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (RIAU) under the command of Nestor Makhno, later claimed in his memoir that Belochub joined the RIAU in March of 1919.
  Quickly rising through the ranks, by the fall of 1919 Panteleimon Belochub commanded the 2nd Horse Artillery Battery,  3rd Ekaterynoslav Corps of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (RIAU).
  In October 1919, the RIAU found itself blocking the path of  Denikin's White forces, which were retreating southward under the pressure of the Red Army. Seeing this development as an opportunity, Nestor Makhno attacked the Whites, but found his mainly-peasant detachments unable to match the well-organized units of the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR), which were still maintaining cohesion regardless of the recent defeats. Soon the RIAU was forced to abandon its "capital" in Huliaipole as well as all of the Dnieper's left bank, crossing the river over the Kichkas Bridge, near Alexandrovsk (present-day Zaporizhia), and blowing up the bridge behind them. White General  Revishin decided not to pursue the RIAU across the river, focusing instead on a mopping-up operation against the remnants of the Makhnovist detachments on the left bank.
  While the AFSR commanders were concentrating their forces on the left bank of the Dnieper, they maintained a relatively light presence on the right bank. Nestor Makhno took advantage of this situation and moved decisively on  Ekaterinoslav, taking the city from the Whites on November 10, 1919. Belochub distinguished himself during the Ekaterinoslav offensive, in the battle against the units of the 2nd Terek Cossack Division, AFSR, near the village of Stepove on November 8, 1919, and was wounded in this engagement.
  During the Ekaterynoslav operation, the Makhnovists coordinated their actions with Bolshevik detachments in and around the city. Upon taking Ekaterinoslav, the two political groups continued to cooperate, and the local organization of  RCP(b) operated openly. Even within its own ranks, the RIAU counted a considerable number of communists. The most notable of them was Mikhail Polonsky, a regimental commander in RIAU. This process of rapprochement was interrupted by the arrest of Polonsky, who was accused of subversive activity in favor of the Red Army and of conspiracy to assassinate Nestor Makhno.
  Panteleimon Belochub was arrested by the Makhnovist Counterintelligence along with Polonsky on December 2, 1919. Apparently, Polonsky tried to persuade Belochub to switch sides from the RIAU to the  Reds, promising the support of  Ivan Fedko, a senior commander in the  Red 11th  Army. According to Belochub's official interrogation record, he was released the same evening, after a lengthy "conversation" with Nestor Makhno. Polonsky and a group of his associates, however, were summarily executed. This incident led to a sharp deterioration of the RIAU  relations with the Red Army and Bolsheviks.
  In the Civil War, alliances shifted often. Yesterday's bitter rivals at times found themselves bonding together against a common enemy. On October 15, 1920, Nestor Makhno signed a Treaty of Political and Military Alliance with the Red Army  – this time against Baron Wrangel's White Forces in Crimea. In November of 1920 RIAU assisted the Reds in the Siege of Perekop. Belochub took part in this operation as an artillery commander. The Red Army, having barely secured the victory over the Whites, turned on their RIAU allies in a relentless pursuit across Southeastern Ukraine and Southern  Russia. Regardless of the overwhelming numerical superiority of their pursuers, the Makhnovists kept fighting through the winter of 1920-1921 . Belochub remained with RIAU until February 1921, when he and his artillery unit were forced to surrender.
caption: Panteleimon Belochub (second from the left) with Nestor Makhno and other RIAU commanders in Berdyansk, 1919
exif: {"Image Artist": "Tadenev Konstantin  (EXT3TWK)", "Image ExifOffset": "2152", "Image XPAuthor": "Tadenev Konstantin  (EXT3TWK)", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:11:06 17:33:16", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:11:06 17:33:16", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "09", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "09", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}