Ukrainian Revolutionary Army

The **Ukrainian Revolutionary Army** is a militant underground partisan network of Ukrainian nationalists, ex-Hetmanate Army and socialists opposing the Russian occupation of the Ukraine.

## Origin

### Fortune of the Hetmante Army

The Hetman Skoropadskyi is a complicate political character or some can put that its not complicate at all. An autonomist and monarchist by original political orientation, the alliance and political backing of Germany during the war against the Bolsheviks have made it a rather strange situation for Skoropadskyi after 1937 when the old ideological comrades such as Kornilov and Wrangel took power and functionally abolished the Russian Republic. The new revanchist Russian state now turned to the West and specifically the Border States (Grenzstaaten) as well administrations that was carved out of the Russian Empire by the German or other forces during the Civil War year. Despite his slavophille outlook, the Hetman still have the Germans to please and the independent Ukraine is itself alone a crime against Russia, indivisible and great.

But this was to lead to the drama when the war began in 1941, with Romanian offensive in the direction of Odessa, the Russian advanced along a large front from Donbass, facing the Ukrainian National Army, severely demoralised after years of peasant unrest and economic downturns, aiding them were the German Landwehrs and second line divisions as most of the Army was now concentrated in Northern France attempting a second time to humiliate these arrogant revolutionaries. Its to no surprise that after a few weeks of fighting, the Russian have rendervouzed with the Romanian, saving the latter just in time against the Central Powers offensive across the Carpathenia. Long dissilutioned by their new Ukrainian state, many peasants took to the side of the Russian Army. Skoropadskyi decided that he would not continue resisting in vain against other slavic brothers and planned to sign separate peace treaty with Russia that would secure his position and autonomy of the Ukraine in the new Russia. But this plan was soon be made known to the nationalist leaders, who orchastrated a military coup in Kiev that soon found the Hetman killed brutally. A new "national government" of right-wing to social democrat tendencies were formed with the intention to resist the Russian until the end. Many Hetmante officers and his heir deflected to the Russian after the coup with the situation lending to the Hetmanate Army declaring the National Government to be german puppets, as they have been accusing the late Hetman all for those years ago. But soon they would find themselves be suppressed once again, as their new Russian ally tolerate neither an autonomy nor an Ukraine at all.

On the other front, while with the help of new troops pulled out from the cooled down Western Front to the East, Russian early advances were detered and bogged down such as the bloody 1st Minks Offensive (1st Białystok–Minsk) that failed to advance on either Axis. But the June Events in Poland and the subsequent Polish-German War led to new fortune in the front, the Russian have exploited the double front that opened right behind the German Belarussian Army Group and punched through Mink to reach the Poles who were on the brink of annihilation themselves. While the Ukrainian front remains stable, it was now in a vulnerable state, as the Russo-Polish salient dangerously threatend an offensive in the direction of Slovakia and encircle forces fighting in Western Ukraine and a decision was made by the German General staff to pull back the troops to the Zbruch. This priorised the movement of German elite units out of the Ukraine while the latter were often ordered to fight rear guard actions and were mostly annihilated in battle of encirclement. Thus concluded the Ukrainian National Army. However, the fate of the Ukrainian Army was predicted by many military leaders, as the German showed clearly they have no trouble leaving the Ukrainian to their doom against Russia and ordered the creation of the "Ukrainian Army Resistance Union" a few weeks before the complete withdrawn of the German forces and whats left of the Ukrainian forces that survived the evacuation.

In the direction of the Hetmanite, after being suppressed, many accepted commissions in the the security forces by Russia in the Malorussia Administration but have became increasingly disaffected by Russification policy and reforming their organisation within the Ukrainian sections as well as a large population of middle-landowners that lost their property to Russian colonists. They would go on to form the Ukrainian Military-Political Clandestine Organisation.

### The Exiles

However, the largest trace of Ukrainian nationalism by the end of the war would be found in Poland. With the Secret Dossier serving as the official peace treaty between Germany and the Eastern Alliance, all Ukrainian units currently fighting alongside Germany also surrendered and was to be interned in Poland. Where the Polish, with the idea of the "Third Force" at its infancy tolerated their socio-political activities of these internees as well as among the Ukrainian refugees that fled to Poland. By 1948, a National Committee of Ukraine in Exile was formed in Poland and with the repatriation of these Ukrainian back to their homeland, carried along the secret orders and the agents of the National Commitee. A secret negotiation was conducted in Polish Gallicia and led to the signing of a unity pact between the Hetmanites and Nationalists against Russia.

### The Revolutionaries and the Socialists

Revolutionary upheaval in the Ukraine countinues to intensify throughout the 20s and was suppressed with major military efforts by the German Army which drove most of the Communists, Social-Democrats and Socialist-Revolutionaries, the fist outright banned and the latters heavily suppressed. Regardless, their influences rose once more during the agarian crisis of 1937-1941, itself comprises of two phases: from 1937 to 1940, the collapse of the German-aligned world economy led to a collapse of agricultural and raw materials prices in the Ukraine, where most of the economy rely on an export economy with the other Mittleeuropa states and from 1940 to 1941, German food requistion policy that seized much agircultural produces from the Ukraine as unfair price. Mass unemployement led to miners and workers protests, rising prices and worsening living conditions led to strikes and revolts by the farmers, these events lended much support to the resurgent of the leftist parties, including the Communist parties, which adhered to the 7th Congress of the Third International meaning that they are now working with the social-progressive and revolutionaries parties in order to fullfil both the national question and the social revolution. The left showed itself to be the most major anti-Russian faction in the powerless Central Rada and one of the participant of the anti-Skoropadskyi coup, althought the Communists abstained from this and engaged in a short lived efforts to resist both Germany and Russia during the Second Kiev Uprising. Regardless, with the collapse of the Ukrainian National Army, many Social-Democrats, Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Communists were forced to go underground, these political parties, having already militant and clandestine organs survived surprisingly well the Russian repression, although unlike the Military and Hetmanites, they lacked military experience. The communists were the first to begins the active struggle underground, with the creation of the Workers and Peasants Army of Ukraine (RSAU) in 1941 and later the United Socialists (SR-SDLP)'s Ukrainian People's Guards (UNH) in 1943, the latter more numerous, due to the more heavily workers-based presense of the Communist parties and is already associated as part of the National Committee.

### Birth of the Ukrainian Revolutionary Army

The 2nd Congress of the Ukrainian National Commitee in Warsaw was predominatly dominated by the Socialist bloc and the Conservatives (officers) in which stated clearly that neither faction wished a return to pre-war Ukraine as a goal nor the the feasibility of mobilisation for national resistance be feasible without the social revolution. Therefore the congress agreed in the formation of a Ukrainian national-labour-democratic revolution, jointly signed by all sides, the Proclaimation of Ukrainian Revolution began circulating in the secret press in Russia or read outloud by activists travelling the countryside. the Ukrainian Military Resistance Union (SUVO) expanded into the Ukrainian Revolutionary Army (URA), which includes all anti-Russian forces prior. The Communists supported this development and in May 1949, both side signed an agreement on cooperation, but they refused to merge into the URA.