Operation Gerät

Map of the Republic of Ukraine moments before Operation Gerät.

		- Germany couldn't tolerate the new republic anymore and launched Operation Gerät.

## Aftermath

### Result

* Abolishment of the Republic of Ukraine.
	+ The Old Monarchist Ukraine is restored.
		- Hetmanate of Ukraine is restored as leader of Ukraine.
* Mitteleuropa will occupy Ukraine's northern and southern-western territories for 365 days till an official government change is made.
	+ This to help rebuild the nation aswell.
	+ Kiev will also be occupied into 3 Occupation zones.

### Casualties

46,660

Operant Gerät was the German Military offensive in Ukraine. Due to Ukraine leaving Mitteleuropa, the Weltreich could not afford to lose their empire’s breadbasket.

## background

After the collapse of the Russian Empire, the German Empire established numerous puppet states in the lands of the former Russian Empire, with one of them being the Hetmanate Of Ukraine, a land rich with resources and crops, with Pavlo Skoropadskyi as it's Hetman. in 1921, the Mitteleuropa was formed, an economic alliance created in order to keep the German economical monopoly in power. From 1920 to 1934, Germany transferred a great amount of the means of production, and Ukraine slowly industrialized. With it, the power of the German ownership of farmland grew greater and greater, while independent Ukrainian peasants lost more and more farmland. In 1925, 20% of the land was under German corporations. By mid-1933, that percentage grew to 87%.

All of this led to the Ukrainian Republican revolt near the end of the Austrian civil war, lead mostly by landless peasants. By April, Republicans occupied almost all of Ukraine, and Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi had fled to Berlin for safety. In April however, the loyalist army led by Andriy Atanasovych Melnyk crushed the revolt. In May, Andriy was proclaimed as the regent of the Hetman, giving him full power until the end of the civil war in Austria. But even after the end of the Austrian civil war, he didn't leave his office as the hetman, and his loyalist army kept power until January 1936, where Melnyks officers made an offical palace coup, and with it led tot eh creation of the Republic Of Ukraine. While the newly created republic remained in the Mitteleuropa, Germanys economical influence in agriculture was drastically lowered, and trade with the USSR flourished.

In 1947, a Second Republican Revolution happened when the liberal opposition overthrew and executed Melnyk, leading to the democratization of the republic. Afterwards, Andriy Livyskyi became the president from 1947 to 1954, until he died in his second term. The next president was Stepan Vytvytskyi from 1954 to 1958. Livytskyi and Vytvytskyi tied the relations with Germany, but in the 1958 election, Mykola Livytskyi's progressive party won by 41%. He won 3 terms, and distanced himself from Germany.

In September 1966, Soviet General Secretary Vyacheslav Molotov visited the capital Kyiv, personally met with Mykola Livytskyi, and the both of them signed an economic contract. After this, the German Reich could no longer tolerate this, and, from October 1966 to May 1969, officially put Operation Fuchsloch into play, where they attempted to overthrow Mykola's government by any and all means possible; assasination attempts, sabotage, coup conspiracies, the funding of monarchist groups in the country, and other means. Despite all of this, all the attempts failed, and in May 1969, the Prussian intelligence started to plan "Operation Gerät", a violent military invervention into the land of "golden wheat".

## Operation of war

"Operation Gerät" was opened on May 7, with the objective being to capture the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. According to the operation, the German 9th, 2nd, 17th, 11th, and 15th were all stationed bordering Poland, Belarus,, Crimea, Romania, and Kuban. Danylo Skoropadskyi, the son of former Hetmanate Pavlo Skoropadskyi and the next in line of succession, also participated in the operation, since he was meant to become the leader of the planned 2nd Hetmanate.

Commandership of the armies were as followed:

9th army in Poland: General lieutenant Theodor Busse

2nd army in Belarus: General Ludwig Hahn

17th army in Crimea: Colonel Stepan Bandera\*

11th army in Romania: General colonel Vasile Milea

15th army in Kuban: General Johannes Steinhoff

\*carried out a series of monarchist sabotage in Ukraine during Operation Fuchsloch

The reserved Guards Corps of the 9th army (3rd infantry and 1st reserve division) were stationed in the Hungarian Carpathians.

The whole operation of war was carried by Marshal Adolf Heusinger and the upcoming Hetman Danylo, as well as the Kaiser Ferdinand himself.

## Ukrainian defense

The Ukrainian army re-organized for a defense in April 26

The Ukrainian army's defensive forces were organized as followed;

Operational Command East: Artillery brigades organized to trap the ll Bavarian Corps and the 15th army in the east; Led by Lieutenant General Vasyl Sobkov

Operational Command Kiev: Army protecting the capital city Kiev, both from ground troops and air bombings; Led by Lieutenant General Georgi Volodomorovich

Operational Command Carpathia: Army in western Ukraine ; led by Georgy Zhyvysia

The whole operation of defense was carried out by Marshal Vladimir Kuts and the President himself Mykola Livytskyi

## Timeline of events

- April 14: Air bombings over the capital Kiev happen, the war officially starts

    - April 19: The Legionary State Of Romania joins the war

- April 26: The Ukrainian is reorganized for a counter attack

- May 1: The 25th division of the ll Bavarian Corps are destroyed by the Ukrainian 107th and 54th artillery brigades in the Znamianka road by the Motti-tatic

- May 3: Bombings over Ukrainian troops in the east

- May 12: A cutoff spot in the Ukrainian corridor surrenders

- May 15: Air bombings over Kiev continue

- May 18: The German 35th division of the XVlll Corps are destroyed. A full-scale invasion is planned for June 1st

- May 20: The German Army is re-organized for the full-scale invasion.

- The Reserved army from the Hungarian State is planned to enter the invasion on June 1st

- June 1: The full-scale invasion on Ukraine officially starts

- June 2: Bombings of Ukrainian troops continue

- June 5: More air bombings over Kiev happen

- A patch of Ukrainian soldiers in the south west of the country surrender to Romania and Germany

- The Ukrainians build the Poltava-Kharkiv defensive line

- June 11: The Kiev defensive line is built

- June 13, 17: Continued bombings of Kiev

- June 26: The German 2nd and 15th armies start an operation to connect each other in the city of Weißestradt.

- June 27: A pocket of Ukrainian troops in the north surrender

- July 4: More continued bombings

- July 7: The Poltava-Kharkiv defensive line is destroyed.

- July 14: The offensive on Kiev begins from the northeast

- July 18: Ukrainian troops retreat into the capital, Kiev

- A pocket in the southeast surrenders

- July 27: German and Romanian troops have occupied most of the capital during the siege of the parliament building, Supreme Rada

- July 29: Lieutenant General Vasyl Sobkov is killed in action

- The President and Marshal Kuts have split, due to President Mykola not wanting to surrender, while Kuts and Volodomorovich wanted to end all military operations and escape from the city.

- Kuts and Volodomorovich escape the city of Kiev Via helicopter

- July 30: German and Romanian troops enter the Supreme Rada. 1 Minute later, president Mykola is shot

- After the raiding of the Supreme Rada by German and Romanian troups, the parliament officially announces the surrender of the Republic of Ukraine, and all other troups elsewhere in the country surrender

- A military provisional government is formed until the regime could have been changed in the treay of Kiev

- August 10: The treaty of Kiev is signed between Germany, Romania, Hungary, the Ukrainian provisional government, the Ukrainian exiled provisional, and Mittleuropa, supervised by the council of Mittleleuropan nations

## Treaty Of Kiev

ARTICLE 1

The Deutsches Heer will remain in the northern and south-eastern parts of the country for the next 365 days until the Provisional Military Government rebuilds the country and successfully manages to execute a government change

ARTICLE 2

The Romanian Army will remain in the country to cooperate with the German Army to further the goal of the Ukrainian Provisional Military Government until May 10th 1970

ARTICLE 3

The Hungarian Army will remain in the country to further the same goals as discussed above.