Cхід (Nov 2013)
Influence of Chortkiv operations of Galician army in 1919 on Ukrainian-Polish War
Abstract
The paper reconstructed the final stage of the Ukrainian-Polish War of 1918-1919, including the May 1919 general offensive of the Polish army in Galicia. Geopolitical conditions, course and consequences of Chortkiv operation of Galician Army in June 1919, which caused a fracture during the Ukrainian-Polish War of 1918-1919, were definited. This operation was the last attempt to rescue lost territory, to seize the initiative on the front and reverse the course of the Ukrainian-Polish War. Plans of Chortkiv operation were based on the analysis of strategic situation at the front: while Polish troops scattered in a wide, including the Bolsheviks, front, Galician Army was concentrated in the south of Ternopil. In addition, due to the new outbreak of the Polish-Czech armed conflict, General J. Haller had to send some of their forces to the south of Poland. Frontline brigades commanders Bukshovanyy O., A. Bisanz and A. Wolf of the 2nd Corps of Galician Army initiated another attack on Lviv. Weak force of Poles in direction of Chertkov - Ternopil - Lviv became known to them. They were supported by the Galician Army Commander Gen. M. Omelianovych-Pavlenko, who ordered the 1st Brigade SSA on the 7th of June, 7th Lviv and 3rd Berezhany Brigade on June 8 to move in a decisive offensive against Chortkiv. New commander of the Galician Army Gen. of the Army O. Grekov confirmed it too. It is proved that the last strategic offensive operation of Galician Army in the Ukrainian-Polish War - Chortkiv operation ( 8-26 of June, 1919 ), although did not over complete successfully (the liberation of Lviv and territory WUPR), but showed a high moral and combat effectiveness of Galician army personnel and forced the Entente return to serious discussion of WUPR, new eastern borders of Poland.
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