| Abstrakt: |
In June 1919, Soviet Ukraine lost the last ghostly symbol of 'autonomy' - military units called 'Soviet Ukrainian Armies' and united under the name 'Ukrainian Front'. In the spring of 1919, a significant part of these associations and the Ukrainian peasantry revolted against the colonial policy of the 'red' government. These uprisings destroyed the 'red' rear and led to the fact that the power of the Bolsheviks was preserved only in the provincial centers. In their punitive actions against the population, the authorities tried to involve the remnants of the units of the 'Ukrainian front', which were transformed into all-Moscow units, losing their 'Ukrainian' characteristics. The 3rd Ukrainian Soviet Army turned into the 'All-Moscow' 45th Soviet Rifle Division (about 12,000 bayonets and sabers), which was not even controlled by military personnel, but by a group of swindlers, some of whom had a criminal past (Brigade Commander H. Kotovsky, regiment commander M. Vinnytskyi). In the 45th Rifle Division, during its formation in the South of Ukraine (June-August 1919), general chaos reigned, the units turned out to be 'unreliable' and often opposed the Red authorities. Senior officials of the 45th Rifle Division took an active part in the looting of state treasuries. The remnants of this division could fully compete only with spontaneous, poorly armed peasant rebels. The systemic crisis of power in Ukraine in the summer of 1919 led to the collapse of the 'military' policy of the Bolsheviks in Ukraine, to the lightning offensive of the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the armies of General Denikin, and to the almost complete loss of Ukrainian territory by the Red authorities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
