Battle of Kruty

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Battle of Kruty
Part of Ukrainian-Soviet War (1917-1921)

Scheme of the Battle of Kruty.
Date January 29, 1918
Location near Kruty, Ukraine
Result Bolshevik victory
Belligerents
A studential Battalion of the Free Cossack Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic Regiment of the Petrograd and Moscow Red Army and seamen of the Baltic Fleet
Commanders
Ahapiy Honcharenko Mikhail Muraviev
Strength
400 schoolboys 4,000 men
Casualties and losses
around 300 insignificant amount

The Battle of Kruty (Ukrainian: Битва під Крутами, Bytva pid Krutamy) was a battle which took place on January 29, 1918, near Kruty, a small railway connection about 130 kilometres northeast of Kiev (Kyiv), Ukraine, which was at the time the Nizhyn Uyezd, Chernigov Governorate.

As Bolshevik forces of about 4,000 men, commanded by Mikhail Muraviev, advanced toward Kiev, a small Ukrainian People's Republic unit of 400 schoolboys (most sources give a figure of 300 [1][2]), commanded by Captain Ahapiy Honcharenko, was hastily organized and sent to the front. The small unit consisted mainly of the Student Battalion (Kurin) of Sich Riflemen, a unit of the Khmelnytsky Cadet School, and a Haidamaka detachment. About half of the 400 men were killed during the battle, lasting up to 5 hours.

Eleven of the students were re-buried at Askold's Grave in the centre of Kiev after the return of the Tsentralna Rada to the capital in March of 1918. At the funeral the then President of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Mykhailo Hrushevsky called every one of the 400 schoolboys who fought in the battle heroes. In addition, poet Pavlo Tychyna dedicated a poem to the heroic death of the schoolboys.

After the fall of the Ukrainian People's Republic the bodies of the students were moved to the Lukyanivske Cemetery in Kiev. Throughout the years, the true story of the battle was hidden from view by the Soviet Government. Only recently, a monument was set up to commemorate the 80 years' anniversary of the Battle of Kruty at Askold's Grave, and a commemorative hryvnia coin was minted. Eight years later in 2006, a Kruty Heroes Monument was erected on the cite of the historic battle held as a symbol of patriotic self-sacrifice and is remembered each year on or around January 29.







Burying of the schoolboy fighters of the battle, 1918.

A hryvnia coin commemorating the Battle of Kruty.

Unofficial "underground" stamps commemorating 33 years since the battle took place.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Subtelny, Orest (2000). Ukraine: A History. University of Toronto Press, 352. ISBN 0-8020-8390-0. 
  2. ^ History of Ukraine (Ukrainian). History of Ukraine. Retrieved on September 12, 2006.

[edit] References