| Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen | |
|---|---|
Sich Riflemen emblem on the cockade |
|
| Active | 1914 - 1918 |
| Country | Austro-Hungary |
| Allegiance | Austro-Hungary |
| Branch | Austro-Hungarian Army |
| Type | Corps |
| Role | infantry |
| Garrison/HQ | Lviv, Stryi |
| Nickname | Sich Riflemen |
| Engagements | World War I |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Yevhen Konovalets, Andriy Melnyk, Yuriy Otmarstein, Ivan Rogulsky, others |
Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (Ukrainian: Українські cічові стрільці (УСС), Ukraїnski sichovi stril’tsi (USS)) was a Ukrainian unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War.
Contents |
The unit was formed in August 1914 on the initiative of the Supreme Ukrainian Council. It was composed of members of different Ukrainian paramilitary organizations in Galicia, and participated in hostilities on the Russian front. After World War I, with Austria's disintegration, the unit became the regular military unit of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. During German and Austrian occupation of Ukraine in 1918 the unit was stationed in southern Ukraine. Former unit soldiers participated in the formation of Sich Riflemen, a military unit of the Ukrainian People's Republic. In 1919 the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen expanded into the Ukrainian Galician Army (Ukrainian: Українська Галицька Армія). They participated in the Polish–Ukrainian War around Lviv and suffered heavy losses. On May 2, 1920, the unit was disbanded.
A number of Ukrainian paramilitary and youth organizations formed in Galicia as early as 1894, the result of growing national consciousness of Galicia's Ukrainians. In 1900 in Sniatyn (modern Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast) a Scouting organization Sich was founded by lawyer and social activist Kyryl Trylyovsky. As these organisations were forming all over Galicia they were augmented by youth sport organizations (Sokil) (Falcon). By 1912 smaller Sich companies appeared in many Ukrainian communities, where young people were being brought up on the ideas of the Cossack Zaporozhian Sich. Along with the Scouting organizations a Women's Organizational Committee was set up to train nurses. The Ukrainian Sich Union was coordinating Scout companies in Lviv and in the provinces, and printed their own newspaper, "The Sich News". By the start of the First World War there were at least 2000 of these types of organizations in Galicia and Bukovyna [1]
In 1911 Lviv philosophy student Ivan Chmola organized a secretive paramilitary organization, Plast, composed of young men and women from Lviv University and various other schools. This organization attracted several prominent individuals who would later play an important role in the creation of the Sich Riflemen, men such as Petro Franko, the son of poet Ivan Franko. These enthusiasts not only trained in the use of firearms but, more importantly, prepared military manuals, translated military terminology and lobbied the Austrian authorities to legalize the Ukrainian paramilitary organizations. They were greatly influenced by similar Polish paramilitary organizations, such as Związek Strzelecki, that were quite numerous, well-organized and--unlike the Ukrainian organizations--legal. The Plast society published its own newspaper, "Vidhuk", and organized Lviv's Ukrainian youth. However, all attempts to legalize it were blocked by the local authorities, who were mostly Poles.
There are indications that Kyryl Trylovsky translated similar statutes from the Polish paramilitary manuals and submitted them to the Austrian authorities as justification for legalizing the organizations. True or not, the Sich society was finally legalized in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria on March 18, 1913. The first Sich Riflemen company was set up in Lviv, and was soon augmented by Ivan Chmola and members of Plast. Legalization of the Sich Riflemen gave an impetus to other Ukrainian organizations, and the ranks of Scouting organizations all over the province subsequently swelled up.
In the spring of 1913 the Ukrainian Sich League was formed in Lviv, and a statute of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (USS) was drafted. On January 25, 1914, another Sich Riflemen company was organized in Lviv, numbering over 300 members. Thus there were two Sich companies: USS-1 for students and USS-2 for workers and peasants. In Galicia alone by the First World War there were 96 Sich companies. Plast was transformed into a Scouting organization and had branches in many towns and villages. From these Scouting societies the Sich Riflemen would continue to draw their recruits well after the war. Nowadays, Plast continues to be the largest Scouting organization in Ukraine.
Initially there was no unanimity among the founders of the League as to its goals: some wanted complete independence of the Ukrainian people from the Austro-Hungarian empire, and some wanted limited autonomy within the empire. The pro-Austrian faction prevailed, and only units loyal to the Habsburg monarchy were allowed to exist. From the inception the Sich Riflemen saw Russia as their main enemy and were preparing for "liberation of Ukrainian lands" from the Russian Empire. In Galicia and Bukovyna Sich Riflemen were also circulating a magazine called "Vidhuk" ("Review"). In 1914 a statute of USS was published, which established the order of service, uniforms of the units and provided military terminology and commands in the Ukrainian language. That same year ammunition and rifles were bought that would equip a 10,000-man company of Sich Riflemen that paraded through Lviv on June 28, 1914.
Two months later the First World War broke out and the newly established Supreme Ukrainian Council published in the Lviv newspaper, "Dilo", a call for Galician Ukrainians to form volunteer units for the war with the Russian Empire. The Ukrainian leaders in Austria-Hungary hoped that the formation of these units would advance the cause of national liberation. They also sought to dispel the suspicions that some Galician Russophiles held that the area's Ukrainians were sympathetic to Russia. The Austrian war ministry was not prepared for this initiative of the Supreme Ukrainian Council and allowed creation of a unit with only 5,000 men. The first volunteers were mainly members of Ukrainian nationalist organizations such as Sich, Sokil and Plast.[2]