Granì (Jun 2015)
The fate of ukrainians in Polish Army
Abstract
In this article, the author highlights issues of remaining and further fate of Ukrainian part of the Polish Army before World War II. In the research is also made an attempt to clarify the quantitative and qualitative composition of the Ukrainian Polish Army soldiers of interwar period. In the result of Red Army attack on Poland in September 1939 in the ranks of the Polish Army fought, according to various estimates, from 150 to 200 thousand of Ukrainians Despite the negative attitude to the Ukrainians in the ranks of the Polish armed forces and the rapid advance of Soviet forces, the majority of Ukrainians worthily fulfilled their military obligations. The highest percentage of the Ukrainian part of the Polish Army was in the infantry and cavalry units. In the article is also analyzed the participation of Ukrainian officers during the Red Army attack, who fought selflessly and were awarded with distinctions. Many Ukrainians were killed or wounded; 100 thousand has got to German captivity, and about 20 thousand –to the Soviet. Quite urgent problem remains the establishment of such facts as the number of Ukrainians who were massacred in Katyn and other places of mass executions. Particular attention is devoted to the analysis of the list of polish officers and policemen, who were executed by NKVD and buried in Katyn, Midne and Kharkiv, and also the list of Polish citizens, from the socalled Ukrainian Katyn list. A huge layer of various matters relating to Ukrainians in this tragedy still waits to be studied by historians.
