The Battle of Kruty took place on January 29 or 30, 1918 (in Soviet historiography January 29, 1918), near Kruty railway station (today the village of Pamiatne, Borzna Raion,Chernihiv Oblast), about 130 kilometres (81 mi) northeast of Kiev, Ukraine, which at the time was part of Nezhinsky Uyezd of Chernigov Governorate.
As Bolshevik forces of about 4,000 men, commanded by Mikhail Muravyov, advanced toward Kiev, a small Ukrainian unit of 400 soldiers of the Bakhmach garrison (about 300 of which were students), commanded by initially by Captain F.Tymchenko, withdrew from Bakhmach to a small railroad station Kruty midway towards Nizhyn.
The small unit consisted mainly of the Student Battalion (Kurin) of Sich Riflemen, a unit of the Khmelnytsky Cadet School, and a Free Cossackscompany. On January 30, 1918 the regiment sided with the Soviet regime, the news of which forced the Ukrainian garrison of Kruty hastily to withdraw. Over half of the 400 men were killed during the battle, which lasted up to five hours. In the Soviet historiography the battle is mistakenly dated on January 29, 1918 and confused with the Plysky rail station skirmish.
The Haidamaka Kish of Symon Petlyura (300 soldiers) that rushed to reinforce the Kruty garrison and was delayed due to the Darnytsia railworkers sabotage] stopped in close vicinity (rail station Bobryk) and eventually turned back to Kiev due to the Bolshevik's Arsenal Uprising that occurred on the same day.
For a long time, the events at Kruty rail station remained outside the official attention of USSR historiography, providing fertile ground for myths and inventions on both sides. For example, commanding Red Army officer Muraviev claimed to have bravely fought for two days against the Ukrainian National Republic forces allegedly led by Petlura; other claims dealt with the number of casualties, between 500 and reaching into thousands. In actuality, Muraviev required two days to fix the rail station and reorganize.
As for the number of dead, the official estimate is still unavailable. According to the participants of the battle, around 250-300 Ukrainian defenders died at Kruty. Only the names of those captured are available. They were later buried at Askold's Grave in Kiev.
In Soviet times, the dead soldiers of Kruty were considered traitors or simply ignored. The student mounds at Askold's grave were flattened and at first a city park planted. Later, after the Second World War, the area of the monument was used for burial of Soviet soldiers who died in battles for the Ukrainian capital.
Since the initial event at Kruty in 1918, the first memorial action was undertaken in the 1990s by the People's Movement of Ukraine or Rukh which erected a wooden cross. This initiated plans for a more permanent monument. In 2000, architect Volodymyr Pavlenko seriously commenced efforts at memorial design. On August 25, 2006, the Kruty Heroes Monument was dedicated.
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