Polish–Ukrainian conflict (1939–1947)

The Polish–Ukrainian ethnic conflict was a series of an armed clashes between the Ukrainian guerrillas and Polish underground armed units during and after the World War II, namely between 1939 and 1945, whose direct continuation was the struggle of the Ukrainian underground against the Polish People’s Army until 1947, with periodic participation of the Soviet partisan units and even the regular Red Army, as well as the Romanian, Hungarian, German and Czechoslovak armed formations. The fighting initially took place in the south-east areas of the Second Polish Republic occupied by the Third Reich and later in the Rzeszów, south-east parts of the Lublin Voivodeship of the Polish People’s Republic and in the west areas of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. There was also sporadic activity in the Romanian-occupied territories.

In the context of the occupation of the Second Polish Republic by the Third Reich, Slovak Republic and Soviet Union in September 1939, that happened only 20 years after the defeat of the West Ukrainian People's Republic in the Polish–Ukrainian War, politically active Ukrainians wanted to create a new state to include East Galicia and Volhynia, while politically active Poles wanted to restore Poland within its borders 1939. The main clashes began after the Third Reich had started to retreat on the Eastern Front in the begging of 1943, as many already believed it was going to lose the war.

Background

Ukrainian radical nationalism

In 1920, exiled Ukrainian officers, mostly former Sich Riflemen and veterans of Polish–Ukrainian War, founded the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO), an underground military organization with the goals of continuing the armed struggle for independent Ukraine. Already in the second half of 1922 UVO organized a wave of sabotage actions and assassination attempts on Polish officials and moderate Ukrainian activists. In 1929, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) was formed in Vienna, Austria, and was the result of a union between several radical nationalist and extreme right-wing organisations with UVO. Members of the organization carried out several acts of terror and assassinations in Poland, but it was still rather fringe movement, condemned for its violence by figures from mainstream Ukrainian society such as the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Andriy Sheptytsky. The most popular political party among Ukrainians was in fact the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance (UNDO), which was opposed to Polish rule but called for peaceful and democratic means to achieve independence from Poland.

By the beginning of the Second World War, the membership of OUN had risen to 20,000 active members, and the number of supporters was many times as many.

Polish policy towards Ukrainian minority

Polish census of 1931
Original map showing the distribution of native languages spoken in Poland during the 1931 census.
Media related to Polish census of 1931 – Statistics of Poland at Wikimedia Commons

The policy of the Polish authorities towards the Ukrainian minority was changeable throughout the interwar period, varying between attempts at assimilation, conciliation and a policy of repression.

For example in 1930 terror campaign and civil unrest in the Galician countryside resulted in Polish police exacting a policy of collective responsibility on local Ukrainians in an effort to "pacify" the region. Ukrainian parliamentarians were placed under house arrest to prevent them from participating in elections, with their constituents terrorized into voting for Polish candidates. Beginning in 1937, the Polish government in Volhynia initiated an active campaign to use religion as a tool for Polonization and to convert the Orthodox population to Roman Catholicism. Over 190 Orthodox churches were destroyed and 150 converted to Roman Catholic churches.

On the other hand just before the war, Volhynia was "the site of one of eastern Europe's most ambitious policies of toleration". Through supporting Ukrainian culture and religious autonomy and the Ukrainization of the Orthodox Church, the Sanacja regime wanted to achieve Ukrainian loyalty to the Polish state and to minimise Soviet influences in the borderline region. That approach was gradually abandoned after Józef Piłsudski's death in 1935. Practically all government and administrative positions, including the police, were assigned to Poles.

Harsh policies implemented by the Second Polish Republic were often a response to OUN-B violence, but contributed to a further deterioration of relations between the two ethnic groups. Between 1921 and 1938, Polish colonists and war veterans were encouraged to settle in the Volhynian and Galician countrysides, their number reached 17,700 in Volhynia in 3,500 new settlements by 1939. Between 1934 and 1938, a series of violent and sometimes-deadly attacks against Ukrainians were conducted in other parts of Poland. Volhynia was a place of increasingly violent conflict, with Polish police on one side and Western Ukrainian communists supported by many dissatisfied Ukrainian peasants on the other. The communists organized strikes, killed at least 31 suspected police informers in 1935–1936, and assassinated local Ukrainian officials for "collaboration" with the Polish government. The police conducted mass arrests, reported the killing of 18 communists in 1935, and killed at least 31 people in gunfights and during arrest attempts in 1936.

September 1939

Just before Germany invaded Poland, Germany established contacts with the OUN, which had been abandoned in the mid-1930s. The result of this cooperation was the establishment of the so-called Ukrainian Legion in 1938. This unit was to be transported to Galicia, to the rear of the Polish army, in order to spark an anti-Polish uprising. This plan lost its relevance after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on August 24, 1939. However, after the German army reached the outskirts of Lviv on September 12, 1939, an anti-Polish action was launched by Ukrainian militias affiliated with the OUN. Polish services, including soldiers, were attacked, and Stryi was briefly occupied. However, a swift Polish counteraction prevented the action from spreading. Similar action was taken by communist-linked militias after September 17, the Soviet invasion of Poland, throughout the Eastern Borderlands, particularly in Polesie and Volhynia. Ukrainian nationalists took up the fight again, often collaborating with the Soviets. Polish manors in particular were attacked, and landowners were killed. Particularly bloody were the actions of the Hryhoriy Goliash "Bey" unit in Brzeżany and Podhajce counties, which carried out massacres of a number of villages: Koniuchy, Potutorów, Sławentyn, Jakubowce and others, claiming lives of couple hundreds Poles. Where the Polish army could, it fought the militia, often taking brutal revenge, burning villages from which shots were fired and killing people caught with weapons.

Several thousand militiamen took part in actions against Poland in September 1939, killing at least 2,000 people in Eastern Gallicia and about a thousand in Volhynia. Polish counteractions claimed several hundred casualties. At the same time, about 110,000 Ukrainians served in the Polish army, of whom 7-8,000 lost their lives in the fight against the Germans.

Conflict in the Hrubieszów, Tomaczów and Lubaczów counties in 1943

Causes of the conflict

At the beginning of 1944, dramatic events took place on the left bank of the Bug River, in the districts of Hrubieszów, Tomaszów and Lubaczów. From January of that year until the end of the German occupation, intense battles were waged here by units of the Home Army, People's Guard, National Armed Forces and Peasant Battalions against units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

The roots of these events can be traced back to the ethnic cleansing of Zamojszczyzna (November 1942 – March 1943), when the Germans, having expelled both Poles and Ukrainians, settled the latter in the Polish villages of the Hrubieszów district (during so-called Ukraineraktion in January–March 1943). Sometimes Polish partisans attacked such Ukrainian villages, burning and killing their inhabitants. In addition, the Polish resistance movement carried out death sentences on Ukrainians found guilty of collaborating with the Germans. Villages identified as Ukrainian partisan bases were also attacked. The Ukrainians, mainly because of the involvement of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police in the forced resettlements, were widely regarded by the expelled Poles as Nazi collaborators.

Andrzej Leon Sowa described the settlement of Ukrainians in these villages as an "effective German provocation" aimed at escalating ethnic conflicts in their occupied territories.

It should be emphasized that the events in the Zamość region were a fragment of the wider Polish-Ukrainian conflict, which had moved into the area from Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Its substrate was primarily Ukrainian independence aspirations. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, formed in 1942 and fighting Polish and Soviet partisans, set about exterminating Poles and forcing them through terror to leave the disputed lands.

Main article: Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia

The Conflict

From 1942 onwards, there were cases of murder of Ukrainian activists and landlords by Polish partisan units in the Zamojszczyzna region. These were not mass crimes, but executions carried out on designated individuals. Later, there began to be more massive robbery attacks on villages originally inhabited by Poles, to which the German authorities brought Ukrainians. Sporadic killings of these then occurred; 32 people were killed in this way during the whole year The first massed attack against a larger group of Ukrainians occurred on 26 July 1943 in Bukovina, when the NOW-AK unit of Franciszek Przysiężniak killed 10 Ukrainians in retaliation for an earlier crime against Poles committed in the same village, by the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police.

Antoni Rychel

A decisive change in tactics towards the Ukrainians occurred after more refugees from Volhynia, engulfed by the anti-Polish purge carried out by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, arrived in the Zamojszczyzna. In the autumn of 1943, Polish partisan units began a series of attacks on Ukrainian Auxiliary Police posts. On the night of 23/24 October, the posts in Łukowa and Księżpol were attacked. Only the first of these actions was successful, during which the Home Army men captured the post, killing 11 policemen and 2 German gendarmes. They themselves lost two men. On the same day, an unspecified group composed of Poles looted the Ukrainian village of Aleksandrów. The aforementioned activities of the Polish partisans caused panic among the Ukrainians and prompted several thousand of them to flee the Zamość region.

In November 1943, the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, with German support, launched a counter-attack. That month, it destroyed a 42-man AK unit that had launched an unsuccessful attack on a UPP post in Lubliniec. On 19 December of the same year, in retaliation for the liquidation of 4 agents, the UPP burnt down half the village of Potok Górny. On January 6, 1944, policemen surrounded a group of several soldiers of the Peasant Battalions in the Bolesławiec colony, killing three of them. In February 1943, Ukrainian policemen killed several dozen people of Polish nationality in the Tomaszów and Hrubieszów counties, including a dozen or so in the village of Skomorochy. On February 12, the police set a successful ambush on Zygmunt Bondarewicz, commander of the AK Sahryń-Turkowice company. On March 18, Home Army officer Antoni Pelc died in similar circumstances in Wronowice. The Ukrainians also tried to organize their own self-defense.

The course of events in the region of Hrubieszów was more severe, where, on the initiative of the commander of the Hrubieszów district of the AK under Antoni Rychel, ps. "Anioł", the Poles acted simultaneously against the Ukrainian intelligentsia and those Ukrainians who sided with the Soviets after the USSR's attack on Poland. The latter were denounced to the Hrubieszów Gestapo. Against the first group, the tactic of attacks on pre-designated individuals was used. By June 1943 alone, 150 people had been eliminated in this way. Polish units (a unit of the Peasant Battalions, Stanislaw Basaj "Ryś" and units of the Home Army) also attacked Ukrainian policemen.

In May 1943, units of the Hrubieszów AK District attacked Ukrainian villages. On 26 May in Uchanie 5 people were killed, and 23 farms were burnt down. Three days later, 4-5 villagers were killed in Żulice, and on 30 May in Nabroż - 15-16 Ukrainians, including an Orthodox priest (Sergiy Zakharchuk) and 7 women. In Steniatyn, 15 Ukrainian co-operative activists were executed by a Polish unit. In retaliation, an unspecified Ukrainian unit killed three Poles, including the Roman Catholic parish priest, in Nabróże. The villages of Tuchanie and Strzelce were also destroyed.

According to Grzegorz Motyka, despite the fighting, the Ukrainian underground and the Home Army made attempts to discuss a joint fight with the Germans. However, they did not bring any results. The failure of the talks was determined by an increased influx of refugees to the Lublin region, survivors of the Volhynian tragedy, bringing news of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's crimes in the area. The anti-Ukrainian attitude of the Polish population in the region then became even stronger. A wave of liquidations of elected representatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia began anew. Orthodox believers, including Poles, were also attacked. The effect of the activity of the Polish partisans was an increase in the sympathy of Ukrainian inhabitants of the Lublin, Zamojszczyzna and Chełmszczyzna regions for the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists. In addition, the Germans agreed to the formation of Ukrainian self-defences, which in time were incorporated into the Ukrainian National Self-Defence (UNS). Bożyk estimates their numbers at around 300 at the end of 1943. An expression of the growing influence of the Ukrainian nationalists was the scattering of leaflets in several villages (Zosin, Strzyżów) calling on Poles to leave, and soon afterwards the murder of several dozen Poles, national and military activists. At the same time, the influx of refugees from Volhynia and the news they brought of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's crimes prompted the Home Army to organise an anti-Ukrainian campaign to prevent a repetition of these events in the Chełm and Lublin regions.

On several occasions, Ukrainian units committed mass atrocities against Poles. On 1 October 1943, an unknown number of them were killed in the village of Dabrowa, and on 3 October, 18 people were killed in Malice. During the same period, Ukrainians destroyed the Polish self-defence in Honiatyn and killed at least 23 Polish civilians. They also attacked Telatyn, Dolhobyczów and Chorobrów, probably also killing Poles in them. In response, on 1 October, a Polish unit attacked the Ukrainian village of Pasieki, killing 11 civilian Ukrainians. On 23 October, 23 Ukrainians were killed in similar circumstances in Mircze, while 182 farms were burnt down.

Basaj's Unit

On 27 October, the unit of Józef Śmiech, "Ciąg", carried out an order received earlier from the district command to carry out attacks on posts of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police. In the village of Molodiatycze it captured such an outpost, killing 30 Ukrainians - police officers and civilians. On the same day or two days later, the same unit attacked Grabowiec, where it destroyed a police post, freeing 15 Polish detainees held there and completely liquidating the staff of the post. There are testimonies according to which the attack on Grabowiec was combined with the murder of an unspecified number of civilian Ukrainians, one of the victims was the Orthodox priest Pavel Shvayko and his wife Joanna. Bożyk states outright that 197 Ukrainians were killed in Grabowiec. In October, Basaj's unit carried out attacks on the posts of Mieniany (4 Killed) and Nadolce (2 Killed). In response, police officers from the Turkowice station killed the commander of the Hrubieszów District "Angel". and committed atrocities in Wasylów Wielki (3 November, 13 Poles murdered) and Stara Wieś (about 30 killed, crime during the night of 15-16 December). In Modryń, unidentified Ukrainians killed 4 Poles on 22 December. on 24 December of the same year two platoons of the BCh Stanisław Basaj "Rysia" unit came to the aid of the Polish population once again attacked by the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) militia in Kol. Modryń. As a result of the skirmish, 14 Ukrainians and 7 Poles were killed. The poles captured 3 kb". From the Ukrainian side, the village was attacked by a BCh unit under the command of Stanislaw Basaj "Rys". "At 10 p.m., near the Orthodox church and parish buildings, in the direction of the road, the village and the milk factory, a massacre began.

A total of 456 Ukrainians were killed in planned executions during 1943, 286 of whom were, in Bozyk's words, 'nationally aware peasants'. The remaining group included Orthodox priests, Ukrainian national activists and officers of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police.

Conflict in the Volhynia and Galicia

In Volhynia

Main article: Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia § Volhynia

The self-defense centres in the Volhynia Voivodship in 1943

In early 1943 the first self-defense units were formed in Volhynia. Their commanders were mainly made up of parachuted soldiers from the Silent Unseen take example: Władysław Kochański or made up of local AK commanders from the Volhynia district: Jan Wojciech Kiwerski or Kazimierz Bąbinski. One of the biggest fights between self-defence units and the UPA happened near Huta Stepańska and Wyrka. The engagement resulted in the evacuation of the self-defense to Huta Stara repelling attacks during the evacuation.

On 11 November 1943, a Polish partisan unit under the command of Lieutenant Władysław Czermiński "Jastrzębie" learned that the German garrison had left Kupiczów and that the UPA unit had occupied the village. The Poles decided to recapture the village and on 12 November 1943, after a short battle, drove the UPA out of Kupiczów. The next day the Ukrainians tried to recapture the settlement, but without success. The "Jastrzebie" unit returned to Zasmyk, leaving an AK post of forty men in Kupiczów. There were doubts in the command about holding the position, but Major Jan Szatyński-Szatowski "Kowal" opposed the withdrawal. He concluded an agreement with the Czechs from Kupiczów, who fielded a platoon of troops and provided food for the crew in exchange for protection. On 22 November 1943, UPA units launched a massive attack on Kupiczów. The inhabitants fought with the remnants of their strength when the troops of "Jastrzęb" and "Sokol" came to their aid, forcing the Ukrainians to withdraw.

The self-defense fought victorious battles with UPA units near: Przebraże , Pańska Dolina, Huta Stara, Kuty, Rybcza, and Antonówka Szepelska. In the village of Vilya in Volhynia, a bloody battle was fought on 6 September between the forces of the Polish underground and the Polesie Sicha; after a day-long battle, the Polish partisans retreated. Both sides suffered heavy losses, also Ivan Mitrynga was killed in the battle, and the Poles were victorious.

Units of the People's Guard also participated in fights with the UPA: on December 18, 1943, a unit named after Tadeusz Kościuszko attacked the village of Lakhvichi. The local OUN and UPA militants retreated from the village due to the numerical superiority of the Poles. The settlement was half burned with 25 civilians killed, 15 wounded and 10 kidnapped.

Only at the beginning of 1944, after the Red Army had crossed the pre-war Polish border, the Home Army command ordered the mobilisation of partisan units in Volhynia and decided to launch Operation Tempest. On 28 January 1944, the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division was formed.In addition to operations against the Germans, the division carried out 16 major combat actions against UPA units, partially removing the threat to the Polish civilian population in the west of Volhynia.

In Galicia

Main article: Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia § Eastern Galicia

A mound at the cemetery in today's Hanaczów, commemorating the victims of the murders committed by Ukrainian nationalists in February and April 1944 in Hanaczów

The biggest battle in Galicia happened in Hanaczów, where the Polish self-defense supported by local Jews in the area fought with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army supported by deserters from the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician). The battle ended with a Polish victory, but despite this the village was destroyed by the Germans.

On 24 March the UPA attacked the village of Maziarnia Wawrzkowa. The poles succeeded in repelling the attack , however 28 Poles were killed, including 21 members of the self-defence unit, among them AK platoon commander Jan Lewicki. The entire village was burnt down, except for a few buildings. This is only a part of the greater "Defence of the 'triangle' of Maziarnia Wawrzykowa - Grabowna - Huta Poloniecka" which resulted in the liquidation of this triangle by the Germans. Unfortunately, self-defence units were not established in many places, especially Ukrainian-dominated ones. It was feared that it would be perceived as a provocation by the Ukrainians; moreover, one risked being denounced by the Ukrainians, usually for possessing firearms. The fate of the Polish population in such villages was the worst.

From 9 to 12 March the Home Army as a part of Operation Nieszpory killed 11 Ukrainian Auxiliary Police men. Notes were attached to the bodies of those who were shot, informing them why they were killed. From that moment the Ukrainians stopped murdering Poles in Lviv.

Conflict in the Hrubieszów, Tomaczów and Lubaczów counties in 1944

At the beginning of 1944, fears began to grow on the Polish side that the events of Volhynia would be repeated in the Lublin region. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, intensified the creation of village self-defences in villages located between the Bug River and the strip of villages: Uchanie, Bereść, Hostynne, Werbkowice, Wronowice, Miętkie, Telatyn, Chodywańce. In these villages, in order to increase the effectiveness of the UNS units, bunkers were built and trenches dug. However, in January there were only isolated mutual assaults, with several casualties on both sides.

The conflict escalated again the following month. Throughout the month, Ukrainian partisan units and police officers carried out attacks on Poles, with several people falling victim to each (villages of Medycze, Terebiniec, Pielaki, Turka). On 22 February, a group of Poles, whom Grzegorz Motyka considers criminals, killed six Ukrainians in Cichobórz and robbed two more. In response, the Ukrainians killed eight Poles two days later whom they suspected of having committed this crime. The course of events in Małków on 3, 8 or 13 February was unclear. According to Polish studies, the "Rysia" unit prevented a unit of the 14th SS Grenadier Division from pacifying this village; according to Ukrainian studies, it committed a crime against 14 civilian Ukrainians. Grzegorz Motyka claims that both theses may be true. However polish attacks on detachments of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police continued. On 28 February, AK units, after a fierce battle with Ukrainian self-defence, burnt down the villages of Liski and Kościaszyn. The losses of both sides are unknown.

In view of the development of the situation, the Zamość Inspectorate of the Home Army decided to evacuate the Polish civilian population to the districts of Bilgoraj, Zamojski, Chelm, Krasnostawski and the western part of Tomaszowski, to strengthen Polish self-defence in the remaining area and to launch a coordinated attack on the area occupied by the Ukrainians. At the beginning of March, the evacuation plan was launched, but was only partially carried out due to the reluctant attitude of the Polish population. The decision to carry out a mass action against Ukrainian villages in the Hrubieszów district was not unanimous. Opponents of the action feared its political consequences and a further aggravation of Polish-Ukrainian relations in the area. As the forces in the Hrubieszów district were too weak to carry out the operation, the commanders of the Tomaszów and Zamość districts were obliged to provide assistance to the Hrubieszów district troops. In the first days of March, a detailed plan of action was discussed in Steniatin. In the first place the Polish units were to attack Mieniany, Kryłów, Mircze, Dołhobyczów, Chorobrów, Krystynopol, Sahryń, Waręż, Bełz.

Sahryń was attacked by Polish partisans on March 10, 1944. The church visible on the right, then an Orthodox church, was burned down that day

In the evening of 7 March 1944, in the forest Lipowiec near Tyszowiec, a concentration of the Tomaszów AK troops took place, in the strength of about 1200 soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant Zenon Jachymek "Wiktor". A second grouping of about 800 soldiers was commanded by Lieutenant Eugeniusz Sioma "Lech". The next day there was an attack by the 5th SS Police Regiment, supported by local Ukrainian self-defence members, on the village of Prehoryłe. The attackers were repulsed by the "Rysia" unit, which then set fire to the farms of Ukrainians living in the village. The number of victims is not established, but most likely more were killed on the Polish side. The Home Army anticipated another Ukrainian attack on 16 March. A pre-emptive attack on 9-10 March was planned by Hrubieszów District commander Marian Gołębiewski, despite the opposition of the Peasant Battalions. The Home Army planned to capture Sahryń, Uhrynow, Szychowice and Łaskow on the aforementioned days.

At dawn on 10 March, Polish troops under the command of "Wiktor" attacked Sahryn. The village was completely destroyed, including the burning of the Orthodox church. Several hundred civilian inhabitants were killed in Sahryń.

Main article: Sahryń massacre

Further operations towards Verbkowice were unsuccessful. The Poles captured and burnt the colonies of Alojzów, Brzeziny, Bereźnia, Dęby, Sahryń-Kolonia and the villages of Malice, Metelin, Strzyżowiec, Turkowice, Wronowice, Mircze, Prehoryłe, Terebiń, Terebiniec and Wereżyn. However, the assault on Werbkowice occupied by German units was repulsed. The "Lech" formation was also forced to retreat. It failed in its assault on Uhrynów, where it also encountered German units, In Miętek the commander of the grouping, Lt. "Lech", was wounded. After two days of fighting, the Polish units withdrew near Komarów and then returned to their places of stationing. In the process, the Poles burned the villages of Mołożów, Stara Wieś and Miętkie.

On 10 March 1944, units of the Home Army and the Peasant Battalions also attacked Szychowice, breaking through the Ukrainian self-defence. In the village they took over plans for an attack on the Polish positions, which was to take place at 2 a.m. on 16 March, presumably kept by the UNS commander for the Hrubieszów district, Danyla Mekełyta. The village was burned down. Also in Szychowice there was a massacre of civilians, 137 Ukrainians killed in the crime are known by name. The same grouping then moved towards Łasków. According to a Polish account of the events, the village was captured and a weapons cache was found in the bunkers located on its territory.The Ukrainian report contains information about the perpetration of crimes on dozens of, or even several hundred civilians. Among those killed in Łasków was the Orthodox priest Lev Korobczuk, canonised in 2003 as one of the Chełm and Podlasie martyrs. In total, the AK operation carried out on 10 March ended with the burning of 20 Ukrainian villages and the murder of 1,500 of their inhabitants, with almost no losses of their own.

Main article: Hrubieszów revolution

There were immediately a series of retaliatory attacks. On March 9, unknown perpetrators (possibly Ukrainian policemen) shot three Poles in Grabowiec. Over the next three days, Poles were murdered in the Kosmów and Romanów colonies and in the villages of Masłomęcz, Rzeplin, Zaborce and Korczów, as well as on the road from Hrubieszów to Grabowiec. On March 15, a UNS unit murdered 33 people at the narrow-gauge railway station in Gozdów. On 17 March in Oszczów, 23 Polish villagers and a whole group of Ukrainians living there were killed as a result of Polish-Ukrainian fighting. And the buildings in the village were completely destroyed.

The former narrow-gauge railway station in Gozdów and a cross commemorating the Polish railway workers murdered there

A major counter-offensive by the UPA army began on 16 March, when the "Halajda" regiment entered the Zamojszczyzna region from the south. It was located in the then communes of Tarnoszyn, Telatyn and Poturzyn. Kureń broke the resistance of the AK units (especially in Tarnoszyn), capturing Tarnoszyn, Dyniska, Ulhówek and Żabcze. In all localities there were crimes against Polish civilians. The UPA soldiers killed 84, 17, 14 and 30 people. Nine people also died at the hands of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in Korczmin. On March 16-17, the "Ryś" unit fought a pacification group consisting of gendarmes, SS men and Ukrainian police from the UPA group "Jahody" (approx. 600 people strong), which attacked the village of Łasków, the colonies of Zabłocie and Małków; the unit was helped by the Home Army units of M. Olszak "Hardy" and A. Aleksandrov "Brawura"; the Ukrainians were defeated; 30 SS and UPA men were killed in the fight, 2 cars were burned and the villages were saved. On March 19, units of the 14th SS Grenadier Division, Ortschutz, Ukrainian police, partly Schupo and gendarmes (approximately 800 strong) began a large-scale operation against Basaj's battalion and the Home Army battalion under the command of Zenon Jachymek "Wiktor". when they surrounded one of Basaj's platoons in the village of Łasków, the main forces of the Basaj battalion and the "Wiktor" battalion rushed to help the surrounded people; "Ryś" drove out the enemy and captured the Mircze-Kryłów road; at the same time, the companies of "Czaruś" and "Wiktor" from the Home Army pushed the enemy away from the Sokal-Hrubieszów road and occupied Mircze. After achieving these goals, Polish partisans captured the last Ukrainian resistance points in the towns of Modryń , Modryniec and Masłomęcz ; in the third phase of operations, Ukrainian self-defense bases in the villages of Mieniany , Kozodawy , Cichobórz and Kosmów were attacked, completely displacing their crews; significant losses were inflicted on the Ukrainians. On the 20 March a UNS unit attacked Poturzyn, killing 72 Poles and fending off a defending Hrubieszów company of the Home Army. Lieutenant Zenon Jachymek's unit arrived with relief too late and only managed to shoot those Ukrainians it found in the ruins of the village, engaged in looting. Wiktor's unit split into two groups of 150 men, which set off to Wasylów Mały and Radostów. The first village, where there was no self-defence, was taken by the Home Army without any fight. An unspecified number of Ukrainians with whom weapons were found were shot. However, as in Sahryń, "Wiktor" ordered that civilians be spared. The second group of the AK encountered resistance from Ukrainian self-defence in Kościaszyn, Suszów and Liski. According to some accounts, the capture of these villages was combined with the murder of 130 civilian Ukrainians. In addition, the Poles found 18 Polish families who had been hiding in shelters for a long time. On the other hand, atrocities against the Polish population took place in Frankamionka, which was attacked by a unit coming from Volhynia. Several dozen victims were killed; the remaining inhabitants of the village were saved by the arrival of the Home Army "Wiklina" company. On 25-27 March, UNS units destroyed Wasylów, Szczepiatyn and Hubinek, killing 102, 16 and 6 Poles. In response, the 8th company of the Telatyn AK under the command of "Szarfa" attacked Rzeplin, combining the elimination of Ukrainians considered particularly dangerous with the evacuation of Polish villagers. However, the surprise attack failed and a clash between the AK unit and the UNS took place on the spot. On 28 March, the "Halajda" kureń attacked the village of Ostrów, where the attack was repulsed by Poles who took refuge in a brick church. However, there were between a dozen and as many as 300 casualties.

The numerical superiority of the Ukrainian forces made the AK decide to withdraw behind the Huczwa River. However, Jerzy Markiewicz argued that Ukrainian attacks alone would not have been able to force the Poles to make such a decision; the decision was determined by parallel attacks by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the UNS, as well as German anti-Partisan actions.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army's counter-offensive forced the Polish population to flee to areas controlled by the Home Army and BCH. At the end of March 1944, the Polish population was almost completely evacuated from the areas of the Hrubieszów district, located south of the Hrubieszów - Zamość road, with the exception of part of the municipality of Dołhobyczów. The Polish-Ukrainian fighting in March led to the destruction of many towns, with both Polish and Ukrainian populations suffering as a result. Moreover, the ethnic conflict widened and intensified, which was bound to lead to further fighting of a military nature.

On 1 April, Polish troops and the remnants of the Polish population were finally driven out of Dolhobyczów. Soon, the evacuation of the Polish population from Telatin deep into the Tomaszów and Bilgoraj districts began. During the evacuation of the Polish population, a massacre took place in Poturzyn - in the early hours of the morning a unit of the 14th SS Grenadier Division, supported by a subunit of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), invaded the village, where a large group of refugees were located; 162 civilians were killed.

The Poles found themselves on the defensive, fighting defensive battles. The whole operation was commanded by the commander of the Tomaszów district, Major Wilhelm Szczepankiewicz "Drugak", who was stationed with his staff in Kolonia Steniatyn. Breaking through the Polish defence between Żerniki and Podlodów would open the way for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army to penetrate the whole area of the Tomaszów district. Moreover, the Ukrainian forces were well organised under the command of the so-called "Chelm Front of the UPA" and armed.

Between 2 and 9 April, Ukrainian Insurgent Army units, supported by SS-Galizien and Ordnungspolizei units, struck the eastern section of the Polish defence lines. The aim of the Ukrainian units was to capture the area of the municipalities of Jarczów, Tarnoszyn, Telatyn and partly Łaszczów and Tyszowce and to push the Home Army units behind the Huczwa River. The battle, fought on 5 April, ended with the success of the Polish troops, who maintained the occupied defence lines. The partisans lost only the village of Żerniki. In the course of the fighting, UNS units committed crimes against Polish civilians several times. 18 Poles were killed in Jarczów, Radków and Szlatyn, while 105 people of both nationalities fell at the hands of the UNS in Łubcze.

On 9 April 1944, on the first day of Easter, a new great battle took place along the entire length of the Polish defence line - from Telatyn to Jarczów. It was one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles fought during the occupation by AK and BCH units against UPA units in the Zamojszczyzna area. The main attack of the UPA units was directed at the Telatyn-Steniatyn-Posady-Rokitno section. The attack of the Ukrainians in this section was carried out with about 2,000 men, supported by heavy fire of mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. Particularly fierce battles were fought over the Posadov colony, which was changing hands, near Steniatyn and the village of Zulice, which was defended by Polish units. Those wounded in the battles near Steniatyne, Posadowne and Żulice were sent to field hospitals in Pukarzów and Wólka Pukarzowska. The Polish troops, despite heavy losses and the loss of the Telatyna area, held their main positions and did not allow themselves to be pushed out of the area. The "Jahoda" sotnia pushed the Poles out of the Posadow and Rachaj forests, captured Telatyn, while the storming of Rokitno and Dutrow failed. About a thousand Poles and 2,000 Ukrainians took part in the clash. Grzegorz Motyka considers the entire battle inconclusive. Although the Ukrainian advance was eventually stopped, a breach was created in the AK defensive lines, which forced the Poles to retreat behind the Huczwa River. There was also a significant increase in the number of desertions in the Polish ranks. In view of the unfavourable situation of the Polish units, the commander of the Tomaszów district of the AK suggested mobilising all the forces of the inspectorate for a new operation against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the UNS. Despite the initial approval of this concept, the attack was eventually called off. However, the larger Ukrainian strikes also temporarily ceased, which Myroslav Onyszkiewicz explained by German counter-partisan actions that hit the UPA. There were only sporadic attacks on individual villages. The first major attack by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army took place on 14 May, when Ukrainian troops, coming from the direction of Werbkowice, attacked and burned Honiatycze. On 15-17 May, fierce fighting continued in the area of Nabrozh, Telatyn and Zulice. Telatyn changed hands several times. Fearing encirclement, the Polish troops had to withdraw across the Huczwa River from Nabróża.

On 30 April, at a meeting of leaders of the Ukrainian community of Chelmshchyna and Lublin (including the Orthodox Metropolitan Ilarion (Ohijenko)), the Chelm Council was established to consolidate the Ukrainian face of Chelmshchyna. This influenced the UPA to take further military action against the Poles. This is because success in combat was considered the best guarantee of the council's political objectives.

Great clash at Narol

Main article: Battle of Narol

On 21 May The UPA under the command of Iwan Szpontak "Zalizniak" attacked the city of Narol and surrounding areas, local Home Army units defended the city and due to this the battle ended with a Polish victory giving the UPA heavy losses.

Polish offensive on Ulhówek and Rzeczyca

Main article: Battle of Ulhówek and Rzeczyca

On 1 June 1944, Polish units began preparing for an attack on the approximately fifty-kilometre-long Tyszowce - Łaszczów - Jarczów section. Its aim was to pre-empt the actions of the UPA units. The main strike was to be directed at Ulhówek and Rzeczyca, which were key points in the UPA's positions. Nine groupings were formed on the aforementioned section of the Polish starting lines. The headquarters of the eastern section and the command post of the Polish units were located in the Bukowiec forest behind the village of Grodysławice. Before an attack from the rear, roads were mined, including the Tomaszów - Łaszczów road between Łaszczów - Wólka Pukarzowska - Grodysławice. Four field hospitals were also prepared and deployed in the Bukowiec forest, at the home of Home Army members Kacper Siek and Roj in the village of Pawłówka, in the Muratyn colony, as well as in Józef Paskiewicz's farm. On the eve of the battle, the units of the first grouping left the Tyszowiecki forest and advanced through Turkowice towards the village of Dąbrowa, which, however, could not be conquered as it was occupied by a strong Wehrmacht detachment.

On 2 June 1944 at 2 a.m. the remaining Polish groupings went on the offensive. The largest battle in the Zamojszczyzna region with the troops of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army began. The main battle was fought in the area of the villages of Ulhówek and Rzeczyca. The UPA troops outnumbered them, were better armed than the units of the BCH and AK, and, moreover, fought from strongly fortified defensive positions. In the battle of Rzeczyca and Ulhówek, the Polish units suffered heavy losses. Also the offensive actions of the Poles in other areas did not bring the expected success.

It should be added that the Germans did not remain passive during the Polish-Ukrainian fighting. The German air force joined the action. As early as 8:00 a.m., six planes bombed and shelled Polish units with their on-board guns along the entire line of the ongoing fighting. The attacks of the planes were repeated several times and lasted until 1 p.m. Moreover, the German aviation bombed field hospitals in the Bukowiec forest, in Pawłówka, Kolonia Muratyn and the Paszkiewicz manor.

The day-long bloody battle ended around 4 p.m. During the battle, the villages of Posadów, Szlatyn, Łubcze, Żerniki, Rzeczyca, Podlodów and, in part, Ulhówek, and the village of Zimno were burnt down.

In the evening hours all the groupings began their retreat, withdrawing to the line of the Huczwa River. The Polish groupings failed to break through the UPA's defensive lines. In the fighting on 2 June, 71 Home Army soldiers were killed, around 100 partisans were wounded.

Ukrainian counteroffensive

A counterattack by Ukrainian Insurgent Army units took place on 14 June 1944. It was then that Ukrainian units attacked a part of Łaszczów called Podhajce. Polish units stationed in Kolonia Nadolce in the strength of about 120 men rushed to the aid of the burning village. Soon, in the greatest haste, units and groups of soldiers from neighbouring villages, including Pukarzów, Wólka Pukarzowska, Muratyń and Czartowiec, began to arrive and joined the fight spontaneously. Towards the end of the battle, the "Żelazna" company also arrived. the attack was repulsed, but Podhajce was burned.

Polish-Ukrainian battles conducted in wartime conditions, with mutual cruelty, led to the destruction of dozens of villages, many soldiers of the Home Army and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army were killed, and there were also considerable casualties among the civilian population. Grzegorz Motyka estimates the number of dead (combatants and civilians) at 3-4 thousand on each side. He also states that tens of thousands more people of both nationalities were forced to leave their villages. According to Bożyk, 4,000 victims were reported on the Ukrainian side, of whom 1,400 are known by their name.

Fighting continued until July 1944, interrupted only by the arrival of the front and the entry of Red Army units of the 1st Ukrainian Front.

Rivalry between the Poles and Ukrainians in 1945

Behind the Buh River

In the area of the Przemyśl and Dobromil counties , clashes started at the beginning of 1945, when the front moved in and the number of soldiers in the area was radically reduced. They took on the character not of armed fighting, but of mutual minor skirmishes and bloody pacifications of the civilian population. Most of the actions were aimed at forcing the Ukrainian population to join the displacement action to the USSR.

After the passage of the front, the first action was an attack by unknown perpetrators on 8 February 1945 on the village of Iskań, during which 15 people of Ukrainian nationality were killed. On 13 February, 3 Ukrainians on night guard were killed in Przedmieście Dubieckie.

On 16 February, the combined Polish groups of Jan Kotwicki "Ślepy" from Borownica and Ludwik Grodecki from Bircza, numbering 150-200 people in total, attacked the villages of Jawornik Ruski, Żohatyn, Piątkowa and the hamlets of Poruty and Zahuty, killing at least 27 people.

On 3 March, Polish partisan and local self-defence units committed the Pawłokoma massacre as an act of reprisal to similar attacks carried out on Polish civilians by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Most likely on 6 March a People's Security Guard unit attacked the village of Skopów killing 67 Ukrainians On March 25th In response to the killing of 7 polish soldiers, a Internal Security Corps unit attacked the village of Stary Lubliniec killing 540 people (including Banderites)On April 6th, the Poles attacked Gorajec, with the main goal to liquidate the local UPA unit in the village, murdering 400 people.

On 11 April a Post Peasant Battalion unit attacked Bachów resulting in the murder of 100 Ukrainians. On that same day the Poles killed 26 Ukrainians in Sufczyna and 180 in Brzuska.

On 16 April, a UPA unit led by Iwan Szpontak attacked the village of Wiązownica, which was defended by a KBW regiment and a weak Home Army self-defense unit, as a result of the attack, 4 polish defenders died and 100 civilians were killed. In response a National Military Union unit led by Józef Zadzierski "Wołyniak" attacked Piskorowice, the attack on the village and its outskirts led to the death of 1,344 people.

Hrubieszów, Tomaczów and Lubaczów counties

On 2 March 1945, a battle took place in Mrzyglody and nearby Gruszka between UPA units and NKVD border troops supported by Post Home-Army units numbering around 200 men. 62 UPA soldiers were killed in the battle, including commanders Oleksa Mazur and Vasyl Dmytryszyn.

On March 25, 1945, in the early morning hours, a UPA unit arrived in Kryłów . The UPA took over the village and set up posts on its outskirts. The remaining group of nationalists in Soviet Army uniforms approached the Citizens' Militia Post and broke into the building by surprise, taking over the building. The Ukrainians recognized Maj. Stanisław Basaj , alias "Ryś", the commander of the Peasant Battalions during World War II, who was found and detained in one of the houses in Kryłów. He was placed in the corner of the room, his coat and shoes were taken away, and then he was abused. The perpetrators also undressed the 17 MO officers lying on the floor and tied up, and then shot them all. Ukrainian nationalists also murdered 28 civilian residents of Kryłów.

On September 17, 1945, Maryan Lukasevich perpetrator of the Kryłów Massacre was burned alive by the Polish police in his shelter in Żniatyn.

Outcome of the Conflict in 1945

Jan Pisuliński writes that as a result of the Polish-Ukrainian conflict in 1945 in the Przemyśl and Dobromil regions 1,000 Ukrainians were killed by the National Armed Forces and the Home Army, while Polish losses are unknown.

Rivalry at the end of the conflict in 1945–1947

In view of Germany's defeat in World War II, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists could not count on any outside support.

After the front had passed, the UPA had the upper hand in the Bieszczady. With no army in the area, UPA fighters were quick to liquidate newly established Citizen Militia posts. Only Soviet NKVD units were able to successfully oppose the UPA. On 1 July 1945, the 8th Dresden Infantry Division received orders to move to the region of Krosno and Sanok. The 32nd, 34th and 36th infantry regiments and the 37th artillery regiment were directed to the Bieszczady region. The 8th ID also secured the border from the village of Ciechanie to the railway station in the village of Uzhok. The years 1945-1946 saw the UPA's superiority over the army. Initially, all the UPA's attention was directed towards the organising MO posts. After the arrival of the army in the Bieszczady Mountains, the UPA started to attack military units, the UPA command was particularly keen to unblock the Polish borders. It was then that the idea was born to liquidate the WOP watchtowers. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army concentrated its forces and liquidated most of the watchtowers with their crews. Only a few soldiers managed to escape death. Operational groups that went to the aid of the watchtowers also fell into ambushes, such as the one near Kozhny.

Between 1945 and 1946, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) launched three attacks on Bircza, which ended with the repulsion of UPA attacks by the Polish services and army, it also resulted with the killing of Lt. Dmytro Karvansky and Mychailo Galo.

Main article: Battles for Bircza

On 20 March 1946, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army committed a crime against WOP soldiers and MO officers in Jasiel.

On the night of 27-28 May 1946, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) together with the Freedom and Independence Association (Zrzeszenie Wolność i Niezawisłość) carried out a successful attack on Hrubieszów, during which a post of the Citizen's Militia, WOP was destroyed and political prisoners were freed from the local prison.

Main article: Attack on Hrubieszów

Initially, the military conducted so-called 'demonstration marches', which consisted of marches and demonstrations of force. These did not have any positive effect. Therefore, in January 1946, operational groups with battalion strength were formed. Four of them were formed in the 8th DP. The change of tactics by the army began to bring positive results. The UPA began to suffer losses. Operational Group "Rzeszów" was established, which operated from April to October 1946. During this time, according to statistics, 910 Ukrainians were killed and over 1,000 arrested. GO "Rzeszów" failed to complete its main task, that is, to smash UPA units and liquidate the OUN civilian network. The command, seeing the ineffectiveness of the actions, disbanded GO "Rzeszów" on 31 October.

In its place, three groupings were formed:

• Lt. Col. Bielecki's group,
• Lt. Col. Wygnański's group,
• Lt. Col. Zwoliński's group.

Lt. Col. Bielecki's grouping covered the Bieszczady Mountains. The 32pp, 34pp and special units of the 9th ID were subordinated to the grouping.

In February 1947, several KBW operational groups were also sent to fight UPA units. These units were well armed and equipped and, importantly, had experience in fighting partisans. The beginning of 1947 saw intensified UPA operations. On 28 March, in the area of the village of Jabłonki, Deputy Minister of National Defence and General Karol Świerczewski was killed in an ambush. His death accelerated Operation Vistula, which had been under preparation since autumn 1946, consisting in the displacement of inhabitants from the UPA's areas of operation. This operation resulted in the resettlement of 140,000 Ukrainians from the Bieszczady Mountains deep into Poland or the USSR and brought an end to the major activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the summer of 1947. On June 13th near Zawadka, Yaroslav Kotsolok was killed in a ambush organized by the 1st Prague Infantry Regiment. While on 4th of July Hryhoriy Yankivskyi was killed during a skirmish with the Polish Army near Leszczawa Dolna. During the Operation 11 UPA Commanders were killed in Poland.

Main article: Operation Vistula

After Operation Vistula

After Operation Vistula, UPA combat units left the territory of Poland, breaking through to the West or to the USSR to continue the fight. Only small groups remained in Poland to provide a link between the West and the USSR. Fighting them continued until the autumn of 1948.

Overall from June of 1945 to March of 1947, 4,000 UPA partisans were killed. While during Operation Vistula 1,500 UPA partisans were killed. Stanisław Kłos states that during the period, 2,200 Poles were killed, 600 of which were civilians, while UPA losses counted to 4,900 killed.

Aftermath

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the all regions murdered approximately 60,000–120,000 Polish civilians. While the Polish armed units in so-called "retaliatory actions" murdered around 15,000–30,000 Ukrainians. The Polish People’s Republic started the Operation Vistula after the Ukrainian partisans killed the Polish General Karol Świerczewski in the village of Jabłonki of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in which was deported over 140,000 Ukrainian civilians to the recovered territories. From 1948 to 1951 the Poles deported around 70,000 Ukrainians from the Zakerzonia. Another result of the conflict was the population exchange between the Polish People’s Republic and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, where about 480,000 people behind the Curzon Line were moved eastward to the territory, which became a part of the Soviet Ukraine and Belarus. The Operation Vistula, carried out by the Polish communist authorities, effectively dispersed and weakened the Ukrainian guerrillas on the territories of modern-day Poland, although after 1945 the main units of the UPA fought the Soviets in the west areas of the Soviet Ukraine and its commanders regarded Poland as a peripheral field of the operations.

The main perpetrator of massacres of the Poles in the Volhynia was the Ukrainian Colonel of the UPA Dmytro Klyachkivsky who’s was killed by the NKVD in the village of Orzhiv in the Rivne Oblast in 12 February 1945. While the Ukrainian commander-in-chief of the UPA Roman Shukhevych was one of the perpetrators of massacres of the Poles in the East Galicia committed suicide when the Soviet armed units numbered approximately 700 soldiers besieged his house in the village of Bilohorscha of the Lviv Oblast in 5 March 1950. Another perpetrator of massacring around 5,000 Polish civilians in the summer of 1943 Junior Lieutenant Yuriy Stelmaschuk was executed in the city of Kyiv in 5 October 1945.

Also the Ukrainian partisans Lieutenant Volodymyr Schyhelskyi and Colonel Myroslav Onyshkevych were executed by the Polish authorities in 7 April 1949 and 6 July 1950.

Commemoration

In 2017 the Polish government added to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 22 places where the Poles fought the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the OUN between 1943 and 1946. These places were: Huta Stepańska and Wyrka, Przebraże, Pańska Dolina, Rybcza, Zasmyki, Jagodzin Rymacze, Kupiczów, Hanaczów, Stanisławówka, Łukowiec Wiszniowski, Łukowiec Żurawski, Puzow Stężarzyce, Korytnica,Biłka Królewska, Biłka Szlachecka, Narol, Posadów, Rzeczyca and Bircza.

Background

• Motyka, Grzegorz (1999). Tak było w Bieszczadach (in Polish). Warsaw: Volumen. ISBN 8372330654.
• Motyka, Grzegorz (2006). Ukraińska partyzantka 1942–1960 (in Polish). Warsaw: RYTM. ISBN 83-7399-163-8.
• Motyka, Grzegorz (2023). From the Volhynian Massacre to Operation Vistula: The Polish-Ukrainian Conflict 1943-1947. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh. ISBN 978-3-657-79537-6.