NKVD special groups

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The special groups of the NKVD for fighting against nationalists (Russian: Специальные группы НКВД по борьбе с националистами)[1] were units set up by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union to combat nationalist movements in territories annexed by the USSR due to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In particular, they fought against the OUN and UPA in Western Ukraine; the Forest Brothers in the Baltic states; and the Black Cats in Belarus, all of which acted as collaborationists during the German-Soviet war.[2] They were also known as the Agent-Combat Groups (ABG), legend groups, false UPA detachments and the NKVD units dressed as UPA fighters.

After the NKVD was reorganisation in 1946, these special groups continued to operate under the management of its successors, both the Ministry of Internal Affairs) (MVD) and the Ministry of State Security (NKGB).

The special groups of the NKVD operated in the Ukrainian SSR for ten years, since 1944 up to 1953.[3] During that time, these forces captured, arrested, or killed thousands of people.[4][5]

History[]

Shortly before the Soviet-German war, significant territorial changes occurred on the Western Ukrainian ethnic lands. In March 1939 Carpatho-Ukraine declared its independence from Czechoslovakia but it was almost immediately occupied by the Kingdom of Hungary. East Galicia and Western Volyn were annexed by the USSR from Poland in October 1939, then the Soviet Union annexed Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia from the Kingdom of Romania in July 1940, due to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

In 1944 the Red Army moving to the west reconquered the territory of Western Ukraine that was occupied by Nazi Germany and its allies in 1941. The Soviet authorities faced considerable opposition from the local population during the restoration of the Soviet regime in these territories. At that time, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the conspiratorial network of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) were operating actively in Western Ukraine. In March 1944, in response to the situation, the NKVD Operational Headquarters was set up in Rivne to combat the Ukrainian national liberation movement.[6]

Initially, in 1944-1945, the Soviet leadership underestimated the scale of the nationalist movements in Ukraine and sought to subdue the rebels by the date of a Soviet public holiday, mainly using military operations.[7] However, this approach quickly proved futile. UPA subunits operated using guerrilla tactics, avoiding open battles with overwhelming enemy forces. Since the second half of 1945, on the instructions of the UPA command, large units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army were split into smaller well-armed units, that were deployed in forests. In addition, the nationalists formed extensive secret underground networks in rural areas, each containing 10-15 people, termed boyivka (боївка), meaning militant groups.[8] As a result, the Soviet authorities resorted to the extensive use of special tools.[clarification needed]

The scale of the insurgency petered out after the Second World War. The last arrest of an OUN member by Soviet authorities took place in 1958.[9]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ The special groups of the NKVD are in the fight with nationalists, Ch. 4. The great obfuscated war - 2. // Спецгруппы НКВД в борьбе с националистами - Гл.4, Великая оболганная война-2, ISBN 9785699256228 (in Russian)
  2. ^ Belarusian Black Cats. Ukrainian magazine "Personnel Plus", Issue 43, 1 November 2011 // Білоруські «чорні коти» / Персонал Плюс - №43 (448) 26 жовтня - 1 листопада 2011 року(in Ukrainian)
  3. ^ The Insurgent Army: Tactics of the struggle. MILITARY LITERATURE - Military Thought. S.N. Tkachenko // ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА - Военная мысль. Ткаченко С.Н. Повстанческая армия: тактика борьбы(in Russian)
  4. ^ Vampires and werewolves in official documents. The Way of Victory. 2 October 1993.  [uk] // Білас. Упирі та перевертні в офіційних документах - Шлях перемоги. — 1993. 2 жовтня.(in Ukrainian)
  5. ^ The agent-combat special groups of the NKVD-MVD-NKDB-MDB. 2008. I. Antoniuk // Антонюк Я. - Агентурно-бойові спецгрупи НКВС-МВС-НКДБ-МДБ (2008)(in Ukrainian)
  6. ^ THE FIGHT OF THE COMMUNIST REGIME AGAINST THE UKRAINIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT 1940s-1950s. Journal of the Lviv Academy of Commerce, I.G. Pater // БОРОТЬБА КОМУНІСТИЧНОГО РЕЖИМУ З УКРАЇНСЬКИМ ВИЗВОЛЬНИМ РУХОМ (40-ві–50-ті РОКИ XX СТ.), Вісник Львівської комерційної академії, Патер І.Г.,(in Ukrainian)
  7. ^ The use of special means by the Soviet punitive-repressive bodies in the fight against the underground in the Drohobych district of OUN (1945 – 1952), Scientific Bulletin of Lesya Ukrainka East European National University V.I. Ilnytsky // Використання радянськими карально-репресивними органами спецзасобів у боротьбі проти підпілля в Дрогобицькій окрузі ОУН (1945 – 1952), В. І. Ільницький, УДК 94(477)“1945/1952”,(in Ukrainian)
  8. ^ A war after war, Y.I. Shapoval, Military History Magazine, #5-6 2002 // Війна після війни Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, професор, доктор історичних наук Юрій Шаповал, журнал «Воєнна історія» #5-6 за 2002 рік.(in Ukrainian)
  9. ^ "Ukrainian News Agency". Archived from the original on 2008-03-17. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
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