Everything about Kiev Offensive 1920 totally explained
Poland,
Ukrainian People's Republic
|combatant2=
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
|commander1=
Józef Piłsudski,
Edward Rydz-Śmigły
|commander2=
Aleksandr Yegorov,
Semyon Budyonny
|strength1=8 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry division, 2 understrength Ukrainian divisions
|strength2=8 infantry divisions, 2 cavalry divisions, later also 1st Cavalry Army
|casualties1=
|casualties2=
|}}
The
1920 Kiev Offensive (or
Kiev Operation), sometimes considered to have started the
Soviet-Polish War, was an attempt by the newly re-emerged
Poland, led by
Józef Piłsudski, to seize central and eastern
Ukraine, although much of the
Ukrainian population were ambivalent as many viewed the Polish advance as a new occupation aimed at subordinating Ukraine under Polish rule, while others greeted the Polish and allied Ukrainian forces as liberators. With their loyalties divided, Ukrainians fought for both sides of the conflict.
A major military operation, this campaign was conducted from April to June
1920 by the
Polish Army in
alliance with the forces of the
Ukrainian People's Republic under the exiled
nationalist leader
Symon Petliura, opposed by the
Soviets who claimed those territories for the
Ukrainian SSR and whose
Red Army also included numerous Ukrainians in its ranks. prevented Piłsudski and Petliura from gaining the support they expected, and the allied Polish forces and Petlura's Ukrainians were forced to retreat under mounting pressure from a Red Army counteroffensive.
Before the Battle
The government of the
Ukrainian People's Republic, with mounting attacks on its territory since early 1919, had lost control for most of its land as the latter was divided between many disparate powers: the
Denikin's
Whites,
Red Army and pro-Soviet formations, the
Makhnovist Partisan Army claiming a
significant territory along with various bands lacking any political ideology, as well as
Romania in the south-west and Poland itself. The forces of the exiled Ukrainian nationalist leader
Symon Petlura who formally represented the
Ukrainian People's Republic only controlled a small sliver of land near the Polish border.
In such conditions, desperate Petlura had no choice but to accept the
Piłsudski's offer to join the alliance with Poland despite many unresolved territorial conflicts between these two nations Separate provisions in the treaty guaranteed the rights of the Polish and Ukrainian minorities within both states and obliged each side not to conclude any international agreements against each other.
As the treaty legitimized the Polish control over the territory that the Ukrainians viewed as rightfully theirs, the alliance received a dire reception from many Ukrainian leaders, ranging from
Mykhailo Hrushevsky the elected leader of the UNR, to
Yevhen Petrushevych, the leader of the
West Ukrainian National Republic that had previously been
defeated by Poland. However, such objections were brushed aside. Hrushevsky, de-facto powerless, was ignored, and Petrushevych was sacked by Petlura and forced into exile.
The initial expedition in which sixty-five thousand Polish and fifteen thousand Ukrainian soldiers took part started on
April 24,
1920. The military goal was to outflank the Soviet forces and destroy them in a single battle. After winning the battle in the South, the Polish General Staff planned a speedy withdrawal of the 3rd Army and strengthening of the northern front where Piłsudski expected the main battle with the Red Army to take place. The Polish southern flank was to be held by Polish-allied Ukrainian forces under a friendly government in Ukraine. On May 7, Polish and Ukrainians soldiers entered Kiev.
The campaign
Polish advance
Pilsudski's forces were divided into three armies. Arranged from north to south, they were the 3rd, 2nd and 6th, with Petliura's forces attached to the 6th army. Facing them were the Soviet 12th and 14th armies led by
Alexander Yegorov. Pilsudski struck on April 25, and captured
Zhytomyr the following day. Within a week, the Soviet 12th army was largely destroyed. In the south, the Polish 6th Army and Petliura's forces pushed the Soviet 14th army out of central Ukraine as they quickly marched eastward through
Vinnytsia. The combined Polish-Ukrainian forces entered
Kiev on
May 7, encountering only token resistance. On May 9 the Polish troops celebrated the capture of Kiev with the
victory parade on
Kreschatyk, the city's main street. However as the parading troops were Piłsudski's Poles instead of Petlura's Ukrainians, the Kievans watched this demonstration of force with great ambivalence, which looked to them just like another occupation army.
On
April 26, in his "Call to the People of Ukraine", Piłsudski assured that "the Polish army would only stay as long as necessary until a legal Ukrainian government took control over its own territory". Despite this, many Ukrainians were just as anti-Polish as anti-Bolshevik, and resented the Polish advance, which many viewed as just a new variety of occupation considering previous defeat in the
Polish-Ukrainian War. Thus, Ukrainians also actively fought the Polish invasion in Ukrainian formations of the
Red Army. The
Soviet propaganda also had the effect of encouraging negative Ukrainian sentiment towards the Polish operation and Polish-Ukrainian history in general.
The success of the joint Polish-Ukrainian political campaign depended on the creation of a strong Ukrainian army capable of defeating the
Soviets in Ukraine. While initially successful, the campaign ultimately failed. The local population was tired of hostilities after several years of war and the Ukrainian Army never exceeded two divisions largely due to the ambivalent attitude of Ukrainians towards the alliance. Petliura was only able to recruit 20,000-30,000 additional soldiers into his army, a number insufficient to hold back the Soviet forces.
However the Bolshevik army, although having suffered some defeats, avoided total destruction. The Polish offensive stopped at Kiev and only a small bridgehead was established on the eastern bank of the
Dnieper.
Soviet counterattack
The Polish-Ukrainian military thrust soon met the
Red Army counterattack. On
May 24,
1920 the Polish-Ukrainian forces were engaged for the first time by
Semyon Budionny and his famous
First Cavalry Army. Two days later, Budionny's cavalry, with two major units from the Russian 12th Army, opened an assault on the Polish forces centered around Kiev. After a week of heavy fighting south of the city, the Russian assault was repulsed and the front line restored. On
June 3,
1920 another Russian assault began north of the city.
Meanwhile, Polish
military intelligence was aware of Russian preparations for a counteroffensive, and Polish commander-in-chief
Józef Piłsudski ordered the commander of Polish forces on the Ukrainian Front, General
Antoni Listowski, to prepare for a strategic withdrawal. From the perspective of staff maps in
Warsaw, it was clear that the recently-created Polish Army was too weak to withstand both the offensive in the southern, Ukrainian sector and the spring offensive being prepared by the Bolsheviks in
Belarus and north of the
Pripyat Marshes. However, the commander of the Polish 3rd Army in the vicinity of Kiev, General
Edward Rydz-Śmigły, was seeking a way to repulse the upcoming Russian assault rather than withdraw, and even proposed to the
General Staff regrouping all his forces at
Kiev and defending there until relieved. His plan was turned down by Piłsudski, who knew that no relief force could be prepared any time soon. He repeated his order to withdraw the Polish 3rd and 6th Armies from the Kiev area.
Polish retreat
Repeated attacks by the Budionny's
1st Cavalry Army eventually broke the Polish Ukrainian front on
June 5 and on
June 10 Polish armies were retreating along the entire front. On
June 13 Kiev was evacuated and left to the Soviets.
As the withdrawal was started too late, the forces of Rydz found themselves in an extremely difficult situation. Russian Golikov's and Yakir's Groups, as well as the 1st Cavalry Army managed to capture several strategically important positions behind the Polish lines and the risk of the Polish armies being surrounded and defeated became high. However, mostly due to lack of reconnaissance, poor command and conflicts within the staff of the South-Western Front, the Polish-Ukrainian units managed to withdraw in order and relatively unscathed. Such an outcome of the operation was equally unexpected by both sides. Although the Poles withdrew to their initial positions, they remained tied down in Ukraine and lacked sufficient strength to support the Polish Northern Front and strengthen defenses at the
Auta River during the decisive battle that was soon to take place there. On the other hand, the Bolshevik objectives were not accomplished either and the Russian forces had to remain in Ukraine and got tied down with heavy fighting for the area of the city of
Lwów.
Controversies
The mutual accusations by both parties of the conflict in violations of the basic rules of the war conduct were rampant and full of exaggerations.
Norman Davies writes that "Polish and Soviet newspapers of that time competed in which could produce a more terrifying portrait of their opponent." Soviet propaganda claimed that Poles destroyed much of Kiev's infrastructure, including the passenger and cargo railway stations, and other purely civilian objects crucial for the city functioning, such as the
electric power station, the city
sewerage and
water supply systems as well as monuments such as
St. Volodymyr's Cathedral. The Poles denied that they committed any such acts of vandalism, claiming that the only deliberate damage they carried out during their evacuation was blowing up
Kiev bridges across the
Dnieper River, for strictly military reasons. Many of Soviet propaganda claims, such as the alleged destruction of the cathedral, proved to be false.
Accusations were made against the Soviet side as well. Richard Watt writes that the Soviet advance into Ukraine was characterized by mass killing of civilians and the burning of entire villages, especially by
Budyonny's cossacks, designed to instill a sense of fear in the Ukrainian population.
Norman Davies notes that on 7 June - two days after breaking Polish frontline - Budionny's 1st Army destroyed the bridges in
Zhytomyr, wrecked the train station and burned various buildings; on the same day it burned a hospital in
Berdychiv, with 600 patients and
Red Cross nuns, and that such terror tactics were common for Budionny's Cossacks. According to
The Black Book of Communism, in the pacification of Ukraine that began during the Soviet counteroffensive in 1920 and which wouldn't end until 1922 the Soviets would take tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives.
Isaac Babel, a war correspondent embedded with the
Red Army, in his
diary wrote down first-hand accounts of atrocities committed by the Polish troops and their allies during their retreat (particularly notorious were the regiment of the Cossack defector
Vadim Yakovlev who switched sides and became a Polish ally). The retreating Polish army instilled fear among the civilian population, especially the Jews who suffered from multiple
pogroms committed by the Polish troops. Babel also describes the murders of the Polish
POWs by the Red Army troops and looting of the civilian population by Budyonny's Red Cossacks. Babel's writings became so known that Budionny himself protested against "defamation" of his troops. Bolshevik and later
Soviet propaganda used the Kiev Offensive to portray the Polish government as an imperialist aggressors.
Opposing forces
The following is the Order of Battle of Polish and Bolshevik forces taking part in the struggles in
Ukraine, as of
April 25,
1920. It should be noted that the command structure of both sides changed during the operation. Also, the Russian forces were joined by Budennyi's
1st Cavalry Army in the latter part of the operation, while a large part of the Polish forces was withdrawn by then to Belarus.
Among
Polish Airforce was the 7th
Kościuszko Squadron.
Poland/Ukrainian People's Republic
Soviet Russia/Soviet Ukraine
South-Western Front - Gen. Aleksandr Yegorov
12th Army
Miezheninov | 7th Rifle Division |
7. стрелковая дивизия |
|
|
| 44th Rifle Division |
44. стрелковая дивизия |
|
transferred to the Fastov Group of Forces, May 1920 |
| 45th Rifle Division |
45. стрелковая дивизия |
|
transferred to the Fastov Group of Forces, May 1920 |
| 47th Rifle Division |
47. стрелковая дивизия |
|
(1st formation) merged into the 58th RD on May 3rd, 1920 |
| 58th Rifle Division |
58. стрелковая дивизия |
|
|
| 17th Cavalry Division |
17. кавдивизия |
|
dissolved in the middle of May 1920 |
| 25th Rifle Division |
25. стрелковая дивизия |
|
arrived at the end of May 1920 |
| Bashkir Cavalry Brigade |
Башкирская кавбригада |
|
arrived at the end of May 1920 |
14th Army
Ieronim Uborevich | 41st Rifle Division |
41. стрелковая дивизия |
|
|
| 47th Rifle Division |
47. стрелковая дивизия |
|
(2nd formation) formed on June 9th, 1920 |
| 60th Rifle Division |
60. стрелковая дивизия |
|
|
1st Horse Army
arrived in
early June 1920 | 4th Cavalry Division |
4. кавдивизия |
|
|
| 6th Cavalry Division |
6. кавдивизия |
|
|
| 11th Cavalry Division |
11. кавдивизия |
|
|
| 14th Cavalry Division |
14. кавдивизия |
|
|
13th Army
Opposite Wrangel | 3rd Rifle Division |
3. стрелковая дивизия |
|
|
| 15th Rifle Division |
15. стрелковая дивизия |
|
arrived opposite Wrangel in May 1920 |
| 40th Rifle Division |
40. стрелковая дивизия |
|
arrived opposite Wrangel in June 1920 |
| 42nd Rifle Division |
42. стрелковая дивизия |
|
arrived opposite Wrangel in June 1920 |
| 46th Rifle Division |
46. стрелковая дивизия |
|
|
| 52nd Rifle Division |
52. стрелковая дивизия |
|
|
| Latvian Rifle Division |
Латышская стрелковая дивизия |
|
|
| 1st Horse Corps |
1. конкорпус |
|
arrived opposite Wrangel in June 1920 |
| 2nd Cavalry Division |
2. кавдивизия |
|
arrived opposite Wrangel in May 1920 |
| 8th Cavalry Division |
8. кавдивизия |
|
transferred to the 14th Army, May 1920 |
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